Completely Submerged for the Lord

By: Kristen Groff

Our Summer Retreat has come and gone very quickly. It seems that it was over before it even started! But, we have truly laughed very hard, cried on each other's shoulders, and experienced the quiet whisper of God in our hearts!
Morgan and I were very nervous going into this retreat because two weeks before, we felt as though we needed to completely switch up what we were planning to teach on. Our original theme was "Got Faith?" and we were excited to be able to begin our 2nd year as a group by beginning to build that firm faith foundation but we felt as though we were trying to force something that just wasn't there.We began to really pray about it and we continually asked the Lord to guide us in what we were doing. Although in the backs of our minds we knew that time was running out and that we were on a deadline, we ultimatly felt peace and comfort about the situation. We didn't spend much time planning small details, instead we tried to focus more on the big picture kind of stuff. We continued to pray and trust that God would have His way and whatever happened would be all for His Glory!
The day of the retreat arrived and we headed off to church together as a group. Morgan and I prayed together by ourselves before we left and Corby, our youth pastor, did for the entire group. We believed that God had the opportunity to do something great over the next couple of days and we were going to try our hardest not to get in the way of that. We had four sessions planned, One: "Born to Embrace" Two: "The Fence Sitter" Three: "Two Chains & a Rock" Four: "Following Faithful". Morgan led the first two and I led the second two.
We began our sessions and experienced certain feelings that we (as leaders) had never felt before. We learned that this retreat was going to be a little difficult in the fact that some of the key points we felt that God was leading us to lead were very uncomfortable. As a result of that, we broke down the first night, feeling as though everything was falling apart and that nothing was going go the way WE wanted. Soon enough though, we were back on track and focused on the Lord again. "It is what it is" was our motto!
We really challenged the girls to get off the fence and leave the ways of this world behind. We challenged them to dig deep into the hard stuff that we don't really want to face and to chase after the Lord at full speed! We truly believe that God has done something in each of our hearts after this retreat.
Morgan and I tried to have some one on one time with each girl, but since our whole group is so friendly and often acts like we are a family, it was difficult to catch girls by themselves but we did get to a couple times! The conversations we had were great and we loved having the opportunity to love and pray for the girls!
Morgan and I also made sure that we had time just together. We used this time to prepare and pray for the upcoming sessions and to discuss how we felt things were going and what we felt we needed to change or do differently. We both have truly learned that pouring out your heart for something you love and for something that you feel the Lord has called you to do is very very very exhausting! But we loved every moment of it... and even forced down coffee to keep us awake a energized! We know that as leaders we need to be serious and mature but we also need to be able to have a blast and act crazy and insane! God has truly blessed us with the gift of patience over these past couple of days our hearts are changed!
We are very much looking forward to the upcoming year together as a girls group! We believe that God has some very exciting and life changing things hidden up His sleeve and we can't wait for Him to reveal what that is! It is what it is and we believe that God will have his way!

God Equips the Called...

By: Kristen Groff

Our summer retreat is very quickly approaching and we are getting more and more excited about it as time ticks away! Some of you may or may not know this already, but we have changed our theme for the retreat just recently. Our original theme was "Got Faith?" which was chosen and decided on a couple months ago. At the time, it seemed like a very good topic to discuss, I felt as though it would be a good way to begin not only our second year together as a group but also the school year because it is very important to establish that firm faith foundation!
As time began to move along and I began to prepare for the retreat, I felt as though I had hit this huge wall! Nothing was working out and it seemed as though thousands of obstacles were being placed in the path of planning! Originally, Morgan wasn't planning on beginning to teach until September so I simply went to her to vent about my frustrations and troubles. I shared with her what was going on and she responded by saying that maybe it was time to open up the door for more options and to pray and trust that God would lead us in the right direction... That was four days ago!
Our retreat will be here in approxiamtely 11 days and we have decided to switch themes! Yes, it is very nerve racking but we serve and love a God who is faithful and will lead us in the right direction, helping us to get everything that needs to get done... done! We have no doubts!
In fact, plans are rolling right along very smoothly and this time around, it truly feels right with the Lord! We are getting very excited to share what we have with you and we pray that God would open up and prepare the hearts and minds those girls who are attending on those three days! We believe it could have an incredible impact on the way you live, think, and act!

As we are in the midst of planning a retreat (which is a LOT of work), we've also been preparing our Live Love Room which we will be meeting in starting in September! It's almost finished, we just need to add a few final touches... but the closer we get to being done, the more real it becomes.
I'm not saying that last year, it wasn't real, but when you suddenly have a teenage girls ministry room in your basement, lessons to plan, events to organize, and 15+ teenage girls who the Lord is calling you to lead... things can get a little crazy, even frightening. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being a part of what God has led me to do! But, being honest, I worry a lot about whether or not I am doing anything right. I stress about whether or not I'm good enough to be a leader for these beautiful and unique girls. I question how I got here and what is going to happen next.
I know that I need to put those concerns and worries at the feet of Jesus but when reality mixes with your relationship with God, certain concepts butt heads and don't add up. I went into the almost finished Live Love Room the other night to get some planning done but ended up sitting, curled up in a ball, in the middle of the room. I felt so incredibly small in this massive world and suddenly, I felt as though I was back where I had started before Live Love ever began, wondering how God could use someone like me as part of His Kingdom.
Let me tell you this, when the Lord places a dream on your heart, calls you into the unknown of what He has planned, commands you to step out of your comfort zone, and do something that seems completely unreasonable in reality's terms... Follow! The relationship will prove itself faithful! Often times I wonder what I am doing right with my relationship with God because so often I'm reminded that I am inadequate and unworthy of the life that I have and the joy that I've been given, but every time I am reminded of my faults and failures, I am pointed into the direction of a greater God who is the one who is in control and who makes my life have some sort of purpose. Without Him, I would be on a road of Nothing, heading in the direction of Pointless.
Live Love has come a long way. It has changed and continued to grow in ways that I still can't wrap my mind around! Last year at this time, I never would've thought that during my first year in highschool, I would be spending most of my time leading a girls Bible Study... but I have come a long way myself. I didn't wake up one morning and tell myself that I was ready to begin a teenage girls group. I couldn't sleep one night and it felt as though God was saying "Ready or not, this is what I want you to do" and in one night, the idea of Live Love was born. I still wouldn't consider myself "ready" to lead a group of girls... but that's the point. God is continually teaching me new lessons everyday that He wants me to share and He is continuing to deepen the Hunger that I have to know Him more!
God does not call the Equipped to fulfill His plans... He doesn't wait until you know every single detail of the Bible. He doesn't wait for you to make up your mind of whether or not you WANT to do something... He simply equips the Called, asks you to trust in Him, and proves Himself faithful. Live Love is proof of that!

What is God calling you to do?

Lititz Branch

By: Kristen Groff

Morgan and I recently got the priviledge to be in a photo shoot taken by our dear friend, Taylor Howett (check out her blog and facebook page!) & the pictures of course!

Anyways, the real reason for this post... Many of you already know this, but Morgan Garman had joined the Live Love Ministry Team towards the beginning of summer! Up until then, I had been running Live Love completely myself.
I had received a message about a week ago from two girls from the Lititz area. They're about a year younger than Morgan and I, which is perfectly okay, they are at the same spot we were last year! But they had sent me a message about possible beginning their own youth group kind of group. The really cool part about this, is that we've been praying that we would be able to expand and branch off into other communitites! I suggested that they begin a Lititz branch of Live Love and they were totally up for the idea!
We went out to dinner with them tonight and we got the opportunity to get to know them more, hear more ideas, and talk a little about Live Love. It was cool to see how much they reminded us of ourselves and it is so encouraging to experience others wanting a take a lead in their community! We're excited about the future that God has for Live Love!
"Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  -Matthew 28:19-20
We will stand as ONE and we will change the world!

New Room!

By: Kristen Groff

This year we are super excited because we have our very own personal Live Love Meeting Room! We'll be unvailing the final product to everyone on August 19th but for now, we're putting all our effort into creating it to be Live Love Style!

A Name with a Purpose

By: Kristen Groff

We call ourselves Live Love for a reason and it isn't just because it has a catchy little ring to it or because we have a cool little logo, but because God commands us to Live Love daily. It's the life style He desires us to have. As a group we talk about Love quite often, but it is important for us to remember and to continue to be reminded how Jesus wants us to love... even if we do feel like we overuse it sometimes.
I was thinking back to last summer when we had our God Girl book group, before Live Love even existed. As a book group, we focused on becoming the girl that God sees and who God wants us to be. We discussed different topics such as "The Girl who knows Love", "The Girl who knows True Happiness", "The Girl who knows Herself", etc. As I was thinking about how we've come over the past year, I thought back to the section of the God Girl book that focusing on Love. Repeatedly, it states that Love takes practice! We are naturally sinful people and we are prone to making mistakes. We are not going to be able to begin this life style of Love perfectly... especially on our first try.
Our Live Love Group focuses on the Bible verses 1 John 4:7-21 so I returned to my Bible to see what I could dig up on Love. I found that we have spent so much time focusing on those verses specifically that we have kind of forgotten that we have the rest of the chapter, not to mention the rest of the Book! I glanced at another chapter in my Bible and the title of the section caught my eye. It said "When we practice Real Love". I began to read that section...
"My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves." -1 John 3:18-19 (The Message)
Love takes practice. We're not perfect and we're gonna make mistakes! There will be times when our feelings will win us over and we won't feel like having a good attitude or loving our neighbor. But when we set our hearts and minds on wanting to follow God's command to Live out Love, then He constantly walks with us and helps us to improve and share more of our hearts and His heart with others around. By desiring to live our lives the way that Jesus wants us to, we begin to lead healthy and holy lives.
When we focus on loving our neighbors, we do NOT love them because of who they are but we love them because of who Jesus is and what He has done for us! I just finished reading the book "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis and he makes a great point. He says that God loves us but He doesn't always like us. He loves us in the fact that He created us and we are His masterpiece but He doesn't always like the things we do or the things we say. It's the same with ourselves. We love ourselves but we don't always like the things we do or the way we look or the things we say or the habits we have. We have to do the same for our neighbor. We need to love our neighbor even if we don't like our neighbor. Naturally, we are drawn to people who we are fond of, those people who have great personalities and we feel like we can relate to. But, what is the point of loving the lovable in a dying world?
When I think about the word 'Love', I immediatly think of heart-to-heart talks, snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie kind of thing. That's not what Jesus is commanding us to do. He is commanding us to show kindness and compassion to those around us. To treat them like we would want to be treated.
& when we truly begin to practice this love, then we become to breath of Christ in the world. When we all come together, as a body of Christ, we will be the hands and feet of Jesus to the lonely, the rejected, the freaks, the unlovable. Soon, our world will change and the love of Christ will come naturally.
The world does not recognize us by what we tell them. Just because we call ourselve Christians, doesn't mean they will believe us and it doesn't mean that we live it out. The world will recognize us by our actions... even when we feel as though no one is watching.
"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." -John 13:35