Found Reason While Freezin'

 So, I took a trip over Spring break to America Last Frontier. To most of you that is Alaska. Before going I had doubts on if I should go, or if that is what God has for my life at this time. Boy was I shocked to find out that it was the one place that God would reveal Himself to me.
  My life has been a roller coaster the past few months. I have experienced things that everyone experiences. However, for me it happened all at the same time or so it seemed. The biggest thing was learning to love myself before I can open myself up completely to others to show them love. In Matthew 22:37-39 is probably one of the most known sections of scripture. It state," Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love thy neighbor as yourself.'" This is one of the hardest things for me. I am not comfortable with who I am. Since Alaska I am finding who I am and how to love God first and myself and others second.
   Alaska is one of the most beautiful places in North America. Everyday I would wake up and step outside the church where the team I was working with stayed and would exclaim WOW. This wasn't completely because I was taken aback because of the beauty. It was mostly because I saw how HUGE God is and how small I am. Several years ago I read a book about this very fact. It opened my eyes then but I didn't grasp the magnitude of that simple fact.
   More times than once I was working on the daily project, walking around the neighborhood, or walking in the wilderness I found that God was telling me, "Love yourself, Obey Me, Love yourself." It wasn't until I returned that I found that I was not obeying God.
   Now that you have the basis of why and what I experienced let me tell you the fun stuff. On the first official day there the team was given the opportunity to do something completely unique from anyone. We were able to go dog mushing. The same type as done in the Iditarod dogsled race. The feeling of being pulled by a team that is solely working toward one goal is exhilarating. I really believe it set up the way the rest of the trip turned. out. While we were not on the sled at the same time our team without noticing it learned the true meaning of team work. See the days  following the team was faced with baking, inserting information into a computer, painting, cleaning buildings, and being split for a night. Yes, there were times we grumbled amongst ourselves and grumbling about the work. We bonded as a team that could accomplish anything. The last day of actual work we were assigned to paint a youth room some interesting colors. We accomplished the task in way under the time that the church thought that we would. That day we worked more as a team than any other day.
     In conclusion, God did amazing things not only in my life but in the life of a team that is stronger now than when we first jumped on a plane in Atlanta and flew to Anchorage, Alaska. I am learning to love myself so that the love I have inside myself will flow out to others around me. God is amazing and his grace is greater than anything we can fathom. Know that I love all of you whoever you are reading this and I know that God will do great things in your life.