10,000 pictures

I am sitting in the Ramat Rachel hotel, in Jerusalem, soaking in my last few hours of being in this beautiful country. God has taken all of my expectations for this trip and completely thrown them out the window, He has done more in my heart these last two weeks than I ever thought he would.

I came into this trip expecting the stories of the Bible to come to life before my eyes and to experience all of these "feelings" as I walked the footsteps of Jesus and saw the places where The Israelites triumphed in the most impossible circumstances, because God was on their side, but what I experienced on this trip was so much more than that. Yes, I am now reading the Bible in a new way and I have had the amazing privilege to walk in the land where Jesus was born, lived, preformed miracles, died, rose again and will return one day. My Jesus lived here but now I have the joy of knowing that he lives in me.

This trip has been 10 days of going to amazing places, I've been to: the Valley of Élan, where David fought Goliath, sailed on the Sea of Galilee, hiked to the top of Masada,floated in the Dead Sea, ventured into Caesarea Philippi, saw ruins of ancient palaces, stood in the foot prints of Paul, walked the roads to the cross and stood on the Mt. of Olives where Jesus will return.

Jesus has invaded my heart and shown me the blessings of being able to spend this year at the Joshua Wilderness Institute. I have been surrounded by a community that loves me and puts up with me. I've wrestled, doubted, fought, fallen and challenged God but through all of that He has been incredibly faithful to me. Being in Israel has taken everything that I have been learning about God and myself and has solidified my faith in a way that has never happened before.

Jesus is real and the Gospel is life changing. To know that Jesus was born into a tiny little country and lived the life of a little Jewish boy, learning and growing up to be a man who loved his Father and took twelve unqualified men to be his disciples and study under a Rabbi. He did impossible miracles, healing the blind, making the lame walk and raising people from the dead but more than anything he willingly died a horrible death on a cross and rose again 3 days later. He took on the sins of the world, mine and yours, because he doesn't want people broken by sin, he has given us freedom if only we believe. To see the steps of the gospel played out in front of me left me breathless.

As we went from site to site our Joshua staff kept a constant theme of preparing us to leave Joshua. They reminded us that for 7 months we have been poured into by others and now as we transition into summer staff it's our job to pour into others and build community. It's our job to live out the Shema, love God and love others! We are the influencers, we are the builders. So as we move on into summer and into life after Joshua we must move with God and not be forced into action, or else this year was wasted.

Thank you everyone for you support. You have played a huge role in my life being radically changed.

In His Grip,
Paige

P.S.
I'll be putting up a photo blog soon with details of all my adventures