Introducing Hilary Shewfelt

As some of you reading may already know, I have the incredible opportunity to serve along side everyone at Harvest Bible Chapel Glasgow for the next 6 months. I know without question that I'm entering into a season that will bring about lots of changes, my share of challenges, and great growth to my personal relationship with the Lord.

With that said, I thought it would be best to share a little bit more about myself. Myself and my brother and sisters were all blessed to be adopted by loving, christian parents. Thus, going to church was always part of our lives. I always loved going to sunday school and things like holiday Bible clubs, but never took the time to really understand all that was being taught. As I entered the later years of elementary school, I was so focused on myself: my image, getting into the "in" crowd, my own plans/agenda etc and was really living as a "Sunday" christian most of the time.

Then one night at my youth group we had a Bible study on how much God loves us. It was that night that I truly understood all that Christ did for me on the cross and surrendered my life over to him. It was the first time to that I really saw just how personal the Lord is and how he and cares so intimately for me.

Both high school and university were pretty smooth sailing for me so to speak. I was always surrounded by a great church family and christian friends that encouraged me as I daily walked with the Lord. After my three years of university, I came head on with a road block stopping what I thought was the definite next step for me. All throughout high school I had planned to head to university to get my Bachelor of Arts and complete one year of teachers college. However, after my three years, the door to teachers college shut and I was left in shock and completely discouraged, especially seeing all my friends head off to teachers college. It was at that moment that I was directed to what I now claim as my life verse: Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future" At first, I did not want to believe this as I liked planning my own life and felt I knew what was best for me. But, God has continued to show me that his ways are always higher than my own.

So, after university, I began working in retail and made my way up to management. Once again, I made what I thought was a concrete plan with regards to work and where I would be in the next few years, and then the Lord again lovingly stepped in and put yet another halt to this plan. This job that I thought was so secure suddenly came to an end leaving me to worry about my future and life in general.

After much prayer, the Lord brought me here and I never would have imagined that coming to Scotland and serving at Harvest Glasgow would be the next chapter that the Lord had penned for me. Getting to this point the Lord has taught me a valuable lesson about trust: trusting in him, his plans, and his timing for everything. As I was preparing to come here, there were many times where I would worry about things not coming together and every time i would sense the lord being "really? your worrying again? why?" and in that moment I was brought back to the truth that we serve a sovereign God! A God who is in the little details of our lives right up to the big picture.

As we go through different season of our lives more often than not there is always a scripture verse or worship song that fits so well. For me the song "Give me Faith" by Elevation Worship has really ministered to me, I encourage you to take a listen(the link is posted below). The beginning of the song goes "I need you to open my eyes and see that you're shaping my life. All I am I surrender, give me faith to trust what you say" Along with trust, the Lord also has been teaching me a lot about surrendering. Losing my job, caused me to earnestly cry out to God asking where he was taking me next and once again had me surrendering some of my dreams and desires, things that if i was living life according to Hilary, I would definitely have by now. However, I clearly sense the Lord saying "not yet" to those things as he wants to bring me into this particular season of my faith and continue to work in me.

Proverbs 16:9 says that the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps! this has definitely been the big lesson God has been teaching me over the past several years. I pray you find encouragement in this, that the Lord has such a perfect and detailed plan for each and every one us! Don't be afraid to trust your unknown future to a sovereign God.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you more over the next several months.

You are Loved

Hilary

[embed]http://youtu.be/P8PLBQrzWQ8[/embed]