Almost a Year Later...

I've just realized
that I never did an
intro of my roommate.
Ha. Go Bekah!
Anyway,
she wasn't my roommate
the second half of my first
semester or my second
semester.
BUT
we're going to be roommates
again soon!

So, maybe it is time
that I share a little bit
about her.

This is a picture of Rachel and me.
From last October.
Obviously,
my blonde hair has grown out
quite a bit since then,
but Rachel looks pretty much the
same.
And since then,
we've become a whole lot
closer.
A whole lot.

Rachel is amazing.
She is so very passionate about the Lord,
about serving Him,
and about sharing the Gospel with others.
She has encouraged me through
so many hard times,
and she's been there to pray for me
and lift me up before the Father
when I didn't have the strength to
go before Him myself.
Rachel is by far so much more
outgoing than I am.
But I am so thankful for it.
The Lord knew that I would
need someone to help
break me out of my
shell and help me get
to know other people.
She's been a great friend to me,
and I am so very thankful
that the Lord brought her into
my life a year ago!

(It's been a little over a year
since I first started talking to Rachel.
We first started emailing, and,
I have to say,
it was awkward.
But, it was then that
the Lord started blooming
a wonderful
friendship.)

Anyway,
I thought I would go ahead
and share some about her.

Blessings.
(Oh, and if y'all could be praying
for her, that would be awesome!
She's working in VA as a youth intern
at a church, and it's her last couple of weeks,
so, pray for strength to finish out strong
for the Lord.)

His Faithfulness

has been evident to me
once again.
So, my last post,
I was trying to see the
joy in not having a job.
I was trying to use my
time wisely in spending it
with the Lord
and in growing closer to Him.
Well,
I saw the Lord's faithfulness
proven once again.

This past Monday,
I remembered that a smoothie shop
at a mall was hiring.
So I stopped by and dropped
off my resume.
That night,
I was asked to come in
on Tuesday for an
interview.
Tuesday I went in
for an interview,
and I walked away
with a job.
My first day was
Wednesday.
He is faithful.
For reals.
I was not expecting that at all.
At all.
He let everything fall into
place
so
quickly.
I am thankful.
I am amazed.
He is so good.
He is provider.
And I can't stop thanking
Him for this opportunity.

And not only that,
I'm pretty sure I found an apartment
that my friends and I want to
live in.
And it wasn't even me who found it.
I had never heard of these
before,
but my friend looked into them.
And it looks like it's all going to work out.
I'm still waiting to find out for sure.
But, as of right now,
it's looking good.
More to come on this.
But, I'm excited.
Really excited.

And.
My parents are looking for another church.
And it's so incredible to hear
about this new journey
the Lord is taking them on.
It really is.
I listened to my dad
talk for a while about the church
they've been visiting.
And he's just so
excited about it.
It's such a joy to hear them
talk with excitement about going
to church and trying to get involved.
God's grace has been so
evident in my family's life
over the past 6 months or so.
I wish I could be there to see
it firsthand.
But I'm so thankful that I get to
watch God move and work in their
lives.
Even if it's from
a distance.
So great.

Anyway,
God is good.
I'm more than amazed.

Blessings.

Joblessness

does not suit me.

I like to be constructive 

with my time.

And not having something 

to do, 

someone to work for

has been rather difficult.

Because if I don't 

have some sort of a schedule

or some reason to get up

and go, 

I don't. 

I tend to just hang around

and just chill in my pj's all day.

It's a dangerous place to be in.

Which is why I'm thankful

that friends have been wanting 

to meet up with me and go do things

the past couple of days. 

It gives me something else to do

other than sit in front of my 

computer all day filling out 

endless applications

for jobs. 

Looking for a job is always something 

that the Lord uses

to build patience in my life. 

Always.

It's so frustrating. 

I want it to work that when I 

apply for a job, 

I hear back from them

within a couple of days

and have them tell me yes or no.

Often, I just get the response of no. 

Which can be even more frustrating. 

I want to get a job. 

I want to be able to pay bills 

and be a productive member of 

society...

do they not see that?

Anyway, 

as I was re-reading Hebrews today, 

the Lord reminded me of Sarah's plight.

Hebrews 11:11 says

"By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised." (Emphasis added.)

Sarah was an old woman. 

God promised her that she

would have a son. 

And she had 

the audacity to 

believe

Him. 

Sarah didn't have the faith

in her body to help her have 

her son. 

But she had faith 

in the God of the universe. 

She believed that the 

Lord is faithful

and that He would follow

through on His promises. 

Now, I'm not saying that 

God has promised me a job. 

But I do know that He has 

promised to take care of all

my needs. 

He will be there for me 

through this time of uncertainty. 

And I can completely trust in Him.

And that is absolutely fantastic. 

I choose to believe in the 

One who holds the stars 

in His hands. 

As I continued along 

in my journey through

Hebrews,

the Lord reminded me

that I can still be constructive 

in all the downtime I have.

Hebrews 12:1-2 says

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
During this time, I can fix 

my eyes on the Prize:

Jesus. 

I can choose to spend 

my time with Him 

instead of wasting it away 

with hours spent on the internet

or watching movies.

I can be faithful in 

prayer and getting in the Word

and in encouraging my friends 

in their walks with the Lord. 

What an encouraging time!

Instead of worrying about not 

having a job, I can

spend it diving into a deeper 

relationship with the One I love.

As I continued in my reading, 

I read

Hebrews 12:28-29:

"Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire."

In the past, I always started 

freaking out 

after not hearing back from 

anyone after a week about

a job. 

But looking back, 

I have always seen

how the Lord

provided the right

job in His time. 

So. 

This time, 

I want it to be different. 

I don't want to freak out. 

But I want to choose to be grateful

for what the Lord is doing in my life. 

I want to be grateful

that He's going to use this time to grow me

and continue to shape me 

more into the likeness of His Son. 

I already have "a kingdom that cannot be shaken"

because it's found in the Creator. 

So whatever happens on this 

earth just doesn't compare. 

I shouldn't worry about these things. 

But I should focus on Him. 

Along those same lines,

Hebrews 13:5 says

"Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, 'I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.'"

Right now, 

I need to be content with what I have. 

It's not much. 

But still, 

the Lord has given it to me. 

So I need to be the best steward

of what I have. 

And I need to be thankful to Him

for blessing me in this way. 

He is good. 

He deserves all praise and glory. 

Psalm 145

I will extol You, my God, O King, and I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts.

On the glorious splendor of Your majesty and on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, and I will tell of Your greatness. They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness and will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.

The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, and Your godly ones shall bless You. They shall speak of the the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power; to make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts and the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

The Lord Sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. 

The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. The Lord keeps all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever. 

Hebrews 13:20-21

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Blessings.

Birds

Yes,
I have been thinking
about birds.
Weird,
right?
Well.
I kinda think
that it is too.
But I think
it kinda has to do
with the fact that
I'm not seeing them
as often as I
have been the past
month...

You see,
birds were everywhere
in Samoa.
Not only in the
trees, though.
They were running
around on the ground too.
All kinds of birds.
They all made noise.
ALL OF THEM.
And it was ridiculous
at times.
But I'm starting to think
of it as the "city" noises
of Samoa.
Instead of sirens
and the noise of a city
that I'm so used to,
I got to listen to birds
calling out to each other
in the middle of the night.
I wasn't too keen on
them while I was there.
They were rather annoying.
And I'm not really saying
that I miss them...
cause I don't really miss being
woken up
at 2 or 4 in the morning
because a bird of sorts
parked itself outside of my window
and started making noise.
But it's just different not having
those dumb birds
around.

So.
I miss the birds.
In a very weird way.
Because it means more
that I miss Samoa.

Samoa has been on my heart.
And it will continue to be there.
For a long while.


Blessings. 

The Lord

is up to something
great in my life.
But I still don't
understand
what it is.
I know that
He's refining me
and purifying my heart.
He's drawing me
deeper into Him.
And I am so very
thankful.
But I know that He's
doing something
more.
But I just don't know.

Before I left for AmSam,
I wrote a lengthy
prayer to God.
This is a small excerpt:

"Give me faith to trust You with this summer. God, I want to see great things happen. I want to see You move and work in great and amazing ways. Prepare my heart for what I am going to see. Prepare my life for how You are going to move, re prioritize, and change me."

I was walking
completely by
faith when I said
that I would go out
to AmSam.
I knew a little bit
about where it was
and a few other facts.
But that was about it.
I didn't know much about
the culture
or the people.
But I knew that the Lord would
take care of me,
because He loves me.
I really was freaking out before
I left though.
So I prayed that He would
give me the faith
to trust Him.
I was going to learn to
be dependent on God this summer.
I was also going to learn what
was really important in my life.

Oh how the Lord blesses!
He taught me lessons.
Lessons that I will never forget.
Lessons on:
1. dependence
2. true beauty
3. priorities
4. rest
5. simplicity
6. finishing strong

I'll end up writing a blog post
about each of the lessons.
I'm sure they'll be full
of stories
and Scripture,
and maybe some pictures.
Basically, they'll just
be about what the Lord
has laid on my heart to share
about each of those things.

But.
The Lord answered my prayer.
But not fully.

There's still almost two months left
of summer.
There's still time for Him
to work.
And even though summer
only has two months left...
I still have the rest of my life
to be refined by His Spirit.
That is a journey of
a lifetime.
And I'm so glad I get to
embark on it
every
single
day.

Blessings.

Random Observations

while travelling are
generally
a funny thing for me.
Especially when I'm alone.
The first flight
I at least knew I had
people I knew
in the same plane.
On the other two,
that just wasn't the case.
So I thought.
A lot.
And I read my book.
A lot.
I also made some random observations.
Just about anything and everything.

This is my list:

9am.
1. I prefer travelling with other people. I had never really flown with people I knew before today, and it made everything better. So. I think I need to start travelling with others more often.
2. It's negative 77 degrees outside right now. Granted, I'm inside a pressurized plane cabin. But still. Negative 77. That's pretty crazy.
3. I love, love, love looking outside at the water below me. Praise God I got a window seat! He is so good!
4. I miss Brandon's smile. It always made my day a little better.
5. I miss Jenn and Sarah. Probably more than I should. But I miss them terribly.
6. But I'm so excited to see my family soon!

10am
7. I'm not 7000 miles away from home anymore! Holla!
8. I'm really in the mood for some coffee. Like, for reals.
9. I can listen to the same song over and over and over if I like it enough. I know, I'm weird.
10. I kinda can't wait to have a Dion's salad for dinner tonight.
11. I miss driving along the coast road. It was always beautiful seeing the ocean and the mountains meet. But I'll be seeing it in my dreams.
12. We're flying high enough in the sky that I can see that the sky is actually black...for real! When I look up, the sky is black! Way cool!

645pm.
13. I am satisified now that I have had my venti iced coffee from Starbucks.
14. I miss Samoa. Already. That place made an imprint on my heart.

8pm.
15. Air conditioning is actually really cold...haha. After a month of "a/c" being fans blowing hot air at me...this is really rather chilly.

855pm.
16. So. A few blogs ago when I said that I would never be a teacher...well, I was wrong. I've been reading a lot. And the Lord has really placed on my heart that I need to confess that I was being selfish. I was being insecure. My security is found in Him. So, if the Lord leads me down that path, then I will follow Him. Because in my own human strength, I could never be a teacher. But if He led in that direction, then as I pursue after Him, He would take over. In my weakness, He is strong. So the Lord could use my weak teaching abilities to shine His light so brightly in the dark world.

Just a few of my random thoughts.

Blessings.

[B-t-dubs,
it is
SO
incredible to be
HOME.
I'm soaking in
every
single
second
of it.]