Fall Breakness

The last day of Fall Break. Is. Today.
Nooooooo!!!!
As much as I don't want this lovely break to end,
I am so thankful for the opportunities God has given me this past week.
Let me tell you about a few of them.
It's rather exciting.

Last Sunday I drove out to Tenessee to spend some time with some close friends of mine.
The Patricks.
They are an amazing family with a passion for God.
And I got to spend a lot of time with them.
Anyway, so I got there on Sunday night, and got to see the movie Courageous with them and their awesome church.
(The movie was awesome btw. Highly recommend it. I honestly would have loved a different ending though. Ha. It was a little abrupt for me.)
After the movie we just got to hang out for a little while before I was exhausted enough to go to sleep.

Monday was my only day to get homework done.
When I left Wake Forest, I was totally expecting to get a lot of homework done.
I guess I just set too high expectations. Haha.
Anyway, I spend the day reading my history and philosophy books.
Thrilling, right?
But, oddly enough, it was very relaxing.
It was great to be in a different environment than what I was used to.
So it was good.
When the family got home from work/school I was able to spend some time with them,
so that made the day even better.

Tuesday was my birthday!
Yay! It was a good day!
I got to hang out with the Patricks all day long.
We went up into the Smokey mountains and drove around for a while,
got ice cream, and then later some cake.
And it was just good to be around people I'm close to
since I couldn't be around my family back home.

Wednesday was a day just hanging out.
And then...at night I spoke to their youth group.
Scary!
I am not a huge fan of talking in front of groups of people.
But, I hope, God spoke through me and said what He wanted to say.
It was good though.
It was great to be around a youth group again,
I had forgotten how much I loved helping with the youth
and kinda leading out with stuff.
It's been such a long time since I had done anything like that.
Maybe God will bring a job along that has to do with a youth group sometime in the future.
Hopefully.

Thursday I spent the day with Karen!
We went to Knoxville and hung out for a while.
Oh, and we got Rita's.
The heavenly tasting stuff. That's right.
That night we went to a banquet for a local rescue mission type foundation.
It was pretty nifty.
THEN we dyed each others hairs. Ha.
So, I am no longer a blonde.
I am back to a brown-ish color.
And I am loving it.
Just so you all know.

And then Friday, I had to come home.
Sadness.
It was hard to say goodbye, especially since it felt like I just got there.
But I definitely know I will be going back soon.
I need to see all the Christmas lights the town puts up.
Seriously.
I've been told that they're lit from late October to February.
I need to see this for myself.
And I will.
Soon.

Friday was the LONGEST day ever.
I was in the car about an hour and a half longer than I should have been due to traffic on I-40.
Lame sauce.
But I made it home, and that night I crashed.

Saturday Mary Grace came to see me!!
She drove all the way from Columbia
to see me!!
We just hung out for a while.
We went to Moe's for lunch,
got some Rita's!
And then went shopping.
We went to Goodwill where
she got spoons -- so silly,
and I got a new cabinet! (Ah!)
I was tired of crouching down for my fridge...
so I got something for it to stand on. (And I now have more storage.)
Holla!
Anyway, it was a good day with her visit.
And I am so very glad that I got to see her.

Anyway, my very exciting opportunities were these:
-speaking to a youth group
-slowing down for a while to actually listen to His voice
-encouraging some friends (the Patricks and MG)
-sleeping (a lot)

I know they may not sound too exciting.
But oh, they were.
Especially the second one I listed.
I really needed some time away from all the noise of my life here at school:
all the professors, preachers, chapels, friends, and books.
I needed some time with my Savior
to process what He had told me over the past few weeks/months
as well as see what He wanted me to do about it all.
And He gave me some clarity about some things.
So I am very thankful for that.
I'm still not sure about a lot of things though.
But that's okay.
He is sovereign.
And that's all I need to know.
He's going to guide me, take care of me, and help me follow Him.

One of the things I really needed clarity on was a program I thought I wanted to do.
I was looking into the Hands-On program
through IMB.
It's a really cool program,
and I thought I would really love to do it.
So I started and finished the application process.
But something just didn't seem right.
But I couldn't put my finger on it.
And all of a sudden, my life started getting really busy and I didn't have as much time to pray about it with God, but I knew He was trying desperately to tell me something about this program.
So going away, getting away from the familiar, the noise, I was able to hear God speak to me.
I had all the wrong motives for doing this program.
It was a selfish desire to do missions that was promoting me to go.
I've always wanted to do foreign missions.
And this was my big chance to do so.
How wrong I was.
And God showed me that while I was away.
I'm where He wants me.
I don't know how long I'll be here. But this is where He wants me to be for the school years.
Now the summer is a completely different subject.
Also while I was away, God was telling me "Go."
Go where?
I have no idea yet.
Well that's not true. I do have an idea.
But I'm praying about it.
A lot.
But this is one of those things that I know God will make clear as time passes.

God is moving and working in my life.
He's up to something big right now.
But I have no idea what it is.
I feel something big happening.
And I am excited to see what it is.
Ha. I don't do well with surprises.
I'm too curious about them.
God knows what He's doing though.
Of that I am confident.
I trust Him.