Big day for Elliot

Today is a special day for the household I live in. Why?

One of their daughters/sister had her baby boy today!! How precious and special this day is for them.

Before they went over to the hospital to meet their new grandson, they finished up with some gifts they were bringing him. She had a book for him, and she wrote his name in it. (supper cute..) On the back she wrote... "We Love You Elliot!"

Something really struck me about that the moment I saw it.

They hadn't even been to the hospital yet. They hadn't seen him, held him, breathed in his baby smell, or met him before. Ever.

but they already love him.

(you might thinking of course they do!)

But I was just really thinking about it. They love him simply because he is theirs. He's their grandson. He's her nephew. It didn't even matter that they hadn't even met him. He was loved simply because he belonged to them. (and he is fiercely loved.)

How much more does God love us because we are His!! He loved us before we existed. It doesn't matter what we do. It doesn't matter what we look like. He. LOVES. us. Simply because

We. are. HIS.

We belong to Him and we are His children.

Love, love, love this truth.

Try to make that sink in for you and rest in it!

Now and then

One of my most favorite things about keeping a blog, is the ability to be able to look back and see how I truly felt and what was going on at any given day in the past year or so.

It's always amazing. I don't know about anyone else, but I totally get encouraged by my own words..! ha. Anyone else ever experience that?

I saw someone's fb status about how she's just taken a final... I remember that she has to take them now because she's a junior block student like I was at this time last year... about to go into field placement. I was curious how I might have been feeling at this time last year.. so I took a peek.

I didn't say nearly as much (barely anything actually...) about my finals as I would have thought. BUT at this time last year I was going through some major anxiety about the future. I was so focused on where to live, what to do... it was so scary for me because I didn't know what God had in store.

but ALAS! Here I am today! A year later and still OKAY. I'm alive, I made it through the transition of graduation. I have a place to live... and God IS good.

In another post from November last year I was seriously depressed. I don't know how long you've been reading, but you might remember, I got depressed pretty frequently. I'm so thankful that those feelings are few and far between these days (I think my anxiety meds play a big role in that..)

It was encouraging to go back and read those posts today because, honestly, I didn't have a great day. Some days, I have a TON of down time..( days 5,6,1) and I literally have nothing to do. It gets really frustrating and by the end of the day I was basically running out of there because I couldn't take it any longer.. (I think the fact that it's Friday had something to do with that too)

THEN....wait for it..

On my way out the door that I always leave from, the alarm went off. You've got to be

k i d d i n g

me right? yeah. that happened. I don't have a key to turn it off either.

Anyway...I read this from my blog last year and was encouraged:

I really heard God's voice this morning saying "COME TO ME IN ALL TIMES!!"
He wants me to come when I'm anxious. He wants me to come when I'm fearful. He wants me to come when I'm lonely. He even wants me to come when I'm bitter. Or when I'm angry, or even jealous. God WANTS ME TO COME! At ALL TIMES! Whatever it is I'm doing or feeling, it doesn't matter, He wants it. He wants me. There is nothing He can do if I choose to keep those things in my heart. He can't grow those roots in me if I don't bring these things.

How completely perfect?

What a great reminder that God even wants me to come to him with this.

I left feeling a tad frustrated and way insecure (again that feeling of not being needed..it creates insecurity for me...) and God is like...come to me. I want even this. I know how you're feeling.

But you know, what's awesome about this job, is that I still believe God wants me there. And I take comfort in that often. People at work ask me if I like it...if I wished I would have stayed on the sub list.. but it's not really about that.

I KNOW with my whole heart that this is where I am supposed to be, and so this is where I am. (and where I WANT to be)

It's a neat thing when you're in God's will.

I hope you can take some comfort in these things today.

God had my life on the right road last year when I was struggling to see how the pieces fit, and He has it now, still.

:)

**And now I will enjoy my weekend of fellowship at RR, hiking with ABF, babysitting, and RELAXING! Let the fun commence.

Blessings for Sunday

I just love and appreciate people so much. That's not directed at anyone specifically, I just really love people.

This was a pretty "crowded" weekend. Saturday they had a joint baby shower at the house here, so I met a ton of people I didn't know, and ate a ton of really yummy homemade food.

Saturday night I got to hang out with a camp friend and we had so much fun. It was great to see her. We walked around MU's pond, went to the mall, and watched a hilarious movie on tv called "New in Town". I had never seen it, but I loved it.

I also got to finally do another "photo shoot". Nothing too big, just a random one, but I'm excited to look at the pictures and edit them. They are of my friend and her bf.

Today was busy, but I'm so grateful for a few reasons.

1) I'm really enjoying going to church at CBC. - I love the ABF (adult fellowship group) I'm a part of in the morning, even though I barely know anyone yet, I love it and hope to form some good relationships there eventually. Today we talked about the importance of words and how they can come at just the right time, or not the right time.

In church the message was on Grace. More on that later.

2) I got to see amazing girls who I am blessed to call friends. -We went to Panera for Jamie's b-day and then went to the park and took pictures. It was such a gorgeous fall day today!

3) Life group tonight was pretty spectacular. I love the group of girls God has pulled together, in all our differences. We all get a long so well, and it's so awesome to talk about God in a group setting again, and to bond with others in different ways. Sooo neat.

Yayyy God. :)

Things I'm excited for...

I am SO excited....

..to sleep in a BED tonight. :D Like you have no.idea.

(for the past four nights I have been sleeping on either the floor or couch bc of this moving business)

..to be HOME, finally.

..to be working at camp this summer with a really close friend who I know from school that will be joining our staff!

..to listen to my senior commissioning prayer again and again. We got the recordings on a CD. :)

..to eat REAL, delicious, home cooked meals. It has been far. too. long.

..to not ever have to deal with thousand leggers (at least not for a looooong time)in my apartment at school anymore!

..to enjoy what will most likely be my last full summer at home with my parents.

..to get to practice more photography and set up a website. :)

..to play my guitar again!

yayyy! So much excitement.

Which is nice because it balances out how exhausted I am.
Today I went to the zoo with my 1st graders from student teaching! It was truly the best, and I loved seeing them all again, especially my coop! Pictures to come!

Everlasting Arms

Happy Sunday!
I normally wouldn't blog at Sunday at this time, but I have a little bit yet until it's time to leave for church and for some reason my fingers are "itching" to blog. haha.. I think I'm becoming slightly addicted.

Yesterday was a really good day! There was a scary incident that happened in the morning though. I was on my way to R&R at around 7:30ish and most of the road was well and safe, but there were some patches covered with snow/ice that had been blowing from the day before. (from all the flat farm lands) Well I was going about 50 mph, because honestly the roads didn't seem bad. All of a sudden though I hit a patch of snowy-icey-ness and my car started to skid. I was going so fast so I couldn't just slam on the break, but I was slowly applying it as I kept trying to right my car. I was swerving all over the place and then eventually my car did a 180 and completely turned around. It was terrifying. I was so close to going into the snow bank but luckily my car stopped just before. There were even some cars around but I didn't hit anybody! They stopped to let me turn back around.
You might be asking, and THIS is a good day?! But guys, GOD WAS SO WITH ME!!! I was a little shaken still once I got to the retreat but I was so amazed. God kept me and the other drivers around me safe. I didn't hit anybody or anything. I was shaken, but also kept quite calm (ONLY by God!!) I was completely okay, and God was with me through that entire situation!!! =) Praise Jesus!

The retreat was so good too. Jenny talked about weeds. (The weed of worry, want, and wealth in our lives) and how weeds and God both need the same sort of things to "grow" or take over. Like attention, and things of that nature. Those "weeds" don't stand a chance of growing and taking over our lives when we are spending our time/attention in God and keeping faith. Also spending time in His word is crucial.

Aside from the fantastic message I also got to see some lovely ladies who I LOVE so much. :) It was wonderful.

Afterwards Amanda and I went to pottery works/bead works. We did the bead works rather than the pottery and it was SO fun! The whole room was literally FULL of beads, every kind you could imagine. You just go around and pick the beads you want, keeping track of the pricing. (most on average ranged from .10 to .70 cents.) We spent so long picking out the beads because there were so many to choose from! We each made a couple watch bands and the lady showed us how to finish them off. We're pretty basically bead experts at this point. ;)

Later in the day I also got to hang out with my roommate from last year, Kasey. It was a good time. We had dinner here, went to the mall/Walmart, made brownies, played some DEAL, and watched a movie. :) I'd say we were very successful.

So that was my Saturday. I just couldn't wait to write about God and His goodness!
On a whole other note, I memorized my verse, and I was thinking about it more, and realized how LAME I was for thinking I could only do one verse for January. So I decided I will do TWO even though I'm jumping on a little late. I'll pick my other verse at some point today and put that on up there. :)

I will follow you

Hello World:) (or the few people that read this)

I wanted to write something this week and then I constantly got distracted and kept forgetting and I'm only just now sitting down by myself to write a little something.

(Because I want to keep up with this "at least writing on Sunday" thing. :)

I read a lot of great scriptures this week.

This verse in particular from 1 Kings stuck out in mind this week from my readings:

11And He said, Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;

12And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a sound of gentle stillness and] a still, small voice.

I even wrote out the verses and drew/colored them to depict the wind and the fire and such. :) It's hanging on my wall right now.

I really love the reminder that God is always with us, and He is always speaking, but sometimes He does speak in a whisper and we have to listen for His voice to really hear Him.

God really spoke to my heart this week through a song called "Can't live without You" by Bebo Norman. My favorite part, and the one that stuck out most was a the bridge that says

"Can you hold on? Can you hold onto me? Because You hold everything"

Not only does it sound awesome in the song but God constantly reminded this week that He IS holding onto me. He's GOT me. Through every trial, every fear, every presentation, and every frustration...God IS holding me. What a comfort!


This was a great weekend. It was so refreshing and such a nice mental break from junior block. (it sort of makes me feel like I didn't do enough work this weekend but it was worth it I think)

Saturday morning was r&r which is always wonderful. The theme this month is to "Prepare for a productive planting".
We talked (well Jenny talked) all about how a gardener(God) prepares (our hearts) for productive "planting".

There are four steps that we will go through each week to have the "soil" reach the spiritual condition. (ok as I'm writing this it sounds confusing, but trust me it sounds way more confusing than it really is)

But anyway, God wants us to bear fruit and in order for that to happen we have to first make sure our hearts are right. (this month's process is to get our hearts right)
It seems like it will be interesting to go through the booklet and hopefully as I do I'll be able to journal about stuff I figure out. For example, from just quickly glancing at the book, this week I feel like I'll figure out if and which parts of my heart have become calloused..

so yeah...we'll see how it goes.

The verse that I found so comforting from that morning was in 1 Corinthians 3:11

"For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."

I can try to prepare my heart all I want on my own, but it does NO good! Because no foundation can be laid besides the one that God had already laid!

It's pretty sweet stuff.


Besides that I got to play on ucf worship team this morning and it was SO GREAT! :)

I seriously loved it. It was so much fun and I love finally doing what I feel like God had wanted me to do with this "gift" He's given me all along. (this will be another post, for another day though) ha

I'm getting sleepy.

But. I feel so blessed.

There is absolutely nothing better than being in this place of trusting God with my whole life. The grace that He continues to pour out always astounds me and I am forever grateful. I'm so thankful for my roommates and I really love them both a ton! It's been so fun living with them. Kay and I had some awesome worship time tonight, and it was so unplanned and that was the best part.=)
I'm so thankful for all the amazing friendships God has pieced together in my life. I couldn't ask for anyone better than the amazing women of God who constantly encourage me and help remind me what love is.
I'm sooo incredibly thankful that God has got a hold of my life and that He already knows the way. He's walked the path before me and He's come back to walk it with me. Amen! :)