Monday, March 31, 2014

{ missions }

Please take a moment to read about my trip to Cuba...

http://www.gofundme.com/7ymdh8

Sunday, March 23, 2014

letting go.

sometimes, before we can move on, we have to go back.
this weekend I went to the women's at-home retreat at my church & the guest speaker was Ruth Graham. (Bill Graham's daughter)
Ruth spoke of the trials and hardships that she has faced throughout her life, and she wove the story of the prodigal son into her testimony. she went from walking away from the Lord and being the prodigal son, to coming back to Christ and becoming the older brother.
the prodigal son's older brother is a picture of bitterness and resentment, something we all deal with at one time or another.

{unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die}

sometimes, we have to return to the hard places.
not literally, well, maybe literally. there are places in the past in which we don't want to go, or go too often and they end up eating us from the inside out.
it is then that we have to revisit these hard places, but not alone.
allow Christ to carry you through the hard places because this is where healing begins
we are all broken vessels. and lucky for us, Christ doesn't run from ruin, he starts there.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

go ahead & lay it at his feet. he's waiting for you.

Friday, March 7, 2014

God speaks.

I truly believe that one of my favorite things about being a Christian is how the Lord uses himself to draw us to other people.

{example}
People we wouldn't normally talk to, or even interact at all with, suddenly become a huge part of your life because Christ is the common meeting place.

I also love how Christ sends people into our lives to minister to us. Like, people who have gone through the things that we're going through in this present time. Somehow, they always know what to say. I honestly have no idea what I would do without some of the people that mentor me. They have made quite the difference in my walk with the Lord.

{one more thing...}
Another huge blessing that comes with being a Christian is the times that Christ uses you in other people's lives. Oftentimes, we don't get to see the fruit of out labors because if every time we made a difference and saw it, we would probably forget that it's not actually us, but Christ in us. But there are those special occasions when Christ allows us to see a glimpse of what He's done in someone's life through us and that is such an awesome experience.

Some verses that have blessed me this week are:

Galatians 1:10
Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

1 John 1:5-10
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

Monday, March 3, 2014

{where God guides, God provides.}

{the aforementioned trip to Kentucky was a success...}

Kelsey, myself, Coach Wolber, and Coach Stine left Calvary on Thursday afternoon right after 6th period. The four of us had a great time on the ride over. Well, Kelsey and I did anyway.




We arrived late on Thursday night and were greeted by the lovely Heather Stacy (the greatest admissions counselor of all time). Kelsey and I were given a dorm room to ourselves, which was such a blessing.

{blurry, but, we're cool}

On Friday morning, we attended and Anatomy and Physiology class because Kelsey is a Bio major. I tagged along because there weren't any Education classes at the same time. It was actually kind of cool (we learned about the ear) and of course, Kelsey already knew it all, hahaha. (love you Kels). Then we took a tour of the campus, in which our tour-guide thought that Coach Wolber and Coach Stine were our respective mothers. {hilarious} After which, we met with Heather and proceeded to have lunch with the soccer and softball coach. 

{lunch was awesome...}

I sat with Coach Joshua Miller (and Coach Stine) and some of the soccer players were there as well as the soccer mom for the women's side, while Kelsey sat with the softball coach who is also Coach Miller (no relation) and Coach Wolber.  About halfway through lunch, Kelsey left to go to her workout and I stayed behind with Stine to continue my conversation. Coach Miller and I really hit it off. They have a great program on the women's side and the team is just like a family. I had the opportunity to meet some of the girls on the team and they were all so sweet and welcoming. While Kelsey was at her workout and Coach Stine was working, I hung out with Coach Miller and helped him get some paperwork ready for his brother, who coaches the men's side, because he was going to a showcase. Later he had me take a reaction test to see how good my theory soccer is and how fast I can make decisions. I ended up doing better than most of the girls on the team! Coach Miller and I also went down to the pitch so he could show me around. 

{the multi-purpose turf field.}


while we were there, the regional basketball tournament was going on...

{so Friday night we went to the games...}

{the crew.}

{go KCU!!}

{the Girl's won the tournament.}

Saturday morning I had my tryout...
I was so nervous you wouldn't even believe it.
Coach Miller put me a series of exercises and drills (most of which I have never done before) and I caught on pretty quickly. Because of my nerves and it being the off-season, I didn't do quite as spectacular as I had hoped, but I still did well. The whole experience was such a blessing and a great opportunity. 

{other stuff...}
Aside from sports, I really liked the school. Each student gets a duel degree in Bible and whatever major they pursue, in my case, Secondary Ed. English. Every person we met on campus from Heather to Ron Arnett (the girl's basketball coach) to the president of the college was so nice and welcoming. Kentucky Christian University is a definite possibility.

{all in all...}
I loved every minute of our trip, from chickie on the way down, to Coach Wolber basically singing us to sleep on the way home. It was a blast, and I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. 

Thank you so much for all of your prayers! Please continue to pray that I would follow the Lord's calling on my life and go where he guides me.

#whatever
#wolbsanddave4ever