Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Year on Its way

So it is hard to think that 12 months ago life was being lived in a different year. Sometimes i don't think about this night being the start the something new, or this night being a time, a place, a moment...to look back on and see change.

However, these past twelve months a lot has happen.

I started and then put together a women's event.
I moved home and worked at a camp for the summer.
I read a few books.
I became a staff member of a Church.
I went skiing for the first time.
I almost ran into a tree. (while skiing)
I took dance lessons.
I watch a whole season of American Idol.
I watch three close friends get baptized.
I healed some past wounds.
I turned 23.
I watched my friend get engaged!
I saw a friend realize some major goals in her life and act on them.(2 friends really)
I meet and became really good friends with my new roommate. Jessica
I moved in with 2 girls. This is the 2ND time I've done this in my life.
I decided to stay In Pullman for year 2.
I watched heart break.
I learned a little more about loving people.
I encounter Christ alot.
I learned a little pit more about patience's.

As i take a few moments to just glance back on the last twelve months a lot has happen.
goals i thought i would not reach till later in life God opens doors to see them now.

I think that has been the greatest and yet most difficult thing I done this year.

Many of you know my heart and my passion. I love what I am doing with Resonate and in the lives of the women I get to meet with and talk to! yet I did not think the road would take me here so soon. I always thought i would graduate college,do some missions, teach, go to seminary, work for a Church, do women's stuff...live the rest of my life.
Instead, I graduated college, moved half way around the US, work for a Church and do women's stuff...2010 brings on the thoughts of whats next. I am sitting in a place I have dreamed about, prayed about, and long for. yet I did not realized it until just a few days ago.

I ask that you pray for me in the coming weeks. That now that I see the greatest that God has placed before me. pray that i take hold of it and live to the best possible outcome. Pray that I gain clarity into the future. That I see what God has for me and that I am able to act on it. I think life was easy up till now because it lined up with my journey, the journey I had in mind. Now I am faced with the all exciting question of 'where does this journey lead?"

Sometimes the answer to this is easy and sometimes it is hard. Pray that I see it and that I am able to live freely in it!

I hope you all have a great night and wonderful 2010...I keep ya posted!
Liz

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

change

i think i love change...i think i could move anywhere and get by...i think i could start something i feel is important and finish it because change is good and moving and finishing things those are change to me....change of pace, change of style, change of motives, change of life.

yet the normally things, i fell should never move. or i guess a better way of saying that is the Dallas things should never move. I come home and my house is different, my mom is different, my sister is different. I don't get it. I don't get the change. Dallas is suppose to stay untouched, unaltered by time.

I can change, i can grow, i can move...but Dallas is not suppose to be different. It is suppose to be how i left it. A TV in my room, a empty spot for my car, a bed that is unslept in because i am gone. and instead i fine, an empty space in my room where movies where once watched, i fine a car filling the third spot in our garage, I find my room taken over my a girl in high school.

It is not that i am not OK with these changes, it is that in my world these changes did not occur, these new things where not there, in my world, Dallas is unchanged by time. Dallas is home and home is not suppose to be altered by the fact that i left it a year and half a ago.

i thought i loved change but here i am unable to see the light in all this change.
home is not the same, but neither and I

i guess there is some hope in that somewhere.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

WE just finshed a series called "Beautiful Mess" here is the writing I wrote - it was turned into a movie!

What happens when you fall and the person next to you does not. When your walking with someone and they stop walking with you or the path you thought was before you radically changes views in no time at all.

We all have these moments in life where we look before us and the view is so peaceful and beautiful we forget to breath, because the thought of loosing it is to great. Instead we take a chance and look back to see where we came from and then when we turn back around the view is nothing like we remember.

The garden where peace and love flowed is now a forest of mud and fallen trees. The hope that once filled our minds is now replaced with the mess that is before us.

For me this came in college, a friend that I thought the world of, a friend that knew me so well, a friend I would have called a best friend...decided to stop walking, decided to turn around. The view I had planned in front of me, the breath I was deciding to take was thrown from my body and in front of me was nothing but a mess.

I think that is all a part of life...looking back and seeing the mess that in now beautiful with time. See four years ago I was turmoil, I was in mud up to knees and everyone around knew more then I did. The people around me saw the picture with color and all I saw was this gray world with no point.

Messy, ugly, and lifeless...my world lie in front of me and I saw nothing of value.

Four years ago I could not stand here and tell you the beauty lie in the fact that this boy was the first to find value in me, this man was the first to give cridit to these gifts I possess, and this man of God was the first to say run because God is by you...run

I think through life we all have messes we can look back on and see beauty. I dont think my dad would consider the drive home he was partaking in when the phone rang with news that my mom had cancer a good drive. I dont think my mom would consider the weeks she spent away from me, a freshmen in high school and my sister a four month old newly adopted baby, good picute because of the radiation in her body kept her from us, I dont think my grandma would think back and view the hours spent in the waiting room wondering if her daughter had cancer a painting worth repainting.

Yet looking back at this unglyness, I see my dad and a group of men meeting at McDolalds to talk about grace and love when nothing seems to have hope, I see my mother who is now working on a cancer floor of a hospital and is allowed the joy to show love and mercy to people and families going through the same thing she did...the same thing we did.

Beautiful! This year of my families life, was a beautful mess and God shown through in every aspect of it all. Looking for the sunlight behind the trees, the flowers blooming in the mud...the mess of a year was worth the aching pain of picking up one foot up at time. Praying for strenght to see tomorrow and a hope that worth and life is found in Christ and not test results.

My parents taught me then that life is lived in these moments, these time when nothing makes sense...Christ does.

In collage this rang through. That boy, remember him, my parents knew what was to come, and allowed me to walk in the forest because they knew that the life I was called to would be shown to me through this mess. They knew that they would have to pick me up and hold me later but that I need this forest of broken tress to teach me about myself, to mold my steps and to set me on the path I'm on now.

As I stand now years after falling and the boy standing, I see that we were brought together for my heart to find this place I call home. I would not be the girl I am now with out his words of perservance. I would not be the women I am now without the faith he provided in my strength, whether he knows he did or not, and I would not be this women of God living in the northwest persueing Chirst through helping with a church plant had he not allowed my desire to over shadow his at times.

Messy, grows, thick and unable to see through...at times...Colorful, radiant, and remarkable...YES...a beautful mess some might call it.

Long time no writing

Sorry, my computer charger died...sad i know, but now i am up and going...so here i go, i be posting soon like tomorrow!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Oh Yeah I'm a CLIFF Jumper! are you?



There are 3 things I know to be true in this world…

1. Tell me I can not and I will

2. Tell me No and most times I will work until it is a Yes

3. Tell me you wish I would but you know I will not…and I will

Notice a trend here…I WILL…

So here’s the deal. My friends (Jacob, Jordan and Drew) all said I could not, all said I would not and all said they wished I would but that I would not. Little did they know that was all it took to get me to do…



Yeah that’s right I jumped off a 30 foot cliff into water! TWICE! I know, I know, scary, I could have gotten hurt and not to mention that at times I am very accident prone and this had accident written all over it. But do not worry I did not hurt myself unless you consider this…

(So i forgot to upload the pick...just trust me it is BAD)

Hurt…but it is ok, the burse on my butt and thigh is about 10x worse, I mean I can only sit for about 25 min and then times up and need to stand. To be honest I brought a pillow to staff meeting and sat on it. Four hours was to long on those hard chairs!



So incase you were wondering the burse came from the second time I jumped. The first was no big, I enjoyed the jump. I did it really fast, I shook my arms, watched my friends jump and then went for it. Step, step and jump! Into the air I flew and then kept flying and kept flying…Until I thought man I’m falling, and then BANG into the water I went! I enjoyed it greatly. I mean the thrill was cool but the look on my friends faces was worth it all!! Jacob’s face was GREAT!



Time number two came..This is the time I jumped for myself! The first jump was not a choice it was a have to, the first jump had no preconceived ideas about it….FREE FALLING was all I knew was about to happen. Jump two on the other hand was for myself, to prove to me that I could jump whenever I wanted. Time number two had ideas that went with it, jump number two had thoughts running through my head of the thrill of falling and scariness of jumping off a rock.

So I went for the jump, climbed to the top of the rock and stood there for about 20 min. I allowed others to go and waited in line numerous times trying to psych myself up for jumped number TWO! AHHH is all I have to say…Jump 2 hurt!!! For those watching it hurt and more importantly for me it hurt!

So here I am I now unable to sit for prolong periods of time but more importantly I am a cliff jumper…if anyone asks! I WILL, I CAN, and I DID!!!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Failure at blogging lately

AHH! I fail at blogging during year two so here are the highlights and some fun stories from along the way!

So I went from a life of...



To a life of...



HAHA, working in the rain the last week was a great way to kick off the "hard" life i am living now. Drinking coffee ALOT and being on campus as much as possible!
(The pick is of me, my roommate, and Jacob (the new intern)!

Life has been crazy, since returning I am back to the daily life of hanging out with people and living life in the mists of doing alot of work!

I love it!

Lets get you caught up.


I went to New Mexico, to get caught up with all the staff and to just spend a week with the Lord at Collage week!!



I moved into my AWESOME apartment, it only took me about two weeks and to be honest, i just got the rest of my stuff out of my old house, so right now there is a trunk full of stuff in my car! but here is my room. This pic is old but you get the gist of it. Now there is no boxes, and it is more clean and orderly.... I know hard to believe but i do keep my room clean otherwise i get really stressed and seeing how i am stressed enough i dont need my room to stress me out!


So I had a birthday!! Love that day!
My friends through me a party, my good friend ab-e came and chalked our whole front sidewalk...It is still there in front of my door!!



Freshmen village has started!! We have a solid group. We are going cliff jumping tomorrow. Jacob does not think i will jump, so we made a bet..2 bagels from the bagel shop! I have this in the bag...he does not even know it! This picture is from a scavenger hunt we went on.



I went to the WSU Standford football game. It was huge, WSU lost but the experience was great. I mean sfa had football but this was a different level. They do the gator hand motion, which is weird because well they are not gators, and on every first down the say "Cougar FIRST DOWN" and point the arm in the direction they are moving!



We also had to say good bye to a good friend of mine and my friends, VITA! she went to my roommates international village and loved hanging out with us! she was a good friend! hope she is having fun back home!!!!




SO, last year I worked with a guy named Drew and now i work with a guy name Jacob. This is him..Please don't judge him, i promise he is cool and really fun to work with! The girl is Jane, another new intern...from TEXAS!



Otherwise, now i am writing a proposal for a girls night, for all the sorority girls! I should know in about 2 weeks if we got the clearance to go through with it!pray it all works out, this could be a great thing on these two campus.

Moscow service doubled in size from last year, in these first two weeks. Please pray for more leaders to step up and lead. WE need more village leaders, right now me and jacob are leading two villages and it is very taxing on us both. So pray for strength to get through the weeks and words to say!

WE are only having one service on Sunday. I am really excited about the new sermon series we are starting and i think it will be good for the whole church!

I miss you all..unless you are reading this and live in Washington then i'll see ya soon!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

COMING SOON

I will be writing on here soon...I promise...please come back!!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

summer is the life for me!!

SO my day is completed in moments...moments not waking up and going to bed but rather getting through breakfast and moving on to morning rec...I know it is sad but it is the way summer days are rolling on this summer.

You see I wake up and i eat, i hope that i get to serve fruit and not be held accountable for the cereal table. from there we clean and then on a good day I get to rock on the porch for about 30 min...it make the next portion of my day better. I then walk across the street and hop in the back seat of a truck and drive to the sip tower....yeah you read that write I am working at the zip. This is one rotation, not that big of deal but still. I now move on to lunch, eating in under 15 min is now a normal part of my day. Serve lunch, which is where I pray to serve dessert and not walk aimlessly around picking up trash...I mean trash picking up is not bad but if I am praying I going to pray for what I like. After lunch i again ride in the back on the truck and allow kids to fly 55 feet in the air. Moving on, after three rotation, i go to dinner and yet again eat fast and serve up a good time in the dinning hall. THe day is almost over unless there is a fiesta or a sixth grade party!!!

My feet hurt, I need sleep, and to be honest and i need my room and bathroom! and yet I loving the life GOd has called me to this summer. THe people are wonderful, just proving that true community comes in different forms but can be reproduced where ever you are...the jobs are hard but rewarding.

I can not wait to hear all about yalls summers!!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

yet another new look

I received a call from my father the other day and he informed me my blog was hard to read. I am sorry if that was true for some of you out there.

This is my new SUMMER look!! get excited! and I messed with the colors and hopefully you can read it smoothly with no problems!!

Also if you check out the top right you will see a section titled "Many the one liners". I joined Twitter, which is an easy way to texted in updates on what I am doing and for you to few some pics! Since I'll be at camp all summer, this is an easy way to keep you in the know without having to be on the computer all the time!

enjoy

Monday, May 11, 2009

3 weeks!

Well, this year has been many things (I'll blog on all I've learned later) but it is coming to an end. Ladies and gentlemen...I have three weeks left till the voyage home and I must say I am SUPER EXCITED. I can not wait to see all of your faces and hear stories of your year and all God has done in Texas while I've been away.

My grandparents where here (I dropped them off at the airport this morning), it was so good to see them and to show them around this city I have been calling home. But it made the desire to see family ring true to my heart. Everything is pretty much coming to an end up here and I long to see my parents and have coffee with my girls!!

Thank yall for your prayers this year and for the ones you pray in these coming weeks! They will not be easy, as I clean out my closet, box up my dishes and move them all into a garage, as pack for a summer spent at camp hanging out with students, and as I look to being home. PLease pray that my heart does not check out of this city, pray that I look to Christ.

I thank you for your devotion to me as I have spent this months away from you and I can not wait to see ya on MAY 31!!

LOVE YA

Thursday, April 23, 2009

In love with where I am

SO days go by where the feeling of being full is never tasted, where striving to be me and do my best comes from my own strength and not for God.

Why?

What negative has ever happened when I relied on God…NOTHING. Yet I choose to think I can do it. I choose think I can handle the weight of the world with no issues. Has for the fact that I can not hold that much, that I am not that strong, that I was not created to or for the purpose of holding the world. Those thoughts don’t count, they not weigh heavy on me.

NO not until I have fallen under the pressure and I turn to the one who CAN hold the world and actually wants to hold the world.

Yesterday I was doing a study and was asked the question has you get refreshed….driving and writing. The next question said what verses do you cling to in times where you can not fell God…PS 145.

Answered the questions and moved on…

I was sitting in class and Dan asked how do you refresh and are you…..shocked at how these issues had now been brought to light twice in one day.

I checked my mail and received a card from some students in DALLAS and one said “if you fell tired don’t get discouraged read 1 Cor” what perfect timing, I was feeling the exact way this guy was writing!!

I wake up most morning to a text from a good friend in DALLAS of scripture. Today it was Ps 82:15 “but you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness”
I redirect parallel to Ps 145

I love how God knows my needs and meets them in ways I am incapable of doing on my own. Refreshment is here, and I am living in it! Wonderful…thanks you are the prayers, they have been felt.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Giving Blood is NOT for me

SO, just an update, two days ago i decided out of the kindness of my heart to give blood. This is a decision that did not come lightly, you see at the age of 17 I gave blood. Well, a better way of saying that is at the age 0f 17 I was given the option to skip AP PSYCH by giving blood. It did not seem like that big of a deal and to be honest I was always looking for a reason to miss class. So i took the step wrote my name down and the day came for me to give my blood and I did. Well, when i said "i did" i mean I tried. I let them poke both arms and try to get blood from either arm and they missed both times, they stuck me a total of three times, both arms were wrapped in cool colored bandages and i walked into PSYCH and then pasted out for the remaining time of class. Since that day i have never given blood. I stayed away from the bus when it came to campus and politely declined every time someone has offered me a spot on the list.
Well, I changed my mind, last week a friend called an something came over me and i said YES, why not ill give blood. SO on Tuesday i walked into the van with all the happy looking people on the outside and tried to be a good person...instead this is what happened.
I sat in the chair, after being told that my iron and blood pressure were good they proceed to start the process. This man came and did the 30 sec cleaning of the arm. During this time i warned the man "my vanes are on top and blood comes out slow" He searches and says "Well i am going for a deep one" Obviously he did not listen to me! After the needle had been in my arm for all of THREE seconds he starts moving it around, why, because it was not pumping fast enough....and again i tell you HE DID NOT LISTEN TO ME! IN the process he pushed through my vain and then...
A huge lump of blood starts to swell in my arm about the size of about half my fist, it was unlike anything i had ever seen. From here he applies pressure and tells me all will be ok. (LIE)



SO on Wednesday i go through the day in pain and drained. My arm was numb and tinkling from the elbow down, from the elbow up i could fell my heart beat. It was an unusual pain that is unlike anything i have felt before.
I went to the doc. and his first thought, before meeting me or seeing my arm, was that i was over reacting to a simple arm prick but he is now "a believer" those were his words. My arm is hot and discolored from all the blood i lost. I was put on three meds. and still dont fell well, I am suppose to go in tomorrow if it does not get better.



Hope the pics where enjoyable and that the story was not to gross.

Monday, April 13, 2009

NOT good at this...

Well i thought i would give it a try and as we can see this past week was way to crazy to even think about posting everyday! Sorry guys, know that i thought about posting but time was lacking on all fronts.

the past 7 days are a beautiful blur of people, great weather, all kinds of creamer for coffee, large boards with questions and room to answer and numerous conversations with random people. A week where a hand with a granola bar led to words about Easter. At least 25 hours of being a constant presence on the campus of UofI. It a great week. Tears were shead, laughs were shared. I can not do justice to the week God gave me.

Easter is always a great time in life. THinking about what Jesus did on the cross, and how much that changed my life and the lives of those around me. Keith (pastor) talked about the passage in Lev. where it speaks on the presets and the goat. The point being that the goat is GONE!! There is no longer a need for a goat, the rope no longer turns white, the price was paid and the debt is removed! what glory comes in that, what freedom comes in those words...Joy is found.

THe day was just beautiful...minus the lack of family, i can not tell you how much i was blessed by friends, who have evolved into family, and by God who allowed my eyes to be open to real love and how to allow Him to love me and then me to love others!!

BLESSED...I AM BLESSED

Monday, April 6, 2009

Holy week

SO my goal is to update everyday this week...well see how that goes.

Today we handed out free coffee and had a blast talking to students and here somethings they would like to forget, that was the question on the board. We will be on the pavements of the U of I all week, talking and hoping to lead people to the reason behind the cross.

Sorry I have been a blog slacker, life as been fast pace and crazy with drew y. leaving and holy week prep work as well as a church wide meeting we had. Sorry i placed the blog second to most things.

I will update later, im on my way to a meeting and i need to get going but enjoy the new photo up top.

Also i went to portland and have lots of fun pics i will put them up later.

Friday, March 13, 2009

The week ahead

Well, in two days RESONATE head to chey-hey (i dont know the real name). We will be there for a week enjoying working hard by cleaning! and hanging out with the women. I ask for prayers and thoughts in the coming days.

THanks!!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Long time coming...Joshua 3

Joshua 3

Sometimes call for drastic faith…Encouragement comes fist.

In the start of three the people are learning that the direction they will be going is about to one of new unmarked territory for them. Their past may have help and hurt them at time BUT this new journey is one that only faith can get them through.

New places…what joy and fear comes with the quest of conquering a new place.

In the year after college God called me to a new place, a place where, yeah my feet had stepped before and my eyes had boar witness to a couple of times but it was new in the fact that I was to call it home, I was to look upon this new place and say YES GOD, I AM HERE FOR YOU…NOW WHERE AM I?

God will take us to places where we know no one and have never given thought to one day ending up. Asking to go and allowing God to move our hearts in the direction he desires come with chance of Satan creeping in and placing doubts and fears. Finding rest in God is the only location where peace can be found. The shelter God provides can and many times is the only thing that can wash away the ideas of not being ready for the next steps in life.

Looking at verse 5 allows for some huge encouragement to come. Joshua says “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”

What more do people need. The leader, the man they have come to know just said that the Lord was going to do amazing things. I think the definition that comes to mind in the word amazing just does not cut it for what is about to happen. I call things amazing all the time…a book, a tv show, an outfit or a new haircut but what the people where about to witness in their presence was unlike any thing that I can account for as being amazing.

It was going to be so awe inspiring that the people needed to prepare themselves. This was not going to be some light task. It was going to cost something and that cost would come personally, corporately and SPIRITUALLY.

The word CONSECRATED means to be set apart. God wanted these people to set apart their hearts and lives to fixed on the greatness that is God and the fact that he would move them into the promise land.

In lives where you have chosen to set apart you heart to the calling of God and lives to the actions needed to take that God will be seen as the center , you can not just make this decision one day and plan for all to work out great. This is a daily decision, a choice we should make every morning. By choosing to commit we are strengthening our faith and growing in the trust we have for the Lord.

In being consecrated the Lord will take us to new locations by using things that bring him all the glory.

HOWEVER, they are NOT new locations to him.
Joshua 3:14-17

Starting in verse 14 the people begin the route that the ark leads them on. They are taking steps towards the promise land.

While the Jordan was at Flood level.

I love that God does not make this easy on himself. These people were about to watch something AWEsome take place. This was not some river with a foot of water about to be parted. It was a flood level (ridiculously high) body of water about to be parted so that his people could walk through untouched.

I have been in situations where looking back pain should have been written all over it. Hurt should be stamped in red all over certain time periods of my life. And yet I think back and remember tears maybe but Joy comes in the overarching fact that God went where first and knew what was to come protected me from it all.

YOU?

God went first.
The ark was to be the first to go in line. The visual representation these people had of Christ and not only does it go first it also goes through the water. The Jordan was NOT divided until the carrier feet touched the water. God is not afraid of going through the hard times with us and before us.

The picture of God going first into all the situation we are in is one of unbelievable measures.

While the Lord will take us to place we have never been, he wont take to places he has never been. He can conquer all ad once you trust in the Lord you can believe the fact that God goes before us.

Trust can been established in these verses in Joshua. God is alive and doing things, it is our choice to daily stop believing the lies Satan is trying to feed us and to start trusting more and more.

REMEMBER you are never alone! God is with us, he is an interacting God, a God who longs to know your heart. And by knowing that he has gone before and by choosing to set apart your life to listen to his calling and his guidance in direction your heart shall be satisfied.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

FLASHBACK!!

TO THE 80's!

I love it. even though i dont really remember any of the 80s but still the style was hot and to be honest i would still wear some of the pieces i saw tonight! haha
It was a total HIT! Watching women of all ages junior high to ladies that had authentic 80s gear, it was a blessing to my heart. If you know me at all you know that woman's ministry is my main calling in life and this night was such a delight and an answer to many prayers. (thank yall)

Here are some pics as well as the ones to side (Ill edit them soon)








Just an update...i am cutting my hair on friday! personally i am really excited. SPring break is only ONE week away. WE are to Chehay-hay (not the real name but the one i personally gave it...I know AWESOME). We are spending a week working with a women shelter, and one night we get to have an all exciting game night with the ladies!! This trip is so up my ally. I will let yall know how it goes.

Please pray that God uses the group of use in many ways to minister to these ladies. Pray that in the coming week their hearts will open to new friends. Also pray for the group going, I think there will be about 20 students going. Pray that our hearts be open as well and that this week God will grant us rest for the coming days.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The past few weeks!

SO i am a skier! yes that is right...pics are coming if not already up. Resonate went on a ski retreat, this was my second time up to the mountain and i completed a few greens! Road the ski lift four times an my goal was only to ride it twice i was proud of myself!

There is an 80's prom coming up! pray that it goes well!

and most important of all

RACHEL GETS HERE IN TWO DAYS!!!!!! yes you read that right my life long best friend is coming for a visit, to see my life and what it is that i am doing and she gets in on Thursday! It is going to be great having her here to live life with for a few days and shell get to meet all the people i have been talking about!

LOVE IT!

ill write more later but life is going good

Ps. Big decisions are coming my way so please keep me in you prayers

Friday, February 13, 2009

LOOK TO THE RIGHT!!

There are some new photos up from this past weekend! Enjoy some are artsy and to be honest i took none of them! haha

A run down of the last few weeks!

I am sorry it has been so long...My life has been crazy and for some reason writing is the first to go, sadly it should prob. be the first to stay (I am working on that)

SO MUCH TO SAY!! ARE YOU READY

Coffee Shops
LAst Saturday i sat with good friends and listen to a guy playing the guitar and watched as my artsy friends pulled out crayons and cameras and did what they do best...So I pulled out my journal and reflected on the moment at hand...here it is

Sitting face down at a table with Africa and coffee beans looking back up at me...Life...friends, coffee shop but no coffee and live muscic.
Good and peace - Life and love
Meaning - life has so many meanings but i do believe this type of experience is one of them, heart being shown through string on a guitar and words from the heart, friends some i have seen all day, one not since coffee yesterday and last one who gave up a few remaining hours of snowboarding to listen and hang to a familiar voice - meaning

it is not edited just raw writing...kinda of random but where i was right then

LOVE
This word has been my life these past few weeks. I was reading in my bible study and beth (moore that is but at times i fell like we are true friends so we are on a first name bases) was asking us to read Phil 4:13...now i know that all scripture is important but man talk about a verse that is mis quoted and over used. So with hesitation i read the verse that i know by heart but just to make sure i read and then thought. That is what beth asked us to do this day...read and reflect. So as i sat having just read about love and how through pain love is still there, we dont love on our own and that love is from the LOrd, i pondered on these words

"I can do everything through him who gives me strength"

And this is what i came up with -- all these years i have given that verse to sports, to hard times, to trails i thought i could never get through but never to the fact that the God who created this world who made me and created me just the way he wanted gives me strength in all situations. As i thought through that i thought...man that means all the people i think i can not love or the ones who have hurt me and i run from (bc if you know i have a tenancy to run instead of working through) I can LOVE and not because i am so great and have so much love to offer but rather because GOd is so great and allowing him to love me allows me to love others and through his love I can LOVE everyone that enters my path I call life. WHy because I can do everything through him who gives me strength,so as long as I rely on God for strength and not myself i can love people!
freedom was found in this thgouht process.

I know it has been some crazy weeks...some fun facts
1. i went to a WSU basketball game and will be going to another one on saturday!! (THANK YOU RONNIE FOR FREE TICKETS)
2. Rachel is coming in town in two weeks
3. I handed out pb-n-j and now fell like a pro at passing things out to people who may or may not want them
4. I filled out an application to work with lifeway this summer...i really hope that works out..it is for womans ministry (which is where my heart is), i am waiting for a reply, i know God is up to something good so please keep that in mind when you pray for me
5. Resonate is going well, i am meeting knew people and the two small groups i help with are doing well. GOd is moving up here and i am glad to be apart of it.
6. Me and kristin (one of the interns) have started to hang out on campus on tuesdays and meeting random people and hoping to make connections with people as well as hanging out with friends that i see on sunday night! It is going well so far, please pray that our hours are fruitful.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Life in the fast Lane

who knew time could go by so fast. I think back and the week is just a blur in time. As I sit in a coffee shop my pray is that I completed the task at hand for last week, that my time here is being used to the fullest and you know I can actually say YES! I am doing what God is calling me to.

Last night Matthew talked on discovering GOd and self and how it is this on going process of learning who God is which opens doors to who you are and then back to God and this never ending cycle.

What joy is found in this cycle. what a wonderful journey to be apart of.

COFFEE

Tall White mocha with Whip (extra hot...depending on when i am going to drink it)
Chi...Black...I Like caffeine

WHO knew that those small words could hold so much weight in the world. Well, to today i will say them about three times, or at least have the opportunity to say them (self control means not getting coffee at every coffee date).

I am in awe of God right now. I had breakfast with two amazing girls and watching God use them in their sorority. I then went to coffee with April and God just speaks to me when we meet. April is the wife of the moscow site pastor and she is also my personal mentor! God is teaching me so much in our time together. Right now we are working on allowing me to be loved and loving others. GOd is up to something good! Then went instead of a coffe house went to an apartment and wrote down goals, i am about to go meet with a girl just to talk about life!

All this before 400! MAN OH MAN, keep praying, GOd is using the people he has placed here and i know he is working in the lives of those around me. Pray that i be used to bring him glory.

JUst thought i would give yall a little insight into my life right now! hope your week is going well. let me know!!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Skiing, speeding, and talking fast

SKIING

Oh yeah you read right, I went skiing. I wish I had pics to prove it but you are just going to have to trust me! I went to sliver mountain and hung out with some great friends. I spent the morning in a lesson. My friends are really good, so they took off and I headed to the bunny slope! OH YEAH!! IT was a blast. Who knew I would love it so much. I fell less the 20 times and that was my goal! I went down a green went down is relative but it was AWESOME. I even spent some time on my bottom sliding down the mountain because it was so steep. HAHA But i have great friends and they stuck it out with me. LOVE IT!

SPEEDING

Oh yes I received a ticket but dont worry I will not have to pay it i believe. I will have a court date here soon. Ill let you know when. I think it should be ok.

TALKING FAST

WEll, we all know i am good at this. Talking comes easy. however, talking to new pople i just did not know how this was going to work. I walked into the commons with two friends today and the goal was to meet a new person and have a conversation. Seems simple enough no big deal. Well, it was not that hard at all. We sat down by a girl who was by herself and we just started talking! Love it. WE found out all kinds of stuff about her and then she became interested in our lives and that always opens doors. It was so good. I am loving what GOd is doing. HE is turning the bad into good. He is moving me to new levels of love for him. Allowing him to love me allows me to love others. it came so easy today.

LOVE! who knew, it will change lives this year!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

PRAY

I need some prayer, this new year has been more of a transition then the first go around in august, and many days i fell attacked. The hard thing is, is i am learning so much about God and who he is that there is this counter balance in life. I know i am where God wants me, yet i am hurting. Please, know this is hard to write, yet i know there are those of you who read this and i wanted you to please pray for me and resonate and my friends in the coming days and weeks. I love yall all so much and i know God is up to something good. I can not wait to tell you all about it.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

New YEAR...New LOOK

WEll, there have been some changes to the blog a new tag line at the top, a new background, some new photos for you to view...i'll try and keep those up to date...and a new about me section!!


New Year

I have been sick all of 09...who can say that, i can. I even caught this really gross bug thing that has been going around moscow. NOT GOOD However, it did allow me sometime alone, but not to process or to deep think but rather to lay in bed and wait for the hour to come, did i mention it was gross. Thankfully i made it through and now i am feeling much better. Toast is my friend and so is sprite. I cleaned my apartment and now i am doing laundry. I need hangers, i have to many clothes. It is a problem.

Thinking on the 2008
I was home for about two and half weeks and one would think i would have processed the last 5 months during that time, but if you know me you know this is not how i work. I wait till the need and then think through. Well the last few days at home i went to debriefing and was kinda of forced into thinking through the last few months and once i started thinking i could not stop. SO here are some of my thoughts from the year that was 08

1. Community is deeper and purer then anything i could have ever thought of before. God opened my eyes to what meaningful time with friends and deep community is these past few months. MAN what a joy it is to have a little glimpse of what community is or was meant to be. The down side is now i have standards for myself. Well i thought this was a down side and then these past few days i was able to come to terms with the idea that this is a good thing. Making time for others, placing people before self, and learning that the world around me is my community and now it is time to take care and to really care for the world around me, the place i am living in, the place i call mine, it is time to care for them with an open heart.

COMMUNITY has a whole new meaning in 2009


2. Collage degree with no use at the moment. I always new i wanted to teach. I can think back to the times i went to my aunts school and sat and watched her teach, i can remember teaching in my room as a child...i always taught the year below i was in...in high school i gave up two electives to teach in a fifth grade classroom...why, because i knew it was for me. Collage was an easy choice SFA has one of the best education programs in state. I am a prepared teacher of 4-8 grade science and yet i sit here without using this sheet of paper. Sadly, it is one of the hardest parts of life right now. I guess hard is relative. God allowed me to get this degree, to meet people, to touch students lives and then through going to SFA allowed me to find out about pullman and now here i am. SO i know my time was not wasted by sometimes i wonder if i will ever teach or if the degree was get me to this place in life.

Life will be what GOd desires and not what i think in 2009

3. I love to write and have been given this passion. The past few months i have not allowed this side of me to show. That is something i decided to change in 09. I want to share the words i have been given and not hide them away. My dad said some very meaningful words to me while i was home and they sparked this in me. So i will write more in the coming months and days. Yall can kinda of hold me accountable to this. Writing allows me process and to think and to give light to the insights i have. Holding these inside does me no good. It hinders learning what GOd has for me.

Writing will mean more in 2009


SO, these are some of my thoughts as 09 starts to take shape. I pray this flame in me will stay strong in the coming months that will make up this year.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Back in Pullman

WEll, the weather was nice and coming back to pullman was not as hard as getting to dallas. I am still kinda of not feeling up to par, but i am having a good time. Alot of my friends are back as well, and so we all hung out last night. It was good to be back and to kinda have a norm again.
We have a staff meeting today and hopefully it should give some clarity to this coming semester!! I am really looking forward to it all. I have a renewed spirit and I know GOd is up to something Good.!!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

What a way to start the new year!

So i am sick!! I have been sick for like four days now...if you think about it, i have been sick all of 2009! LAME!!