Many the Words

late

2010-05-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

So I put this off for a while, I thought it would just go away, that the day would never have to come. That i would just leave and that life would go on. Yet here i am sitting in my parents office, Jessica upstairs, mom and dad just feet away, and all I can think is that it is no where near over and the roller coaster has just started.

Two years ago I graduated from collage, packed up all my stuff and drove. 33 hours later I was moving into a one bedroom basement apartment.

In that room I wrote, I cried, I grew, I laughed, I shared, I learned.

A year later I knew more about community, the Lord, and myself.
A year later I decided to stay. I stayed for people, for a calling, for a purpose.
A year later I moved into a new apartment.

In this three bedroom place I made new best friends, laughed more, cried more, shared more, preached more and learned more.

A year later I had community.
A year later I had a deeper understanding of a calling.
A year later I was moving yet again.

*Now it is even later, Jessica is back in Pullman, my parents are at work and my sister is in the other room waiting to go to the movies with me. I yet again pushed this off because I don't do hard well and I don't do change easy.*

So most of you know by now I moved back to Dallas to follow a passion I have a had since college. I accepted a teaching job as a mission field but also as a way to accomplish this dream.

I am sorry if I left to fast to say bye
I am sorry if I never got to sit across a table from you, with our favorite coffee in hand, and tell you in person that I was leaving.

Believe me when I say I wanted to, but I don't do change well and because of that I don't do change slow.

The last few weeks here in Texas have been hard.

I miss everything I was told I would

Friends
Church
Random dinners
Watching GLEE
Coffee on every corner

I miss things more then I thought I would

Meetings
A roommate without a car
A roommate with a lot of make up
A small room where the window was broken
Church where I knew people

Yall taught me more then I recognize right now, yall showed me God in ways I did not notice at the time.

Computers, coffee, Tennis, 15 min car rides to that other state, talking through silence, and loving

deeply passionately authentically loving

Cheesy as it may be, I will never forget the mark you all left on my life. The people I talk with here, the students I will teach, the friends I will make
They will all know yall, they will know writer are artists, they will know engineers are not just nerds, that playing the guitar until your fingers bleed is passion, that even settlers is a game worth playing at least once, that magic is real and that you can not be defined until you know who you are.

You taught me to search for greatness and in the meantime live a life worth looking at
and for this is am grateful

So, thank you

thank you, for allowing God to use you in my life.
thank you for being my friends, my mentors, my community,

thank you

Drama, Drama,Drama

2010-04-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

There are days where love is in the air, where faith stands firm and life is easy to be lived.

There are days where hope seems endless, age seems not to matter, and joy is peace dancing.

Then there are days where drama conquers, where over reacting is a style, and where life becomes hard.

I live in all of these moments.

I was reminded this morning that a quite life is one where you win the respect of the people near you. (1 thess 4)

Quite is a goal, quite is a way of life I do not understand all time.

Quite is a new path, one I shall try to walk more regularly.

forgiving in world where forgiveness is a lost art

2010-04-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

Last night I sat in church and heard a sermon on forgiveness.

Nothing new, Nothing old, pure truth.

As a kid I was taught to say sorry not when I thought I was wrong but when what I did hurt others. So at times I was saying sorry but understanding the what that was behind the words I spoke.

As a youth I sat and listened to girls hurt each other with their words and actions and it never even cross their mind that they could be hurting those near them.

As a college student I lived in a world where hurt was a definition of life for a while. Where forgiveness was not a word i spoke or heard but excuses where all around.

Since then I have walk a path where forgiving allows me to see that life is easier when you forgive and move on. Life works better, freedom is found and hope for a better life is closer then one might think.

Forgiveness is seeing what has happened, naming it and letting it go. A choice is made.

Last night i heard the words "you have to know what you are forgiving them for."

This changed my outlook last night. Putting a face to the thing or person you are forgiving allows for the forgiveness to actually happen.

Sometimes i get it, sometimes people are up front, and they are honest with how i hurt then and then sorry and forgive me actually mean what they are suppose to.

Sometimes i miss it and people hurt me and i act like i am tough enough to make it through the night, through the week without help and with out them saying that they are sorry.

Then time passes and i go on in life, i act whole and healed and I act like my life is all together.

Then I hear those words, "you have to know what you are forgiving them of"

I forgave the person, I think we could be friends again, I think we could talk and hang out.

I forgave the person but not the act.

I live a life of guardedness, not because i did not forgive the person, but because i did not forgive the act.

I live a life arms length apart. I live a life of don't hurt me and I won't hurt you. I live a life of get this close but not that close. I live a life of we can be friends but not.

The act needs to be forgiven.

So last night, I forgave the act. I forgave the what. I took note of what had happened and I forgave.

Heart Change, Sex Trafficking, Going to Thailand

2010-03-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

In December I sat across the table from a friend by the name of Noah. I was sitting there as a staff member from Resonate, and he was talking to me about Thailand, and having a passion for helping girls who have been in bondage. Girls who are living a life of modern day slavery. Girls who are sex slaves.

I listen to him talk, got excited about the possibility of Resonate sending a team of people to work with these women, to help with after care and other needs they have over there.

I went home, to Texas and prayed fervently for this trip, prayed God would give Noah direction in where to go specifically, that God would open doors for this trip to become a reality.

As I prayed things in my own life and heart were beginning to change and beginning to long for something more.

I have a friend name Molly. Every Thursday I sit on the opposite side of the table from her and we talk. We discuss life, heart breaks, loves, God and how we are to live in this world. Not just get by but LIVE in the Image of God.

For Molly this looks like being aware of how Gods heart breaks for the hurting people in this world.

Me and Molly have been friends for two years now, and for two years I've listen to her love for Jesus grow as her love for the people in the world grows. I have watched as she has helped the campus here learn more about the conditions of the world we live. I am sure at times this has been hard, because as we sit at a table together my heart rarely would break, tears would never fall and at times I did not understand why you would want to know these things.

My life was find, living in the unknowing. Living in the disbelief.

Last year Molly taught me about Fair trade coffee.

This year Molly taught me about Slavery.

This past week was abolition week at WSU and UofI. Resonate took part in a three week sermon series over slavery, and the fact that we are all made in the image of God.

During week two Molly and many others hosted two events, a discussion and a movie about starting a new culture. A culture where abolishing slavery is not just something that happened years ago but needs to happen NOW.

I sat across the table from Molly and for months prior to this week listen to her talk about this idea. I would walk away from our time together and cry. Cry tears of change and tears of hope. I would walk away from our time and ask how God does this apply to me, how does this new knowledge change my life.

All the time i was praying this God kept bring back to mind my friend Noah and the trip he was planning.

During the last two weeks or well two months, my faith has been shaken, my heart has started to understand lines like...

do what you love to undo what you hate
I don't want to wear someone else's despair, or eat someone else's tragedy.
Justice is what love looks like in public

I have gotten to fall in love with a God that says...

we are all made in the image of God and so when people are hurting others, they are hurting me

I have found the word LIVE, to mean something in my life. I have the word CHANGE, to mean something in my life. I have found the word GO, to mean something in my life.

So here I am

LIVING, CHANGING, GOING

Living in a world were I know what is going on, not just getting through the days trying to stay in the dark.

Changing how I see people. Seeing people who are made in the image of God, means loving better, forgiving easier and holding tighter to the fact we all deserve someone to fight for us.

Going to Thailand. For eight weeks this summer I will be living in the changed life God is calling me to in Bangkok Thailand. Being love and hope to girls who maybe have never heard or felt those words.

Ah, who knows whats going on?

2010-03-03T13:49:00.000-08:00

Well, to catch up on whats going on in my life would be a challenge. For to be honest I do not think I really know what has happened in my life in the last few weeks.

But i do know what has happen in the last few days, so we will start there!

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to talk to some women in their 20s about knowing God deeper and ways to live where we can tell a better story with a lives. Tell a story that leads people to the feet of the cross.

While talking a said things like...what are the 4 areas that define your life? How do you glorify God in those 4 areas?

I told the story of the the women at the well, read about her running leaving everything she brought to Jesus at his feet, turning away and being changed because of her time with him. She spoke to the people in her town, she spoke with passion and allowed others to see the change in her life, she told a story that showed them love and grace!

The story she told we all get to tell everyday, we daily get to catch a glance of the love of God and then allow that love to spill into the lives of the people near us, the people who give us coffee, the people who work in the commons, the people that we claim we love.

As I talked I learned, and I learned I tried to set into motion some changes that need to occur in my own heart.

This moment, or well hour, showed me so much about my own life, and about my own, heart, and my own story I am telling!

So what story are you telling with your life?

2010-02-24T14:40:00.000-08:00

Some day soon I will write more. Some day soon I will put more words on here then two lines. Some day soon I will yet again consider myself a writer but for today I dont and I wont.

Soon people soon

tears that wont fall

2010-01-29T14:13:00.000-08:00

sometimes i wish i could cry, then i remember that the tears i long to cry are out of my own strength and not in His name!

Thoughts on a day that is windy!

2010-01-22T15:47:00.000-08:00

Oh how I love this city! Some times, some moments I forget and then days happen where I think this is greatness in a town.

Today was one of those days for me. Today was a day when I normally sleep late and do not leave home, but instead I woke up at 730, was on campus by 945 and then had what would be a wonderful next few hours.

I stopped at the post office, and mailed some letters to some dear friends up here in Idaho. Then I pushed the button to the 3rd floor of the CUB (wsu) and prayed the whole way to the top.

You see since coming back, WSU had not contacted me about 'GNO'. The officers for panhellenic changed over the break. I got nervous on Thursday when my email had not been returned to me, I got worry something got lost in the transition. But there was nothing I could do on Thursday to help the situation, so I just prayed and tried to go to sleep.

That did not work for me, sleep never came. Funny, well maybe more God thing is that I had just read in Esther where the King was trying to sleep and it never came so instead he read the chronicles of his time as a King. If you read that chapter (6) you see the irony of what he was reading, reading that he had never honored Mordecai. THat ideas that were brought to him the irony of him deciding in this moment to honor Mordecai and to have Haman be the one to do the honor. Oh how God works by not letting us sleep. In the study I am doing there are women of all ages there and at the hearing of this topic they all joined in on how GOd had used sleepless nights to bring them to their knees and to bring them to a topic of prayer. As I sat and listen to them talk I did not get it, I had never lost sleep over something. I was at a lose for what was being said.

Last night I got it. Through sleepless hours I was able to pray over the idea that maybe this event had been lost in the shuffle of changing of officers. I was able to pray that during this meeting hearts would still be soften to the idea of "GNO"

Well 45 min after I walked into the office, I walked out in utter dismay at how amazing this God is that we serve.

YOu see for years Resonate has tried to be an influence on campus, for years we have been trying to meet the needs of students in a new way in a way that would leave a good impression, in a way that the word church would be a good thing to remember.

We have handed out pancakes, fruit snacks, cheese crackers, fruit by the foot oh and lets not forget the granola bars. We have tried and prayed to be a positive influence.

After this meeting I learned that God is answering our prayers. The sorority girl I meet with knew Resonate from the pancakes. Said that the past officer had mentioned the event but not in to much detail. That she was nervous because it was a 'church' event but then found out it was through Resonate and was so excited about it. She saw the new promo for the event and fell in love with the idea of what we were doing. She said since she did not know what we were doing they were needing to plan an event cover both sex and alcohol and this would do that. So instead of just freshman and sophomores, she would let it count for juniors too! We walked down stairs and booked rooms, we talked about the setting and the environment we were trying to create and she lit up with joy! We set down and finalized it all and as I walked way she said "Liz I am really excited about this event and the idea behind it"

Words that I have long to hear, prayers I saw answered in that moment.

Minutes later she called to see if we could meet up on monday to talk some more about it. After that she asked if thrusday i could come by and bring the promo stuff while she was there!

Prayers being answered.

Ah! I good day in Pullman to say the least. GOd is going great things and in 12 days lives will be changed!

Please continue to pray for these two nights!

ps
On monday I will be speaking in front of the greek life women of U of I. Pray that their hearts would get excited about the coming week!

Dreams that become a reality

2010-01-20T16:45:00.001-08:00

Since my freshman year of college when I fell in love with idea of doing ministry and more specifically wanted to woman's ministry, I never thought this day would come.

When I heard Marian Jordan speak for the first time the August before I moved up to Washington, I never thought I would see her up here.

When I was searching the web for new ideas and ways to do ministry I never thought I would run across this.

When I sat in front of my computer screen pondering how to bring Marian to Washington I never thought she would have a ticket purchased to come and speak here.

When I was putting together binders of a presentation for hosting an event on these campus I never thought the staff would go for it.

When I worked at a camp and lost all contact with the world I never thought a date would be set.

When I came back and set up a meeting I never thought an hour later I would be more connected then ever.

When I meet with Presidents to talk over whether or not this could happen I never thought they would let us openly talk about the Lord.

When I was in the meeting I never thought 10 minutes later I would walk out with a new goal in life.

When money was no where to be found and chance letter opened the door to thousands of dollars I never thought God would not provide.

When contact was made with Marian and Jourdan I never thought they would be to busy to come.

When flights were going to over $800 I never thought God would not provide cheaper ones.

When a team needed to be put together I never thought God wouldn't give me clear vision as to who to be on it.

When paintings need to be painted I never thought we had so many artistic people in our team.

When promo stuff needed to be made and order I never thought they could not do it.

Now Marian is coming, Now Jourdan is coming, now plane tickets are bought, now the sororities are excited, now the promo stuff is done, now the team has been together for months, now money has come in.

God's hands has been everywhere in the mist of the last year of my life. God's hands have been on girls hearts since before this was even a thought. God's hands have been preparing for this event since before Resonate thought of it.

I can not convey how excited I am, how nervous I am, how in awe I am. God is so faithful. The last year of my life has been a roller coaster of great moments and in 14 days I know there is going to be a another great thing.

In 14 days this event becomes a reality, in 14 days girls lives will be changed forever, in 14 days prayers will be answered, in 14 days hearts will hear the name of God for the first time, in 14 days we have the opportunity for a revival on the campuses of WSU and UofI.

Seating in a coffee shop thinking of all that's left to do and all that will get gone, I pray for the people, I pray for the lives, I pray for the hearts, for the ears, for the thoughts, for the conviction, for the women, for the sister. Because they, the people, make it all worth it. They are the reason.

God grant us grace in the midst of the next few weeks. God grant us peace in the coming weeks. God be the women in the coming weeks. God open their hearts for this night. God allow change to occur.

New Year on Its way

2009-12-31T14:37:00.001-08:00

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

change

2009-12-16T21:26:00.000-08:00

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.

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

2009-11-10T16:07:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-10T10:44:00.001-08:00

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!

Please Pray this comes to WSU and U of I (detail to come later)

2009-09-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

R|G - The Vision from Reedemed Girl Ministries on Vimeo.

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

2009-09-16T12:49:00.001-07:00

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!!!

Failure at blogging lately

2009-09-11T11:48:00.000-07:00

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!

COMING SOON

2009-09-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

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

summer is the life for me!!

2009-06-18T19:02:00.000-07:00

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!!

yet another new look

2009-05-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

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

3 weeks!

2009-05-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

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

In love with where I am

2009-04-23T10:52:00.001-07:00

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.

Giving Blood is NOT for me

2009-04-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

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.

NOT good at this...

2009-04-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-13T22:12:00.001-07:00

Holy week

2009-04-06T17:48:00.000-07:00

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.

The week ahead

2009-03-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

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!!

Long time coming...Joshua 3

2009-03-11T00:54:00.000-07:00

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.

FLASHBACK!!

2009-03-05T21:36:00.000-08:00

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.

The past few weeks!

2009-02-24T23:16:00.000-08:00

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

LOOK TO THE RIGHT!!

2009-02-13T13:17:00.001-08:00

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!

2009-02-13T12:18:00.000-08:00

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.

Life in the fast Lane

2009-02-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

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!!

Skiing, speeding, and talking fast

2009-01-27T13:09:00.000-08:00

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!

PRAY

2009-01-24T21:49:00.000-08:00

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.

New YEAR...New LOOK

2009-01-17T12:09:00.000-08:00

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.

Back in Pullman

2009-01-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

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.!!

What a way to start the new year!

2009-01-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

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!!

TWO DAYS!!

2008-12-19T19:01:00.001-08:00

Yes you read that right i will be in TEXAS in two days. Just so you know tomorrow two of my friends are getting married after the wedding i will be heading to spokane for the night. I am staying in a hotel and then arriving at the airport at 600 for my 830 flight. Please pray that my flight is not canceled..

SEE YALL SOON!!

Count down is on!!

2008-12-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

Well only about five more days till Dallas is home again!! you better be making time to see me! haha but seriously, i can not wait to see all of you! and i will only be home for about 2 and half weeks!

Meet the Staff and interns!!

2008-12-13T01:58:00.000-08:00

Top Row: Molly, Trisha, Kim and Josh
Second Row: Drew Worsham
Third Row: ME, Megan, Drew Young, Matthew, Sam, Keith, Karson
Fourth Row: Matt, April, Ella, Karis, Paige

HOw was the break you ask?

2008-12-01T15:27:00.000-08:00

My break was fabulous...Like i said earlier i started in cannon beach and got to kinda of reflect on my time here in pullman so far. It was a great time with the Lord and searching for the things He is giving me for next semester and looking backwards at the months i have been here. It was a blessing to hear from the different speakers and to just hang out with the five interns and the keith (the pastor) and his wife.
Then i headed towards seattle. I stayed with a good friend there for three days and spent one day in down town seattle!!!

As you can see we had a great time!! Went to the pikes place market..got a fish thrown at me!! haha we then headed to the space nettle!! i am such a nerd it was fabulous fun!! then we ate some Ethiopian food for lunch, did some shopping and then headed back home!

On thrusday i went to pastors house and had thanksgiving with alot of people who where here in pullman for the break. the closes thing to family i have here. it was nice!!

Now here we are and there is only 20 more days till i leave here for texas. I will be home for about three weeks!! can not wait to see all of yall

Keeping you in the know

2008-11-20T23:31:00.000-08:00

SO this is what my life looks like in the coming days. I am about to leave and go to canan beach Oregon, NAMB is having a weekend long retreat to discuss the semester and what all we have done and how to improve in the coming weeks and next semester. After that i am going to Portland, just long enough to drop some friends off at the airport and then one the journey i keep going. I will make my way to Seattle. I am spending the first day with my friend alayna and hanging out with her family and seeing her town. THen on tuesday i am going to go to downtown seattle and see the sights with my friend stan! We are hopefully going to see alot of fun things and have a good time. On wed. i am going back to pullman and having thanksgiving with some people from church. I am so excited i think it will be a very relaxing week ahead!

Jim and Casper go to Church and I went to CAMP!

2008-11-11T17:57:00.001-08:00

So here are some pics from this weekend!! It was wonderful, it was a blessing to spend time with people I truly enjoy and get to know more people! The speakers were good, I left with a challenge of action. To love people with without words and then allow them to ask why? Over all it was a good weekend!

On the Road!!

2008-11-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

So, i am off to fall conference. It is in Oregon, about a 6 hour drive! There are 38 people going just from Resonate not to mention we are meeting school from all over the Northwest. I am really excited, the authors of the book, JIM AND CASPER GO TO CHURCH are coming. These town men one a pastor and the other an atheist went to all the mega churches and wrote a book about their perspective of them..it is very interesting seeing what a nonbeliever thinks of these really big churches.

Well i will be gone till sunday night and get back just in time for church at 7oo pm.!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2008-10-31T10:58:00.001-07:00

SO this weekend we are putting on a dinner theater thing! it really is the game of clue. ME and some of my friends are dressed up as the characters from the game and then resonate people come in in costume and interact with us. we drop hints, eat dinner and some dies...well not really but then before desert they must find out who did the killing and why and with what!! It is a fundraiser for missions and it was alot of fun! it is a three night thing that involves alot of people! here are some pic from night one and i will most more as the weekend goes on!

Can you guess who i am in the game of clue!! dont worry it is paper rolled up in my holder thing!

Joshua 2

2008-10-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

You see for me Joshua 2 has a few things worth highlighting.

1. I love that that Joshua knows which men to send in a head to check out the land. Joshua knowing what happen the last time men were sent in to look around, I am sure he did not take this role lightly when picking the two men to go into the city gates! But he makes this decision in what feels like no time at all. His walk with the Lord is so close that in a time for making a decision he knows who to send with no questions asked.

Is your walk so close to the Lord that making decision come easy? Decision making is from time to time one of those thing that we “Give to God” but in reality we keep praying till we get the answer we need or we finally find peace with Gods answer in our time. The hard thing about this is that we miss out on so much of God plans for our lives. Listening to God over a period of time is a good thing but sometimes listening to Gods will means dealing with it when it is not our will for ourselves!! It also means living in God’s time and not our own.

2. Rahab!!! I love that in Joshua one God paints this picture of being STRONG AND COURAGEOUS and then follows that up with Rahab. Rahab was willing to risk her life and the life of her family for doing what God called her to do. She took in two men that could have gotten her killed for being in her home, she lied to the soldiers to protect these men and then she hides in her house with her family while thousands are being killed outside her door. What a great example of a women to look up to. She was willing to risk everything for the glory of God.
I have struggled with the fact that she lied to the soldiers about the where abouts of these two men and the other day God laid this peace in my heart over the fact that in that moment that was what she needed to do to be in the will of God. While no I do not get that all the way I am willing to place trust in the Lord and take it has that Gods will for Rahab.
Because of Rehab’s willingness to take these men in and house then for one night she lived! How AWESOME is that God is great and mighty and if we do the same as she, take time to listen to what God is saying and act on it glorious things will happen in our heart.

3. I just recently learned that when you see LORD in all caps in the bible it is referring to Sheppard
Well you see this in verse 11, Rahab referring to Lord as Sheppard, and then later on she ask for kindness to be shown on her and her family. How cool is it take we can call on God by a specific attribute. We need to take the take to get know our God more personally and on a first name bases.
While giving out granola bars on the U of I campus I meet a ton of people, some I may never see again but some that I saw in the days to come! Knowing that at some point I knew their names and talked with them but not remember who they were the next time really was upsetting to me. So I gave myself a two time limit. If after meeting and having two contestations with them I should know their name! No questions and if I didn’t it was because I did not give the conversation all of my attention. How many conversations have you had with the Lord? Can you call him by name? Maybe we should have a two conversation limit with God as well. We need to be actively involved in getting to know our God and that means taking the time to listen to what he is saying and becoming familiar with who He is.

4. I am such a visual learner and terms that paint pictures in my mind mean more to me then most others. And in verse 18 Rahab is told to put a scarlet cord around her door as a visual meaning to leave her door alone! For me the first thing that comes to mind is a book called the scarlet letter. And while I wish I could say I read this, I wont lie…I did not…I probably spark noted the book or cliff notes. There are many options and I chose one and now don’t really remember that much HOWEVER!!! I do know that the lady was force to wear a scarlet letter that represented who she was and what she had done. In the book it is a negative, but here in Joshua it is a positive. To think this one color and one item defined Rahab for years to come.
Is there one thing right now that defines you?
Is there something from your pass that you feel people see when they look at you?
At first glance I don’t know if I would ever want one thing to depict me for the remaining time I am alive, but after thinking about it there is nothing I would want more then to be know as a daughter of the King. Someone who loved God with all her heart and that over followed to loving people in every situation. If that can be seen in one object and one color I will take it!!!

Water everywhere?!?!

2008-10-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

SO, I thought I wpuld tell you a little funny story really fast!!

Yesterday i walked into my house to find towels all in my bathroom and laundry room. yes the bathroom above me in the house i am staying in over followed and then leaked into my apartment downstairs!! haha

Dont worry the family cleaned it all up and it is fine but it was really funny at the moment and still is the only sad part is part of my clothes in my closest got wet as well and will have to go to the cleaners bc they were all of my dresses i brought with me!

See and Wash

2008-10-08T21:06:00.000-07:00

So over the past month resonate has done a series of sermons about the postures of Christ. While some were good (there were four) two really stood out to me.

See and Wash! How simple can two words be. But in the place I am at right now both of these words resound in my heart.

To be seen and to see others. For the first time in about three years i am making new friends, and meeting alot of new people. Nac. Is only so big and when you find a good group of friends, you keep them. I was that lucky i had four or five really close friends in college, girls that let me into their hearts and knew mine as well. I move to this city about the same size as nac. at least in my mind and find that my friend making skills are there but lacking. Letting people see you for value is hard, letting people see you with faults is hard. but then I realize this is where God wants me so be really Liz!! come on! So i grow up and be the girl, women God created me to be.

In the process of growing up i realize that if i want others to look at me and really SEE who i am SEE the value God has given me, SEE the art I create in my daily life, SEE faults that make me human, SEE my scares that show growth in God. I must first be willing to see them for all of these things as well. To look at people on the street and give their words value, to meet students and give their passions worth, to talk to people before resonate starts and give their hearts and their lives the time and energy to really care about what is being said. Not just the casual nod or the ever so meaningful "I'm good" but truth and that means sometimes it is messy and sometimes it is neat with a bow on top but it is who i am and it is who they are!

To see past the casualness of the everyday and into the heart of the matters. To see where they are coming from and why they came that route. To see the longing in their eyes and the worth that is to be had.

A week later Keith talked on wash, some might think wash the feet got it serve. But do you serve to glorify your self or God. Do you serve to show you are humble or because you truly are, do you serve to boost your pride or because serving allows the focus to be shifted from you to God.

PRIDE - man hit me in the gut, pride gets in the way of so many daily trails of my life. Simple task become complex because of pride, Pride hinders God from getting the glory and makes me the center of attention. LAME!

I desire to not be seen or heard for the words i say and the actions i complete but for the God who gives me the strength and the life to complete each of the tasks from day to day. How do you serve someone when it is all about ones self? can you? or is that even serving? I dont think it is i think it is serving when the other is placed before me. When I am no longer searching my own heart for areas where i need satisfaction and worth but realizing that my worth is guaranteed from God and that my serving is a way to put others first to SEE their hearts and meet their needs.

They go so hand in hand, I choose to see you and to wash (serve) you. I daily give up all the right i think i have and place God as number one, giving him all the glory and honor. Because i in and of myself can do neither serve or wash on my own. Through Christ I can bring God glory in both!

Wow, these two topics have been rocking my world. I mean how do you do this what does this mean. I want to live in a way that daily i am seeing the value in people not their dots and starts, and to (i would say wash people but that sounds weird) serve people. and doing all of this with no selfish ambition, with no personal guarantee of satisfaction. To live the life of the postures of Christ.

Picture time with LIZ

2008-09-30T16:45:00.001-07:00

So the 5 interns went to bend Oregon for a north American missions board meeting!! for three days!! we went rafting and claimed a mountain!! we went to meetings as well!!

Hope you enjoy the pics!

Story Time with Liz

2008-09-30T15:43:00.000-07:00

WEll, i guess the time has come for some stories!!

There are about 10 to 12 freshmen involved in the village i co-lead at U of I...
One of the things that the staff highly encourage is meeting with the girls one on one and seeing where they are in life, maybe mentoring or discipleship, or just being in their lives outside of Tuesday night. Well recently i have hung out with many of the girls and to my surprise and Gods grace three of them have expressed interest in getting together weekly to meet and talk with. two girls and i are going to start going through a study of scripture, another girl and me are meeting weekly to just talk an hang out.

I fell like life is starting to become normal. I have a schedule, i know what is coming and what the next day looks like. While there is normal, everyday is different and that allows me to live with a passion!!

I am loving the culture up here and the how open people are to hear why i am here.
I have one more story for you and then i will let you go!!

About a month ago, i work a block party one Sunday. We could not have church in Moscow bc of it but we were allowed to have a booth with information on it! So i sat a table all day and talked to people here and there!! Sometimes this is very taxing with little reward, however, this time was different! I talked to a girl and told her the basics of resonate and what not...she went on her way and i went on with the day. Sadly the next Sunday i was unable to be at church, (i was in bend, Oregon) but when i got back into town from two people i heard the the same thing. "Liz there is this girl and she meet you at the block party and because of that you said to her she decided to come to church and she said everything you said was true and that she was so Happy to have meet you." WOW what a complement an ho exciting!!! So the next Sunday i was sitting at the front of the Church and for some reason i decided to move to the back, at the end of the service the pastor asked us to find someone and just talk about our week and what all we are going through. Well i looked across the aisle and found a girl and then we started to talk!! IT WAS THE SAME GIRL!! HOW AWESOME IS GOD!! we were able to share and talk and she was so thankful for meeting her and talking with her, i just loved it!!

God is doing amazing things and i am privilege to be apart of them!

liz

UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE sorry it took so long

2008-09-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

WOW where does the time go, i am so sorry it has taken me so long to get on here and write some more...since the last post alot has happened!!

Where to start. Well for one the freshmen village is going really well, the students are starting to really bond an get to know one another and form a group!! It has been so exciting to watch God in these students.

The Moscow service is up an running today is the third services, we are all praying for it to go well!! The students at u of i have been very welcoming of the idea of a collegiate church, lets just pray they start to come!

There is a youth village that i am going to be helping out with on Wednesday nights, I am kinda of there to help facilitate discussion and stuff. The first real week is this one coming up, pray that the middle school students will long to come to something that is less game centered and more personal growth centered.

WEll i the biggest news i have is that i went to bend Oregon. I was there sunday through wednesday. It was soooo pretty and alot of fun. The five interns drove down on Sunday, all of us in one car!! It was a blast, to just hang out without work and with launch week behind us. God really brought the 5 of us together as one! While we were in bend the NAMB (north american mission baord) but on a conferance for us and all the other northwest semester missionaries. WE learn what is excpected of us, we put together goals to ourselfs, we learned how to sabbath, There was so much information! it was wonderful. We also had the privelage of staying in this really nice resort and hanging out, we white water rafted! And on the way home we claimed to th top of this water fall, it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Well i will write more later, i am on way to lunch and then to set up for th pullman serivce!!

liz

Just an update!!

2008-09-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

WEll we have launched the second service...or more like second church! you see at 600 we start in pullman, I then head to moscow at 700 while the pullman service is still going on to set up for the second serives. Around 815 everyone else heads to moscow. Church starts at 830 and then is over around 1000. It is needless to say a long but worth it day!!

This week we had a great turn out and i am so excited to see what GOd is going to do in the coming months. Also the freshman village is going well. I had coffee with the freshmen girls this week and it was a splendid time!! I know i am going to love getting to know them over the coming year!

Womens ministry to about to start in the coming week!! I am so ready to see how this unfolds. There are some amazing women up here and i know God is going to do great things with and through them!

I am getting to know many people up here, pray that friendships are strengthened and held together by Gods hands. God has been faithful to bring people into my walk in the past and he did the same here! I love getting to know people and i know i have some strong friendships and they are just going to strengthen in the coming months! Pray that this be true.

The interns have a retreat in about a week and i am so excited. FOr one we get cool North American mission board backpacks!!! and two we all get to hang out with one another!!!!!

hope yalls week is going well!!

PS just so you know i am working on Joshua two and will post it in the coming days!!!

Just a little update!!

2008-08-26T22:59:00.000-07:00

So i love when God just shows himself when you are sitting in the car with a friend and talking over the day and go OH WOW GOD IS AMAZING!!

Well you see i just had one of these moments, one of my friends molly (fellow intern) got the job of putting together the tables for the displays that are on campus. The tables have vintage suitcases on them and then inside these are fliers for the church and different items. (they are opened on the tables, they are cool i promise)

Well up till now all i have seen is a cool table layout nothing really more. Tonight we were sitting in my car talking about how when we catch the passion God has for us it is contagious to all those around us. When following Gods will, his passion will grow in us and that will be seen by others and will allow us to let the small things go. TO move on from what is right in front and see the big picture and enjoy the view! While we are talking about this, molly mentions how much she has seen GOds provision over us this week and how He has been in all the little details and putting together these events and the people and Provide strength, rest and peace to us.

I am sitting there and I smile when it comes to mind that all of out tables have suitcase on them. What is a suitcase? It protects, it holds, it carries, to allows movement of objects. I know that to some this may seem like nothing put to me this is a beautiful picture of God in my life these past few weeks! He has been my suitcase, if you will. He has allowed me to move here to Pullman, He has allowed me to see U of I and have a heart for the people there. God has been my protection in times of crisises, he has held and is caring me through many of the tasks set before me here in Washington. and i am loving watching God move in me in and surround my life and incapture it to be all he needs. Which brings me back to the suitcase, that is what a suitcase is, it surrounds the objects in it and takes to where ever one chooses. You see God choose for me pullman and i am seeing daily him protect and surround me and travel with me to where ever he chooses to take me!!

God is awesome!! I am learning more and more!

liz

YEAH FOR BEING 22!!!!!

2008-08-21T22:22:00.001-07:00

WEll in about an hour and half i will be 22 on the 22nd...big deal i know!!

I will let you know how the day goes!! hope your day is a as GREAT as I am going to make mine!!!!

GREAT DAY!!

2008-08-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

So this past sunday i had the privelage of sharing my heart with some of the church!

I dont know how many of you know this but in the long run i would love to be a womens minister and go around speaking to groups of women. Having said this i have not really taken many steps towards this.

BUT this Sunday i got up and spoke in front of about 75 people. i was able to share a little bit of my journey with them and how i got here and why i came!! it was truly i God given experience where the words i said i really dont remember. However, when i was done i had two women come up and tell me how natural i was on stage and how well i did. I also i had two staff member s tell me i did a good job and that this semester i would have many more opportunities to be on stage talking in front of people!

I am not telling you this to gloat but to say that it was a moment of affirmation.

I have had a passion for speaking for years and never had an oppertunity to use this gift i fell came from God! and this sunday i felt completely in the moment and where God wanted me to be.

Lets be honest, this week has been kinda of hard, not being home and missing yall, and realizing that i will not see yall for a while! it just came crashing in on me and so this moment was a total God given appointment!

LIZ

BACK IN PULLMAN!!!

2008-08-12T16:16:00.000-07:00

WEll i made it back safely, minus some getting sick on the way home it was great and now i am even more excited about the year ahead.

Side note if you ever need to hear a GREAT sermon listen to David Platt, he spoke this past week and camp and he was truely touched by God. i was challanged every night and left with a longing of wanting to know Christ better then i do now!

I have learned over the years that when something good is on the way satan is not far behind and that statement is true here in Washington!! I have learned this week the
JOY FOUND IN FORGIVENESS!!

Sorry this post is kinda of random! My thoughts are a little everywhere and trying to write them is harder then i thought! When i get it all figured out i will let you know!!

liz

Here are some pics from the trip

GONE!

2008-07-31T07:40:00.000-07:00

Well i am about to leave and get on bus!! So i will not be updating for about 10 days...don't worry though i will write all about the week once i get back!! thanks for your prayers.

love, Liz

On the Road Agian!

2008-07-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well just to keep yall in the know, I leave for New Mexico tomorrow morning around 830 here or 1030 Texas time! We are taking about 30 people to glorieta for collegiate week! I am so excited. I have only heard good thing about this camp and know it is going to unite all of us going before the school year begins!

I was asked to be on the northwest mission committee. This group of people checks into mission trips for the summer of 09 and then goes through the applications and interviews students in the spring and decides where to place them for the summer. I super excited to see where that leads.

We are driving there and so it is very close to same drive me and my mom just finished. I am going in thinking positivly and know that God is going to use this drive just as much as he is going to use the week that lies after it.

Pray that Gods will for all us will be shown. That we will be broken before the throne.

Thank yall so much for you support and if i can ask a favor and that is if you are reading this and you have a moment to spare please leave a comment. I can not tell you how encouraging it is to get on here and see that people are interested in what is going on and well that you are thinking of me.

I miss you all!

liz

I am HERE!!!

2008-07-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well after a three day drive, me and my mom made it safely to washington!! There were alot of fun memories made along the way and some very funny quotes that now hang on my wall!

SAdly, i dropped my mom off at the airport this morning, it was alot harder then i once thought it would be. However, My apartment looks GREAT thanks to her help! (Ill post pics soon).

TOday i hung out in spokane (about 2 hours away from pullman, it is where the airport is located) after dropping my mom off. I am starting to get more aquated with the state of washington and finding it sometimes but not always difficult to get around!

Here are some pics taken along the way...sorry they are neat but it is the best i can do!!

The given Charge!

2008-07-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

I like to think that when God calls you to do something or live a certain lifestyle He will place a charge on your live. I also choose to believe that if you listen closely He will give you verses to live my and to call on in time of need.
It is nothing new that i am leaving the comforts of home to move to a new place and to live amongst college students and be a witness for Christ in their everyday life's. Well, all semester long I have read the book of Joshua and wondering why God kept bringing me back to these pages and to these verses and then this past week it clicked in my head this is my charge from God. These words are what i am suppose to live my in the coming weeks and cling to in the time ahead!
Joshua 1 hits home in three different place and I know will aide me in different parts of my journey.
first the book starts of by the Lord telling Joshua to get up and move on. This is the place where I find myself right now. Having just finished school the feeling of mourning can very easily come upon me and allow me to wallow in the unknown. Just like Joshua I fell like this time in my life The Lord is saying OK now get up and move on, follow what I said and all will turn out just the way I planned. God clarifies this in following verses. Verse 3 The Lord says he will give him the land that he promised Moses, Verse 5 says no one will stand up against him. Now i know i will face opposition and that there will be times of what fells like nothingness I know that I can claim the call the Lord gave Joshua and learn that where ever the Lord leads you he will go before and prepare and be with you in the time you are there.
This leads to point 2 5B "I will never leave you nor forsake you". what a great verse to claim. I know that this will be a verse i say over and over again in the time ahead. but the great thing about this verse is the fact that one it is truth!! AMEN!! While yes i am going to a new place where there are many unknown the one thing that matter is that the Lord my God will never leave me or forsake me and that alone i know will get me through many a night!
The third i guess charge from this passage is my FAVORITE!!!!!
FOUR time in the next 12 verse the Lord gives the encouragement "BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS" and the context makes these words even more powerful.
1. BS&C- because you will lead people
HELLO- to lead people anywhere with the correct intentions there is a need for the leader to be Strong and Courageous, While i don't know details of what all i will doing i do know there will be some form of leadership and my prayer is that i will lead with the mindset of God given Strangeness and courageousness that is seen as Gods love and not LIZ.
2. BS&C - be careful to obey all the laws
Now i know we are in the old testament days but there still are some guidelines to live my and by living in the way God has called me to live i will Glorify him better then ever before.
3. BS&C - Don't be terrified; do not be discouraged
I think this third one speaks the most to me. I know life come at you so fast sometimes you forget to think about it and you just reacted. the sad thing is that sometimes that reaction is not what is most Christ centered. Going to a far away land and living in the midst of newness is something that is very common in the bible and to find encouragement in that and live by in in the 9 months ahead is necessary. When God calls you to be S&C you need to take it and live by it!
4. BS&C - the last words in the chapter
What a call to place on ones live "Only be strong and Courageous" If nothing else i pray that in my actions my words and my living, that people will see this. A strong women who is living a Christ centered life and who is Courageous with her actions. What good is a live when there is no fruit to go with it. I pray that in the coming season of my life the Strong and Courageous Women i am will grow into a lady of faith and courage not only in words and actions but in daily living.

I will call upon these phrases in the coming months, learn to live a life of being
"STRONG AND COURAGEOUS"

FIVE WEEKS!!

2008-06-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

SO, there is alittle more then five weeks until i leave and can i just say I am so excited. It is so amazing how God answers prayers by presenting friendships from many states away!! I got to see some washington friends about a week or two ago and it was truely a blessing. I am seeing that the fear of not have true friendship is jus that...a fear that has no marit at all. Through the power of the internet many friendships have been established and for that I am truely thankful! I love how GOd sees the needs of his people and then provides a way for those needs to be meet! GOd is coltivating a new love in my heart, I can not wait to see where this leads me in the future.
So i sat down with my mom last night and talked about what all i still need to do before I leave and the amount of time I have left and I realize that I need to clean out my room here. (for the record that is really to rooms due to some stuff that happen in my life) and i only have two weeks to do that...then the thrid week i am going to pre-teen camp! and then one week to pack up clothes and make sure it all fits in my car and then the last weeks comes but that really oes not count because I am in a wedding and then I am going to nac for a few days! SO when I think about it like that there really is not much time left in this whole count down to washington!

SEVEN WEEKS!!!

2008-05-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

WEll tomorrow, or in an hour there will be 7 weeks until my mom and I embark on the journey to Pullman!!

I just got back from gonow's orientation. it was truly an amazing weekend. GOd opened my eyes to being flexible not only in thought but in action too. I also had the privilege of meeting people who have given up their summer to spread the word of GOd around the world. Seeing and talking to the different people just really allowed my heart to find peace with my own trip. you see it hit me about a week ago that this trip is a YEAR...alot can happen in a year. I mean think about college, my junior year so much happened (new friends, pain, healing, happiness, moving, roommate!!, family changes) and to think all that could happen again in washington. This thought scaried me up until about a day ago, when God allowed me to think of the person I was and the person i am becoming and let me tell you, I am truly blessed for this year. My heart and passions have changed my life out looked is so different. and i know that this trip or mission, is not going to be like a fifth year of college but rather a time to grow up and live the life i was called to live and the great thing about GOd is i dont have to wait until July 16 but rather I can start living NOW!!! THat is just so amazing to me, that GOd sees me for who I am and is willing and ready for be to become who He wants me to be. Alot of time people do not displace this kinda of enjoyment in others growing and changing and the fact that GOd encourages it just really makes it all worth it.. I am so in Love this GOd right now and I pray that in the coming months this love and passion continues to grow and reach new heights!!

What i am praying for!

2008-04-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

a. Other-centeredness - The world does not revolve around me.
To remember that I am called to be a servant and to meet the
needs of others.

b. Flexibility - Be cheerful about whatever I am asked to do. Try new things. Have a good attitude!

c. Humility/Teachability - I am a guest and a newcomer. Don’t be
deluded to think that I know what is best in this place of
ministry. Be teachable. Listen.

d. Enthusiasm - Be ready to do what is expected and then some!
Work harder than I’ve ever worked before and I’ll experience
a renewed sense of God’s peace and joy!

These past few weeks God has really shown me himself in many ways. These four things are what GO Now have all of its missionaries praying to be. I revised it to make it more personal for my trip. And these things go hand in hand with an experience i had just the other day.

Last weekend i had the privilege of driving to nac. A drive I have made many times in my college career. But this drive was different, this time I was driving up a hill, and the whole time i was thinking man I can not wait to get to the top of this and see what is on the other side. When i finally reached the top i came to an owe inspiring view of Gods wonderful glory in the world around us. I was meet with the most beautiful sun set i had seen in a while. As i kept driving this view was followed by turns and stops and areas of nothing and then moments of true brilliance of GOds amazing beauty in the world. Then i arrived in Nac.

I tell you this because then I had time to think about what just happen and this segment of time in my journey to nac was like lookinh in the mirror of where I am now and where i will soon be going. Now i am on this upward climb of not knowing whats ahead and learning more about myself and who God is to me and how to convey that to people around me in a way that is not only interesting but will allow them to see their need for God in their life as well. And soon the moment will come when I am no longer on this upward journey but and at the place that God has been preparing me for. When that takes place there are going to be times of twist and turns, moments when I feel like I am at stop and nothing is going on, weeks of sensing there is no end and no time to think and then there will times when God gives me glimpses of just how amazing He really is and in those moments i pray I will look and cherish them.

My prayer is that this drive that I made about 10 times year, but this time was more then just a drive will me to take the time now to make every moment that I am away in Washington, ones that When the stop comes i can look back and say WOW look at what all God has done! God also reminded me that now is the time to prepare for this journey, what I do now is what I will be there, i am not just going to snap and change into this other person. So I choose and chose now to embark on the journey of becoming someone worthy of sharing the gospel with the people that God allows me to, i step forward now in order that each step will allow me to look more like Christ and less like me.

I ask that you pray that those 4 items will become me and that i will become who Gos desires me to me for this trip ahead.

Just an update

2008-04-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

Just so you know, i recently found out that i will have my own apartment while i spend my year in Pullman. I was really scared of this at first, but now God has reveled a new out look on this.
1. I will have my own place!!
2. I can have people over whenev
3. A place to retreat and get away
These three are great reasons for this blessing!!
Also me and my mom are pretty sure that we will be leaving dallas on the 16th of july and hopefully arriving to pullman on that following saturday!!! ANd dont worry We will keep yall posted the whole way.

7 more days of student teaching!!!!

Spring break came to an end!

2008-03-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

I love spring break and this one was no different. I took my sister to horse camp, hung out with my mom, talked with my dad and then slept, and I enjoyed all of it. I found myself realizing just how blessed I am to have a family like mine. My parents are truly a blessing to my life and helped me to grow and become who I am today. Also this Easter my sister was baptised, which was amazing in and of itself but also because I was baptised on Easter Sunday many years ago. Overall spring break was truly a great time of treasuring those that God gave me for a life time.

I was on my schools "homework" site, this place where my teachers can post assignments for the class to take part in. The weekly journal asked us about this time in our student teaching and how it was going and now that it is coming to an end what we thought of it overall. One of my classmates posted this quote

"You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this"

As sat reading this quote I thought to myself, "am i going to miss this, is this something I will someday want back" and as I thought I was reminded that Yes there will be times when I look back on life and go man college was great, or I wish I had taken the time to realize just how good that experience was...but at the same time I know that God leads us into new chapters while closing the door to the previous one just finished. I found that sometimes God slams doors and sometimes I feel as though some are left partly open. However, I know that this door, this closure to college comes like a sweeping breezes, gently enough to close the door, but not hard enough for me to feel the pain that can sometimes come with the moving on, or starting of a new chapter. College was a great time---I meet amazing people, made great memories (making doughnuts, interning, cars, my first apartment, my first "Job", the bsm, going over seas), was lead to the thrown of Christ my some amazing people (the choir at first, the people that came by the CLC and many others). I know that so much of who I am today is because of who God placed in my life over these past four years. I also know that the chapter ahead is one filled with dreams I have not even dreamed yet, people I have prayed for but have never meet, relationships that are truly God centered, places I did not even know where real. So in my life and maybe even in yours there come a time when doors close and i think "Man I am going to miss this, I wish this lasted longer" but then be reminded of the fact that while a new time is coming so is God, our protection. He protected me during many hard times, and through all the great ones and I know that His same protection is going to Washington with me and will continue to be there all the days of my life.
A chapter of encouragement, a few verse that let us in on just how great of a protector our GREAT GOD is------Psalm 121

Four Months

2008-03-22T20:01:00.000-07:00

SO it hit me this week that in four months from now i will be in washington!!!! WOW!
I have 14 more days with the kindos that school, which really means that i have two weeks of teaching and four days of observing other classes. I am so excited, in a going to miss them but ready to move on kinda of way....
If you read this please be in prayer for me, I applied for a job yesterday and i really am in need of a job for this summer and so it would be nice....i will keep yall posted!!
My sister is getting baptisted tomorrow!!! God is sooo amazing!

Three MORE weeks!!!

2008-03-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

SO i only have three more weeks, till the end of my student teaching!!!! I have truely enjoyed this time together with my teacher and the kids. It was a completly different environment then any of the past times i have spent in class. My teacher has been great i really have learnded alot. But saying that i am now starting to count down!!! i have 22 days of school time left!!!!

Burger Bar

2008-03-04T18:29:00.000-08:00

So today i was eating diner witha friend at place called buger bar. While seating at the table i started to people watch (something I do well). At the table next to where i was seating was a table of two girls the whole time they were disussing the churches that they each were attending.
I find it interesting that many times i see people and they are discussing the church they attend and i start to pay more attention to the what is said and how the tone and the words.
These girls here tonight where talking about how church in order for it to be true fellowship there must be community and deep fellowship. HOwever over their disscusions i realized that what they were in need of was not fellowship or community but somewhere where they ould do the things they loved with people they love as well.
People need to know that what they are doing is ok and good in the eyes of those they love. Churchfor many people is about finding a place to belong where you are the odd ball but rather the norm. These girls, from what i rathered what fun activities to complete with their friends that went to chruch.
I just have one question about this theory. How are we who are called to be different, called to live out a different life then those around us. HOw can that be seen when we constantly surround ourselves with Chirstians and go to wordly places with Christians and are seen living a life many non christians would lead themselves. what makes me different from the next person? Is church about proving a place for chirstians to meet and hang out and stay or a place for people to learn about God, learn how to live it out and a place to surround themselves with encourgment, so that when the believers go out into the world they are encourgaged they are built up..after chruch going out into the world should be easy. because GOd is with us and wants us to share His word with people. That means going to a place where people may not want to go. We have to be a light even if it is not the cool chirstian thing to do.

these are the thought that through my head everyday....sorry if they are kinda of random.

GOING TO PULLMAN

2008-02-26T15:06:00.000-08:00

SO i just found out that i will be going to pullman for year. I created this journal for those of you that are partnering with me in pray. I hope you will read this in the coming months to see how GOd is preparing me for the fall and then come fall to see what God is doing in Pullman. I am so excited to see GOds hand at work. Thanks for praying for me and for all of your support of the years!!