Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
~1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV)
In the days leading up to Easter, my church is going through a devotional book called "Seek God For The City 2012." The prayer from Monday's devotional stood out to me so I wanted to share it with you.
"Father, You've been constantly watching for Your long-lost sons and daughters to return to You. Awaken their yearning for You. Empower those who turn toward home. Run toward them as the come. Convince them of Your unchanging love, regardless of what they have done or how long they have been away. Let the homecoming party begin."
"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." ~Matthew 17:20
When I was younger, somewhere between the age of 9-12, my friend gave me the necklace in the picture for my birthday. In the middle of the heart is a mustard seed, and the square behind it has part of Matthew 17:20 on it. As the years have gone by the necklace has been tarnished, the resin holding the seed in the heart has yellowed, but the truth of the necklace remains - If we have faith in God, nothing will be impossible for us.
In life it is easy for faith to be tarnished. It is easy to allow circumstances to distract us or leave us hopeless. It is easy to lose heart.
As I was doing some cleaning a couple days ago I found my necklace, and as I found it God revealed something to me. All it takes is the smallest amount of faith that God can and will do something. A mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds, yet it grows into a large, sturdy tree. The same happens with faith. God takes an ounce of faith and turns it into something strong and unshakable.
I am thankful I found this necklace and was reminded to have faith and trust that God will continuously work. My friend, like others I know, is lost. Yet, although she is lost right now the necklace she gave me years ago reminds me to keep on believing. Keep on hoping. Keep on having faith in Jesus that nothing is impossible...nothing at all. They will come back to Him.
All it takes is faith. Faith to be able to HEAR them praising the Lord. Faith to be able to SEE them with arms lifted to their King. Faith to be able to SAY today is the day they are found.
A song on Phil Wickham's album Response called "This Is The Day" has been a real encouragement to me over the past week or so... Listen to it and declare life over those you know who are lost and need to be found. For today is the day of salvation!
I have no clue who wrote this...I received it as a forward a couple years ago and it has always stuck with me. I think sometimes it's good to be reminded that everyone goes through similar situations in relationships...because not everyone will be in our lives forever.
"People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person..
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support,
To aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.
Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
This person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met,
Our desire fulfilled, their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.
Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.
Thank you for being a part of my life, whether you were a reason, a season or a lifetime."
A Photo Of Yourself And A Description Of How Your Day Was
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are all having a wonderful start to your weekend...I sure am!
My day today was amazing! It started off by sleeping in! After a long week, sleeping in was amazing! My grandparents are visiting for the weekend, so for brunch we had incredible food that was mostly made my my grandma and grandpa. Since my grandparents were bringing some of our favourite 'traditional' foods my mom's cousin and her family came over for brunch. We had a good visit with them!
Then after they left I took my grandparents out for a ride in my 'new' car! They hadn't seen it yet so it was nice to show it off!
After that we had a relaxing afternoon, waiting for the turkey to cook, and for my friend to come over. Traditionally our family has always spend Thanksgiving just as a family, but this year I really felt it on my heart to invite a friend over as her family has moved away. It was great to have Sarah over! We had a dinner/evening full of laughter...much to the expense of my brother! It felt great to have my entire family together, with my grandparents and Sarah!
God has blessed me abundantly! Though times have been extremely tough lately, I can't help but have an overwhelming sense of being blessed.
I am living closer to my extended family than I have since I was little. (And now a whole 15 minutes closer to my little cousins and Aunt and Uncle!!) God has brought me an amazing friend who is honestly more like a sister to me. God is also been bringing me a couple more friend! I just feel blessed, and extremely thankful!
And finally, I am so grateful for Jesus' amazing love for me and my family! He will never let us go...no matter if times are good or bad. He's holding us in the palm of His hand! I am so thankful for His great love for us all!
Sometimes I despise technology because...well because of a lot of reasons! But today I am thankful for it. For the very first time (sadly!) I sat down and skyped with one of my very close friends in Kamloops! She just had a baby in June and I've been feeling very sad about living so far away and missing this new season of their lives! It was so great to see her and hear her voice...it felt almost as if I was sitting in her living room having tea with her!
I am so thankful that even though I live 18 or so hours away from Adam and Rachelle that technology has paved a way for us to feel like the distance between us isn't that great at all!
Thanks for the amazing chat Rachelle! I am so grateful for your friendship! :)
"But every memory of friendship shared, even for a short time, is a treasure, like sunshine and warmth in our lives, like a cool breeze on a humid day, like a shower of rain refreshing the earth."
~Author Unknown
Sometimes I wish I was still young. Living in the good days where life was simple. Where faith was 'as a child' if that makes sense. Where people truly cared and life wasn't complicated.
Sometimes I wish I could go back in time to when I lived in Calgary...when my friends and I were all serving God. When He was what we would always talk about. When nothing could come in the way of our love for Him.
Sometimes I wish I could go back in time to a time where smiles always filled our faces. Where fear was far from our hearts. Where my sisters and I would enjoy our time together and sing our little hearts out for Jesus.
Sometimes I wish I could go back in time when real true friendships were the norm. Where people actually cared about one another. Where if you reached out to someone they would extend their loving arms back.
Sometimes... Okay, really I wish this all the time. I wish life was still as simple as it was when I was little...
But it's not. So many people I love have turned from their first Love, Jesus. So many people I know could care less about everything and everyone. It hurts. Badly. Because all I want is to see them with arms raised high serving their King.
I'm not going to give up. I will continue pressing on. Keep praying. Keep believing. Keep hoping. Because a day is coming where they will bow their knee and worship Jesus. A day is coming...
I met Amanda when I moved to Calgary when I was seven. I'm pretty sure we met at church and somehow we became good friends. She was one of the main friends that I hung out with while I lived there.
I remember going into grade four at a public school and I was so excited that Amanda was going to be in my class because it meant that I already had a friend at school! After grade four we both were homeschooled until I moved away just after grade six.
A couple days ago I was looking through some old picture albums (thanks to their easy accessibility now that they are upstairs due to the flood...) and saw so many pictures of Amanda and I. Seeing all those pictures brought back so many memories.
So many times over the past year or so I have found myself wishing that life could go back to the simplicity of being a child. Years have passed since I lived in Calgary. At first my friends and I kept in close touch...writing letters back and forth on a regular basis. Slowly the letters stopped, and as they stopped we all slowly lost touch. If I have one regret in life it's that I allowed the distance to creep in and get further and further. I haven't seen Amanda in years. I think the last time I saw her was in 2008. I don't even know where she's at right now. :( But despite the distance that has come in the way I have many memories of our friendship that I hold dear to my heart. Amanda will always be a friend in my heart...no matter how many years go by before I see her again.
Thanks for all the memories Amanda, and thanks for your friendship!
Is it normal to have waves of sadness over moving when it's already been 10 months?
May and June have been unusually difficult for me. It all started at the beginning of May when out of the blue I got extremely homesick for BC... It still comes and goes, but I feel homesick more than I don't right now...
I know God wants me here, yet I miss my 'other home' so much. One of my closest friends in Kamloops had her first baby on Tuesday. An adorable little boy! I wish with all my heart that I could be there to meet little Nathaniel! Yet, it appears I won't get to meet him at all this year...and maybe not even next year. That thought fills me with sadness... Time is going by, fast, and each day that passes is one day further from when I saw the people I care about.
I wouldn't trade the months of joy I've had here, nor trade the time I've spent meeting the incredible people here, but all those months can't ever take away from the fact that I spent 9 years in BC. 9 years in the same city. And in those 9 years I met people that I love dearly! Being here can't take that away from me, but I feel that as time goes on and distance creeps in that our lives are going to change so much...too much.
I wish I could be in two places at once. Here with the people I've met but also there with the people I love. Here with the people that accept me and there with those who have watched me grow up.
When I was there I wanted what I have now, but now that I'm here I want what I had there. It's the never ending cycle of 'the grass is greener on the other side'...
I'm just rambling on now.
Will life always be this way? Being in one place but wishing for another? Being tired of getting out of my comfort zone to meet new people and make new friend so I wish for being in my comfort zone with my old friends? Seeing people walk in and out of my life faster than I can keep up with? Watching friends lives blossom with marriage and children while feeling like I'm stuck in a rut?
Ahhh...I don't know anymore. This rambling isn't making sense! Haha! All I know is I'm feeling homesick once again...and I really, I mean REALLY miss my Kamloops friends! All of them...but today especially Adam and Rachelle...and the chance to meet baby Nathaniel...while he is still tiny!
It is a day that I will always remember exactly where I was and what I was doing.
I woke up like any other Sunday and got ready to go to the church to help out with Kidz Rock. It was a routine type of day. I tried not to think about the fact that my Great Grandpa Sigglekow was terminally ill with only days left to live. I tried to believe that all would be okay.
I went into the "Keep" and began to set up for worship. The worship leader, and great friend Dan got there only minutes after me and began to set up. He asked if I would co-lead with him that day. I hadn't co-lead with him before. I was nervous, but I said I would. He went to get his guitar...
My dad came up the stairs, came to me, and told me Great Grandpa was gone. I couldn't believe it. That was it. He was gone. The Great Grandpa I knew the best was gone. The Great Grandpa who I have so many good memories of was in heaven. I didn't get to say goodbye...
Dan came upstairs. Tears were filling my eyes. I told him I couldn't lead anymore. In fact, I didn't know how I would get through the day. I tried to be strong, but it hurt so bad. Dan asked me what was wrong. So I told him...
The first thing he did was come over to me, put his arm around my shoulder, and prayed for God's peace to rest upon me. It was thoughtful. But it was exactly what Dan would do. Looking back on that moment I realize the importance of his prayer. You see, many people found out that my Great Grandpa had died. Nobody seemed to care. It felt as though people figured my Great Grandpa had lived a good long life, which he did, but they didn't seem to care about the hurt the family felt. We missed him. We still miss him. We will always miss him. Out of everyone who found out what had taken place, Dan was the only one who showed genuine care and compassion. It meant more to me that he will ever know. In fact, I believe that prayer was what got me through the days that followed.
Later on in the day Dan asked me how I was doing, and I had to rack my brain to try to figure out why he would ask that...then I remembered Great Grandpa was gone. Dan's prayer for peace was answered in an instant, and God filled me with so much peace. More than I've ever felt.
To most this story may seem insignificant, but to me it meant everything. God brings people into our lives who will be by our side through thick and thin. There have been many moments in life where I have felt alone, but when I need someone to be there God is always faithful to bring that friend into my life. I am so grateful for everyone God has placed into my life in each season I've gone through. Most of the people in my life will never fully comprehend the value they have in my life or the joy memories like the one I wrote about bring to me. You all mean more to me than I could ever say!
*By the way, I'm thinking about starting doing "Friends and Family Friday" themed posts. I may have to do it more than just on Fridays because I have so many friends and family to write about, but I think it's time to start...it's time to honour my friends and family!
A few years ago I went Rock Climbing with a good friend of mine. He emailed me a couple days after with the following statement:
"Hey, so rock
climbing with you was a blast! Thanks for coming out! My arms are actually
pretty sore right now, but I love how that feels. Lets you know you worked hard
at something..." DG
In the years that have passed since I received this email I have tried to keep it in mind when I am physically sore. Whenever I have pulled muscles the first thing I want to do is slow down to minimize the pain. The memory of this email always reminds me that the pain is a reminder that I "worked hard at something."
Doing the cleanup from our flooded basement has caused many unusual, and normally unused muscles in my body, especially my left leg, to be injured. Thus the reminder of this email...
As I was thinking about this email a couple days ago I began to think about how this applies to other parts of life. I've shared in this blog several ups and downs I've had both now and in the past. Could the statement my friend made apply to more than just the physical aspect of life?
The soreness of muscles represents pain. Could it be that when we face pain in life we can change our perspective from feeling down and gloomy to saying "I love how this feels, because it shows me I did something...I cared."
There are so many different types of pain people feel throughout their lifetime. The majority of pain I have felt is pain from friends and family. Pain from friends walking out of my life without any warning. Pain from choices friends and family have made that are hurting not only themselves, but those around them. Pain from seeing people know the truth but have turned from it. Pain from seeing brokenness. Pain from the distance that comes as time passes.
Can it be possible for me to look at all the pain life brings and say with confidence that I embrace it because if I didn't have pain it wouldn't be so obvious that I care about those individuals that have brought the pain. The pain is a reminder that I care, and care deeply.
Life will be full of joy and pain. There will be ups and downs. We can choose how we look at each season of life. It's all about perspective. Can we take the common negative connotation of pain and turn it around to remind us that the pain we feel is because we did something...we felt something. We care. Can we truly say, like the words of my friend, "...I love how that feels. Lets you know you worked hard at something!"
I love technology. I love that it connects me with people who don't live nearby. When I was in BC I loved that I could see pictures of my extended family and feel like the distance between us was minimal.
Yet, as much as I love technology and the ease of communication it has brought, lately I've been finding myself feeling silent...or maybe it's just ignored. Whatever the case, lately the majority of people I've tried to stay in contact with are ignoring my attempts. It makes me feel silent. Like what I am saying isn't getting across or is unimportant. I feel like I'm throwing my heart out into a giant void of nothing and it's being engulfed. It seems as though every effort I put out is useless. Yet I keep on trying...and trying...and trying. Maybe it's me. Maybe it's them. Maybe I'll never know...
I'm not quite sure when to give up...if I even should. I don't want to. I care too deeply to give up on anyone, especially those whom God has placed on my heart. So I try, and try again, hoping that someday someone will at least care enough to respond. That would sure make my heart happy! But unfortuately that isn't the case right now...so I'll keep trying and reaching out, while praying that even as they ignore me they will feel God's arms of love around them.
A few years ago I was sitting with my dad in the van and he mentioned that there were a few musicians in our new church who had the potential to go far with their music...
Now fastforward from then to just a couple weeks ago. I found out one of my good friends from BC is now one of the guitarists for Dan Bremnes, a Christian artist from the interior of BC. I have heard Dan Bremnes live a couple times last summer and he is gifted in leading people into worship. AND, in just over a month I am going to be going to camp and Dan Bremnes happens to be leading worship for the weekend...and I REALLY hope my friend is able to come along as well.
Anyway, right now there is a contest going on through Praise 106.5 out of Washington state for a local musician to play in the final concert of History Maker this coming weekend! Dan Bremnes and his band have made it to the finals and need our help to win this contest! You may vote once per day for the rest of
this week!
***NOTE: Please vote only ONCE per day. Do NOT use multiple email addresses or Dan Bremnes and his band could be disqualified. Here's the voting link.
Thanks for supporting these guys! I am really excited for this opportunity they have to play in front of thousands, make connections in the music world, and use their gifts to glorify God! It's neat to look back at the day I listened to my dad mention that my friend had this potential, and bring it full circle to see it being recognized right now! It's all a matter of God's timing...and I am SO excited for my friend!
Usually...the flowers are blooming...the grass is turning green...the birds are singing. It's a time of year where reminders of life are everywhere. What once appeared to be dead and dormant is now beginning to shine.
The statement on my calendar for March says:
"After the winter comes the spring to show us that in everything there's always renewal divinely planned - flawlessly perfect, the work of God's hand." Helen Steiner Rice
This statement is so true. Not only in the physical sense of spring, but also in the sprititual sense of spring.
A little over 2000 years ago Jesus went to the cross...for you...for me. He came to bring life. He came to bring renewal. He came to bring hope. Jesus was born after years and years (I can't think of the number off the top of my head) of silence... That time probably felt like winter to the people of Israel. I'm sure they were wondering where God was, and why things were so silent. Yet, in God's timing He sent His Son Jesus into the world, to bring redemption to all mankind.
He endured the pain and suffering you and I deserve because of our sinful nature. He took it all upon His shoulders to bring us freedom. To bring us eternal life...if we choose to accept Him.
That's what this season is about.
The amazing thing though is that the story doesn't end there.
Jesus died upon the cross on what we now celebrate as Good Friday. On what we celebrate as Easter Sunday Jesus arose from the grave!! He beat death for eternity! He brought hope to what appeared hopeless! He brought life everlasting!
This Easter, like every other Easter, I'm celebrating the life, death, and resurrection of my Lord Jesus Christ! Easter is always an exciting time of year for me! Though I celebrate His life, death, and resurrection all year round, Easter is always a reminder that all around the world people are coming together in thanking Him for what He did for all of us.
As I celebrate this Easter I'm reminded of what He's blessed me with throughout this past year. As I have written about so many times over the past month or so, I've been really busy with school...but leading up to this weekend I've had a lot of blessings that have helped me get through the stress of school.
The first thing was meeting my best friend Kim at the airport on Thursday. I hadn't seen her in 4 months and so seeing her for the brief minutes I saw her for was amazing! I was reminded of the season of winter I went through in various friendships and how God has taken that winter and is beginning to grow something new in my life as I experience "spring". God has used Kim, and all my other new friends, to show me that in His timing, spring does arrive...no matter how long or hard winter was.
The second thing this weekend has held is the priviledge of seeing a lot of my extended family. For years I've wanted to live closer to my cousins. I always wanted to be able to "watch" them grow up...as in experience things with them that I couldn't because I lived hours away. Last night I babysat my three youngest cousins...something I always dreamed of but never imagined would be possible. This weekend will go on record as one with the most extended family at my house...other then when we celebrated my grandma's 65th birthday. I've seen both sets of grandparents, one aunt, two uncles, and four cousins!
This weekends been great! There's so much to be thankful for! Thank You Jesus for everything You have done for me! There aren't words to accurately describe how I feel right now...
I know this post is already long, but there is a song I want to share with you.
I just came across it, but it's a great reminder of how "We Are The Reason" Jesus came to earth, died, and rose again!
I FINALLY finished my Statistics course today! I've been aiming to have it finished awhile ago, but of course it had to take at least 5x longer than I anticipated! Now I just have to see what I got on my last two assignments...hopefully my lack of sleep and urge to get it over with didn't cause me to forget anything!
Today I've been working on one of my Health essays...it's almost finished. I hope to get the other one at least half finished tonight as well... Then all that's left is my 4 biology assignments that are all a third to half completed.
I am more than ready for everything to be finished!! Thankfully, the end of the week is going to be AMAZING! Hopefully I'll have all my assignments done by then so I can enjoy everything that's going to go on! I'm sure I wrote it in my last post, but I'm so excited about it all that I'll write it again!!
Once I am done with another full day of work (hopefully my last?!), and a full day of writing two midterms, I get to see my best friend on Thursday!! YA! I had no clue I'd see her so soon...but I'm so excited that I get to!! I figured since I didn't get to see her off at the airport, I'd try my very best to see meet her there when she came home!!! So, it turns out that as long as everything goes as planned, I'll get to see her at noon on Thursday!!! Then on Friday I get to babysit my three little cousins, see my aunt and uncle as well as my dad's parents. My mom's brother and daughter are also coming that night, so I'll see them too! Then on Sat I'll get to see my mom's parents and go to see the Passion Play my church is putting on! (I have more on that coming soon...hopefully on Thurs...) I'm also hoping to take my cousin, and maybe grandparents to see Soul Surfer!! Then Sunday is Easter and a time for celebrating! Once that's all over it's exam time, but let's not think about that yet...let's enjoy each day as it comes...well, once Thursday gets here!!
THREE MORE DAYS until the excitement begins!!! :) I can not wait!!
I can't believe how fast time is flying by! The middle of April is already here...with the end fast approaching! I don't know how I've been surviving the past couple weeks, but I have. I guess it must be because I keep praying for God to give me His peace and to take away all anxiety!
The next two weeks are going to be absolutely crazy for me! I have 2 math assignments, 4 biology assignments, and 2 health essays to write, as well as 5 exams! On top of all that I am apparently still going to be working. At the beginning of the month I let the lady I nanny for know I couldn't do it anymore...I've been feeling really overwhelmed with exams coming up, and I have been continuously feeling under the weather. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I am severely allergic to their cat...allergy medication doesn't even stop the allergic effects and so by the end of a 10 hour day I feel completely drained. But I am still working there as they haven't found a replacement yet! So, life is crazy for me right now!
The one thing getting me through the stress is knowing that it 2 weeks it will be almost finished! Well, that and knowing that next weekend I am going to be seeing A LOT of family! And my friend is coming back from NY next week, so I'll get to see her SOON!!! So, in the midst of the stress there is a joy that when all this is done I can celebrate! :)
I will not be blogging until I am finished school...at least I'll try not to! Sometimes when I'm stressed I need an outlet and writing has become that for me...even if it is rambling! If I do end up writing before the end of the month (other than Easter because I have something I do want to write then), feel free to leave a comment telling me to get back to school! Haha!
'"You know that verse in Joel about how God says he will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten?"
Leah didn't know that verse. "Are you trying to say my parents were locusts, and they ate up my best years?"
"Not exactly," Jessica said gently. "I was wondering if in some way God was restoring to you the feelings and experiences you might have had over the last decade, but those years were taken up in your giving and caring for others. Maybe some of those feelings had to be placed on hold. You had to act older than you were. You can be younger now."'
~Taken from Robin Jones Gunn's Woodlands (page 80)
This quote has been rolling around my head since I first read it a couple weeks ago. I've actually been thinking along these lines for awhile now...even before I read this quote.
Throughout my life I have moved around a bit. Not as many times as many others have, but more than I would have liked. I don't do very well with change, or with meeting new people, so moving has always been tough on me.
Yesterday my mom and I went back to the city I was born in to watch an Easter musical my old church puts on called "Hosanna." I hadn't been back there in 12 years or so. It was neat to go back and see people I hadn't seen in over a decade. One of those people (who I had no clue I'd see!) was my best friend from when I was little! It was so neat to see her after all these years! We haven't really kept in touch very well, which is really unfortunate, but I was amazed at how although we were only 10 when we last saw each other it seemed like we had seen each other yesterday! We just picked up where we left off and continued on the journey of friendship!!
While I was there I asked myself "I wonder what my life would have been like if I lived here my entire life? What if we hadn't moved away?" But as I pondered this question I realized I wouldn't have changed anything because in all the places I have lived I have grown. I have been shaped and molded into the person I am. The challenges stretched me. And in the process I met so many people who have forever changed my life!
Yet although I wouldn't have changed anything, in a sense I feel like Leah in the quote above. Everything in my life was great...until I moved to BC in 2001. I loved living in BC, don't get me wrong. There was just something that kept coming against every friendship I ever tried to form. To this day I don't understand it, I just know getting to know people was tough. I hadn't experienced anything like it in my life. But there, I did. For nine years. I loved my city. I loved the mountains. I loved my house...especially my yard and OWN room! I loved the weather. But deep down inside I was always discontent. I tried to pretend I wasn't because feeling down wouldn't change reality, so I plugged along in life. There were pockets of time while I was there that were amazing! But overall it was tough. Yet, ever since coming here to SK, again I've realized that I wouldn't have changed anything because that season caused me to become who I am. It strengthened me. It caused me to rely on God. It changed my outlook on life.
But although that season of my life shaped who I am, I'm in a place right now where I feel like God is restoring the years the locusts have eaten. He is taking that place in my life that was barren for so long and is causing it to blossom. I see it everywhere I go. I have met amazing friends in my church. People who I feel as though I've known my entire life, but I've really only know them for a maximum of 6 months. I'm meeting up with old friends who I didn't think I'd ever see again. People who God had kept close to my heart and my prayers throughout all the years in BC are popping up everywhere. Old classmates (who I may or may not see...we'll see when that door opens!) live either here in the city or nearby. A friend from AB who I had lost close contact with while in my final years in BC is becoming a close friend again. And the weird thing is that I feel closer to a few BC friends than I did when I was there!
Life is looking up. God is restoring the years I had "lost" in BC. I learned a lot there, and I wouldn't change it for the world...but I am truly blessed to be in the place I am in now!
I just wanted to check in and let you know not to expect to hear from me very often in the next month. I only have one month left to complete my schooling...and I am extremely far behind schedule which means I will be working at it like crazy over the next few weeks! Thankfully I have so much to look forward to at the end of April...which is motivating me to get everything done before then! My cousin, uncle, and both sets of Grandparents will be coming here around Easter weekend, and sometime around then...maybe just a few days later my best friend is coming home from NY!! So...I'm trying to get all my school done BEFORE Easter!
Okay...enough rambling! Time to get back to school!!
There's something about this time of year that makes me remember my missions trip to Guatemala in 2005...SIX WHOLE YEARS AGO!!
It's most likely the fact that every year the school I went there with takes one or two teams down there to do the same things my team did... Alicia went. Karmin went. And now right now the 'kids' who were still in elementary school when I graduated are there.
Hearing all the stories of what each team is doing in Guatemala always makes me miss it. I miss the experience. I miss the beautiful Guatemalan people. I miss hearing Spanish spoken all around me. I miss the sights. I miss the worship services. I miss everything about being there. I've always said I'll go back someday...I'm not sure when but I will.
This year seems to bring back more memories than the other years though. Maybe it's because I've moved away and so I feel like this year the trip has crept up on me. It could also have to do with the fact that I have met some people here who have gone to Guatemala, so there's been an even greater sense of connection with Guatemala and Impact Ministries. But, I also think it's because my best friend is going on her first missions trip tomorrow! She's going to Ecuador! Just thinking about her going reminds me of when I went! I am SO excited for her!! I just KNOW God is going to do amazing things THROUGH her and IN her! She's going to come back different...and I absolutely can not wait to hear all the stories she has to share about her time in Ecuador!!
I can't believe it's already been six years since I went on my missions trip. Those six years have gone by so fast, but at the same time they've gone by so slowly. So much has gone on in those six years...and it makes me sad to think that all that time has gone by and I haven't been on another missions trip... Deep down inside of me I wish I was headed to Ecuador tomorrow too... I just hope and pray that I'll have the opportunity to go on a missions trip before six more years pass by...
I want to see beautiful faces like this again, and experience the joy of blessing people in ways I could never imagine, but at the same time have them bless me...
Soon... Very soon I pray I'll go back to Guatemala, or any other country for that matter!
