Please, Please Pray...

I am at a complete loss for words right now. 

I guess all I can really say is will you PLEASE pray for a family friend's son? 

On Christmas Eve my family recieved word that our friends' 10 year old son Mitch was diagnosed with severe cancer in his bones that send him immediately to the provincial Children's Hospital.  I knew it was bad, but I didn't know details until today...

Mitch has been diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma.  It is a rare childhood cancer with a low survival rate that claimed the life of little Layla Grace Marsh about 10 months ago.  I say this not to place doubt for survival, but so that we know what we are dealing with. 

I haven't shared this before, but the night Layla went to heaven I really believe God gave me a vision of what was going on in the heavens in the moments before He called her home.  I have really struggled with why He gave me that vision...I didn't even know Layla or her family.  Looking back on it now, I still don't fully understand why God gave me that glimpse into heaven, but I know that God is in total control.  Before Mitch was formed God knew him.  God knows how many hairs are on his head, and all the days of his life have been ordained.  Only God knows exactly what the future has in store.  We need to be on our knees before the King of all kings interceding for Mitch, his parents, and his two sisters.  We need to believe that God is big enough and mighty enough to bring total healing and restoration to Mitch's body. 

Will you PLEASE join me in lifting up Mitch and his entire family before the Lord?

Noah And The Ark

About a month ago I was reading the story of Noah and the ark.  You know the one...

God told Noah to build a great big boat because a flood was going to come and cover the entire earth... 

Hundreds of children's books have been written to try to convey the story to young children.  I'm going to take a guess that probably almost everyone in North America at least has heard the story...no matter what their background or belief is. 

Today, I want to try to bring across the story in a different light.  As I was reading it last month it literally jumped out of the page and I was blown away with the story...yes the story I have heard many, many times in my life...

Imagine for a moment you were in Noah's shoes.  I'm going to go through the story of Noah, starting in Genesis 6, and I'm going to try to describe how I read it and how it impacted me.

Noah was living in a day that was so full of sin that God was grieved and actually said "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth..." (6:7)  Sometimes I wonder how similar our world is to Noah's.  There is so much violence, corruption, hatred, and sin around us...in the thousands of years since Noah's time to now not much has changed when it comes to darkness and sin.  Anyway, back to Noah.  God told Noah He was going to destroy the earth with a flood and that Noah was to make an ark out of cypress wood.  God gave specific instructions as to how Noah was to build the ark.  And at the end of chapter 6 it says "Noah did everything just as God commanded him." 

Okay, stop there for a moment.  From my understanding it had never rained before.  So imagine God saying to [you], "Go build a huge boat...something that floats on water...called an ark.  I'm going to send rain...droplets of water from the sky...and the earth is going to open from the force of water springing forth.  This is going to cover the whole earth with water and only you and your family are going to survive..."  Can you imagine how crazy that would sound!  Can you imagine the laughter and criticism from everyone around Noah?  Yet, there is nothing in this story that says Noah ever questioned God or doubted what was going to come.  All it says is Noah did EVERYTHING God commanded him to do. 

From there the story continues and God told Noah and his family to go into the ark and to take some of every type of animal into the ark with them.  The childrens stories all say the animals came "2 by 2" but that isn't really correct.  The Bible says the took 7 pairs of every kind of clean animal and 2 pairs of every kind of unclean animal, as well as 7 pairs of every kind of bird. 

Maybe it's just me, but boy is that a lot of animals or what!  Two of each kind is already more than enough, but either 7 or 2 pairs of EVERY kind of animal on the face of the earth?!  I can't even visually begin to imagine how big the ark was to be able to fit all those animals in it!  Crazy!

Now comes the part that blew my mind away...even more so than all the other crazy things about this story.  Chapter 7 verse 8 says that the animals came to Noah.  Noah didn't go to them...they CAME to him!  When I was reading this all I could imagine was an ark with a long line of animals waiting to come into the ark.  It blows my mind to think that God put it in every single one of the animals to go to the boat.  Noah didn't go running around trying to make sure he put every single kind of animal on the boat.  God took care of all the details!  How amazing is that!

The final part of the story that amazed me was when it describes how high the water rose in chapter 7 verse 20:  "The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet."  Basically, what I read there is that the water rose so high it was more than 20 feet above Mt. Everest!  And the ark was on top of that!  Most people can't even climb to the top of Mt. Everest and survive, let alone be more than 20 feet above it floating on water!  It's amazing how God sustained Noah and his family throughout the entire time they were on the ark! 

I have a lot to learn from this story.  Actually, I think we can all take at least one part of it and apply it to our lives.  I know for me personally, how many times has God called me to do something that might be strange or uncomfortable and I complain about it because it's too "hard"!  Or how many times do I come across something in my life that seems too big to handle?  I need to learn how to completely surrender to Him and let Him take total control of my life.  I have such a hard time with this because I like to have control, but it's not mine to take...it's God's if I am going to let His will be done in and through me.  And that is the desire of my heart. 

So there you have a very long description of what really stuck out to me for the first time as I read the story of Noah and the Ark for probably the hundredth time in my life!

One Year and 111 Posts Later

I can't believe today marks the one year anniversary of my blog!  I actually didn't realize it was today but thought I should check to see when it was, and sure enough I discovered it just in time! 

This year has flown by!  It's hard to believe all the changes that have occurred in my life throughout the past year!  It's neat to go back and read some of the posts I've written and see how far I have really come!  I'm not the same person I was a year ago when I began my blog...and that's a good thing!  I've been challenged, I've grown, I've (hopefully) matured, and God has continued to work in and through me. 

One thing I have come to realize about myself through this blog is that I tend to go on, and on, and on, and on...  In person I am a quiet, reserved person, but for some reason that doesn't really seem to come through in this blog.  The past few months I have seen my blog posts get longer, and longer.  I think I need to cut back a little!  I didn't used to write at all, but after going through ID and being 'forced' to write a weekly eJournal, writing just started flowing out of me.  Hopefully in this next year some of what has come out in this blog will encourage me to be more vocal when I am verbally interacting with others.  Maybe I should make that my New Years Resolution...

Anyway, I just wanted to give a shout out to you all on this one year anniversary!  Why don't you leave a comment and let me know how you found my blog?!  (Or whatever you want to comment about!)  I look forward to "meeting" all you wonderful readers! 

Oh, by the way...here are a few quick stats about my blog over the past year...

• 1500 pageviews
• The top 10 viewing countries are:  USA, Canada, Russia, United Kingdom, Germany, Guadeloupe, China, Netherlands, Slovenia, Denmark (How did you all find me?!)
• The most viewed post is All About Me In 30 Days

Why You Should Never Take The Bus In The Winter!

I thought it would be fine to take the bus to BC...but I guess I was wrong!  I suppose any form of travelling in the winter has it's risks, but after living in the mountains for nine years, and never having any problems, I didn't think much about what could possibly happen when the weather goes bad!

On the trip there everything went so smoothly!  We actually arrived in Kamloops early which is something for the Greyhound!  I've found that they are usually 10-30 minutes late!  (And that's in the summer!) 

It was the trip back that made me decide it wasn't such a great idea to take the bus in the winter after all! 

We got off to a late start leaving Kamloops.  I guess part of the road was closed off and on for awhile so they were waiting to make sure it was open for sure.  Then we got to Salmon Arm to find out an accident had closed the road, so we waited for another 45 minutes.  I'm pretty sure the accident was cleared by the time we got there, but they were doing avalanche control in two areas so we were sitting in the bus waiting for close to two hours!  Basically it took 6-7 hours to get from Kamloops to Revelstoke...usually a 3 or so hour trip!  We had a bus driver change in Revelstoke, that was only supposed to take a few minutes, but our new bus driver seemed to take his time...as if we didn't need to be somewhere by a certain time!  Long story short, we finally arrived in Calgary just after 4am!  We were supposed to arrive at 10:45pm!! 

Normally I would have just dealt with the fact that we were late, and try to take it all in stride, but due to other circumstances I found it very difficult to accept the fact that we wouldn't be leaving Calgary until 12:10pm...more than 2 hours after we were supposed to be home! 

You see, I had been planning a surprise for a couple weeks...and for me that was amazing!  I like surprises, but I do not like keeping surprises!  I like to share my excitement with those around me instead of holding it in and waiting for the right moment to let it out!  But, my best friend was moving to the US and I thought it would be great if I could surprise her by being at the airport to see her off!  I was so excited about it!!  I don't think I've ever really planned any surprises before, so I was excited to have this opportunity to actually surprise her!  Stacie and I were supposed to arrive the day after Kim left, but we decided to come home a day early so I would have the opportunity to see her at the airport!  It was all great...at least until I was sitting on the bus realizing that there was absolutely NO way I was going to get home in time!  The funny thing about it is that Kim ended up arriving at her destination before I even got home! 

I was really disappointed that things didn't work out to see her, but I've been thinking about it a lot since I got home, and I am so glad things worked out like they did.  Kim's flight prompted me to decide to leave Kamloops a day early...the best thing that could have happened!  The bus I was on just missed many storms that has since shut down many roads between here and Kamloops.  If we hadn't of come home early, Stacie and I would probably still be stranded somewhere between here and there.  I am so thankful to be home safely!  Maybe I was 12 hours late getting home, and maybe I missed seeing my best friend off, but I'm home safe and sound.  That is the most important thing!  12 hours is just 12 hours, and I'll see Kim when she comes back to Canada, but when it comes to driving long distances in the winter, safety is the most important thing! 

Making Memories

My sister Stacie and I were the only two in my family who were able to head out to BC for our week long vacation.  It was great to spend the extra time together!  We took the bus, so we were on the road for 20 hours on the way there, and 32 on the way back!  Though we didn't get to do half the things we had planned to do together, we still had fun!  On the second half of the trip we spent more time together (the first half we were staying with different friends) and we were able to go for lunches and attempt a few walks around our old neighbourhood!  I wish we had been able to do more around the city together, but I am thankful for the moments we did have together to make some lasting memories!

I love you Stacie!  Thanks for the great trip! :)

THIS Is Home

I just recently got back from spending a week with my youngest sister Stacie in our old city.  I was really nervous to go back because I had a great fear that if I went back to visit, all the progress I have made in adjusting to my new city would be reversed again.  I was so nervous in fact that I didn't even want to go, but if I didn't go, Stacie couldn't go, so I went.  I know that when I was her age and had moved from AB to BC I would have loved to have an older sister who would go with me back "home" to visit.  So, I tried to be that big sister to Stacie. 

We took the bus to BC, and when we started getting closer to Kamloops, I started to recognize the place I used to call home.  The place I lived for 9 years.  I really didn't expect to feel what I felt though.  Sure, everything was familiar, but I felt no sense of "home".  I honestly don't know how to describe it.  It was like my head was there but my heart wasn't.  It was the weirdest feeling!  There I was totally expecting to never want to leave, but I was in fact feeling the exact opposite.  A visit was great, but I didn't want to stay for longer than that. 
Finally, the thing that hit me the hardest...even more so than not feeling at home...was the reality that hit me when I met up with some of the people there.  I went to one of my friends for dinner one night, and a bunch of others came over as well.  I knew them all, except for one, but other than my one friend Rachelle, I either didn't know them well, or hadn't seen them in close to a year and had been out of touch.  It was great to see them, don't get me wrong, it's just that a familiar feeling came over me when I was with them.  A feeling that took me off guard. 

As I was sitting in the living room I felt very nervous and awkward.  I am a quiet person by nature, but I constantly felt like I had to say something and that if I didn't I would be either rejected or looked down upon.  As I sat there feeling this, something hit me.  Pretty much most of my time in Kamloops I had felt that.  I really only had maybe 3 close friends throughout the duration of the time I lived there who I didn't feel that around.  The thing is that all of a sudden I realized something.  In the entire 5 months I have lived in SK, I have never, ever felt that! 

My trip to Kamloops really opened my eyes to the fact that I am exactly where God wants me.  Everything from not feeling at home, to the knowledge that I feel so comfortable around the people here showed me that.  In Kamloops, I really didn't ever feel the acceptance that I have felt here in 5 months.  The people here are so open and welcoming.  When I got here they opened up their lives to me, and have made me feel at home.  I am grateful for my time in Kamloops, for the people I met, and the experiences I went through.  Yet, when it all comes down to it, that season of my life is over.  I am exactly where God wants me to be.  And it feels great!

Yesterday I shared a the song "Home" by Natalie Grant.  I heard it for the first time on my way home and it really spoke to everything I was feeling about my trip to Kamloops.  For so long I was that "pretty princess with a broken crown."  I felt alone...even in the midst of a crowd.  But like the chorus says "[I] need to know [I'm] home."  The things that once made me cry now bring me joy and laughter!  I am HOME!  "The pain is undone, and [I'm] finally belonging."  I am so thankful God brought me here and that it feels so right!

THIS is home!   

Home!

After a week long vacation to BC, I am finally home!  And when I say finally, I mean FINALLY!  I was met with some interesting circumstances, which I will be blogging about hopefully tomorrow in a post I have already titled...Why You Should Never Take The Bus In The Winter! 

I had a good time though, where I realized many things I didn't expect to... which again I will be blogging about!  I figured out it would probably take 3 posts to write everything I want to write about my trip, and was hoping to get to them today, but unfortunately I left it for too late in the day and have to almost go eat dinner before I head off to church. 

I will leave you with a song I heard for the first time on my trip home.  I'll go into more detail about it tomorrow! 

Home by Natalie Grant