a mentor and an answered prayer.

for the last several months i have been praying a lot about a mentor.

i feel they are SO valuable, and can help us young-ins to learn a lot about life.

for the last several months i haven't felt the Lord placing anyone on my heart.

i kept saying 'it would be awesome if they approached me, but i doubt that will happen.  so, Lord, place someone on my heart who you feel would be a good mentor'.

i particularly think that it is important since my relationship with my parents isn't the greatest.

and today, my friend abby c. and i were talking about mentors.

i told her i had been really praying about one and hadn't felt any answer.

and she said, what about the mom you babysit for {also named abbey}.

i thought oh my gosh!  why didn't i think of that sooner!

but then i said i need to pray about it cause i am sure she is busy with the boys, bball, and all the other day to day stuff that comes up.

so i left that conversation to go babysit, and was really encouraged that i might have a lead.  still not sure if it was the right lead, but a lead none the less.

lo and behold!

today i go to babysit and after all the normal kid stuff, abbey sits down and says, 'so you can answer either one or neither, whatever you want.  but i haven't been able to get into a bible study due to the boys.  and have really missed out on being involved at church.  so i didn't know if there were any bible studies that you have that you could pass along, or if you wanted to come early one day a week and do some study stuff?'

ARE YOU JOKING ME?!?

this is like exactly what i had been praying for!

and exactly what the conversation earlier had been about.

i am beyond excited, i can hardly contain it.

sometimes, God just has to slap me in the face to get it.

and honestly?  i love it when my prayers are answered exactly as i wanted (someone to approach me about the topic).  but i also know that often the Lord makes us step out in faith.

and maybe i need to be better at listening.  cause maybe He was telling me this.  and out of my own insecurities, and not wanting to be a bother to anyone, let that interfere.

and i hope that's not the case.  cause this time He might have worked it out this way, but i could be missing out on some amazing stuff if i'm failing to listen.

either way, i'm elated that the prayer has been--potentially--answered!

oh.  and of course, i went to txt abby c. about the awesome conversation. and what do i do?  i txt abbey who is going to be my 'mentor' type figure! BHAHA.

it was nothing but good stuff in the txt explaining that she wanted to get together and i was super excited, it's just still so embarrassing!!  

oh well.  that's the way the cookie crumbles :)

super long day at clinical tomorrow.

prayers would be awesome!

{they're starting to roll...constantly!  now my job starts to get hard haha}

game night!

saturday night i was up with my Passion peeps.

some of us girls had a girls night, and it was so fun!

we played cranium, mad gab, and had some good girl chat.

{deep in thought}

{the other team--emily, annie, abbey, kailey}

{my team!!  julia, susannah, me, kristin}

{me, susannah, julia....passion roomies, minus sarah!}

we had a long weekend so my week turned into being a 3 day week!  holla.

my prayer tonight.

i was sent this prayer by my dear friend, miriam.

we got to talk for several hours tonight and it was great.

she is such a blessing and i love how we are so honest with each other.

 

saw my Passion group today!  went to their church and it was awesome.

i feel it's been forever and it's only been a little over a week.

we had a game night last night and then i stayed the night with susannah.

kristin hosted and i was so tickled pink that they invited me.

will post pics when they're online!

read this amazing prayer.  i hope it resides in you as it did with me. 

A Prayer of Relinquishment

Today, O Lord, I yield myself to you.

May your will be my delight today.

May your way have perfect sway in me.

May your love be the pattern of my living.

I surrender to you

My hopes,

My dreams,

My ambitions.

Do with them what you will, when you will, as you will.

I place into your loving care

My family,

My friends,

My future.

Care for them with a care I can never give.

I release into your hands

My need to control,

My craving for status,

My fear of obscurity.

Eradicate the evil, purity the good, and establish your Kingdom on earth.

For Jesus sake, Amen.

(Richard Foster)

last bit of Passion.

here is the last bit of passion pics i'll share.

i can't believe just a week ago i was returning--feels like forever ago!

i am just still floored about how amazing and life changing it was.

all the awesome friendships, too.

God is so good, and truly knows what we need most, when we need it.

{john piper!}

{francis chan}

{lecrae, beth moore, francis chan, louie giglio, john piper. they all took turns reading the whole book of Ephesians}

{there were three 'r' words around the congress center.  throughout passion, every minute there was someone at the conference praying for it.  we all had 2 minute intervals of prayer.  mine was wednesday night from 9:22-9:24 pm.  after our prayer time, we were to place our sticker on one of these big letters.  so powerful!}

{close up.  i had the word courage}

{iPhone flash lights}

{worship}

{our $8 personal pan pizzas.  how ridiculous right?  they weren't even that good.  but it was that or go without food from morning till 3 pm!  i get real cranky without food.  so there's my answer!}

{lunch one day! we were herded into these rooms where they had box lunches for us.}

{AJ, peter, josh}

the last night at Passion we did a prayer vigil. 

we all got candles and were to stand outside this hand that was representing freedom.

we were out there at midnight, and it was so powerful.

people started singing songs of worship while holding their candles. 

it was made news, and on CNN.  and what an amazing opportunity to be a part of it all.

{the hand}

{lights everywhere}

{me and susannah with the hand}

{more and more candles}

{aerial view...how incredible}

then, we headed home.  and we stopped at applebees on the way!

{susannah, peter, julia, me}

tonight i spent the evening with abby.

we had coffee in her room, did a walmart run, and then went to the devol hall lobby show.

but when we got there, we stopped in her bf's room, jonathan, and played some rock band!!

i looove that game so much.  and it was super fun.

then we watched some singers and then headed back.

and her and i stayed up till 2 am talking.

she was sharing a lot of personal stuff with me, and i was so so grateful.

it was such a great night and a great first weekend on campus!

and the whole time i kept thinking--had i not gotten conjunctivitis (which i think was just an allergic reaction to my purple eye liner now that i look at it all) i would have been babysitting till 10 pm yesterday and not had time with her.  and how awesome it is to see how the Lord worked in that situation.

{wow.  can't wait to go back!}

hello spring semester.

i went from having  a ton of time to post, and having more ideas than just one post a day, to not having that much time at all!!  proof that another semester is in the works.

i was with the boys the other day and they are HUGE. 

not really, but so much bigger than they were.

and so much more smiley!

i loooove smiley babies!

{mr. chunk}

{melt my heart!}

then, yesterday susannah and i got together.

caught up on life and a little about Passion.

this morning i work up with what i'm pretty sure is pink eye.  

so my babysitting for the rest of the week is cancelled.

and it's day 4.  i have conjunctivitis and i just want to be home :(.

the dr here told me it wasn't pink eye--the exact same thing he told me 8 months ago.

and sure enough, i had a TERRIBLE case of pink eye a couple weeks later.

i'm hoping this doesn't turn into that.

so after an 8 hour day in the lab, i had to head to the pharmacy.

and when i was walking in, abby c. was walking out.

and so we talked and she waited for me.  her friendship is such a blessing.

i look like i've been crying all day, and she's one of the one people who notices.  

i wasn't crying, but the fact that no one else asked was a bit surprising haha.

first day of clinical orientation starts tomorrow--and it's my last med-surge rotation EVER.

and after our long 4 hour lecture and 3 hour lab today.

and i'm soooo wishing i was not in nursing!

but i'm trusting that the Lord has me here for a reason.

and i may not know that reason for a while, but i need to be faithful in the meantime.

great grandma's ring.

yesterday was the first day of classes, and many will my monday's be busy!

i cannot believe another semester is in the brewing.  

and yet, i'm so ready to be back at home (haha!).

but right before i left, my mom gave me the most beautiful gift.

she gave me my great (possibly great, great) grandmothers ring.

i feel so honored, and yet so unworthy, of the gift.

my mom told me that she wanted me to look at it and remember:

'this diamond was made by being under pressure for a long time.  and after all that pressure it became something beautiful.  and you only have a couple more years with all this stress and pressure, and then you'll be able to do something beautiful'

um, yeah.  like i said.  so undeserving!
it's be-a-utiful! and i've already gotten compliments.

i just love it so so much!

{so in love with it!}

{no, it's not on my left hand!}

i've already looked at it a handful of times and remembered what my mom said. and how encouraging this ring is meant to be.

i looove it.  i mentioned that, right??

and today i got to see the twins for the first time in a month!
they're so so big!
some cute pics coming soon.
oh.  and i got projectile vomited on today.  welcome back!

the good stuff about passion 2012.

i alluded to it before, but explaining Passion 2012 and all that went on is going to be difficult.

there just really aren't words for the way that the Spirit was moving and the way the Lord's love was so deeply revealed

but i will try my best, because i want to remember as much as i can forever.

bare with me as i unpack some of it here.  some will be quotes, some will be other thoughts.

during worship:

'worship without change is just a game.'

the first speech was louie giglio.

he talked about spiritual death and how in Luke 7:11 he makes a dead man come to life!

and how the time is NOW.  it's not later.  

this guy is being carried on a stretcher, and any of us have our own 'stretchers', whether that's wounds, relationships, ect., that our carrying us to our death.

i know i mentioned earlier that i knew my unforgiven attitude was playing into this.

we need to put the past behind us and move on.

Jesus can raise the DEAD!!  he can conquer anything we could throw His way.

louie then talked about how the theme for the Georgia Dome is "rise up".

and how that needs to be our motto as Christians, for Jesus. 

also, a Rabi {aka Jesus} was not to touch the unclean.  but He willing touches this man to make him come to life.  Jesus wasn't worried about what He was supposed to do.  but what He was called to do.

'we are DEAD without Him.  we weren't bad, un-churched, needed bailed out.  we were DEAD.  BUT, He made us alive again.  by grace. not of works, so we can't boast.'

'the Gospel is about who you are trusting your life with.'

next was beth moore

she was working in luke 8:40-55 (specifically the interruption in vs 43-48).

this is the women, and then child, who had been bleeding/sick for 12 years.

she was unclean and no one would touch her:

'but we cannot be unclean enough to make a mess of Jesus. our need for healing is bone deep.  we need cleansed.  and at the same time, we cannot forget we've been cleansed'

when everyone else didn't think of her as a priority, Jesus did....just as He thinks we are all priorities.

and how Jesus didn't make it hard for her to reach out.  He is reachable!:

'we don't have to sit and wait, we can reach out and grab on!'

but He is so so powerful.  He was touched by this women and power left him.  then He went and raised a dead man to life!  she had faith in Him.

'faith drove the touch that welcomed the healing'

christine caine (works with sex trafficing in Australia) spoke one afternoon.

she was in John 17:15 and Luke 10:30.

'Jesus interrupts ordinary things to do amazing things'

she discussed how it's easy to think of this as a statistic, 27 million slaves, but they all have names.

'the one thing Jesus went to the cross for was people.'

and as Christians, we were not called to have safety and comfort.  they aren't the goals of christianity.  we are to be lights.  and they work most effectively in darkness:

'we don't need to fear the darkness, we need to take the light into the darkness.'

on tuesday night, we had the amazing franis chan speak.

he talked a lot about scripture and how important it really is.

without being in the word, EVERY aspect of our lives are affect (prayer, ect).

it is important to not just listen to what others say about Jesus, but be discovering ourselves.

'look at someone's life to see if they remind you of Jesus, not just their accreditation'

we are to be prepared in all seasons. we can't believe the lies.

'you read the Bible and do what it says'

{this message really hit home as i have been believing a lot of lies the last several months}

the last big speaker before the last session was the john piper 

he is a genius anyways and so passionate and blew this message out of the park.

he talked about seeing and savoring Jesus Christ, how being satisfied in Him frees us from bondage, and how faith saves us from slavery.

'saving faith is being satisfied in all He is'

'He is supreme in every way over everything...there isn't a square inch on planet Earth where Jesus doesn't yell 'MINE''
'when you do what you want and it coincides with His will is true freedom.  having no regrets!'

'little hearts give little lusts big powers.  but big hearts give big lusts no power'

'it's a desire, not a decision'

he had so much more that i missed and can't take the time to write.  listen to his pod-cast!

ben stewart (the awesome leader of Glitter Green!) quotes throughout the whole entire week:

'your identity determines your activities and decisions and the type of person you are in this world'

'we are never free.  you always serve someone--either God or Satan.  we're slaves!  but you choose to which one'

'we are children of His wrath when we don't have His grace.  we're dead, we're lost.  and i can't fix me.  we're in a bad situation and can't get out alone'

'the gospel does not take me from 'bad' to 'good' but from DEATH to LIFE' 

'we're not beautiful, but ugly people united within a beautiful One'

'it doesn't matter what others think, only our owner can have the final say.  He made us, we are His.  He made us to do good.  that means our life is not a waste!'

'He didn't give all the gifts to one person--we need each other to fulfill the kingdom...when we walk in community it's a powerful thing!'

'if you love God, you love His children'

'to get his 'fruits' we must go to Him daily and hourly'

'be moment by moment dependent'

'the ability to love Him and see Him as lovely is a gift!'

'salvation is not the absence of the struggle with sin.  that's HEAVEN. that's why we want to go there.  one confirmation of life is that we do struggle'

'the trick for us to struggle well is to go after Him!  and the biggest defense is offense.  and the best offensive weapon is the Word of God'

the last morning louie ended things.

he was in Luke 7:11 and how we are to boldly proclaim the gospel.

but not with volume, but with confidence!

and the day that we're given life in Him is the way we start doing significant works.  we don't have to wait.

'brokenness is the bow that God uses to launch the arrow of healing'

'how do you minimize your fear? maximize the idea that i am already chained to the unchainable Jesus who will never be stopped and will always triumph!'

 

and one of my favorites--from ben:

'God spoke and the world came into being.  He didn't stutter.  He can speak clearly...ask Him to do so'

and one of my favorite quotes from our local group was from tim k.

'you know you have a long walk to where you're going when the door holders are cheering you on!' 

and i tell ya, ain't that the truth!  but they did a great job encouraging.

i hope this adds a little glimpse into Passion 2012.  

words honestly cannot do justice.

throughout the conference, we raised $3,066,607 to end slavery!
my God is BIG!