adventurous and living God

I have been so busy going from place to place I haven’t had time to just sit and think about all the crazy awesome places that I have been this summer.  Being at the beach with my family for a few days has given me some time to reflect on how Jesus has worked through me in such a short amount of time yet has worked in large measures.  My first trip this summer was life changing to say the least.  My home church, college group, went to Honduras.  We traveled there and began the process of building a church for a local village that was in need of a space to worship.  When you are in the comfort of your own home and even your own country, it’s hard to imagine what life would be life anywhere else.  That is…until you witness it first hand.  Seeing life in a new light as it was shown in Honduras is the hardest thing to describe.  Yes, it is full of poverty.  But when our group sat down the last night to talk about our experiences and our thoughts about our time there, we realized something that is hard to grasp back home.  There are three types of poverty: material poverty, community poverty and spiritual poverty.  Honduras lacks in material poverty.  From the every day essential to us being a bathroom, to the lack of clothes, food, and shelter.  These things are just that to them…things.  They see these things as extras.  As far as community and spiritual poverty, Honduras has abundant life.  Witnessing people love of each other and us so well is amazing.  They have nothing, yet they rejoice in the fact that they have each other and especially that they have a relationship with the Lord.  Life in Honduras is very different, yet I find myself desperate to go back.  We are desperate for a life that is full of joy.  While in Honduras I found myself encountering Jesus in ways that might be a little more rare in the states.  When I was building the church we were working on, I found myself marking cement blocks to be cut, while at the same time in deep prayer for the people who will one day stand in the very spot I was working and fall on their knees and give their life to Jesus.  I also encountered the love of Jesus through the faces of the children in the village we were working.  A simple piggyback ride lit up a child’s face.  When a little beautiful creation comes running from across an open field into your arms looking for comfort and someone to love on them and play with them, there is no better picture of Jesus.  Honduras wrecked my heart in ways I never knew existed.  Jesus truly does show up in the most unexpected places and in the sweetest faces.  I pray everyday that my sweet friends in Honduras know that they are loved beyond belief, boldly prayed for everyday, and little miracles to me and everyone who has witnesses the joy and love of Honduras. 

the quiet one, yet loves to look at all the cute pictures that he takes

Deuteronomy 11:10-12

Our Team 

My favorite fútbol team

my wild child Anderson

After Honduras and a few weeks of work back home, it was time to head to one of the greatest places on earth.  YOUNGLIFE CAMP.  Western Wake Younglife spent the best week on our lives at Sharptop Cove in Jasper Georgia.  I could not ask for a better week than a week with some crazy fun high school kids at a camp that allows them to escape the pressures and pain of day to day struggles and be released into this new atmosphere full of adventure, fun and learning.  Getting to lead the BEST high school, Middle Creek High School, was so great! From a muddy obstacle course, ropes course, jumping off a telephone pole to hit a bell, a hike, volleyball tournament, zip lining, the hoedown, formal night, and pool Olympics we had a blast.  Its amazing to hear that after all that exciting stuff though, the kids favorite parts of the week were the times in club, real life, cabin time and just hanging out with their leaders.  This was the time when they got to hear the great truth of the gospel.  When they were shown how life with Jesus could change the hardest heart and the messiest of lives and give them full and abundant life with a God who is crazy about them.  Watching my high school friends have the time of their lives this past week truly shows that we have a God who is adventurous and one who shows up in the midst of any situation.  Getting to lead alongside my best friends just adds to the joy of this ministry.  Waking up every morning and sitting on the porch while spending time with Jesus and looking next to you and seeing your closest friends digging into His word is encouraging in it self.  The Lord works in some pretty crazy ways.  One thing I love about camp is the opportunity to talk with your kids one on one.  One night, after we had heard to truth about the cross and had cabin time I realized one of the girls was still being quiet.  She had not opened up as most girls had that week during cabin time.  I watched as she went to the bathroom and then I followed.  There, I found a sixteen year old weeping in the corner.  We decided to go on a walk that night.  That is when she opened up.  Telling me the struggles and the pains of her life.  But it was then, when she told me that she realized that Jesus was the part of her life that she was missing.  It was then that we spent the next hour talking about the mystery and the grace and truth of Jesus.  The thing that happened next shows that God shows up anywhere.  By this time we had gone to a coffee bar they had set up outside that night for campers who wanted to talk more.  In that moment my sweet friend didn’t want to do life alone anymore.  She sat down her coffee, got out of the rocking chair and fell to her knees crying out to a God who she desperately wanted in her life.  My friend started a new life as a new creation with the Creator that night.  Her brokenness and emptiness was no longer hers.  Watching a hurting and broken teen fall on her knees and giving everything to a God that she realized loved her through it all, just shows that Jesus is working all around.  It also shows me that the boldness of the Holy Spirit is captivating.  It takes a lot for a sixteen year old to fall on their knees in front of strangers at a coffee bar.  That’s not an everyday sight.  But it is a sure sign of a living God. 

ropes course was our favorite

my main homie Anna Grace, also known as "AG"

the best team eva

sharing with my high school friends the story of how Jesus captured my heart

This next weekend I leave for Colorado.  I am working for a month at a Younglife camp called Crooked Creek. My sweet friend has new life because of the truth that was poured into her at camp.  I am so grateful that I get to spend a month serving campers as they play and run and hike and eat, but most importantly serving them as they experience the love and grace of Jesus.  Getting to do this along side my best friend Sarah will be a month I know will change so many others and me from the inside out.  I pray that I have the patience when I am tired to push through for those who are weary and broken in need of Jesus to rescue them.  I pray that I have strength when I am weak to push through for those who are wondering and lost.  I pray that I have boldness when I am timid to push through for those who are eager for that moment when they meet the Savior.  

and hey, I guess the view wont be that bad for a month!! 

 

favorite place at every Younglife Camp!!

one year

I can't believe that this school year is already coming to an end.  WHAT THE HECK. I feel like I just moved in the other day and that I have finally made my bed for the first time (sorry mom).
I honestly could not have asked for a better year.  When people say that college is the best time of your life...they are not lying.  I want to go back and relive everything.
I can't even think about everything I have done.
I have made the best friends anyone could ask for.  Friends who push each other everyday to the Lord. Push each other to be the best.  I have laughed a lot, cried some, and had the best conversations with my friends and wont trade them for the world.

I finished my first year as a member of the WOLFPACK.  ahhhh. Hard but so rewarding.  I started off as a Sport Management major and am now in Public Relation Communication and Non-Profit work.  Crazy the path that Jesus led me on to get to where I am and I had no idea this was the plan for me.  School is defiantly hard and if I had one consistent prayer request this year it was that I stayed obedient in my school work.  I did the best I could and found a major and a path that I am so excited about.

I BECAME A YOUNGLIFE LEADER.  I am offically a creek crazy with the Middle Creek Mustangs.  I love my team, my new friends and every part about being a leader.  The Lord has already shown up and showed out in my life through staying grounded in my ministry only in Him.  Being filled with his Word so that I can pour out His life through mine to these high schoolers.  I am so excited to watch and experience Gods miracles continuing to happen with these sweet people.

And finally, this year I have fallen madly in love with Jesus.  I have found a new relationship with Him and a new life in Him.  I no longer have Him in one shelf of my life but am now completely consumed by His relentless love and pursuit of me. One of my favorite things I have learned this year in all the digging into scripture we have done is that I am running to the feet of Jesus like Mary.  I am eager to sit at His feet and learn, I have run to his feet mourning just as Mary did and I find myself in awe everyday of his majesty yet gentle Spirit that has radically changed my life.  I am now worshiping at the feet of Jesus is a desperate pursuit to have an intimate relationship with him just like Mary did in utter humility.
I am so thankful that this crazy Creator chose me.  Chose me to sit at His throne and gratefully give my life to Him.  He chose me.

"For you are a people holy to God.  Out of all the people on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be His treasured possession".  Deuteronomy 14:2

hunger and thirst no more

This past Friday my friends and I decided to fast.  I have never fasted before.
One thing I learned about fasting though, is that the next time I do this will NOT be the same day that I have to go to the doctor for shots.  Not smart.
Anyways,
I was not sure what to except or how I was going to feel since I have never done this before.  I found myself all day thinking the same thing "I AM SO HUNGRY".
What I learned through this experience though was definitely worth the feeling of an empty stomach. I learned a lot about my dependance on Jesus.
I learned that while I was hungry, he was hungry for me to cling to him and him only.  While the only thing I could think about was a big ole glass of Bojangles sweet tea, he was thirsty for my life.              
This man came to this wicked world and fasted for 40 days.  After those 40 days He was hungry no doubt, but what happened next while he was hungry and tired just proves to me over and over again how good He is.  He witnessed to all of us His divine power over darkness.  In his hungry and tired state He continue to fight for us and show us how much he loved us. (Matthew 4:1-11) dang.
When I thought about this during the day I thought about the things Jesus probably did while he fasted. Through scripture I learned that he was fully dependent on His Father.  All I can picture in my mind is Jesus spending some great quality time with the Creator.  Thanking him, crying to him, worshiping him and sitting with him in obedience.
Now, as I sat alone in the morning with my chai, went to class, went to the doctor and prayed with my friends for our high school friends in all of this I found myself doing the same thing.  I found myself in constant prayer thanking Him, crying to Him for some things, worshiping him for all that He has done and sitting with him in awe of all that He is.
I am no longer hungry or thirsty.
My hunger has been satisfies and my thirst has been quenched because I find myself fully dependent and reliant on a Jesus who isn't letting me go.

beautiful and brutal

Nothing is more encouraging than sitting with some of the best people ever and opening up in fellowship.  At team prayer this week my team decided to do something a little different than peeks and pits of the week.  But instead, to take a step back and look at the beautiful things that God has placed in our lives and also talk about the brutal that we are facing.

It is so beautiful all the things that my Creator has placed in my life.

coffee, donuts and my silly friends

JESUS crazy love that grabbed my heart

Friends that love on me and love on others so well.  Friends that build each other up in the Lord. 

Time to just sit, eno, laugh and eat over spring break

AWESOME summer that awaits in Colorado to serve Jesus in one of the greatest places on earth

I'd say I have some pretty crazy beautiful things that have been graciously given to me.  The beautiful and abundant love that Jesus has showed me through all these things is what brings so much joy to my life.
But what rocks my world even more is that Jesus is enough through the brutal things too.  When I am left wondering and facing the world that is when I feel Jesus tug on my heart the most.  He wraps me in his arms and reminds me that he is enough.  Your very breathe is what sustains me.
He has taken broken things and made them so beautiful.  At the time these brutal things may not seem so beautiful but all I can do is pray that when I will run to Jesus are rejoice as I watch Him turn these things into his masterpiece.
There is so much freedom and an invitation from Jesus to be fully known and fully accepted because of what HE did on the cross.  He walked out of the grave! We are invited into that resurrection life.  It is my tendency sometimes to go back to the grave, because it is the story that I am most familiar with.  That sounds crazy.  We are invited to come out of the grave are respond to the invitation that it is good to leave the past behind and celebrate how GOd has me us and changed our lives.  We need to live remembering how God had et us in our broken places and rejoices with us in our beautiful places too.

"You turned my deepest pains into joyful dancing; You stripped off my dark clothing and covered me with joyful light. You have restored my honor. My heart is ready to explode, erupt in new songs! It's impossible to keep quiet! Eternal One, my God, my Life-Giver, I will thank You forever."  Psalm 30:11-12

MIDDLE CREEK

AHHHHH! The day finally came! Last night was new leader placement for Greater Raleigh Younglife.  All of us new leaders met at the Younglife house PUMPED about the adventure that was about to happen.  The anticipation was crazy! We made a tunnel to encourage each other as we left the house with our first clue.  When my name was called I knew it was the start of the greatest night of my life. I rushed through the tunnel, made by my dear friends, and grabbed my first clue.  Along with that was my crazy outfit to wear.  This consisted of a rock girl skirt, a hawaiian shirt and a sombrero. I was ready to run! I ran to the three wolves statue on campus where I found my second clue and an umbrella.  I then knew that my new teammate were hiding somewhere in the bushes and now knew that it was me that was being placed on their team.  I was directed by the note to sing Rihanna's "umbrella" at the top of my lungs in the middle of campus with the provided prop.  It was then I realized how many people were coming out of the near by popular eating spot.  But there I was, full of joy and energy not caring that I looked ridiculous because I knew I was never happier than in that moment when dancing with an umbrella.  I then ran to the volleyball court near by where I met my new teammate who was the boy placed with me. JAYYYYY!! Jay is so awesome and just happens to be a good friend.  He is crazy and always up for anything.  When I saw him, I couldn't contain my energy! Jay and I ran to each other and around the volleyball court screaming "THIS IS MY NEW TEAMMATE"!! Then we were directed to go to the student health center.  There, we found blind folds and a pillow case.  We put the blind fold on, the pillow case over our head and sat indian style waiting for someone to come.  Then we heard the car pull up, people run out of the car and KIDNAP us! It was crazyyyy! I knew I was around my new team but still had no idea who they were!
We then got to our stop and they led us out and stood us beside each other.  We took off the blindfold and there I was! MIDDLE CEEEK HIGH SCHOOL!!!
THE BEST SCHOOL AND TEAM I COULD ASK FOR!
I was so pumped I didn't know what to do. After meeting everyone we went to our sponsors house, The Marches, and had dessert with them!
I could not have asked for a better night!

KIDNAPPED

I am so blessed to be apart of this team.  God has already used this team to show the love of Jesus.  I know this because some of my BEST friends I have made in college went to Middle Creek and followed Jesus because of this amazing group that supported and taught them.

INTRODUCED TO MY NEW TEAM 

Words can't describe the way I felt when I saw Emily Kirby.  Emily has been apart of my life for a while, being from my hometown and her family being my second family.  I remember watching and hearing Emily talk about Middle Creek, the girls and her team.  I have looked up to Emily for years and to be able to call her my teammate for a little while and follow in her footsteps at Middle Creek is a blessing that I am overwhelmed by.  She has shown me the love of Jesus by the way she treated me over the years.  Hanging out with me, when people her age were around, getting me hype about being apart of the wolfpack, sharing her faith with me and introducing me to my best friends.  What better role model could I ask for.

EMILY KIRBY MY HOMIE

I seriously can not wait to see what crazy things The Lord does at Middle Creek.  I know that he has placed me at the right place at the right time with the right girls.  I pray that I would be filled with His word so that I can pour our the love of Jesus into this school.  This is not about me, but about these high schoolers experiencing the consuming love of Jesus.  I know he is looking down on Middle Creek smiling at the new things that he has planned and I can not wait to be apart of them!
Love my team and the way they shine the light of Jesus to me and to the kids at Middle Creek!
Lord, I know you are going to use my hands and feet at this amazing place.  You have designed me and molded me into a person who is ready to lead other girls to You. I am so thankful for the desire in my heart that is bursting and that I get to share with the girls at Middle Creek. You are so good.

MCHS girl Leaders

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile". ||Romans 1:16||

{beautiful place}

I am dependent
I am powerless
I am weak
I am drowning
All of these sound scary, but they put me in a beautiful place.  A place where I couldn't go a minute without crying out to my Father or I would sink.  A beautiful place where I understand the sovereignty of Jesus.

Paul says that he knows the secret.
He has been well fed and has been starving; he has lived in abundance and has lived with nothing.  His revelation? That "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" ||Philippians 4:13||

I am learning that the powerless, broken, dependent places are actually the places where the Lord is closest. These are the times when I draw near to Him.  
I am just an ordinary person following an extraordinary God.

come to the well

I am hungry.  I am hungry for more of you Lord.  I have starved myself on things of this world.  I am so humbled that Jesus laid his life down.  He loved us, wept with us, taught us, and then died for us.  That is the radical love of Jesus.
Jesus says to us, "CONSUME ME". He is the only way to survive.  Jesus is life.
I desire to crave more of you Jesus.  I desire to be hungry for you.  I hunger for knowledge from your word, guidance in my obedience, and patience in my life.  Lord I know that it wasn't me who invited you into my life, but you who radically invited me into your kingdom.  Your endless lavish on my life is constant.  You are constant.
I desire to consume the gospel Lord.  I want to pick it up with a fork and ear the bread of life daily in my walk with you.
Lord I know that I often consume the wrong things.  But I am so so thankful that you do not diminish me, but instead redirect my path to You.
I am spiritually hungry and crave the word of Jesus.
I want to feast on him and the things that he has lavished on my life.  I want to take the things he has given me and use them to glorify His name and to draw others near to Him.  He has equipped me as a disciple.  Allow me to be gracious for those things, just as you were gracious to lay down your life for mine.
I come to the living water where my thirst is quenched.  I run to the well where Jesus is standing waiting to pour into me.
I am satisfied.  You satisfy.

||Jesus said, "I am the bread of Life, the person who follows me hungers and thirsts no more.||             [John 6:35]