Ya Gotta Have Faith :)

…That we spent weeks worrying that the oil was gonna be in panama city only to get here and get poured on by a dang hurricane. Haha 

I’m just glad my family knows how to make the best of it. :)

So much has went on since I was last on here to post.

I have already had such an AMAZING summer that I can’t even begin to explain! Between being home with my friends, bonfires at KTs, Lake trip with the Fam, Bonfire at my house, and Now I’m in PCB starting an amazing beach trip. I’m really glad I suggested coming here this year… I get worn out on the whole Myrtle Beach thing every year. I have also gotten to know a really awesome guy named Ryan. :) It’s been a long time since I felt like I could let myself just have fun and date someone that I feel like I trust, and it feels great. We’ve not been dating long (only since 6/20) but I have a good feeling about this one. :)

Sadly there has been some bad to happen too. I had two of my greatest friends make choices that will forever distance themselves from one another over a guy that seems to be playing both sides. I hate to see my friends betray each other, blame each other, and then try to bring other friends down and into things that aren’t meant for them. It’s all turned into a giant hurt fest and brought out the ugliest in some of my friends. This past year has been rough on all of us though, and I guess eventually we all have to just sit things down and see them as they are and then figure out some new way to pick them up again. 

I’ll definitely write more when I get the chance, but right now I’m worn out mentally and physically.

God is so never ending-ly magnificent and wondrous! :) I thank him so much for what has been in my Summer so far, and what is still yet to come. 

     Prayer is the strongest weapon given to man kind. We have the greatest gift in prayer that through Jesus we can reach out to our heavenly father and thank him and talk to him and ask him for things that we need. 

     I cannot tell you how grateful I am to everyone who has been praying for my Mom while she has been in the hospital and having surgery. They ended up giving her too much pain medication while she was in the recovery room and slowed her breathing down so that it was really dangerous to her well being. She at one time was breathing 4 times per minute. She scared us pretty bad yesterday.
     THEN this morning I rolled into her hospital room at seven thirty to find her up, talking, getting dressed and ready to go home, and watching GMA with her coffee just like nothing had ever happened! It was truly amazing at the difference. Actually unbelievable. I KNOW that this is because of all the prayers that maybe even you reading this said for her. It was just so wonderful to see God work through that hard time.

I had a friend tell me yesterday that mine and my Nana’s prayers would have to be enough because she thought that her prayers weren’t getting through. She has been having a very hard time financially lately, and has overall been very depressed. It made me so sad that she thought that God wasn’t hearing her calls to him. As a Christian, you have to leave the deception that the world has so implanted in us all that God causes bad things. We as Christians serve a mighty and wonderfully GOOD God who does NOTHING bad. We lead ourselves to bad. We have turned this world into something bad. You hear so often “How could God do this to me?” or “How could God let this happen?”- you have to know that God ONLY does good. As humans, we can’t see the whole picture. We see a very limited amount of what everything does to us or for us and not what God has intended for every detail in the biggest picture. 

We all have to work to know and believe that everything God does is good. God is good and no bad comes from him. I’m praying that my friend will see that even though some bad things are happening to her and her family now, God has a bigger picture intended and is working for the good in her life. 

I am so thankful that God has blessed me as much as he has, and that he has kept my Mom in his loving and so capable hands as she’s had this surgery. :)

     So, the past 2 days I have been babysitting my sick God-babies Cash and Roxy for my Aunt/Cousin Bon Bon. From 8-4 I have been sitting around with, playing, or napping with these dogs. They are just so wonderful! Don’t get me wrong… I love my Babies back at home, but these dogs have the best manners in the world. This has kind of given me insight to something I realized… I have to make sure that whoever I marry has as much respect and love for pets as I do. Random revelation huh? haha

     I have DESPERATELY got to start taking pictures for a Summer album and to take back to school. All of my pictures are OLD. This is something I must fix.

                                +1 to the Bucket List! haha :)

     I have just cracked into my new Devotional book for the Summer and I’m working hard to make sure that it’s something I look at everyday. Brenna bought it for me back in the school year when I was down, and I didn’t make time for it then unfortunately (she’s so thoughtful sometimes and such a booger the next… God truly blessed me when he made me her big sister. :D)

     The days that I have been able to read it have so far been amazing and seem to be speaking straight to me. I love that. You can really tell when something is a God-send when it speaks right to your heart. The book is titled “Completely Loved: Recognizing God’s Passionate Pursuit of Us” By Shannon Ethridge. I have read so far devotionals about being “Completely Loved” by Our Creator, Witness, Wise Counselor, and Redeemer.

     The devotional I read this morning was titled “Completely Loved By Our Redeemer”. It focused a lot on the time we spend doing mundane things in our everyday lives. It shared that even when we are doing things such as stopping at red lights to obey the laws, or even cleaning a toilet to keep our families healthy and clean, we can do them to glorify God. God made us all to require so much time sleeping, eating, bathing, and etc. That means that he wanted us to be that way. He didn’t make us “robots” that need no sleep or food and can work constantly for his service. The big point of today’s lesson I believe was that we are “Fearfully and Wonderfully made” even when we are doing little necessities, and that those little acts can easily be used for His glory.

     In college, this is one thing I have struggled with. I felt a constant crunch for time and knew that I wasn’t doing enough. I felt like I needed to cut things out of my life to make room for God. I know now that it doesn’t work like that. God is in everything. Every hello I say to a hallmate, every beautiful walk outside on my way to classes, every MUCH needed nap I can manage to grab before studying… God is in it all. There is no need to ever draw a line between “School time” and “God time”. It’s all God time. I do everything that I do for His glory, and somewhere amidst the stress I forgot that.

     What a wonderful God we have that we never have to do even the smallest and most mundane things alone! How wonderful that he loves and cares for his children that much!

Well… I finally got this set up. I really have been meaning to do it for a long time and finally have had enough time to get to it. :)

Summer is here! Well, it’s been here for almost a month. haha It really hasn’t felt much like Summer to me yet though cause Mom, Dad, Brenna, and Chris are all still getting up early and heading out every morning. I’m gonna be so so glad when they get done! :) 

I sort of have a bucket list for this Summer of some things I want to accomplish. That the whole kinda point to this blog thing I guess. haha I felt like a lot during this past year at GWU that my life was just kind of… I don’t know how to say it… not boring, but not fun I guess. I mean this overall… not that I didn’t have some amazing times with my girls, but I let stress get the best of me and change my whole attitude. Life of a Nursing student I guess… I shoulda known. haha SO this Summer I’m gonna “Spice up my life” and get closer to God and his purposes for me and have a Summer that will hopefully lead into a better attitude and year back at G-Dubb. :)

MY BUCKET LIST Summer 2010

1. Like the lyrics “Filled with Wonder, Awe struck wonder, at the mention of Your name…” -I want to hear God’s name and be reverent of it. I don’t want to use his name in vain EVER again.
2. Read my Bible and a devotional. (& Hopefully finish The Shack)
3. Go to Panama City Beach! (Stupid BP and their Greed is making that look like a toss up.)
4. Go to a professional Baseball game. (Go Braves!)
5. Give Love a chance.
6. Get my shoulder back into shape.
7. Read my past Journals.
8. Edit/Finish a Story I’ve started.
9. Spend a lot of quality time with my Nana, Mom, Dad, Sister, Chris.
10. Pray! Pray Pray Pray Pray!
11. Have some awesome Bonfires with my girls. :)

I’m sure I’ll add more as I go along, but for now this is what I’ve got. haha

I feel like this is a good starting place. :)