Great is Thy faithfulness.

as 2014 comes to a close, i look back on this past year and the places i have gone, the things i have done and all the ways that God has taught me through each experience! each time i go somewhere, i get scared and nervous about the trip. i wonder and worry. and each time God draws me closer to Himself and shows me His faithfulness! 

"God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful." 
                                                                                                      - 1 Corinthians 1:9

 2014 started out with a trip to Oklahoma for a leadership week-long retreat with TeenPact Leadership Schools. this week was filled with laughter and learning, friends and fun and many, many memories! God taught me a lot about learning to trust in His plan even if it didn't match the plan that I had for myself. a few weeks after, i received an email from TeenPact's national office asking me if i would be willing to go to Rhode Island. i got that email on a tuesday and they were asking me to leave on friday. yikes! talk about a big decision in just a few days! i really dislike decisions but i knew that if God was calling me to go, He would make it clear. while i was in Oklahoma we sang the song oceans. and the part that i kept repeating to myself was "Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders. Help me walk upon the waters WHEREVER you would call me." i knew, deep down in my heart, that God was calling me in this adventure. and so i followed and boy, am i glad i did! i met so many great and encouraging friends, learned a ton and became more adventurous!

the adventure to rhode island led me to another adventure in Kentucky! the week before the KY adventure, i spent the week in Lansing teaching the MI TeenPact class. this week was great fun! even though it didn't seem as exciting as going out-of-state, God taught me that those around me are just as important as those that i meet in another state. sometimes i put labels on people and and i am only kind to those that far away. but Jesus didn't call us to choose who to show His love to. He has called us to show His love to those far and to those near!

and then off to kentucky i went! this was a week filled with much laugher and great friendship! i learned that each experience in our lives is planned by our heavenly Father. there were times that i felt like i didn't belong there but God orchestrated that week so that I could have 2 conversations with 2 different people about 2 different things but God was in both of those situations and changed lives! it was amazing!


in may, i went to TeenPact's National Convention where i connected and re-connected with friends that i had met the past year in TeenPact. it was a great week hearing how God had changed lives the past season and during that week, mine included. i also learned that sometimes things don't turn out as i expected but those plans are God FIRST best for you not His second best because there i no such thing!



july came and so did a whirl-wind of a week! it was a wonderful week and filled with many friends and many memories but boy! did we do a lot in just 8 short days! on july 19, my youth group and i loaded into 3 vans drove to MI city, took the train to chicago and then flew to nicaragua. while we were there, we went to a young life camp, carried rocks up a hill, played games, laughed a ton, took cold showers, sang songs in spanish, painted a roof, went shopping and zip-lining and i learned specifically what it truly meant to forgive.
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i was home for 2 weeks and then off to colorado to a girls retreat i went! this was an amazing week of growth for me. it was not what i expected but it was God's #1 plan for me and i am so thankful for it. there were hard times during the week but if it was easy how would i have learned to trust in God's plan and in His love? one of my favorite parts of the week was a mud fight! i also loved that us girls were so real with each other. we had mud fights and sang songs. we roasted hot dogs and had a tea party. we laughed until we cried and then recited proverbs 31. most importantly we learned how to become women who seek the Lord in our culture.  

i was home for about 2 months and then off to Mexico! oh, it was so great! before i left though i was stressed out and i honestly didn't know why i was going. i was going because God said to go and even now, i don't know the real reason. i learned a lot. mostly about living by faith and not by sight and trusting in God's plan for my life. i also met brothers and sisters and was encouraged. and most importantly i played with my dear little cousins! and i realized that little people can teach big people so much. most of my learning came from my 4 and 2 year old cousins!  

Christmas came and went but i realized once again the beauty of family. i have been very blessed with 2 very dear families. they are both so encouraging and fun to be around. i don't think there is a christmas where we don't laugh together!

and another year. another year of adventures. another year of learning. another year of laughter. and year of seeing God's faithfulness. looking back i see that most of my trips brought me closer and closer to the realization of God's plan for my life and that my response to that plan should be trust and obedience.


"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders...

                                     ...help me walk upon the waters...

                                                     ...wherever you would call me."

the feelings of christmas.

“it doesn’t feel like christmas!” 

i have been hearing this phrase a lot in the weeks leading up to christmas. I have even been saying that myself. there’s no snow. life is crazy. there is so much on my mind.  there are just so many things going on in my life that it just doesn’t FEEL like christmas.

but really, what should christmas FEEL like? 

let’s start at the very first christmas because i think christmas should be more than a feeling. i bet that on that first christmas there wasn’t any snow. and i guarantee that Mary and Joseph wished that their life was less crazy and less unpredictable.

 think about it: two normal, human beings that God chose to use. 

  Joseph, a young, normal man, a wonderful yet strange story from his fiancé, seeing an angel in a dream then a decree to go to Bethlehem...

  Mary, a teenager, seeing an angel, the promise of the Messiah, pregnant, an unexpected journey with her fiancé to a new town...

 “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:6-7)

what were Mary and Joseph feeling that first Christmas? i bet it was a mixture of wonder, awe, humbleness, and thankfulness. these are the feelings that we should feel each christmas. it doesn’t matter if there is snow on the ground. it doesn’t matter if your life is crazy. it doesn’t matter that there is is much on your mind. take a moment and ponder the phenomenal miracle of God coming down to be our Emmanuel, God with us, in the form of a human baby born in a manger.  

i pray that my response to this christmas miracle would be the same as Mary that very first christmas...

“...but Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)

so even if today doesn’t FEEL like christmas because there is no snow or whatever the reason, remember the feelings that Mary and Joseph felt that first christmas. And take a moment and thank God for becoming a man and being born as a baby to be our Emmanuel. 

Merry Christmas!

one step at a time.

to be honest, i haven't done much on that list that i posted last week. and it makes me really discouraged. i haven't taken a spanish class or a seminary class. and i could continue and go through and write all the things that i have failed on.

but there are things that i have started working on and making new and better habits. instead of focusing on the habits that i have been improving i am focused on the failures. which is dumb. each day i am discouraged because i am not working on ALL of those goals.


<-- hanging out with my friend! checked off one of my goals but this goal is an ongoing goal. Here we are hanging out with Ralph T. Moose.

the purpose with goals is to work on them. not all at once. one step at a time. that is the only way you are going to move. start with one step.

so even though i have sometimes wished that i didn't share my goals, it has helped MORE to keep these goals in the front of my mind. since i have been home, i have been listening to LIFE CD's (lifeleadership.com) these CD's are focused on helping you live the life you've always wanted. in one of these CD's, they talked defining what you what in life, learning how to walk that path and then actually doing it. most of us live our lives by doing something, learning specifically and then allowing that job and that lifestyle to define us. that is not they way that we have to live!


write down your dreams!

look at those dreams daily!

take one step at a time!

actually live out those goals!


yes, it takes work. yes, it takes time. yes, it takes people around you to encourage you. but it is worth it! make a list and check it twice. wait, that's christmas music. but really, make a list and check it more than twice!

Define. Learn. Do.

it takes courage to define. it takes courage to learn. it takes courage to do. but it's worth it. live the life you've always wanted! even though, you might get discouraged know that's normal but make sure you keep taking one more step, because that's the only way you are going to climb a mountain.

one step at a time.