Wednesday, June 20, 2007

By Faith...

"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." Hebrews 11:8

Welcome to my life right now! The way all logistics go, I should be going anywhere in this world because there are jobs everywhere, especially in the big cities like in Dallas, where I'm from.

However, the Lord has made it abundantly clear that He is still not finished with me in College Station yet. So what decision have I made? I'm stepping out in faith. It sounds almost backwards because I am so familiar with College Station, yet I need a job to live and work there.This is where the faith part comes in (specifically that is).

I'm moving back to College Station after I go work at kamp (June 24-July 19th) and living with the wonderful Ashley Baldridge!

I keep thinking of Facing the Giants...the part where the coach is asked which farmer acted in faith, the one who prepared his fields, or the one who waited to see concrete evidence. (There's so much more to that scene but it escapes my mind right now!)

I know that since the Lord wants me in College Station, he will provide a job for me. Sadly, Brazos Christian didn't work out, but there's another school that won't be hiring until July, so I'll keep ya posted! And also, :) pray that I'm not really picky and want the perfect job, but that I'll take the one the Lord wants me at.

It's been a hard month, with BCS, my sweet little dog Sam had to be put to sleep, and a lot of other stuff. BUT...

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Word.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Exultations in Joy, No wallowing in the confusion! Yeah for Exploration!





This last weekend, I had the privilege of going to one of my best friend's wedding. You Aggies probably haven't had the pleasure of meeting Mr. William Thomas Liggitt Jr. or his beautiful bride Brittany Salem Atkins Liggitt, because they spent their college years in Wacko (yes, I know i spelled it wrong) at Baylor. Willymo and I became friends during one of his girl drama episodes in 8th grade and have remained good friends since. He's practically a member of the Nall family, spending most afternoons at our house from 8th grade-senior year. We still hung out when we'd come home and I got to hear these stories of this amazing girl he'd started dating, Brittany. i got the pleasure to meet her and let me tell you, she's wonderful and she loves Jesus! Earlier this year, Willy proposed and thus, Winston-Salem (Brittany's hometown) on June 9th. I'd never been to North Carolina so Mom and I had lots to explore. We hit up all the random shops and met up with an old friend from high school miss Molly Averitt who actually lives in Winston-Salem. We got a tour of Wake Forest University (which has an incredible field for ultimate frisbee and great magnolia trees to climb) and the whole town from Molls. It's beautiful over there! I got to go to all the typical wedding stuff and it was so good. I love seeing when a man and woman who love Jesus are united in marriage.

On another note, I went down to College Station and interviewed for a teaching postion at Brazos Christian and I should hear any day! I absolutely love that school! I will keep you posted...literally I guess:) But still, there is a part of me that says, they won't want me and I am inadequate to do the job. Maybe I should apply for another job or something. Somewhere else. Oh my lack of faith. To quote Mark 9: "Lord I do believe, Help me overcome my unbelief!"

Along with everything else, the wonderful Derrick Oliver or D.O., has been coming to my church lately and the wonderful Erin Whitley has stopped in, and we think they look related:) So we took family photos! Enjoy!

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Wow. Yay for mind blowing!

I'm officially back in Dallas from K-1 Work Week...more formally known as Kanakuk Kamps Staff Training Week. It consisted of lots of weed pulling, tying knots, digging peat gravel trenches, craziness, fun, and LOTS of rain. :) For those of you who don't know, this was my first time back to kamp in 3 years, I skipped 2 summers. That's highly unusual for someone who's spent 13 summers of their life at a place. All I know, is the Lord is beyond good. Explanation: At the beginning of junior year of college, the Lord revealed that kamp and my sorority were idols in my life, and I was putting them before Him. I was ready to quit my sorority and God had me stick it out and taught me so much through the brokenness with that. However, kamp, I didn't want to give up. I just came to the conclusion that now that I knew better, that was good enough and I could keep going to this place I loved so much. Not so. On the very day, I was contemplating signing my contract for kamp the next summer, God totally shut me down and said no. That same day, I was sitting on a bench outside of the MSC and my dear friend Colby Ivey rides up and mentions this program about teaching English in China. Where God shuts one door, he opens another...I went to China that summer instead of kamp and it changed my life. Then last summer, once again God made it very clear that kamp was still not an option. I let go of the idea of going back ever again... Then this year came. While working at the bucks this semester, I realized I had a very free summer but still needed to make some cash. And for some reason, aka Jesus, kamp came to mind. But you see the crazy thing was that I hadn't thought realistically about going to kamp for over a year. I thought it was done. The reason kamp was no longer THE priority in my life? Jesus Christ had become once again THE priority. AND, I had a constant group of believers with me all the time, an incredible community who had my back and pushed me toward Jesus all the time, the church. THIS is how Jesus meant for it to be!!!!!!! I no longer have kamp highs because I have Jesus highs all the time! No, life isn't perfect at all, but I see how Christ means for the body to function, as imperfect as it is! Anyway, back to my story. I call my director, Diane, to see if they have any open spots and she says, "When do you want to work?" So all of the sudden, I'm going back to kamp. Crazy. As I headed up there 2 weeks ago today, I was crazy nervous, because I am a far cry from the person I was three years ago, thank the Lord! At first it was almost dream like, but i got to see how the Lord uses kamp as a haven from the world, a place so drastically different from the world inside of it, a place of reflection in life. And that's when it hit me. So many, not all, but many, believers who do kamp love it because it embodies what the church (the believers, they make up the church) is supposed to look like. In the middle of the hard stuff, we're supposed to love each other as Christ did, pushing each other toward Him. But, these believers don't have a local church body that does this. As I pulled out my camera and showed pictures of my HOPE group and talked about my Living Hope fam (I mean, really, how can I not? :), every single time I got a response of something like, "I wish I had a church like that." Oh church, that we would be that all the time! That we wouldn't have to go to Branson, Missouri, or Tyler, Texas, or somewhere else to meet with Jesus! That everywhere, believers would get to have real, authentic community with Jesus Christ and his people! This is a lot, but wow. More to come. This post is just already entirely too long!