Sightless Faith

Imagine with me, if you will, that you went into work one day to find a letter from your boss on your desk, with very specific instructions. 

Dear ______, Today, I am starting a journey, and I need you to come with me. I know where we are going, but I may not tell you for a long time. I am not going to tell you how we are going to get there or how long it will take, I just need you to trust me. You may have to be away from everything you feel comfortable with for a while. You won't be fired if you don't come with me, don't worry, but if you do come with me, in the end you will be so thankful you did. I just need you to trust me.

Can you imagine getting a message like that? I can't, but what I do know is

this is what the Lord asks of us every day.

"for we walk by FAITH, not by sight"

Our faith is a sightless faith. When the Lord calls us to do something, he doesn't map out everything that will happen, make sure we are comfortable with all of those things, and then ask us to go...he just says, go. You can trust me with the details.

I am so thankful that our faith is sightless. If the Lord had revealed to me a year and a half ago all of the little bumps in the road that would happen before and while being at the children's home, I would have run away, but now that I have experienced these bumps, I am so thankful for them.

I am being led into some things these days and all the Lord has asked me to do is "GO".

Do I know where I am going? No.

Do I know when I will get there? No.

Do I know how I will get the money? No.

Do I know all of the bumps in the road that will happen between now and then? No.

Lately, my convictions have been tested. I have been challenged to stand firm in the fact that I trust the Lord to take care of me. Even though it hasn't been easy, I am so thankful.

I am for sure going to Nicaragua this June for a week and I know some of the things that the Lord has laid on my heart for while I am there. Do I know how I will get the money? Not at all. What I do know is that the Lord will bring the money to me in the way that will bring HIM the most glory, and I am so thankful that he already has it taken care of, whether or not I know the answers or not.

So my challenge to whoever is reading this is to sit down with the Lord and listen to what he is calling you to do and just start walking with him there. He may not give you every answer up front (let's be real, he most likely will not) but he will reveal it to you in HIS time.

The Next Adventure

So first of all, I failed at my 31 day blog challenge. There, I said it, but I must say i did learn a few things from that experience. 

1. I really hate feeling obligated to have something to say all of the time, it made everything feel forced and not genuine.

2. I don't have near as much to say as I thought I did

3. Random blogs that don't have cute pictures of babies or really deep meaningful stuff are not as cool as I thought they could be.

So let's get to the meat of today's blog post.

If you have read this blog at all, you have probably noticed that I have a love for mission work and all things associated with it. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my job, which in its true essence is mission work at its finest. I get to share the love of Jesus every day, and that's what I love to do more than anything. Although I get to do this here everyday, I also dream every day about foreign missions. 

That is my heart. 

An opportunity to do what I love the most came open and I prayerfully considered. I didn't want to jump at it immediately and just continued to ask the lord to make it clear that he desired for me to go on this trip. 

He delivered.

There weren't any open spots on the trip, and then there were 2.

I had to have a large sum of the money 1 week after I found out I was going, and the lord provided the money in...wait for it...

LESS THAN 48 HOURS.

The Lord is so good and loves his children so much, so all that to be said...I am going to Nicaragua for a week in the middle of June!

I couldn't be more thrilled.

The Lord has been laying very specific things on my heart about this trip and I need you guys to be praying with me that more than anything, God will be glorified through this trip. 

Also pray that the Lord will provide the next $650 dollars, which is due by MAY 1ST. 

This is a big goal, but my god is bigger. He has already proved that, time and time again. Why start doubting now?

If you feel led in any way to give to help me make it to Nicaragua, click on the yellow donate button at the top right of my page. 

Thanks for praying!

The Last Book I Read- Love Does

Reading is something that I love to do, but never really get around to making myself sit down and do it. So that being said, I have a huge stack of books on the "read next" shelf. I was going to start one of those until a package came to me in the mail from someone. Now I am aware that God didn't order this book off Amazon and have it shipped to me, but what I do know is that God laid it on my friend's heart to send it to me, because I needed it for sure.

The book is called "Love Does" by Bob Goff

This book is awesome. It is an account of some of the stories in this man's life, and let me tell ya....he has lived life to the fullest. Mr. Goff is fully aware that every day he is blessed with is a gift from God, so he uses every second to have fun and glorify the lord while he's having a blast.

I needed this book.

At the time this book was sent to me, I was in a funk. Not a sad kind of funk, just a my life is very settled kind of funk. My schedule wasn't changing, I didn't have any exciting plans coming up...life was just normal. I wasn't living my life to the fullest, I was living it to get by...and then this blessing was dropped on my doorstep. This book is still inspiring me to live my life with joy. Since reading it, I have noticed that I care a little less about what people think of me, so I do things like dance in the grocery store when a good groove comes on and just encourage people I know and don't know more often. I mean, I still have my days where I lay around and do nothing...let's be real, we all need that, but I was put on this earth for just this one life...I might as well have fun! This book opened my eyes a lot and I am so thankful that my not-so-secret friend sent this to me...I am soon going to need to pay it forward and send it to someone else. We all need a little whimsy in our lives, so let's go find it! 

Have a blessed one!

My Dream Job

So, this is supposed to be a post about my dream job. You see, there are a lot of things I would love to do, but I can't say there is one specific job that stands out to me as being the one I would want to do forever and there are a couple of reasons for that. The first being...I am one fickle pickle. I change my mind often and have the attention span of an unfocused gnat.

 So, there's that. 

The main reason there isn't a job that I want to do the rest of my life is that I want to be open and willing to follow the Lord wherever and whenever he leads me. 

You see, back in the day, there were these two guys named Simon and Andrew. They were brothers and were out fishing one day, which was their job, and a man named Jesus came to them and said "come follow me and I will make you fishers of men" and they immediately left their job and followed him.

Now that's what I am talking about

I am not saying that I will never have a steady job, or that I won't have a single job that I do for the rest of my life. All I am saying is, I want the rest of my life to be devoted to Christ and to be open to whatever he calls me to do. If that entails certain jobs, you better believe I will give it my all.

Now just for fun, here are some things I would love to do.

1) I want nothing more than to minister to my household one day and help point my kids to christ by example and encourage my husband in leading our family (not a "job", but basically the only thing I have ever consistently wanted to do)

2) Full-time Missionary in the states or out

3) I would love to minister to missionaries...they need to be poured into just as much if not more than the people they are ministering to

4) Photographer (I have no skill in this category, but it would be stinkin fun)

5) Barista (as I have mentioned before coffee=community and I sure do love community)

6) Birth Doula

7) Interior Design

8) That cool hippie lady that does pottery and glass blowing and drives a Subaru (again, no skills, just seems awesome)

9) Professional traveler and roadtripper (I think I am just making stuff up at this point)

Ok, so it's late and I am sure I'll think of many other jobs after I post this...that's just the way the cookie crumbles, I guess.

Goodnight, friends.

Favorite Movies I Never Get Sick of Watching

Well after a week of craziness I am finally back! We took our girls to a ranch outside of town and spent many hours playing bananagrams, watching movies, paddleboating, and finding hidden waterfalls. I'm glad to get back to a structured schedule though! 

___________________________________

Everyone has their own movie watching style. Some people like to see a movie once and never watch it again. I, on the other hand, love to watch movies over and over and there are a select few that never get old!

1) My first movie loves- Father of the Bride 1&2

2) Finding Nemo

3) The Parent Trap

4) Anything with "Harry Potter" in the title

5) Hunger Games

This is short and sweet, but sometimes it's just better that way!

Tomorrow: My Dream Job

Band- My Favorite Childhood Memory

The topic for today's post is supposed to be about my favorite childhood memory. I don't know about you, but I had a picturesque childhood. I was surrounded by family and friends often and had so many opportunities. That being said, there is no way for me to pick just one memory, so instead I am talking about one of the biggest blessings of my childhood that still sticks with me today....yes, folks, that blessing is band. No, I am not talking about some awesome rock band, I am talking about the school kind, the kind that at some people's school was fuel for bullying, but praise God that it wasn't that way for me.

You see, I started doing band from the day I was born! My dad was a high school band director and so my fall Friday nights were often spent at the football field wearing my toddler sized color guard uniform cheering on my dad, and the rest of the band of course. My dad was (and still is) my superhero. I thought it was so cool that he got to stand on the football field and direct 100 high school students, and they listened. I thought it was so amazing that one person could have that many students respect him...ok I am getting off subject here, but all that to be said because I love my dad. Anyway, if I wasn't at the football field, I was at band camp, winter guard rehearsals and competitions, or band competitions. 

As a family, we were so blessed to be able to travel with my dad's band to some cool places, my favorites being Orlando and Washington D.C. Aside from the traveling I always had my two buddies with me, my brother and my cousin, as well as my always willing to do whatever crazy thing we asked of her Mama, and my super awesome Aunt Tuff and Uncle Al. 

Those were the days I tell ya. 

So, as you can tell, band is a very fond memory of mine, which made my decision to be a part of my high school band a fairly easy choice. I played the flute in concert band (I wanted to play drums but my dad wouldn't let me, and I still bug him about that today) and performed with the color guard for marching season. Memories from band are the best memories I have from high school, and you wanna know what the best part was? My super awesome Aunt Tuff and Uncle Al were my directors! We had some amazing opportunities with our high school band. Our band was not your artsy fartsy type of band...we played rock music, so every performance was so much fun. In the time I was in high school, I was blessed to be able to travel twice to London, England and perform in the New Year's Day Parade there, and if that's not cool, I don't know what is.

Now that I have moved on from band, I still get giddy every time I go to a band competition. I will cherish these memories forever!

On a completely different note, we are taking our kids on a mini vacation this week, so I will be taking a little break from blogging. I'll be back though!

Day 3: What makes me happy

1) Worship- I absolutely love getting to spend sweet time in worship to the one who saved my soul!

2) My amazing family! I am truly blessed with a family who is always there for one another!

acid wash jeans and poofy bangs brought to you by 1993

3) The rare times that I get to spend one-on-one time with my girls. They are amazing kids and I wish I could do this more!

4) Chacos- if you have ever worn them, you understand why.

5) Long drives with the windows down listening to some sweet jams.

6) Painting- the best quiet time I could think of

my first and still my favorite painting :)

7) This face

8) Hammock time with friends

9) Speaking of friends, they make me quite happy as well! I have the best friends around, never a dull moment!

10) a good cup of coffee- coffee has become important to me, not because of the caffeine (even though it is a necessary evil when raising children), but because of the community that comes with it! I very rarely make my own cup, but instead enjoy a cup with friends at my favorite coffee shop. If you live in Cookeville and haven't been to Perk Up, you are missing out!

11) Third world missions has a HUGE part of my heart, and the kids are always the best part. These kids have next to nothing and are literally the happiest kids in the world...that's a life lesson right there!

12) Looking back at old pictures

13) Christmas time- nuff said.

This is certainly not a comprehensive list of all of the things that make me happy, but it definitely covers the basic! This is been a very happy time, if you will! Thanks for reading! See ya tomorrow!

Tomorrow's blog: best childhood memory