I'm back...for now.

Hey stranger. I've been busy. Sorry I haven't had time to write. Hopefully I can make up for that today. I've been working for the YMCA as a summer camp counselor for the past month and a half. I have learned so much about kids and discipline. I have no fear about teaching now. If I can handle these kids, I can handle any class that comes my way. I've also learned a lot about loving the "unlovable." It seems that the kids that everyone else wants to push away come running to me. I love it. It makes me want to be more like Jesus.
I took the Praxis II content exams and passed. YAY I'm that much closer to becoming a teacher. I'm still considering graduate school. I could go straight into teaching, at a middle school, and have the classes for certification paid for...or I could go to grad school and more than likely go in debt. Hmmm...still debating that one-surprisingly. I know that I am called to teach middle school, and I will do whatever it takes to teach it.
God is great, my life is beautiful. And I'm loved by a man that loves Jesus. What more could I ask for? Hopefully more to come soon. Stay tuned. For now, I have to go get ready for a wedding. Which seems there's been an abundance of this summer. Peace.

I Surrender All

All to Jesus I surrender

All to Him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him,

In his presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all;

All to thee, my blessed Savior,

I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender,

Humbly at His feet I bow,

Worldly pleasures all forsaken,

Take me Jesus, take me now.

This is what God is speaking to my heart this morning. This needs to be my daily attitude. I need to constantly open my hands and let go of the things that I hold on to so tightly. Perhaps one of the most difficult things for me is to let someone else take control of anything in my life; however, I think the creator of the universe can handle it. I'm out like those worldly pleasures...all forsaken.

Service, please!

One more thing...my boyfriend and I want to spend some of our free Saturday mornings serving people. We have decided that God has blessed us with so much and that we want to give back, together. We also feel like that is a good way to keep our hearts in the right place, striving to learn more about the heart of God. So, if you have any ideas of places that we can serve, or people who need service, PLEASE comment! Thank ya kindly!

Where is the Love?

Immodesty isn't just about causing our Christian brothers to stumble; it's about our craving for the emotional rush we receive when we know we're being noticed.
I struggle with this. I was checking out Christianity Today online because lately, I've been struggling with a need for attention. I haven't been taking that need to my FATHER. After reading an interview with author Shannon Elthridge (author of Every Young Woman's Battle; which I want to read REALLY badly), I realized that God is the only way to satisfy my soul's longing for love. No earthly relationship can fulfill that need. As long as I am looking to others around me to satisfy that need, I'm going to be greatly disappointed--and I'm going to hurt them in the process. Expecting an earthly relationship to satisfy a need for the love of God is like asking a Penguin to run 65mph and catch an antelope. No man was created to fulfill that longing. This is just another way that God is calling me to pursue Him. I realize that my boyfriend, my parents, nor my friends can supply the attention that I need. With that, I'm out...I'm going to go get a little lovin' from my Savior.

Bring on the Rain

Last night I watched Facing the Giants for the first time. I'll admit, at the beginning of the movie I was a little distracted by all of the poor reviews I had heard. I was expecting to be bored and most definitely unmoved. However--despite the predictability--I was really impacted by the message of the movie. It's something I've heard a million times, but to see it applied to a life was pretty awesome: Nothing is impossible with Christ. Besides the awesome message of the movie, there was a story that was shared that I cannot get off of my mind. It goes a little something like this:
There were two farmers and both of them hadn't experienced rain in three years. All that time, they prayed. Yet, one of the farmers prepared his fields for the rain. Who do you think God blessed with the rain? The man who merely prayed, or the main who had the faith to prepare for it?
Now I just have to figure out what my fields are and how to prepare them.