Just a Coincidence?

Tonight at FCA, the president announced working plans for a mission trip over Spring Break.

To Atlanta.

To work with an organization that helps girls involved in sex trafficking.

I don't know if this is purely coincidence or completely from the Lord, but I sure as heck am gonna start praying about this mission trip!!!
Def so stoked.

Listen to Kari Jobe = new fave

So, I recently discovered a singer named Kari Jobe. You've probably known about her for years, I'm pretty out of the loop as far as Christian singers go which is why I am just now discovering her. But she has such a beautiful voice and I just love the songs that she sings!

Rejoicing in Baby Steps!

Yay! I am so excited! A little bit of background info if you didn't already know: this summer God really burdened my heart for one of my coworkers from Zaxby's. At the end of the summer she commented she would like to keep in touch. So, I was truly thankful that God burdened my heart for this girl, I prayed earnestly for her, I desired so much for her to know the love of the Lord, a love unlike nothing she had ever experienced before and will never experience unless it's from Him. However, because I was so burdened for her, I thought about her a lot, talked with her a lot, prayed for her a lot, i.e. she quickly became an idol in my life, it was definitely affecting my relationship with the Lord. This was really hard to hear from a friend this summer, but as much as it was hard to hear I am so thankful for her hard questions this summer and truly valuing my relationship with God above anything else! So because she had quickly become an idol, I really had to lead out in the relationship for both of our sakes, for me so I might not make an idol of her, and her so she might not seek the love she desires from Christ in me. However, it got to the point where I felt like she was never being intentional with me. It was very one sided: if I texted her, she would text me; she would not text me if I did not text her. I didn't want our relationship to feel dominated by me, to feel controlled by me. I needed to have some sort of control but I wanted her to feel the freedom to be intentional with casual things so that she would also feel the freedom in more personal and intimate things. So on Sept. 6 I prayed wondering if God still wanted to use me in her life, which was so hard to think about! We were not talking as regularly, I was not at the beach anymore living life on life with her, so what did this mean? I prayed God would provide opportunities to talk with her after fallen through opportunities, I prayed that these would be initiated by her. So a month went by after this prayer, not talking to her at all, I had decided and was starting to be content with the idea that God was no longer going to use me with her, I had planted the seeds and it was someone else's call to sow them, water them, fertilize them. UNTIL last week she texts me and apologizes for not responding to my attempts to talk with her, I text her back and never hear from her. Well, I guess she's still out of the picture. UNTIL this week I am at home on fall break and she texts me randomly, we talked that night and then the next night a little bit when she texted me again. So, I am rejoicing in baby steps! Because this were totally conversations, initiated by her, from the Lord, opportunities to talk to her! Ideally I would like to reach the point where she initiates phone dates, a more personal and intimate way of communicating that I def feel like would be beneficial for our relationship and it would be an opportunity to talk about more serious things, but I am rejoicing in baby steps and trusting in the Lord's timing for a phone date!! Praise Him!

PTL

Some one else is getting the word out, and I mean really out. Today I was watching the Dr. Phil show and I was relieved and excited to see that the feature was about online predators. This first story is about a woman who was lured into prostitution via ads on Craigslist. It is encouraging to see that these talk shows can be used to educate viewers about the injustices happening around us while we live in ignorance of it.

Is There Such A Thing As Dreaming Too Big?

So, one thing that I love, love, love, love, love to do is watch crime shows. You name it I probably watch it. One of my favorites though is definitely Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. This show mainly focuses on cases involving minors and/or adults involved in sex crimes, i.e. rape, sexual abuse, etc. The kids featured in the stories come from different backgrounds, not necessarily predominately lower class or whatever the case may be. 
I also love kids. I love to babysit, play with kids, and I volunteer with the Good News Club at the local elementary school, an after school program that teaches kids about the Good News of Jesus Christ. So recently I've been thinking about long term plans, I'm a planner and always have been. My major in school is Early Childhood Education, and while I think that it would be such a joy to teach kids, I've also thought about doing something more. How cool would it be to open a home for kids in an underprivileged area? Some of the stories on these crime shows show kids in foster care who have such a terrible time. I thought it would be so cool, such a privilege and such a joy to run an orphanage where kids could have a loving home for possibly the first time in their lives. I know that an orphanage is only a temporary home but for some kids it could be the first, and hopefully not the last, home that really shows them the love of Christ. Then the other day I watched an episode of Criminal Minds where the team profiles and tracks down a couple running a child prostitution ring. What a terrible thing! It astounds me sometimes what this world is that we live in. The terrible things going on that I live oblivious to! Then I thought, maybe these shows are giving me an unrealistic view of what society really is, maybe this really isn't a huge problem. Until I found this CNN video reporting on child trafficking in Atlanta. Atlanta! That's only like 2 hours away from here! I know people from Atlanta! To think that this sort of thing is going on right in our backyards and we know nothing of it nor do we feel like we can do anything about it! So what if I opened a home in an underprivileged area high in crime, trafficking, and runaways. A home for kids in foster care or runaways, kids wanting out of exploitation and prostitution. This thought excites me but it also scares me half to death! I don't want to fear for my life simply walking out of my front door. I don't want to be scared to go to the grocery store. This situation is not really the best for raising a family. Do I want my children exposed to such violence at an early age? Do I want to live there at the home? I cannot possibly focus and invest in the children of the home as well as my own children. But could I bear to do this for just a short while and then give it all up? Could this home for kids even be possible? How would I get the word out to kids on the street that they have a safe place to go to? I guess, just like with everything else, I'll just have to learn to trust in what God's plan is for my life. Trust that whether it involves a home for kids or not, it will be the best for me and that he will provide in whatever situation he puts me in.


For more information on human and child trafficking visit these websites:
www.childrenofthenight.org
www.endhumantrafficking.org
www.polarisproject.org
http://humantraffickingatlanta.wikidot.com/

In 2006, the mayor of Atlanta launched the Dear John program in an effort to combat this terrible injustice.
http://www.atlantaga.gov/mayor/dearjohn_111006.aspx

"O Spirit Come Make Me Humble"

"We bow our hearts,

We bend our knees

O Spirit come make us humble

We turn our eyes

From evil things

Oh Lord we cast down our idols

So give us clean hands

and give us pure hearts

Let us not lift our souls to another

Oh give us clean hands

Give us pure hearts

Let us not lift our souls to another

Oh God let this be

A generation that seeks

Seeks your face, Oh God of Jacob

Oh God let us be,

A generation that seeks

Seeks your face, Oh God of Jacob"

My God,

I confess my sins to you. God I am ashamed that I often worship idols. I worship my school work, I worship facebook and the internet, I worship friends, I worship self glorification, I worship sleep, God I worship so many other things and fail to worship you so many times. God such a huge part of me desperately seeks to cast down my idols. God I desire to worship you and only you. But another huge part of me is scared to know what that might mean for relationships that I worship. I am so scared of what you might call me to do God, unwilling to rid my life of certain things even though it means knowing more of You. God I confess that I do not count everything as a loss for the sake of knowing You. Oh God, let me be a child of You, one who seeks your face. Give me a pure heart, God I desire a pure heart that seeks, loves, worships, bows down, and exalts You and only You, for You are a holy, wonderful, mighty, powerful, just, loving, faithful, God who deserves my praise. God You have provided the privilege of knowing You and so many times I do not revere our relationship, I do not see it for what it is. God I am so thankful that You have challenged me with this. I am so thankful that You have challenged me to examine my life and see where I deny You. God You have made me humble tonight and I pray that You would continue to humble me. Lord, I pray that you would bring me to my knees in worship and reverence of You, recognizing how sinful I am and how unfathomably big your grace is. God I pray that you would bring me to my knees crying "Woe is me." 

Dear Fall Break,

These past two weeks of class have been so crazy! I have had so much work do it has been really overwhelming at times. I've barely seen my roommate, spent most nights with James H. Thomason library and I am in need of a break! Last week I had a midterm on thursday, a religion test on friday, a history test on friday, and a short essay due on friday. Unfortunately, it's not quite over yet either. I've still got a paper due on Monday and another midterm on Monday. In all this craziness, I've barely spent time with the Lord which scares me a little because that means I've been relying on myself and not leaning on Him. No wonder I'm so exhausted! I've also been battling some sort of cold thing for the past two weeks along with all of this school work! And I'm still not quite over this cold, of course I'm pretty sure it helps to remember to take your medicine but hopefully I'll be completely over it in time for fall break this weekend! And another good thing is that after tomorrow, it should be smooth sailing until fall break, although my biology professor still has not decided when he wants us to have our test. I'm looking forward to going home, spending time with my family, resting and spending time in the word.
Speaking of my time in the word. Usually my ministry decides on a book that everyone can study together and puts out a schedule. In the past I have decided to do this and it was worked out so well for me! This semester we are making some changes in the ministry and they haven't done that. This is challenging for me because I always feel I can't do my own thing. It is harder for me to get up in the morning to study the word if I do not have something set to study. And I am realizing that I think I learn much more when I am consecutively studying a book. I don't always choose to study that book or even the word every day but most days I do. Some days I can just read the book like a story or really study the verse. So, I'm realizing I need to pray about and think about a particular book to study this semester. I'm hoping for something that's really going to challenge me to examine my relationship with the Lord and the way I live my life. I know there must be some areas of my life where I falter in living souled out for Him, but what are those areas? I'm definitely in need of some rest and prayer!
 So Fall Break, can you please come sooner?