Backwards and Forwards

This semester has been a blur, but there are so many reasons to celebrate and to praise God for what He has done. Here's a quick look back as well as a snapshot of what's to come in the next couple of months.

BACKWARDS

Small Group



Our small group has been such a huge blessing in my life! God has taught me so much about discipleship through these girls, and I don't think any of us are the same as who we were at the beginning of the semester. God used the book of James to utterly disrupt our lives in a good way. I am so thankful for our "not so small group"!

I got a job - a real job!

Back in March, I was hired as the College Ministry Assistant at The Church at Brook Hills. For those of you in the camp world, I basically do the work of an AD (except I get more sleep than I do at camp). I manage our college ministry website and blog, handle communication for the college ministry, oversee our college ministry budget, and just finished a beast of a project writing our new college small group training curriculum. I love our church and am thankful for all that God is teaching me while He's got me here.

You and Your Girl

Last year, I started leading breakout sessions for the 3/4 graders with LifeWay's You and Your Girl conferences. This a conference for moms and daughters in which girls learn more about God, who He has created them to be, and how knowing Him affects their relationships with others. This past year, God gave me the opportunity to write the breakout curriculum for 3/4 grade girls, and back in April, we had our first simulcast event, which went well. Looking forward to the next YYG conference in Plano, Texas, in October!

Surviving the Tornadoes

On April 27, the day 200+ tornadoes ripped through Alabama, I woke up at 5:30am when trees started falling outside of my window. I had no clue twisters were touching down in Cahaba Heights where I live, but when the storm subsided and I went outside, huge trees and debris had missed my car and house by mere inches.

That night was when the twisters touched down that had devastated Tuscaloosa, and if you haven't been in our neck of the woods since April 27, Tuscaloosa and areas of Birmingham are reminiscent of New Orleans after Katrina. It will take years to recover and for people to rebuild their lives, houses, and businesses. Please pray for the families affected, and if you would like to volunteer, please visit this website.

Attending My Younger Brother's Graduation

I can't believe it. When he was 2, I asked mom if we could send him back, but now, I wouldn't trade him for the world. My brother is one of my favorite people, and I can always count on him to leave me crazy voicemails, to call me when the family goes out to eat at a nice restaurant when I'm not there, and to always make me laugh. I am so proud of him and who he is becoming. Pray for him as he heads out to Kenya on a mission trip this summer.



FORWARDS

Camp

I leave on Wednesday, May 25, for my seventh and last summer working CentriKid. I'm serving as the Assistant Director on CK7 and will be sharing the gospel with kids in Campbellsville, KY, Eckerd, FL, Ridgecrest, NC, and Skycroft in Maryland.

Pray for our team to be intentional in our conversations with kids, to keep our focus on Christ, and to be unified as a team. Pray for God to work in ways that are utterly disproportionate to who we are.

If you want to drop me a line this summer, here's the addresses for all of our camp locations.

One Semester Left of Seminary

I graduate from Beeson in December with a M'Div. Then what? That's a good question. But God knows. He's provided and guided me thus far, and I'm trusting Him to continue to do so.

Jan Term Mission Trip

I felt burdened to take our small group on a mission trip, and it's worked out for us to go in January through our church. We're heading to Asia. Please be praying that God will work out the details and provide the support needed for us all to go. I'm so excited for the opportunity for our small group to serve together in making disciples of all nations.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Blank Check

Have you ever had to write a check when writing the amount made you feel uncomfortable and uneasy because the cost was high?

I'm reminded of the scene in the second Father of the Bride movie where George Banks writes a check for $100,000 to buy back his house after an impulsive decision to sell it. For a man who did not like to spend money, writing and submitting that check was pure agony.

A long time ago, I told God that I was giving him a blank check with my life. It was signed and submitted, made out to Him for Him to do with as He pleased.

I don't regret that decision, but living with it isn't always easy. What God asks of us and what He wants to do with our lives doesn't always align with our plans. It's often uncomfortable and inconvenient, sometimes even painful. It isn't God that's the problem. It's me.

I'm a sinner who struggles with selfishness, materialism, and pride. I don't see the big picture. I don't always understand why or get answers to all of my questions. I just know that I'm called to trust and obey.

God alone knows what to do with this blank check that is my life. If I held on to this check, I'd squander it. I would get to the end of my life and wished I would have lived it differently. I wouldn't be happy. I wouldn't be satisfied. Satisfaction comes from submission to the Father.

In the hymn "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go," George Matheson makes the statement, "I give thee back the life I owe, That in thine ocean depths its flow, May richer, fuller be."

God has the ability to take this blank check, to take my life, and to invest it, making more from it than I ever could on my own. He has the ability to use my life and to do things through me that are utterly disproportionate to who I am.

Not only that, but He is faithful and loving. He can be trusted. He is all-powerful, and He cares for us.

What do you want more than anything else in the world? Do you want God's will at any cost? Are you willing to give Him a blank check with your life?

"If thy dear Home be fuller, Lord,
For that a little emptier
My house on earth, what rich reward
That guerdon were."
-Amy Carmichael, Kohila