last minute thoughts before bed :)

After a couple hours of learning how to read cardiac rhythm strips (yes, this is now my life), I decided to take a break to check my friends blogs. I think I like doing this more than facebook now. Who would have thought? Anyway, I just want to point out a blog that my friend Jen pointed out to a bunch of us girls today. Its about a girl who picked up her life to follow the Lord's calling her to Uganda. It's amazing. Start with the August 14th entry. I mean, I just feel encouraged about what He is doing and teaching her while she is struggling to be His hands and feet to children and families in Uganda.

Tomorrow is a break from school (for a day) and sadly I need to use a big chunk of that to study for our first exam of the year. On the plus side, it's full-out fall weather outside! I will spend another part of my day tomorrow getting breaks and tires checked on my car... I am considering going to Chicago this weekend because I have a 5 day weekend! :) well...really 4.5 day...but it sounds better. I want to visit my precious friends Stacy and Erin and I hear Kari is there this weekend, so I might get to see her! This is all up in the air... but how often do you get 5 days where you have no prior commitments?

This weekend was beautiful! I got to help Ben & Jen move into their new house (so cute!!), play guitar with a TC girl, see precious Shannon, see Jen's mom and some HC girls get baptized in the pond at southland, along with hundreds of other people. There are no words..it was amazing. Also, last night was all-city campaigners, so I got to take some girls to the YL office to join together with high schoolers from all over lexignton to learn more about the Lord. It was a good weekend.

Alright, I need to go read a little and go to bed. Why do I get so tired so early?! Oh well... I will leave you all with some precious pictures from Carly & Ryans wedding this weekend (which was wonderful).
from top to bottom: carly & ryans wedding programs, the newly wed couple being announced at the reception, my YL team trying to be the brady bunch, its fine, old roommate picture, me and rach, and old-old roommate picture :)

very scattered thoughts :)

So many random things...all my thoughts will be scattered in this post.

School. I only have 20 days of class left in my entire life. This is awesome, but because this is true, and I still have a full semester load in these 20 days, my life is kind of a mess (or is turning into one). I had a quiz today (day 3 of classes) and my first actual exam is one week from today (day 7 of classes). I will be a mess until October 16th.

On a funner note, today I helped my wonderful friends Jen & Ben move into their first ever house! Well, they've lived in a house all last year, but they OWN this one! Treat! It is very precious and I can't wait to see it put together and then go hang out there all the time :)

SHANNON IS HOME!!! Only for a few days, but I feel excited. I didn't get to see her much today, but I'm hoping that will change in the very near future. I just love her a lot.

Randi, Megan, and I went to the TC football game tonight, I was really excited, and then it started raining like crazy & the crowd disappeared...so we went to Cheddars. :) I felt excited though, because at Cheddars we saw 2 of the old YL girls (they're hostesses) and I never get to see them. We had BIG plans to watch the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice (our collective favorite book/movie of all time). Then we realized it was 5 HOURS long! Really?! We are all way too old for things like that. It is 10:40 and I am wondering why I am still awake.

Again, this post is random, but I was driving yesterday and out of nowhere my sunroof decided to crack open and shut all by itself. The controls are on the ceiling. I did nothing. Weird.

Well, this weekend will be a good one because I will (hopefully) get to hang out with Shan, go to Ryan & Carly's wedding (dancing at my friend's receptions is my favorite thing ever), play guitar with a couple TC girls, and we have all-city campaigners! Studying SHOULD be in there somewhere, but that is what Tuesday will be for :)

Lastly, my favorite season ever is approaching...FALL! I love wearing sweaters, chuck taylors, drinking apple cider, eating caramel apples, apple orchards, pumpkin patches, pretty leaves, carving pumpkins (i carve the same one every year...picture provided..), and really just everything that has to do anything with fall. :) The picture of leaves is taken in the town in NJ i lived. That is one of the things I missed most about the Northeast. They have an awesome autumn season.

Sorry if you had trouble hanging in there... I did too... Off to bed for me!
picture provided from flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikejonesphoto/

love that will not let me go :)

O Love that will not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that foll’west all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
-O Love That Will Not Let Me Go by George Mattheson

I love this song with everything inside of me. There does not exist a good recording of it, so I only get to enjoy it when it is played corporately for worship. I like that it alludes to our deaths (dying to ourselves) bringing life. Marshall talked about pruning at leadership tonight and I was encouraged. I hope the Lord never stops pruning me. I never want my life to stop bearing fruit. (I guess I hope it is already).
School started today, so blogging might come less and less, but don't worry, even if it is just song lyrics, i'll make it work :)
This picture is on brannon road here in Lexington. :) One of my favorite roads to drive on.

a little blessing!

Well, in order for this post to do any justice, you need to know about my friend Kristy. You should actually click on the link to read her story. She is one of the most faithful women of God I have ever met. If you want to see someone who has incredible faith, read her story on her blog. Preferably from the beginning, and have tissues with you.

Kristy was my Young Life leader when I was in high school and has become one of my best friends. I am so encouraged by her and the way her life points to God. She was constantly there for me, pointing me to a life that is beyond my own, challenging me to live the life the Lord calls us to.

Kristy and her husband Jeff just went through one of the hardest things anyone can ever go through. They lost their baby Samuel. It is a long story, I will tell you again, read it. Through it all, they clung with everything they had to the Lord, and trusted Him. I know it is still painful and hard for them, but they know that our God is a big God and that He is good, even if we don't understand the things that happen. Nobody can say that God is not real because without Him, they would not have made it through this past year or so.

Anyway, all this to say that this little blessing is they are pregnant again! I feel so excited for them and this new little life. They have a little boy named Dawson, who, in my opinion, is the sweetest child ever made. Her blog is called "Seeing Hope in Hopeless", and the hope Kristy and Jeff have in Christ will never fail them, no matter the circumstances.

I just want to write this so that if you read this post, you will pray for them and for the little baby growing in Kristy's belly, and that you would have a chance to read her blog to see for yourself the incredible faith they have.

I promise, you won't be sorry you've read it. I hope you are encouraged by their faith to walk through a life that is not always easy with a God that is beyond more than we could ever need.

picture stolen from kristy's facebook :) the one on top was when she got married...i was a junior in high school

wider eyes

there is a song lyric from a little group called Dividing the Plunder that I really love. I don't even think they go by that name anymore, but I love the song. The song is called Perimeter of Me and it says:

"I want to live with wider eyes, there's far too much to see; to think of nothing else but where I've been and where I'll be. I've been longing for the freedom that is waiting silently in the life that's just beyond the small perimeter of me"

i recently listened to this and i felt like it perfectly expressed where i am right now. i feel really excited about my bible study diving into a study on the spirit in our lives & i just finished reading francis chan's crazy love this afternoon. we live in a culture that is so immersed in the idea that life is about us and what we want. i can't imagine how much of that thinking is part of the foundation of how i live. and more than that, how much of that is keeping me from what the God of the universe is wanting to do through me and in the world of the people i live in?

i know a lot of the ways i have been challenged lately is through francis chan's book, but the cool thing about that is he is just relaying what he has found by reading scripture and really taking a good look at it. if you really look at it, our life is not at all about our comfort or us having plenty and living to meet our own ends.

when i read this book, i sit there thinking things like "what if God tells me to move to Africa?" and it does scare me. why should that scare me? if He wants me there, that is where i will have the fullest life with the most joy and peace because i am in the center of His will. the fact that it scares me makes me think i am holding too tightly to the control of my life and my desires.

i don't know. i guess i just want to move beyond the point where a major change would scare me, and be in a position to welcome it. francis talks about how the times in his life that have been the most meaningful and satisfying have been the times where he has been completely out of control of his own life in situations where God has to come through. how often in my daily life am i so reliant on Him that if He didn't come through, i wouldn't make it through the day? hardly ever.

at the beginning of the summer i read God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew. he talked about how his missionary training was basically training and testing his faith to live off of nothing but prayer, not asking for any of his needs to be met, but relying on a God that meets those needs because we are His children, children of the King. God came through 100% of the time and in amazing ways.

i don't want to miss out on that provision because i am so comfortable.

sorry this is a lot of me mentally wrestling with this. i don't know what this should look like other than keeping my ears and eyes open to His spirit, and living with wider eyes. there is so much more beyond my life that i want so much more than my life.

every decision we make affects His kingdom in one way or the other. i want to start making decisions more based on that than what i want.

i think the part of the song that says "i've been longing for the freedom that is waiting silently in the life that's just beyond the small perimeter of me" is about John 10:10 and Matthew 6:33. If we seek first His kingdom, we will have life to the full, not just life that pursues ourselves.

on a light note (maybe needed at this point) megan and i went to visit one of the old high school girls that just moved into college and then went to a tc football game tonight and it was awesome. lots of faces of old friends we haven't seen all summer :) and some of the girls might just be teaching us the hoe-down throwdown dance (hannah montana..nbd) :)

*photo uploaded from flickr.com (user Ben)

a good day

I like today a lot. Well, really the last 26 hours. Last night I drove up to Northern Ky and met my precious friend Shannon Henson at the best place in the whole world, Reality Tuesday Cafe. :) It's like our little meeting place. We got to catch up about our lives before she had to go be a teacher today. It was wonderful. She is fantastic. My best friend ever. This is Shannon on her wedding day!

beautiful :) So anyway, we parted ways and I headed for home and went to bed at 10:00 :) I am getting OLD. (today at the TC soccer game, one of the senior girls reminded me how i used to drive her to cheerleading when she was in 8th grade. its fine.)

Today started out with a little trip up to one of the greatest places ever. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. I LOVE that place. I got to go back for my yearly visit & bloodwork and got to see some of my old nurses. Treat. I also got insurance stuff straightened out for graduation, which is always good. My mom and I went to see my grandparents, which was good, but is usually sad because they are both not doing too great. From there we went to eat lunch and visit borders.

One of my favorite parts of my day was the drive home. I know that is crazy, but I LOVE driving between nky and lexington. Its just really pretty, and I had a great playlist (gloriana, ingrid michaelson, drew holcomb, feist..). I may have taken a picture while driving to capture how pretty it was :) Lots of green and blue. I feel like God makes himself so apparent through creation. Especially when windows are down driving :)

I got back to Lexington and ate Chick-fil-a softserve with Jen. Always a treat. I have a VERY OLD picture of us that is perfect for this occasion (it was taken on a disposable camera like 4 years ago) We were little and making very pretty faces.
So to end this day I went to the TC soccer game at Henry Clay. It was such a pretty night! Kind of chilly, which was awesome. I definitely got in for a student price. It was a deal. I feel really excited about starting YL events up, I feel like there is excitement about it this year. I even got asked tonight when it would start. Treat. I can't think of anything I am more pumped about than getting to share life with students this semester.

Oh! I almost left out something my friend Shannon Wheatly would love. My friends blogs are all precious and have really cute pictures of decorating and things like that. So I am being influenced by that with this next picture, and also influenced by Shannon, because this recent purchase remind me of her :) I found these treats at forever 21 today:

Precious earrings. Tonight one of the TC students was wearing them in black, so we got to bond over our earrings :) I definitely feel a lot girlier wearing them :) And I think about Shannon, because she would definitely wear these. And she is girly. I think her picture could go in the dictionary under girly. I love it.

Oh, on another note, my bible study started another Beth Moore study. She is being crazier than ever. I love it. If you have never seen her speak before, you should. Its pretty great. She gets super fired up. She also has giant hair and great outfits. (did I mention she is also super wise and encouraging? she is.) I am so excited to learn more about the spirit, and the fruits of the spirit in our lives.

Well, I am off to read a little Francis Chan then go to bed :) Goodnight friends.

the start of new things :)

"but your word is burning like a fire, shut up in my bones and I can't let it go"- sara groves

It is August, this means that for the 11th time, I am starting a new semester of college. Yes. My 6th year. Don't worry though, classes are done for the rest of my life in October :) I am actually not too excited about school. I usually am, but I think after working all summer getting to do what I am going to school for, I don't feel like I should have to go back and learn more. I will, however, go to a football game. I have been to only 2, one on accident, in my entire college career. I know. This picture was taken at the accidental one at the music city bowl:)
Other new things are the start of a new semester of Young Life! I just got back from Baghdad, Ky planning out all the exciting things we will do this semester. I LOVE fall. Especially as a YL leader. Unlike UK games, I love going to TC games and getting to hang out with the awesome girls we know. We have some fun things planned this semester, I am so excited! Planning weekend was great. My team is amazing. I am so thankful for them. I could not ask to do ministry with better people. Here they are :)

On a sad note, my friend Kari is getting married and moving to Chicago. I look up to her so much. She is such a loving and selfless friend. Fortunately, we still have a wedding or two to celebrate with her. Here is Kari :)Another treat right now is that the Yankees are doing AMAZING! I have loved them since I was little, and will love them even if they do horribly for the rest of my life, but it is such a treat that they are doing so well. I love it. Take me to the new stadium!!! (to anyone that is willing...)

Lastly, but definitely not least, is how the Lord has been working. I have fallen in love with the gospel. I think we all come to times where we have a fresh appreciation for it, and I wish it was more often, because it needs to be. Right now is one of those times, and I am so thankful (the quote from Sara Groves at the top sums up how I feel right now). It is only when we come to terms with the good news of God that our lives can live out of response. I wish this was the constant reality in my life. It really is the best news that could ever exist. And it applies directly to my life. One thing I appreciate is that the truth of it offends how I live. It offends the selfish attitudes I can have about my life. The gospel says my life is not about me, nor should it be called "my" life. That is such a freeing and life giving truth. I am thankful.

Well, I am about to start my last week of summer break for the rest of my life. Hopefully there will be some exciting things to write about later, but as of now my week will be spent in the eye doctor quite a bit. Blood vessels growing into my corneas. Awesome.

called out :)

There is a theme in my life right now of living out the call to pick up our crosses and follow Him. Everything I am reading and listening to is screaming it. I don’t know if it is because Francis Chan’s crazy love is a popular book right now, but even if it is, thank the Lord for people speaking truth, even when it hurts. Even reading John today, I noticed the radical call more than I usually do when reading. I just listened to a leadership teaching from nky about calling, and what did it talk about? How we are bought at a price, our life is not our own.

Okay, so what do I do about all of this? I am tired of living for me. I do not want to live a mediocre Christian life, where my life centers on me, and the leftovers go to God. More than that, my life is pouring out to high school girls, what am I teaching them if I live like that?

One of the things that was discussed in the leadership message about calling was our vocation. He said if 10 years down the road (or now for what it’s worth), if we are working and do not have a burning desire to share the gospel with the people around us, he would seriously question our relationship with God. I agree. I never want to work to work. I never want to be a nurse because I want to be a nurse. Crazy right? I want my sole focus to be to share the good news in whatever way I can, and if my job has to be a means to live on to secure that end, let it be. (Paul was a tent maker). The profession I chose is one that interacts with people on a daily basis, so I would hope it would be more than that. I want to be a missionary disguised as a nurse. Not a nurse that serves God in my spare time and on my days off. I was bought at a price. My life is not my own.

If there is really an eternity at the end of this life, there is NOTHING ELSE that should matter to us other than our hearts being aligned with God’s and to make sure the hearts of the people around us have a chance to know Him personally. So where am I left? My life should not look like any other person in our culture. It should not make sense to the culture we live in. if I stopped following Christ, and my life did not look much different, something would be terribly wrong. I am a missionary first. At TCHS, at UK CON, and wherever I end up working. The places I am are just a means to live out the call He has given us in Matthew 28. I cannot put school before Him. I cannot put work before him. I am HIS and I was bought at a price. His love for me is more than enough to compel me to move. It is all I need to move.

I have a hunch that in John 10:10 when Jesus talks about giving us life to the full, this is what He means. (The exciting thing about this is that everything else in his character is loving towards us and for our good, so you know His call for us to be living sacrifices is going to be for our good and is going to give us life to the full. How great is our God?) :)

On a lighter note, Holly and I ran errands today & were very productive :) We considered up and leaving for SC, but I will be headed to Baghdad, KY this weekend. Thats right, you heard me. I am ready for the swampy pool and excessive bugs, and of course over the mountain. My team may or may not be planning on being VERY organized. School supplies can get me excited about anything. Treat!

*picture from www.flickr.com (its at the arboretum!)

precious shannon

My Precious Shannon has left me and moved to South Carolina. I have known this was coming for months and months, but it came too soon, and I was incredibly unprepared. I have lived with Shannon for 2 and a half years, and we have been friends for 5. She is one of my best friends. She left on Saturday night, so Holly and I spent Saturday hanging out and enjoying our last hours living in the same city. We went to the pool, went to Ramsey's, and played on photobooth for hours until it was time for her to go. I SOBBED. I kept saying all day that it wouldn't hit me until school started, because I would notice the difference then, since summer is crazy anyway with vacations and camp...no. It immediately hit me and is still really hard to process.

In our 5 years of being friends, I can't say that anyone has made me so many nicknames, or yelled them as loud as Shannon did at more random times. This is one thing I will miss horribly. I miss sitting in my room and hearing her make a little song out of my many nicknames sitting in the next room. What are they? Oh... Er, Er-fed-gil cole ni na jen, gil, ginger snap, Er fed er...probably more that I don't remember.

Sometimes we would drive to North Carolina together to wrangle at Windy Gap for the weekend. These were awesome car rides, because we got to drive through the beautiful states of Tennessee and North Carolina (the 2 best states ever) together singing Wagon Wheel and Taylor Swift with the windows down. North Carolina is where she met Andy. I remember this because the day she left summer staff (where they met), I arrived with campers and had seen pictures of them together posted on facebook, so I had my eye out for him. I finally found him and approved. God is going to do awesome things in their lives.

I guess I just wanted to say that she is going to be missed more than she can imagine. I am excited that there are fun things coming up in her life that I get to hear about and participate in, but I would much rather have her here to yell my name at all times of the day. I feel really excited we are all blogging, because now I can keep up with her life in her new city.

I love you shan!! God is going to show up in big ways during this transition time. He will show you He is all you need. :) And I will come visit asap! Maybe I will bring a cardboard cut out of you to bible study? Is that not good coping? Hmm.. I like you. A lot.

making much of Him & less of me

This summer has been the summer of reading for me. I made a goal of finishing the books on my shelf that I have purchased in hopes of reading, but that I never got to, so I have been reading..a lot. One of these books was The Shack. I've referenced it before in one of my posts, but I wanted to talk about one of the ideas the book discusses that stuck with me the most.
In the book, the main character is having a conversation with the trinity about his children. When they are talking about them, each member of the trinity is listening about them and speaking of them as it is the first time they have heard about them, and the main character questions this. They respond that they are limiting themselves out of love for him. The quote that sticks out to me is:
"You don't play a game or color a picture with a child in order to show your superiority. Rather, you choose to limit yourself so as to facilitate and honor that relationship. You will even lose a competition to accomplish love...Relationships are never about power, and one way to avoid the will to hold power over another is to choose to limit oneself--to serve."
This idea holds a lot of weight. It has potential to change every interaction we have. Maybe you are with me on this or not, but don't you get a bad taste in your mouth when either someone corrects you about something that doesn't really matter, or if you do the same? Even if it is correct, the only thing accomplished by pointing it out is to elevate how others view you or you view yourself. There is not a satisfaction after it is said, and I think that is because we were not made to be glorified. Our life is not about the compliments we get, or being right, or even being thought highly of. Our life is about God being lifted up, and I think the reason our world is so messed up is because we all have this backwards. (I was just reading crazy love by francis chan...the second chapter reminded me of this idea) Imagine if we all limited ourselves out of love and respect for others? I hope that one day the spirit has taken over who I am and how I live so much that I would be uncomfortable not doing this. I want that so much. Wouldn't people see Him so much more clearly?
This realization itself is such a testament to how great our Lord is. There is always something to learn and a way to grow and refine our lives until they start to look more and more like His. I hope with all I have that I never assume I am done learning.
Until the day He comes back...I hope for open ears and eyes and people around me that speak truth.

jenna gilfedder, RN :)

Ok, so I am not an RN yet, but the time is approaching to apply for jobs. I have been working as a pretend RN all summer on the Pediatric Oncology floor at KCH and LOVE it. I mean, I wake up in the morning and feel really excited to go to work (and I wake up early). I could not ask to work with more amazing people (right). I feel like I want to be friends with everyone on my unit, and that says a lot.
So, now the issue is getting a job after graduation (in december!). As a December grad, you are supposed to start applying in September and start interviewing in October. This is soon. Right now there is not a job opening on this floor. This is a very sad thing for me. There is, however, an on-call opening. This means I work full time, but get no benefits. Unluckily for me I have a horrible medical history, so no insurance means I pay COBRA until a full time line opens up. Worth it? I REALLY love this job. So I applied. :)
So if you read this, and are a person who prays, maybe pray that someone would quit before December or January.
As far as the SNAP program goes, it is over on Monday :(. I could not have asked for a better summer job. When I started, I did not feel confident in my abilility to be a nurse AT ALL, and I feel like I can hold my own on the floor now. That's a big deal. If you are a nursing student, definitely do it before you graduate.
Another treat is that the nurses on this floor love the Lord! What more could you ask for? I don't think there is anything else.
Sorry about this entire post being about nursing, I know it bores most of my friends. I just feel excited and would really like prayer for a full time job opening. :)
I promise my next post will not be about being a nurse.

stormy day

Today I woke up to a thunder storm. I can't think of anything I like more, especially because I am off work today. It was a perfect opportunity to drive to Panera and spend time with the Lord. A couple things I feel excited about: 1) I am reading John, well, started reading John today, and I love how in 1:42 it is the first time Jesus met Peter, and the first thing He says is "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas". I could be making my own ideas up about the tone of this, but I love the idea that when Jesus met him in person, He was so excited about it because He is Peter's creator, and came down to redeem Peter's life. I also love that He called him by his new name. I feel like Jesus sees us as who he has created us to be, not necessarily who we are when we first encounter him. Anyway, all of this reminded me of something that came up in the book, The Shack. (This is thing I am excited about #2)...I felt like over and over again, when I was reading it, I was overwhelmed by the fact that God is very fond of us. I think sometimes we have an idea of a God who is somewhat disappointed with us, but it was made so clear over and over how much He loves us. To think that the God of the universe is especially fond of ME is overwhelming. It also renews my heart to run after Him. I like that we have a God who loves so much that our devotion for him is fueled by His love for us.
On another note, because of this blog I have discovered Picnik. It is a wonderful thing. I will show you some of the things I have created. Has anyone who blogs discovered how you start noticing things that are artsy or wonderful more often than usual because you want to put them in your blog? Well, that is what is happening for sure... enjoy :)

This picture was taken at camp this summer right after club one night. It was one of those times where it was so beautiful, but the camera didn't do it justice. Then I discovered the enhance button in iphoto...fixed it :) Anyway...how awesome is this?! Unbelievable.

This is also from Castaway...the words are lyrics from the song that comes on when you open this blog. That song is Castaway to me, so it only seemed fitting. Anyway...its beautiful there.

This is not a picnik photo, but my roommate Shannon (right) is leaving us. She is moving to SC to go be with a boy. Not just any boy, Andy. There are precious. I approve. I just feel sad because we've lived together for a long time now and she is leaving me. This was taken as a last roommate picture at her going away party. I had just worked a 12 hour shift, so if that hadn't been true, this could have been the cutest roommate picture ever. It is still precious though. I love these girls.
That is probably enough for one post, but don't worry, there will be more :) I am off to renew my UK parking pass and find a scrub jacket for work because UK Children's Hospital is very very cold. I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

new blog :)

There is something going around Lexington Ky that is making all of my friends start blogs. I am the most recent convert. I always thought there was no reason for me to have a blog because I didn't know what I would ever talk about, and I didn't think anyone would read it. The second may still be true, but I have decided that I serve a big God and He has shown me that He is a God of details. He shows up in the small day-to-day things, and what better way to see Him move than to keep track of all the ways I encounter Him daily?
The name of this blog comes from one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands. You'll notice I don't claim them to be my absolute favorite, I get in trouble for having too many favorites. The song "Faith my Eyes" by Caedmon's Call is the inspiration for the name. It is a perfect fit. This past summer, and throughout the past 8 years of this walk with Christ, I have come to have a new appreciation for grace. I think everyone comes to a point in their walks with Christ where they realize they absolutely have nothing to offer, and that they cannot do it on their own, and just fall into the grace God has poured out. I have experienced that this past year. His grace is enough and is unfair, but I am so thankful that we serve a God who loves us so recklessly.
It is past my bedtime, but I couldn't just do all the work putting this together and just leave it blank :)
Goodnight friends!