It's That Time Again

It's that time of year again...the time of the year when my friends wonder if they still have a friend named Savannah or if they have just befriended a permanent library statue...the time of year when my mom calls me to make sure I am taking my vitamins and sleeping a little bit. It's crunch time for those of us who still haven't learned how to start on papers at the beginning of the semester. The Lord has really been teaching me to trust him more fully and not let my attitude toward life, Him, and others be dictated by my workload. My joy is dependent on him who is constant and him who has given me everything I need for life and godliness in him.

As far as an update on my life:

• I had the opportunity to go back to Smyrna, TN and spend my spring breatk at Community Servants. It was refreshing to go back and resume some relationships from last year. I had a wonderful team who came together and really leaned into each other for mutual benefit and lots of laughter. http://www.communityservants.org/

• I have a great roommate and wonderful friends at school who put up with my antics, love the Lord, and want to serve the Him and others in everything.


• There are lots of changes with friends as life continues to move forward with engagements, weddings, graduations, and general life changes from all sides.


• I was looking for a communication-related internship this summer and applied for one at the Georgia Family Council. They have a three-pronged approach to their organization. They work with public policy and legislation, they act to foster a more educated Georgia, and they put forth community initiatives. I was ecstatic to find that they had asked me to join their intern team this summer. http://georgiafamily.org/


• We (some students and I) have pursued getting Young Life closer to starting in Rhea Co. There have been some moves forward as well as realistic glimpses of the road ahead. Please continue to pray for direction and wisdom in this.


• This week in chapel we have been focusing on reconciliation in the world. This is a good documentary about the aftermath of life following the Rwandan genocide. http://www.asweforgivemovie.com/index.php

So, is life crazy and almost unmanageable at times? Yes! Is God faithful and constant even in our unconstancy and hecticness? YES!

I have three major papers due at the end of next Thursday and multiple daily assignments between then and don't know how they are going to be completely done, but I do know what I am going to do: trust the Lord and work hard.

I want to encourage you where you are. Maybe you don't have the stress of college papers right now. Maybe you wish that's all you had to worry about.

Whether life is as calm as a blue sea or as tempetuous as a hurricane with no end in sight, I want to encourage you. Regardless of where you are standing, I urge you to move closer to the Father. He has our lives in his hands and lets nothing befall us that he doesn't plan to use for our benefit. He is so worthy of our trust and devotion.

Many blessings on your spring days!

Psalm 62:1-2:

"For God alone my soul waits in silence,

from him comes my salvation.

He only is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken."

A Year Later

I stand here amazed. Amazed that I made it through 2 1/2 years of school and floored by the range of lessons God has taught me through his Spirit, his Word, his people, and the many varied cirumstances he brings into my life.

I am also incredibly thankful for my friends that I have at Bryan. Freshman year I floated from friend group, avoiding some people and trying desperately to make it in other friend groups. I found my niche at the close of my sophomore year through my friends in the ACTS project and through the girls on my hall. Although I am no longer in the ACTS class or on the same hall, I have been overly blessed by the friends and relationships I have. One special friend in particular decided she needed to add herself to my to-do list since I have a habit of making and abiding by them.

One of the coolest things this year has been rooming with Rachel. I can't even describe what a hilarious, encouraging, diligent person she is and how much I have benefited from sharing a room with her and walking through college life with her. It's funny because we've known each other since freshman year when we were in an assigned CLF group together and we have had interactions with each other along the way, but never really had the chance to get to know each other further until she and another RA approached me and my awesome roommate from last year about rooming with us.

(This is Rachel very excited about eating cinnamon rolls and sporting her new engagement ring)

The first great thing that blessed my socks off this weekend was a visit from my beautiful sister Summer. She didn't come visit at all last semester and I wanted her to come visit before things got too hectic in the semester. A summary of some of the things we did:

• watched 4 movies/shows (I fell asleep during each one)


• talked for at least 3 hours straight on Saturday


• made 2 trips to Walmart

• 1 trip to Sonic, 1 nursery session at church, 1 ride home
  
  (that would be Summer, Mom, and me back at the ranch)

The second great thing that happened this weekend was that India Team 2010 got together and hosted a dinner and sharing time for India Team 2011. It is hard to believe it's been a year since we formed our team and began the intense process of getting to know each other and praying for people and situations we had not yet met. It was wonderful to look at India pictures from this summer and hear some of upcoming India team's questions. I just was blessed to be there tonight and am so expectant about the things the Lord is going to teach India Team 2011 through India and each other.

(Shannon, Andrew, Andrew, and Katlyn)