ALL things work together for good…

Throughout my life I have been constantly reminded that “All things work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Perhaps it is because this week I have been especially nostalgic, or perhaps it is what this particular week in history means in the whole grand scheme of my life, but I have been reminded once again how true this verse is.

Growing up, I was never the most popular, I was never the girl that all the boys flocked to, and all too often I have been guilty of asking God why each situation that I wasn’t happy with, had to be that way. More times that not this particular verse has been given to me. Looking back on the past twenty two years, I can say that every word is true in my life.

Losing my grandparents, while one of the hardest times in my life, has taught me not only to appreciate the ones I love with every fiber of my being, but also has afforded me numerous opportunities to minister to others experiencing the same thing.

Another thing that I always struggled with was simply being liked.The amazing thing is that most of the people I cared so much about pleasing and being accepted by aren’t even in my life anymore. I look at their lives, not in judgment, but rather in amazement and wonder why I cared so much to begin with. I honestly see that NOT being liked or accepted by those people worked out for the greater good in my life.

Finally anyone who knew me in high school probably knows that I struggled with my best friend having a boyfriend and me being the third wheel. At the time it was painful and I just couldn’t understand what was wrong with me. Now I realize that there was nothing wrong with me, and that the whole situation led me to Drew. I cherish the fact that Drew was my first and only boyfriend. I didn’t have to search and go through guy after guy to find the one for me. I can also see how God still uses memories from the past to not only teach me things, but also to appreciate Drew and the course my life has ultimately taken.

These are just a few of the examples of God teaching me through this verse. I don’t always understand, but looking back I can see the good in most situations in my life. When the bad days come I know I am given this promise, and on the good days I am reminded just how true the promise is.

This is my life...

So I am fully aware that I have been absent from the blogging world for far too long, but the truth of the matter is that the past two weeks of my life have been devoted to school work and little else. Between reading about the Battle of Stalingrad and then writing a paper on it, writing a paper for Research Methods and studying for my Spanish test...I have been one busy girl!
I can't conplain, because deep down I love the challenge. I feel absolutely crazy because as challenging and labor intensive as this WWII History class is, it is my absolute favorite this semester. I am even contemplating taking the WWI class with the same professor just as a random elective. I really know nothing about WWI and so I feel like learning something new will be fun...crazy yes, but once I am in the know about both World Wars I feel like I will be a more well rounded person.
I honestly should probably write more, but I have nothing to share as the last two paragraphs pretty sum up what my life has been the past two weeks, and I am really tired of writing at this point...so until the next time.

WAR EAGLE, roll tide, Lost Dog, & Hitler

Yes, it sounds crazy but our weekend included all of those things. The weekend began on Friday with Drew working late and me reading a book for my WWII history class, thus the "Hitler" in the title of this blog. This reading about the German invasion of Russia continued throughout the weekend and will continue throughout this week until I have finished the very tedious read that is "Stalingrad". On Saturday, I woke up planning on a fun day of crafting with Jenna and Erin...not long after I woke up my mom called to say that our dog Daisy (who still resides at my parents house until the invisible fence is in) was missing. I became a little hysterical, threw on some clothes and began the search for our precious pooch. Needless to say there was no craft day. We looked for Daisy for a good hour and then concluded with hanging signs and a slight emotional breakdown. We had made plans to go to Auburn to eat dinner with my lifelong friend Nicole and her boyfriend Andrew. We had a fantastic time and in spite of the irony, watched the Bama game in Tiger town. It was a great way for me to get my mind off our sweet puppy out in the world all alone. Sunday morning I woke up with a terrible migraine, probably brought on by allergies and my emotional outburst the day before. Consequently I missed church. This is going to throw my whole week off I am sure, but I know I would never have been able to sit there feeling the way I did. A wonderful thing did happen on Sunday, though. My mom and dad were on their way to church and found Daisy about a mile from our house. How she got there we still don't know, but it is great to have my sweet girl safe and sound. I have never been a huge dog person, but Daisy is changing my mind about that. Drew almost has the fence in and we plan to move her to her new home in the next few days.

Road Trip

This is an accurate picture of my day...currently I am blogging in the car on the way to Jacksonville (thanks to my BIL who posssesses an Iphone with wireless) I love technology!

Don't you just love a love story?

Today is the anniversary of the beginning of one of my favorite love stories. This story begins with two friends, a pastor's wife and a song leader's wife. Both ladies just so happened to be expecting at the same time. Babies are always exciting, but to share in the experience with a friend is sure to be much more thrilling. Although this was not the first pregnancy for either women, this element of sharing in the joy of life had to have made the journey more meaningful.These women were such good friends that they even had their baby shower together. On August 31 the first baby arrived, a girl that the pastor's wife named Nancy. Two days later on September 2 the song leader's wife had a bouncing baby boy named Jim. If you haven't figured it out yet, this is the story of the day my parents met. The two ladies were my grandmothers. After my parents were born, my grandmothers shared a hospital room and even commented on how neat it would be if the two grew up and got married. Little did they know this would really happen. Most people can't say that their parents love story began at conception, but mine sort of did. I used to think this was kind of weird, but now I realize how neat it is that God orchestrated the events of my parents lives and in so doing also orchestrated mine.
I am so thankful for the example of my parents and all they have given me. And although this is the anniversary of my parents meeting, it is more specifically my daddy's birthday. Most people don't see the side of my daddy that I do. While I do respect his work ethic and reliability, I think one of my favorite things about my daddy is his sense of humor. We are alike in many ways, (even if he refuses to admit it.) This is a special day in my life, and just another example of why I love LOVE!

Food for Thought

Today is one of those incredibly long days that I spend at school. I have a three hour break and in that break I work on homework and I also have an opportunity to people watch. I am fascinated by the way people carry themselves as well as the way they communicate with their peers. In my observations today I have seen a vast number of people cursing. While I understand that oftentimes cursing is used due to lack of vocabulary, all the same it bothers me. It seems like new freshmen are using these “grown-up” words as a means to impress their fellow college students. Many times the words they use don’t even make sense when used in the contexts in which I have heard them today. In fact it has become so frustrating to me that I have put in my ear phones just to drowned it out. I have often wondered who deemed these words “bad words” and the thought still occurs to me that in a world vastly different from the one we live in today, that some person began using a word. This word while it may have begun as an everyday word like “hello” or “wow” has over time become skewed to mean something totally different. Perhaps in that same world a person who loved words as I do, began looking for a word to describe their feelings of frustration or hurt. When such a word could not be found this same person decided to create one, thus resulting in one of the choice verbs and nouns I have heard today. I also wonder at what point did certain words become “dirty”. There are words found in God’s word, that I feel bad reading to my third grade Sunday school class because in today’s society they have changed and been deemed “curse words”. Understand that my random musings are just that random thoughts pouring forth from my head and I type. I am curious to research my questions, but at this present time I feel like I have enough learning and researching to do.

On a side note I would like to give a shout out to my precious mother. Today is her birthday and I am super glad that she was, in fact, born. My mamma is crazy beyond belief and I love her every day for it. She has taught me so much in life, including not to say the words I referred to earlier. I can’t imagine what life would be like without her and I am so thankful to not only call her mother, but also friend.

We are Sparks for Jesus, Sparks to light the world!

Today I am revisiting Thankful Thursdays. And today I am thankful for AWANA. I am not only thankful for the program itself, but also for the leaders and sweet babies involved each week.

My love affair with AWANA began when I was in high school and worked as an LIT (Leader in Training). I loved being a part of something that taught boys and girls the Scriptures, and I have long enjoyed working with the children themselves.

After high school I began my internship with Ms. Tracey Maggard who was the EMBC Children's Director at the time. I look back on this internship as one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I learned so much about ministry and loving on children in Jesus name. Ms. Tracey taught me what is is to love on the children that are oftentimes unlovable. The funny part is that once you begin loving on those unlovable children, they become the ones that are dearest to your heart.

I have found through participating in this program that I too have learned Scripture that I might not have otherwise discovered on my own. Each week, whether it be a tough one or a fun-filled one, teaches me something new. You would be amazed at the way these children view God and the world in general. I wish I could view things through that lense of amazement and acceptance like they do. I can act silly and not worry what they will think, because to them Mrs. Kimberly pretty cool (or so I'm told.) I love that about kids. They see miracles in the smallest of things, and they aren't afraid to ask questions about the things of God. All too often I feel like as adults we lose that. We lose the wonder and amazement in the things of God, and when we have a question we try to seek the answer on our own instead of asking those who may have more wisdom than we ourselves have. Last night Ella, one of my sweet Yellow team babies, told me she asked Jesus to come into her heart. Nothing thrills me more than to see one of our clubbers come to Jesus. God is so good!
Along with the kids I find myself encouraged by the leaders I work with. These ladies are all different ages and we are all at different stages and places in our lives, but we all work together to teach these children about the love of Jesus. We cut up and I think we all share a disdain for game time (Who knew such small children could produce such big noises?), but we also encourage each other. I see so much that I can improve on just by looking at the lives of the women I work with every Wednesday night. I see a patience in Amanda Jones that I have never seen in anyone else, I see organization and a gift for teaching in Amy Hallagin, I see a quiet spirit in Susan Scroggins, I see a godly wife in Sandy McLemore, and then there is Cheryl Carriker in whom the joy of Jesus is completely evident. Of course I also have my sweet friend Jenna wo continually encourages me, as I have expounded on in previous blogs.
It is these ladies and all the sweet children I work with each week that make me love the AWANA program. I may have hard weeks, and sometimes they definitely work my nerves, but I love AWANA and all the crazy things that come along with it.