Thanksgiving in Mexico!

So I leave for Mexico tomorrow morning until Sunday-

Prayer for God to do some radical things in our hearts
Prayer for God to use us in mighty ways
Prayer for safety
Prayer for financial assistance

Thanks for your prayers! Though I can't be with my family over Thanksgiving, I am so excited at this chance to be used during this time!

Time to Think:

There's not much better time to think about life then when you are in the waiting room of a hospital and then when you are in a room waiting for heart and lung test results to come back.

The thoughts primarily started out as admitting my own fears to myself. Most of all my fear of death. Until I was reminded that I am not home...no matter where I am on this earth or who I am with, I am not complete or fully at home until I have reached my final resting place with the Lord. My fear comes from leaving what is behind, as well as the unknown things of heaven. How I desire to have FAITH and CONFIDENCE in who Christ is!

I sat there in my hospital bed sitting next to my best friend Jared (pictured above), receiving more phone calls and text messages from more friends than I can even count! The care and response from people around me is truly unbelievable. I sat there knowing that not only was I not alone physically (thanks to Jared and Kari), but I am never facing anything by myself.

As I waited with thoughts of how the test results could come back, Jared offered to read from the Word for me...I asked him to read 2 Chronicles 16:7-9 "Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram instead of in the LORD your God, you missed your chance to destroy the army of the king of Aram. Don't you remember what happened to the Ethiopians and Libyans and their vast army, with all of their chariots and horsemen? At that time you relied on the LORD, and he handed them all over to you. The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him."

There is so much to glean from that passage. The first of which is how I know often I just put my trust in man, rather then that of God. It is one thing to say it, and a completely different thing to be waiting for potential lfe threatening test results back. I was challenged tonight to put my trust in Christ alone.
The next thing I took from this was how I desire for my heart to be fully committed to Christ-so that when God's eyes are searching my heart, He will see His love has won me over.

Life truly is a vapor. It is here one minute and gone the next. I very well could have heard completely different news tonight. God still has ways to grow in me and is blessing me with more time here on earth to love Him and love people. I am glad. It makes me think...what will I do tomorrow to treat it as it really is...

Locks of Love:

So I've had a few friends ask me how long I'll be growing my hair out for. For those of you who don't know, I've been growing my hair out for almost the last 2 years. Vanessa Pirrone and I decided to grow our hair out together for locks of love about a month before she passed away in a car accident. I decided immediately that I would hold true to that promise no matter how hard it got.
Recently I decided I would cut it on January 23, 2007-exactly 3 years after Vanessa's accident-and give to to locks of love. Here is a picture of how long my hair was when I started: where it was about a year ago, and where it is now...1 year to go!

Changing the World is Like...

After graduating from Spring Arbor University, I left feeling the way many people my age do: Like I could change the world...
Then reality set in...I did not get my dream job, was not surrounded by people with the same vision, and did not see many dreams come to fruition. (say it like "nutrition" with a "fr" instead of a "n")
2 and a half years after I have graduated and thought I had come to grips with reality, I am realizing I had it right the first time! My "reality" came from the fact that my circumstances were not what I had imagined as ideal. God's reality is that He desires to use us as Christ followers to be revolutionaries!!! A revolutionary by the way is someone who changes things-who does not settle for mediocrity. God is continually searching our hearts to see if and when we will be ready for Him to use...I have decided I am ready...I will not be a revolutionary-I AM a revolutionary!

Changing the world is like finally coming to terms with reality!

The Great Outdoors!

Camping with the girls this weekend is probably one of the coolest things I've done in months! Millard Falls was only about 15 minutes from downtown LA and yet was in the middle of the mountains! It was amazing! The trip included a cool hike, a waterfall (pictured), weird camping neighbors, burning my hand on the fire pit, and sharing about the amazing God we love! I will DEFINITELY go there again! Did I mention it was free?!

It's almost official! Here is my first Half Marathon!!!

Place: Huntington Beach California

Date: Sunday February 5

Time: 7:00 a.m.

Distance: 13.1 miles

Goal: 2 hours and 15 minutes (max.) But I don't really know because I've never run anything close to that far before!

Training begins: Monday November 7

Running Partner: Jared Amerine and anyone else who will test themselves!

This is why I work at Light and Life!

This is Emily. She is my best friend in the whole wide world. I love her. The end.

That's Right! I'm going to Mexico!
This time: Melissa and I are leading a group: the community service team to be exact. And it is going to rock! I already know it. You know why? Because God is going to do some amazing stuff that we could never plan. I think this is going to be one of my most amazing Thanksgivings ever! (not that I don't like mom's stuffing-we all know that's a lie!) I'm so excited to use my Thanksgiving break to bless others!