Chapters and Faithfulness…

two things that have always been in my writings. I have always looked forward to seeing God’s plan for Luke and me since we have been together. With each new plan, I look at it as a new chapter in our life together. We have had several chapters since our marriage almost three years ago and in the four years that we have been together.

Never once will I say the road has been straight and nothing but pleasantries, however I will say that we have been very blessed in our journey.

Faith… –noun

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3. belief in god or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.
5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.
6. the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.: Failure to appear would be breaking faith.
7. the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance, etc.: He was the only one who proved his faith during our recent troubles.
8. Christian Theology . the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved. (source- dictionary.com)

Yep… something like that. Faith has been what Luke and I have been living through, taking steps and praying through them that God would show the next one to us. Through God’s faithfulness and promises, he has shown those next steps to us.
We are quickly approaching our one year anniversary of moving to Lynchburg and taking one of the largest steps of faith- thus far- in our relationship together. While there were nights of thinking: “What am I doing here? Where are we going? What do You have planned for us? Is this really the right decision? Are You walking with me through this Lord?” Those questions were answered through silence, through prayer, through other people we came into contact with. God is faithful in his commitment that he will always be there beside us.

I reflect on the nights that I called Larry crying with the door shut while Luke was studying in the other room. The comfort that surrounded me when speaking to him is indescribable. To the times of speaking to Denise and her giving her counsel to me while trying to find work and knowing that she knows God’s faithfulness. Then to the times of hanging out with Ben on the internet and lifting my sprits when they were down- sometimes just knowing that he was there to listen was more than I ever could have asked for. Going to the mailbox was and still is a time of excitement for the both of us, receiving cards and words of encouragement- they always seemed and still seem to come on the days of great trial. The entire experience of relocating has been filled with almost every emotion that I can feel.

Having the ability to see everything unfold and knowing that there is more to come, has helped build my faith and trust to great lengths. It has strengthened our marriage more than I ever thought it could have.

So a quick recap of the last year… we moved to Lynchburg to attend Liberty University- the place that I am now employed. Luke has accomplished 2.5 semesters, Moot Court and is ready to do more! I am starting back to school this fall. We have been searching for a house and after a long two months after putting a contract in on a house, doors have been opened and the contract was approved! We have started going through the mortgage process, started packing again and plan to be in our new place in August!

What a year- a great way to sum all of the above up. Thank you for joining Luke and me on our journey together and for all of your support during this time. We look forward to seeing what God has planned for us and we hope that you will remain in prayer with us during this time.

Here is to a new chapter… (pictures of the house to follow)

Truths and Ancient Ruins...

(Before I posted this blog, I took a moment to review my last blog where I was talking about snow and Luke's books for this semester. Today I look out the window and all I see is Green with temperatures of 80+ and Luke is finishing up this semester. It is amazing how things change in a few months.)

**As I have been thinking about busy I have been, I have realized how little I have been focusing on the important aspects of my life. Many times over, I am so exhausted from not sleeping well, the thoughts of spending time writing down some genuine thoughts overwhelmed me honestly. I have been wanting to write, however writer’s block has seemed to invade my mind and my spirit.

I recently received a prayer request from Guatemala, which lead to me reviewing pictures of our trip back in 2008 and pictures of the little girl we “adopted” shortly thereafter. Looking at those pictures blessed my soul and helped me to regain focus and my perspective on life.

It seems that I have simply been floating along in this journey and taking little time to enjoy being young and ever so blessed. When we first moved to Lynchburg, I was so focused on God’s plan and wanting and praying for nothing less. Now, I seem to have gotten comfortable and have failed to earnestly seek God’s face. I am so guilty of having a back pocket relationship- on my behalf- with my loving Father. This revelation has been presented to me during a bible study that I have taken part in over the past few months- Breaking Free by Beth Moore.

Recently the truths presented in this bible study have helped me realize areas of my life where I have been consumed with ancient ruins and such heavy baggage. Going through this process of reflection and meditation, I have realized where I have been held captive.

I sometimes feel that we fail to notice how alive satan is. I think we just place him as this imaginary thing that we place blame on occassionally. I believe that it is extremely important to realize that he is real and he is set out to draw us away from our Heavenly Father. He is set out to distract us, deter us and remove us from spritually positive events. I have recently been battling issues within my life that seem to have tried to pull me away and hold me captive to the point that I want to give in.

I believe that in those moments that is when I realize how ALIVE God is in my life. Also, during this time, I realize how unworthy I am of the Father's love and how little I turn to him during times that are going well.

One of the many truths that was presented to me during this study is how I have been held in the strong hold of negativity with my relationship with my parents. It seems that I have been consumed with negative feelings and thoughts towards our relationship that recently started taking a toll on other relationships. I have now challenged myself to think of positive thoughts when a negative thought enters my thoughts. Without my parents, I would have not developed some of my characteristics that I have. While I have longed for a relationship with them, I have now started breaking those chains that have held me in bondage for several years.

This past weekend, also helped me regain my focus on my marriage. My best friend got married this past weekend. Seeing them take this step in their lives made me reflect on when Luke and I got married. It is hard to believe that was over 2.5 years ago already- then at the same time, it seems like it is longer. It is hard to believe that we have already been able to experience some great opportunities together. Owning our first house together, to selling that house, to moving to Lynchburg and now as we consider new living opportunities.

We have been in much prayer about our future and have initiated the search to find a new place to call home. The condo that we have been staying at, is a nice place to rest, however, we both feel that it is time to move into another place of our own. We enjoyed remodeling and fixing up our old house and miss doing that. Needless to say, we would like to have another house to fix up together! We are being very diligent in looking for our future home and ask that you be in prayer with us during this time.

****PRAYER REQUESTS****

~Please continue to remember Ann Simpson as she continues to battle cancer and will be starting a new treatment soon.

~Please remember Jose, the son of the Pastor that we built a house for in Guatemala.

~A young lady from Statesville that recently has been diagnosed with Melanoma, Christina. Please keep her family in your prayers.

~Remember all of those who have lost their jobs, who are sick, homeless and those who are lost.

Catching Up to Speed...

So in my last post I talked about snow… Well we got some and got even more than I believe I would ever want again. After roughly 14 inches of snow at once, my snow tank was full and is still being filled as I still am finding remnants.

Time has been flying and I’m wondering what happened to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years… It feels like I blinked and it was here and gone. WOW! We have been blessed with the ability of going to Statesville to visit with friends and family during the season and have been so busy and on the go, the thoughts of writing a post made me sigh…. There is so much to tell and so little space to do so in, so I will start off with what has happened since the New Year.

We rang in the New Year in Statesville with Luke’s family and our friends- Ben and Lindsey while watching Winterfest on GOD TV. Having worked the night before at Winterfest, I enjoyed having the ability to control the level of the sound and the comfort of a comfy couch! (Some of you may not know what Winterfest is, but is actually a 2-day event that Liberty does every year and that has numerous bands and speakers. Winterfest of 2008/2009 was our first introduction to Lynchburg.)

I ate the time up between New Years and Monday since Luke was out of class. The time in December was so busy I don’t remember much time together. Needless to say I fell behind in house work, but Luke picked up my slack- Such a Wonderful husband.

I started training for my new position on Thursday and will finish up this Friday. I am so excited about this new opportunity and cannot wait to see the doors opened and the lives that I am able to touch by helping them out with coming to Liberty. I get so excited when I think about my job and working for LU. The main reason for seeking the job was for the educational benefit, however I am so overjoyed with how amazing it feels to work for an organization that shares the same beliefs as me! I know I say this all the time, but I just can’t stop giving God the glory and praise for opening this door for me.

Luke’s classes started Monday and he has been able to meet all of his professors now and feels that this semester will be a ton of fun. I tend to disagree with the amount of books he is facing. On the left was last semester and on the right is this semester. AMAZING!!

I am so happy that he is looking forward to it and so fortunate that he Bible Induction class was this semester instead of in the fall with Moot Court. I would have never seen him, if that was the case.

The New Year started off with a bang again this year. Last year, Ben went into the hospital almost all month and then this year Denise got to visit the ER followed by two nights in the hospital. She is now recovering from her gallbladder being extracted (after telling the doctors what the problem was. Long story and definitely not enough room.) We had gone down Saturday to surprise them and visit some friends and got back to Lynchburg at about 1:15 in the morning. Well at 7:45, we were back on the road headed back to Statesville to be with her at the hospital and then were back in Lynchburg at 10:00 that night. We were indeed tired and did not even want to think about getting up early Monday morning, but we accomplished that task.

Prayer Requests- Please be in prayer with us as we consider searching for a home here in Lynchburg.

Pray for Denise and the family as she recovers.

Please be in prayer for the victims and families of those experiencing a loss in Haiti.

Pray for our dear friend Ann Simpson as she is undergoing treatment for cancer.
Also, please be in prayer for Luke and me as we begin planning our trip to Guatemala again this year. Please pray that the doors will open for us to be able to go again.

Remember to pray for one another and also remember to pray extra hard for those that may be lost.

Snow has Arrived!!

In my last post I talked about my heart warming with the thoughts of snow... Well I have a SUPER Warm heart at the current moment! It is snowing and sticking! YIPPEEE

Time is Flying!!!!

Snow?!?!?!

Well, not yet anyway. I got so excited last night when I heard the meterologist mention those words! I have always loved the snow and rarely have been able to see much since the location of Statesville to the mountains prevented many of the "snow producing systems" from making it to my area. :( So every time I hear the words snow and see a system moving through the South, I feel my heart warming with the thought of getting to watch the fluffy, powdery flakes float slowly to the ground.

It seems that the temperature was switched from Fall to Winter overnight. Things have been so crazy the last few months with the temperature up and down, up and down and I finally feel that temperature has fallen for good- at least for a few more months. That is okay with me as long as I get to see some SNOW!!!

Time seems to be flying lately. We have been in Lynchburg for four months now. I have been working for a month and Luke is getting ready to finish up his first semester of resident classes. If the time continues at this pace, I am going to be waking up one morning in complete awe thinking- Luke's finished??? Where was I at? Of course I will be excited to say those words!

Luke has finished up his Moot Court for this year. Regional Competitions were held in Virginia Beach this year and Luke and his partner were the only ones to advance to the next round. They were knocked out during that round by ONE point- 701 to 702. He had one awesome time and is very excited about being on the team next year.

It is odd getting to see him and talk to him now. I was used to him being in the office- "The Cocoon"- for hours and hours of the day and night. Oh how I enjoyed getting to see him as he walked out to get something to drink or eat! Now I am having to get used to him being around and being able to help me out with things around the house. I had gotten so used to my schedule of things that I needed to get done each day, I often find myself panicing almost thinking about I need to do this or this and then realize that Luke has done it for me!

Be watching for our new newsletter!! I should be able to finish it this weekend! Thank all of you for your continued support, prayers and cards of encouragement during this time!!!

About the New Job... (11/11/09)

Getting dressed and headed to work still feels a bit weird after being out of work for a couple of months. I will be working a 12-9, Monday through Friday shift, with no Saturdays or events. A huge bonus for this job position! As I previously stated, I am making outbound calls to students that have shown interest in the school to encourage them to visit the school and to also apply.

We trained all of last week and started listening to calls this week. We actually started calling people Monday night. It was a bit nerve racking, but I made it through and achieved getting 2 applications taken. Last night, my supervisor was picking on me because I was so flushed. Many of you know that when I am in a new situation, my blood pressure sky rockets and I start turning different colors. Much to my surprise, I was so red that it actually started to appear purple. WOW! I was able to conquer some pretty hard questions and objections that students and parents had. And at the end of the night, I had accomplished achieving another 2 applications.

Today is the last day of training and tonight I will move into making calls by myself without anyone beside me if I need help, but no worries- I have people in other cubicles around me that can help me out.

I have a rather large desk area and all of the work I will be doing will be on the computer. It will be a nice change from previous jobs. While I had good sized desks, I was handling a ton of paperwork and often did not have enough space.

I have had to get used to the hours and still trying to get used to them as I write this. I’m not used to getting up and not having to get ready immediately to go to work. I have been able to keep up the chores around the house for the most part so Luke can continue to study and have enough time to get everything done possible. (But when I don’t have time, he is quick to jump in and get them done for me! I’m so LUCKY!!) We both have had to get used to Mon, Wed and Fri where we don’t see each other until late. He leaves for school at 7:25 and gets back after 12 and I leave at 11:30. So, we do not get to see one another until I get home or he gets home from Moot Court.

I am thankful that we have been married for a couple of years and did not just get married and trying to juggle all of this. I am also thankful that we have not had kids yet so when we are together, we can spend one on one time together. (Just goes to show that God knows better than we do and has perfect timing.)

Also, it is temporary and gives us the ability to grow and become closer by appreciating each other even more with the time that we do have together.

Besides getting used to the hours, I have to keep reminding myself where I work. Every day at the beginning of the shift, we have huddles. During this time we have prayer and share a devotional. I am still in awe every time. It makes me excited that we join together and have this moment. It seems to ground me in my faith and reassure me as to why I am doing the job I am doing.

I am very grateful for having this opportunity and am excited to see where it will lead me to. I love promoting LU and trying to recruit students.

Another verse that has helped me during this time can be found in Proverbs 3:5-6 (HCSB)

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own understanding;
6 think about Him in all your ways,
and He will guide you on the right paths.

It really has made this transition much easier and the job hunt much more pleasant. Glory to God Alone!

God's Fingerprints and Faithfulness... (10/29/09)

We have entered into my favorite time of year- Fall, the time when God’s beauty is revealed so magnificently everywhere I look. Over the weekend Larry and Denise (Luke’s parents) came up to see us. (Denise’s first time of seeing our new place.) We had lunch and then went up to Liberty’s Ski Lodge and then went for a ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The red, orange, green, and yellow leaves glistened in the sun with the perfect backdrop of clear blue skies with touches of cottony clouds, created one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever experienced. The dips in the mountains were accentuated and defined by the lines of colors that showed God’s fingerprints. The crevasses looked so smooth and gently carved from the massive mountains.

Recently, I had a Sunday School teacher tell how he explains to his children how Big God is; as big as the mountains were and as tall as some of the peaks were, My God is Bigger! That thought seemed to consume me while riding along the parkway. He carefully carved the rocks and shaped the mountains into this beautiful picture that we can see so many years later.

I have often found myself falling into the pit of self-pity, worry and despair. It seems that my eyes are being opened more and more everyday to realize that I have it great in comparison to the majority of people. I am loved, have a home, have a family, a church, food and clothing.

On October 28, I would have been unemployed for three-months; however, on Tuesday I received the call from Liberty, from the department I was very interested in and offered a job. Praise God!! After nearly 10 interviews, 2 offers and one acceptance, I feel that I am in the right place! Some of the hardest obstacles I had to overcome during this trial was to turn down 2 job offers. I turned to prayer and desiring God’s will for me and His guidance and could not accept the 2 previous offers. I found myself questioning myself and worried about what others may think of me for turning down a job.  I realized the importance of vocation instead of just a pay check.  (This job actually found me- I had not even applied for that specific position!  Talk about a divine appointment!)  I am so appreciative for Luke, my family and friends that encouraged me to pray and answer accordingly.  Thank you all for praying for us during this time!!

I made my concerns and requests known in very specific prayers to God. Matthew 7:7-8 (HCSB) 7 "Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Had I not had the faith and encouragement, I would have probably accepted the first job, which was not the right place for me. The second one I turned down was even more nerve racking as I was a little bit more comfortable with that job, but still felt that the position I received was the place for me. I now am very comfortable with the position I have accepted and very grateful I was able to hold onto my faith.

I have always had a desire to help people, that is why I want to finish my Psychology degree. I am still unsure as to what type of work I will do with that degree, but I know that I will find out soon! The title of the job I have accepted is an Admissions Counselor. I will initially make outbound calls to prospective students to recruit them into the school. I plan to move into a position that helps the student lay out how they want to achieve the degree and goals. I believe this position will help me with determining the exact avenue of my career, possibly teaching…

The education benefit has been changed and unfortunately our schooling will not be completely covered. Both Luke and I can take 1 online class per subterm, which equates to 2 in the fall, 2 in the spring and 1 in the summer, up to 18 credit hours, paid. Other classes will have to be paid by us. We currently are looking into as many scholarships as possible to help cover the expense of school. We both have a strong desire to remain debt free and pray that the doors will continue to be opened for us to do so. We have been fortunate thus far to be blessed in this aspect and pray for the blessing to continue.

Luke’s concentration has been focused on his studies along with Moot Court. Please be in prayer for him as he competes in his competitions. If he does well in Moot Court, with his grades and on his LSAT, we feel that law school will be taken care of, which would be a huge burden off of our shoulders once we get to that level of school.

Luke was a strong tower for me during this season of waiting (Matt 6:25-33). I had many days of feeling scared, depressed, worried and so on. I also experienced many days that I found it hard to pray, so I just cried out that Jesus would intercede for me. I would also surround myself with other followers and ask for them to pray for me.

One day recently I was very upset and discouraged while talking to Denise and Ben on the WebCam, they were able to provide me with such encouraging and comforting words. I have always been blessed when talking to them about obstacles I needed help to overcome. It is as though God uses them as a vessel to speak directly to me. I receive such warmth that seems to wrap all around me and penetrate all the way to my heart from the words they speak. Larry has always been there for me to run to since day one. He has such great insight into so many situations and helps to put things into perspective for me. He has shared some of his struggles with me and how he handles those situations. I enjoy listening to every one’s experiences and receiving insight from them. They are on the outside, they have been through some of the deepest valleys and climbed some of the most treacherous mountains that I have ever known anyone to go through, yet they still remain steadfast in their faith.

During this entire experience, we have seen so many doors opened for us and will never really be able to express how appreciative we are. I have been left in awe of God’s grace, mercy and faithfulness and have felt so unworthy of everything that God has provided for us. It reminds me to stay focused on Him and His promises. While God is faithful to me, I must also be faithful to Him in return.

Joshua 1: 5-9 (HCSB)

5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or forsake you.
6 "Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance. 7 Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe the whole instruction My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go. 8 This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite it day and night, so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do. 9 Haven't I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."