Summer’s over?!?!?

I can’t believe that my 4 months of summer is nearly at it’s end. Wow, what an adventure it has been. My internship has opened my eyes to so many things. I’ve worked alongside one of the most encouraging people I’ve ever met. I’ve learned more about the guitar than I did while in college. I learned about over coming my fear of playing guitar by myself, about how to engage in worship while leading worship and many more things.

This summer God has taught me to be still. 3 months ago I posted lyrics to Kari Jobe’s song be still, and to this day I’m still running through those lines in my head. It was the very first song I sang in front of the congregation and each day God has reminded me about the importance of being still. Now, I can’t say that I’ve actually listened each time and that I took the time to sit and be still but the fact that this particular song is still speaking to me is incredible. Our culture has decided that we should not be bored, whatever that means, there is always some form of distraction around. My latest distraction is Twitter. I just can’t seem to go more than 5-6 hours without checking it. Yes, I may have a problem. Along with my internship I’ve begun to take a deeper interest in learning about the bands that I listen to the most. The awesome thing about the Internet is you can find nearly anything you want. I’ve read many, many blogs about their songs and also about their lives and how they too are Christians yearning to be holy.

So, through out this summer I’ve only been on 2 interviews and well, that job was not in the plans for my life. So I haven’t nailed down a full time position for the fall yet, but I have 2 part time jobs that seem to be lining up for the fall. Another aspect of the “Be still” notion. Waiting for the answer about a job to come through. It’s crazy to think that I’ve been so calm through all of this but it’s just His work in me that has helped me to lean on Him and wait to see what the plans are. Taking a back seat in your own life is sorta crazy, but the reward is so sweet!

Demanding Encouragement

Well, I’m now into week 4 of my internship and I’m still loving it! I can’t believe 4 weeks have already gone by. It seems like yesterday when I walked into the office for the first time and basically said that “I’m reporting for duty!” Well, so much has changed since then! First off, I’m playing Guitar almost every day which is sweet! I played in front of people for the first time last Saturday. I was scared and sweaty and thought that I wouldn’t actually make it through the 6 song set, but God kept reminding me that I’m not playing for the people in front of me, but that I’m playing for Him and that He’s going to give me to the strenght to continue. Well, let me tell you, it was awesome! God totally blessed our night.

Second, I’m getting experience with harmonizing and helping others find harmonies and giving encouragement when they give me strange looks from the stage cause they don’t know if what they are doing is correct. Now, that’s a new one for me cause I’m not really that great at harmonizing, but when it comes to Worship music, God sends down this totally different ear for me. It’s unbelievable. So, I’ve been helping other people harmonize too!

Third, I’m singing in front of the congregation solo on Sunday. Here’s the story about that. I asked what needed to get done today and Robbie tells me that we need a song for communion and I being the crazy young adult always looking for new Christian artists start playing a song by Kari Jobe. Robbie say’s, “Find the chords, it’s perfect.” My response is ,”sure thing!” Well, the album is still new and so we bought the chords, changed the key and while I’m singing along to the recording He says, “What don’t you sing this as a solo?” I must have given him a strange look, I thought about it and said sure. So tonight at worship band we taught them the new song and I’m singing it on Sunday. Here are the lyrics because they are so beautiful:

He is here for the broken and life to the one who is undone
He is peace to the wounded and hope for the helpless one
He is here, He is here

Be still my soul, be still
Be still my soul, be still
Wait patiently upon the Lord
Be still my soul, be still

When the waves rise against me and the wind tries to draw me away
I will stand on the mountain, safe in Your arms I will sing I will sing

Be still my soul, be still
Be still my soul, be still
Wait patiently upon the Lord
Be still my soul, be still

Be still I know He is God
He is here, He is here
Be still I know He is God
He is here, He is here

So be still my soul, be still
Be still my soul, be still
Wait patiently upon the Lord
Be still my soul, be still
Wait patiently upon the Lord
Be still my soul, be still

So needless to say that all of this has only happened by the Grace of God. He’s improving my musician skills and my ability to play guitar and He has provided encouragement through Robbie as well. Ever since last summer when I began thinking about interning, Robbie has told me about him being a “Demanding Encourager” at the time I didn’t really know what that was, but over the last few weeks, I’ve come to understand that term more and more and it’s such a loving way to push someone because you konw their potenetial.

I just continue to Praise God and thank Him for all that He’s done in my life in just these last 4 weeks. I can’t wait to see what He has in store for me over the next 12! I’m really excited!

Graduation

I’ve been an official college graduate for 2 days now and it’s really weird. I still can’t actually believe that it happened. I know that I walked through the stadium, turned my tassle from right to left, and shook the dean’s hand as I recieved my “diploma”, but it’s really weird. I keep thinking that I’m going to be heading back there in August.

The hardest part about leaving school though, was saying “See ya later” to all of my friends. Many of these friends are also sisters or roomates and they are hard to leave. Those ladies have touched my life in so many ways that I can’t bear to think that I’m not going to see them for a while. My family is awesome, they helped me load the 3 cars that we had with my stuff and then we had to say “see ya later” to my roomate. That was probably one of the hardest “See ya laters” that I’ve ever done. There is only 1 other that comes close to it. Grandma and I got into the car and started off to ihop and the tears started rolling down my face, it was one of those moments where you knew that you couldn’t look back because it was only going to make it worse. I pulled myself together before exiting the car at the restaurant and was expecting to get a table right away but there was a wait and that was not what my emotions needed.

Grandma was making me mad at this point because she kept on saying how I’ll have wonderful memories and that  I’ll see a lot of these friends soon, but that wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I started crying all over again right outside of ihop. Now mind you this is Mother’s Day morning and the day after Graduation so there are people all over the place. My mom pulls me into an embrace and I just loose it right then and there. I feel like my heart has been pulled out of my chest. I’m not ready to move on is what I keep thinking, why do I have to grow up right now. I’ve been looking forward to gradutation all year and I couldn’t wait to get out of Harrisonburg and back home with my friends, but I didn’t want to leave my JMU friends either. Finally grandma stops talking and we get a table and have breakfast.

God knew that I would be a mess all the way home, so He had some interesting plans to take my mind off of the situation at hand. I actually almost get into a car accident and I end up blowing out 2 tires 6 miles away from school. I can’t describe it any other way than than God had His mighty hand on my car and was guiding it all the way through the fish tailing, because I didn’t hit anyone. I covered almost the entire stretch of highway and I was almost perpendicular to it at one point. He kept both Grandma and I safe, and I couldn’t stop thanking Him for that. Well, that made me stop crying about leaving and start thinking about how the car was going to get fixed on a Sunday in the South. He had plans for that too and soon Dad and I were back on the road.

What a crazy Graduation weekend! Something crazy has always happened the day that I’m suppose to come home. Freshman year the dog started having seizures. Sophomore year a friend was in need. Junior year mom broke her wrist. Senior year, I nearly get into a car accident and blow out two tires. Besides that I’ve had a realatively great experience at school.

The next chapter of my life begins now. It starts off with a pretty sweet internship, so stay tuned to see how God continues to work in my life!

Less than 3 weeks

So the end is drawing near. I’ve got less than 3 weeks left at JMU. It’s totally insane. I can’t even believe it. Something I’ve worked so hard for, for so long is coming to an end. But just as this is ending, God already has major things linned up for me this summer!

The possibilities with God are endless! I’m totally stoked! Ministry this summer is going to be SICK! I’m sort of in a rut right now because I’m stuck in Job and I’m having  a hard time understanding the language. Praying the God will help me to untangle all of these words so that they make sense!

Last Day in LV

Today was an awesome day! Spent some quality time with God this morning. I still need to not pick up my computer first and pick up my Bible instead. I’m working on it though.

The DMV finally passed my car for inspection, thanks to Dad buying me a new gas cap the other day! Story about that first, when they say “reinspection stay left” don’t listen. I got to the front of the line because I was getting reinspected except they lied because I had to go in the back because it was my gas cap. Now can someone explain to me why I have to go in the back of the line with 50 people in it, if the machine to check my gas cap is about 10 feet in front of me? Oh well, the DMV only took about 45 minutes, so it’s not too bad!

I got to hang out with Emily today which was super awesome! I totally stoked about all the cool things that are happening in her life! God is doing some amazing things with her and I can’t wait ti see her take off in the next year and a half or so!

Em, and I went to the church and had an awesome time playing some guitar with Robbie! I’m totally stoked about my intern position this summer! It’s going to totally rock! Robbie told me today that he want’s to get me leading worship sooner rather than later, I about died. I mean I know that’s what I’m in for, but oh my goodness, I’ve only been playing guitar for a little over a year and I’m not that good! I’m going to be praying about this a whole lot in the next few weeks, because I’m super freaked out right now!

After all of that really fun stuff, I cleaned out my car! Oh my gosh it was a disaster. I don’t know how anybody rode in that car with me. I mean, I don’t really look at the interior unless I’m stopped somewhere cause, I don’t know, I’m driving! Now, grandpa looks pretty again inside!

Had dinner with the fam to kick off a family filled weekend!

Finally, I hung out with some inC people and had to say my goodbyes. It always makes me sad to leave them. I love them so much. But, I’ll be back in a month, and then we can have fun and be silly all over again!

oh, I almost forgot! I got a pretty sweet hair cut this afternoon! I’m so gosh darn excited! Well, tomorrow is a long day of driving so devos and sleep are in order!

The Importance of Family

So, I’ve basically neglected my family for the last few months since I’ve been wrapped up in Meaghan’s world. One of the changes that God’s been making in my heart is to reconnect with my family. I’ve put them on the outside of my life because I basically said that they weren’t imporatant and man was I wrong.

I got to hang out with some cousins today and just see how their lives were going, and in the mean time God opened up a pretty awesome door for me to talk to them about Him. I don’t think I did a great job, but I was able to share the gospel with them and that was pretty stinking awesome! I was excited. I’m looking forward to the time that I’m going to have this summer to spend with them and get reconnected with the family because there is so much hurt right now.

Praise, God for opened doors.

Meeting God at LC

This past weekend was unbelievable. First I got out of school early on Friday because of Lake Champion. I was so pumped going into the weekend because is there a better way to start spring break than having a weekend to get to know God better and to worship and fellowship with 150 college students?  The answer is no, well at least in my book!

Our speaker for the weekend was Jazon Ostrander, and let me tell you this man is truly gifted. He listens to God and only speaks what God tells him. How amazing?! The band is called Chris Colletti Band. They were pretty rockin’! What a talented group of guys, who love rocking out for the Lord.

I had a lot of expectations going into the weekend just based on last year and where I was coming into the weekend. I’ve been dealing with a lot of stuff lately that I just needed to work through. Jason was speaking about the Mission of God. The words that kept coming back the entire weekend were: “Follow me.” It began with the story of Peter in the boat in Matthew 4 where Jesus tells him to stop fishing and follow Him to become a Fisher of Men. The next story that was referenced is in Matthew 8 where a scribe came up to Jesus and said, ” I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions and follow Him.  Lots of times we are looking for God’s Will in our lives but, are we really looking for it, or are we waiting for it to just jump into our laps?  We need to be reading the Word of God and speaking to God through prayer in order to know God’s Will for us.

Part of our Mission for God is to put everything down that we are doing right now and follow Him. We need to be willing to sell all that we have, leave the people that we love, speak to people we don’t normally speak to and follow hard after Him.

This really hit me because I’m at a point in my life where I am looking for a job that isn’t just for a few weeks during the summer, but I’m looking for my first real job and that’s scary. So I’ve started praying about different positions that have been opening up, but I haven’t spent enough time with God. I’ve neglected Him, so this blog is going to start reflecting the things that God is showing me in His Word and through my life.

God, does not miss opportunities becuase He supplies all of them, we miss opportunities because we are too busy doing other things.

This weekend was eye opening and my heart is changing and this is only possible becuase of the great Creator.

Holy Cow

I’m unbelievable. I can’t believe that I haven’t written anything here in months. I was so good about it and then I sucked it up. These last few months have been a little crazy. I survived my first block of student teaching.

I loved every minute of it. The high school students were fantastic. I learned so much about them and about myself. I learned that I need to have more faith in myself and in my education that I’ve receieved in the last 3.5 years.  I was able to help with the musical and I learned so much. I walked in on the first day not knowing a thing about musicals and I walked out on the last day, knowing so much more than I ever believed. On the opening night of the show, I was so nervous for the kids. We had a pretty interesting dress rehearsal week and I didn’t know how everything was going to pull together. But in the end, they were fantastic. I was so proud of them! They did an amazing job!

This week I moved onto Middle School. What a diffference between high school and middle school. These kids are so dependent, they are loud, and they don’t know how to act, they are shy, and awkward. I don’t know how I feel about them yet. I guess tomorrow is going to be a defining moment because I’m solo teaching for the first time. I have everything ready for the day. I have new music ready, I’ve fixed dated music, I’ve got my lesson plans all together. I’m nervous as anything though. I don’t know why I am because I know that I’m going to be fine, but I’m worried that they are going to step all over me. I’m meeting some students for the very first time. God is going to be totally in control of the day!

So, I’m starting my job search too! I’ve been putting my resume together and I’ve been checking district websites for openings. I’m excited to start my life. I’m excited to move on, I’m excited to help students and to start another chapter in my life! Graduation is in 58 days and I’m so excited!

Not enough time

Wow, I can’t believe how busy I’ve been since the beginning of the semester. School has been fun! I’ve enjoyed working with the kids and they are really talented! Today during practice they were wonderful! The leads are really starting to step up and show their stuff! I can’t wait for this show to open!

Mish Mosh

So I told myself that I would be much better at blogging over break because I would actually have time….but instead I haven’t written anything in a long time! So this is what I ‘ve got!

Finals are over…I’m done with finals for a very long time! I’m moving onto Student Teaching in the Spring and I’m very excited about actually starting to teach instead of learning how to teach and getting very little time in front of the class. I sang in my last concert as a JMU student. I stayed a few extra days to perform and it was an experience. We just about pulled off that concert! It was early baroque music and let me tell you that stuff is hard and it should not be done in 4 rehearsals! We had a gathering afterwards and it was a lot of fun!

I arrived home to no snow…it was a little disapointing but, We now have nearly 8 inches of it on the ground so it’s actually feeling like Christmas this year. I was able to sub for a few days, and elementary school subbing is much harder than it looks because you’re with the kids for most of the day, and they are constantly needing attention, but I did enjoy myself!

On Firday while hanging out with some friends, I received some very sad news, that a Music Major and his mother were killed earlier in the day. I just couldn’t comprehend this because I know his older sister, so is in my vocal studio at school. I can’t imagine what the rest of the family is feeling now especially since the holiday’s are coming up so quickly and they are such a close family. My heart just broke for them, and I’m still trying to find out more information, but I haven’t heard anything. I keep praying for them, and asking God when He’s going to send His Son back to earth, so that He can end pain and suffering. I’ve been saying I love you to my parents more and more. I’m not very good at saying I Love You to my family. I tell my friends all the time, but never my family, and I’m making that one of my new years resolutions this year, becuase they need to hear it!

Well, that’s about all that’s been happening around here, there have been a lot of ups and downs in the last few weeks, but I can’t wait to celebrate the Saviors Birth on the 25th!
Merry Christmas!