Learning to fully EMBRACE!

"If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? 'A slave is not greater than the master.' Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for the have rejected the One who sent me. They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their since. Anyone who hates me also hates my Father. If i hadn't done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father. This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: 'They hated me without cause'" John 15:18-25 There are so many things we face in

Before I get to the real "meat" of this post I want to let everyone know that I am thoroughly enjoying Omaha, Nebraska. The weather here has been amazing and pretty cool, the low last night was 48 degrees. I do miss family and friends but the adjusting process is going great. I am making new friendships with some of the girls that are in class with me and with ones that live here on campus that are also graduate students. One of the most amazing things thus far is how God works in "mysterious ways". God has reconnected me with a friend that I met over 4 years ago. In January 2005, I went to DC to represent Arkansas at a Presidential leadership conference. Upon arriving to DC we were quickly split into groups, these would be the people we would spend the remainder of the week with we'd go sightseeing with these people as well as work together in a group to try and be "elected" for president (our group did win and for a week we were the "white house

Although it is almost 3:00 am and I should be in bed asleep, many thoughts and emotions are tangled in my mind. So my hope is that not only does this blog allow me to get my thoughts out there where they are tangible and readable where I can get some sleep, my hope is that some of these thoughts would touch others lives as they have mine. I have now attended my Personal Evaluation class twice and only have 3 more meetings before it is concluded. It is set up as a 5 week course although I wish it was a 15 week course like many of our other classes. This class is very challenging (not academically but spiritually), the objectives of the class are to allow us as "soon to be counselors" to understand and explain our strengths, our emotional healthy spirituality, our personality type, and motivational gifting. By completion of the 5 week class we should also understand the impact of that our family origin has had on our personal development, identify how we are likely to interact

This past Sunday was a TOUGH day, saying goodbye is never easy. Sunday morning we had an awesome service and once again God showed me how incredibly blessed I am to be apart of Bethel Worship Centers congregation. God poured out incredible healing and purpose on Sunday. I really will miss being there every week, I love my Sunday school class, and I am not one that normally says much but am just a sponge absorbing it all in, but we were talking about dealing with issues in our lives and walking in purpose, and I had a chance to talk about moving to Omaha and what I've gone through to get to this point where I am stepping into the calling and purpose God created for me. And I shared a little bit of this in Sunday School. But would like to also share it with those that were not there. 4 years ago, I was very sick with migraines, was laying in a hospital bed and had been there for 7 days. At this point in time no one knew I had an eating disorder and the doctors could not explain the

I have been trying to write this blog all day, but have been left speechless. Many emotions, thoughts, and feelings going through my head. This past week has been very emotional for me, not in a bad way at all. A lot of exciting moments have taken place and a lot of moments where God has just WOWed me! The most recent moment came when I received a phone call from Grace University in Omaha Nebraska. Let me step back a second, I found out 2 weeks ago from Friday that my application had made it to the acceptance review committee and that I should hear something in a week, well a week goes by and NOTHING! I hadn't lost faith, because about 3 weeks ago I had a meeting with a mentor and told her about the application and just wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing, we prayed that if I get accepted then it's God confirming that its the right thing. Even though I hadn't lost faith the flesh did kick in wondering if maybe this wasn't Gods will, so I was trying to come

I have a thing about writing blogs on Sunday, maybe it's because that's where I get my battery fully charged for the week! God is so good and never ceases to amaze me. This past week has been a roller coaster of emotions, paper work, phone calls, etc. However, late Saturday evening I finally received an email that helped settle some of my nerves. I won't lie waiting to get acceptance letters is kind of nerve racking but at the same time I'm resting in Gods peace! The email I received informed me that all paper work has arrived in Nebraska and my application packet went before the acceptance committee on Friday. PRAISE THE LORD! Just 5 days before we were still waiting on 3 references and 1 essay (my fault I overlooked it). I have been emailing the University everyday asking have you got this yet and finally all minds were cleared on Saturday. I truly believe this has all been a character building process! The Potter has definitely been molding this piece of clay! There

I am continually amazed at my God and the way He works things together and how things turn out in the end. We had an incredible service this morning, worship was great the word was great and God's presence was very strong during the altar service. This morning our pastor spoke on the "Landmine of Hopelessness". To many times as Christians we are faced by our enemy and he has a way of making us feel like there is no hope. There were many people in the bible who had met up with the landmine of hopelessness like Moses (Numbers 11:14-15), Elijah (1 Kings 19:4), Job, David (Psalms 42 and 43), Jonah (Jonah 4:3). Pastor pointed out two things that cause hopelessness they are health and hurt. From a woman's standpoint its easy to be hurt by others, it seems as we are more vulnerable to having our feelings hurt or even deeper our heart hurt. Guys seem to be more rough around the edges and less likely to have their feelings hurt, although it is possible. The point is, no matter

Wow, what a day! I must say that this is my first official blog on here, I wonder if this is the new Xanga? :) In any event, this will be my way to keep friends and family up to date and informed on life, I have been a part of blogger.com since last year following friends and a book bible study on here from church but have not taken the time to really blog. So where to begin...I must say that I am at an odd phase in life, living with everything "up in the air", I believe it's in these days that God carves a little on our character and sharpens our Faith. Faith is truly my foundation right now. For those who don't know I have graduated with my Bachelors Degree from Arkansas Tech University I finished in May. In June, life made a sharp turn and through out a curve ball I was not expecting, but I am making the most out of it. I decided to pursue God given dreams and visions. The first step being applying for graduate school. Next step being pick a major, now when I was a