The Next Step

Hey friends! I can not believe that I am now just 12 days away from graduating Multnomah. The last few weeks have been somewhat of a roller coaster of emotions. Some days are filled with lots of exciting thoughts about life after MU. I am ready to not have homework constantly hanging over my head. I am ready to have a life outside of being a student, as scary as that might seem sometimes. And, I think the thing I am most excited about is that I can be way more involved in ministry. I can say yes more quickly because I won't have homework. I can get more involved with my church, I can spend more time with youth and kids, which I love. Thinking about being more involved in people's lives makes me so so excited.

But, with that also comes deep sadness sometimes. Multnomah has been my family the last three years. Never in my life have I lived with people my age who are just as on fire for the Lord as I am. I have been living with my best friends, making amazing memories, eating ice cream WAY too late into the evenings and going on spontaneous adventures. I think one of my favorites has been sitting in the cafe and having people come up to me and get into long discussions on how awesome God is and such. Those are memories I will never forget. It is these things, these memories, these moments that are making me very sad to leave this place. I have also gotten very poor sleeping habits lately cause I just want to soak up every last 'hang-out' opportunity I can before graduation! :)

These last few weeks have also contained a ton of life processing. I have now applied to seven different jobs and so far the first six have been no's and I am waiting on hearing back from the seventh. This whole semester I have had to not commit to anything because I might get a job. Unfortunately, at this point, I still do not have a job but instead of focusing on what I don't have, I am choosing to focus on the fact that I get to do AWESOME ministry this summer because of that.

First, I get to go to CANADA with these awesome young women and the other youth from my church's youth group! We will be gone from July 4-15th working at Rock Nest Ranch in Houston, BC. Yesterday I joined them for the all-day training we had in preparation for the trip and it made me SO excited for the trip to come! These girls have had such an impact on me and I have been so grateful for the opportunity to lead these young women to Jesus' heart. I wish I could continue working with them next year, but I am just grateful for the chance to get to serve Jesus in Canada with them this summer!


This summer I also get to help run our Day Camp at my home church. This is something I have helped with the last handful of years and I am super excited for the chance to help again with this ministry. This is what I have gone to school for, I love children's ministry so much and this is something I am so wanting to do with the rest of my life!

Unfortunately, this post is not updating you about the job that God gave me, but it is all about the ministry I get to do and I am SO excited for that! And, if any of you that are reading this are parents of little ones that I have babysit in the past or ever need babysitters, feel free to put me on the top of your list! I would love to take your kids off your hands for a few hours. Really, I would! In the meantime, please be praying as these next few weeks are going to be full of emotions, excitement, adventure and who knows what else. Pray that God continues to give me peace about not having a job and that when it is HIS time, he opens the RIGHT door. Thank you dear friends for supporting me on this journey of college life, you are wonderful!

'It's just the dark before the morning...'

Well friends, it has been awhile since I have updated this so I thought I would write a new post tonight. I feel like a lot has happened since last time, but then I also think that it is all this cycle of trying to figure out life after college and I wind up back in the same place.

I have been looking for and applying for jobs, six now, to be specific. Each time I find myself getting excited and then hearing no. Honestly, with each no it gets more and more discouraging and I find myself wanting to doubt who I am or how God has created me.

The reality is though, the God who created the universe also created me and specifically crafted me for a specific ministry and job. He knows me and my future more than I do and I can rest in the knowledge that he knows so much more. It is in this knowledge that I rest tonight. I find myself in the midst of this doubt but trusting so much that God has something even better than all of the other no's. At this point, it is harder to imagine that God has something even better than this. As I sit in my room on a Friday night watching a movie, I am filled with peace knowing that I have a huge adventure ahead, beginning in 36 days. Who knows where I will end up, and I am choosing to let that unknown fill me with excitement instead of anxiety.

This morning at work I was listening to the radio and the song 'Before the Morning' by Josh Wilson came on. It was a new one for me but it felt as if God had that song play specifically for me. I am choosing to use this song to help remind me of my new perspective. Things may seem a bit dark right now because of the unknown, but there is a morning coming and there is an adventure for me.

I can not wait to inform you all of what that new adventure is. In the meantime, please pray with me that God would continue to open and shut doors and that I would be patient and trust in a faithful God. My prayer now is that God would place me where I can serve Him best. Where God can use my gifts, talents and life experiences to serve Him most, wherever that might be! Until next time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfWAG-bnttQ