a simplistic december day

today was my first official day of christmas break.
so I celebrated by sleeping in, watching christmas movies, and taking a walk outside.
the weather was absolutely beautiful today, so I threw on a sweater and took a walk down my country road.
I carried my camera and took some shots.
and of course, mr. brody kept me company.
here is a small sampling of what I captured, unedited.

"fix my eyes on You"

the end of the semester is nearly here, 

only one more exam stands in my way of being home for a solid 3 and a half weeks.

this past week or so has been crazy ridiculous.

there have been quite a few mishaps at the painting house.

quite a few tears shed.

quite a bit of sulking.

I've had my fair share of feeling bad for myself, but this past week has taken the cake.

luckily, I have some awesome friends who have been there for me.

to sit with me when I cried, to buy me Sonic slushes,

to encourage me through it all.

and even when it felt like God was super far away letting the whole world cave in on me, 

He was still there.

it just took a little while for me to see past the smoke.

this past Sunday at OneLife Church, 

we sang a song called "You are More" by Hillsong United.

there is a line in there that really struck me:  

"I will see this season through, 

I will fix my eyes on You, only You."

man, how often do we see actually see what God is doing in our lives?

how often do we take the time to reflect on what He has done?

I know that I am guilty of not "fixing my eyes" on Him, especially in the tough times.

Jesus didn't say it was going to be easy following Him, but He left us with the great Comforter.

the Holy Spirit is there to help you get through those tough times.

to help you see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I challenge you to fix your eyes on the one who gave you life.

no matter how rough the waters seem right now,

fix your eyes upon the one true God.

the one who will never leave you, nor forsake you.

it'll make a world of difference.

a day of thanks

today is the day we give thanks for all that we have.

but shouldn't we be giving thanks every day?

"rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus" [1 thessalonians 5:16-18]

I say we thank Jesus every day for the blessing He is. 

for the life He has given us.

for the blessings He has bestowed upon us.

shouldn't we lift our eyes to Him daily?

for He is the one who gave us life.

just something to ponder on your day of thanks.

today, I am extremely thankful for my incredible parents who are always there for me.

since it was just the three of us, we trekked over to Carbondale to eat at steak & shake, and watch the muppets movie.

we were thankful to not have to cook, and to get to spend some time together.

weird

it's been a weird couple of days
I have so much to do before I leave on Thursday.
last night, I finished a 3000 word essay.
tonight, I finished a project designing a CD cover.

thankfully, Thursday evening, I will be leaving Evansville for a much needed break.
I'm headed to Atlanta for the National Missionary Convention.
I am beyond excited to finally get there and see all my favorite people.
only, I don't know if I'm going to make it until then.
I'm completely drained.
so if you could just lift up a prayer of strength for me, I'd really appreciate it.

croak

last night while hanging out with my friends Angela and Andrew at USI, my car died.
for the first time ever.
literally, the first time my own car has ever died.
I'm not really sure how it happened, considering I just bought a new battery about a month ago.
but thankfully, Andrew's roommate came to the rescue and revived my car.
I am thankful for friends, especially friends who have roommates who have jumper cables.

pray like it's real

so, at my church, OneLife Henderson, there has been a series going on called "pray like it's real." this is in anticipation of planting another church on the west side of Evansville. pastor Bret has been challenging us to go through the Lord's prayer in Luke 11:1-13. it's been really good for me. praying in an unconventional way, with persistent audacity. (man, I love that phrase.)

October 8-12, I went to Kansas City, MO to spend some time in the prayer room at IHOP. my time spent there was absolutely incredible. one morning, I spent 6 hours in the there. God was really speaking to me. 

seeing that I graduate college in May, my life has been one big journey to find out what to do in my life after college. going to Ukraine this past summer, sparked my passion for missions. I don't want to live my life with no purpose. I want to be living for God and being all that He wants me to be. it's taken some time, but I have turned my future over to God. He has it all planned out anyway. 

to connect all this together, I want to live a life filled with constant conversation with my Father. OneLife and IHOP combined has put this desire in my heart.

september 28

yes, I know it's late.
I know I should be in bed.
I've been working on projects for school.
so here I am, awake.

my to-do list just keeps growing.
that's what happens when you are taking 18 credit hours.
when you are the president of an organization.
when you switched your major late in the game.
when you forget to breath some times.

I have the best roommates ever.
knowing that I usually go to bed before midnight or I'm at least in the house by then,
I got 3 text messages while sitting in the Mac lab while working on my projects.
they were all checking in on me to make sure I wasn't dead.
I'm so thankful for such wonderful people in my life.
God knew what he was doing when he put the 5 of us in the same house.

back to school to prove i'm not a fool

well, I'm back in Evansville for my senior year of college. I can't believe I'm already in my last year of college. it feels like I just started my first year yesterday.
my summer in Ukraine went by super quick, but I loved every minute of it and I can't wait to go back. God was doing some awesome things in my life. if you didn't get a chance to read about it over the summer, you can read about my time here: Evan's Ukrainian Summer. 
after I got back and was debriefed in Indianapolis, I spent a week in Florida with my parents. it was the perfect way to get over my jetlag and sleep as much as I wanted. it was just what I needed. as usual, we stayed in Seagrove Beach, near Panama City. we went to eat in PCB one night and had to visit the WalMart once to get dad new glasses, because the Gulf stole his. it wouldn't be a family vacation to the beach, if he didn't. it rained a lot, but we still got good tans and got to spend time together. I spent a lot of the time talking about Ukraine, I'm sure my parents were tired of me at the end of the week.
I got back to my beautiful home of Illinois, and I was able to see my wonderful church family at Little Chapel Church. I felt like such a celebrity, I had missed everyone while I was gone. it was so good to see everyone and get to share stories from the summer.
I was barely home before I had to pack up and move back to school. I moved back to Evansville on Friday August 19, so that I could be in town to help freshmen move-in on that Saturday. it was a lot of fun helping wide-eyed, scared freshmen. I actually met a lot of people from Illinois, which was pretty cool. that night we had "fall training" for SCF [student christian fellowship]. just to get ready for the semester ahead and be praying for our campus. it went really well. between then and classes starting on Wednesday, we were just hanging around on campus, meeting people, playing frisbee, hanging out, praying, reading the Word. it was a great couple of days.
classes started on Wednesday. I have 3 classes everyday but Friday, when I only have 2. I'm taking Typography, Senior Seminar, Portfolio Preparation, Strategic Public Relations, Basic Web Production, and Oil Painting. 18 credit hours, which is a full load. and I'm going to try to get a job. so this should be a very full semester, but fun at the same time.

getting older

my best friend got married yesterday.
the wedding was absolutely beautiful.
she was the most gorgeous bride I have ever seen.
and everything went amazing.

this morning, my other best friend headed to south africa for a summer of mission work.
she left for indianapolis at 4 am this morning to fly away.
she's going to do some awesome things with the college students in johannesburg.
check out her blog at angela's summer

I am getting so old.

"You won't relent until You have it all, my heart is Yours"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lboCEsp7PCw&feature=related

last night, I went to Immanuel Baptist Church in Benton. they had been collecting change for my internship this summer. I was honored to go talk to them, share my testimony and how I came to do this. they raised $250 for me, mostly in pennies :)
as I was driving home, I turned on some Misty Edwards. her song "You Won't Relent" came on. the church I attend while at school actually plays this song during worship occasionally, so I've heard it recently. but something about listening to it made me realize something about my internship. I'm not going to gain glory, to gain 'professional experience.' I am traveling 20 hours away from my family and friends to glorify God. and if my whole heart is not in this, I won't be able to make a difference. I have to surrender myself to God's will and let Him be in charge. I have to learn Russian, and I know it won't be possible without God.
so if you could, I'd like pray for:
-growing closer to God
-surrendering my whole heart and life to God
-learning Russian
-adjusting to the time change
thanks :)

"go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" mark 16:15

twenty-one

i'm 21, whoa.
this getting old thing freaks me out.
so i'm done now.
i'll be 21 forever.
forever 21.
good thing i love that store.

graduation part 2

today, i will watch some of dearest friends receive their college degrees.
i couldn't be more proud of them.
as i write this, i am sad.
but i know that God didn't put these people in my life on accident.

they will always be there for me.

rain

 psalm 118:8
it is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.

photo taken from the evansville courier & press

 

i'm having a hard time remembering the last day there wasn't rain.
i'm glad i have a God who is bigger than the rain and the flooding.