A Holy Pursuit

I have been very challenged lately with a couple different sermons/lessons that I think correlate. A few weeks ago Pastor Luke taught a sermon all about the mirage of self love. It seemed as though everything he said hit me square between the eyes. I realized so many different areas in my life that I exhibited this disgusting self love. I realized my selfishness, self preservation, and self promotion. These  realizations manifested themselves over the next few days and weeks and I'm still mulling over them. Then a couple days ago Bryan had Jason give the student ministries lesson concerning how the Gospel changes the way we think. When I was in eighth grade my youth pastor taught us all about our thoughts and it was the first time I was convicted about the things I was thinking about. It's obvious that sometimes our thoughts can be just downright evil; but, Jason made a fascinating remark regarding how our thoughts shape our worldview. This is where Luke's sermon ties ...

About a month ago, Bryan and I weren't sure how we were going to make ends meet. We had a variety of bills coming up, all due around the same time, and we felt like we were pinching pennies just to make it happen. A lot of it came from just moving to a new area, new bills, and me being without a job. Somehow we made it work with some very careful budgeting. A couple weeks ago we were blessed to find out that after thinking we were going to owe a hefty sum of taxes, we are actually getting back significantly more than we owed. We almost jumped up and ran around that desk to hug our tax preparer!  Beyond that, we were finally able to reach an agreement with our moving truck company to help pay for some damages done to some of our belongings on the trip to Columbus. That was a blessing to hear, as well.  So you all know that my beloved dog, Murphy, passed away last Sunday (on Bryan's birthday, nonetheless). That brought a whole new wave of emotions and memories and f...

Before I even got into showing dogs in 4-H I knew I was going to love it and I couldn't wait to start. However, my first dog, Buddy, was getting old and I knew he wasn't going to last as long as I wanted. So I started praying and looking for another dog. After a lot of research I decided on a golden retriever. I knew they were really expensive so I prayed more. I considered many different options and got a little discouraged, but one evening after one of my high school volleyball games my dad took a detour. I was really confused where we were going but soon we had stopped at a house and out of the garage came running three or four golden retrievers. I was beyond excited! Then my dad and the dog's owner (who happened to be a truck driver who delivered to my dad's work) started telling me about Murphy. He was a little over a year old and his owner said he had terrible behavior and chewing problems. He didn't know what else to do with Murphy and his wife had told him ...

As I look back at 2012 the one word that comes to mind to describe the year is "provision". God has been clearly showing me how He provided for all my needs in the past year, and I hope this look back at my year encourages you to count your blessings, as well. Beyond graduating from college last winter (which was a blessing in itself), Bryan and I had both been praying for me to find a good job to help save up money before the wedding. Once I got home and started applying, I ended up working 3 regular jobs, as well as occasional nannying. That was a huge answer to prayer!  Last spring planning our wedding was on the forefront of my mind. My parents offered me a budget and after many different considerations and decisions made, we ended up coming in under budget; which was a great blessing! On top of that, everything went very well with the wedding, despite the uncharacteristically hot May day.  Bryan and I had also been praying for months for a paid internship fo...

As most of you know by now, Bryan and I will be moving to Columbus, Ohio next week. Bryan has accepted a position as a student ministries pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel Columbus. We have both been involved with Harvest for two or three years and have really loved it. Their philosophy of ministry, theological views, and preaching are so encouraging and Biblically sound. We have both been praying for this part of our lives for so long, and praying for this opportunity in Columbus for over six months. It's been a long time coming, but it was a journey of faith. As excited as I am about this move and the new ministry opportunities in Columbus I'm also nervous. I've never been married to a youth pastor. As much as I can imagine what it will be like I can't know for sure. For many years I have wanted to be married to a pastor. I'm not sure why, except that I had a really amazing woman in my life who happened to be my youth pastor's wife. Cami was always there to ...

Bryan is pretty much the opposite of everything on my "list" for a husband. You know, that list girls have growing up of all the qualities they think they want in their future husband. Yeah, I had that list, too. Bryan doesn't fit many of those specifications. Obviously, he has the important ones down like, being a committed Christian, ministry-mindedness, and a family man. However, in his personality he is much more outgoing, confrontational, and outspoken than I ever imagined. He is a lot like my mom and I always pictured marrying someone more like my dad. More the strong, silent type.  About eight months into our dating relationship I got to a point of really feeling torn. Should I break up with Bryan and continue pursuing someone that I thought would be more suited for me, or should I stick it out with Bryan, trusting that God brought him to me for a bigger purpose? I struggled with this question for a while. In my searching I sought much godly counsel and in the...

For so many years growing up I really wasn't a fan of the Fall season. I didn't like that it meant the end to two of my favorite seasons, Spring and Summer, and it was just a proverbial "hoop to jump through" to get to Christmas.  I'm not sure what exactly caused me to change my mind and feelings regarding Fall, but I think I owe a lot of it to my mom. Fall has always been one of her favorite seasons and she used to tell me all about how much she loved watching the leaves change in the woods from her bedroom window as a little girl. She's always one of the first people I hear comment about the changing color of the leaves. I guess she taught me to appreciate the beauty in Fall.  However, Fall happens to be the host season of many of my favorite things, including, but not limited to: caramel apples, hot apple cider, hay rides, and hoodies. With my newfound love of everything Fall (except for the irritating allergies), here's my bucket list for this...