Half-way Through!

Well I can't believe it, but I am officially at my 6 month mark! This means I am half-way through my internship here. Wow, how time flies! These next 6 months will be filled with new challenges and lots of stretching and growing. Let me share with you what's ahead:

As I've probably mentioned before, in your second 6 months of the internship, you have two options:
1) Keep working three day-time intern shifts, with one overnight security shift, as I have done thus far for 6 months, or
2) Keep one day-time intern shift and spend two nights sleeping in the Genesis Suite.

The Genesis Suite is where the residents go who have a lot of trouble at night and need extra help. Many times this is due to severe trauma and abuse they have suffered in the past that cause them to have horrible nightmares and flashbacks. There are four interns who rotate shifts in the Genesis Suite each week, sleeping in there with the ladies to be available to help them at any given time throughout the night.

So as I was preparing for what God had for me in my second 6 months here, I was in a place where I was honestly open to either option. I thought about it and I felt as though the Genesis Suite really wasn't for me and that I could use my strengths better in the day-time internship, but I have learned enough about God and His perfect plans over the years that I was in a place where I wanted whatever God had for me. So I proposed to my supervisor that I believed I would be able to serve the ladies at Vision of Hope better in day-time shifts, and left the ultimate decision up to God. Can you guess what He chose for me?

You guessed it. This past Tuesday night was my first night shift in the Genesis Suite. I spend a lot of time beforehand preparing my heart for whatever God would have for me that night. I was fighting against anxiety in knowing that I would be alone in there and therefore would need to make decision all by myself (gasp!). I placed the night in God's hands, and pressed on. And you know what? I was a tough night. I was VERY challenged in this shift and overwhelmed afterwards as I reflected back on the night. But despite by fear and trepidation, I wouldn't have had it any other way. As I lay in bed that night I thanked God for seeing fit to place me in the Genesis Suite, and for seeing fit that I have a rough night. I am exceedingly thankful for this opportunity to serve the ladies here in this way, and I can see that my love for them is growing already! I am SO excited to learn how to properly struggle WITH someone, and point them to the Lord in a time of great fear. I have more of an opportunity to talk to these ladies one-on-one that I ever did in my day-time shifts, and I love it.

So yet again God has put me in a place where I simply MUST recognize that His plans are always better than my own. He knows me better than I know myself, and He knows exactly what He's doing. He is sovereign, and EVERYTHING that He does is good.

To wrap things up, I ask that you please keep me in your prayers. I obviously need much prayer for wisdom and perseverance in these next 6 months. Pray for the new residents who have been joining us at VOH lately, that they will get settled in and have open hearts and open ears to hear and understand the Word of God as they are being taught here. Pray for the new interns who just started their internship here this past week, and pray for those of us who have been here for 6 months and are starting new shifts ourselves. Pray that the staff here will have great wisdom in dealing with difficult situations that have been coming up, and that they will be able to make wise decisions in ways to improved and expand the Vision of Hope program!

Thank you all SO much for all of your prayers and support! I cannot tell you how important it is to me to have people praying for me.



The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

-Proverbs 16:9

New Job, New Challenges.

  Hello, all! Do you know whose blog you're reading? You are reading the blog of one of the newest secretaries at Vision of Hope! That's right, I am now officially employed! I did not plan to get a job while I'm here, but God opened the door to a job that I had my eye on from day one. Within my first week or two here I noticed the secretaries and the kind of work they do, and I thought to myself, "Wow! I would love to do that!" Little did I know that one of the secretaries would be offered a job as a Second Shift Supervisor for VOH, therefore creating a need to fill her secretary position asap! As soon as I heard of the job opening, my mind went crazy. I wanted to send in my resume for the job rigght away, but they needed someone to work three days a week. That means that I would be on shift as an intern on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and then on my off days I would be working as secretary 8:00am - 5:00pm. Realizing that my purpose for coming here was to get experience and learn through the internship, I knew that taking on all of those days as secretary would run me ragged and I wouldn't be able to fully focus on my initial reaosn for coming here. So I was torn between wanting this awesome job, which I saw as a great ministry opportunity, and also wanting to be able to give my all to the ladies here at VOH while on shift as an intern.
  While I was still debating in my head, I spoke to one of the other interns here, presenting my delema to her. It turns out she was in the same predicament, so we decided to send in both of our resumes with the proposal that we can both take the job and split the hours. Again, my mind went crazy. I started making all these plans for the rest of my time here and for my future after the internship, and they were all based getting this job. I had to catch myself many times and remind myself of what James 4:13-16 says: "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil." I didn't know what God's plan was for me. Yes, I had a plan in my head for myself that I saw as good, but I knew that whatever God's plan was for me would be even better. It was a hard battle between clinging to what I wanted for myself, and surrendering it to the Lord.
  Thankfully, I didn't have to wait very long for the answer! Janessa and I received an email telling us that we would both be hired as secretaries, without an interview! We were so excited!
  So, we have both been working as secretaries since the beginning of October. It had definitely made me more busy, which I see as a good thing besause it is causing me to learn to manage my free time more wisely. I feel very blessed to have this job, and I see it as a great way to serve the amazing staff here!

  One of the things I am most impressed with at Faith Ministries is the church. I have never seen a church so dedicated to finding new ways to meet people's needs. They have great plans for the near future to continue reaching out, and one of them will effect us at VOH greatly. They are currently building a Safe Haven House right next door! And when I say that, I literally mean RIGHT next to us. This house will provide temporary housing for victims of domestic violence and house fires. A couple of weeks ago we had a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Safe Haven House, in which Pastor Viars, Senior Pastor of Faith Church, prayed and dedicated the land to the ministry of the house. It was great to hear how the house will be used and how the staff and residence here at VOH will be very involved with this ministry, helping to welcome in people as they come for housing, and helping to keep the house clean and inviting. They are saying that the house will be up and running sometime in December, so we'll be getting involved very quickly!

  These past few months have had so many challenges, and this internship is trying both emotionally and spiritually, but I'm really loving it here. I'm so excited for what God has for me in the rest of this internship and afterwards as well. Right now I really don't know where He'll lead me after this, but I totally trust that He will reveal that to me in His perfect timing.

  I cannot thank everyone enough for your prayers. Vision of Hope and myself need them more than I can say. Please continue to pray for the ladies here. We have had a couple of ladies quit the program recently and that is very discouraging to everyone. Pray for the staff here, that they will continue to have strength and wisdom in dealing with difficult situations. Also please pray for our fundraising banquet we are having this Saturday, the 20th. It is one of our biggest fundraisers so please pray that everything goes smoothly and that it is a success! Pray for me, that through Christ I will kill my pride, because I'm seeing that that is a problem in my heart. Also pray that God will give me the wisdom I need to deal with every situation with love and in a way that gives glory to Him. Lastly, please pray for the construction and ministry of the Safe Haven House.

  Untill next time, I love you and thank you again for your faithful prayers!

"In their hearts humans plan their course,

but the Lord establishes their steps."

-Proverbs 16:9

Jocelyn Wallace, Director of Vision of Hope, stating her support of and dedication to the Safe Haven House on behalf of Vision of Hope.

The future sight of the Safe Haven House.



Labor day fun!!

  So yesterday was Labor Day, right? And what better way to celebrate Labor Day than to spend the whole day on shift! That's right, Helen (my lovely roommate) and I signed up to work Labor Day as one of our holidays. That means we were on shift the entire day and had security that night as well. We were dead tired by the end of it, but it was SO awesome!

  On holidays the interns who are on shift get to plan out the entire day for the girls., meals and all. Helen and I began planning a couple of weeks ago and finalized the details about the day on Sunday, so we were prepared. Holidays are a bit intimidating because there is no staff here...only us! But by God's grace we made it and everything worked out great.

  For breakfast we made chocolate chip pancakes, which were delicious, if I do say so myself.



   We also made cards, painted nails, had an ice cream sundae bar, and watched a movie. But I think the highlight of the day was our photo scavenger hunt! We had two teams and whichever team was the most creative would win. We did things like take a picture with a mailbox, a Virginia license plate (guess who's they used), an interesting perspective, a random stranger, and a bunch of other fun things. The photos turned out so great and funny! Afterwards I took our cameras up to the classroom and showed the pictures on the projector screen. There were lots of jokes and laughs.

  I am so thankful that the day went so well! I know that God orchestrated the whole thing and gave Helen and I the wisdom that we needed to lead the girls well and to get through the day. Last week was hard, with a LOT of challenges and situations where I had no idea what to do, and I feel very encouraged with how well our little holiday planning went. So thankful for this job and for how God is going through each day with me and orchestrating everything, even when He sees fit to have me fail and have a hard day. I'm still learning every day and being stretched more and more.

  Please continue praying for me, that I will trust that God is sovereign and in control. It is difficult for me to go into something not knowing what will happen (I'm such a planner), and I'm really trying to work on trusting that God is already there and that HE is in charge, not me. Please pray for the girls, that God will continue to work in their lives. Pray especially for those who are not believers, that they will understand the Gospel and their need for Christ. Pray for our new resident we welcomed in this past Wednesday. Pray that she will understand the teachings here and see things biblically, as she is having some confusion with the teaching here and at the church.

  Thank you all so much for all of the prayers!! I CANNOT do this without much prayer support.

"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'"

-James 4:13-15

Challenges and Stretchiness

  So, I have officially been a Vision of Hope intern for 4 weeks! So much learning and growing, which I will be very happy to share, but first, here is a day in the life of a Vision of Hope intern (at least for my shift):

  The PM shift starts at 3:00. At this time the ladies have just finished Study Hall in the classroom upstairs are are taking a bathroom break. Study Hall is a time when the ladies can work on homework that their counselors have given them (a study on a certain book or subject of the Bible, memory verses, books to read, worksheets, etc.). 3:00 is snack time so those who are on the PM intern shift bring the snacks to the ladies after checking in with the on-duty staff. When we check in, the on-duty staff gives us a brief overview of how the day is going so far and if anyone is struggling, so we are aware. Once everyone has gone to the bathroom and has a snack, we start a class until 4:00. The class is usually an audio track of a sermon from Pastor Viars, the pastor of Faith Church, and the ladies have fill-in-the-blank sheets that go along with the message. At 4:00 we go do some kind of cleaning, depending on the day. For example, Mondays we clean at the church, Wednesdays we clean in the house, Fridays we clean at the church again. The interns delegate the cleaning jobs and supervise. Around 4:45-5:00ish we head back to the house and the ladies who are on meal prep for the day go with an intern to the kitchen and start prepping for dinner. Dinner is at 5:45, so until then the rest of us have a little chill time in the living room. After dinner the intern starts meal clean-up, delegating jobs and supervising. At 7:00 we either have devos or outside chores, depending on the day. Once again, with chores the intern delegates and supervises. We are back in the house by 8:15 for snack time and med time, then the ladies have free time until 9:45, when they must be in their rooms. During free time we interns will work on our EOS for the day. EOS stands for End Of Shift. It is a report that includes a summary of our interactions with and observations of each resident that the interns must put together at the end of their shift and email out to all of the Vision of Hope staff and interns. This report is super helpful for the resident's counselors, so that they can see how their counselees are doing, if they're struggling with something and if they are following what they are being taught in counseling between counseling sessions. Also during free time, we regularly walk around in the house, loosely supervising the ladies. At 9:45 the ladies must be in their rooms, so we interns walk around and make sure everyone's there. 10:00 is lights out, so we walk down each hallway and tell the ladies goodnight, turning out their lights and closing their doors. We turn off most of the lights in the house and make sure all alarmed doors are closed properly and locked. In order to keep the house looking nice, the residents aren't allowed to leave their stuff laying around randomly. So if we see something laying around at that time we confiscate it. The residents can get their items back if they buy it back with a "blessing buck". They earn blessing bucks by memorizing and quoting scripture. Once doors are closed and locked and lights are out, the interns check out with the on-duty staff and head off to the apartment to finish their EOS or go to bed or whatever. The interns are the first-response if someone is struggling, so throughout the day it is our job to help the girls if they are struggling with something and stay with them until the on-duty staff can come and take over.

  And that, my friends, is (basically) a day in the life of a PM shift intern.

  So here I am, doing this internship! Whoa, so many new things that are so challenging and stretching! I am so thankful that God has brought me to this place where I can gain such experience and knowledge of things I've never been exposed to before! First of all, I have NEVER been a leader. That's just not my personality! So it has really been a struggle for me to step up and be a leader to all these ladies! I often feel very small and overwhelmed and fearful. I know that God has called me here and that He will give the the grace I need to get through each day and be a loving, confident leader for these ladies, but still sometimes it's just plain overwhelming. It definitely has to be all God...because this isn't me! I have to remind myself every day that yes, I am naturally not a leader and I have nothing to offer these girls, but God has promised to supply all my needs and to complete the good work He has begun in me. There are so many times in the Bible where God tells His people to take courage and don't be afraid, because He is with you. I cling to these verses and meditate on them before going on shift. Our God is a mighty God, and He is by my side in this! Why would I be afraid when I know He's right here, giving me all the grace I need to do the work He has called me to do?

  God has also opened my eyes to see the heartbreaking results of trauma in the ladies' lives. Many of them struggle daily with experiencing strong memories and flashbacks of the unimaginable trauma and abuse they have endured. It makes me feel so blessed to have the family that I have and to have had the wonderful, Christian upbringing that I had. I know that I am NOT worthy of the blessings God has allowed in my life. It is so inspiring to see these ladies struggle every day, remembering their horrible past, and still striving to glorify God and trust His sovereign will. I think they teach me more than I teach them.

  So as you can see, I am struggling through, desperately clinging to God for support, being stretched and learning a lot. I am so happy to be here because I know that this is where God wanted me and I am growing closer to Him as a result of being stretched and challenged. There are so many great opportunities here...in fact, I just got a new one this week! I started sitting in on one of the new resident's counseling sessions on Tuesday. I will be sitting in with her every Tuesday as long as we both are here. I am so excited for her, to see her learn and grow! I have high hopes for her future, and I can't wait to see what God has planned for her life.

  Please pray that I will be growing as a leader. Pray for patience, wisdom, and discernment so that I can always do the most loving thing for these wonderful ladies. Also, please pray for all of the new residents that we have been receiving and continue to receive, as some of them do not know the Lord. Pray that their hearts will be opened and that they will see that Christ really is their answer. Thank you for your prayers, for without them I would not have lasted even this long!

"The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

-Exodus 14:14

Week 1 - done!

  Well, I survived my first week of interning!! Let me apologize in advance because I know that this update will just be a general overview of my first week. I'm still quite overwhelmed, but hopefully soon I will have a better grasp on things and can share more about the specifics of this internship. I can tell that this position is going to be super stretching for me. It's so odd to be in a position of authority over so many people! Every day I've been praying for confidence, while still staying humble. Humble confidence is DEFINITELY something that I'm going to have to develop. It's so easy to second-guess yourself and to remain silent in situations where you ought to speak up when you don't really know what you're doing. It's definitely intimidating, but I know that God is with me every day and will give me all that I need to do the work He has called me to do. He is so faithful and will never give me more than I can handle. At least I have confidence in that!

  Amidst the stress and uneasiness of starting a new job, there have also been some really fun times this week. Every Friday night is GNO (Girl's Night Out) and Friday is one of my on-shift days! I am so excited about this...having an opportunity to interact with the residents outside of the Vision of Hope home and its strict schedule. This past Friday we went to the creek where some of the ladies went swimming in the water. We made paper boats and raced them down the creek, chasing them from the shore as they went. We all had a great time.

  Right now there are 8 ladies in Phase 1, which is the phase I have the most interaction with. One of the ladies is about to move to Phase 2, and we are all very excited! We have welcomed two new residents since I have been here, and I believe we are welcoming another new lady this Wednesday! Getting the rooms filled is very exciting, and to be totally honest it's been really nice to have a couple of girls here who don't know more than we new interns do! I can tell that many of the residents who have been here for a while are having a hard time with so many new interns here. It must be hard to have to be so vulnerable and trusting with someone you just met. This can be discouraging to us new interns at times, but I know that this will pass once we get to know the ladies better.

    There are so many things that I'm learning already, and it's only been a week! So many areas of weakness are being revealed in my life, and I'm excited to strengthen them. Right now I'm learning to be okay with the fact that not everyone is going to like you. This seems like a "duh" moment, but being accepted by people is something that I've always longed for way too much! But here I am in a leadership position and I am new and some of the residents here are not going to like me at all...and I have to be okay with that! I have to remember that I am here to be their authority, not necessarily their friend. I am to love them with the love of Christ and by doing as my authorities instruct me. I do realize that the "not everyone will like you" lesson is something everyone knows and are told throughout their lives, but you never really learn to be okay with that until you're put in a position where you really aren't accepted by all. Oh well, life goes on, and I'm learning!

  Thank you all SO much for your prayers!! I seriously couldn't do this without prayer support. Please pray for humble confidence and wisdom to know how to handle every situation I may face. And please pray that I will be constantly aware of God's presence in my life, as I believe this will help me in the whole "humble confidence" thing.


"For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ." -Galatians 1:10

So it begins - training week!

 

  Well, here I am! My parents and I made it safely to Lafayette, Indiana! We arrived Saturday afternoon and all stayed overnight in a hotel. We were able to attend Faith Church on Sunday morning together, which I am very thankful for since that is the church I will be attending this year. The service was great! I really appreciate Pastor Viars as he preaches the Word with boldness, unapologetically. He reminds me of my wonderful Pastor back home!

  After the service I said my goodbyes to my parents and caught up with one of the current Vision of Hope interns. We had lunch with a fellow "newbie" intern, Helen, and then were taken to the house that we will both be staying at for these first two weeks. The family that Helen and I are staying with have been so amazing and encouraging. They constantly open their home to those who need it, and are also very active in Faith Church and Vision of Hope. This is truly a house of hospitality.

  Monday began our first day of training. There are seven new interns including myself. So far we have been covering the application process that the residents have to go through to enter into the program, how the medicine closet works, the household cleaning and cooking, and lots and lots of policies! I have been very encouraged by the openness of the staff here, and how they have made it clear that they are never too busy for our questions. They understand that as new interns we will be making a lot of mistakes, and that's okay! Mistakes are opportunities to learn and grow, and they will lovingly correct us and direct us in how to handle the situation properly next time.

  After training each day, I have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with the other interns, those who are new like me and those who have been here a while. We've watched movies and floated in the river and...has anyone ever heard of slacklining? I never had, but one of the interns, Nickey, introduced us to it on Tuesday. Basically, slacklinging is where you stand on a cord that is suspended between two fixed objects,  (trees, polls, etc.) and attempt to balance, walk, do tricks...whatever you can do. We are all at the "walk as best you can and try not to hurt yourself" stage, but who knows? Maybe at the end of this year we'll all be pros, traveling around the world to do competitions and become famous and...

Yeah, right.

This is me slacklining:

And these are the pros:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KTZlSwgoS4

Nope, I don't think we'll get QUITE that good.

  I'm already learning so much. The main thing that I have learned so far is that loving someone doesn't always mean making their life easier or taking them out of situations that are hard and that hurt them. Many of the residents here have been through horrific, traumatic situations, and often struggle with flashbacks and panic attacks. These are so difficult for them, but this is something that they must work through in order to heal, and so in order for me to love them I must allow them to go through this hurt. Doing what makes others feel better isn't always the most loving thing that I can do. I think that will be a challenge for me...seeing the girls struggle and hurt, and knowing that this must happen in order for them to heal. I know that I will learn so much this year about showing the true love of Christ...and of course a ton of other stuff as well!!

  Tomorrow is the last day of training and on Sunday we start job shadowing the current interns. We will job shadow until next Saturday, then the real deal starts on Monday! Please be praying for wisdom and understanding of the love of Christ and how to reflect that to others.

  Thank you all SO MUCH for all of your prayers!! There is no way that I could do this without the prayer and support of all of you.

Love in Christ!

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
-Philippians 1:6

(All of the newbies. Back row L-R: Sarah, Hannah, Helen, Me, Karen. Front row L-R: Janessa, Susan.)

Here We Go...

  The title of this post seems a bit apprehensive, doesn't it? That's because that is exactly where I am at right now. God has brought me to a place where He is calling me to do the impossible...to go completely out of my comfort zone and do something I KNOW that I cannot do on my own. This blog will document my journey into the unknown. Let's see what God has in store for me...

  In the summer of 2009 I went to a new summer camp with my church. I was a bit apprehensive about this new camp. Up until that point I had always attended Liberty University's summer camp, which of course isn't exactly "camp". We stayed in nice dorm rooms with plenty of toilets and showers. The speakers were good, and I always came back from that week on a spiritual high that quickly faded. Now my church was trying out something new. We were going to a REAL camp...with CABINS! One bathroom for 8 girls. At least it had air conditioning...
So camp started, and you know what? God got my attention that week. This wasn't just a "spiritual high" that I would soon fall away from, back to where I was before. For the first time that I could remember, I think I felt God hug me that week. I was on fire for Him! My love for Him grew immensely, and after the week was over and I was back home, I wrote out a promise to my Lord. "Lord, I want to do what You want me to do. I will go where You lead, and I will not hesitate. Just lead me." A few weeks later, God laid it on my heart that He wanted me to attend Word of Life Bible Institute in Florida. And, of course, I was a bit apprehensive...
Word of Life Florida is a one-year school where all you study is the Bible. I thought it was a
great place. What an awesome way to spend a whole year! So you know what I said to God?

No.

No way. Absolutely not. I will go ANYWHERE but there. It is too far away and it will not benefit me in my future goals. I wasn't going into the ministry, so why would I need to go to a Bible school? I fought God in this way for several months, telling everyone that I felt "led" to attend Liberty University. Then, in December of 2009 I finally gave in. It's funny how God is always in control.

  By the time I graduated in 2010 I was all set up to attend Word of Life. The day we left I felt devastated. This was completely going to mess up the life that I had planned for myself. But I knew God was coming with me and that this was what He wanted. So off we went to sunny Florida, and you know what? God got my attention AGAIN! I grew in the Lord more in that one year than I had in my entire life. I learned so much about the Bible I had never known before, and read Scriptures that I didn't even know existed! God stretched me and strengthened me through the hard times and the easy times, and all I wanted to do was to keep on growing like this. So I decided that attending a second year at Word of Life in New York would be the perfect place to do just that. I set it up to go there, and I was so excited. Then, in the summer of 2011 during summer camp at Word of Life, God spoke again. I could feel Him leading me on another adventure. During the school year we had a Biblical Counseling class taught by Pastor Steve Viars. Pastor Viars has a church in Lafayette, Indiana called Faith Church. He is very focused on reaching out the community and getting people in the church doors. Faith is on a campus with a community center, Biblical counseling center, skate park, and Vision of Hope which is a Residential Treatment Center for women who are struggling with drug and alcohol abuse, self-harm, eating disorders, and unplanned pregnancies. He had mentioned Vision of Hope one day in class and that there are internships available there. I hadn't given it much thought at the time, but now I knew this was God's next step for me. I looked up some information about Vision of Hope on their website, and sent an email to the Intern Coordinator for more information concerning the internship. When God leads you, He is not subtle and there is no question about it...I knew what God wanted me to do, and this time I didn't hesitate. The decision was hard, and VERY scary, but it was made. After graduating from Word of Life in August of 2011 I went through the interviewing process with Vision of Hope and got the opportunity to visit and job shadow the interns for a weekend in March. Shortly after my visit, I was officially accepted as an intern.

The internship training will start on July 2nd and will end in July of 2013. All of the new interns, including myself, will go through one week of training followed by one week of job shadowing before beginning the internship. During the first 6 months the interns are responsible for supervising the residents who are in "Phase One" of the program three days a week. Nighttime security responsibilities are on a rotating schedule. During the second 6 months the interns have additional duties including staying in the "Trauma Suite" two nights a week. This is where the women stay who have been through traumatic experiences and may need assistance at night.

  What is required for this internship is completely out of my comfort zone, and I KNOW that there is no way that I can do this on my own, but you know what? I think that's where God wants all of us...completely reliant on Him for everything. Only then will we be surrendered to His will and always ready to bring Him praise and glory. I'm not there yet, but God is bringing me to that place. I believe that this will possibly be the most challenging year of my life, and I truly treasure your prayers. There is no way that I can do this without the prayers of my loved ones, and I am truly thankful for my friends and family who have been so supportive through the whole decision-making process. My parents are my biggest supporters, and I am SO thankful for them!

  By nature I tend to be apprehensive when called out of my comfort zone, but I guess I should know better than that by now. God is so sovereign and good, and only He knows what is best for us. I'm so glad I can trust Him.

  So, I guess we'll see what adventure God has set before me! Whoever said that the Christian life is boring has never gone on a real adventure with God. He is so exciting! Please keep me and my family in your prayers as we travel next weekend, and please pray for me, that I won't let myself get in the way of what God wants to do, and that I will seek His wisdom, not my own, in whatever situations I may face there. You can read all about Faith Ministries and Vision of Hope at their web site, http://www.faithlafayette.org/voh

Well, ready or not...
Here we go.


"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,  to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
-Ephesians 3:20-21