I am blessed.

This summer:

Words cannot describe how incredible this summer has been.  God has been blowing my mind!  It has been an exhausting summer, but I have grown more than I ever thought I would.  I have been incredibly humbled to see kids, and adults, come to know Christ.  To see people who were lost, without hope, and dead in their sins, be brought to life is AMAZING.  God's faithfulness to redeem and heal the brokenness in the hearts of these students, as well as my own heart, has blessed me so much!  I've also been encouraged and challenged in my prayer life.  One night during the service I was sitting in the balcony.  There was a student staffer sitting in front of me and my heart became so heavy for him...so I prayed for him.   I prayed that the Lord would soften his heart and reveal Himself to him.  I found out after the service that he came to receive Christ that night.  There is power in prayer, dear friends. There are countless stories I could tell about the Lord's faithfulness in answering prayer. 

And holy cow, the team I am working with this summer is incredible!  I am SO thankful to be serving with people who LOVE Christ.  It has been an encouragement to be surrounded by people who desire to see the Gospel proclaimed and the name of Christ exalted first and foremost.  I'm just eatin' it up.  With only 4 camp weeks left, I pray that we would continue to press into the heart of Christ and strive to love one another well. 

Plans for the fall:

I could go on and on about the tears, frustrations, prayers, and conversations that were a part of my decision as to what I plan on doing in the fall, but I will refrain.  After a lot of prayer and counsel, I made the decision to attend Tennessee School of Beauty in the fall.  I start classes in September and I am so excited!  This was an extremely difficult decision for me.  My heart's desire is to do full-time ministry, but I am at a place in life where I have student loans (thank you Bryan College!) that need to be paid off.  The Lord is so gracious and has been affirming me over the past couple of years with the truth that there is purpose to even the most mundane, or seemingly mundane tasks, such as cutting hair.  I have been encouraged to know that this gift can be used in mighty ways to bless people and minister to them...so here goes!  I don't plan on working in a salon for the rest of my life, but I do look forward to continuing to use this gift to proclaim the hope of the gospel and to love on people.  And hey, making people look good never hurt either :)

I am also planning on becoming involved with my church's youth group.  I will be a small group leader for high school girls and I will also be heavily involved with leading worship for the youth.  Guys, I am SO excited about this!  I am so excited to see how God is going to grow me, as well as use me to love on high school girls.  Praying that He does mighty thing in my heart as well as the hearts of the highschoolers I will be serving.

At the age of 23, my life looks NOTHING like what I thought it would like...and I'm thankful for that.  How freaking awesome is it that we can trust and rest in the character of God?  He does not withhold His best from us.  Life may not look like what I thought it would look like, but I AM blessed.