changes

School is back! Kindergarteners are beginning their journey in the 12 years of school with the same classmates, 7th graders still in the awkward stage of school, 10th graders moving on up in the food chain of high school, and high school seniors antsy to start all the senior events, but the most anticipated event: graduation. Students fresh out of high school are becoming nervous about moving away from home or attending their first college class. Older college students are packing and getting their stuff ready to move into their first apartment with great friends. Some are bummed about this news and want to go back to the first day of summer. Some are ecstatic about getting school supplies and eager to start the fresh, new school year. And all the rest just don't care either way. 

When I went to Haiti over a month ago, I felt the presence of the Lord like I've never felt Him before. He taught me things I read and knew about but never truly practiced them. Love, patience, joy, worship, being humble, dying to myself, sacrifice. "I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice- the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him" (Romans 12:1). Before I left for Haiti, I prayed for months and months that He would open my eyes, open my heart, and open my mind to the things unseen. I never knew what it would mean. What He would open me up to. Now I see how He answered my prayer. I see that He showed me true sacrifice. He showed me that to follow Jesus, I have to be willing to sacrifice anything. 

As soon as I arrived back from Haiti, I knew without a doubt that God was calling me to missions. Last fall and spring semesters, I was a student at the University of Southern Mississippi majoring in Interior Design. I loved it there! I have a great friend I met through the BSU and we had a dorm for this coming school year together planned out. The college life had treated me well. I had been looking forward to my sophomore year in college ever since school let out for summer in May. After a few days of being back in the country from Haiti, I couldn't deny that being an Interior Design major at Southern Mississippi was no longer in my future. I began the process of withdrawing from classes at USM and enrolled at a community college near my home to continue to seek His will without spending the amount of money it takes for a 4-year university (and not having scholarships doesn't help). I questioned. "God, this doesn't make sense. Why would I have to drop everything at Southern to do this? I had so much going for me there." God has something bigger for me. Something bigger than anything I could do and all I have to do is trust. I'm still not certain what, where, how, or when. But I think that's the beauty in following the Lord. We don't always have to know every single detail. God's plan is wonderful. Beyond our imagination. This brings me joy in so many ways. He is worth giving up everything. He is worth the sacrifices I have to make. "We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:4-6).

Twist and Taste with friends and making BSU cookies are some things I'll miss the most.