Baby, it's STILL Cold outside!

Wow it's been a ridiculously long time since I have posted, and for this I'm VERY sorry. I have talked to many of since my last post but here is an update of my life! =)

February 6-8

ICBC Retreat

Oh how I LOVE Indian Creek Baptist Camp. God has used this camp to truly bless my life and teach me many a lessons and for this I'm truly thankful.  The retreat was focused on spiritual gifts. My highest was Music and my second was Compassion. If you know me these two things shouldn't come as a surprise to you.  Anyways, I knew some people who were going to be at retreat and I met some really awesome people. AS I'm sure NONE Of you will be surprised when I say I met a boy, NO worries Just friends. =) But really God has blessed me incredibly with Josh's Friendship, it's such an awesome thing to have a male in my life closer to my age with a close relationship with Christ. It's just nice. But I'm really excited about this friendship and excited to see how God uses it!  Anyways, Retreat was awesome. I learned a lot of things. Like how I should change my major back to Socwk. I figured this would happen. I got to lead music at campfire, which was a lot of fun. God picked me up and placed me in his lap that weekend and truly showed me some awesome things.

Oh and I found out that I'll be returning to the amazing ICBC to work on staff this summer! =) Get excited and send your kiddos so I can see them! <--(*Cough* Carol Maze *Cough* Send Isaac *cough*)

Other then being extremely blessed by my heavenly father, I've been really busy with University Program Board and School.  Just trying to keep afloat is a bit hard to handle sometimes, I won't lie it's not fun sometimes. 

I need to ask a favor Blog readers. I have pretty much a list of prayer concerns so be patient with me please! :)

First off, Please Please Please pray for Journey 20! I have a friend who I asked about attending and she's thinking about it so send up an extra prayer for that. I'm just so excited to see God's work in these girls and I'm SO excited to be finding out what I'll be doing!

Continue to Pray for Camp as a ministry and the Camp Staff. I cannot tell you how much we need the prayer sometimes. Brian and Jen are doing an awesome job and I can't wait to see the movement God will make this summer! :)   Also Brian and Jen will making offers to the new camp staff this weekend, so be praying for that too! :)

Soo since I last posted I've kind of been church hopping. I just can't find one where the message truly speaks to me. Yes the music is awesome but I can listen and worship in my room. I've prayed and prayed that God just send this message to me differently, but I just can't seem to be getting really anything out of the message at the church I've been attending. So PLEASE pray that I can find one that really speaks volumes to me!

And last but not least. This is something I don't really like to talk about a lot and which is why a lot of you don't know a lot about it. Could you pray for my Dad? My dad was in the army when he was younger and in result has ended up with a multitude of medical problems. Both Physical and Mental. He's just got a lot of problems. It just scares me. He couldn't even handle going to  my graduation. He also can't remember a lot of things, like today I told him 3 times that I would be home for Spring Break next week and he still continued to ask me when I was on Break. It just scares me. I'm just scared that he's not going to be around much longer. I mean he's not on his death bed or anything like that. It's just that he has a lot of medical problems and I'm just scared. It sounds SO selfish when I say this but I just feel like sometimes I get a little cheated at life. I know I haven't been cheated but It just sucks because my brother Joey didn't get to see me graduate and neither did my Dad. And Joey will never see graduate from College, get married, have a family, get my first big kid job. It's just not fair. I'm just asking that my Dad can see all these things. I just don't see how it's fair at all. Anyways, I'm just asking you to pray for my whole family really. My dad's health really stresses my mom out as well as my brother and I. I'm just worried. And you ALL know how I worry about everything..

Anyways, I'll be home for Spring Break Next week and I want to see as many of you as possible. Love You All! =)

Sorry!

Sorry Bloggers! I have not been faithfully updating my blog like I said I would be better at this semester. =/ So what my life has consisted of lately...Pretty much the same that I had mentioned in the previous blog. School, EIL, and UPB are currently owning my life. Well most of my time anyways. Ah well. 

But I have New, Thrilling, and Exceptionally Exciting News!!! =)

So we all know that I've just be lost and confused as to what my summer will entail. So lately I've just really been praying that God would just use me in the way he wanted. I've finally opened up and just let him do is work and let him tell me what he wants me to do. In result my patience is getting better, WAY better then before. 

Anyways the EXCITING news! =) 

As I previously stated I've just been praying that God would use me in the way that he wants to use me, and that I'm finally completely blindly following him. I was in the UPB Office (an organization that I'm SUPER busy with) and my phone rang and it was a number that I had received a phone call from but I didn't quite recognize it. But I answered it anyways, It was actually Pam Niehaus. She was the Assistant Lay Director at my Journey last May. Out of no where she asked if I would be interested in working Journey 22. I was kind of shocked because it kind of hit me from the side. It wasn't something that I had been really thinking about but was definitely something that I wanted to do. I told her that I would like a little time to pray and really get confirmation that it was what I was suppose to do. So I did the only thing I knew to do, Call and ask my church family to pray for me. After talking to my church family I knew I just needed to get away, pray, and really seek God out in this. So I made the long trek to the stadium to get my car thinking the whole way there. I finally got to my car, went and got food and then parked and just prayed. There I was in the parking lot at Hobby Lobby awaiting my answer. I didn't know whether to expect an answer soon or whether I would have to wait. 

If you know me you know that I'm a nit picker. I will pick things apart. It's something that sometimes is a horrible habit. I over analyze and it can be plain awful. I started looking at the mistakes that I had made over the years and wondered how a God SO Great and Awesome could Love me SO much and give me the opportunity to come back to him after I've fallen so many times. As I sat in my car I got the answer that I needed, but then still contradicted myself in the fact that I didn't think I was good enough to serve. I turned on my car, blindly picked a cd from my case and made my way to drive around Muncie before heading back to my Dorm. And then there it was, the song that completed my decision. 

Jeremy Camp

I'll Take You Back

The reason why I stand
The answer lies in you
You hung to make me strong
Though my praise was few
When I fall and bring your name down

But I have found in you
A heart that pleads forgiveness
Replacing all these thoughts
Of painful memories
But I know
That your response will always be

(Chorus)
I'll take you back always
And even when your fight is over now
Even when your fight is over now
I'll take you back always
And even when the pain is coming through
Even when the pain is coming through
I'll take you back

You satisfy this cry
Of what I'm looking for
And I take all I can
And lay it down
Before the throne of endless grace, now
That radiates what's true

I'm in the only place
That erases all these faults
That have overtaken me
But I know
That your response will always be

(Repeat Chorus)

I can only speak
With a grateful heart
As I'm pierced by this gift
Of your love

I will always bring an offering
I can never thank you enough

(Chorus Two)
You'll take me back always
And even when my fight is over now
Even when my fight is over now
You'll take me back always
And even when my pain is coming through
Even when my pain is coming through
You'll take me back always

Even when my fight is over now
Even when my fight is over now

You'll take me back always

Even when my pain is coming through
Even when my pain is coming through

You'll take me back

Oh how I LOVE this song. Honestly in that moment I knew that it didn't matter the decisions that I had made or the wrong roads that I had previously passed through. He forgave me because I asked him to. He loves me more then anyone ever will. Sometimes this is a really hard point for me to grasp, to think that someone loves me SO much even through the pain and suffering that he knew my life would put him through.  But this weekend has showed me nothing but love and for that I'm truly thankful....

Anyways. I forgot to say the EXCITING part, I called Pam back and got her voicemail. She called me back today and I said yes. =) I'm thrilled. 

Just thought I'd let you guys know. Love you guys