What a weekend!

So there is this new song on the radio that pretty much describes my life right now. It's "This is the Stuff" by Francesca Battistelli.

I lost my keys in the great unknown
And call me please
Cause I can't find my phone

(CHORUS)This is the stuff
That drives me crazy
This is the stuff
That's getting to me lately
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed
This is the stuff
That gets under my skin
But I've gotta trust
You know exactly what Your doing
Might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use

45 in a 35
Sirens and fines
While I'm running behind
(CHORUS)To break me of impatience
Conquer my frustrations
I've got a new appreciation
It's not the end of the world...

This is the stuff
That drives me crazy
This is the stuff
Someone save me
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed
This is the stuff
That gets under my skin
But I've gotta trust
You know exactly what Your doing
Might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use

yes God has definitely been working on teaching me patience, conquering my frustrations, and yes the one we all love best, humility. :) Suddenly i seem to attract slow drivers, crazy drivers, long long long slow slow slow trains (no exaggeration!) and a host of other random little every-day things that He loves to use for lessons. :) Then to top it off i had a crazy day yesterday.
I had just spent and awesome weekend at camp and was on my way home. However i had decided to go to evening church up there and not want to to back-track to my usual route home asked for the quickest route home from church. well I'm not 5 minutes on the road when suspecting that i missed one of my turns in the dark i decide to turn around. We i swear it looked like a parking lot!!! It was an open space in front of a building lit up with lights and fun of tracks (which i am later to discover were numerous, crisscrossed snowmobile tracks). Any way, i started to pull in when suddenly my whole front end drops down about 6 to 12 inches and I'm stuck. Like not moving at all in forward or reverse! The roads were dry as a bone with no ice in sight! I now had nothing to do but swallow my pride and embarrassment and call my friends who at this point were about 5 minutes away. The outfitters Stephen, Mindy and Carissa graciously came to my rescue and we started digging out my car with snow scrappers in the 14 degree weather! That failing we eventually came up with the bright idea of praying! lol Within about 1 or 2 minutes a car comes up and the guys says he would go get his truck and pull me out!!! :) While he was getting his truck another guy that Stephen actually knew happens to show up and also happens to know a lot about cars! he helps us hook up the guys truck to my car correctly and that truck pulls me out like a loose tooth! :D Thank you God! Why do i always wait so long to ask you for help instead of just going to you in the first place!
It was very embarrassing and humbling! But i am sooooo thankful for my friends and my God That saved me from the ditch!
Of course i got lost 2 times this same night before finally making it home about 2 hours after i wanted to be! What a night!!!
There is another song that came on the radio on my way home after this mess that i thought was cool. Some of the lyrics are this...
If there is any peace
If there is any war
We must all believe
Our lives are not our own
We all belong
God has given us each other
And we will never walk alone
In the shelter of each other
We will live
We will live (We will never walk alone)
In the shelter of each other
We will live
We will live (In the shelter)
It made me think how God has given us each other to help one another! Brothers and Sisters in Christ! I am so thankful for the Brothers and Sisters that God has blessed me with!!! Thank you Lord!!!

boring waste of time?.... only maybe

in my daily job as a lifegaurd i get the unique opportunity to sit for roughly four straight hours and simply watch people and think. its quite easy to get bored out of my mind and feel trapped in this 86 degree windowless room while i tap my toes waiting for the next lifeguard to releave me. The only thing i am aloud to do besides sit or pace is think. so i think. endlessly, randomly, quickly, slowly. I stuggle to pull some thoughts together to complete one whole picture, while other thoughts i ignore, avoid or throw out. Sometimes i find myself thinking about what to think about! yes, the fact is i think, a LOT! The real point i think is that God has finally put me in a place where i cant escape so to speak. The first month i found enough to think about on my own to distract myself. But now i am finally running out of ammo. I cant distract myself, "get busy", run away, avoid, or anything else! God has me right where He wants me and i am finally starting to listen. Yes, believe it or not lifegaurding is slowly becoming a time of sweet communion with God! How great is my God that He can so perfectly orchestrate my life to exactly what i need?! While i may not be able to delve into reading the scriptures or praying on my knees with my eyes shut or running up and down the streets proclaiming His name i can dwell on lessons He is teaching me, pray for those around me, work on devotions in my head that i am preparing to share, ect. ect. ect. My God is great indeed!!!!

Its been a while!

Wow! so its been a while, OK a long long time since i have written to you all (whoever you all are). My apologies. So much has changed in my life(if you are not up to date on the major stuff just ask me and it will be easier for me to update you verbally). In short i live at home now instead of Bair Lake Bible Camp and i now work part-time at Menards and part-time at the YMCA. (yes the YMCA song does frequent my brain rather often and yes after a month or so i have finally been able to tune out the Menards commercials that they play every 10 minutes. :) God is indeed good and has blessed me far beyond my hopes and dreams! Within a two or so month period God took away everything familiar from me, my job, future plans, friends, my own place to live, easy daily interactions with close and loved mentors, my sponsorship, and so much more. He allowed the devil to lie to me about what was happening and why, to hurt me emotionally, to confuse the life out of me, and hurt me emotionally! BUT!!! threw it all the entire time MY Heavenly Father who loves me beyond my imagination stood by me, encouraged me, answered my prayers, increased my faith, provided for me, loved me, was patient with me, put me in situations that would cause me to grow in him, kept me safe, continued to show me how wise and loving my parents really are, provided a new place for me to live(back home), provided me with three jobs so that i could actually pick which two i wanted to work!, my dream car!(a VW Jetta), opportunities to stay in touch and see my good friends and mentors, And oh sooooo much more!!!!!! MY God is Great! Awesome in Power! and Holy beyond all measure! He loves me and knows me intimately! I am in increasing awe of Him daily!
One of my great fears in moving home from an intense discipleship program was that i would lose my fervor for the Lord and not grow in the same way spiritually, that i would not be fed as well as lack personal discipline regarding spiritual matters! A legitimate fear. However i seem to be growing in the same leaps and bounds as before. Through letters from friends and mentors, personal quiet times, books i have been challenged to read, growing relationship with my parents and siblings, and time with my home church! Yes, it is a shockingly different atmosphere, but God is still using it!
It's true that life is no picnic however, i find many things daily to complain about and often to fall to this temptation, however with your and my prayers and God's grace i am determined to tackle this temptation to complain. Please pray for me is this regard as well that i would take perfect joy from where God has me now and not try to rush to the next step in life before i have made it through the current one. Thank you for your prayers! Please let me know if there is something i can pray for you about! :) Iron sharpens iron according to scripture, and brothers are to encourage one another in the Lord! How may i encourage you today?
Thank you for taking time to read this, i hope you were encouraged by a testimony of God's great goodness! :) God bless!