A snapshot of my day

Day 9 -  Share a moment of your day

I am so blessed to have this place in my life.  Montage Ministry.  Tonight we started a women's Bible study.  And it was amazing.  God is really working on my heart right now. On changing my life to be what He has planned for me.  On believing and trusting in His promises. And this place, this outreach, this ministry is a part of that. 

The truth in listening to your elders

Day 8 - A piece of advice - anything at all

Over the past year or so, a lot of things have happened.  Like it always has been and always be, things change.  Such as where I want to go in life.

And the best advice I've ever been given is to ask for advice from people who are doing what you want to do. Whether it's finding a job, owning a house, serving others, getting married, anything, it simply makes sense to go to someone who has been there, done that, doing that.  

There are a few things in my life that I'm struggling with, and it has been extremely refreshing and encouraging to talk to someone who has been there and who has gotten where I want to go.   It gives me hope that some day I'm going to get there too...

Being stuck

What are you most afraid of?

What a deep question to have on day 7 - the day of rest.  I need to make rest a bigger part of my life.  More time just spent being still and basking in His Presence.  

Right now, I'm afraid of spiders.  Our house has so many spiders crawling around. I check for them all over the place (especially the shower... nothing is more disturbing than getting in the shower just to notice a spider decided to join you... Ahh!)

But honestly, I'm afraid of being stuck.  Of not moving forward, of clinging to a life that was instead of the fullness that God promises. I'm afraid that one day I'll wake up and be in my 30s, my 40s, my 60s and still be where I am now.  Of ultimately being alone, and not just marriage, but in friendships.   I want to live my life and experience things, show God's love, get married, have a family, travel to weird places, goof around with friends, get caught up in deep conversations contemplating life, ride horses, work with the youth, move forward. 

Do things.  Learn things. Serve others. 

And deep down, I cling to His promise of life, and life to the fullest. And that He will provide.  And I believe what He says.  And I know that He has things planned for me.  But sometimes, it seems like I'm stuck in place.  Frozen, like freeze tag in grade school. And the fear continues to creep in and take over.

I know and I believe that I'm going to do things, accomplish things, and experience things, and continue going on crazy adventures. It's just sometimes hard to remember when I'm sitting on my bed, eating ice cream, feeling hopeless. 

And my fear of being alone - well that one goes deep and is a daily battle.  But a friend told me that God will provide what I need.  And if I don't have it, I don't need it.  And when I need it, I'll have it for He will provide. 

Though I fear it, I'm holding onto the promises

What I do, besides my job :)

When someone asks you what you do, the normal response is your job.  For me, I'm an applications developer.  I support different systems and make sure they work for my customers.  But in today's May challenge prompt, I was asked that question, but told not to use that as a response.  

What do I do?  Often I sit on my bed and read Harry Potter.  Sometimes you can find me out in the woods on a hike in my barefoot shoes. I start a ton of different projects and tend to not finish them in a timely manner.  At lunch when I'm not working, I'm knitting with a really fun group of people. 

Sometimes on rare occasion, I'm an equestrian.  Or a dancer.  Or a teacher. Or even a choreographer.

Equestrian, Choreographer, Teacher, Dancer

I'm a shower thinker, a car singer, and I tap dance down the grocery store aisle. I eat entire bags of potato chips in one sitting.  

I learn new things.  I explore random hobbies.  I get lost in Amish country just to find new places. I like crawling on steam engines and taking in the smell of coal smoke with a smile on my face.

 

The locomotive at the Roundhouse that I someday hope to work on

I'm a musician. A bassoonist if you're being specific.  If you're not, woodwind player will suffice.


If there was such a thing as a closet adrenaline junkie, that would be me. 

When I'm happiest, you can normally find me with a group of teenagers. Particularly jr. high kids.  They've kind of stolen my heart.    

1 - My crazy campers 2 - Ziplining 3 - My bassoon and contra 4 - My Ruth study girls

I do a variety of things, and often it includes something no one has heard of, or can't believe that I do. 

I think the best thing though is that God's got everything already planned out.  Everything that I'm going to do.  And the coolest part is I'm the only one who can do what He's got planned for me.  All my quirks, my flaws, my experiences are being used in His plan for my life. It gives me comfort in the many random things I do, that somehow they all fit together.

Ever since fourth grade...

Tonight I was at Montage, typically where I am on a Sunday night.  It's a ministry that reaches out to the Massillon community.  They open up as a coffee shop on Sunday nights and then at 6:30, they have a worship session.  It's kind of amazing!  

I started going there with my amazing best friend Reata.  Oh if only words could describe our friendship.  Any who, we decided that we wanted something new in our life and another friend had said I should check it out, so I grabbed Reata (because I was too chicken to go alone) and we went and, well, here we are 4 months later!  

1 - Random Dance Party 2 - Teaching Reata to ride a horse 3 - Goofing off in the barn
4 - Self Explanatory 5 - Riding Mel 6 - Getting ridiculously dolled up

All this intro to lead into talking about my wonderful friend Reata-Mae.  It was a really good night at Montage.  After the final worship song, I looked at Reata and gave her a big hug!  And then we had a moment.  I'm so unbelievably blessed to have this amazing woman in my life.  

1 - Post-prom senior year 2 - Our first steam show 3 - Cedar Point with Katie 4 - Mission Trip

Reata is the friend who gets me to be spontaneous.  It was her life goal our senior year to make me spontaneous.  She succeeded, a little bit at least.  I can spend hours talking about everything with her.  She is dedicated to everything she does, and I'm not quite sure how she does all that she does.  

1 - Cookies at Grounds 2 - Shopping in the snow 3 - Wizard of Oz
4 - Annie Get Your Gun 5 - Shopping faces! 6 - Pajama Game

She thinks I'm crazy; I pretty much think the same thing of her, and it works for us.  I'm so excited to be living here again so that she's in my life as much as she is.  I love our random dance parties, sleepovers, ice cream dates, Bible studies, and other adventures.  I love that she's convinced me to go kick boxing this week.  I might not appreciate her as much after kick boxing, but we'll see how it goes :)  

The Glory of God

Day 4 - Favorite Quote.

I debated what to say for this one.  I have so many!  But in the end, Psalm 19:1 is my favorite.  

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

This is one of the reasons I love living in Amish country.  Everyday I walk outside and simply cannot deny God.  It's clear everywhere I look.  His beauty, His majesty, His artistry, His love is E V E R Y W H E R E!

He paints beautiful masterpieces in the sky every hour of every day and I simply love being able to enjoy it.  And this verse just reminds me of his glory in the heavens and the work of his hands.

At first, I just wanted to grab a picture from Pinterest that had the verse, but I have so many amazing pictures of His handiwork.  All these pictures were taken by me on many of my various travels and back road adventures [correction: the fourth image was taken by a fellow camp counselor, Jenna ].  Each one has a story that I could tell you about, but I'm going to let you simply enjoy Psalm 19:1-6.  I think of His glory every time I step outside.  Such a blessing to see and be a part of His handiwork.

North Carolina with family

Disney with Jasmine

Back roads in Amish Country

Marmon Valley over the Hen House

Storm clouds over the house

Clouds on the way to Cali

Rainbow on the way to Alamere Falls

Jamaica Sun

Clouds at Marmon Valley while berry picking

Marmon Valley - catching horses in the morning fog

Sunrise while leaving Findlay's barn training for Semi Finals

Jamaican sunset

Field by where I used to ride

Disney sunset at Epcot

Squirming a bit

This thought happens a lot in my life...

So, Day 3 didn't get posted.... and this time not due to procrastination. The prompt for yesterday was things that make me uncomfortable.  And well, that made me uncomfortable.  I tried all day to think of things, and a few came up (spiders being the main topic - until I realized that they freak me out more than they make me uncomfortable... another topic for another day).  And everything that I came up with, I really didn't want to write about here. Because what makes me uncomfortable is the fact that people I know read this :D  Now that's a duh statement if I've ever heard one.  That's kinda the point, right? But sometimes I question what I'm writing and how they're going to react or what they might think.  I most often get over it, but it still makes me squirm a bit.    So there you have it, but stay tuned for more later today (aka my Day 4 post)