Monday, September 27, 2010

day 1

this post might be a little short and to the point and lacking on the details – i’m nauseous, my head hurts, and i can’t stop yawning.  :)  a lot of it is probably from the altitude change.  it should pass in a couple days – hopefully!

i can’t skip straight to day 1 though – i have to first praise God for yesterday, the day i flew out to Denver.  totally overwhelmed by His peace!  i know i had so many friends praying for me and it was awesome to experience the power of prayer in such a real, tangible way.

shane took me to the airport, so i said bye to my parents in the morning…

DSC02904 then my girls at church…

DSC02905 then Shane (and Zeva)…
DSC02906

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i tried to make conversation with the girl on the 1st flight (something i don’t normally do).  she kept giving me 1 word answers and not asking me anything back.  so…i resorted to my ipod.  :P 

ok now day 1

no one told me day 1 may be a struggle.  which is probably good, i guess.  but yeah – just the change of being with people you don’t know at all, in a place you’ve never been.

but i’ve met some really cool people.  last night i was in my room all by myself – now i have 7 other roommates!  it was kinda nice last night being able to unpack and get settled in.

this morning i woke up at 4:30am (or earlier – that’s when i finally checked my clock).  never fell back asleep – still on east coast time (obviously).  went for a walk at 7am, found the YMCA and got a membership.

ok my stomach hurts.  that’s all for today :)

Sunday, September 26, 2010

The journey has begun!

I am on the plane from fort lauderdale to Tampa! Feeling great - full of peace! I know it is only by God's strength. His grace is sufficient!

Thank you to everyone who is praying for me today! I have gotten so many encouraging texts and phone calls!

The adventure has begun! I am on the plane. I am committed! ...finally :)

I'm trying to take a decent picture of me on the plane and it is NOT working...does anyone actually look good in plane pictures?

Just imagine me relaxed and smiling :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday, September 24, 2010

Umm...?

So I'm at the chiropractor/total wellness center right now getting a cellular cleanse...? I have no idea what it's doing...hahaha supposedly my nerve scans show I've been exposed to chemical toxins of some kind sometime during my life and this is supposed to...cleanse my cells? Jen has no idea...







...and then it turned green with chunkies...what is this?! Where did they come from?? I can't feel my legs...



Ok just kidding, I can still feel my legs. False alarm.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Monday, September 20, 2010

A great day

Today was a great day. :) God just really loved on me, showing me I can do things I didn't think I could. Actually, He's been doing that a lot lately.

It started with the tiniest thing. See, when I was little, I hated going to the eye doctor because he'd blow this puff of air in your eye. Traumatized me. Ever since, when I've gone to other eye doctors I ask them like 5 times if they're going to blow air in my eye. Haha :) so I hadn't had it done since I was like...9 or 10. Well a couple weeks ago I went to Walmart for an eye exam (first time without insurance=cheapest place I could find). And guess what. The torturous blowing air machine of doom stood there before me. Instead of freaking out though, I just bit the bullet and did it. And - surprise, surprise - it was SO not a big deal! Nothing like I remembered it. I actually started smiling super big after the first eye. The doctor probably thought I was weird. Haha :)

Once again, I made a tiny little thing out to be a big deal that turned into a long time fear.

Yesterday I got to go out to lunch with Tiff (1st time ever!) at the Island. It was so great to go out one on one, enjoy good food, and talk about God.
Today I found out there's a YMCA just a 1/2 mile from YWAM!!

I went out to lunch with Andy (1st time ever!) at Burdine's. Great talks with the bro.

Then Shane let me ride on the Harley with him over the 7 mile bridge to Big Pine and back! And I didn't freak out and claw him to death (sorry about that one time, buddy...). Haha :)

It's like God's giving me little things to say "look. you can do more than you think you can. And you can do SO MUCH more by My grace and strength than you could ever imagine! But you have to step out of what's comfortable and trust Me."




90mph over the 7 Mile Bridge with the top down. Pure insanity. Thought my face was going to fly off. Loved it. Couldn't stop smiling...still smiling.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

what am i doing?

i'm trading tropical paradise for snow - however, it's snow in Denver and really - it can't be that bad then, can it?
i'm leaving my car and will be car-less for the first time since i got my license (10 years ago).
i'm leaving my job where i make more than enough $ to live and live comfortably.
i'm leaving my community of friends that i love soooooo much.
i'm throwing myself into a situation where i don't know anybody and facing fears that i've always been handcuffed by. the last time i threw myself into something like that, i failed...miserably.

but this is different. i'm doing this in hopes of being fully surrendered to God. to show Him that fear has no hold on my life anymore and i am completely surrendered to His leading.

i have absolutely no idea what God has planned for me. no clue what will come of my adventure with YWAM. no idea what will be next. but that stokes me! i'm finally doing something with my life that requires me to just live by faith - and that is where true adventure is.

God, be glorified.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Soaking it up




Laying out at the beach, Bob Marley on the iPod. I just don't envision myself having many opportunities like this in Denver...

Soaking it up :)

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Monday, September 06, 2010

decision: made

after months upon months of restlessness and confusion as to what to do next with my life, i'm finally heading a direction.

what: YWAM Denver Musician's DTS (Discipleship Training School)
when: Sept. 27, 2010 - Feb. 11, 2011
where: Denver (in case you didn't catch that already)

stoked. scared out of my mind. but completely stoked to see what God does in and thru me.

how i came up to this decision:
i want to write down how i came to this decision so i can look back on it in the future and remember God's fingerprints. i'll try to keep it concise. i flew out to Lynchburg, VA on Aug. 12 to visit friends. on the flight out, i listened to one of Francis Chan's last messages before he resigned. he was passionately urging people to re-evaluate their lives and look at what they're really living for. it went right along with what i've been feeling this whole year - a restlessness, an urgency to do more with my life that will have an eternal impact on other's lives. an unquenchable desire to do something that causes me to step out in faith and truly rely on God and not myself. and so after hearing this podcast on my ipod, i begged God to give me some direction while i was in Lynchburg - while i had time away from my job and normal life. that was a Thursday. on Sunday, Marissa suggested looking into the Peace Corps. i had never considered that, so i thought i might as well look it up - after all, i had specifically asked God to lead me in some way over this long weekend in L'burg. so Monday morning i had some time to myself and so i pulled up the Peace Corps on the web and looked thru the site and came to the conclusion it was not for me - i want to do something where i am spreading the love of Jesus and you can't freely do that in a government-run organization. so i started googling. i love the googler. i started googling "Christian alternative to peace corps" and stuff like that and YWAM popped up.
i knew very little about YWAM, except that my friend Ashleigh from the Keys went to YWAM Hawaii last year and LOVED it. i had no clue there were so many YWAM bases. the first step of YWAM is to do a DTS (Discipleship Training School). so i was looking at places you could do them. then i found out there are general DTS's and then there are DTS's geared toward specific interests. i found YWAM Denver and saw they had a snow boarder's DTS that started in Jan. 2011 - dude, seriously? sounded sweet - but i've never snowboarded. always wanted to, but never have gotten the chance. then i saw they do a musician's DTS...which started Sept. 27, 2010. i thought "no way - that's way too soon and plus - that'd be throwing myself into a real challenge (i'll explain why later)". so i kinda set that one aside but kept it in mind. then i found a couple bases in Australia (dude, how sweet would that be??) that had DTS's geared toward surfers and the beach culture. perfect! starting in Jan. and Feb. 2011. plenty of time to apply, save up some more $, get a Visa, etc.
needless to say, i was STOKED that monday in l'burg. God had clearly answered my pleading!! after soooo long, i FINALLY had direction!
so i flew home that Tuesday (like...Aug. 19th i think?). Wednesday night i ran my newest idea by Shane and when i quickly passed over the musician's DTS, he stopped me and challenged me to pursue that one first. i thought he was crazy - it started way too soon (1 1/2 months away at the time), i was sure they weren't taking applications anymore, and plus...that would be probably the most challenging of all the DTS's for me to do (yes, even more than going all the way to Australia - and again, i'll explain why later). but he pushed for me to at least apply and see if God opened the door or not, and if not - then pursue Australia.
so. i did. i emailed YWAM Denver, found out it wasn't too late to apply, and quickly got all the application stuff filled out and mailed in. last tuesday i found out i got accepted. 3 weeks from today it starts. my work doesn't even know yet. haha :)

i have been a rollercoaster of sorts ever since i found out i got accepted. from rationalizing reasons not to go, to super stoked-ness, to scared out of my mind, to excited despite being scared out of my mind (that's where i'm at at this current moment - it could change at any minute - i'm tellin' ya...rollercoaster over here). but in the end - no matter how i feel - i ultimately know i need to do this. i do. just plain and simple. i prayed and prayed during the application process that God would make it clear if it was a good thing for me to do or not. if i didn't get accepted, fine, but if i got accepted, i would go in faith that God opened the door for a reason. my initial reaction when i found out i got in was...well, i won't put it on here because it'll offend some people. :) but it can be summed up with "oh no...what did i do?? what am i doing?? God...really?"

every stinkin' person i've told has been SO EXCITED for me...like seriously, every single person has erupted with this unexpected excitement and it blows me away! part of me thinks "oh...wow...people really want to get rid of me, don't they?" - hahaha :) i have received threats of physical beating if i don't go. 1 person is holding a $500 fine over my head, another is holding a $100 fine over my head, and another is lined up ready to hold another $100 fine over my head if i don't go. now that, my friends, is accountability. haha :)

but even with those threats of fines, and physical beatings (HA!), there have been times i've thought "you know what? it's not worth it - i'm going to just pay my friends off and not go". but i know i will be miserable if i pass up this opportunity God has thrown in my lap. fear has no place in my life.

this post is incredibly long.