Week One

Snowbird feels like home already.
I  haven't had any sad moments or feelings of regret. I just love being here, and I'm so thankful to God for choosing me to be here this summer. I'm so happy that Lauren, Adam, John, Amy, and Jen told me to come here. I'm glad that I listened to them.
I'm in love with my small group. There are seven of us now. We might start calling it "medium group." :) Their names are Moose, Morris, Kaitlin, Anne, Logan, and Jacey. Wonderful ladies! Actually, I haven't met Jacey yet. She'll be here later. But i just assume she's wonderful as well. Our first night together, we shared our testimony. It was such a sweet time, and I loved getting to know them.
I'm still reading through Romans, and taking little rabbit holes through the gospel. Rob Conti taught us about counseling students and sharing the gospel the other day. It was so challenging. I've never had to think so much in my life. I'm so thankful for the spirit and the fact that He'll be there with me while i'm sharing with students. I'm excited about how exciting the gospel is. It's not a boring story. It's an absolutely amazing truth that dictates my life. I can't wait to share that with all of the students that i'm going to talk to. Brody told us the other day that we are held responsible for all that we tell students. It kinda freaked me out. Although, it really encouraged me to stay grounded in God's word even through the sleep deprivation. Ultimately, I'm just really encouraged and excited, and I really don't know how to put it in words very well.


I've been readying a book by "I, Isaac, take thee Rebekah" a lot today. It's by Ravi Zacharias. It's a realllyyy good book. I'll talk more about it whenever I finish it.


OH! i showered today. i called it my elaborate shower. ahh. it was just so good. To go from showering everyday, to showering maybe every other day...this girl has felt GROSS. Although i've been in the lake. that counts right?!!? mhmm. it does. 


<3

Small Group.

I met my small group tonight. We talked for three hours....about REALLY good stuff. I'm superrrrrr excited about it!! :)


This feels like Winter Retreat...It's just going to last a lot longer. woot!

i love swo.

"...as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body..." Phil. 1:20

Yesterday was my first day here. It wasn't a bit awkward.....really really really good day. I'm encouraged. I didn't know any of my roommates/small group. But i met most of them yesterday. I'm thinking it's going to be a good time! 

Today we train for On-Campus Recs....which for me is the snack shack. Maybe i'll learn to fold t-shirts and organize candy bars! 

I love you, Best Friend.

Happy 20th Birthday to you! I think you're cooler than cool. 

sooooo close.

It's been an exciting week! 


Friday, I took my last final of my first semester of nursing school. I ended up with a B and a C this semester. I didn't lie when I said that nursing school was tough. I am thankful for my passing grades. I'll work harder next semester, I suppose, but I learned a LOT this semester. That was really exciting news! :)
What else was really exciting news is that my GPA only dropped by .03 points!! So no worries about losing the HOPE Scholarship yet. I pray that day never comes. I also got to spend some time with Celeste and Jaimie, which was a sweet time..and ashley time friday night. all super fun. 


Saturday was my day to celebrate Courtlynd's birthday. We went to target, and then to Chow Baby in ATL...Where a lot of our friends were, ready to say "SURPRISE." She had no idea. It made me really happy. Somehow I pulled off her cousin from KY coming down. No idea how that worked out. But that was a BIG surprise. She had a great night. It was a lot of fun. And as always, chow baby was DELICIOUS. << i found out the other day that court HATES when i say delicious. good to know.


Sunday was a fun mother's day and then church plant. I'm really loving going through "What is a Healthy Church Member;" It's an easy read, yet convicting and full of goodnesss. The group prayed over Colten, Luke, and I. Made a tear come in my eye. I love those people. It was an extremely special time for me. Colten and Luke leave for Honduras (I think) on Thursday. I pray that they have a wonderful time and that God sends them gospel sharing opportunities left and right. I'm sure It'll be a huge encouragement for Colten's grandma. She is a missionary there. So if nothing else, I feel like them being an encouragement to her would be absolutely fantastic. 


Monday was discipleship and Rachel time. It was my last time with Trish until August. Mondays will be weird without it. I love her so much. I love how she has just taken me under her wing and taught me. The whole Cobb family is precious to me. I thank Jesus for bringing them to Second. 
Rachel colored my hair burgundy and orange. It's so cool. I like it a lot. I was nervous at first...but i trust raerae with my life so i remained calmed. haha! Here is a picture of it:

Rachel took some pictures of me for some "pray for booher" postcards that I'll be sending out. this is one of them. I've never had my picture taken before...like to be serious and stuff. I felt like the biggest doof that ever lived. but it was FUN! 
and then last night Will and Dave came over to watch Tangled. Funny night :)


Today was "Moms and Meredith Day." At Second, I was really close to a bunch of moms and a bunch of kids. I was starting to get close to a lot of youth girls when God chose a different path for me. I LOVE these Moms. Michele has the picture of us. It was a little different than my other two times at Michele's house because we invited the whole gang. It was a PRECIOUS time. I loved all of the kids crawling and running everywhere and then all of the ladies just gabbin! haha. Towards the end of our time together, we all gathered in the blue room for them to pray for me and my summer...all of the moms and meredith, and all of the kids. SIX women and FIVE kids prayed for me during that sweet time. I could be wrong about the five kids. It may have been four kids. Can't remember. I started crying when Meredith started praying (she was 2nd),  I got it back together while Trish was praying (she was 4th), and then I started crying again when precious Ash, Campbell, Landon, and Hanna prayed for me. I love these kids. They were the most precious prayers. They prayed that I would use every opportunity given to me to share the gospel and to make it through all of the hard times when I got tired. So innocent. So sweet. I've been so overwhelmed by people praying for me. It's such a great time. Ever since our winter retreat on prayer, I have seriously valued it so much more. Adam mentioned how many times we say, "all i can do is pray for so and so..." but that is the MOST IMPORTANT thing that we can do. That's the BEST thing we can do. Ahhh good times :) PLUS, Baby Ruth was there. And i've said it before, ANYTHING that includes sweet "boof" is PERFECT. 


Tonight ended with movie time with Court and Jess. i like them. 


:) Greattt week so far. 

May the fourth be with you.

Ahhh. love that little saying. i probably love it as much as Joshy loves the "two peanuts walked into a bar, one was assaulted" joke.....as much as Jesse loves the "hey, how many people do you think are dead in that cemetary....all of them" joke...and as much as adam loves the Fun-Gi joke. just sayin'


I really just wanted to write a blog about "May the fourth be with you."
But while I'm here, I'll tell you a new little gift that nursing school has given me. Test Anxiety. Nice, right? So sweet. I really am loving it. :(


I'd really love for it to go away. I understand that God is in complete control. I understand that I am to do my best, and then just waltz right in there, and take the test all for His glory. But I don't think I'll ever feel like I studied enough. I'm not sure. I just do the best thing that I can do, pray for peace. 


For now, I'll go read my study guide one more time, wipe my silly tears of nervousness, and go to bed. I just can't wait for Friday to get here! I'm so happy that Snowbird doesn't have weekly exams...on paper!

Romans #7

My favorite Romans study thus far! I'm a fan of Abraham.

Romans 4:13-25

May 25-30,2011

13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.

·       Abraham had hope in the promise that God had given to him. God promised Abraham a son, and even when it seemed unlikely that he would be given the offspring that he and Sarah were promised, he had faith and hope.

·       So, he was not given a son through the law, it was through the righteousness of faith.

·       In Genesis, it says that he was given “the land,” not the world….but the Messiah came through him.

·       Law and Promise are in different categories. Abraham is an heir, therefore he was promised this. The law is void. Yet, the promise is still in tact.

15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

·       Humans are not able to keep the law…so it brings wrath.

·       Transgression is a deliberate trespass.

·       Transgression provokes God’s wrath.

·       So, no law: no transgression.

16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

·       Grace gives and faith takes.

·       God’s gift of his son is nothing but gracious, and the only way we can respond is through faith.

17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

·       Abraham was justified by faith. His works, circumcision, and law were not what brought him justification.

·       Gen 17:5

·       He is our universal father.

18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”

·       Abraham had a hope in what he could not see. He trusted the promise.

·       We are to have the same hope in our Lord Jesus returning again. We can’t see it happening, but we know we were promised it.

19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.

·       Faith goes beyond reason. It is reasonable to trust the Trustworthy!!!

·       Abraham did not consider his circumstance too great for His God. He was confident in what was promised to him.

·       Abraham had confidence in his Lord. He knew that he could NOT have a child with Sarah out of his own power. He understood that he was too old.

20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

·       Abraham glorified God by letting God be God.

·       Even when God told him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, He trusted. His faith was not in his circumstance.

·       While he could have turned from God, he disciplined and strengthen himself.

22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”

·       He believed God’s promise.

23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,

25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

·       Abraham’s justification by faith was not a unique or special way to inherit salvation. It was the way that God planned it.

·       This passage is to teach. It’s not just a story about a man named Abraham that we can’t follow.

·       And the God that we are to trust and have faith in is not only the God of Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob, but he is the God of Jesus Christ who cleansed us from our sins and made justification available to us!

·       We have no excuse for unbelief. 

things i still need for camp:

• sheets for my bed
• egg crate for my bed
• notebook
• more basketball shorts
• garlic pills

just didn't want to forget.... :)