I still got alot of leaving left to do… a blog on falling in love.

I fell in love again, this time with Denver. I think I have a problem with falling head over heels for new places. Seems like every place I go I find myself in love. This time it was the city of Denver and the people of the Denver Rescue Mission.  What an amazing time of my life. There have been such abundant blessings. When I signed up to intern here I did it on a whim and had NO idea what I was getting into, but here I sit with my heart breaking knowing that I have to leave. I have to leave the kids that so quickly won my heart, I have to leave friendships behind that have changed my life; I have to leave the other interns and staff that have been so amazing. How do you mesh together living in the moment, being here now, pouring your heart out to the people you are with and the constant desire for adventure and trying new things? My friend Tessa Coats once told me “Nika, you can’t be an adventure slut” I think I just might be one. 

This is just the start of the leaving. I am set up to spend a year leaving. Each country I know I will fall in love with and then it might just rip my heart out to leave. There is a chance that I will be weeping my way across the world. I am not a crier (like at all) so this might be a big deal. My biggest fear for the World Race is all the leaving. I love new places and am mostly like a kid in a candy store when I am given the chance to explore, but I am no good at the leaving deal.

Jesus give me strength. Give me strength to love with all I have and to have a supernatural ability to find a way to leave each place that God takes me too. Let me know that each time it is time to leave; that you need us to be your hands and feet somewhere new.

 So here is to just one set of goodbyes in my life. Goodbye to the time that has been my life for the last 3 ½ months. Goodbye to living at a Homeless shelter and Rehab Facility  in Denver.

Here are some quotes from the kiddos that I have collected over the last few months.

• “God is my Authority.”
• “Don’t scribble scrabble on God” When coloring a picture of Jesus one little boy told another.
• “You owe me a solid.”
•  “I thank you, I love you forever…thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth in heaven.” A 6 year old’s prayer.
• A 13 year old boy who lives here: “You are the biggest smart-aleck I know”

                                                                     Me: “Just trying to beat you at your own game”
                                                                   Him: “Well if I am a level seven you are a level ten”

• If you could ask God anything what would you ask Him for?

                “I would ask God why we are not rich anymore and tell him thank you for everything.” Ten year old boy.

• When asked what she was going to ask Santa for Christmas a 3 year old little girl replied, “A big house”
• After pooping his pants just because the 6 year old boy looks up at me and says “I don’t know why I just did that.”

Along with the quotes here are some of the highlights of my internship… to name just a few.

• On the first day I got here my roommate Hayley told me they played volleyball almost every night. I knew it was all going to work out here.
• Becoming Friends with the NLP guys.
• Playing football in the snow.
• Going to Cocaine Anonymous Volleyball every other Saturday night.
• Estes Park with Hayley and Lisa.
• My coffee dates with Jesus on Saturday mornings.
• Sydney and Tatum coming to visit and see my life here.
• Tutoring the kids and watching them grow and learn.
• Going to church at Mile High Vineyard.

All of this is great, but the number one best moment was when I was crafting with a great 7 year old little girl (she is an amazing and  beautiful little girl) and she told me that she had accepted Jesus “and He came into her heart right away” after a bible study that I had taught earlier that week. Best moment ever.

So in the words of the Dierks Bentley country song:
“I still got a lot of leaving left to do” and I pray that God will bless my time in each country just as He has blessed every adventure that I have been on so far this year.
 
Let me remember the good in good byes. To goodbyes I guess they are good, they are good because we got to know each other for awhile, they are good because new things are ahead, they are good because they mean you now hold a piece of my heart, they are good because we got the chance to learn from each other’s lives, they are good because Jesus has a plan that we would be a part of each other’s lives a least of a season.

Ecclesiastes 3
King James Version (KJV)
3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
² A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
³ A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
⁴ A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
⁵ A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
⁶ A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
⁷ A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸ A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.