So, I was sitting here debating on what to write in this section (because I am so complex and all ;)), and it kind of hit me. It isn't about me. Describing me is describing what God has done in my life and that would fill up way more than a page. As I was out on my balcony this morning walking and spending some time with God, I was hit with how amazing He is… how unfathomable it is that He has a unique relationship with each one of us, and takes the time to shape and mold us over the years into who He designed us to be. My journey, like many people's was fraught with rebellion, selfishness and resistance, and to this day I consider it a miracle that the Lord opened my eyes despite of all that.
It began one day in a little Christian college in Hannibal, Missouri. I was blessed to have grown up in a Christian home and knew everything that there was to know about the Christian life from a text book point of view. However, I didn't get it. I wanted to, badly, but in the back of my mind I just couldn't understand why Jesus had to die. I thought it was a crazy whim that God had come up with to save us instead of just declaring us righteous (since He is all powerful and all). So you could understand how thinking that would lead me to not really like God, to view Him as dramatic at the very least. It just didn't make any sense to me, yet I believed that Jesus died for my sins and I had to accept Him to be saved, I just didn't see why that was necessary. Well, in chapel my freshman year of college it hit me… Jesus is the lamb of God, there is a penalty for my sin and it has to be paid. God 
can't just declare us righteous because our sin is in the way and He is just, the penalty has to be paid.
It was seriously like the light bulb went on and I have never been the same. Since that day I have had an inescapable yearning to tell others, especially those who may have grown up in church and a Christian home just like I did, yet never really understood it.
So how does that bring me to today? A very long and windy path or preparation including a summer in Canada, 7 summers helping run a camp in the Bahamas, a year in Boston with a Christian social service organization, 6 months with Avant Ministries and the last 8 months with AIM. Through all of that God has molded me from the girl who thought she had to get married in order to stay strong for Christ because she felt so wish-washy, to a woman who knows that God is all she needs, that He is everything. So to summarize me in one sentence, I am nothing, He is everything and where He leads I will follow.
And here I was going to try to write something light hearted and fun, but there's still time for that 🙂
Here are some of the things I enjoy most:
1. Movies, BIG movie buff. You could shut off my television forever and I would be fine as long as I have my movies (have like 400) 🙂
2. Photography. I fell in love with it on the Race and have had a camera in my hand ever since. 3. Books, love to read fiction. Have a hard time reading non-fiction, with the
exception of the occasional Christian self-discovery book like Captivating (absolutely amazing)
4. Food… alas I am trying to be healthy and have given up most wonderful/bad food, but on the upside, I feel great!
5. Talking (could you tell? :P)
6. Working with youth, especially raising up leaders
7. Teasing… seriously, if you give me an in, I will take it, lol
8. Walking
9. Singing
10. Writing
11. Gorgeous fall days when the wind is crisp, the sun is shining and it seems like everythin
g must be right with the world, right?
12. Calling Papa while driving in Boston – ask him, he'll tell you all about it 😀
And the last, which is also the first; Being so full inside with God's Spirit that you are overflowing and can't help but share Him with others. There is nothing in this world better than walking with God, nothing like being alive in Christ, filled with His joy and seeing Him use you. I pray that for every single one of you.
God bless
Pictures: Top left – me August 2011, Middle right – 1st year in the Bahamas, 2004, Middle left – El Salvador mission trip, 2009, Bottom right – Youth trip with AIM to Philly April 2011
