Hey everyone!
I promise I haven’t forgotten about you. I have just been waiting for the right time to write. If I keep holding off though, I am going to have to write a novel with the abundance of knowledge I have gained. I figure it is about that time to share! It has been about a month now since my experience at training camp but it has felt like years in terms of life circumstances. A lot has changed in a short amount of time so here is a quick update on my life for those of you I haven’t had a chance to catch up with:
- I am no longer on the West Coast…I recently made the trek back to the East Coast
- I accepted a short-term travel physical therapy job in the VA area because…
- I am going on the World Race in October 2016
- I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family that I haven’t seen in several years
- God is working in my life on a daily basis in ways that I could have never imagined
I honestly don’t even know where to begin…I guess the best place would be to start where I left off when I got back from training camp…Instead of boring you with all of the tedious details of that particular time, I can honestly summarize it with two simple words…. amazing grace. Cliché, I know, but true. I will be the first one to admit I didn’t know the true meaning of amazing grace and honestly, I don’t think you can know the meaning unless you have actually experienced it. I remember someone at training camp saying, “you haven’t experienced grace until you have experienced the grace given through Jesus Christ,” and that my friend is amazing grace.
No, it was not all “hunky-dory” per se when I got home, that is not what I mean when I say amazing grace. What I mean is that an unexplainable, supernatural, miraculous and overwhelming sense of peace had overcome me. Issues that I had battled with my whole entire life didn’t even cross my mind and the issues that remain are seen in a different, much softer, light. I was all of a sudden super excited about Jesus Christ (for those of you that know me, this is super weird). When I say super excited I mean like I listened to Christian music 24/7 for like two straight weeks singing at the top of my lungs…. Yes, I felt absolutely crazy! And yes, it is also completely ok for you to think I am crazy. I would have too.
I wanted to learn as much about him as I could and try my hardest to live like him, not because “oh I am Christian now, I have to walk that walk” (although I did have those thoughts come into my head that I had to battle with) but because I genuinely wanted to! Christianity is not supposed to be a job, which unfortunately I think too many people see it as. It is about having and developing a relationship. A relationship like no other that helps you live a life like you read about in the bible. If Christianity or being religious is hard for you, is a chore, is a burden, or is not something you look forward to when you wake up in the morning, then I challenge you to keep your eyes, ears and heart open for amazing grace because once you have it Christianity is easy. Everything makes so much sense and you do all the things the bible says, not because “you have to,” but because you want to.
So here I am, I have been blessed with this thing called amazing grace, I am feeling like a loon and what do I want to do? I want to run around and tell people about it! Not only do I want to talk about it 24/7 but I want to sing, dance and scream about it. Well, if you have taken a look around society lately…most people don’t look to highly upon crazy religious people running around screaming and chanting. And honestly, that is not who I want to be or what I want to do either. I only tell you this story to demonstrate how powerful Gods grace can be. It almost can feel like an out of body experience at times. I am not making excuses for crazy radicals out there, nor do I know if they have the right intentions, but maybe some people just don’t know how to deal with God’s grace or handle their emotions period. And who are we to judge? The bible does say this…
“Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” Phillippians 1:15-18
I digressed sorry… instead of being able to talk to people about it with people; the exact opposite was about to happen. It was time to pack my things in my car and make the trek from the West to East Coast. It was just Maddox and I in the car for over 3,000 miles. That brings me to my blog title…I have had several road trips across the country in my life time, three to be exact, but this last one with Jesus was the best one yet (Jess and Steph, tide for 2nd! Love you guys). Maddox might beg to differ because I would never shut up whether I was singing, praying or saying amen to the sermons I was listening to but I learned so much. I saw everything in a different light. Nature has always been magnificent to me but to see it as His glory makes it even more extraordinary than I could have imagined! I got to develop a deeper relationship with him while we drove across the country and for that I am extremely grateful.
I did get to stop to see friends on the way and since I have been home I have been able to rekindle some relationships, which has been wonderful! I would honestly love to tell you all the ways God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit have been working in my life on a daily basis. Some of it is really just unbelievable and mind blowing but like I said this blog might be the length of the novel if I do that. Please feel free to reach out to me to talk if you want! And for those of you I have connected with, THANK YOU! You know exactly who you are.
One thing I am going to address though is that people keep acknowledging the fact that something is different about me. I completely agree with you. I feel different. I see the difference when I look at pictures. I see the light shining and I just want to take the time to say that, that is God’s light shining and His glory, not mine, and without Him that light would not shine.
“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” 2 Corinthians 4:6-7
I also want to take a moment to go back to the beginning…remember, “It all started with a giraffe?” Well I was trying to design a fundraising t-shirt the other day when I came across the symbolic meaning of a giraffe (http://www.whats-your-sign.com/symbolic-meaning-of-giraffe.html- if you want to read the whole thing and have your mind blown like I did). A giraffe’s appearance symbolizes many things including, but not limited to, “a messenger encouraging us to “stick out our necks”, elongate our vision, stretch ourselves, reach as far as we can go; a giraffe is a reminder that we are grandiose beings with remarkable potential to rise ourselves up to a challenge; a giraffe demonstrates grace in striving- when a giraffe visits us, it’s often a message to strive through challenges while maintain balance and grace.” Do you think that giraffe came into my life by chance? No way! God put that giraffe into my life for many reasons. But right now it is a reminder that I should “stick my neck out” in faith regardless of how uncomfortable and challenging it may be and to do it with grace, love and compassion.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for and I just want to take the time to say that I am thankful for each and every one of you! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I hope you get as much out of it as I do, but if you don’t, that is ok too! Like I said before, please reach out to me if you would like to talk or hear more.
I will be ramping up fundraising again here before too long (you can expect a giraffe t-shirt in your near future haha, probably after the holidays, as I know it can be a hectic time for everyone) but if your heart is speaking to you about helping support this trip, please just click on the link at the top of the page to make a donation. Thank you, take care and God bless! I love you all.
