Greetings to one and all! Family, friends, anyone else!
I just wanted to extend even more “thanks” to all of you! Even though I have been fully funded since September, it still blows me away at the just outpouring of love and support I have received during this process! GOD IS SO GOOD Y’ALL! I do however encourage anyone who has not given financially yet and feel led to to PLEASE help out the rest of my team: It Is Goode, and/or the rest of my S Squad family who still need help financially to launch with us in January! Please click on “Meet My Squad: Route 3 (Jan ’17)” and browse to see who is under $10,000 and give to them! Everyone needs to have $10,000 by DECEMBER 16 in order to launch with us to India in January! If they don’t have the funds, they CANNOT come until they are raised! God has handpicked everyone of us and we have all said YES, now we just need YOU to affirm that YES and help us all get to the field together! If you cannot give financially, then PLEASE PRAY BIG over them, that God will provide in BIG WAYS FOR THEM! Thank you and God Bless you all!
Now I just wanted to update y’all on my life since TC. If you read my 2 previous blogs then you know how much GOD WAS MOVING amongst our squad! It was truly amazing! If you haven’t read them, I suggest you do! God had some great stuff that He was teaching all of us; especially me, about loving myself and having a lot of self-worth and no longer filling myself up with the lies of the enemy!
The verse from Song of Solomon (4:7) is still my life verse; “You are altogether beautiful my love, there is no flaw in you!” I also recently came across another verse, that I haven’t memorized yet, but will be soon! Once I have it memorized, I will be screaming it up to the Heavens! I have also stumbled across Proverbs 31:10-31 in one of the many devotionals that I have been doing and am going to cling to some of those verses as well!
I have shared my experience of TC and the lessons I am still learning to my home church and to my best friend Kaity and her husband Kyle’s church in Cincinnati. It is really awesome how the more I share about what God is teaching me, I truly believe a little bit of healing is done! It’s like every time I proclaim Song of Solomon 4:7 over myself, a little more of the enemy’s lies are being blasted away! I am still blown away by all of the mountaintop experiences we as a squad encountered! I have continually been blessed with the relationships I have formed on my squad and just am humbled by how good God has been to us all!
Since TC, I have stopped working. It was a rough last few weeks because of all of the emotions. Not only were my kids sad and trying to spend as much time with me as possible, but I was actually quite somber myself and felt that I had not that much patience with my students when they had behaviors. I guess I was upset that we couldn’t have a great last few weeks together; however, I just continued to love on them. They will forever be my kids and I love every single one of them! I am trying my best to keep in touch with them since I have left, but also trying to balance the transition of me not always being “right there.” I’m trying to keep the space a little bit since I will not be able to communicate with them all that much next year! It was also rough at work because we were suddenly rocked with 3 deaths in like a 3 day span; a student, a former student, and a very beloved staff. It was hard, especially the staff’s death because it was a horrible death and she was SUCH a huge asset to our hallway and students. Please continue to pray for Woods (where I worked), there has been a lot of unusual transitions as well!
I have been on a mini vacation/last hurrah before my WR journey next year! I was in Cincinnati with my best friend and her husband from Black Friday night to Monday the 28th, have been in California since Monday night, and tomorrow I head to Houston to visit some of my S Squad family, before returning back home on Monday the 5th of December! I ALSO got to live out one of my dreams and visit “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” in Universal Studios, Hollywood! I enjoyed a beautiful day (shorts and a tank top) by myself, practically walking onto every ride/attraction because it was not that crowded at all! It was a great day! It has been really good to be traveling and seeing a bunch of people who I may not be seeing for a long time! Please pray for transition because my entire S Squad family are moving, leaving jobs/finishing up school/graduating, and saying goodbye to family and friends before our journey! Transition is not always easy, so please keep us in prayer!
I’ll be honest, it has not been all great since TC. If you read my blog, you’ll remember that before we left TC, 2 of our squad leaders, Lo and Amanda, warned us that these last few months leading up to launch will be hard and we will be attacked by the enemy! It has been happening to almost all of us on our S Squad family. I truly believe the enemy has been hard at work because he is NOT PLEASED AT ALL that we have said YES to this Kingdom Journey we have entered! He is trying to block us with stress, anxiety, lies, sickness, conflict at work/school, frustrations with fundraising, you name it, he’s done it to at least one of us! We have a God who is SO much BIGGER than the enemy so we need to keep proclaiming TRUTH over ourselves and our squad! The enemy was defeated over 2,000 years ago and CONTINUES TO BE EVERY SINGLE DAY that their are God fearing, loving people on this earth who CONTINUE to share the TRUTH with the world!
Overall, I am happy! I am still VERY MUCH EXCITED for the WR. I am trying not to stress over all of the doctor’s appointments I have (I have all but 1 scheduled) and the last few supplies I still need to get! It was SUCH a blessing though. While out here in Cali, I realized a friend from PA had moved out here with her husband so I was able to visit with her and she and her wonderful husband bought me 2 compression cubes, which were on my list of the few supplies I still needed! GOD IS SO GOOD! I am beyond thankful for Ansley and Ryan Stauffer and although I miss them terribly in PA, I know God is going to work through them in BIG ways out here in Cali! I DID get a Ukulele, which I named Sookie, who will be traveling the world with me next year so it has been a HUGE joy learning how to play it! Please continue to pray over me that I remain in this positive attitude, continue to exert this confidence and boldness that I feel I gained in TC!
I will leave you with this, since I think I am done catching you all up! I have used these verses in my sermons and just really believe it is a charge for ALL of us to live out!
Ephesians 4:1-6, 15-16 “So I, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called [that is, to live a life that exhibits godly character, moral courage, personal integrity, and mature behavior—a life that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation], 2 with all humility [forsaking self-righteousness], and gentleness [maintaining self-control], with patience, bearing with one another a]”>[a]in [unselfish] love. 3 Make every effort to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace [each individual working together to make the whole successful]. 4 There is one body [of believers] and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when called [to salvation]— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of us all who is [sovereign] over all and [working] through all and [living] in all. 15 But speaking the truth in love [in all things—both our speech and our lives expressing His truth], let us grow up in all things into Him [following His example] who is the Head—Christ.16 From Him the whole body [the church, in all its various parts], joined and knitted firmly together by what every joint supplies, when each part is working properly, causes the body to grow and mature, building itself up b]”>[b]in [unselfish] love.”
God Bless you all and thanks again for everything!
~Meg
