Home Sweet Home

Some of you know that I flew back to Georgia a couple of weeks ago for the Luke Bryan concert (which was awesome!!). I got asked twice on my way back if Texas is where I call home, and I explained that Georgia is where I'm originally from, although I am currently living in Texas.

If you didn't know, Texas thinks they are the best, the bomb.com, the shiz, the greatest, the cream of the crop....well, you get the point. 

It's fine to have state pride. Heck, I'm proud to be from Georgia! And I'll stand by my Dawgs and Falcons even when they're sucking it up...Anyways, I digress. Like I said, it's fine to have state pride, but Texas takes it to a whole new level. Your state can be awesome, but other states can be awesome too...

Honestly, since I first moved out here in 2005, I've had a little bitterness in my heart about it. And because of that reason, I have not wanted to claim Texas as my "home." I just wanted to keep a distance between me and the prideful state I now reside in.

But of course God has been working in my heart in that regard. He showed me that by resisting to accept Texas as one of my homes, I am hindering my desire to do ministry and my ability to do it effectively. 

Think about it...if I take ownership in something, I'm more likely to fight for it, stand up for it, strive to reach it with the gospel. 

Also, the Lord has been showing me that by accepting Texas as my home, that does not mean I'm abandoning Georgia as my home. 

So while Georgia will always be my home, I am finally beginning to accept Texas as my home as well. And I want to...because I want to have a burning desire to reach the community around me. I want to let go of the bitterness I have been holding on to, so that Christ can effectively work through me. 

As a result, I did this little craft project to serve as a reminder of what I am learning:

Is there something you've been holding on to that you need to finally surrender to the Lord?

Felipe and the Gospel

I believe there is power in prayer. So here I am asking you to pray for my new friend Felipe.

 

I met him on my connecting flight from Atlanta to St. Louis on Thursday morning. While I thought it was super silly and out of the way for them to connect me in St. Louis when I needed to get to Dallas, the Lord obviously had a plan for it.

Here's a little about my new friend-he was friendly, and our conversation came easily. I found out he is from Colombia and has been in America with his wife and 3 kids for 13 years now. He is the VP of an organization called Hispanic Unity of Florida that helps Hispanics have better lives (through language and citizenship classes, tax and legal services, small business workshops, and programs for kids and teens).

Lonnnnnnggggggg story short (we talking for the whole hour and 45 minute flight), I got to hear about his life and family, and I got to talk about my mission trips to various countries and what the Lord has taught me through those. Eventually I asked him if he was Catholic because I saw him doing the sign of the Cross as we were taking off. He said yes he was, and our conversation about religion began.

When I made the comment that I was Protestant, he literally asked me, "So what's the difference between what you believe and what I believe?" Um, open door much??

So over the next hour, I explained the Gospel and:

• How we are sinful and therefore do not meet God's standard for entering Heaven
• How Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice for our sins
• That salvation is by faith alone and it is a gracious gift from God
• Sanctification and how we are constantly striving to be more like Christ, and we can only do it by the help of the Holy Spirit
• Why it's important to be plugged in with a body of believers (community, accountability, encouragement, etc.-like many others, he makes it to mass for Christmas and Easter)
• Why we need to read and study the Bible on our own

(I'm sure there was more, but in that moment, you're just rolling with it and trusting that the Lord is guiding what you have to say.)

Words literally were rolling off of my tongue (that was alllllllll God). At one point I paused to take a breath and apologized for just totally going off on a tangent and halfway preaching to him, and he said, "No, keep going." He was super attentive and absorbed in what I was saying. That's when you know the it's the Spirit.

I just can't even explain how awesome it was to get to talk to Felipe and encourage him. 

Through our conversation, he was able to catch a glimpse of the passions the Lord has placed in my heart, and I think he was curious as to how a 22-year-old, American girl could be concerned with more than just herself or social media or partying or popularity. 

I pray that that passion stays alive in my heart. I know there will be ups and downs, but it's nice to be riding the wave for a little bit. 

And once again I implore you to be praying for Felipe. He has such a great position in the Hispanic community down in Fort Lauderdale, and I've been getting excited just thinking about how influential he could be if the Lord got a hold of his life!! If anybody can do it, God can!

Painting the Sky

It has been one of those weeks, in terms of driving in the city. Between getting lost, road rage, parking tickets, and maybe a few bad words, I am sick and tired of driving in and around Dallas, Texas.

My best friend Allee goes to Georgia Tech in Atlanta, so I have driven down there plenty of times to go visit her. Because of these visits and other random trips to Atlanta, I have gotten lost enough to have a pretty good sense of where I'm going when I'm in downtown Atlanta. 

Now here I am in Dallas, and I'm back at square one. It's a whole new set of roads, interstates, and confusing intersections. 

On the way to a friend's house last night, the Lord began to calm my frustration. I looked up, and the sky was beautiful. Here is a small glimpse of what I saw >>>

It seems that whenever I'm having a rough day or week, God displays His creation in ways that continue to blow my mind, in ways that continue to endear me to His heart. 

I think part of it is that I'm also missing the country-having space and seeing stars. Then, get this, I was on the phone late last night, and I saw the longest, most gorgeous shooting star that I have ever seen (obviously I didn't get a picture of that haha).

God, you are too good to me. 

All I can do was smile and thank Him. Yes, things like traffic and missing the country are trivial, but God cares about even the smallest things in our lives. He cares enough to send beautiful clouds and shooting star to remind me that He is sovereign and in control.