she's in love.

Found these song lyrics today by a band called According to John. May the Lover of our soul captivate us so completely that it is so evident in our life to others!



What a beautiful smile
A radiant girl
Fell in love first time I saw her
She stays on my mind
I’d give anything
To know everything about her

There’s light in her eyes
And I know it’s all for Him
She carries on and on
Like He was her best friend

Chorus:

She’s in love
It’s not hard to see
But I would like to believe it was with me
Someone got a hold of her heart
And He won’t let go

And I know
She’s in love
She looks to the sky
When she talks about Him

She believes He hung the moon
Said He had to go away
She waits for his return
Says He’s coming for her soon

How can this be fair?
This guy can walk on water
Don’t guess I’ve got a prayer
He’s written love letters to reach her

She worships the ground He walks on
She just smiles when she says His name
It’s a match made in heaven
I can’t compete with the King of Kings

AND....

After much interviewing, waiting and praying, the Lord has made it clear that I am to be serving Him in West Africa this coming summer!! Waaaaaaahooooooo!!! Much more about this to come later! For now, I just want to praise Him for His sovereignty in this decision and am pumped to see all that He is going to do! Praying now that He would give be brokeness, compassion and anguish over the people I will encounter.

The Call of Christ...

Praying for His direction for my summer and this stirs my heart to be ready and willing to go wherever He tells me to! May they know how wide and long and deep and high is the love of Christ!

The Ultimate Romantic Gesture

Read this today and was overwhelmed at the passionate love my God has for me! Be encouraged!

Jesus's death was the ultimate romantic gesture of the most pure and perfect love imaginable. Imagine Christ down on one knee, showing you His bloody, nail-scarred palms, saying,

"I did this for you so that I could set you free from sin and death, transform you from a beggar into a royal princess, and make you My own for all eternity. I did this so that My life could invade your being and consume every aspect of your existence. Every moment you are awake, I desire to reveal more of Myself to you. Come away from sin, selfishness and worldly pursuits. Come away to My beautiful land. Let My life sustain you through richer or poorer, through sickness and health, through all of lifes's ups and downs. The most glorious romance of all time awaits you. All you have to do is take My hand and say YES!"

That, sisters, is what HE alone can offer you and how He fulfills your heart. May we pursue Him as He is constantly pursuing us! Praise Him!

living outwardly.

I was so humbled to get to meet these precious faces this past summer while in India. These children are all orphans that live in a special children's home specifically for HIV positive children.I saw this specific group of children different times this summer as they came to our clinic twice for their checkups and I visited the home once. They are taken care of, loved and guided by some amazing houseparents that are just breathtaking to watch. David and his wife Sylvia are true examples of what it means to count everything the world offers as garbage in exchange for a sacred call. Their lives just ooze with the Gospel.


I watched as they fed, bathed and held these children with a love so mesmerizing that it could only be from Christ. I saw them trust the Lord to provide all that was needed when they truly didn't know where the money would come from. I listened to them testify to God's faithfulness in their life.

The Lord has been teaching me more and more what it looks like for me to live my life outward. Meaning that part of living a life fulfilled by Christ is being others-centered. In America, we are dangerously preoccupied with ourselves. God has not called us to make our lives about making our own ambitions and dreams come true but to be poured out sacrifices for His Kingdom. It's pretty hard for me to be concerned about my future or plans while I'm holding an HIV positive orphan who has never known what it's like to be loved by a family before.

When I was in high school, a very wise friend told me,
"Forget the American dream. Join the God dream."

I have never forgotten those words and the narrow path they challenge me to walk. It is a challenge to myself and to you to remember that your life is not your own. It has been bought with the price of the very blood of Christ.

No matter what job or career or place He has in mind for you, the call is the same. To lay down all your pursuits upon the altar and allow Him to make you a living sacrifice. He has given everything to us, will you give everything to Him?

Make Your Summer Count!

As a college student, you have a two-month span of time to do with whatever you choose. Why not use that time to make an impact on a hurting world and reach them with the gospel of Christ? You may be thinking thoughts like, "I'm not qualified to do that," "I can't afford something like that," or "My parents would never let me." Well, let me just tell you that the Lord took those "reasons" of mine(really, they were excuses) and tossed them out the window. I am so thankful that He is still in the business of taking simple, ordinary human beings and using them to do extraordinary things for His Kingdom! I can't get over that! It's amazing! I was amazed to see Him provide thousands of dollars over the past five years to place me exactly where He wanted me. That's something that only HE could get the glory for!

There are so many ways that you can serve through GO NOW Missions whether it's for two months or two weeks!
-Men are needed to fish alongside fishermen in Senegal in order to bridge relationships with them to share the Gospel!
-Teach English and play sports with university students in Central Europe to share with them where true Love is found!
-Use your love of backpacking, white water rafting, paintball and other outdoor recreation in a unique way to reach others through an Outdoorsmen Church in Montana!
-Be a part of planting churches in San Diego, California!
-Love on orphans and meet their needs in Honduras!

These are just a few of the opportunities there are! Go to GONOWMISSIONSto see a COMPLETE LIST of SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES and start the online application! Applications are due February 1! Remember that He doesn't call the qualified but qualifies the called!

If you have questions about mission opportunities you can come by the BSM on campus in January or feel free to message me!

"I believe that in each generation God has called enough men and women to evangelize all the yet unreached tribes of the earth. It is not God who does not call. It is man who will not respond!" -- Isobel Kuhn, missionary to China and Thailand

it's been a long time comin'....

After a long period of absence I'm returning to the blog neighborhood. I have felt the Lord telling me to pick this up again and honestly, I haven't been too fond of the idea. Because you see there's this little thing called pride and to say I struggle with it is an understatement. And when people start to like what you write, what you say, the pictures you take, how cool you are or whatever, it can be a not so good thing for your heart. Or in my case, it can be flat out dangerous! But I feel that this is for a much bigger reason than I can see right now so here we are! Well, can I just say that He has been so sweet to me lately! Lots of things happening with the end of the semester and He has met my every need!! Praise Him!



One of my biggest joys in life is getting to share and study the Word of God alongside some pretty amazing ladies and this past semester has been no exception! Looking into the book of Hosea and seeing pretty much the Gospel of Christ laid out before me has been pretty incredible! I am suuuuuuuper pumped about what He's pushing me toward for next semester.

I think there is a real problem with modern femininity today, to put it bluntly. One of my favorite authors, Leslie Ludy, addresses this a lot(check her out!). As little girls, we dreamed of becoming princesses and being swept off our feet by our prince. We looked at the world with innocent eyes and knew it was our playground. We knew that we were treasured, valuable and beautiful. Maybe this was your thoughts as a little girl or maybe the experiences of your childhood were quite the opposite. Whichever it is, somewhere along the way, the message of this world got in the way. And we believed it and gave in to its alluring invitation. As a result, we as women have looked everywhere except toward Jesus Christ to fulfill the deepest longings of our heart. We try desperately to meet our need for love through flings with guys, our popularity, the pleasures of pop-culture and the approval of the world. But it is He and He alone that can satisfy those longings. I think it will be a beautiful thing for a group of imperfect sisters coming together to learn and find their security and identity in Jesus Christ and discover Him as the True Prince and Lover of their soul.



He has been dealing with me personally alot lately about my selfish pursuits and asking me to lay those down in exchange for a sacrificial life poured out for the least and lost around the world. I can tell you that so far, it hasn't been easy but it was the best trade of my life! It's my prayer that as His followers we would see what He is asking of us and give it to Him freely and joyfully. What this world has to offer pales in comparison to the joys and pleasures that are in Him!



Elisabeth Elliot said, "The preoccupations of young women-their looks, their clothes, their social life-don't seem to change much from generation to generation. But in every generation, there are a few who make other choices." I don't know about you, but I desperately want to be one of those few!