Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers....

Peter
~A disciple of Christ. His name means "rock". Thought to be unpretentious, honest, open.. Martyred for His faith. It is even thought that when he was killed, upon his request he wanted to be upside down because he did not see himself honorable enough to die in the same position as his master Jesus Christ.
In 2 Peter, he writes about how so many believers are seeking an abundance of grace from God, but deny themselves the knowledge of who the Lord is and what His Word is. We have everything we need to live a godly life- we have the most amazing book designed to guide us and teach us, we live in a society where we can freely express our faith, God has gifted so many in wise counsel that we can seek out, and of course we have the ability to walk and talk with God everyday, all day. So why are we still struggling to live godly lives? Why do we think we should receive blessings and grace when we have done nothing and put forth zero effort to get to know our creator?
Peter tells us to make every effort to respond to God's promises that we can escape from the world's corruption and human desires because of His glory and excellence. It is true that God desires faith, but faith needs to be more than just believing in the facts of the Bible, but it should result in action-- growing in our characters as children of God- learning more of who His character is so that we can strive to be like Jesus. We should also practice, practice, practice-- we need discipline! We need to know God better- just like if you want to play a sport better, you have to practice so you are familiar with all the plays, names of the plays, how they operate, how they can be used against you, etc..
Peter goes on to tell us that the more we grow like this, the more productive and useful we will be in our knowledge of the Lord-- He says to work hard to prove that we are the chosen ones! More specifically, what really sparked a familiarity for me, was when he says that we should live like this with discipline, seeking knowledge, etc, so that we don't make up stories!! What an influence we have on people we placed in high regard as believers and teachers-- what we say makes a difference!! So let's not get it wrong and teach as false teachers.. but appear and be as we really know who Christ is, let it be obvious we have been spending time with Him.

I was incredibly challenged by the words of Peter... We learn so much from Christ's disciples and we should strive to be like them as well. Oh, we can't forget- since this is my favorite part of all scripture-- we are reminded to LOVE others! yay, love:)

Above all else...

I messed up. I had been working so hard to show my faith, my integrity, my devotion to the Lord... and tonight, because I am human, I messed it all up. I handled a situation completely by myself- and utterly destroyed it. I have particularly been trying to minister to someone, and I let my frustration get the best of me. Now, I gotta fix it...

I am broken... God showed up in a very real way to me tonight. I feel like I could just see the look on His face, the disappointment- as if He was saying, "My child, let me take this one... the way it should have been from the beginning.."

I feel so let down.. once again. People have an amazing ability to disappoint each other and really screw things up. All I want to do is ignore the situation.. but God wants me to keep on showing love. I cannot give up. He wants me to keep on loving, even though I feel like I am out of love-- this is the time I need Him the most. I am so frustrated.. I can minister to people I barely know.. giving them advice and I am able to point them to the cross, but for my own roommate, my best friend, I have no words. All that separates us is a wall- but it feels like a 1000 miles. I want nothing more than for her to experience the fullness of God, how great His love for her is... How worthy she is in His eyes, how much talent and beauty He's given her that He wants to USE! My heart is so broken for her... and now- when given a time I could minister to her, I allow my own selfishness to let me be upset and I screw it all up.

I know with God's help the situation can be turned around and He can find His glory and can bring good... I am just searching for wisdom. How can I show her more of who Christ was and is, and apologize for my human stupidity... I can't give up, even though I am frustrated.
*So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Gal. 6:9*

Praying for patience.. the ability to love. love. love. with His love. Tonight I was reminded that people remain somewhere because they feel loved-- My desire is to make this life appealing because of the love Christ has given me and the love I can now give others...

Meet me here

Sometimes people, myself included, question the goodness of God. We dwell so much in the chaos and sufferings we are enduring momentarily and cannot see the goodnes of our Father. Sometimes we may think that our God is one who is a God of punishment or torture because of the hardships in our lives-- that is absurd! God is for us-- He wants us to enjoy this life, to immerse ourselves in all the beauty that He created for us. In James we are reminded that when troubles come our way to consider it an opportunity for great joy. Often God is testing our faith to strengthen and develop our endurance. Also- it is not if troubles come our way, but when troubles come our way to carry on with a good heart and a positive outlook in mind.

This time of year many people become some overwhelmed with the burdens of life... like grades, finals, choosing colleges, family/job/financial issues.. etc.. I had a meaningful (I hope) conversation with a friend the other night.. My heart was just overtaken by her stress and the pain she has right now. She was so filled with doubt, a sense of lost hope and faith, and just didn't know what to do. We are going to encounter times like this when we cannot see what is front of us and cannot decipher God's will for our lives... my advice- ask God for wisdom! Seek his WORD, seek counsel from those who know the Lord well, and meditate on His scripture in prayer and praise. God is committed to doing something good in each of our lives! Be intentional with your relationship with God...

I love how everyday has a new lesson and we can never stop learning. Lately, God has been blessing my relationships with people.. blessing the conversations so that He can find glory even there! I have found myself worshipping God during my talks with people, it's incredible. I'm amazed at how you can be praising God and having an intimate meeting with Him just by sharing your heart with someone and listening to theirs. Have a desire to meet God wherever, no matter, where you are and He will! He starts showing up in the most random places and speaking to your heart.. He simply wants this to be your desire!!

Be intentional with your relationships, be encouraged, stand in your faith because when everything else is stripped away we cannot be robbed of our faith or our hope.. Ask Him to meet you!! And endure His goodness... be satisfied in Him- find His place in your suffering and surely He will guide you out.


Meeting the Famous One...

He calls me Worthy

I keep thinking to myself, "I am smarter than this!"... There is no way that I am being tempted, my life is reflecting a portrait of Christ, or is it? I have been being fed lies and allowing my pride to stand in the way so that I couldn't see my own sins. I have justified all the mistakes I have been making... and honestly, it has been tearing me to pieces. It's time I be the person of integrity and fess up and make things different. I have been so convicted lately.. My desire is to be so madly in love with Jesus that people look at me and see an obvious difference in me, but how can I do that when I am not being faithful?

So now I am struggling with allowing God to heal me and give me the pure heart I desire. PRIDE stands in my way too often. I also worry that I am not worthy anymore because of my mistakes.. but that is not true! God is going to heal my heart so that I understand that He looks at me and sees Jesus and not me. How cool is that, God places equal value on his children, and Jesus is His child and so are we!! Whoa, that is a big deal.

I also know that God is preparing the hearts of those around me who I have hurt that they will forgive me and love me with His kind of love. God is right now, at this very moment, preparing me to be the child, the woman, the wife, and the mother He has one day designed me to be. He is showing me that the choices I make right now are going to affect my future.

Tonight I am just desperate for brokeness... praying to overcome the temptations I am daily faced with. I have let myself think that because of what I came from, I cannot be any better.. I am determined to not be a product of my environment, I will overcome the life that Satan wants me to have and live the one Christ designed for me!!

I desire to be serving with my whole heart, so that every piece of me, every part of my heart belongs to Jesus. I don't want to satisfy my own selfish desires anymore. Working with the youth group God has been opening my eyes to the areas of my life that are not matching up with who I say I am and who I truly am in Him. I want to get rid of those parts of my life so that my life can be a living testimony of what it means to walk by His side so that those kids have a portrait to follow and live by. Not that I can be perfect or anywhere near it, but these distinct areas where God is calling me out on, will be changed.

"The temptations in our life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." -1 Corinthians 10:13

I am just so overwhelmed at the amount of love He has for me. I have hurt Him in so many ways, but He finds a way to show me how much He wants me and needs me, despite it all.. It is so comforting to know that we can serve a God like this! I feel like I am truly valued and belong to something.

My past does not matter anymore. God has completely forgiven me and whiped my sins clean. He has made me white as snow!! I will not walk in shame or guilt:) The next couple days I will keep this verse and remember that Christ views all of us worthy, no matter what we have done!

1Timothy 1:12-17 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 1 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Who will go for us?

I was recently approached with the questions...
How do you have so much joy?
Why do you have so much enthusiasm and energy, you clearly have no reason to be that way...

I was reading in Isaiah 6-- Isaiah wanted to see the Lord in all his holiness, his perfection, purity, and His set apart from all sin being. How often discouragement fills our days due to the pressures of society, our own frustrations, and of course all our shortcomings and failures. It is so important that we view God in all His power and realize that the same power that raised Jesus from the grave is the same power God has in our own lives. Okay, back up-- that same power? Holy Cow!! Okay... Reason #1 to be completely in awe and filled with joy, energy, enthusiasm- for HIM! Seeing God in all his perfection by reading the Word and seeing His work is enough to ease us from our frustrations and doubts, which then will enable us to serve and worship Him wholeheartedly.

"The angels sang out... The whole Earth is filled with his glory!" The temple was shook and the whole building was filled with smoke... Where's the smoke in our temples, our churches, our homes, and our lives? When Isaiah saw the Lord he realized he had no hope of measuring up to God's holiness. But guess what God did? He burned his lips with coal. Ouch! But it was burning coal from the holy alter (the part with all the smoke)... God then told Isaiah that he was forgiven and his guilt was removed. God wants our humble hearts- once Isaiah realized he wasn't okay on his own and was nothing in comparison, it was then that God held him. It may be painful to be cleansed of our sins, but without this purity we cannot truely represent God because he is pure.

"Here I am. Send me!"- After this, Isaiah submitted his entire being to serving the Lord.. Well back in his day, this was a big deal because he wasn't just submitting to helping out at the Salvation Army, going on a mission trip, or being a youth pastor-- but he was surrendering to bring the corrupt land of Judah back to God. We can't so much as surrender our weekend to go help the poor, or our afternoon to spend time with the lost.

Here's the even harder part-- after Isaiah says okay and gives it his all, God tells him that the people aren't going to listen to a word he has to say. That they would have hardened hearts beyond repentance. So what's the point? If the nation wasn't going to listen, why should he go? God wanted them to not see Him with their eyes, our hear Him with their ears, or even understand Him with their hearts-- all so they would turn to Him for healing. So God stripped them of everything... their homes, their land- and sent them into captivation. Leaving them only to cry out for Him to be saved.

Some people are like the nation of Judah and wait until everything runs out before they cry out for help... Even amongst all the disobedience, God's mercy remains!! Just reading this chapter I am brought to awe. It's incredible, and I see it everyday. The undeserving blessings, the grace, the mercy--everyday He reveals Himself, and this, my friend is why I appear to be so full of joy, energy, and enthusiasm-- It's not just a facade, I simply cannot hold back how excited I am to be able to serve Him. It is the most honorable gift a person could ever have-- a heart that longs to serve our Maker.

Today, I am praying to be a more passionate server, a more desiring learner, and a more capable leader. I pray for humility and brokeness, that I not for one second believe I have reached enough. Daily my failures keep me on the sidewalk and I want to be on the road. I feel so close to His will, but my shortcomings keep me from being like Isaiah-- I want to understand and acknowledge His power so that I, too, can truely mean it when I say, "Here I am. Send me."

The right place.

So here I am... by the Grace of God... I am back! Back in Waco that is... There is no doubt that I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am now if it weren't for His undeserving blessings. My heart just drops, it is completely humbled when I think about how He takes care of me. The road here has been only in His hands... I am astounded, in complete awe, of the Love, the unfailing, unconditional-- surpassing of all things-- completely undeserving, sincere, Love that He has for me.. ME, His child-- He calls ME His child!! I am so humbled by what He is doing and how He is moving in my life.

A few months ago I didn't know where my life was going... I was desperately trying to make a plan for myself and figure out what to do with my life. Then my eyes were opened-- that I can't make my life happen in the will of God if I am not giving Him my whole life-- my entire being. Upon surrendering my life and my plan-- I was shown the Light and guided in the direction with the purpose He has always had for me. Just watching the pieces fall so perfectly in place, I cannot help but wonder why does He love me like this? How do I deserve any of this? And the answer is, I don't. But He doesn't care-- His love for me will never go away.

There has been a lot of pain this summer in my life. I have suffered-- my family has suffered. But through it all I have praised the Lord. When the tears fall... I praise Him. When there is pain and hurt-- He is my Healer. I will always praise Him... I look at my life and what I have in front of me and just fall to my knees at how undeserving I am. But the Lord is placing me here for His purpose. I want to use these blessings to bless others.

The purpose of this message-- Live in His will. Go down the road HE has for you, not that YOU have for you.. He is always faithful and will always be there. He will give us everything we need. He is our sustainer and provider of all things!! Let His name be sung from your heart through all your pain.. Know that He is building you up for His divine purpose. That He has such a perfect plan for your life. There is no greater place to be than in the will of the Lord. You may not know what tomorrow will bring. People in your life may betray you. There may seem to be no hope-- but call Him Saviour-- and let Him be all you need. He will place people or circumstances to help you pull through. He has blessings that you can never imagine-- you may not realize how He is providing for you.. But he always will, if you obey.

~ The Lord will always reward us for the good we do-- (Eph. 6:8)~ It may take doing the undesired.. and take the less practical route... But do it in the name of Jesus and nothing will feel as rewarding. Nothing.

~Let us not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. (Gal. 6:9)~

When hope is lost I'll call you Saviour. When pain surrounds I'll call you healer. When silence falls you'll be the song within my heart. I will praise You.

The power..

These past few days have really had my brain spinning. Last Wednesday we were hit pretty hard by a few storms... some damage, no one was really hurt-- but, nearly 500,000 people were without electricity for days.. and there are still nearly 1/4 of those people who have yet to regain power.

So what has been rattling my brain is how dependent we are on electricity! I can't count how many times I complained this past week, which is probably nothing compared to the majority of people. But then I got to thinking about when I was in the Dominican on a mission trip and how the power didn't just go out for a few days, but there was no power period. I cannot remember myself or any team members complaining about it... because we never had it to begin with. What was the power we had? Not cable, internet, video games, air conditioning-- but we enjoyed each other's company, spending time with kids, loving on people, etc... So why can't we, here, amidst all the things of the world, do the same? Our lives have become so crowded with THINGS that we don't enjoy each other and the natural things the Lord has given us.

I want the power in my life to remain from Jesus--- not by things this world has to offer.

I am so ready to go where He wants me...

For now, just waiting....

Life is...

Simply amazing.

It's incredible to see how God handles things and situations when you let Him.

I really don't have any exciting stories other than just laying out how incredible every moment of my life is. That could get boring...

Could my best friend be any cooler?

Desperately in need of an update. Just got home from camp... then went to the Rascal Flatts concert. I'm dead... or as close as you possibly can be without actually being dead.

Anywho-- You must know that God is moving constantly in the lives of young people. His grace just WOWS me. His mercy an even bigger WOW. He will reveal himself to you if you desire it enough.... More on this later.. you don't want to miss out.

Don't know Jesus? Let's talk.

Be back after sleep!

Praise the Lord even when I'm tired and worn...

dreaming...

Waiting...

So it's been a few days...

Where to begin...

First off... my previous postings about my obsession with babies and not being able to wait for my own.. Scratch that. I can wait!!! I have come to realize I just don't quite know what to do when the baby starts to cry... this could be a problem. I've been spending some time with my 3-month-old cousin and it has been very nice birth control.

Next... grace and mercy. The difference. Grace = being given something you do not deserve. Mercy = not being given something you do deserve. So which of these has been most prevelant in my life??? Well, to give myself a pity party I would tell you it was mercy-- but then I start to think... is mercy really something to get down about? I mean, obviously God has a reason to not give you something.. so in the end could this mercy become grace? I think so... Just something I have been thinking about lately..

Now... my love life. God has been showing me how intimate he desires to be with me. I have been kind of prone to relationships at times, and God is trying to take that away from me for the time being and I think it is a spectacular idea. Yes, there are some exciting boys out there I'd love to get ahold of... but God is showing me that HE is all I need right now. He wants to be the one to comfort me always. He has shown me this lately by giving me a taste of how great of a guy he has for me... and then kind of taking it away leaving me only to turn to Him. But I feel God telling me that if I wait... in time He will bring the perfect man. Gag me, I know. But this is important! I am only 19, but it's not that far away! Okay enough with the love stuff... if my sister reads this she might have to run to the restroom. (Sorry Kait...)

And finally concerns and prayers on my heart. Centrifuge next week! I want to be used... we all need prepared hearts... safety... etc. Work, I need to come up with a whole lot of money in a really short time period!! Lord willing, it will happen!! School.. the time is flying, and its SOON!!
Just a few prayers off the top of my head... be praying, be listening... God has a plan and He wants to show it to you, you just have to be open and listen!!!

God Bless ya'll...
Much love kids.




p.s. Father's Day is Sunday.. and I miss my daddy:(

Growing up really makes you cherish your family tremendously... Tonight I went to the airport to pick up my cousin and his wife... and their new baby!! They flew in from Okinawa, Japan.. I haven't seen him in 4 years! It made me feel so good just spending time with my family:)

My grandpa sat their holding baby Tiffany... and she had been crying all night long, but when she went to him, she stopped. And she was giggling... He was so cute with her. The oldest one in the family, with the youngest... all those years in between. What a blessed life... at any age-- How precious life is.

I have been on such a high for life... it's getting kind of ridiculous, I know. But I have so much time on my hands to relax and think about things... I appreciate things a lot more! I probably make some people want to vomit with all my positiveness I have been having, but whatev... puke away... I'm happy:) Have I mentioned how obsessed with my grandma I am? I think my sister and I laughed for 2 hours as she entertained us tonight.

Okay, well all this positivity is quite exhausting... Tomorrow maybe I'll be negative and complain about something? Nah-- what's there to complain about?? I'll try to find something ... maybe.

peace out.

'Tis gooood...

So I am incandescently happy this evening:) Which means I am glowing, and you can see the happiness flowing from me! Ohhh, I can rub off on you if you'd like!

Why am I so happy? Honestly, I do not know.. but praise the Lord because any ounce of joy I have is only from Him:)

Today the "Send-Me" team left for their retreat... I wish I could be with them this week, but duty calls, and I must work-- Growing up blows, paying bills blows. But I will be in some serious prayer for the 9 kids that are there (2 of which I am proud to say are my little siblings). I know God has a lot to reveal to each of them and He has a perfect plan for each of their lives. I pray that they will be open to the plan that He has, rather than the plan that they have. I believe that they can be incredible leaders for this community and have the hearts to serve and show Jesus to others.

I got to go to the new stadium tonight! Too bad the Cards lost-- but it was still fun! They are still beating the Astros, which is grrreat... especially to rub in my die-hard stros fan friend's face! Which if I do say so, I really miss that kid! Too bad he is Waco and I am in Illinois, ugh-- all my BU friends... I am missing you... sad day for us all.

Well my bed is calling my name... and work is calling my name in the morning...

Sweet dreams my fellow bloggers:)

Oh the lobsters...

Not too much exciting happened today-- It was my first day serving alone and I had to work a split... My feet hurt. BUT... I really do like my job:) Serving is fun, helping people is fun, and old people are fun. Aww, there was this old couple that wanted to take me home with them... how cute!!! I would've went too, except, well, I had another table.

For the evening I just hung out with the coolest little brother in the world-- For real, I absolutely love my family! God has blessed me with 4 amazing siblings who all happen to be my best friends!!

I love life. End of story.

until next time....


p.s. those silly cardinals took my night away last night-- 14 innings and we still lost!! and even worse... TO THE CUBS. Sad day for st. louis. BUT they are in 1st place, and the Astros aren't... Sad day for the stros. OOOOh summertime!!!

It never stops!

I am so excited right now! I just found out that I get to go to Centrifuge (a youth camp for junior high and highschool kids)... Okay for those of you that know me, you know I have been year after year-- 6 times to be exact. So why am I so much more excited this time? Wellll... God has just laid it on my heart that I can serve by being a leader for the youth at my church. It is completely a God thing that I even get to go. So now just pray that the Lord will prepare my heart, and prepare the hearts of the kids I get to serve from my church. This experience will be different than the past 6 because instead of being served, I am going to do the serving. My heart has been so humbled lately and I am super excited to do whatever need be of me! Whether that be carrying luggage, cleaning up messes, and totally having no fun at all-- it will all be done in the name of the Lord and in that I can find all the happiness I need:)

Please be praying for this week- the week of June 19th-ish I believe. One week with a group of kids so hungry for more.. in Tennessee with hundreds of other youth all coming together to focus 100% on God for the entire time. Also, prayers for Chris and Amanda who are both serving by being permanent staff at 2 different Lifeway camps for the entire summer. I just pray that they can be refreshed week after week and that when the kids see them they see Jesus.

Okay-- I am going to go for now... Praise God for one more AMAZING day... for revealing himself to me and allowing me to find so much joy amidst the bad things happening around me.

Have a wonderful night!

Insomnia...

Why don't I sleep??

I figured since I don't sleep I'd blog a little more...

I have been spending so much time alone these past couple weeks, like for real alone-- living alone-- how scary?!! It has been soooo nice though. I have spent some serious time in thought and in prayer for what is to come in my life. I have really discovered that it is in this silence, when I am most still, that I can truly hear the voice of the Lord. I have learned lately that I need to be more of a listener... I have always had the talking part down but it's the listening part I haven't quite mastered. I have also spent a lot of time reading-- I forgot how good it felt to just read out of mere pleasure!

So I am officially baby crazy!! Sunday evening I had the awesome experience of visiting Joe and Kelli and the newest edition to the fam-- Elle! I didn't even hold her (it's a good thing, trust me)... I nearly cried at how beautiful she was-- and how blessed of baby girl she is to be brought into the world by such loving people. Words really cannot describe the feeling I had sitting there watching her. How excited I am to one day be in their shoes! A loooong looong time away, I know, but seriously its #3 on my list.

I started a new job... What a thrill-- I get to serve seafood, my most hated type of food. It's really not that bad at all though-- I enjoy it:) I am just excited to be making money finally! It's good to be busy too...

Wednesday evening at church we had 2 missionaries come and share their hearts and their passion to serve the Lord overseas. Everytime I hear someone talk about it, I get more and more encouraged and more assured that this is where I am supposed to be. I can only hope to one day be in their position... Having stories to share, together, with my spouse. Elizabeth (the wife), really nailed it when she said that when God brings two people together, He is going to use them in great ways... So here I wait-- to be matched with someone so that He can use us together to share His love and enhance the kingdom. Right now I am just loving life-- Trusting, trusting, trusting... Trusting that God is going to provide in all situations. He has such a perfect plan for me and there is so much peace in knowing that I am heading in the path He planned for me to take.

My heart is so overwhelmed with Joy-- with passion. God has been giving me little glimpses daily of what He has in store for me! I am excited to be home, excited to be used, and excited to go back and see what else He is going to do in my life! As for now, I am going to test out the sleep thing once more...

God is Good...

Forever in His grasp,
Felicia

An encouraging scripture that has been guiding me... *Daily you must trust Me, surrendering everything, including the blood in your veins and the breath in your lungs, for Me to do with as I see fit. If you want to join Me, you must let Me lead*~(paraphrased-Luke 9:23)

And 7 months later....

So, to be perfectly honest with ya'll... I lost my username and password for this so I have not updated in a loooong time!!!

Summer has officially begun for me (3 weeks ago)... and I am BORED. I miss Waco, I miss Texas, I miss Baylor, I miss my girls, I miss class, I miss the squirrels, I miss my church, I miss my lifegroup, I even sometimes miss Penland.... okay thats too far... But I just really miss being down there!

So an update on what has been happening in the life of Felicia Sasser for the past 7 months or so....

First of all, starting second semester I had made a decision not to return to Baylor for the fall of '07... but to my dismay, the Lord has other plans in store for me. Funny how you try and tell God what you want to do with your life and he basically laughs in your face and tells you NO. Fantastic. I was at such a stand still in my life and I had just really felt like the best decision would be to move home closer to my family until I could see just exactly what I was supposed to do with my life. I had been ignoring every bit of what the Lord had told me to do... bad, bad idea. So this is when I decided to practically shut out everything else in my life and listen to God... a time for me to finally shut up and hear what he wanted to me hear. The Lord led me to scripture after scripture... and then put some really amazing people in my life to help me see the plans that He had made for me... and it was exactly where I already was.... He just told me to stay put. SOOOO.... Get excited because I will be back in August and absolutely cannot wait to see just how God wants to use me.
I am officially an International Studies major... scary!! When I tell people this they give me a funny look and say why????? It is becoming easier and easier for me to share what I am going to do... the look on their face when I say missionary kind of makes them laugh... as if the next question is to be, "Okay, but really what do you want to do with your life?"... The Lord has been testing me in many ways with giving up the dreams that I have more life and trusting the dreams that he has for my life. Just the other day I was driving with my family through an insanely nice neighborhood and we were just looking at how beautiful the homes were.. and I just smiled and was okay knowing that I will never have something like that... I will be perfectly content with living in a hut somewhere in Africa or India. Or perhaps the letter I received the other day awarding me a full ride scholarship to any Illinois school of my choice... God wants me to trust Him financially, seeing as for the rest of my life it's all gonna be Him!! As long as I am fulfilling my purpose I will always be rich.
So since the plan has been revealed (over and over, I am just now finally choosing to accept it)... it's time to dive in. Ugh, but how?!?! I want to be used this summer here at home, but I don't know where or how... As of now, I am working at Red Lobster. Hmm.. I suppose the Lord can use me there?? This is what I will be praying for...
As for now... I will continue to pursue my passion, even if I hear laughter in the background...

I will write more later....

always in Him,
Felicia