Just Another Day!

Well, those of you who know me know that sometimes my life gets a little crazy. Even when I don't try to be, things just happen to me. :) This week the school gave us half of Thursday and all of Friday off from classes. There is a missions conference in Austin, TX (about 4-5 hours south of us) and they wanted us to be able to go if we so desired. So, us 4 single girls decided to go, along with Tim our Phonetics teacher and his wife Cara. Two of the girls rode with Tim & Cara and my roommate Nicole and I followed them in my car. After morning class we headed out on the road. I had to stop and fill my tires at the gas station, so I did that while Tim stopped to get some food. I filled my tires and started to go meet the others, when I realized I filled my tires, but I forgot to get gas. Ugh, two U-turns later, I was back at the gas station. Now I was in hurry, cause Tim wanted to get there in plenty of time before the service started. Pulled up to the pump, threw open my car door and hopped out.... SPLASH!! My left foot was completely submerged in a large, deep puddle. sigh. Ok, fill the car and lets go.... nope. Sometime I had never done before.... I had pulled into the pump on the wrong side. So, get back into the car and turn it around, so I can fill it up. Finally accomplished my goal, now to meet Tim and we're back on the road. 

About an hour down the road, everything is grand. Slightly rainy, but beautiful skies (notice I didn't say scenery, I'm still not sure about this state). :) I noticed this mini-van entering the freeway behind me two lanes to my right. No big deal, but I felt uneasy about it. They changed lanes and were now right next to me. Sure enough, a minute later, she was trying to change lanes into MY lane! Praise the Lord there was no one in the lane on my left side and I swerved over. She noticed and it scared us both immensely! Later she pulled up next to me and apologized. I think she was more shaken than I was. 

Thankfully, we had no other incidents on the way down, except for a little bumper to bumper traffic once we hit Austin. But we made it to church in plenty of time. Thats enough for one day, right?

wrong again. 

That night after the church service, we were headed to the place were three of us are staying for the weekend. Its dark and I had looked it up online, but forgot to write the directions down, so I asked my friend. We've got a map and away we go..... it was a 45 minute drive from the church and only took us about an hour and 10 minutes. :) yep, we got "lost." It wasn't totally lost, because I knew how to get back to where we started. After several phone calls and text msgs, we arrived at our destination. Thank You, Lord!!

Even though it was an interesting day and at some moments frustrating, I must say - GOD IS GOOD!!!

It was SO refreshing to be at the conference last night. It was almost like being back home in my own church. And I even had friends there from my church back home. The singing was amazing and the preaching excellent. Let me tell you, My LORD is a truly Amazing God! He is with me through everything I go thru. And  He is so patient with me day after day. There is no God like my God. Do you know Him? 

In Christ ALONE

Powerful words! Read and think about the words...

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

Alaska Pictures

Maybe its the heat, but this trip/move has been a little harder for me. I have missed Alaska this time more than other trips. Maybe its because when I'm in a foreign country, everything is SO different and I am so busy I don't have time to think about home as much. Here I am still in the United States, but small town Texas is a far cry from the Interior of Alaska! same, yet different. Anyway, a couple weeks ago, I was really missing the mountains and the rugged beauty of my home state. So, I remembered a good friend of mine loves photography and has tons of amazing pictures! So I emailed her and soon I had two picked out and they were on their way... :) They are gorgeous and help with my homesickness. My roommate even loved them, so they are both on our living/diningroom walls. Here's the pictures of the pictures. :D

BBQ!

My family loves the BBQ! we grill burgers, steaks, chicken, salmon, whatever! I have missed the grill the past two months, so I decided to spend a little of my PFD and buy a small grill. I'm so glad I did! :) I've already done bbq chicken and corn on the cob and today plan on grillin so big, fat, juicy burgers! Sometimes its the small things that matter. And by the way, charcoal is the only way to go.... no gas grills for me. 

God's Daughter

God is good. It never ceases to amaze me how He continues to work in my life. Through thick and thin, He is there. He guides and leads when I have good days and even when I have 'bad' days. It is so easy for me to get wrapped up in my own little world and get focused on myself and my needs. But He always reminds me that there is a greater purpose for my life. That purpose is to glorify Him!

This week, I have been meditating on the thought that I am God's daughter and what that really means. (thanks, N) First of all, of course, God loves me! such a simple, yet profound thought! That the God of the world, the Creator of the universe, the all-powerful Lord loves sinful, little me! May I never get over that! Not only does God love me, but He provides for me. He says that He will supply my every need and He always does! I am His daughter! He is my Father, my Dad, my Daddy. He hurts when I hurt. He comforts me during that hurt. He protects and strengthens me. Its so easy to forget all that. This week has been a good reminder. I challenge you to think this week, what is God to you? What are you in Christ? 

Stormy Night

I have this crazy friend who it seems almost every time I am around him, I do something dangerous. Not on purpose, it just happens! :) Yesterday, I drove down to Ft. Worth/Dallas for church. Sunday morning I was in Irving to go to church where a missionary family to Mexico was visiting. I wanted to meet them face to face. It was good to finally see them. I spent the afternoon in Dallas at a mall; did a little bit of shopping and then watched my home church's service online. (yay for livestream!)

That evening, I headed over to north Dallas to see my wonderful friends the Cofers. They were at one of their supporting churches and I always love to go see them.... even though dangerous things happen! The service was wonderful; Mickey preached an excellent sermon about missions. We hung around a bit after church talking and then migrated to the door to leave.... this is where it gets good.... :) I had overheard someone say it was raining. Cool. I like rain. and then I opened the door to outside. Uh, that wasn't rain, it was a flood! it was raining buckets of water, the wind was whipping around, lightning was flashing, thunder roaring and water was running across the parking lot. Jaaz and I ran across the parking lot to my car. By the time we got in, we were literally soaked to the bone. I pulled up behind Mickey. We were going to a church member's house for supper. There was four cars following each other. Which I hate following people after dark. I was the last in the line and Mickey was in front of me. Off we go.... 

The two boys were with me, all cold and soaked. There was a tree down across one of the lanes at one point, which I had to swerve to miss. Mind you, its dark, except for the flashes of lightning, some of the streetlights were going on and off, the rain was hitting my car so hard I thought it was going to dent my car, my windshield wipers were going as fast as they could and I was still having a hard time seeing out the window. And I was scared of hydroplaning. And then Mickey's van stalls out twice, so we get farther and farther behind the lead vehicles. Now we don't really know where we are going. I call Trina.... Mickey answered. He had the phone, not Trina. Well that does us no good. Thankfully the guy who's house we were going to called Jonah's phone. yay, we're going to get directions! Ok, off we go again... I'm following Mickey.... left hand turn... oh no! we didn't turn far enough and we are in the turn lane for the oncoming traffic and there is a median between us and the lane we need to be in. Cars are coming... quick turn into a parking lot across oncoming traffic! Turned around again and 2nd try.... ok, made it into the right lane. yay! Made it safely to the people's house, dash out of the car and run up the sidewalk to the door... yep soaked again. whew. At least we had hot soup to meet us there. 

 By this time it was late and I didn't know where all the storm was or how long it would last. So ended up staying with the Cofers in their hotel room. One of these days, I am going to learn to keep an overnight bag in my car for emergencies. This morning, got up at 545 to drive back to school in time for classes. yep, I was a bit tired today. :) 

Even though it was a scary drive last night following Mickey, I'm glad I went. I love the Cofer family. They have truly become like family to me. Love them!