A Season of Change

Be warned, this post is a long one and is more for me than anyone else.  I've been traveling a long road of change during this season of my life and I wanted to be able to put onto paper (or on the web for the world to see) what the last 10 months or so have entailed.  My God is good and I don't ever want to forget that!  

As most of you know, last September I was told my job (and myself if I chose) was relocating to Dallas, Texas.  Talk about a life altering decision to think about.  After a lot of thought, well maybe a week at most, and lots of prayer time I decided that wasn't a move for me and Dallas was not the path that God was calling me down.   You see, I'm a family and friends kind of girl and I love my church.  I can't imagine being 2 hours away from them much less a 10 hour drive away.  I just don't think my heart could have handled it.  

Fast forward to January when I had to make my decision known to State Farm.  I was stressed beyond belief because I had never not had a job since I was fifteen.  I had been at my current position with State Farm for almost 9 years and had been in a State Farm position for almost 13 years!  The thought of not having a job in 3 months scared me but on a Wednesday night in January (the 9th to be exact)  I decided to put a re-apply app in at Vol State to complete my pre-nursing courses.  I had an immediate sense of peace.  Now that I had made that decision final, I now got to stress over the fact that I was leaving what I had known and the people I had come to love at the Farm but I was also growing excited over the future and what was to come.  I had been working with the youth at our church so that was going to open up the ability to continue working with them more hands on through the summer.  My last day of work was initially set for April 30th but on March 21st we we're told that because the changes we're moving ahead of schedule, the company was giving those in my position an early leave with pay therefore March 29th was my last day "at" work and my last official day with State Farm was April 30th. The road branched. 

April brought a lot of emotion.  One of them being sadness on closing a chapter and another being fear.    I quickly busied myself with lots of stuff to do because anyone who knows me, knows that I can't sit still for long so going from having the hours of 7:00-6:00 occupied with a commute and work to nothing left me feeling fidgety.  Unfortunately the majority of my month ended up being consumed with dealing with the aftermath of an auto accident.  My poor, well-loved SUV made friends with a tractor trailer and rock wall on a stormy, Wednesday morning and was injured beyond repair and I was blessed to only walk away with a wicked seat belt burn/cut on my neck and lots of bruising.  It was kind of a sad month for me.  

Luckily May flew by and the summer brought a full load at school and lots of youth trips.  Like 3 trips in 3 weeks.  The first week was consumed with Nashville Workcamp which is a blessing in itself.  We take a week plus a house and restore it back to something beautiful for those medically unable or financially unable to.  Hopefully we leave the street with a sense of renewal and an opportunity to have seen God at work that week.    After a week of recovering, I took off to Jr Impact with 4 teen's at Lipscomb for the weekend, returned them back home and then returned for a week of Sr. Impact with 6 more teens.  We learned about what it meant to truly honor God.  We also sang a new version of "Just as I am" and it still sends chills down my arms.  It was where I was at after the last few months or 7 had broken me down.  

("Just As I Am" chorus by Travis Catrell)

I come broken to be mended

I come wounded to be healed

I come desperate to be rescued

I come empty to be filled

I come guilty to be pardoned 

By the blood of Christ the Lamb

And I'm welcomed with open arms

Praise God, just as I am

I left Impact with a sense of renewal and determination to honor God.    It also gave me a sense of renewal as I began the final planning steps of church camp and left me excited for what was to come.  

July started out with a week at the most happiest place on Earth with my family.  It was my niece's 1st visit so it was very cool to experience and see everything for the 1st time through her little bitty eye's.  Though she had a fear of the characters, she LoVed Disney and keeps asking to go back.  I'm not sure what it is about Disney that makes it magical but I think it's the sense of being a child again no matter your age.  It was a fun week that had to come to an end for me early Friday morning.  I headed for the airport around 5:00 am to catch my 8:00 flight back to Nashville.  I was greeted by Katy in Nashville where I hit the ground running to finish up last minute camp details because we we're headed out in a big gray church van on Saturday at noon with a LOT of food.  Church camp was a blast and I was blessed with another great group of staff and a lot of amazing kids.  

Needless to say after a whirlwind of trips in 6 weeks, I was ready to rest and figure out where home was.  I had a week that I spent un-packing and re-organizing from camp and then jumped feet first into VBS with a few youth things thrown in.  I'm now a week away from wrapping up a semester of college and only about 7 weeks away from when this journey started.  A new school year is around the corner and I'm sure lots of changes are coming my way.  I don't see this season of change ending soon but I have to say that I don't mind that completely.  With every change that has been thrown at me, I've grown as a person, my views have been changed, and I've learned that God's plan is much bigger and better than what I could have come up with.  This season has allowed me to be places I couldn't have been and help in ways that weren't possible before.  It's allowed me to grow closer to new friends and renew relationships with those who our paths had gone different ways as life does.  I'm forever grateful for my family, church family, biscuits, and friends.  Without their prayers and encouragement  I wouldn't be standing right now.  I'd be in a fetal position in the corner afraid of what was to come.  Now I can't wait to see what is to come!  

Real faith isn’t a hopeful wish. Real faith is making the decision that no matter the outcome, we’ll choose to see it as God’s perfect answer.  Through the good. Through the not-so-good. And even through the down right awful- we will trust God. Now this doesn’t mean we won’t cry and express hurt. But it does mean we’ve decided it’s better to have lived trying to take leaps of faith with God, than to walk away from Him. - Lysa TerKeurst


It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.  - Mark 4:31