A day in the life

Today I went to a juvenile correction facility and got to know some absolutely awesome young men. As they shared thier stories, it broke my heart. The majority of these young men grew up without their father, in an enviorment where the majority of the people they know use drugs or abuse alcohol.
A specific young gentleman tugged my heart in a way it's hard to explain. If I was able too, I would have taken him home. After talking with him for over a half hour about Jesus, I asked the young man if he had anything I could pray for him about. He asked me if I could pray he has a family. This young man grew up in foster care, bounced from family to family. His parents are in prison for drugs and he doesn't really know what it's like to be in a family. Needless to say, I started tearing up. No words can explain the compassion that flooded my heart for this young man. I expalined to him that I was there today because I love him and the Lord loves him. I wish I could explain to you what an incredible day I had in the facility getting to know some young men, praying for them, and reminding them the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ.

Pray for this young man. He is searching out who God is. He was telling me about what he's been reading in the bible and trying to figure out if it's all true. We talked about some of the questions he has been wrestling with. He wasn't ready to commit his life to Jesus Christ. When I asked him what was stopping him from making a commitment he explained that when he makes the decision, he wants to be fully commited. He wants to be completely sold out, and right now he doesn't think he can do that. I tried explaining to him that if he is waiting to be perfect it's never going to happen. In our own strength, we can't do it. We're not good enough. It's only though the Lord we are able to change our lives.

Ode to Tea

Today I'm going to pay tribute to my favorite beverage... TEA.

Did you know tea has antioxidants.

There are many types of teas:

Tea is traditionally classified based on the techniques with which it is produced and processed.[19]

White tea: Wilted and unoxidized

Yellow tea: Unwilted and unoxidized, but allowed to yellow

Green tea: Unwilted and unoxidized

Oolong: Wilted, bruised, and partially oxidized

Black tea: Wilted, sometimes crushed, and fully oxidized

Post-fermented tea: Green tea that has been allowed to ferment/compost

Lastly, here are my three favorite teas, in no particular order <3

 

Trusting Strangers

On wednesday my psychology professor announces that we are doing a class experiment.

Guided Walk: you draw a number, find your partner, and grab a blindfold. One person is blindfolded while their partner guides them around campus for 15 minutes. The would hold onto your arm and give you signals to let you know what was going on. Oh, did I say no talking--- at all.

There are many things I did NOT like about this exercise:

1. I would be blindfold.
2. my partner was a guy whom I did not know.
3. There are stairs involved.
4. My class is during one of the busiest times on campus, lunch time.

I was NOT excited. I really didn't want my parnter to walk me through the cafeteria... but he did.
As I was blindfold, being lead through a crowded cafeteria, and thinking of how dumb and embarrased I felt, God started speaking.

It's like he said "really amanda?" It was a total pride thing, and as soon as he started speaking, I knew I was being rediculous.

As I was being guided through the cafe this is what I learned:
Walk by faith, not by sight. In the same way that I had to trust my partner, is the same way I needed to trust the Lord. He can see the bigger picture, I can not. My partner knew how to best guide me around potential obsticles to a goal he could see. I had to trust that he would guide me correctly, this is the same as the faith I have to place in God. Faith is believing that God is who he says he is, and he will do what he says he will do. We need to trust that God will guide us sucessfully through life.

Half way through the guided walk I got confident and started taking larger strides. In the same way, as we trust God and learn to pay attention to his guidance, we are able to successfully move forward without worry/anxiety. As I listened to the guide, it was easier to trust them. In the same way, the more we learn to trust God, the easier it is to follow where he leads as we trust in HIm.

Will you stay in Midian?

An older woman and I were talking today and she was sharing with me about her recent troubles. She was explaining that her son was like Moses.... just kind of wandering in a desert. As I listened to her explain her son, all I could think of was God did not give up on Moses.

The story of Moses can be reduced to a short little story. "Baby boy get's rescued from death, He kills an Egyptian, He flees Egypt. He spends 40 years in the desert. God calls him back and he leads the entire Hebrew nation out of Egyptian slavery."

While it's all any incredibly amazing miracle, let's focus on one aspect, Moses spent 40 years in the desert... well in Midian. Midian wasn't a short jog across the border. He FLED. 

The part of the story that I haven't been able to get out of my head is that God met Moses where he was. Moses fled Egypt not because he felt like God was telling him to go, but because he feared for his life. God had a definate plan for Moses' life, to lead God's people out of Egypt. He was terrified because he had made a huge mistake. Moses killed a man who he felt was misteating someone and then had to live with the guilt of his actions.

But God was not done with Moses. Despite the 'failure' of Moses, God was still speaking. In the desert, God will still speaking. While leading the people out of Egypt, God is still speaking.

I know sometimes it's easy to run from our mistakes, we all do it. And it's easy to stay in the desert, hiding. I think it's important to note God didn't let Moses stay in the desert, he called him to complete the plans and purpose He has had for Moses' life from the very begining

. 

Even through our insecurities, even dispite our failures, even when we are running from the plan God has for us, God is still speaking. He still has a master plan that we are still asked to partake in. God gave Moses a choice, Lead my people. But the decision to lead was Moses'. Moses could have said No. He could have stayed in the Land of Midian where he had built a new life.

Are you in the desert running? Can you still hear the voice of the Lord directing you?

It's hard to make the choice to stop hiding in the desert, but with help from the Lord, I know you can do it.

And i'm here for you, always. 

<3 Amanda

uploading...

As my homework is working on being submitted, I decided it would be a great moment to share with you my top 5 frustrations of online homework:
1) UPLOADING always seems to take as least 20 minutes, if you are lucky.
2) Errors. Blackboard (Purdue's program of Moodle) likes to wait till you are uploading document 20/20 that has to get grouped together before it proudly announces 'error' forcing you to resend all your information, yet again.
3) the teacher doesn't grade it.
Let's face it, If I was the teacher, I wouldn't too.. I can't even seem to complete any of the last three sections every section in word processing, yet I still recieve 10/10. I have concluded my teacher does not care.
4) Since attendence in the classroom is not manditory, I submit my homework the night before and sleep in. It's true, online homework allows students to be lazy and skip class as much as they want.
5) pointless assignments. Because the teacher does not care, nor grade, every assignment feels completely pointless. What is the meaning of wasting my time doing hours upon hours of time-consuming work for it to be published and never viewed by the prof.

I conclude my random thoughts with this:
I can not wait to graduate. My brain is worn out from all this nonsense.

-Amanda
p.s. I promise to not be so negative next post... <3

These are a few of my favorite things....

*all photos courtesy of Google.

I am SOOO VERY excited about my upcoming trip to MN.

I have to be honest though, I am REALLY nervous! It's been since September 2009... that's a LONG TIME!! But I'm trusting the Lord that it will be an awesome time of catching up with people I love! It will be surreal to be on campus again. It sometimes feels like my first two years of college was an incrediblely amazing dream I had. But then I look at pictures and have phone dates that remind me the people I know are real.

I bet I don't even make sense right now. I think it's time for bed <3

On my mind..

I'm sure it doesn't come as to big of a suprise... I have babies on the brain!

How precious are these little gifts of life that bless our world every single day! Before you freak out I just want to clarify that I am NOT pregnant, and it is physically impossible to be so.

I'm really enjoying this stage of life I am in - being able to watch my newly married/ married for awhile  friends become pregnant and have little ones.

About two months ago, My mentor and her husband brought a beautiful baby girl into the world, and what a joy Lily is to be around! I am so very blessed that Steph and Jeff allow me to be apart of their lives! Lily was is the youngest, smallest baby I have ever held! Since then her little toes, fingers, and body have been growing bigger each day! She's smiling, laughing, and continues to learn at a super quick rate. Last week I stopped by and she recognized my voice! It was such a precious moment! I thought about it all week "she knows me!" I wish I could describe for you how that touches my heart <3

So here I am, 1:00 am smiling with pure joy while thinking about the little blessings God gives the world! I'm wondering what my friend's babies are going to be like when they grow up, what God-given talents he has placed in them, and what plans God has in store for them. I am so very honored to be able to pray for these precious children and their mommy's and daddy's!

I have so much joy knowing that I am able to bless others by supporting them, praying for them, and encouraging them in this new stage of their life, parenthood.

This post is dedicated to:

*Jeff and Steph

*Sean and Francine

*Tim and Sarah

and all the other parents in the world!