WOW, what a weekend.

This past weekend I went on "Walk to Emmaus" in the New River Valley in Virginia which is in the mountains and absolutely beautiful country. I wanted to share what all I learned and felt during my journey.
This past weekend was truly amazing and so difficult to put into words. I felt the love of the body of Christ like I never have before. There were people all around me there loving on me, serving me, praying for me and they didn't even know me!! I had a glimpse of what the Lord wants of His church, to love and encourage and serve each other so that we may go out and love, encourage and serve the lost in this world. There is really no way to describe how loved I felt throughout the weekend. It continues to blow me away 48 hours later. Not only was God's Agape love shown more real to me, other areas of my life were put into check you could say. When I first moved to Anderson I knew in my heart and my mind that the Lord wanted me here. Come May I will have been here 8 months. Over the past eight months, slowly I have began questioning the Lord as to why He has me here. Don't get me wrong. I have enjoyed my job, roommate and Anderson in general but I continued to seek what the Lord had me here for since I always want to be in God's will. For the past few weeks I have really been talking and sometimes yelling at the Lord and asking for Him to reveal to me why I am here or just give me a peace. God had placed people in my life right up to the walk talking about listening to God more than talking to God. How our relationship is a two way conversation. Well Duh Elizabeth, if you ask a question you have to listen! On Friday evening I wrote in my prayer journal and prayed telling the Lord, ok I am going to shut up and listen. After surrendering to Him, boy did He give me an answer fast. Over the next two days, through the talks by lay people and clergy, through communion, through prayer time, through other pilgrims in the walk and through the letters from family and friends the Lord answered me. He told me that I must have confidence in Him to work things out. See, I was asking and searching but having no confidence that He would reveal His plan for me. When we don't have confidence in our Lord, we aren't trusting Him. One verse kept coming to mind.........Prov. 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, lean not on your own understanding; in all of your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." I am now trusting and having complete confidence in our Savior that HE WILL show to me why He has me here and I will take that step of faith with the Lord's confidence, not my own fleshly fake confidence, when He wants me to step out for Him through my church, my work, my family, my friends, my community, and wherever else He will lead me in this adventure called life. As I continue to process these past three days and bask in the love of God, I pray that I will grow each day closer to our Lord. I pray this same prayer for each of you. Without Him there is nothing. I'll wrap up this LONGGGGG blog with a quote from this weekend........"Are you standing on the promises or sitting on the premises?"

The good, the bad and the crappy

So let's start with the good. I went to church last night and was really blessed by some of the women in our church. There are two that are a little older than my parents but oh do they love missions. To find people that are about doing and going is always exciting. I know God has me at that church for a reason and as time goes by, it will become even more evident.
The bad is that Shelly my roommate was in an accident this week. No one was hurt, but her new car and the other girl's car. God really was all over her and protecting and lavishing her with His grace. The ugly right now is work. Just about my whole case load is sick and on contact precautions. For those who might not understand, they have to be seen in there room for therapy while I, as the therapist, have a gown covering my clothes and gloves, so as not to get germs on me to spread any where else. Just a lot of junk and crap (literally) at work right now. This too shall pass! I must focus on the good and the blessings because all in all, they certainly out weigh the bad and the crap!:)

Newness

So I am going on seven months living in the upstate. At times the newness has worn off and at other times I feel like I just moved here. My job is getting better each day as I learn more and more about this occupational therapy stuff and the whole time management thing. I work with great people who make me laugh most of the day. If my coworkers aren't making me laugh, then I usually have one or two entertaining patients. I think my roomie and I are getting used to this whole new roommate deal. I've joined a church up here. It's small, but the people are great. It hit me today that there is no more living to the next thing or the next place. Being a student for so long, it's become habit to live somewhere for a year or so and move on to a new place or new dorm. I'm not planning on moving any time soon. It's nice in one way but it makes the newness wear off real fast. I say I don't plan on moving, because you never know where the Lord wants you. So as I try to become an upstate savy resident, I continue to seek what the Lord has for me here in Anderson while I hope to share what's going on in my life on this new blog.