a BIG season

Its the beginning of the Fall Season. The weather is getting cooler, the leaves are beginning to change, and the football season has begun.

For me, the new quarter is about to begin with about 105 students arriving on Monday. I am very excited to be staffing my 1st school as a Small Group Leader (SGL). I will be a SGL for the Musician’s Discipleship Training School. I will also be the Hospitality Assistant and helping out with some childcare (babysitting). It will be a busy quarter. With being a SGL, I will be discipling 3 young women throughout their 3 months of teachings. I will be meeting with them once a week for a one-on-one, and we will have Small Group times with all of us together. I am really looking forward to getting to know these women, along with the other people in the Musicians DTS.

On a more personal level, I am expecting highs and lows this season in my life. I am expecting good time and hard times. Now, I know that through the lows and hard times I will grow more and I will learn more, but I am prepared for it to not come “easy” or naturally. I have noticed a pattern of God revealing really significant things to me during seasons like this, and I am anticipating for God to reveal some answers to questions that I’ve had for a while. I am really looking forward to this season in my life, and the BIG things that are going to happen.

Twenty-Five

 

I am twenty-five years old. I am a quarter century old. I am old enough to rent a car without under age fees. I am more beautiful inward and outward than I was a year ago.
As of August 13th, I am twenty-five years old!

I am really excited for this year of my life. I feel in my spirit that big things are going to happen this year. I am going to go through a huge amount of growth and maturity. It’s going to be good.

At twenty-five, I would have thought that I’d be married, have at least one child, and possibly live the American Dream.  But at twenty-five I am single, have no children, am living on my own in a suburb in Denver, Colorado, working for a non-profit organization, trusting in God to provide for my finances, and living off of faith for God to provide all of my needs. It is wonderful. God knew what was best. I love my life!

This year I spent my birthday away from my family. It was hard at times, but I have such great friends and people that are like family here. I think because of these people, I had the best birthday in long time. I felt so loved and encouraged. I spent some quality time with several friends and went to downtown Denver for a girls night out. I am so blessed.

I am looking forward to what God has planned during my year of being twenty-five years old, and I am prepared to let Him use me in any way He has planned.

Happy Father’s Day

I’m a little late in writing this blog, but just as I acknowledged my mom – I want to acknowledge my dad.

My dad and I have a funny relationship. We are so much alike that we butt heads at times, and other times we think and see things alike.

As I have matured and grown up, I have noticed how much of God’s character I see in my dad. My dad provides for me when I need him to. If I get into a jam and need money, he is there to provide. If I need new clothes or a new pair of shoes, he is there to provide. If I need some family time; he is there. If I need advice, he is there. And if I need a hug, he is definitely there.

My dad sometimes appears to be “tough guy” by showing little emotion, but deep down he has such a soft, gentle, and compassionate heart. He often befriends the “underdog” even if that means an actual animal. Several times my mom and I have tried to convince my dad to get another animal (even when we had 4 cats and 3 dogs inside the house). But his answer was always, “NO!”. I now realize why he his answer was always no. It was because when he commits to something he sticks to it. Also, the animal that he seemed to like the most was the one that didn’t get as much attention.

My dad is witty and has random moments of silliness. He even likes to try to embarrass me. For example, I will be walking around in Wal-Mart with my parents and I may go off to look at something in a nearby isle. Sometimes my dad will shout “Rebecca! Rebecca!”, when he knows exactly where I am. I have learned to ignore him because it makes him look like a weirdo. I have also learned to follow his example, so once in a while I will be the weirdo yelling his name in a store.

I really appreciate my dad for all of the times that he could have given up during hard times. But he remained strong and continued to move forward. My dad has endured much in his life and made sure that my brother and I were always taken care of and that history did not repeat itself.

My dad is humble , loving, kind, generous, sensitive, perceptive, funny, honest, charismatic, loved by everyone he comes in contact with, and so much more.

I LOVE MY DAD!

 

Happy Mother’s Day

Today is my first mother’s day away from my mom that I can ever remember. I don’t like being away from family during holidays, but I know that it’s not going to be the last. I look forward to the day when I will one day have my own children and be able to celebrate Mother’s Day. I look forward to passing on traditions that my mom and I have done together, and even to making my own family traditions. My mom has had such an important part in my life and in shaping who I am today. I am so thankful for her and all of the sacrifices that she has made for me.

I love the relationship that my mom and I have. We can act like sisters sometimes and some even say that we look like sisters. :-) I love that whenever we argue about something all we need is a few minutes away from each other before we talk about the reason we acted the way we did and then we are back to normal.

I love my mom so much, not only because I have a piece of her DNA, but because she is amazing. Throughout trials in her marriage she remained strong and patient for God to heal her always forgiving heart. And because of her faith in God, my parents have been married for 30 years and counting.

I love that my mom tried not to show any signs of fear, resulting in some of my favorite childhood memories of catching bumble bees in a jar (without getting stung) and asking her if I could bring them inside. As a child I never understood why I couldn’t bring them inside.

I also love the compassionate heart she has. My mom is always wanting to “rescue” an animal from a local shelter or even from the side of the road. Although she has enough self-control to know when she is taking care of too many animals. And it’s interesting to me that sometimes animals would show up at the front door and look into the little side window, as if to say “aren’t you going to let me in”. It’s like they knew she would take care of them.

I love that my mom and I have the same sense of humor, and sometimes take a few minutes before understanding a joke. I love that she is so understanding and understands me when I feel like no one else does.

My mom is so willing to learn new things. I even love when trying to teach her something new, she sometimes gets easily distracted and loses focus. But her heart is still in the place of being teachable.

I love that my mom is always, and I mean ALWAYS encouraging. She will tell you the truth in a kind and loving way, then encourage you. She’s always been encouraging me to be whatever I want to be in life. And even the times when I didn’t know what I wanted to do, she still gave me encouraging words.

And during my teenage years when I was rebellious and did not want to obey my parents, my mom still loved me. She has always loved me.

I love that my mom is my best friend and always will be.

I love you, mom!

:-)

Intended for Larger Things

Picture taken from flickr.com

For the past week I’ve been reflecting on the personal growth that I’ve experienced. As I looked back I was reminded of a quote from the movie BIG FISH…

… Kept in a small bowl the goldfish will remain small, with more space the fish will double, triple, or quadruple it's size. It occurred to me then that perhaps the reason for my growth is that I was intended for larger things
After all, a giant man cant have an ordinary size life.

If I were a goldfish, I feel like I have already doubled in size and I am going to grow even more. I have gone through several difficult things: moving away from home, living on my own, being out of my comfort zone, etc. And through these things, like the picture above, I have jumped from the little bowl to the bigger bowl.

When I look back on my life and even think of the small town I grew up in. I think about the times that I have wanted more space to grow, but didn’t know how to obtain it. Now, I understand that I had to wait until it was given to me.

One of the biggest thing that I enjoy about my job is that I don’t have someone frequently checking up on me. Don’t get me wrong, I have a supervisor but they give me a task and expect me to get it done or most of it done. I’ve noticed that by having this freedom I have grown tremendously in maturity, discipline, and even spiritually. I love growing and moving forward in life. I’ve also realized that I like to be challenged because it stretches me to learn more and experience more.

Although hard, I am enjoying this challenging time and season of growth. I wonder how big of a fish I will grow to be.