Cute words make happy people

That summer breeze

It's getting warm in Texas as of recently. Shorts, tanks, and sandals warm. The nights are absolutely perfect. The sun has been shining all day long & even when it goes down that blissful dry heat remains. 

I've never been one to embrace warm evenings through having my car windows down but people change, right? I never understood why people had the windows down and hung their arms out...uh hello that is just an accident waiting to happen. I'm so glad that I understand this concept a little better after tonight. It is so freeing. Freeing to the point where I get goosebumps down to my toes and I feel as if I am floating from cloud to cloud. 

I have a feeling I'm going to be counting down the minutes for late summer night drives. 

Opportunities

I am so in awe of the amazing things I have going on in the near future. When first moving to Texas, I felt a little stagnant; my life seemed more like a routine and I did not have much to be excited for. Then all of sudden life was really surprising me with all of these awesome opportunities.

One Tuesday in October, I randomly decided to sign up for a 10 day trip to Amsterdam, Paris, and London all by myself. Well, I technically will be traveling with others but I have never met any of these individuals, which is what makes it so exciting. This is so unlike me and I am so happy about that.

A few weeks after signing up for the trip I had a missed call and voice-mail from a Los Angeles area code. I thought nothing of it, which is why I waited 3 hours from the call to even listen to the voice-mail. I did not think the voice-mail would hold such importance to me. Winning tickets to the Ellen DeGeneres show felt absolutely unreal. Even now, as I am typing it out, I still am in disbelief that I, of all people, get the chance to go to her taping of the show. This is something I have dreampt about for years and I never thought that it would actually happen. I mean come on, this is THE Ellen DeGeneres we are talking about here.

I am so happy to say that it is going to happen.

After finishing my first semester of grad school, I am truly feeling the presence of the most giving God. He is constructing things in a way that I never would have imagined and I hope that through everything I can be truly thankful for Him.

This isn't my world, it's His.

God is preparing me for something so big. I can feel it flow through my veins and my heart beats a little happier when I think of what is to come.
God is definitely drawing me closer to Him and I think it's been through books.

I have had a lot of down time since I have been home. I just started my new job but when I'm not working, I find myself sitting outside in the Texas sun, absorbed in the pages. This time last year you would have found a Nicholas Sparks book because it's a classic love story. The darling boy who is innocent yet so fierce that I was drooling over him through the pages.

I've found a much better love story.

The love story about Jesus and us.

If you're looking for a good read, I recommend:

1.  Jesus>Religion by Jefferson Bethke.
2. Love Does by Bob Goff
3. Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist
4. Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist
5. Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist

These books are more than just paper pages between a hard spine. They speak truth, they challenge and question, and they love you to your core.

How can a book physically love you? That's weird.

But I promise that these books love you, unconditionally, and ever so fiercely.

These books make me stop, look around, and think to myself about how beautiful that blade of grass is, how perfect my coffee tastes, and how much Jesus loves me. Without these books, without Him, I'd be in my own world.

That's the thing though. This isn't my world, it's His.

Think of something you love, like I can't think of living a day without you love. Maybe your Mom, your Dad, your dog, your iPhone. What have you.

Now, think of that infinite love you have for that one thing. That is only a spec of the infinite of how much He loves us. I once heard in a video about comparing His love to your love for your child. Now, I don't have any children but I do have my niece. And I love her, if you follow me on any form of social media, you'd find that fact. I'm a tad obsessed with her. I can only imagine what it's going to feel like to hold my child (children) for the first time. I'm going to love them more than anything I have ever loved; I know I'll love them more than I love the ability to breathe.

Jesus loves me more than I am going to love my own children. That is absolutely mind blowing.

My first reaction would be: But how could He love me more than I love my own children? I'd do anything for them, I would die for them.

Oh wait, He already did that for us.

I don't know why this gets me so much but it does. It shakes me but it is helping me gain just a glimpse of what there is to see.

Lets be honest, there is so much to see.

Airports and their surprises

Airports have always been an exciting place in my mind. People are all moving so fast; noticing nothing but their gate number, the 10 inches in front of their face, and for people like me, where the closest Starbucks is.

Airports are a really cool place because you are in a building with thousands of people, from all over the world. There are so many stories walking around. People are flying for business trips, for vacations, and some are traveling home to people they love. I don't really expect to talk to people while I fly; people generally keep to themselves and I respect that so I also keep to myself.

I had just boarded the plane to fly to Atlanta, to then reach my final destination of Virginia, where I would be spending the next 3 weeks. It was an 8:00am flight so I had been up since 5:00am to ensure I would make it to the airport and through security in time; aka I was pretty tired. When I had reached my seat I sat down and the man next to me, about mid 50s, started talking right away. He was so generous by holding my coffee, handing me my seat belt, and just being an absolute joy at 8:00am. We just started talking and for the first time in all of my years of flying, I didn't reach for my phone for music, my laptop for movies, or my book for reading.

I was just there and he was just there and it was such a blessing.

He asked me all about my life and I found him to be so intriguing. He is a physician in a small town in Texas, seemed to have a really put together life, but he was still trying to acquire as many skills as he could because "life is too short to ask permission, you just have to do it" (direct quote from him). He was telling me how he was traveling to D.C. to take a long weekend class to get his commercial wine making certification because a year ago in Chik-fil-a, while with some co-workers, someone had mentioned the subject and he thought to himself how interesting that would be.

That's all it took. Just an interest. I was so inspired.

Even after having a career of being a successful physician, he was still eager to learn something new. He was telling me all about his children, which are now adults, one of his sons had done the Peace Corps for 2 years in Uganda. I knew this was all God because the Peace Corps had not once before been on my mind, especially because I didn't know a lot about what it was. We got to talking about Uganda and Africa in general; Malawi was a focal part of the conversation and I was able to tell him all about my experiences there and all about the beautiful people I was able to meet. This man, this stranger who I don't think I'll ever see again, opened my heart to following my dreams. He had asked if I were interested in something like the Peace Corps. I said yes, especially after our conversation, but it probably wasn't something that would happen for me. All he said was, "why not?"

I didn't really have an answer. That's when I knew it was God.

Now, I don't think I am going to quit grad school and join the Peace Corps but it's definitely something that started out as a "had never once considered" and is now something that "sounds like great post-masters plan". 

He then asked me, "What do you think the biggest challenge you'll face in the next 5 years will be?"

He was so full of wisdom and friendly advice; it felt a lot like talking to my own Dad. 

I don't even know this man's name. We just talked about such in depth topics and he shared with me his meaning of life and how my generation has so much to experience and take advantage of.  He was able to open my heart so fast, giving me such lust for life and the desire to go out and be spontaneous.

While talking to this new stranger-friend, I realized that I had put a lot of adventurous experiences on the back burner because "my parents wouldn't think it's safe" or "I don't think they would let me". He helped me realize, without even giving me these direct words, that I was the only one holding myself back.

Life is truly so beautiful. I was not expecting to meet this man and have such a lovely heart to heart with him. I am so thankful for the moments we don't think will happen. I am also so dissapointed in myself that I didn't give God enough credit to believe that beautiful conversations could come from a 2 hour plane ride from Texas to Georgia.

I'm going to start believing that this world is capable of surprising us, because on this early Wednesday morning, it surprised me.

Sacred Place

We all have our place; our sacred place that we feel free to be vulnerable, open, and ourselves. In the shower. Running. Meditation. We all have that time where it's our God Time.

My God time is while I'm driving.

Lucky me, I just drove half way across the country from Blacksburg, VA to Trophy Club, TX this past week.

That's exactly 1,111.17 miles.

That is 17 hours. 1,020 minutes. All of this time with God and of course the best co-pilot ever, my dog Reesie.

It's funny to think that of all places to have my time with Him, it's in my car. On the open road. For me, sometimes when I am communicating with God it's very mental; a conversation that is full on just in my mind. Although, sometimes it's not mental and can be very much visible. That's besides the point though because the amount of people actually looking over into my car is slim to none.

It's really fascinating to me to learn about how other people connect with God and especially where they feel most connected. I remember Amy was asking me one time about when I feel closest to my faith.

All of the time. In everything I do.

Well, this is what I wanted to say because that is how a true and pure Christian would feel. Right?

Not particularly. 

I think that's what we build up in our minds to think but I think maybe God gives us those sacred places for a reason because He knows we all work differently and each of our unique and beautiful souls requires different settings for that certain connectedness.

My car is my sacred place. I may be reading into this a little much but maybe the car is my place because it's been a sacred place for me in other aspects of my life. My Dad used to be a truck driver; driving many miles for a living, which meant spending a lot of time in a vehicle (well, a truck) for his job. My Dad used to take my sister and me on some of his trips when we were younger. My Dad would tell me that when my 5 1/2 year old self would wake up in the morning, I would come sit in the front with him, tell him before any words could cross his lips that, "I need my wake up time before you talk to me". I think this started my time for reflection. I can probably only guess that the thoughts in my 5 1/2 year old mind were not the ones I have now but it all comes from the same concept I feel.

I have also had some of the best conversations with people in the car. My Dad first shared his faith with me about 2 years ago in the car, on a cold winter night, in a Walmart parking lot in Texas. I've had some of the most beautiful heart to hearts within the driver to passenger seat distance. A car just feels safe. The entrapment makes me feel like anything I say or hear, will forever just live within the seats and walls, never further from the door.

I tell God everything in my car. That 2005 navy Wrangler holds within it's plastic to glass windows the desires of my heart. It holds my fears and my aspirations. My heartbreaks and my heart on cloud nine. I can name more than two hands worth of times I have been driving in the car, connecting with God, and just releasing all of my emotions while on the open road.

With graduating college, moving far away from everything I know to be familiar, to becoming an adult (if that is actually a thing), I was lucky enough to start all of this off with 1,020 minutes with God.

Another reason why I feel the car is my place is because music is also my thing. Car time is always music time. I'm not musically talented....at all. Seriously. Side note though, I went out on a whim today and bought a Ukulele. I walked into Guitar Center, with my Dad, and told the guy upfront I have zero experience and 5 minutes later I was walking out with a Ukulele on my back, book in hand, and no clue what I had just gotten myself into.

Music connects me with God. I find him within the words of my favorite songs. I have a terrible singing voice but when the song is to celebrate Him, I find myself not caring to sing along, at the top of my lungs, well when I am by myself. Something on my bucket list was to not be afraid to "sing along". This can be applied to multiple things in my life. I can honestly say I'm an awkward person to drive with in a car if you like to sing. I admit it. I hate that part of myself because I want nothing more than to look at the person in the driver seat and bounce around and be that free spirit that is a contagious type of fun but my inner quiet child holds me back. So, if you've ever encountered this with me before, it's not that I don't like you or that I think you're weird. I love everyone and I'm weird. It's just that my courage is still building. I'll get there.

God blesses us with our sacred places. A place where we can truly feel His presence. Of course, I don't have a limit of connectedness to just my car; I feel Him in a lot of other places as well. My car, though, is just my holy ground. You may already know your sacred place but if you don't, I encourage you to seek it out. Ask God, He'll guide you.

My loves

Thanks to Kendall for taking some pictures right before graduation. So lucky to have such wonderful friends in my life, especially these two.