So, So Thankful

With Thankgiving coming up so soon, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on thankfulness.

It's amazing how much we take granted the things God has blessed us with and how much we selfishly want more. Ever since my accident, an overwhelming feeling of gratitude has pervaded my life. God could have taken me out of this world; I think I was very close to it. I am thankful for each breath I have and for each morning I wake up to live another day (I may not be very thankful for the actual morning sometimes... still working on that). I go to an amazing school with professors who are sincerely concerned for your well-being. I love the education and the thorough study of the Bible I get to receive. Being thankful for God's Word, I have been learning so much about myself, life, and the God who gives everything to me.

I am also SO thankful for my family, friends, and churches. Before my accident, I think I failed to show how much I love my family. I have made it a personal goal to try to show my family how much I love them. My friends have been there for me so much this semester. They give me rides, put up with my emotional breakdowns, and encourage me all the time. I don't know what I'd do without the friends I have. Currently, I attend two churches, one while at school and the other while at home. Both have amazing congregations that I prefer to call family. I have sat under amazing teachings from God's Word that not only encourage me but challenge me in my walk with Christ.

I consider myself very much blessed.

So dear readers, what are you thankful for?

Content and Warm

On this cold fall day, I am thankful it isn't snowing (yet). It's not that I don't like snow; infact, I think snow is a beautiful aspect of God's creation. However, I am not a fan of slipping and falling. So I pray that if there is snow that comes, please let it not be icy. Being on a crutch has made my perspective change drastically about weather. I usually enjoy rain, but when I can't walk fast enough to get out of it and when it makes my hip ache like I'm fifty years older than I am, I am not quite a fan of it. So yes, I am a bit anxious about this winter. In about three weeks I'll be off the one crutch. Even then, my faith in my balancing skills is not 100%.

But God is faithful and will keep me from injury if He so choses.

For right now? I am sitting in a local coffee shop, eating a scone, drinking warm coffee, and listening to great music while blogging. For now, I'll be content and warm where I am, still thankful for no snow (yet).

Just another day on the ant hill.

Some Crutchy-ness

Just a fun Quote from the movie Newsies: Crutchy: Jack, when I walk, does it look like I'm fakin' it? Jack Kelly: Nah, Crutchy, who says ye'r fakin' it? Crutchy: I don't know... It's just there's so many fake crips on the streets today, a real crip ain't got a chance. I gotta find me a new sellin' spot where they ain't used to seein' me! For about the past two months I have been on crutches. For the first six weeks, I was on two crutches, and the last two I have been down to using only one. To you, my readers, I will confess something: I am not a patient person. Since my accident, I have been thankful for many things: being alive, God's mercy and grace, awesome friends and family who support me, people's prayers, etc. I have a hard time being thankful for my crutches. At first I often tripped over them while attempting to walk. I often drop them and struggle to pick them up. They get in the way and are quite bothersome for a small dorm room. Even worse: they constantly remind me how weak I am. Although I have made tremendous amounts of improvement, I still somewhat rely upon my crutch. You know what though? Even though I don't like using a crutch, I sometimes do need it when I am not as physically up to the task without it. Sometimes we treat God that way. We resent being so weak and in need of God's grace in order to get us through a certain situation or to have victory over our sin. We feel that we should be able to do things on our own when in reality, God is the one Who supplies us with the strength we need to get us through the day. We try to do things on our own but fall flat on our face. Now, I am not saying that God is a crutch. That would imply that someday, we wouldn't need God. We as fallible sinners will always need the Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. It is my prayer that I don't resent the fact that I need God for everything in my life, but rather, welcome His wonderful grace and be thankful for His help for all of my needs. So for now, I'll keep gimping along despite my dislike for the metal crutch. I only have a few more weeks on it anyway (hopefully won't be prolonged). I will rejoice, and be glad in my circumstances and in the God Who holds me in His hand.

The Country that Captured My Heart

I miss the people I met

Whose lives were shared with mine.


The people whose smiles encouraged


and joys overflowed, sweet and divine.


Even though there is an ocean


In between Germany and I,


God gave me a love for them,


That can go farther than I can reach,


(Too bad I can't fly).


I cherish the fast-made friendships,


And even though we are far apart,


The bond we have in Christ


Keep my new friends close in my heart.

Just a Blip

So tonight I had some girl time with a good friend of mine curling hair and looking pretty.

Oh, and a random note: I colored my hair black. Well... it was supposed to be dark brown... but, as you can see, it ended up darker than that. I think it looks pretty cool. (Especially when it's curled)

But anyway, after a week of craziness that made me go completely bonkers, going to the mall with friends sounded like it would be the cure for a hard week's worth of stress. We hung around for a bit. I went and looked for a t-shirt I have been trying to buy and couldn't find it. However, I did find a Zelda t-shirt that was fun. Oh. And an awesome $4 hat. Which, by the way, I am wearing while I am typing up this post.

Just another day on the college ant hill.

Resting in the Shadow of the Cross

Sometimes we do not understand what is going on in our lives. We question everything, wondering why our world gets turned upside down, or in my case, comes to a skidding crash. Sometimes I asked God why He allowed me to be hurt like this out of curiosity, but never once have I been angry about it. I fully understand that God is working something out in my life. He is making me a teachable vessel wherewith He fills me with the ever living water, His Word. Through this situation, I have learned to love God more. Why would I love a God who let me get into a horrible accident where I could have died? God created me. God gave me the very breath I breathe. God gave me life. Why WOULDN'T I love God? You know what else God has done for me? God has redeemed me from my life of sin. How? He sent His Son, who lived a perfect life and knew NO sin to die for my wages of death. Jesus paid my ransom, my debt. Sometimes I fail, I stumble, I fall, but God always lovingly picks me back up again and reminds me that He is always faithful and that He gives me grace for every need. My prayer is that I become so completely and totally in love with God that I put no other 'god' in my life before Him. "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30

Just a Small Town Girl

During the second half of my summer I spent my days at home being bored. I was not able to get a job, so instead I enjoyed the leisures of every day summer fun. During this part of the summer my car brakes were starting to go out. I was talking about it to a friend who I used to volunteer with at the pound (and during my break was volunteering again). This gentleman has his own garage and offered to help me fix it on one condition: I have to help.

I was pretty excited to have something to do. Spending my day with Murphy, working on my car, getting dirty? Sounds like fun to me! Working in the garage was a fun experience as Murphy and I jacked up my car, took off the tires, and inspected my brakes. Murphy did most of the work and directed me to do this and that. We listened to his country music mix all daywhich made me smile. It reminded me that I was from small town Iowa. Once he figured out what we needed to fix my car, Murphy took me to an O'Rileys to get the parts. Being away in a different country where I felt like I knew no one made me forget that I practically knew EVERYONE in my home town. I ran into different people while we were out and chatted with them while Murphy got the parts I needed.

After a few hours of work on my car we ate lunch at the gas station down the street. Murphy goes there very often and knows the people that work there. After a quick lunch we went back to work. Seeing as my car is also very loud because of my exhaust system, Murphy wanted to fix that too. So we put on a new muffler and tail pipe. Here is a picture of some of my piping underneath my car:

Fantastic! After buying pipes Murphy realizes that we needed to bend them in order to put them under my car correctly. Uno problemo: he didn't have a pipe bender. What to do? Well... ONLY in small town Iowa can you walk down the street and find someone who happens to have a pipebender! We went into his shop and bent the pipes the way they needed to be and went back to his garage and continued to work on my car. This was an all day affair and very exhausting, but totally worth it!

This day that I had was a reminder of the small town girl I really am.

Just another day on the ant hill. :)