Trust in the Lord with all your heart

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

I picked this verse for today because I know that I need to focus on this in the upcoming weeks/months. It's funny (or something) how things work out sometimes. My man moved to Atlanta in August to be with me. Which was fantastic until I moved to Dallas. I was able to go to Indy for his Great Banquet weekend at Connection Pointe at the end of February. From what what I could tell, he had a really good time and enjoyed his experience. I was able to pull off the surprise visit, which was nice. I also got to hang out with his family for a while, which is always a fun time.

We found out that Sunday evening that there might be something available for him in the Indy area (job wise). I can't say anything about it, partly because I don't know and partly because it's not officially available yet. So, as of right now, we don't know where I will be once this project is completed. My company still hasn't told me yet, and I'm not sure when they will know. We know that I am in Dallas (full-time now!), and he is in Atlanta (with awesome volunteer opportunity that he is taking advantage of, and a part time job). Other than that, we're just in a state of maybe's. It stinks, but it's the only option we've got right now. He's been talking with the maybe-job and they can't tell him anything because one of the guys is on vacation this week, but hopefully in the next couple of weeks they will be able to give him a better idea of what's going on.

So really, we know nothing more than we did before he went to his Great Banquet weekend. At this point, we're focusing on letting go and letting God. It will work out, and only He knows how. We put our faith in Him for a reason, and so we're praying that He guides us to a good place.

Be still, and know that I am God.

Laura Campbell, Indy West Great Banquet #22, Table of Martha.

I have to remember that, and I haven't found a sharpie yet to write it on my name tag so I'm putting it here. From now on, whenever I introduce myself to a member of the Great Banquet community, that's how I do it. And then everyone applauds. No, I'm not kidding.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Great Banquet, it's a 72 hour experience where you are pushed to grow closer in your relationship with Christ. It's not a retreat, it's not a mission, it's an experience. We arrive Thursday evening and leave Sunday evening-yes, friends, that's right. I spent 72 hours "locked" in a church with many other women. Granted, there were other things going on, but we had our own schedule to stick to. Did I mention that they covered the clocks and we weren't allowed to have watches or cell phones? So, no communication with the outside world and no clue on the time. 

I loved every single minute of it. I would love to go into the details about why I loved it so much, but I can't. It's part of the experience, and if anyone were to ever go through it, I wouldn't want to ruin it for you. I admit I was nervous when I went in, but luckily my sponsors-and second family-were there with me. Still didn't ease my nervous-ness. But on Sunday as we were wrapping up-as most sisters in Christ do-we ended with hugs. As I hugged each of my sisters, almost every single one of them told me that they loved my energy. A few asked if they could have some of it, haha. Simply put, I had an amazing time. I made some amazing new friends, and I pray that we will be able to serve together on a future Great Banquet weekend.

Okay, so I picked up a few things from this weekend experience:

Be still and know that I am God.

God does not call the equipped, he equips the called.

If I can make the time to watch my favorite TV show or be on facebook, I can make the time for God in my daily life. And it's become very apparent that I need to.

As much as I don't want to admit it, I cannot be the spiritual leader for my future family. It's not my position. It's my man's job. And the only things I can do to help him is love and encourage. That's it. Everything else is between him and God. (Let me tell you, this one is a struggle for me. But I know that I need this rock in my life, and I know that my future children will need it too.)

I have struggled with prayer in my life since I opened my heart to God. But something that was said this weekend helped ease that struggle a little. "Even when we don't have the right words to say, God knows."

My relationship with God-yes, I have a relationship with the Lord-takes effort. Just like any other relationship. I may not be perfect, but I can count on Him to always be there for me. I can trust Him to always love me, no matter what. There is nothing you can do to make God love you less, and nothing you can do to make Him love you more. His love is everlasting.

I could go on and on about things I learned over the weekend-but I won't. I won't because I don't want to give anything away! One thing I can share with you though, is that I thoroughly believe that coincidences do not exist. I have been in this train of thought since about March or so. This weekend absolutely confirmed it. I know that God brought my man into my life at exactly the right moment. I know that if he and I had met any sooner, I don't think we would be together. I think, as much as I hate to admit it, would have completely ignored him. But that is not the case, so I need not worry about it. I have the perfect man in my life, and most importantly, I have God in my life.

The best thing about having God in my life is knowing that He will always be with me. No matter what.

Until next time, dear readers.

Philippians 4:13

Happy October!

I apologize for not updating this past week, and now because I won't be able to post on my social networks that I have updated again. This will be very short in comparison to most of my entries since I am updating from my phone. I just wanted to let you all know that I won't be able to give you an update about this week's sermon at North Point. I will listen to the podcast when I get home, and update then. I am currently in Indiana so I can attend the Great Banquet weekend. It starts this evening and I am very excited about it. My friends/mentors/second family is sponsoring my weekend, and I couldn't be more grateful. I honestly have no idea what I have signed up for this weekend, but I expect I will have a good time. I'm also not so sure how much I will be able to tell you about this weekend, as that's part of the Great Banquet experience. I'll tell you what I can and I have brought a journal with me to jot down what I do during the weekend. If you want to know more, please visit iwgb.org. If you do you will get to know just as much as I do, ha! Anyway, I hope you all have a good rest of the week and a wonderful weekend. I will be back on Monday-did I mention I'm not allowed to have my phone? Yikes. Just based on that I know it's going to be something to remember. Until next time, dear readers. Psalm 91:15

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

I apologize for the late post this week. My parents were here for the weekend and I was busy spending time with them. We had a good time by the pool and at the DCI Southeastern Championship. We went to North Point on Sunday, and my mom loved it. We then spent some more time at the pool and then Dad&I changed my car's headlight and installed a digital thermometer for my A/C. So, overall, a good weekend.

Yesterday we looked at Mark 9:42-48. It was a pretty intense message, and a couple times I could only pray that my parents weren't turned off to NP because of it. Joel started with a reference to the movie 127 Hours. If you haven't seen it, Google it. I'm not sure I could handle explaining the movie, let alone watching it. But one of the quotes he pulled from the movie was "It's just an arm." After all, it is just an arm. You can live with out it. Sure, it will be challenging at first. It's essentially a new way of life, but a necessary step for you to take. Aren't there things you hold tight onto that cause you to stumble? I know there are for me. I do apologize, dear readers, but there are some things the interwebz don't need to know. I trust that there are things about you that you don't wish others to know, and so you understand my position. Maybe it's something that you are doing that is causing you to stumble. Something you look at, something you think about, whatever it is, it's causing you to stumble. 

If you knew years before the problem were to arise, wouldn't you cut whatever it is out of your life? A surprising quote from yesterday morning was "1 in 5 divorces cite Facebook as a cause to the beginning of an affair". If you knew that Facebook would ruin your marriage, wouldn't you deactivate your account? I know I would. No questions about it, I would say goodbye to Facebook. What we do today impacts where we end up tomorrow. I know it seems like a given, but it's still something to think about. Consider it as you go through your day. "If I do this/look at this/buy this, how will it impact my tomorrow?" There may not be an immediate effect on your life, but in time it may begin to affect your life in a way that you wish it wouldn't. 

There is more to this life than this life. Why would you trade anything for your eternity? I do wish that I could go back and change some things that I have done. But I can't. I can only go on with my life, and change what I am doing today and hope that it will have a positive effect on my future life. I pray that I can look back on my life now and say, "Good job, 2011 me. You made some good choices that year." 

I hope that you think about what is causing you to stumble and seriously consider cutting it out of your life. I am making steps towards my own goal, and I hope that you will be able to do the same. If you want to share your story with me, please message me or send me an email. I would be more than happy to listen and help if I can. If you'd rather not, that's okay too. If you would like me to pray for you, please don't hesitate to ask. This is a tough thing to go through (no matter what your stumbling block is) and I hope that you can trust that there is someone for you to talk to if you need to.

I have no idea how I will write next week's blog, we got a "don't bring your small children to next week's service" announcement. It's the last message in this series, and it's about marriage. I attended a service with my man at Connection Pointe, his home church, that was also about marriage. I admit that after that service I was kind of a mess. Luckily for me, he was there to lean on. I'm not sure how I will survive next week-since I have a feeling it will be similar.

Only 2 more Sundays left... Until next time, dear readers.