Every Season

I forgot to write marriage advice on a card at Caleb and Caroline's wedding... So I texted mine to Caroline.. and decided that since it had been forever since my last blog, that I would put some of my advice in with what the Lord has been teaching me.

When Cam and I got married a little over 5 years ago, I would've never guessed that we would've lived in 4 homes and 2 towns. I wouldn't have guessed that I wasn't teaching school right now. I wouldn't have guessed a lot of things. I say that to say, you can't really even imagine what all can happen in 5 years, much less 1 year. Life happens. Seasons change. BUT, God remains faithful through it all. He is there when you feel the world is against you. He is so good and He can be trusted. (My control freak self doesn't do so well with this sometimes.)

5 years. 4 homes. 7ish jobs for me. 3 jobs for Cam. Too many to count children's, youth, and mission trips to count. Currently in the adoption process and waiting. I wouldn't have any of it any other way, even when I didn't know what we were going to do at some points. I think that every season, every mountain we climb, every valley we might be in, and everything we experience is just molding us and growing us in the Lord. Sometimes I think God was just sitting there saying, "Sarah Beth, I am right here... You don't have to feel alone. I've been here all along. I will bind up your hurt. I will listen. I have great plans for you. I know what your future holds. Trust me. Please."

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
    do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
    and he will show you which path to take.

Proverbs 3:5-6

The Lord is my strength and shield.
    I trust him with all my heart.
He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.
    I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.

Psalm 28:7

For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does.

Psalm 33:4

Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.

Psalm 37:3

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people.

Psalm 118:8

You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.

1 Peter 1:8

These are just a few of the tons of times that the Bible talks about trusting in the Lord, yet sometimes this is one of the hardest things to do in the midst of adversity. He is trustworthy and He is faithful! I'm thankful for His grace in the times where I forget to trust Him.

To my Cam who has loved me and stood by my side for over 5 years now and loved me through it all, you are the best. I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful for your example of grace, love, and selflessness. I love you!

To our sweet family, who loves us and supports us every step of the way always. We love you all so very much.

To my precious friends, some of you live near and some of you far... but your encouragement and edification in my life is so needed and I love each of you for what you bring to my life.

Prayer!

Prayer is something that I have always known we need to do as followers of Jesus, but sometimes I would do it just out of habit or “what I am supposed to do”. This left many of my prayers as something I did just to check off a box, not believing God would answer them, or pretty robotic. I’ve been prayer journaling since college and for so long I just did it and wouldn’t really look at where God was working. At the end of last year I began to get shaken up with the Lord. He showed me that my prayers were working, just in His time and not mine. It made me realize that persistence and bold prayers are so important. If we don’t believe the Lord is going to do something, then we are going to pray like that. We have to pray with boldness knowing that the Lord can do anything. There are about 3 huge things I was praying and the Lord answered them all and more.

I knew that this was the Lord teaching me and showing me that He provided for me and took care of things. Well fast forward and in April I began reading a book called “Draw the Circle” by Mark Batterson. I had already read “The Circle Maker” by him as well. But “Draw the Circle” was a 40-day prayer journey. It was awesome! The Lord showed me so much through this book and literally everyday.  He was working on the big things I was praying for. The things I was reading were actually happening every day. He once again showed me it was all in His time and not mine. The Lord doesn’t leave us, but He does want us to seek Him and trust Him, instead of doing our own thing.

The Lord is faithful. His promises are true. I am so thankful He chooses to use me and love me.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers.”

“When we try to make things go faster, we usually slow things down. When we try to make things easier, we usually make them harder. Don’t try to manufacture your own miracles. Don’t try to answer your own prayers. Don’t try to do God’s job for Him. Stay humble. Stay patient. Stay focused.”   

“Sometimes the purpose of prayer is to get us out of circumstances, but more often than not, the purpose of prayer is to get us through them. I’m certainly not suggesting we shouldn’t pray deliverance prayers, but there are times we need to pray prevailing prayers. We need to ask God to give us the grace to sustain, the strength to stand firm, and the willpower to keep on keeping on.”  

New Adventure!

Wow! Cam and I have seriously had such an amazing beginning to this new chapter and adventure in our lives. Most of you know, but Cam took a new job at NorthStar Church in Kennesaw as the Operations Pastor for Students. He started at the beginning of February. It was a pretty quick turn around and I know the Lord has been in every step of it. We found out he got the job in the middle of January. We looked for a house to rent and we were told it would take a week to get approved. Oh no, we got approved within 3 hours! I was like well this is definitely a God thing! I quit my job that I started in August of teaching at Omega Private Academy and my dance teaching job at Southern Dance Precision that I had been working at for a year and a half. This meant I had to find a job once we got moved in. Well that first week of us being here, I had an interview on a Friday at 10 am and was offered the job an hour later. I am a receptionist/administrative assistant at Candito Construction. I began working there the second week of us living here. It was totally another God thing.

We have fallen in love with this area and the people here. NorthStar quickly became family. I feel like we have known the people that have come into our lives for years. It has been such a blessing! I have learned so much since moving here. I am thankful that the Lord has given us such a wonderful opportunity. I love seeing Him work in our lives!

Some things that I have been learning from this new adventure and within my life in general over the past 6 months:

-God is working in our waiting. I might not see it immediately, but He is.

-Everything truly does happen for a reason. I have seen connections and things that have happened totally form into some really awesome things.

-We have to believe the things we are praying, because if we don’t believe God can do them we are not giving God the credit He deserves. If we pray boldly and believe it, He will answer. [[ I prayed for a few things for a year and I was really starting to doubt that He was ever going to answer. He definitely did though! I just had to choose to believe it. ]]

-Sometimes fear gets in the way of what God wants, because we don’t want to look stupid, crazy, or disappoint people. We have to let go of the fear and have faith that the Lord wouldn’t put something in our path unless He wanted us to take hold of that.

-Grace. I have always heard this word, but really it has given me a whole new outlook on life. God gives us so much grace when we fail Him. Sometimes giving others grace isn’t easy if they have hurt us, but we are called to give grace. Just as much as the Lord gives us grace… We are to show people the love that the Lord gives us EVERYDAY! I mean I’ve always known this, but I am working on actually applying this. How many times do I think: I would never do that and judge someone for something they’ve done? Too many times to count. How could they do that to me? I would never do that. Guess what… We all sin. We all struggle. We all need GRACE!  I know that He is working on this in my life and I am loving learning about his grace that is greater than all of my sin and your sin. Thank you Jesus!

Some of my favorite songs recently::

-It Is Well by Bethel

-Let It Be Jesus by Christy Nockels (new Passion album)

-Place of Freedom by Highlands Worship

-Mighty Warrior by Elevation Worship

-To Be Like You by Hillsong

-Gracious Tempest by Hillsong Young and Free [[This whole album is AWESOME!]]

-Sinking Deep by Hillsong Young and Free

-Alive by Hillsong Young and Free

-My Lighthouse by Rend Collective

-Build Your Kingdom Here by Rend Collective

-Through and Through by United Pursuit Band

-Commission by United Pursuit Band

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20

I am thankful the Lord is always teaching us something… in the good days and the bad days! We might not know why we are going through something now, but we will! :)

Fear?

I haven't written a blog in quite some time, I decided that I would start writing again every once in a while.

Recently I have been coming back to something that I think so many of us struggle with: FEAR! We don't talk about it, we just live in it. I don't necessarily mean fear of the dark, fear of crime, fear of strangers, fear of bugs, etc. Even though we definitely all have fears of that nature. I am talking about fear of change, fear of the future, fear of what other people think, fear of feeling inadequate causing us to not live, fear of what God has called us to do, etc.

Fear binds us up and makes us feel like we can't do anything. It leaves us feeling like we are alone, crazy, not capable, not good enough,  undeserving, and so many other emotions. Fear is from the Enemy. He creeps in and tells us these lies and it puts us in a place where we aren't trusting God and we are choosing to trust ourselves and let our own emotions control us. Fear doesn't make things happen, it just leaves us in a place of stress, worry, lies, hurt, and deceit from the Enemy. I think about Jonah in the Bible every time, he ran away from God wanting him to go to Ninevah. He had all kinds of fear. He ran away and the Lord caused a storm to happen and Jonah was swallowed by the whale. In the belly of the whale, Jonah prayed and asked God for forgiveness when he realized he was running in fear from what the Lord asked him to do. The Lord gave Jonah a second chance by asking him to go to Ninevah again and Jonah immediately went. If Jonah would've just trusted God's divine intervention in his life and chosen to trust Him and rely on Him for strength, it would've eased his fear. The Lord would've helped him get through the fear.

Here are some quotes from a Jonah study that Priscilla Shirer wrote:
"Most disobedience involves a simple choice to stay put."
"The decisions you are making today will impact your tomorrows. How you choose to respond to God's leading right now will determine how your future unfolds."

Here are some quotes from Christine Caine's book "Undaunted":
"If we stay focused on him, we will be able to go anywhere and do whatever is required of us."
"Fear and faith cannot coexist."
"When you allow fear to dictate how you spend your days, you allow life to pass you by."


Fear is of the Enemy and NOT of God. We are to trust God and all He has for us. John 10:10 says "The thief comes to steal, to kill, and destroy." Fear is a thief like that.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
    do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
    and he will show you which path to take."
Proverbs 3:5-6

"The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    so why should I be afraid?
The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger,
    so why should I tremble?"
Psalm 27:1

"So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you."
Deuteronomy 31:6

"Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
    Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
    I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."
Isaiah 41:10

"Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love."
1 John 4:18

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."
1 Timothy 1:7

There are so many verses of truth in the Word that show us that the Lord is for us. He is there to help us. So our fear of change, fear of the future, fear of what other people think, fear of doing what God has called us to do, fear of feeling inadequate causing us to not live, or whatever other fear holds us can be let go. We have such a big God who is there to help us every step of the way. We have to not let the Enemy get in and speak lies that make us fear.

Remember...
You can make the change.
You can move into an unknown future.
You are good enough.
You deserve the best.
You have a God who loves you.
You have a God that you can trust.
You don't have to fear.
You are strong enough.
You don't have to listen to lies.
You are created for greatness.

Our faith should be greater than our fear! 

Crayyy!

Hey Everyone!

     It has been FOREVER since I have written a blog, but I was thinking it was probably time to write one to update some people that might not know what is going on in Cameron and I's lives. Let's see let's start with it was a great summer with the youth, but it was super sad to promote our 8th graders to the high school ministry. We are super excited about our new 6th graders and the excitement they bring to our ministry, but losing the 8th graders who we have bonded with for 2 years was definitely hard and something I didn't enjoy having to do. Cameron and I went with the youth to IMPACT summer camp (both middle and high school went), middle school World Changers to Chattanooga, TN and then we just went on our annual Back to School Retreat to Ocoee, TN. We also went with the children's ministry to CentriKid in Anderson, SC. Basically we were world travelers! HaHa! Just kidding. Well kind of.
  We did get  to go on a little vacation with our wonderful, precious friends Luke and Jessica Hughes to North Myrtle Beach to Shawna and Chuck's beach house! We had a great time and it was a great vacation to just enjoy relaxing. It was one of our first of many friend vacations I see in our futures. We are so blessed to have friends that are in the ministry like we are and just keep in touch no matter where we are. We are very glad they are back in the same state as us now though. :)
  I also had 2 of my college besties get married this summer. Mandi and Carla are both now married ladies! Both of them were beautiful on their special days and I am so blessed that I was able to be a part of their special days. Kristin is getting married in October and all of her fun festivities have began. I am getting excited for her bachelorette weekend that is going to be at my house Labor Day weekend.
  Cameron and I will be going to Colombia on a mission trip in October. We are so excited that the Lord placed that opportunity in our lives. I have never been out of the country on a mission trip and so I am anxious, but ready to see what the Lord has in store for me. God is just providing us the funds and people to surround us in prayer for this week of missions we are getting to be involved with.
  God has continued to just show me, no matter what He wants to use me. I have had moments this summer when I really just wanted to give up, but God reminded me of why I do the things I do. He has shown me that He is going to get me through times where I want to pull my hair out and times where I don't know what to do. He is reminding me that He is going to be the only person that can comfort me. If it wasn't for encouragement from those people around me this summer, I seriously might've just fallen when I was too tired or too frustrated to get something done. But I have been blessed with some amazing family members, friends, church family members, and so many people that just speak life into me and encourage me with their words.
  If you could please continue to pray for Cameron and I as we serve in the middle school ministry at Central and as we go to Colombia in October to share His love with the people there. We really appreciate all of you for loving and encouraging us. We feel very blessed!

Also!!! I just started teaching the little ones at Southern Dance Precision. It is really something that fell in my lap and I am so excited about the opportunity to teach dance! It is Kelly Bell's new dance school. I have worked with Kelly for many years with the Alexander musicals and she worked with me for a couple of years in the high school musicals when I was there. She is very talented and I am loving learning more about dance and teaching there with her. It's been a blast so far!

Ready for this?

Let's see October and November are already gone and it is almost Christmas, say what? HA!

I can't believe that!

Let's see over the past couple of months I finished my long term sub job and I have began to just sub when they call me. It has been good. I still have no idea what I want to do. I am okay with that still. :) I think God gives us seasons and He is preparing me for something. I do know that. God is teaching me A LOT right now. I mean He is always teaching me, but particularly right now. He is about to change me and I know that. He is using the Bible study I am doing to just rip me a part, heal me, change me, and whatever else He wants me to get out of the study.

Cameron is doing great. He is staying busy with planning for the middle school youth, guitar lessons, and the random event of running sound for some function at the church for some group that uses the facilities or what not. He is a constant encouragement in my life and for that I am ever grateful. God gave me a good man! :)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are excited about Christmas too! This week and next week are a little crazy for us. This Sunday is our church Christmas musical. Cameron is playing the guitar and I am singing in the choir. I even got to make up a little dancing for some of the choir members and then for my sister and 2 of her friends to do a little ballet dance to one of the songs. It has been a week full of practices for that. I have rehearsals this weekend for the show choir performance that is next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. SOO needless to say it is lots of performances to help with, be in, etc. BUT it's fun! Oh... did I mention our house is on the tour of homes for the women's ministry at church? Yes, people from church get to come and look at houses decorated for Christmas.. and our house is one of those! My sweet hubs put up our outside lights last weekend and they look AWESOME. I decorated the inside of the house probably about 3 weeks ago! HA! I will post some pics of some of it after the tour! :) NOT that it is that exciting, but I don't want to take away from the tour either. haa!

We have some fun stuff coming up after Christmas too! I am super excited about the MOVE conference with some of the middle school youth going (my birthday will be the 2nd/last day we are at move! woot! 23!) and then Cameron and I are attending Passion again! I am so excited!!!!

Side note:: I am super thankful for the people God is putting in my life or using in my life more to encourage me in my walk and just be such amazing examples for my life! That has been incredibly evident in my life over the past month or so!

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4

What's New?

I haven't updated in so long, so here I go. Let's see a lot has happened since then...

I graduated from Columbus State University with a bachelor's degree in early childhood education.

I got married to my best friend Cameron Wilkins on May 14, 2011. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. It was great! We are blessed to have such wonderful family and friends that were there to support us and share in such a special day in our lives.

We then went to Jamaica for our honeymoon. It was beautiful!! I enjoyed the sun and laying out, while Cameron enjoyed the shade and reading a book. Yes, this is our life! haha!

We got back and hit the ground running for a busy BUT fun summer!

My cousin Connor and Cameron's little sister and my sister-in-law Camille both graduated from high school. Connor is going to Georgia Southern and Camille is going to Clemson. We are super excited for them and are excited to see what God has in store for them as they continue into the next chapter in their lives.

We went to IMPACT with our middle school and high school youth.. It was an awesome week! It was great to see God working in the lives of our students. The middle school youth haven't been the same since and they are ready to help make our ministry awesome for this upcoming school year.

Cameron and I also got the opportunity to chaperone on the children's camp Centrikid. It was an awesome experience and I am so glad we were able to go. We got to build relationships with kids that are rising 6th graders and will be in our middle school ministry in about 3 weeks.

This summer I am interning at our church. I love it! I am planning to sub in the fall.

I am going to try to update this more, but for now.. this is the update.. and next time maybe I won't take so long to update and I can be more detailed!

"and MY God will supply ALL your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:19