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

Almost Over?

This blog might be more sad than others, maybe not. I don't know. However, today has been a very "real" day. Everything is more real right now. I am about to graduate! This became real because I get to pick up my cap and gown tomorrow. The other thing is I am not going to be living in the Hippo House aka. my apartment with girls much longer. This became real when I realized this is our final week ALL being here. Kayla is about to be gone for 2 weeks to do a Chick-Fil-A grand opening and when she gets back for a few days, I will be moved back to Douglasville. It is crazy!

For 3 years Columbus has been a place where I have built new friendships that I wouldn't trade for the world. I have had a family in Cougars for Christ and the people there. It is crazy to think that in less than 3 weeks I won't be living here. I won't be able to just walk over to Mel's bedroom to talk to her about early childhood education stuff anymore. I won't be going to Common Ground on Thursday nights or Monday night girls dinners with my sweet friends before small group. I won't be going to get fried pickles with Mandi at Country's or going to Momma Goldberg's with Jessica Fonville anymore. I won't be driving back and forth from Douglasville anymore carpooling with Kayla. I won't be able to just call Carla and go to Chill for a frozen yogurt. I will miss going with Stephanie to Chick-Fil-A randomly after student teaching for a stress reliever. I won't be sharing a room with my sweet KK and Carlie. People thought we were crazy, but it has been absolutely great sharing a room with them. I won't forget the times that Kristin Bolt and I did the C4C news dressed as nerds and became so close through that. I won't forget the times Mel and I drove back and forth from Ft. Benning. I won't forget DeeDee moving in with us and that being a blessing getting to spend less than a year with her. I won't forget the wonderful people and things of Columbus. There is so much I can't even begin to say it all. God has truly taught me so much being in this place and I will never forget the people that helped me grow in my walk. I don't think you all know how much you have meant to me. Thank you for giving me a place to be open and honest. Thank you for giving me a place to continue to learn to trust in the Lord and trust in others. Thank you for giving me a place to grow and be me! Who knew that I would be here.. I remember not even planning on coming to Columbus! It shows how funny God is and how He puts us exactly where He wants us.

Now the new chapter comes with me figuring out what exactly the Lord wants me doing. I will be marrying my best friend in 1 month and 1 day! It is crazy to believe that almost 6 years ago God placed this amazing guy in my life that I am getting to spend the rest of my life with. Thankfully he has put up with my crazy self for that long! :) I am excited to see the friends, adventures, opportunities, and so much more that God has for us as our journey will begin together.

Now for an emotional roller coaster of weeks to come! Needless to say I am happy, sad, excited, anxious, stressed, and all kinds of different emotions.

on and on and on and on it goes....

I have a song that I think everyone needs to listen to "One Thing Remains" by Jesus Culture...

oh my goodness! It is amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g4HXXHi2R4

The chorus is "Your love NEVER fails.. it NEVER gives up.. it NEVER runs out on me!!"

One of my favorite parts is "on and on and on and on it goes.. for it overwhelms and satisfies my soul.. and I never ever have to be afraid ONE THING REMAINS!!"

It completely hits me every time I hear it and I get really excited!! Our Father's love NEVER fails, NEVER gives up, and it NEVER runs out on us... even if this happens in the world... It NEVER happens with our God! How AWESOME!

I really am just learning more about His love everyday and everyday I realize more and more how much He loves me and you!

Really, I encourage you to listen to this song.. look at the lyrics...

And if today is one of those days where you are struggling with thinking, "How could He love me?" Remember and rest in the fact that He loves youuuuu!!!

Crazy?!

Hey Everyone!

It has been a while, but that is because my life is crazy busy right now! I am loving every minute though and definitely trying to take it all in. I don't even know where to begin. Let's see...

Student teaching is going good. I can't believe I have already done 10 weeks! That means it is more than halfway over. Thank goodness! I am just ready to be done and graduated... May 9th, I am ready for you!

Wedding planning is going great!! It is down to the stuff that is fun though! Showers start next weekend. I am so excited about the wedding festivities and just spending time with so many awesome people that are just so loving and supportive to Cam and I.

I am learning more about my passions recently and I think it is safe to say.. I am learning that I definitely have a passion for teenage girls. I think I always thought this a little bit, but recently God has just given me so many opportunities to minister and serve teenage girls. It's been awesome! I am currently teaching Sunday School to some awesome 7th and 8th grade girls and leading a high school girls Bible study on the book "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldredge. Today I actually got to teach a break out session at a mother/daughter conference at my church on "Am I Worth It?". This topic is definitely a struggle for teens and I was so glad I was able to share my heart and what the Word says about how WE ARE WORTH IT! I know it seems simple, but I know that it is not.

God is teaching me so much right now and I can't even begin to describe how I am feeling in my walk right now... He is amazing! I am so glad that I have a God that comforts me in times of need, times that I fail, times that I fear, and so much more. He is so good to us!

Something to end on for this time:: He makes ALL things work together for our good! :)

I know this isn't much, but I will post more hopefully before the wedding...

Another note is Monday marks 2 MONTHS until the wedding!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited to marry my sweet awesome Cam! :)