JOY unspeakable

Now, those of you who know me can attest that my greatest worldly ambition is to be a hippie. I mean legit, awesome, chill, oozing with coolness hippie. Well, I feel like I'm moving in the right direction. The past week or so I have hit my stride with bluegrass music. I'm talking I was watching a PBS movie with the Wright family called The Songcatcher (HIGHLY recommend) and it hit me like a brick wall. I was obsessed. Now, I am not a country music fan but living in Nashville, TN for 2 months I have been exposed to it on a daily basis. I must also admit that this is partially due to Landon Byrd and the fact that he is a cowboy... or at least that is what his greatest worldly ambition is to become.

So we have had this interesting dynamic between the two of us. I have dragged him downtown to sketch-ville bar to see a techno/alternative/disco/funk/folk/electro-ish band and he BLASTS Alan Jackson everytime we are in the car. It's very interesting. However, our musical worlds have fallen into step under this mutual understanding and appreciation of folk and bluegrass music. He downloaded the Old Crow Medicine Show CD and we both sang along to Wagon Wheel as we drove to church on Saturday. Following some tweeps, I came to know a band called Mumford & Sons and I have become hooked. I watched a documentary on Netflix (another new obsession of mine) called 180 Degrees South (another HIGHLY recommended view) and have been listening via http://www.grooveshark.com to the soundtrack which makes me want to take up mountain climbing and surfing, simultaneously, but more about that later. So my world has opened up to this different kind of wailing, banjo playing, barefoot tapping music and it is beautiful.

"You can understand dependence/ when you know the Maker's hand."

This new music trend has brought on a fresh wind of life in me. God has been faithful to bring things into my day everyday that show His beauty and majesty to me. I have been challenged through conversation with girls in the youth group and through teaching and leading discussion every week, but amongst all of this God has given me an unspeakable joy the past two weeks. I can't explain it except I know it is from Him, filling my time with things to laugh at and friendships to enjoy. It's almost like I just realized how much I love it here and that I just felt the urgency that I leave in 9 days. Nolensville has hooked me in and it's wonderful.

In other news, I got to visit Shades Mountain's youth camp in Ocoee earlier this week and spent a day seeing Lesley and have her poke fun at me because for once in her life she is tanner than I. I also got to see Rachael Collins which ALWAYS makes my day. I am so blessed to have grown up with a friend who loves the Lord without abandon. I mean, Rachael dragged me along to wash this kid's clothes that were infested with roaches and she modeled a servant's heart through the entire ordeal. AH, I can't wait to be in Birmingham to have time with my core group girls.


Bah, I just feel really smiley right now, and I blame this:

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your innter being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 4:16-18

one night with the King

So I got this app on my iPhone that makes pictures look like polaroid pictures. I may or may not be obsessed with it and combined with the satisfaction that I get from posting pictures on here, I'm pretty excited!

I feel like it is most important to note the bombings that happened on Sunday and the 74 people who were killed and the countless more who were injured. These particular events struck me really hard because 3 of my friends are in Uganda right now and were at the restaurant with the projector screen that was bombed in Kampala. Catherine and Tori have been in Uganda since May serving at the Sozo orphanage helping love and serve the children of this area. Jonathan has been traveling all over, it seems like, working with various evangelizing groups spreading the Gospel to students and adults alike through Kenya, Uganda and soon to be Tanzania. I am so blessed to be able to say that none of them were hurt during the attack. Jonathan had met up with Catherine and Tori's group before to watch the game to hang out with them. Through a string of events and circumstances that can only be labeled as being planned by a Sovereign God, none of their group was injured. I'm praying that they would be able to take this story that has certainly left a deep impact on their hearts and use it to glorify the Lord and to testify to others who have suffered through this. Please pray for their safe travels back to the US and continued travel and work in this region, but mostly pray for those who were impacted by these attacks and those who were behind the attacks. Somalian terrorists are blamed for the attacks as a protest to African Union peace keeping forces in Somalia. I am constantly reminded of the state of decay that this world is in. Please join me to pray that the Gospel of Peace would reach the hearts of these attackers and that the people of this region of the world would respond with unimaginable peace.

Speaking of journeys this weekend Landon, Baylie, Matt, Lydia and I drove to Chattanooga for the day:

This was on top of Lookout Mountain. There were two guys playing bluegrass music and it was awesome.

Also, I found this:

You can decide if it's creepy or not.

I'm trying to get the chance to meet one on one with each of the girls in the youth group before I leave in 3 weeks. This has been really interesting and challenging for me. God is really challenging me to be bold in word and deed before them and to impart even an ounce of how much God loves them to each one. Please pray that I would be faithful to cultivate Godly wisdom in my quiet time and that He would guide my words and conversations with each of these precious girls.

grace&peace
mgw

Kairos

This is my summer. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to minister with and to these kids this summer. We took this group to M-Fuge in Kentucky last week and had a really great week of serving and learning and really being challenged by the Word. I had to opportunity to pray with a girl as she accepted Christ and had a lot of opportunities to pour into relationships with girls from our group and really see young girls that are thirsty for God. Bulleted highlights:

- group-wide predestination/free-will discussion
- challenging questions about the Trinity
- roofing (I got a sweet lanyard tan on my neck)
- getting to know the staff from the camp and talk to my leader about global missions
- camp cheers (!!)

Pretty much, it was incredible to see how God moved in the lives of these students. I would like to say with an honest heart that I anticipated and expected Him to move in such ways, but I had my doubts. In addition to the girl who became a Christian, we also had a boy give his life to full-time ministry. They are both 9th graders- woah! The sweetest time of it all for me, though, was when girls would come and pull me over to the side to talk and to pray over them. This week kinda radically opened some relationships for me with them and I'm super pumped to see how these relationships grow. Please pray that my heart and mouth would be overflowing with God's words and wisdom and not my own.

I definitely saw the depths of my heart this week as well. Riding in the middle school van might have driven me to the ends of my patience, but God is so faithful to pull us and stretch us and teach us, even if we are resistant to it.

Despite the post-camp craziness (still trying to recover) the past few days have been really great. Yesterday Landon and I got to go spend the day with Jay, Shantal, the girls and their whole extended family. We got to play with the kids, swim, grill out, and really enjoy being surrounded by a loving family. Even if I couldn't spend this weekend with MY fam, I was able to spend it with other families who adopted me in and loved on me.

A story that I have been reading through and thinking about is the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel. I have been so convicted about my heart in prayer. I remember being taught by a friend in high school to pray with expectation. If we do not pray with the certainty that God will move, we are limiting our view of God's nature. I feel like it's so important that when we pray, we do not let it become a passive activity that we can check off the list of things to do, but rather that we use these intimate moments of meeting with Him to "weep bitterly" and to pour into passionately knowing that God will remember you.

Light Bright.

Hello all.

This week has been absolute madness! Today was our last sunday at the elementary school so we had to overhaul the building and pack up everything after church. I mean, we cleared out this building in around 3 hours thanks to the help of some awesome servants who cleaned out, loaded/unloaded trucks, drove to the storage units and packed/unpacked there and helped out in every little way as they could. I think if anything that this process has taught me is the sustainability of God's church. I mean, how could we even confine the Bride of Christ to a building, anyways? Though it was an exhausting process, we will move into the Tennessee Baptist Convention building sometime this week which will be our temporary location until we (hopefully) move into a permanent location in the fall. (But that's just our plan, right?)

Yesterday was busy and productive as well! Patrick and Landon taught me how to change the oil on Petri (my car) and I learned about oil filters and got to lay under the car and act like I was hardcore and mechanical while Patrick blasted 80's rock. I got to visit with T.Bac and E.Brait as they were driving through Nashville on their way to Chi-town and also tie dye shirts with Rachel, Bailey, Lydia and Landon in preparation for SUMMER CAMP.

This week me and Landon also took some of the youth to Centennial Park in downtown Nashville and watch the Blindside on a screen out in the middle of the park. It made me think of Free Friday Flicks at Homewood Park and made me a little sentimental- haha.

ALSO- I got to hang out with this kid on Thursday for lunch and catching up and some great fellowship. I'm a big fan of Tory Watkins.

AND my grandparents visited on Thursday evening and I got to spend some sweet time with them. PopPop kept talking about how big the yards are here and wondered how they cut them. (Most of the places around here are farms) Which made my laugh. I have been so blessed to have grown up with THE coolest grandparents around. They're awesome and I loved getting to introduce them to the Wrights and show them around Nolensville.

Tomorrow we leave for youth camp at M-fuge in Williamsburg, KY. I'm super pumped because, well, it's youth camp. It's like Christmas, We Love Homewood Day and Halloween all in one = LOVE. Also, I'm a chap this year so that's going to be interesting and different. Also, I'm our camp nurse.... HAAA! Needless to say, I'm excited to see how the Lord will move through our youth's hearts this summer as we learn how to SERVE instead of being served.



This is an image that I took from my Sunday School lesson this morning. I got to teach 1st-3rd grade sunday school which was challenging and interesting and very fun. We were in Matthew 5 and talked about how we are to be a reflection of Jesus.

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

We talked about examples of lights. (I feel it's appropriate to mention that when I asked for examples of things that give off light, one of the boys stand up and proudly stated "A HOBO THAT IS RUNNING DOWN THE STREET ON FIRE!") The point that hit me really hard about this lesson is the responsibility that we have in all of it. We are meant to be reflections of Christ. I am supposed to mirror His ways. wow. How wonderful is it that there is grace to cover all of my inadequacies and flickerings in my attempt to be like Him.

Anyways, I am off to pack for camp. Please keep our group in your prayers this week. Pray that our student's hearts are opened to the Word. Pray for smooth traveling and logistics behind all of it. And pray for our 5 leaders that God would guide our words and actions as we seek to counsel the students.

Mumtaz!

Happy Belated Birthday Bradley Haynes!
I'm so glad to hear that y'all are back home from TZ and hope that it was such a good time of friends and fellowship!
I love you and am so proud to be your sister (in-law) and to witness how obedient you are to God's call on your life.
Aslaaam ale'kum, akhti!
John 17:15-18

Ma Coeur.

Beginning last week, I fell into an inner battle between my flesh and my heart and my God. I've never really experienced homesickness in such a raw way as I felt when I was helplessly waiting for news about my dad's heart procedure in Birmingham last week. He is now doing well, just now has two splints in the arteries surrounding his heart, thanks to a God who has blessed men and women with the ability to recognize such medical disabilities, but I felt very shaken and disturbed at my inadequacy to fix the situation.

I feel like hearts have been a big focus of my year. Both of my grandparents suffered earlier in the year with heart problems, and now my dad? This muscle has physically and emotionally governed a large part of my year and I posted this on my livejournal in February: "it's interesting and coincidental that all of these health issues have arisen in conjunction with what i have been learning about your heart as a tabernacle for the Lord. i have also been learning a lot about God's provision and being able to trust completely in his plan.

During my time up here I have become more and more aware of the state of my own heart.
This paragraph really stuck out to me as I was reading in Faithful Women and their Extraordinary God:

"As Helen Roseveare stood by our fireplace and looked into their faces, she reached backward toward the mantel and eased a long-stemmed red rosebud from a tall vase. As she spoke, she broke off the thorns, the leaves, the petals, the green outer layer of stem- every element that makes a rose a rose. All that was left was a lithe, straight shaft. The pieces that lay on the floor were not bad things. But, she explained, they had had to be removed if she were going to make an arrow. God does this to us, she said. He removes everything- even innocent good things- that hinders us from being the arrows that he will shoot for his purposes at his intended target."

I was really moved by this image of being completely stripped of everything in order to become more like Christ. The loneliness, complacency, and dullness that have governed my heart the past week are merely my physical and fleshly response to what God is trying to accomplish in my life. I, being dumb and sinful and silly, have been responded in the exact opposite way of how I should be (but, that's why I'm not God, right?!)

I have been stripped of my comforts of home, my group of friends, my ever-present accountability from my parents, (for the past two weeks my internet), my busy schedule and all of the things that so often make me complacent in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham in order that God will use my extra time to spend it with Him, to prepare for Bible studies, to reach out to different ministry groups at Life Community and to invest in what he has given me here. And in order to do this in a manner that most glorifies God, my heart must become focused on His holiness. There is a necessity of judgement of sin because God is holy, and as Christians we must be gripped by this and hunger and thirst after righteousness so that we might mirror His holiness to the world. (Thanks, Noel Piper, for hitting me on the head with God's truth... gee)

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of
the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
for His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and
count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own
that comes from the law, but that which comes
through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that
depends on faith- that I may know him and the power of
His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings
becoming like Him in his death, that by any means possible
I may attain the resurrection from the dead."
Phillippians 3: 7-11

Jehovah- Jireh, God always provides.

Praise that He doesn't leave us to wander alone.
-I found encouragement in the form of a Skype call with Rachael on Wednesday. Landon and I got to video-chat with Ethan and Rachael (who are serving in Cape town South Africa this summer -you should check our her blog http://lovelaughandpaint.blogspot.com/ ) God definitely used my time talking and sharing and opening up with her to reveal His love and faithfulness to us in all circumstances. wow.
-I also had the privilege of seeing my dear friend Megan yesterday. Megan was studying abroad in Ireland this spring so I hadn't seen her since JANUARY. ridiculous. She drove up from Hunstville and we had lunch, toured Nolens-vegas, drank Sonic drinks and went antiquing and browsing at the Amish Feed Mill in downtown Nolensville (we discovered that it isn't actually run by Amish... lies)
- and along with moments with old friends, I had the chance to go hang out with some new friends from the Women's Ministry last night for dinner and game night. Though I was the youngest there and the (decently awkward) church employee/intern, these women opened up their hearts and showered me in their love. I got to make some connections for some women who wanted their children to have a place to belong at church, but also to be apart of women loving on each other and becoming the Body of Christ visibly. Ah, it was such sweet time. Also, we played Guesstures so that was awesome as well.

All this thinking about hearts has me singing some John Mayer, so I'll leave you with this:

Pain throws your heart to the ground,
Love turns the whole thing around,
No it won't all go away, it should
But I know the heart of life is good.

Friends, I'm praying that the cry of your hearts turns to "Christ, only Christ, no trace of I be found."

grace and peace.

summertime.

This weekend was packed full of fun things. Saturday we had a car wash to raise money for youth camp which is in a few weeks and immediately afterwards, we had a Spirit Night at Chick-fil-A. I'm talking about a total of 6 hours of fundraising. It was ridiculous and very VERY hot outside, but a good time with some of the youth.

The youth group I'm working with is really small compared to Shades. We have around 15 kids on an average night. There are 3 High Schoolers who attend regularly so that leaves us with a LOT of middle schoolers. It's cool to get to put into practice what I learned working at camp last summer. I worked at an 8th and 9th grade summer camp last year which taught me a lot about being intentional and building relationships with Middle Schoolers.

Sunday nights is when we have youth group and we meet in a big group and David (the youth leader) goes over what we will be discussing and looking at for the night. We then break up into MS girls, HS girls, MS boys, HS boys and me, Landon (other intern), David and Jen (David's wife) each take a group. I have had the Middle School girls and have been blown away the past few weeks with the discussion we have had. Last week we talked about pride and envy and the story of Moses, Aaron and Miriam and this week we centered in on greed and gluttony in relation to the manna that God provided for the Israelites. God has been so near in those discussion times and they have been really sweet moments for me and the girls. I'm really looking forward to getting to know them more as the summer goes on.

Here are some prayer requests for the summer:
1. Pray for Life Community Church. We have two more weeks in our current building (an old school house) and after that we have to move to a new location. Pray for wisdom and discernment for Jay the pastor and for the sustenance of the church body as a whole.
2. Pray for Student Life (the youth group). Please pray that the Lord would touch and move in these student's hearts in a way that would leave them thirsty for more of Him. Pray that their hearts would be guarded from the distractions and sins that summertime can bring.
3. Pray for me as I pray through leading a separate bible study with the High School girls and as I seek fellowship with the women in the church. Also pray that my heart would be guarded against Satan's attacks at my joy in Christ and my pride.

Happy Birthday to Alison!
You are the sweetest and most wonderful big sister.
You're now so 30 and flirty :)
I'm so so stinking proud of you and love you SO MUCH.

Anywhere with Jesus

I'm currently reading a book by Noel Piper called, "Faithful Women and their Extraordinary God." It recounts the lives of 5 women from throughout the past few centuries. I have been overwhelmed by God's faithfulness and sovereignty over their journeys of serving him around the world. One story that struck me in particular was the story of Lilias Trotter who moved from her home in England to minister to the Muslims of Algeria. She served with 3 other women who all remained single and fought hard in the trenches of North Africa where Islam ruled the lives of the people there. Ms Trotter related the old song "Anywhere with Jesus" to how are lives are to be with Christ.

This summer, my "anywhere" is Nolensville, TN, a city about 10 miles south of Nashville. I'm serving as a summer intern at Life Community Church which pretty much means I am helping out at the church office, making Wal-Mart runs, and hanging out with the youth. This blog will be my place to manifest what the Lord is teaching me through hands-on ministry as well as to update those of you who think Jay Watson is as cool as I do about everything awesome that;s going on here in Nolens-vegas.

grace and peace