Almost to the next step....

The end of my senior year is nearing. It is crazy to think in just 20 days I will be walking towards the podium to receive my high school diploma. Everyone always talks about how graduation is such a sad time in life. I do admit all my high school memories will always be cherished and missed, but I am not quite sure I will miss being in high school. Maybe the idea of actually getting a life now is what is scary to me.

I am at a point where I know God has an amazing future for me and has a perfect plan, but I always have that little suspicion that if He had such a great plan for me, why would I be so scared for the future? Sometimes I find myself fearing the future. Not because I think something bad is going to happen, but because I always want to have a plan and know what is going to happen. 

God definitely does have a sense of humor though. When you think you have everything figured out, He pulls the "gut trick." It's that feeling you get in your gut that you know you should be doing something else, going a certain place, or doing something in particular. For instance when I had my whole college life planned for Northwest Christian but in my gut I knew I should be going to George Fox. Or when I was driving by Walmart and saw the homeless teenager, Orianna, and I had somewhere to be, but in my gut I knew I had to stop and talk to her.

God works in the most amazing ways and I know when the time is right, He will reveal to me what I need to be doing. In the meantime, I think I should be counting my blessings while I still have them....

High school has been a drastic time in my life. I have had some amazing ups and I have had some pretty horrible downs. But I know that when God takes away, He is going to provide me with something more than I could ever ask for. The start of my high school years was basically doing whatever it takes to get from day to day, filling a void I had in my life. I didn't believe that there was a God and at that point, I didn't think there was ever a way I was gonna find Him in my life either. I give a special thanks to Molly Campbell for randomly asking me to go to Mayfield Lake Youth Camp after my freshman year because I have NO idea where I would be if I hadn't found the Lord. I was addicted to things I wish I had never even tried. I was doing stuff I wish I had never done. But I came into the Lord's presence that year at camp and ever since then He has been transforming my heart in uncountable ways.

After my junior year in high school, I got baptized at Mayfield Youth Camp. 

I could easily qualify this as the most amazing day in my high school life. The Lord saved me from everything I was keeping within. Every void I was filling, every secret I was hiding... He forgave me and I am a better person for everything now.

I could sit here all night and try to list all my blessings that God has gracefully given me, but I think they are uncountable. From college plans to the amazing people He has put in my life... I could not ask for more. I have been blessed with the most amazing church family and the most amazing youth workers at my church and I would not have it any other way.

College is the next step in my life and I know God has an amazing plan for me at George Fox. I am so anxious to see what He has for me there, but I don't know if I am quite ready to leave all my blessings behind.

A Prayer For The Future

Father, although I cannot see the future You have planned,

And though the path is sometimes dark and hard to understand,

Yet give me faith, through joy and pain to trace Your loving hand.

When I recall that in the past your promises have stood

Through each perplexing circumstance and every changing mood,

I rest content that all things work together for my good.

Whatever, then, the future brings of good or seeming ill,

I ask for strength to follow You and grace to trust You still;

And I would look for no reward, except to do Your will.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

*Jeremiah 29:11