Last night at the camp I worked at, we had a Thanksgiving feast with most of our co-workers. And I have to say, it has been my favorite memory of camp so far. Samm and I wern’t entirely sure how it was going to turn out, who was going to come, if we would have enough food, etc…but, by the time dinner actually started, we could tell it was going to be one of those nights you really remember.

Everyone contributed something, whether it was food, ice, pies, one of our bosses actually came to the dorm and brought us a homemade pecan pie. (Amazing!) We sat at a huge table we contructed out of some tables and chairs we borrowed. Samm decorated. Several of the guys pitched in to pick up tables and chairs. Many of us cleaned. Many did dishes. Ryan and Josh carved the turkey…which no one else knew how to do. (HIGHLY entertaining.) It was just amazing.

One of the girls here, Kristyn, has a tradition in her family in which they start with A in the alphabet and going until Z and you go around the table and say something you are thankful for with that letter. It was really, really cool. (Even though I did get X at one point).

The night ended with a crazy food fight and great conversation, but I have to say…it is one of my favorite Thansgiving experiences ever. I really am thankful for the people I work with and this amazing camp I get to live at and be a part of.

So as many of you know..starting back in August I started a new job…at a camp in little, ol’ Anna, Texas. It’s near McKinney for those of you from the Dallas area…if not..well, I’m actual just as close to Oklahoma at this point as I am to Dallas.

I’m an outdoor education teacher, so basically I teach 4 different classes several times a week. 2  classes a day and then night activites. I’ve learned more about science, nature, different types of trees, wildflowers (which change here ALL THE TIME), animals, bugs..you get the picture. It’s a constant learning process..but I am LOVING it!

The staff here is amazing and I really love each of them a lot.

"Bois D' Arc Tree"

One of the things that have become really precious to me is the trees here. The more I learn…the more I absolutely love. I’m constantly finding myself  trying to figure out what different trees are…even when I’m just driving into town. They are such a cool example of God’s creation and so symbolic. Each working similarly, yet different at the same time. One of my favorites here at camp is the bois d’ arc trees. They are very strong..once used by Native Americans to make bows out of…You might recognize them because of their fruits..commonly know as “horse apples”:

Did you know only female bois d’ arc trees produce the “horse apples”? (Did you know some trees have male and female trees? Like cedars? I didn’t…until I got here..)

Anyways, I just LOVE all the trees here…and they have become a really cool reminder of the Lord. I haven’t fully researched or processed all I’m learning about these trees…but I’m really excited about what’s to come…I just keep thinking about God’s creation and how he made each of these trees differently, with different characteristics, different functions…I’m still processing…more to come…

Normally, if we get any kind of cold percipitation here, we might get 1 day off…1. We found ourselves longing to go back to work..even to deal with screaming kids, long hours of shelving, and hard work. We definately have cabin fever. We’ve played games, watched movies, hung out, which has been awesome, but at some point, we long to get back to normalcy…

It’s also been difficult because most of our roads were only sanded once…and we’ve gotten precipitation a couple of times, leaving roads dangerous and piled up with ice…

BUT, the Lord is good and gave us this time to hang out and get to know each other better…

I am going back to work today, but with snow in the forcast again next week…we will see if this city shuts down again.

I can honestly say that I have seen Him move in mighty ways in the past week…and the motto (given by Nikki)  is 5 loaves, 2 Fish…she wants to make a sign and hang it up in our house. We buy food on a 2 week basis, each taken various nights to buy and cook food for the house and we had only bought for 5 adults this week…and our food has lasted every night…sometimes with leftovers…the Lord is GOOD! And this is just a tiny, tiny piece of what He did this week….

• I quit a job, mother who just moved in got my job…
• Someone fell at work, and the dad who just moved in just happen to walk outside, probably saving his life…Praise the Lord! Servere concussion…he really could have died.
• Sam and I needed another space heater, Wal-mart was out of them, saw the Fox family (our excutive director and good friends of our) and they had 3 extra ones for us to borrow
• We didn’t have enough meals for the week..one short (we would have been fine, it’s just cool how the Lord made it work perfectly)…there was a formal fundraiser at work and the worked it so we could all (our entire house) attend…and some of the leftovers went home with us…
• Our schedules work so that the mom can work and we can, collectively, watch the baby…

And well, the Lord’s working with hearts on top of all of that…praise the Lord!

I’ve seen the Lord work in this house this week in some might ways. Prasie the Lord!

Can’t wait to see what He’s going to do next!!

I asked her what she knew of it, and she was honest, she thought a lot of what she knew might was probably from commercialism, and she was really excited to read the story, both in Luke and Matthew…it was exciting for me as well. Reading it gave me a new appreciation for Jesus and gave me so much hope for several other friends of ours who are not yet believers…

Things that I was reminded of while reading:

• How many dreams and visits by angels
• The obedience of everyone involved: Mary, Joseph, Magi, Shephards…
•  Simeon: Was told he wouldn’t die before seeing the Messiah! HOW COOL?? And his words give me chills: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Luke 2:34-35
• Anna, the prophetess: The fact she worshiped day and night, never leaving the temple. “Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.” Luke 2:38 Ah! Chills!
• How everyone came and worshiped Jesus…while He was still an infant or small child
• How cool it is that there was a STAR that the Magi could follow…and it was right above where Jesus was! COOL! Matthew 2:9
• How cool it was that the Magi had a dream and went a different way back home
• How cool it is a “host of angels” appeared to the shephards in the field worshiping the Lord; proclaiming the Messiah had come! Luke 2:8-20 (Chills again)
• How Herod’s jealosy and fear of the future causes him to murder all the 2 and under boys in Bethlemham and the surrounding areas…it makes me so sad and almost sick thinking about it.. “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” Luke 2:18 (from Jeremiah)
• How there are sooo many prophesies that seemed impossible to all be true…but were..the fact He was born in Bethleham, went to Egypt fulfilling a Micah prophecy, went to Nazereth fulfilling a Jeremiah prophesy, and soooo many more. SO COOL. All in God’s perfect plan and providence…

And sooo much more…

I also was reminded of what the Israelites had gone through…waiting, and waiting, and waiting for a Messiah in a recent Matt Chandler sermon…it still gives me chills thinking about how long they waited, and as Matt put it “and then a baby cried” …AH! chills…even though it wouldn’t exactly change until he died and rose 30ish years later…it still meant their waiting was over…HE WAS THERE… and He changed everything…

you should listen yourself…entitled “The Angst of Waiting“

Have a Merry Christmas and I hope this time is filled with a renewed awe of Christ and all He’s done…and He’s not done yet!!!!

 ¹ Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
       make known among the nations what he has done.

 ² Sing to him, sing praise to him;
       tell of all his wonderful acts.

 ³ Glory in his holy name;
       let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

 ⁴ Look to the LORD and his strength;
       seek his face always.

 ⁵ Remember the wonders he has done, 
       his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

I feel as though I’m just finishing a season, about to start a new one, and the season the Lord has just brought me through has been filled with maturing, growth, digging in deep to really look at the root of sin, and I feel I really got to see Him working in the lives of the people around me, in an amazing, astonishing, jaw-dropping, are you serious, Lord?, kind of way… He is HOLY. He is REDEEMER. He is TRUTH.

A friend of mine who has been instrumental in my growth and maturing (and calling out of sin), the very person who I wrote the last blog about, left this morning to begin a new chapter and a new season in her life with a church plant in Alabama, and as I was reading this, all I could think of was PRAISE HIM for what He has done and all He’s still doing!! People’s hearts are softening to the Gospel, truth is being spoken, sin is being fleed from, mercy is being shown, grace is being extended, joy felt, compassion shown, people are having their faces unveiled, AND IT’S ALL BY HIS PROVIDENCE AND POWER. HE IS GOOD! and He’s not done yet!

So, as this new season begins, I just echo the Psalms, and “remember the works He has done” and PRAISE HIM for it!!

I also echo the sentiment of my friend who left…our last conversation we had, we talked about the Lord returning and how we long for that day…

May He come soon…and as we wait, may we long for Him and continue to work…listening and obeying…

The same friend has become a catalyst for revival and growth amoungst the people we work with, and last week, she called me out. She definately has the gift of dicernment, and she called me out on many areas of my life I’ve known I needed to grow in, know I needed to mature in, know I needed to bring before the Lord, and she called me out on them. In front of people she knew would not only also call me out and confirm it, but people that would hold me accountable to it and encourage me in it. Yes, it hurt. Yes, it was uncomortable. Yes, it is exactly what needed to happen.

I’ve long been afraid of what people say or do, to a fault. It hinders my relationship with God, it hinders my relationships with other people. I don’t use my words, only my actions. I have  to be able to use both. I have to be able to speak the truth. What am I scared of? Rejection? Their thoughts? Their opinions? (yes, to all 3.)

“For am I seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant to Christ.” Galations 1:10

This is a verse I’ve been looking at for months now…something I’ve always struggled with. Still struggling. Still working on it. VERY grateful to have friends willing to call me out on my junk in the hopes that I will grow closer to Him as we together slowly recognize and try to peel back the layers of sin in our lives, looking for the root of it all. (Idolatry.)Sanctification, not easy, not fun, but absolutely nessesary.

Although I still don’t know where I am going, I do know one thing, for now at least, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. Recently, God has just been reminding me of his faithfulness and recalling to mind prayers He has been faithful to answer, specific prayers and prayers I had even forgotten I had prayed. Just as one example, He has given me people to go to church with! Praise Him! A few months ago, I was telling a friend that although I enjoyed my church, and enjoyed my home group there, I didn’t have anyone to sit with, or drive with to church. Now (praise Him!), the Lord has placed a whole car-full of people to go to church with!!!

I’m seeing Him work in more than one way here and I’m so, so excited about what the future holds, even though I have absolutely no idea what it entails. Praise Him! That’s another request answered. A month or so ago, I was freaking out about the future…now, even though I don’t know what it looks like, the Lord has given me a peace about it, and has begun to help me let-go of my tight-fisted grip of control (sin), and begin to trust in Him. Praise Him!! He is good! He is GOD! And He has, always had, and always will have complete control. Praise Him!

One of the camp directors read part of the book to us to engage us in an activity we were about to do during training. It got me curious, so I went and read the book again. Just a little snippet:

“You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.

Some windows are lighted. But mostly their darked.

A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!

Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?

How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right…

or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?

Or go back and sneak in from behind?

Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find,

for the mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.”

Although this quote was awesome, the book talks about the good, the bad, and the in between. There is also a whole page dedicated to when you find yourself waiting…genius! I appreciate Dr. Seuss so much more now. (And he was always a favorite!)

I think my favorite part of the book, now that I really look back on it…is that it really tells kids that life is not easy (which is true!) And for some reason…this just makes me smile. “

About the waiter/waitress at the restaurants. About the people you sit next to on a bus. About the people in your office/school that you don’t actually know. About the people at the grocery store. At the airport. Down the street. In the apartments near you. The people you walk by. People you drive by. People you pass on your way to and from work. People sitting, waiting for the bus. About the people we come across on a daily basis, but don’t actually interact with.

I know I do.

I like to remain unnoticed. I focus on what I have to do, I do it, then I go.

But each of these people has a story, a life. Most have some kind of family. All have problems. They may not be the same problems you do, but nonetheless, they have problems. They have thoughts, beliefs…all have a story.

And I think in our crazy, hectic, busy lives, we forget that. We forget about the people who we don’t have direct contact with, or don’t have an invested interest in.

Not that we can know everyone and invest time in everyone…but I think we use that statement as a cop-out more often than not. We’re too self-absorbed to see or care about those around us. I know I am. And so I miss it. I miss out on opportunities.

Most will read that and think I’m too idealistic. And I know I am. But still…you don’t know where that person has been or what they have gone through or is currently going through. And we miss it. I fully believe there’s a reason everyone is the way they are. Always. And you rarely know the reasons why.

I’m just saying…I think sometimes we miss it…