A little bit of everything

I have had an absolutely amazing week. I met new people and continue to grow in friendship with the people that I have known a little longer.

On Saturday, I again got to go serve the homeless. Again, I am in complete awe of how wonderful that experience was! I knew that it was something that I wanted to do, but at the same time, I was afraid that I would roast inside with the hot weather that we had been having. This just proves that I should not have preconceived notions or ideas of what the experience will be like. Two weeks ago when I first served, I wore jeans and a sleeveless top and running shoes. The air conditioning unit was turned on when we arrived, and with all of the movement, I was over heating rather quickly. Thank goodness for a bottle of water I received before we handed it all away! So after that experience, I was seriously scared for what I would be facing a second time around. Part of me was almost talking myself out of doing the mission, and just going somewhere outdoors where it would be cooler, or even just staying home. The voice of God kept saying that all will be well, that if I do as He wishes, then I will be blessed. Most certainly blessed I was! How incredible! I went prepared: shorts, and tee shirt and sandals. And of course a big bottle of water. (I can still come prepared from past experiences!) At 11:20 I began helping to unload the trailer. As I walked into the church where they were holding the mission, I was immediately greeted with the cool fans of the air conditioner! Apparently the air conditioner was left on all night long for us! It was in that moment that I turned to heaven and acknowledged that God was most definitely looking out for me. In addition, there were 13 people helping with the mission on this particular day! That meant that a lot of us did a little and there wasn't as much running around overheating. How wonderful our God is!

Yesterday, for another time, God proved that His plans trump my plans. For nearly two weeks, I had been planning on getting together with my sister and a couple of friends and hopefully going to the beach. Well, on Saturday, it was predicted 60% chance of storms along the lakeshore. Talking with my sister and friends, we decided that we would just go to the Fredrick Meijer Gardens and hang out there. The plans were made the night before, as that is how I typically roll. Yea. An hour before the scheduled meeting time, I got a text from my sister saying that due to unforeseen circumstances, unfortunately she could not come, but wished us a good time. Although I was frustrated and disappointed that this happened yet again, I wanted to make the best of my day and not ruin it for the other girls.

The three of us were rather indecisive, so we called another friend, who we were getting together with as well, to see what she wanted to do. Since the weather was beautiful with the sun shining, she decided that we were beach bound!

And off we went. The water was almost perfect, and we could not have asked for more beautiful weather! After 3 or so hours, we were ready for dinner. It was Panera bread here we come!! We enjoyed a lovely dinner in Grand Haven, before driving past the lake seeing that I had never been there before. We agreed that one of our next beach trips will have to be to Grand Haven!

Then it was homeward bound. I have to admit I was a little nervous about the trip home considering our last adventure, but that is where complete faith and trust in God comes into play. I trusted that God would get us all home safe, and that everything would be fine -- that worry was unnecessary. We all arrived home safely -- despite my phone *pinging* every couple of minutes, eventually resulting in the ringer being turned off.

I am ever so thankful for everything that God has been blessing me with. He certainly knows all that I need. I have met some incredible people who see life along the same lines that I do, and we all run with God.

Six weeks ago, I certainly did not foresee anything of the sort of what I have been blessed with. Six weeks ago I did not have any friends, or talk to anyone, or go out and anything. Now here I am, with a social life that fills almost all of my free time! How great is God for blessing me with such wonderful people who know Him and serve Him and love Him!

Actions speak louder then words, and I certainly aspire to proclaim God's goodness by my actions.