D-NOW

Hello reader friends! Been a while I know, but if ya knew how busy I have been the past couple of days, you would understand. And freedom has been found in those days. Lots of freedom. Haha. Moving on though.

I worked a Disciple Now D=Now this past weekend in Winona, Mississippi. My first one to ever work, and lets just say my group of 9th and 10th grade girls set the bar high if I ever work another one. I had prepared myself to have to demand these girls to go to bed and pour water on them to get up in the mornings. Totally wrong. They went to bed way before I expected them to and were typically up before I was. It was great and I learned a lot. And found a bit of freedom. I didn't learn this directly from the D-Now, but I learned it regardless.

I struggle with PRIDE!

I've known this for a couple of months now, because there is a particular guy in my life who points it out to me occasionally, in a loving way of course. But it is different when you can see it for yourself and honestly admit  that you struggle with it. And when you do, you find freedom. Or at least I did. I discovered the struggle when, I could not get the hot water to work in the bathroom that I was supposed to use. I did everything I knew to do. I turned the red knob on first. Let it run for a few moments, put my hand in to check it and it was still cold. Turned it off. Checked to make sure I turned the right knob, and I had. I then gave credit to the girls who were early risers that all the hot water was gone. I proceeded to tell my hostess about it and she graciously let me use her shower. Got up the next morning, earlier, to beat the girls to the water, and it still didn't work. I gave up, and went back to bed. A couple of hours later, I woke up to find I had been beaten to the shower once more by these girls. Ha. No more hot water, or so I thought. I told the hostess that I was still having problems. She quickly tells me that the knobs are mis-marked. As in, the blue knob was the hot and the red was cold. I laughed. I thought to myself, I could have showered in here had I not just asked for help. I didn't ask because of Pride! AHHHHH!!!!!! I went and did it the way she told me to and then had a perfectly warm shower. 

Another instance during the same weekend was the fact that Saturday I felt terrible. Like it was "Satan Pick on Amber Day" or something. My head hurt like never before and I was sore all over. I felt as if I swallowed a quarter and it was lying heads up in my throat. I get through the morning and lunch feeling somewhat okay. As soon as we get to the home, I was feeling 20xs worse. I told the girl I was working with, Ann Claire, that I was going to lye down for a bit. I typically try to sleep off headaches. I woke up, expecting it to be gone, but it wasn't. And to top it off, I felt I had a fever. Oh no! Not good. I am in Winona and now I am sick. Still not completely sure if I told my parents where I was this weekend and I didn't want to call them to ask them to come get me. The family I was with, had a doctor as the father. He checked me out and said my sinus cavities had just swollen. He instructed his wife to make me take ibuprofen and then drink warm tea. Warm tea by the way is not my drug of choice, but I felt better afterwards. Maybe had I asked for help earlier, I wouldn't have felt so bad. Maybe I would have been more effective with my group of girls than I was.

So I found this verse today. It's Proverbs 16:18

Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

As soon as I read this. I said "I don't want to destruct." This means, I need to be able to admit that I need help and not feel bad for asking for it. That is just a bit of freedom I have found this week. 

-amgfinding_freedom

Awesome Chapter of Scripture

So this actually happened a couple of weeks ago, but I thought I would share with you guys. It was very very impacting to me. It is Exodus 3. I'm doing a daily devo book by Beth Moore, whom I heard at Passion, but owned the book before I went and she only has one verse for me to read a day, then she explains it. Well, I like to go find the context of the verse, to help me understand it better, and to see if people are using the verse correctly.Anywho. The verse I was given was Exodus 3:7

"I have observed the misery of My people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors." 

This really and truly just made me Smile! Like the same God who heard His chosen people crying out to Him, also hears me. How neat is that! The same God who used a burning bush to talk to Moses, which is in this chapter by the way, lets me talk to Him! I get to talk to God, not only that, but He LISTENS!!! Neat right. You may not find this as fascinating as I did, but I thought it was a great and much needed reminder.

Hope you have enjoyed reading my blog, and maybe this will inspire you to seek a better relationship with Christ.

Au revoir blog world...

-amgfinding_freedom 

My Assignment :)

So I have shared with you guys that I am going to Oklahoma for the summer. Super excited and I still can't believe that I get this wonderful opportunity to serve God. Basically, this summer I will be working at a shelter for women and children. This is kinda the rough draft of my assignment right now; I will find out more as I go through orientation and whatnot in March. I might be leading a women's bible study or working for a VBS. I will assist in providing around the clock care of the residents that are there. And of course, I will be going to church on Sundays with them.

Ultimately, I get to share the love of Christ with them and help them "find freedom"from their brokenness. Which just makes me smile!! Antyways!

Pray that God prepares my heart for this summer and shows me how to be a leader while I am there. Also pray that I will not get homesick, this is my biggest fear, and I don't want it to hinder my work. Pray for the women and children that will be there, and that they will find freedom and know that there is a God out there who loves them without a shadow of doubt.

Nighty-night blog world

amgfinding_freedom

Blessed

Would like to share a total God thing that I experienced this past Friday afternoon. A way that I was blessed. Let me give the back story, then I will share the blessing. 


I have my summer mission's interview this past Friday night. My daddy came and got me that Thursday afternoon. We only have one vehicle, and that is his only day off, so it worked out. On Friday morning I had an eye Dr's. appointment with my interview to take place at six in the evening. Little did I know when my daddy came to pick me up, the truck was having transmission issues. Oh no. Not a good thing. At All.  (Maybe you see how this blessing is going to happen..but just wait). We make it home safely after a two hour trip from DSU to Vicksburg. I might add, I made it to my appointment on time and whatnot. But, I just didn't trust the truck to make it to my interview that evening. Maybe I didn't trust myself to drive the truck. Honestly, I was terrified that I would break down and have nobody to help me.  The interviews took place at Camp Garaywa, which is only about thirty minutes from my house. I sent out a mass text asking for prayer that I would make it there timely and safely. More safely than anything. Only moments after I sent it, a lady from my home church asked if she could take me. HELLO, BLESSING!! She took me to my interview. The ride gave us time to catch up on some things that I had missed over the past couple of months. After she agreed to take me, she posted a status saying, "Allow yourself to be a blessing to others."  She was a complete God send and an answer to a reluctant prayer. Through all of this, I figured out something that seems pretty big to me. Just as people need to allow themselves to be a blessing, I also must allow myself to receive the blessing. I kept going back and forth on whether or not to send out the mass text, and who to send it to. 


 So the other day, after checking my email about a million times, I found out I am going to Oklahoma for the summer, just in case you didn't read my other posts. I called people to let them know. My dad asked "When do I take you to the airport?" as if he can get rid of me that quickly. He then tells me today that I will most likely flying into Tulsa, which is apparently six miles away from where I am going. Who knows? I don't.  Anyway, I have gotten a lot of love from my Facebook family about it. Some, are slightly concerned, but nothing that I didn't expect.  I would be concerned if they weren't concerned. One of my surrogate mothers asked if she could bring me a home cooked meal. She lives in OK and I haven't seen her in FOREVER! I am totally and completely blessed by GOD to have so many people in my life that support me as I try my best to serve HIM. I certainly hope I can allow myself to be a blessing to others this summer and on my college campus. 


Thanks for reading...hope it wasn't too boring! 


amgfinding_freedom

Lots of First

So I found out that I will be going to the great state of Oklahoma this summer, as a missionary. (O.K.L.A.H.O.M.A.- heard the joke and said it myself). Antyways, as I was thinking about it after the initial shock wore off, I got to thinking about how many new things I will be doing. Let's list a few shall we!

1. Flying. For the very FIRST time.  This whole concept just scares me, but I am pretty excited.
2. Being away from HOME for a long amount of time. For those of you who know me, I get terribly homesick after not being able to go home for more than three weeks. 
3. Serving in the way God wants me to. I have always wanted to be a missionary, but I made up a lot of excuses as to why I shouldn't or why I thought I couldn't. (Later on to find out they were all just excuses and not legitimate reasons). 
4. And last but not least, leaving a fantastic SUPPORTING boyfriend at home, while I do what I feel like God has called me to do. 

I am very excited to see what God has in store for me. What will he teach me? What will I teach others about Him? How will loved ones feel about what I am doing? Will it impact them in a positive way? These are just many thoughts that have been going through my head as I wind down from the excitement of becoming a summer missionary. 

Those are just my final thoughts for the day! Hope you guys sleep well and maybe can compile a list of your own "First" that God is calling you to do. 

Nighty-night Blog World!

-amgfinding_freedom

Inspiration

So I have been wanting to start a blog for a while now. Just never knew what I wanted to write about. I didn't want it to be about myself, but one of my interest. Just this past month, I have heard a lot about "freedom." I went to Passion (a conference you will hear about multiple times throughout my blog) and "freedom" was pretty much the entire theme of the week. We learned about human trafficking and how it needs to be stopped. Not only did I learn about this, another thing that I have found myself hearing a lot about is freedom from sin. Things that bind me from doing God's will for my life; things I need to get rid of.
I said all of that to say this, my blog will kinda be about me "Finding Freedom" in different aspects of life. So it will about me in a way, but I hope I can make it interesting.

amgfinding_freedom