Season of change

The past week or so has been pretty amazing.

On Monday I was given the opportunity to speak at my weekly meeting for Phi Lamb. The Lord laid it on my heart a few weeks ago, and to be honest I was pretty nervous. However, it turned out to be one of the most awesome experiences. I spoke on Hannah who is mentioned in 1 Samuel. I'm not sure why I chose Hannah, but it couldn't have been a better decision. The Lord has really been teaching me about prayer over the past few months. Hannah's story revolves around prayer, giving her desires to the Lord, and trusting Him with it.

Hannah prayed to the Lord and gave all of her worries and burdens to Him. After she was finished praying she left the tabernacle content, because she knew her prayer was in the Lord's hands now. This hit me hard. Sure, I pray on a daily basis but how often do I actually give it all to the Lord? I definitely struggle with holding onto things and not fully giving them to the Lord. It's so dumb though, because in a way that's like me saying that I don't trust God to take them from me and fulfill them. I know the Lord's plan for my life is so much better than anything I could imagine. So, why on earth would I not just lay everything at the Lord's feet?

Psalms 55:22 says "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you....." That says it all really doesn't it? He Lord wants to take our burdens from us and make them His own. Even when I'm naive enough to think that I have everything under the control the Lord will always remind me that I don't. Why would I even try to do it on my own? I've proven to myself over and over again that I cannot do it on my own. Hannah had this down. She knew that she had to take her plea for a son to the Lord. She knew that He was the only one who could fulfill her desires. She even realized that He may not give her exactly what she wanted, but He would do what was best for her.

How amazing is it that we serve a God that wants to lighten our load and take on our burdens, worries, stresses, and troubles? The fact that He wants to take that from us never ceases to amaze me. I know the times I have laid it at the Lord's feet and not looked back He has always blessed me in some way. Sure, God doesn't always give us what we ask for, but so what? I know that He has it all under control, and that's enough for me. God's goodness will always be a mystery to me, but I'm so thankful and blessed by it.

My encouragement for you is just to lay it all on God. He wants to take it from us, and make it his. If that's not one of the most encouraging things then I'm not sure what is.

Snowmageddon

I know my last post also revolved around snow, but I had to dedicate this one to it as well. The weather has been insane here in Fayetteville for the past week. I didn't have classes from Tuesday-Thursday last week. It also looks like another snow storm will be rolling into Northwest Arkansas on Tuesday night. This weather is crazy!

Of course during these days off from school I have done relatively zero homework. Probably not the smartest move, but oh well. One cool thing I've been able to do though is spend a lot of much needed quality time with the Lord.

I've struggled for a while with diving into the Word on a daily basis. I know God is pushing me out of my comfort zone this semester and I know if I don't spend time with him daily then I won't be a very effective servant. So, I've really been challenging myself to wake up a little earlier every day and start my morning off with some quality Jesus time. For the past week or so I've been going through 1 John. I love that I started off with this book of the Bible. Most of the stuff I'm reading I already knew, but I don't think I ever truly took it to heart.

In 1 John chapter 1 verses 5-7 it talks about living in the light. So often I've heard that if you claim to be a follower of Christ but you're still living in sin and not repenting then you're not walking in the light at all. In a book that I'm slowly getting through by Francis Chan called "Crazy Love" he talks about lukewarm Christianity. I think the bulk of Christians fall into this category. Sure we know that Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again, but we aren't really soaking it up. I want to be a servant for the Lord who lives out my faith in every area of my life. I don't want to ever live in darkness. Sure I'll still mess up and sin on a daily basis, but recognizing my mistakes and asking for forgiveness makes all the difference. I don't want to be a lukewarm Christian, I desire to be a Christian who is passionately following Christ with everything I have.

We only have one life to live. We were placed on this earth to love the Lord and to share His name with others. I want to fulfill my purpose while I'm here. I know it's not the easiest path to take, but so what? I would never want a life for myself that's easy or that I didn't have to work hard for. I want my life to glorify God in every way possible.

That was probably deep for a Tuesday morning, but I just thought I'd share what has been on my heart for the past few days.

-Kelsey

:)

I love snow days

I have successfully completed my first week of classes! During the week I would normally have to go to class 12 times, but this week I only had to go 7 times! We didn't have classes on Monday due to MLK day and yesterday there was a SNOW DAY!

I love snow. Seriously. I really hate being cold, but somehow snow seems to make up for the cold. I got to go sledding yesterday afternoon with a ton of my favorite people and it was awesome. For those of you out there who don't have good sleds you can always use a laundry basket. True story, it works well. After sledding I spent the rest of the day inside a dorm getting warm and enjoying spending time with friends.

This semester should be an interesting one. While I don't think any of my classes will be particularly challenging (knock on wood) I don't think they'll be stimulating either. I just have to remember that I need these classes in order to take ones that are for my major. Motivation will be essential to my academic success this semester.

Lately I've been learning about what it means to take rest in the Lord. So often I just read my Bible and pray without ever really spending the quality time that I need with God. This week though I got a huge wake-up call and God got my attention. On Wednesday afternoon I got off campus for a little while which was extremely refreshing. I drove up to this area that overlooks Fayetteville, and it's gorgeous. On the hill there is this giant cross and I knew that the Lord was definitely around. I sat on top of my car, read my Bible, prayed, watched the sunset, and spent some much needed time while the Lord. The only thing I really prayed was Acts 1:8 over and over which says "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

This particular verse has been on my heart over the past few weeks and it was nice to take time and reflect on it's meaning in God's presence.

My prayer for this semester is Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." I love that I serve a God that wants to take my pain and burdens from me so I don't have to dwell on them. He wants me to find rest in Him. How cool is that?

Happy Friday everyone!

:)

New year, new goal?

So, lately I have really been into reading other people's blogs so I figured I should probably update mine. My goal much like my good friend Sarah's is going to be to at least update my blog once a week. I think that's doable, I like to think I have plenty to report even if it's just school and such.

I wanted to reflect back on 2010 and see what were the highlights!

Wonderful things that happened in 2010:

-Successfully finished my freshman year of college!

-Made some amazing friends at the University of Arkansas

-Went on vacation with the fam to South Carolina

-Worked at K-Kauai and met some truly amazing people

-Rangers went to the World Series!

-My Arkansas Razorbacks made it to their first BCS bowl, they lost but that's okay.

-I got to serve as activities head for my sorority

-Learned some pretty cool new things about Jesus, which I always love

-My aunt got married in March! So happy for her, and I love my new uncle.

-Went on a cruise to the Caribbean with my Dad's side of the family

-Got my scuba diving certification

Challenges of 2010:

-My first semester of freshman year......2.69 GPA, not my best work.

-My heart was wounded a few times due to the wonderful male gender. It's okay though! Getting you heart broken makes you learn a lot of new stuff about yourself.

-Finally becoming content with going to school in Fayetteville

Things I'm looking forward to in 2011:

-Growing stronger in my faith and walk with the Lord

-Completing my sophomore year of college

-Hopefully moving out of the dorms for good

-Working at K-Kauai for another summer

-COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON TO BEGIN!

All in all my 2010 has been amazing. I've gotten some bumps and bruises, but the good has definitely outweighed the bad. I am so blessed and the Lord continues to show me how much each and every day.

Happy 2011!

:)

Sophomore year

I can honestly say that I'm a terrible blogger and I really had no intention of posting maybe ever again. However, I've been reading other people's blogs and it inspired me to maybe start this thing back up again.

Freshman year and summer came and went crazy quick. Now I'm back in Arkansas about a month into my sophomore year of college! This year is already proving to be pretty insane. Along with taking 15 hours of classes I'm also the activities committee head in my sorority. Between school, Phi Lamb (my sorority), friends, and occasionally babysitting I stay very busy. I like being busy though, it's a definite change from last year and I think that's why I'm already enjoying school so much.

This semester I'm finally getting to take a few more education classes. Some of them aren't the most interesting classes, but I love them. I love getting to learn about things that I can actually apply in my future classroom one day. This spring I have to apply to the Childhood Education program and then the real work begins. Right now I'm still taking all of my core classes so it's not all education classes, but that's okay. At least I'm done with science.....well the hard stuff. I still have two science classes left, but they're both education based.

I'm so excited to see what God has in store for me this year. He has already been faithful and revealed Himself in so many exciting ways.

I know this isn't the best first blog after my super long hiatus, but you have to start somewhere right?

New year, New decade :)

Happy 2010 everyone!

I don't know about anyone else, but I love January. I could do without the cold it always seems to bring with it, but other than that I'm a fan. My love of January comes from the fact that it brings us a whole new year. I know we don't need a new year to start over, but somehow it feels like I'm given a clean slate. 2009 was an okay year in retrospect, but I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be that much better.

I usually don't make resolutions, but this year I figured why not? This year I would really like to journal more and make better grades. But also I would like to live more like Christ. So often I get caught up in the ways of the world which is so easy to do. But, as Christians we're called to live a life of being set apart and it's something I want to strive for. I'm not really sure what shape or form that will take but we'll see.

This is short, but I figured maybe this year I can also start blogging more :)

I'm back!

Wow, I can't believe it's almost been 4 and a half months since I wrote anything! I've really been missing blogging lately, so I thought I would try my best to get back into it!

Well, I'm not in England anymore.....I'm currently attending the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I love it! I'm finally getting to pursue my degree in Early Childhood Education which makes me so happy! :)

The days are starting to get colder, which I have to say doesn't make me too excited. Seeing as I'm a Texan through and through I was not made for cold weather. My father informed me the other day that he thinks it gets colder in Fayetteville than it does in Northeast England.....not cool. Although right now the leaves are changing here in Fayetteville and it's so pretty :) pictures don't do it justice.

Let's see....what can I tell you about my life. In less than 2 weeks my family finally gets to move into our beautiful new house in Blue Ridge, Texas! I am beyond excited! It will be good to have some room again, I think Peyton and Claire would have killed each other if we had to stay in the duplex much longer. I think the number one reason I'm most excited to move into the new house is so my wonderful sheltie, Finn can finally come home once and for all! My Grandma and Grandaddy have been saints while looking after him since March but I'm ready for him to come back to North Texas where he belongs.

So, I didn't do the whole rushing thing here at school. However, I did join a Christian sorority called Sigma Phi Lambda. There are about 70 girls in it altogether, and I just really love it. It's exactly the kind of thing that's right for me. :)

Other than that my life mostly just consists of school, which isn't so bad. I'm actually loving learning for the first time because I know it's leading me to the job that I was made to do.

:)