I love Florida.
It's so beautiful here!
I can be at the nearest beach in 20 minutes.
I can take my dog for a walk in a park where on my left and right side are perfect views of a harbor and boats, in front of me is the huge river and tall bridge and behind is the cute little part of downtown I love.
I can go in the morning to Sunrise Bakery, climb the stairs to the second floor and sip on a smoothie while munching on my favorite bagel and looking at an adorable view of the little shops surrounding it.
My whole childhood has been lived out here. This has been the perfect setting.
I have memories that will never leave my mind and will always be a reminder of His grace on my life:
Like runnning around in the field at our old house with all our neighborhood friends without a care in the world until it got dark outside.
Getting ready for school in the morning while talking on walkie talkies with my best friend Samantha who lived 5 houses down the street from me, and having slumber parties on the weekends.
A few years later......the day I knew I got my first real crush :) His name was Josh, and I was in 7th grade.
Taking ballroom dance lessons at age 17 in the adorable downtown studio, up on the second story. My favorite lesson actually wasn't a lesson at all..that night our instructor didn't show up, so my friend and I spent 2 and a half hours in a HUGE ballroom with our ipods, dimmed the lights and just went for it. Can you say piece of heaven!
DANCE TEAM!! With Revolution youth group. Those people became some of my very best friends and still are to this day. The best memories are all the traveling and dancing in churches, at conferences, at community events, anywhere you can imagine, and all the amazing overnight/weekend/week-or-2-long trips to places in FL, TN, AL, NC, everywhere. I will forever LOVE those wonderful days!
What a picture of the grace of God my childhood and youth has been.
Now here I am at 21, and I've been wrecked forever for His purposes. Spent 2 years teaching preschool after graduating high school. Then left and spent 6 months in Kansas City Missouri with some of the most amazing people I have ever met.
Now I'm back, in this beautiful place, LOVING the sky, the water, the little restaurants that only local people know about, MY FAMILY, and the amazing people I get to know here. Getting ready to get on another plane next month and leave again. This time it's a lot farther away from home. AFRICA. For 3 months.
I'm so scared to leave again when I know it's only a season and I just want a place and community where I can stay and call home. Florida has been wonderful and amazing, but the Lord is leading me elsewhere now. I don't like it when seasons end, but there's always another season coming.
So I step out in spite of my fears, and brace myself to fall right into His arms. He has called, and He is faithful. I don't know what's going to happen, but I never do. I've got to learn how to accept that. I'm never going to know where I'm going, or where He's going to call me/us next. But if we keep our eyes on Him it's OK. He's our security. He's our safety. We never go alone.
I am not going to Africa alone. By myself, yes. But He is with me. He's never going to leave me. I've got to learn to lean on Him and Him alone. People will come and go in my life. ALWAYS. Some day family members may die and leave me here. When I'm married, my husband won't always be with me, there will be times we are possibly seperated, in other parts of the world.
In this season He is teaching me to find my security in Him. ONLY Him.
God alone is the only one who isn't going anywhere. He is unchanging. Everything in life always changes, but He doesn't. He is the First and Last. He's constant and He is a ROCK. When I'm spinning He is my anchor. He is the only one that isn't leaving me. I cling to the LORD with all that I am, and step out, into the unknown, into His arms.
Sweet Jesus, stay close to me......
