this nashville thing

It is hard to process that I'm going to Nashville for 3 months on Saturday.

Thunder School is a 3 month long music/songwriting/evangelism school with Scott MacCleod, and a number of cool people are involved in starting the school (i.e. Lou Engle and Bob Jones).

I found out about it after the deadline, and somehow God opened up the doors anyways. :)

Today, I was at Wired Coffee, and I ended up talking to Kristin who works there. She asked me about where I was going, we started talking, and I ended up finding out that she was a believer. Then she said she would pray for me. I said something about walking through open doors God has for us (such as me going to Nashville), and she mentioned that she has an open door opportunity to take in 6 teenage foster children when she gets married in December! So wild! We pray at the HOP for a spirit of adoption to be poured out on the church, and here is this woman, answer the call! I pray for Kristin that she and her husband-to-be would be strengthened with might in their inner man by the Holy Spirit, that they would know the love of Christ, and be filled with the fullness of God (Eph. 3:16-19)

God is already using this nashville thing to open up doors to talk to people.

it's been a summer of prayer and weddings

This summer has been a whirlwind. I can't believe that it's over! Thank You, God for a complete summer.

I have been so thankful for the Ridderings this summer. Oh what a blessing. I go to live with people I barely know, they are so kind, and the Lord builds spiritual family.

The first weekend I lived there, I helped out with a bridal shower they were hosting. The next weekend, I went up to Peoria and threw Ximena's bridal shower. The next two weeks were one big blur, as I co-led 7 guys, and prayed from 10pm to 4am every day for Fire in the Night. It was a good blur, but a blur, nonetheless. The next weekend after that, I went to Lauren and Elias's wedding. the next weekend was no weddings, but the Ridderings' friend was getting married, and we hosted a Japanese girl for the weekend who spoke close to no English, because she came to that wedding, and I helped out with THAT.

The next weekend, I was in Anna's wedding, the next week was a lot of prayer and fasting as I was maid-of-honor for Ximena THAT weekend. Then, there was a break from the weddings, as I went to Milwaukee for a weekend. The next weekend was my friend Elizabeth's wedding, which I ended up not going to, and then the next day was a wedding celebration for my friend Erin in Fayette, Missouri, which I drove 6 hours out of my way to go to, then drove with my family to FLORIDA.

...and I think I'm done with weddings for the summer. :)

I've been very involved in the House of Prayer, and it's been an awesome time. I believe God is getting ready to do something exciting in our midst in St. Louis and GHOP....

I still don't know why so many weddings this summer, though?

The Professor is coming...

This is a dream I had a few days ago (2/27/09).
I woke up thinking, "Wow, that was random," but asked the Lord if He was speaking to me through it anyways. After thinking about it, there seemed a pretty clear meaning. Haha!

DREAM:
I was with a group of people, I knew the professor was coming. People were saying that Professor H.G. was coming, in sort of respectful voices -- I could tell this was a really big deal. When he actually came, I didn't know what I would call him, I thought about calling him by "Mr. G___" and the rest of his last name (I didn't remember what it was when I woke up), but then decided that I would call him "Mr. G."

I knew that he was coming to specifically help me with my paper. I was somewhat humbled, because I knew he was singling me out. I've had many professors, and none of my English professors have ever singled me out immediately, but only after I had written several papers. This professor was singling me out, because he knew I had potential. I had not done anything yet.

The professor came. He was not too young and not too old (perhaps mid-thirties?), vibrant, with shiny brown hair in a ponytail (a "free spirit" type). He was really kind to me. Again, I felt humbled, because I hadn't written a whole lot. In my normal meetings with teachers, I always try to have as much work done as I can. However, I only had a few notes on a scrap of paper to show (I was also holding a friend's scrap for the professor to look at). I knew that He would help me make an amazing paper, though.

I heard some other people talking as though they were jealous. They were saying things to the effect of, "She must think she's really special because the Professor is giving her all the attention," or "Why does he think she's so special." I decided to use humor and self-deprecation to ease the situation and make them feel better. I looked at my scrap of paper and muttered, laughing at myself, "Yeah, I have this much."

I said it sort of quietly, but the professor heard me and laughed out loud, really loudly. Then everyone was wondering what I said, and he had me tell them all. He just thought I was great! He thought my little attempt at humor was really hilarious, and was laughing with me with a lot of joy.

End.
***

After I thought and prayed about this dream, some things were really obvious. His name was Mr. H.G. . . Like Holy Ghost! And he was the Professor (our Teacher), I described the way he looked (of course just an appearance of it for my dream) as a "free spirit,"and he was FULL of joy, kindness, and excitement. He saw the potential in me and chose me for that, not what I had done. I had nothing to offer, and when I responded in humility, he got a kick out of it. He genuinely liked me. Also, I believe this dream is for more than just me, because I was holding a scrap of paper for a friend, too. So, have fun learning from the Great Professor, Holy Ghost, who is full of joy and loves to help you reach your potential!

What a fun dream from God! Haha!

I borrowed Hilary's camera in Seattle

Here is Hilary in a coffee shop that she took me to after some pleadings (pleeease coffee -- she was nice), me with coffee in her room to show that i do drink coffee (did anyone question?), and me with skyline (do you notice that my jacket is the color of the sky, and my sweater is the color of the grass? at least my face is different)

Resting in Seattle

My first visit to the West Coast has been great! Seattle is so beautiful, cultural, and fun! It is definitely one of the top spots for someone like me... especially with the beautiful mountains, everyone eating organic and recycling, and it would probably get me more active, too (there are bike paths and running trails everywhere). I don't even have to mention the coffee!!!

It's a little over-the-top with the organic-ness, though. Here are a couple of stories that Mrs. Dyer told me:

This is the #1 or #2 (going back in forth with Minneapolis -- #1 now) most educated city in the nation. Yet, when it snowed, the mayor wouldn't let them salt the road, because the salt run-off might affect the salmon run. This is a city on the Pacific salt ocean. He also outlawed beach fires, because of the global warming effects. No joke.

There are also many liberal, liberal people and many hippies, which of course is normal for people in the world, but makes things a little more confrontational, if you're super-conservative. I passed a bumper sticker that said, "Born right... the first time!" and first thought it was a pro-life sticker, only to realize that it was a slam on people who say they're born-again. Having faith in Jesus is under fire here, but in some ways, I suppose that's good.

I went to church three times this weekend, and each time, let me tell you, it was good. I mean, I know not all the churches were like this, but there were lots of young people, and EVERYONE was getting into it, crazy for God. Seriously. Like I wasn't the lunatic, loud-mouth always waving the hands. It was really cool. Someone said to me, "Yeah, it's because it's hard to be a Christian here, so people are desperate for God." I am, too. I was definitely hit by God. I had a really funny/encouraging dream the first day I was here, too, which I may blog.

God has been hitting my heart and encouraging me in ways that I didn't expect that He would.

Love you all, and may you have a perfect sleep in Jesus.

car rumbles

So, today, I had to pick up my old taurus to get the license plates renewed. I haven't driven it since the end of October. It was really funny. So much has changed for me in that time.

When I was driving it, I started remembering what that time was like for me, oh, about a year ago. It was funny, because it was just getting dark, which reminded me of having to drive to work in the dark, I had a cup of coffee, which was always in my hand in the beginning of the night, and it was really quiet. That was a main characteristic of my night shift last year: quiet. Often, I would go to my car during my lunch break and sit in the quiet and talk to God. Talk about lonely, but something about it was nice.

I also was thinking about healing and telling someone about healing, which made me remember all the awesome/fiery teachings and podcasts that were my constant companians last year (I pray for restoration for Todd Bentley, btw, as his teachings were such a blessing to me. Thinking about it makes me sad. ).

God is doing a new thing, though! I am glad that I am no longer in the desert season, alone most of the time, working nights, and not being able to feel His presence (different story -- it's back, though!). Right before all of this changed, God told me that He was moving me into a different season. Here I am! It's good to remember what God's done, though. It makes me feel close to Him to remember all that time I spent alone with Him.

a warm snuggly pillow

Today was the first day our new Bread Co. opened. I was working the cash drawer, and it was the first time I ever cashiered in my life (besides training). It was pretty busy, but not overwhelming.

The story of the day was this really cute couple. They said they had come to Bread Co. that day to come and celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary! They ordered their lunches and two cinnamon rolls to go, "to eat while watching a movie later." I thought they were sooo sweet! I was able to bring them their food to their table. Then I told my manager, Rob about them, and he said, "Did you give them anything?"
I said, "No, but I REALLY wanted to!"
He said, "Go ahead and bring them anything you want to!"
So, I got to bring them a pastry ring for their anniversary! I love Bread Co. Later, when I left, Rob told me that he was so proud of me, that he gave me a $25 Panera gift card! I was so blown away by that, because I was already extremely grateful to be able to give them that pastry ring.

The downer, though, was when they counted out my drawer, and exactly $20 was missing from my till, which means that I counted everything right, but somehow a $20 was gone from the drop box (we drop all the $20s and only managers can get to them).

I am so thankful for God's mercy to me, though!

Oh, and the title is what I hope I get to become well aquainted with for longer than I have been the last few nights...