Something that is currently frustrating me is relationships. Okay, let's be real here; relationships always frustrate me. Now, you're probably wondering why that is.
There are two reasons:

1. I've spent 94% of my life being single.
2. I strongly dislike the awkward period of time when it's like, 'do we like each other????'

If it were up to me, I'd prefer to just know what's going on. I'd walk straight up to the guy, look him in the eyes, and say, "hey there. I really like you. Do you like me too?" and then hope that he says yes. (sidenote: it would never actually be that easy.)

But, I'm constantly being reminded that that is not God's plan.

In a previous post, I've mentioned that I go to a weekly Bible study with the College & Career group from my church. At Bible study last night, we were talking about something... I can't quite remember what it was (why can I never remember?!), but someone said something that stuck out to me.

"You can't worry about the future, you have to focus on what's in front of you."

I couldn't get that out of my head for the rest of the night.

Once I got back to school, I decided that I needed to talk to a friend about what was going on in my head; all the thoughts about relationships, the frustrations that come with that, and about what was said at Bible study. I went to her apartment and she was finishing an episode of Grey's Anatomy, which I was fine with. I was content to just lay on her couch and wait for her to be done with that. 'Okay Elizabeth... I don't really care about Grey's Anatomy. Why are you telling this story?' might be what you're thinking right now. Juuust wait for it.

Near the very end of the episode, one of the characters said to another:

"You can't be worrying about the future! You have to focus on what's right in front of you."

What?! I was just as shocked as you are now. 'Did the Lord just speak to me through a TV show?', is what I was thinking. In the past, I've found that God speaks to me through the repetition of a specific phrase, so I figured that this was no different.

Today, I was telling a different friend about those two instances and that although I'm excited that God spoke to me, I am now struggling with not knowing which circumstance in my life I am supposed to apply that message to. As I was talking it out, I'm pretty sure I answered my own question.

I decided, maybe God is using this message for the whole of my life. With midterms just past, I've been worried about my marks, and how the grades that I get my classes will affect my future career. With relationship frustrations in my mind, I've been worried about where I stand with a certain person. My mindset has been very future-oriented.

Also, out of the blue today, my dad sent me a quote (based on Proverbs 3:6) that seems to be relevant to what God is wanting from me right now. It said, "In everything you do, put God first, and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success."

God wants me to focus on what's right in front of me, focus on the present. And my present (as well as both my past, and my future) is Him and Him alone. I think He's been giving me this message because I need to stop worrying about my midterms (the past), relationships (the future), and simply dwell in His presence. I need to run wholeheartedly towards Him; He is the only One who can give me the comfort, answers, love, and grace that I so deeply desire.

Now let's bring this post full circle. As for relationships, I am currently finding great comfort and hope in the fact that that's in the future, for we know that the future is inevitable. One day when I'm worrying about the future, I'll bring myself back to reality to focus on the present, only to realize that God has placed someone there for me to look towards the future with.

And it will be beautiful.

July 4th, 2015. Saturday. That day changed so much for me. Now, I'd like to start this story by saying that everything started out normally, but it didn't. It should have though. I should have woken up at 7:10 with my alarm, gotten ready for work, worked from 9:00-4:00, and then relaxed with my family in the evening.

Here's the truth.

I woke up around 7:00 to my family talking. I thought nothing of it; my family seems to have a hard time being quiet while I'm still trying to sleep. My brother and mom came to my bedroom door and I mumbled, "go away, I still have ten minutes to sleep." I heard my brother ask our mom, "should we tell her...?" Although I'd been half asleep ten seconds before, I sat bolt upright and said, "tell me." My brother proceeded to tell me that one of our lifelong friends, who was just twenty-three, died in a motorcyle accident the night before. My first reaction was that I was still asleep; he was so young, there's no possible way he could be gone. This can't be happening. I must be asleep still!

I knew I'd still have to work that day so I got ready, all the while complaining to my mom that I wished I didn't have to work. I soon learned the meaning of "be careful what you wish for".

As my mom was driving me to work, we were talking about how shocking & devastating it was that my friend was gone. We were winding up our conversation and we were just one block away from my work when my mom said, "what is that guy doing?!" I looked up to see that a car was pulling out of a parking lot and cutting across our lane (he was turning left). He was going WAY too fast for a parking lot, we had the right of way, and we had NO time to slow down. My mom didn't want to t-bone him & risk killing that driver, so she swerved to the left, which sent us clunking over a curb, swiping a hydro pole (thank God it was wood and not concrete), and ending up in some random people's front yard, just a meter away from being in their living room.
Granted, I don't remember all of that happening. All I remember is clunking over the curb, thinking 'Luke died & now I'm going to die too", and suddenly the car was stopped and I was screaming & hyperventilating.

There were a bunch of witnesses, total strangers who were wonderful help to us that day. The guy who caused all of this to happen drove off (how splendid), but anyway. All of the damage was on my side of the car, and it looked like this:

"The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and it's place remembers it no more." {Psalm 103:15-16}

Two nights ago, I arrived back home from Manitoulin Island. Two nights ago, I decided that I would have turned around and traveled right back up there if I could. God has placed such a burden in my heart for the people there, and I long to be there every moment of every day. Let's be real though; every year that I go up to the Island, I go through hardcore withdrawal from it for about three weeks after I come home.

I can't wait to go back up in 354 days! ...........buuuut I'm not counting.

The missions trip was a smashing success from start to finish. Despite all of the crazy things going on in my life (see previous post that was written pre-Manitoulin), God did wonderful things over the course of the trip.

The trip started with a nine hour car drive that for some reason felt to me like only five or six hours, despite getting backed up on the highway, and making stops. When we arrived, some people decided to go swimming. I currently have stitches in my leg so swimming was a no from me all week; I decided to join my brother and some others while they were fishing. I caught the first fish of the trip! *sassy hair flip*

my northern pike

Yah, it was pretty exciting; people were proud of me. I caught it literally right after I told one of the other team members that I don't even fish.

beautiful shots from the campsite

Let's not dwell on the emotional feelings of exhaustion that I felt at the end of the trip, but on the other hand, emotionally I came home feeling rejuvenated, focused on God, and joyful through His strength. During late night life chats on Friday night, our last night before coming home, I was discussing with a couple of friends how I felt like this year I wasn't on a spiritual high that was going to dwindle away after a few days of being back in the stress & craziness of home life, but this year it was more like stable spiritual growth. Over the course of last week, I got to experience God providing us with His strength, His joy, and His rest amongst how busy we were. I'm slowly doing a better job of leaning on Him and fully trusting in His sovereignty since returning home.

I'll share some more about the trip, and maybe some specific memories sometime soon. But for now, pictures! Enjoy!

enjoying some fishing on the dock on the first night

when Jenna, Lauren & i decided it was a good idea to hand wash our tshirts #fail

me with the bro!

we never get along for too long #sos #besties

teaching our small group about Gospel bracelets!

gettin' my photographer on

super cool picture that Mitch wanted me to take

This year is my third year going to Manitoulin Island with a group from my church to run a week-long Vacation Bible School for the children on a Native reserve there.

The first year that I decided to go on this trip was in 2012. Looking back now, I know that I didn't sincerely go with the mindset of "I'm ready to serve God!" I was fifteen at that time, and although I had made the decision myself to go on the trip, I was definitely swayed by the fact that my brother and a few of my friends would be there. It was a wonderful time, and it went off without a hitch, so I was greatly encouraged by it and couldn't wait to return the year after.

I didn't actually return until last year, 2014. Last year I was incredibly excited, holding onto all of the memories that I had left with from two summers previous. Even more memories were made last year, although we encountered many more snags than we had in 2012. Some of us felt like everything was going wrong; it rained and we had to turn our outdoor activities into indoor ones, there were a few times when personalities clashed, and the trip just seemed pretty rough as a whole. That being said, there was never a question in my mind as to whether or not I'd return this year; I know that at least some of the issues we ran into were from the devil, trying to persuade us that we shouldn't be doing what we were doing. Besides the fact that I love the people up in Manitoulin, and I love working with the team from my church for the Kingdom, I know that I can't back down from this missions trip and let Satan think he has the upper hand.

After looking at last years trip from a farther away lens, I'm able to see that God was simply reminding us that HE is sovereign. I felt that as a team, we had leaned so heavily on our own plans. We had planned everything out to a T, and the night before each day of camp we would run through everything to make sure that we were all on the same page in regards to how the next day would work. The way that I always put it is that we said that we were relying on God throughout the whole trip, and to an extent we were. But also, we were so dependent on our own plans that God needed to give us a bit of a slap in the face and be like, 'hey, hi, hellooooo! I'm the Creator of the universe, why don't you try depending on Me a little bit more! You're doing this work for Me; I'm on your side!' I'm thankful for those reminders that He gave us!

I'm writing this the night before we're set to leave (we leave in about ten hours!) and although I'm excited, there is definitely a different dynamic in the air this year. In 2012, I was nervous but also stoked to go out on my first missions trip. Last year I was purely excited to be returning to the Island after being away from it for two years. This year, there has been a lot going on in my life since the start of the summer, and I have to admit that I'm not excited as I had thought I would be at this point in time. This past week in and of itself has been HARD. [I'm going to make an entire post about that when I get back home. I planned to do that before I had to leave, but I ran out of time...] At times I'm feeling like I would be better off staying home tomorrow, but as I mentioned above, I can't step down and let Satan win! I know that I need to continue to on with the trip. A friend of mine actually texted me randomly today and asked me if I'm excited for the trip. When I told her that I was only a little bit excited, she responded with a very encouraging message. She said,

"I know the events of this week will get you down, but I hope it brings you closer as a team and gives you a unified and greater desire to serve the Lord in whatever way possible on this mission trip. I know that's easy to say and not so easy to do, but I'm praying that the things you guys are feeling will give you a greater urgency to share God's love with the people you meet next week. Depend on the Lord for His strength; He is able to do more than you can ask or imagine."

That was such an encouraging message to receive, and so unexpectedly! It's great to see God reminding me of His truths through my friends. I feel bad that I'm going up to Manitoulin Island and not feeling like myself, and not being extremely excited. The Bible tells us that there is a season for everything, and currently I'm in a season of mourning and hardship. I know that God will use me no matter how I'm feeling, and I have the desire to serve Him even though I'm sad. I'm clinging to the truths that my friend reminded me of today. I know that God will strengthen me for the tasks that He is going to place in front of me. He isn't going to prepare me (and the team) for this trip and then leave us all hanging out to dry on the mission field. I know and believe with all of my heart that He will be walking alongside all of us. He'll be strengthening us, giving us joy where and when we're lacking it, giving us the words to say, the Truths to speak, and holding us up when the hard times come. Man, my God is incredible.

Talk to y'all once I return home next Saturday!

Elizabeth

Tonight I'm sitting here thinking about how quickly things can change in a year. Three hundred and sixty-five days.

Let's see.... 365 days ago, I wasn't yet an adult. I had never lived independently. Exactly a year ago I graduated from high school! And a year ago from tomorrow I went to prom.


     

Tonight I was at a weekly College & Careers Bible study that some people from my church host. We wrapped up and briefly reviewed our recent study of Nehemiah. I missed quite a lot of that due to school; I was only there for the last three chapters of that book.

Speaking of Bibles, I did this cool thing to my Bible last week that makes me really happy every time I look at it. I found encouraging verses for different scenarios and then put little sticky tabs in there. It looks like this!

Growing up at home with your family, you honestly don't think much about how important they are. Your parents are cooking you meals, doing your laundry, and constantly telling you what to do. Your siblings are either your best friends or relentlessly getting on every one of your nerves. You hide out in your room 95% of the time, only leaving it when your family is watching a movie that you actually like, or your mom just made cookies and the smell is too enticing for you to remain in your hermit hole so you go to the kitchen and eat two........ or seven of those cookies.

Once you're older and you move out of the house (even part time for school, like me!), you begin to realize that everyone was right when you were younger; you don't know everything, and you will miss your family when you find yourself without them. Don't you hate moments like that, when you realize that indeed, the life lessons you were taught as a child are and were important? A part of me cringes, remembering the days of old when I would think, 'I know what I'm doing', 'why are people telling me these things?', 'these lessons that mom and dad say are important don't really matter....'. Like dang, I was rooting for nine-year old me; I should have been right! But alas, I hardly ever was (neither were you though, so HA!).

Moving back home last month to live with my mom, dad, and brother for the summer was harder than I had anticipated it to be. I didn't think anything of it when I came home from the East Coast tour; I'd lived with them my entire life (minus the eight months of college I'd just finished) so everything would be the same. WRONG. Everything seemed weird. Being without my parents, I'd quickly become accustomed to "doing what I wanted when I wanted". I put that in quotes because I still did things within reason. I'm talking more like, I had my best friend over without being like "Yo mom, can Rachel come over?" Like, no. I'm an adult. My parents aren't here. SWEET! I don't need to ask permission to do things!

Since coming home almost a whole month ago, I've finally transitioned back into the role of dependent daughter, as opposed to being independent adult; I'm excited to return to being an independent adult for another eight months at the end of August though!

What I've been learning since coming home is that home is safe. Family is safe. I know that I have a secure and welcoming place to turn to when things go wrong, or when they're right (don't just turn back to your family when you're sad or out of money).
In some previous posts, I've alluded to the fact that there are a number of situations going on in my family's life that are greatly affecting us all in different ways. I can't stress enough how comforting it is to physically be with my family through all of this. Having to face family situations "in spirit" is rough, especially being the youngest member of the family and feeling like I'm drowning half the time while I'm by myself without any of these problems.
Aaaaaaaaaaanyway...

Back to the point!

FAMILY AND HOME IS #LIFE. I really, truly, sincerely hope that no matter what you do in life, how successful you become, or how far away you and your spouse move, that you will never, ever forget that. Your family has done SO much for you. No matter how annoying you naively thought they were when you were like, 4.8888889 years old, do not forget your parents or your siblings. They helped to shape and mold you into who you are. They will always support you no matter what! They are your biggest fans; the first people to cheer you on in your successes, and comfort you in your sorrows. Cherish that.

My point in this post is simply these five things:

1. Appreciate the things that your parents do for you.
2. When your parents try to become your best friends before you move away for college, let them.
3. If you've already missed out on 2, go home and visit your parents on weekends or invite them to visit you!
4. Even though you think you won't miss your sister when she goes to college, BIG shocker! You will. (Just talk to my brother about that one!)
5. When you have the chance to visit home for weekends and holidays, don't hide out in your good ol' hermit hole the whole time...!

In a nutshell, don't forget how important your family is and always treasure them (and your home).

I don't intend for it to be super harsh; I simply want to clearly get across what I have been realizing and learning since coming back under my parents roof. I don't want anyone to make the mistake that I almost made of being a talking back, sassy, rude jerk to my family all summer. I'm snapping out of that now and am clasping onto the fleeting time that I have left here at home with my family before heading back out on my own for awhile.




P.S. I like to use a thesaurus website when I need a good synonymous word in a post and when I was looking for a synonym for "cherish", one of them was "enshrine" and I was like 'Yes. Of course. Let me just casually make a home and family shrine in my free time this summer!" ......umm, no. Hahaha!

Many incredible things happened in my life throughout the course of my freshman year in college. I made friends, learned a lot about God and myself, laughed a lot, cried a lot, and learned to be vulnerable and honest about my feelings, among many other things. That being said, there were also plenty of trials and difficulties that arose throughout the year.

Among both the good times and the bad, there is one specific thing that took place that stands above the others. Amidst much questioning, doubt, fear, and confusion, I heard God's calling in my life. I wrote many a frustrated journal entry about not knowing what was going on. I went into Bible college thinking that I was going to come back next year after completing my one year program, but there was a lot more confusion and hesitation in my mind as I began thinking about committing to three more years of schooling to become a worship leader.

When I realized God's calling, it wasn't a huge epiphany or anything. It happened over a period of time, from about October through to January, and I didn't even realize it had happened until my wonderful friends who came alongside throughout all of this, pointed out that I'd heard God's calling.

I feel that the best way for you to experience this journey is for me to share some parts of journal entries.

December 27th, 2014

"I'm fighting myself on doing the degree here. I give up on myself so easily; other people think that I can do it, but I'm having a hard time agreeing with them. Sometimes I almost think that I can do it, but then I worry about failing. BUT THE ONLY WAY TO FAIL IS TO NOT TRY. I know the Bible says that God uses inadequate people, but I just want to for ONCE believe that I'm good. I guess I've always thought that if I was meant to do something, I'd know it. I wouldn't be questioning. I know that I need to go for it because I'll only improve in the next three years."

January 12th, 2015

"Because I'm afraid of failure, I'm shutting down because all answers are pointing for me to stay here for three more years. I'm going to do it; I've come that far in my decision making. But I've been pulling a Jonah. I don't want to go to Ninevah, that's scary. I want to hop on a ship and I want to go somewhere that I want to go. I've got to get to the point where things get so scary that I run back and do what God wants me to do."

January 13th, 2015

"I'm being taught a HUGE lesson in trusting God. I've been asking for it since last year, and this is it. I'm trusting that God wants me to do the degree. I'm getting more affirmation than ever and it's like God is speaking to me through all these people."

Later that day...

"In chapel this morning, they talked about 2 Timothy 1:7 ("for God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline"), about God giving courage to us. I WAS BEING SPOKEN TO BY THE PREACHER. One of my friends just came into my room and talked to me about how funny it is that I freaked out about this to her yesterday and now courage was preached about. I'm hoping that my feeling of "I can be a worship leader" will last awhile! I've never been happier in my life than I am when I'm here at college. That should be a sign in itself that I belong here."

Isn't God just SO COOL?! It blows my mind reading through this post and seeing the progress of God working in my life, even just in a matter of a couple months.

To wrap this up, here's what I wrote in regards to this situation back in the middle of April in my freshman year reflection paper...

"During those first couple of weeks of second semester, I felt God's presence so much not even just in regards to returning next year. When my doubts about being a worship leader returned in February, I remember talking with my roommate and she told me that she knew I belonged here because she hadn't seen me happier than I was in those first two weeks of this semester, glowing with joy from God. Now here I am at the end of my freshman year all signed up to return next year in the degree program. I'm terrified but I'm also ready to learn more about becoming a worship leader."

Since entering into my four month summer (HECK YES!), I've had a greater peace of mind about returning for the remaining three years. This year I completed a one year certificate in worship leadership, so technically I'm certified to be a worship leader. That stresses me out more than returning to college because how is an eighteen-year old supposed to go to a church and be like "yo, I'm a worship leader, hire me." I'm realizing now that I'd actually prefer to graduate (again) in three years and be a twenty-one year old worship leader looking for a job. Also, even though I learned a lot this year, how much more can I learn in three years!? Maybe that'll be when I'll have that full confidence that this is what I should be doing in my life.

Just some ponderings that have been floating around in my brain.....!

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to travel. I mentioned in a previous post that I toured the East Coast of Canada with the choir from my college. It was the most wonderful experience! Having grown up here in central Canada and never traveling out of province with my family, this tour was incredible.

I had many opportunities to deepen friendships that I already had, and begin friendships with people that I hadn't talked to very much over the past eight months, but desired to get to know.

The experience was so lovely that I hardly know what to say about it... but they say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's six thousand...

St. Dunstan's Basilica in Charlottetown, PEI

inside St. Dunstan's

look at that red soil! (PEI)

a lighthouse at Point Prim, PEI

a waterfall in Victoria Park, Truro, Nova Scotia

a painted mural of the Bluenose on a building in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia

I'm dealing with a knee injury right now, plus I didn't have much time to sit down and write today (even though I should have been sitting...) so I apologize for the somewhat cop-out of a post. None the less, I hope you enjoyed the pictures! I do have more, but these were just a few of my favourite ones.

Yesterday my post was entirely about trusting God. Judging by my content in that post, clearly I know how absolutely beautiful and wonderful it can be to trust your Saviour fully.

But, do you ever have those days where all you want to do is curl up in a heap on your bed and cry? You don't understand the situation that's been set before you. You're tired of waking up each day and still having that situation in your life. You're frustrated because there is nothing that you, in your inadequate, mortal, feeble state, can do. You simply want to run away.

If you haven't already guessed, that's exactly how I'm feeling right now.

I'm eighteen years old, and there are so many situations in life that are greater than I am. 'Why does it matter that you're eighteen?', you may be asking. I'm not sure if that does matter or not; sometimes I wonder if things would be more manageable if I were say, twenty-six or thirty-two. I'm assuming not; I feel like with each passing year the hard times will feel just as rough, whether I'm eighteen or thirty-two.

It's in times like these that I want to ask God, "Why me; why are you allowing this to happen to me?"  and half the time it's not a bitter, angry question but more of a pitiful plea of 'your child is not strong enough...'. It's in these times that I know the correct answer is to rely on God's strength. Sometimes the depth of the hardship is so deep that I can't seem to remember that in my weakness, God is strong. Living in residence at college this past year was wonderful in times like these; my apartment mates would come alongside me and they'd be the angels on my shoulder reminding me, softly whispering in my ear that God is omnipotent.

I'm not too sure what to write in this post... As much as I feel it's the "right" thing to go all scriptural and post a bunch of helpful verses, that's not what I'm trying to get at right now. Far too often, non-Christians wrongly believe that Christians have their lives together, they're super holy all the time, and that God spares them from hardship and allows their lives to be lollipops and sunshine. I'm being completely raw in this post because I deeply long for non-Christians to see that in rough times, Christians sometimes lose sight of God's presence.

I know that "faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1), and that's the beauty of being a Christian in times of trial. Even though right now, at this very moment, I want to pack up and slip away in the quiet hours of the night, I know that when I wake up in the morning, the Lord will still be there. He does not spare his children from hardship, he simply promises that we won't have to face these things alone. As negative as I'm seeming right now, deep down inside me, I know that God's hand is in this situation that I'm facing.

Another wonderful promise is that God will never forsake me, or any Christian. Even in times when I yell at God in anger, he sits there and takes it and he still loves me. Man, that blows my mind every single time that I think about it. How awesome it is that no matter how many times we get angry, we sin, we turn our backs or rebel against God, he still stands beside us and loves us all the same!? It takes someone clearly beyond human to do that. Only One is able to be that way.

A short excerpt from my testimony that I had to write out for a class this past year that is so resonant right now is this:

"I wondered every day how I was still able to get through. I know that it was only by the grace of a God who wasn't going to give up on me even when I'd given up on myself long ago."

So as despairing as I seem in this post, I'm almost certain that I'll wake up in the morning by the grace of God, feeling refreshed and ready to face a new day, hardships or none. God will be my refuge and my strength.

As I bid you goodnight, I hope you will listen to this song that has encouraged me greatly in difficult times. I'm going to end my night listening to it and allowing it's truths to comfort and encourage me once again.

Goodnight,

Elizabeth

This approaching summer feels promising.

I mean, the weather is cooler than I feel that it should be on a late May day. The sun is out at least, and the wind blowing into my open window still smells welcoming and floral like it should in spring, so I can't complain.
The state of the weather hardly matters to me; that's not what I'm talking about. Life itself is beautiful and I'm feeling like the coming months hold so much goodness in them.

As a Christian, something that is so key to the faith is trusting God. I for one, am pretty terrible at that. I want to be in control, I'm scared of taking risks, I want to know the outcome of things, what's going to happen tomorrow. I always get frustrated with myself because I know that God is so much more constant than any earthly people that I know, and if I can trust my friends, how much more should I be able to trust my heavenly Father? Trusting is so much harder than it seems.

I feel as though I may be getting better at it though. Almost a month ago, I had to hand in a freshman year reflection and here's a little something that I wrote in that.

"Something that I have been consciously trying to work on for almost two years now is trusting God. I've been told that that's something that everyone needs to work on, and I know that's true, but I also knew that I could definitely work on it. Throughout these past eight months God has placed many obstacles directly in my path that have given me no choice but to trust in him because there was absolutely nothing in my power that could be done to deal with these situations."

I'm finding myself still seeing the beauty in everything and not stressing out nearly as much in these situations as my eight month ago self would have. It's really exciting to witness the changes that have been occurring in my life lately.

In early July, I'll be heading off on a one week missions trip with a small group of others from my church. We're going to be leading a Vacation Bible School for children on a Native Reserve. This will be my third year going and it's a great opportunity in which I know I must trust my God. The first year I went on the trip, I really went because my friends and my brother were there; I wasn't in it on a really spiritual level. Last year I went back because I just knew that God was calling me to it. A good way to sum up last year's trip is by pulling up another paragraph from a freshman year paper; this one comes from my testimony.

"This past summer was a completely opposite experience [from the first year], but somehow even though it was worse, it was better. Nothing went right; we, as a team, worked so hard to plan everything out very well so that the program with the kids would run smoothly. Apparently God had an entirely different plan, and his plan always prevails over ours. The team leaders told us that no other missions trip to this place had been as rocky as this one had been. I was let down... As a team we all realized that God didn't let any of our plans work out because we weren't relying on him. Of course we had all said that we were relying on God, but the problem was that we were asking him to let our plans work out, instead of asking him to work his hand in everything that we were planning to do. All of this being said, the camp experience for the kids there was great; they didn't realize that everything wasn't as we thought it should have been. The point of this missions trip that members of my church take each year is to minister the Gospel to the Native children. That's exactly what happened. Our plans didn't work out but God's did, and all the while his and our purpose was still accomplished."

The missions trip last year was a huge testimony in itself to trusting God. He is so good "and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him" (Romans 8:28).


Today I saw God in a certain friendship that I have. Everything is falling together; I can see God's hand in it and in my life as he's comforting me and assuring me that things are right!

Blessings,

Elizabeth

Day two of blogging and I couldn't be more excited! It's been a fairly boring day today; a typical summer day in which you wake up having no idea what day it is or what dimension you're in, and not knowing what to do with yourself. I've gotta say that I'm still stoked that I'm beginning summer in May and it still lasts until September (can you say college perks?!).

My morning actually started off quite humourously, but I must give some back story in order for this morning's story to make any sense...
I spent the past two weeks touring the East Coast of Canada in three nine-seater pedo vans with my college choir. I was in the van that our choir director drove and over the course of tour we frequently listened to "Honey, I'm Good" because Dr. Choir Director really likes it.

Now, fast forward to this morning's story...
Ever since coming home from the tour, I've been able to sleep in and I haven't been disturbed by my brother or dad getting up to go to work. This morning however, I woke up around 6:30AM and I felt as though I had woken up for a purpose. My brother uses the radio as his alarm and all I heard coming from his room was "nah, nah, honey I'm good; I could have another but I probably should not..." (etc.) which, if you haven't guessed already, are lyrics from that song! My body basically woke me up to be like "hey! this is your song!" aaand then I promptly went back to sleep.

My day basically went downhill from there; I didn't do too much.

There was another exciting occurrence though! My roommate from college this past year (I just finished freshman year) who has gone up to her cottage for the four months of the summer to work, texted me saying that she'll be home for a few days next week. We're going to hang out and we're both absolutely ecstatic about it! After living together for eight months, these past three weeks have been pretty lonely since being apart post-graduation. Even though I've lived with my family for my entire life (outside of the past eight months), I've been finding it quite difficult to integrate myself back into family life.

In each post, I'm really wanting to have a little section at the end about what God has taught me or where I've seen him, etc. in that day. So here we go!

Today God allowed me to experience rest in him. The day started out pretty slowly; I stayed in bed until 10:30 or so and didn't have breakfast until 11:00 (that's pretty late for me, okay!?). My mom was saying at one point in the afternoon, "we haven't gotten much done today!" and I found myself responding that not every day has to be so jammed packed with things to do. I feel like our society makes us think that we're lazy if we take one or two days a week where we don't do work unless we absolutely have to. I think that if you can afford to relax, do it! Use that time to read a book, spend time with God, take a nap, find a new recipe and try it out, or whatever it is that you want to do that isn't something that you have to do. Try it. You won't be sorry that you did; I guarantee it.

With that profound tidbit floating around in your mind, I shall bid you goodnight!

Elizabeth

How good it feels to return to the blogging world after years of avoiding my creative side! That side of me has recently decided to make a comeback and instill in me a relentless yearning to write. As a result of that, I found myself starting yet another blog (I think I have....three others that I've abandoned).

Brokenness Aside? You may be wondering what that's supposed to mean. I've grown up in a Christian home and a God-centered life is something that I've always known. As I've gotten older and learned more about Christianity and about the world, I'm realizing that there are many misconceptions about my faith. People think that Christians see themselves as "holier than others" or "perfect", which is far from the truth.

There's a song entitled "Brokenness Aside" which is where I got the name for this blog, the idea courtesy of my good friend Jenna. In case you don't desire to listen to the song yourself, allow me to shed some light on it. It is written in the perspective of a Christian who is asking God if he'll still love them despite the amount of sin and wrongdoings present in the individual's life.

What really gets me is the first line: "Will Your grace run out if I let You down?". When coming up with a title for my blog, Jenna asked me what emotions I'm wanting to express with it. My response was "I've been thinking of the word grace a lot... God's grace. It's by his grace that I'm where I'm at in life." That is exactly what I want people who come across my blog to know; I don't want people instantly making the misconception that I think highly of myself because I'm a Christian. I am a broken person who would be nowhere without the grace of a Saviour who doesn't give up and leave me where I'm at. It's true that he doesn't require me to be perfect but he meets me where I'm at in my broken state. That said, he loves me too much to walk away from me. He strives to make my brokenness into something beautiful.

That is the point of this blog; I want to show readers that although I'm broken and undeserving of God's grace, he bestows it upon me anyway. He has made my life beautiful and my desire is to share the beauty of everyday life with you all.

Until next time,

Elizabeth