Tweet “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end-which you can never afford to lose-with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” -James Stockdale, a prisoner of war for 7 wars.  I had to read this a few times to let it sink in. Thoughts?

Tweet ..to have no plan!!! Basically, for once in my life, I have absolutely no clue what is next and I am totally okay with that! Folks, that is a huge testament of the grace of God for two months ago that sentence would have thrown me into a full-fledged panic attack. In fact, two months ago that statement did throw me into one. But God is faithful and through a series of events has brought me to a place of embracing and even, perhaps, being excited(?) about not having plan. Yes-me! The master of planning everything to the tiniest detail has thrown caution to the wind and stepped out…

Tweet Sometimes I keep this blog as more of a reminder to myself. I plan to print it all off someday, but until then I want to remember these and perhaps you might want to check them out too. http://cure.org/ Providing life-saving surgeries to children http://watermarkblogs.org/externalfocus/http://raisetheroofinc.org/ Building houses for the homelesshttp://www.changethisworld.com/http://hopebelieveobey.com/ A personal adoption storyhttp://www.somedayistoday.net/ Don’t wait till tomorrowhttp://www.reviveafrica.com/http://www.project7.com/ Amazing stuffhttp://www.hopeunlimited.org/

Tweet So far 2011 has been quite eventful. I spent the first two days in Bali/traveling and the came home to see a relationship end and a new school year begin. Its amazing how God can work in our lives so quickly and through such incredible ways. I would have never thought a week in a foreign land would bring so much clarity to my thoughts and so much boldness to my life. As I have been processing through some of my thoughts on Bali, I have come to several realizations. First being, I really enjoy hanging out with myself. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love people! But…

Tweet I needed to hear this today so maybe someone else does too. Sometimes I get so caught up in my own life and I forget that I may be making an impact on those around me without even noticing. I have been following Baby Samuel’s story and it has touched my life. Today it reminded me that our impact is eternal and may never be revealed to us. But read on.. …But, amidst this routine, there are literally thousands praying. Hundreds are retweeting and reposting. People from all over the world are praying for Samuel, and this is due only to the Holy Spirit placing it upon believers’ hearts…

Tweet Letter of Intent. It sat staring at me in the face this morning when I got to our morning meeting. A simple piece of paper with so much attached to it. All I have to do is check one line. That’s it. And yet, as I walked back to my classroom, my head was spinning and my stomach churning at the thought of having to make that decision. So much rides on those lines. I have some time to consider the choice and I plan on taking every minute of it. I am almost 24 and still have no clue what I want to do with my life. I…

Tweet To me:) My birthday is on Wednesday, but some of my best friends here in Saipan will be gone by then so we had an early celebration today. Andrea, Chris, Joyce, Kayla, Anna, and I went out to dinner and to see The Nutcracker. We went out to eat at this Italian restaurant here on island. As much as I love trying all the new foods, I really wanted Italian for my birthday. The food was wonderful-I had a crab spaghetti and I got a piece of pumpkin pie with a candle in it because we told them we were celebrating my birthday! The Nutcracker was amazing. It was…

Tweet I have no idea who this family is. I have never met them and I am not even sure where they live. But I have been following their story on their blog and it has captured my heart. This precious baby is hanging on for dear life and it is going to take a miracle for him to survive. But we serve a God that is still in the business of working miracles so I am praying my heart out for this little guy and I am asking my blog readers to do the same. Visit their blog, read their story, and pray hard for Baby Samuel. May his…

Tweet God works in mysterious ways and so often when we are at our lowest He steps in to show us His greatness. This happened today. I left school frustrated and overwhelmed. I was already nervous about my big race Saturday and it has just been an emotional few days. I wanted to get in one final ride before I start tapering off to get my legs rested up for the big day. So I headed out towards the airport, unsure of where my ride would take me, but knowing that I just needed to ride. I am almost to the airport and as I am climbing a hill in…

Tweet It’s that time of year…we start thinking about what we are thankful for. It should be something we do all year, but it especially comes up around this time of year. So here goes a thank you. Yesterday I had a very surreal moment. I was sitting in a circle with a group of junior high girls mediating a conversation about friendships, gossip, and life. As I looked around, I realized that I was now the authority. I was the teacher that these girls were talking to. No longer was I the junior high girl pouring out my heart, but the person on the other end. I am the…