Mission Weekend

This weekend was the Lakeview College Girls Mission Weekend. About a hundred of us girls took vans down to South Alabama to spread the Gospel in various places. My team was assigned the town of Slocomb.

We were expecting 75-100 kids to come out. About 15 showed up. We were crushed to say the least, especially since we had spent hours planning on how we were going to split things up and which girls were going to do what and what to do with the different age groups.

The day started off with us working a free health clinic. Us girls ended up playing with the kids that were there and I ended up spending a lot of time with a little 4 year old named Kade.

He was precious. As he finished off his second cherry snow cone, the ring of red around his mouth stretched from his nose to his chin (but red was his favorite color though so it was okay, he reassured us). We asked him all about his favorite everything. When we asked about his favorite superhero, his response was, "God". My heart melted to say the least. He was just full of adorable little lines and tons of energy. His family had to leave for Disney World at 2 though so we said goodbye.

Kade showed me a lot about myself and about how God works. On the ride down, as we were planning on what to do with the kids, it became painfully obvious that I was the only one who had basically no experience in that area. I was terrified. And a bit angry since, like I said in an earlier post, I feel God has called me to work with children.
It was wearing hard on my mind and I just prayed and prayed the night before that God would give me the words to say and the things to do to connect with these kids and touch their lives. Kade proved to me that He will provide the things we ask of Him to use for His glory. As did this 2 year old  hispanic girl who waddled over to me as I was sitting in the entrance of the bouncy house. I thought she might want to bounce, so I lifted her up, but instead she just sat down right next to me and rested her little arms on me and stayed there for about 5 minutes. I asked her if she wanted to slide- she just looked up at me with those big brown eyes. So she sat, and I rubbed her little back and eventually her sister came and got her.

As we moved into Backyard Bible Club time and it became apparent we weren't going to have that many kids, we decided to just remain as one group as opposed to all of us girls splitting up. And what a blessing that was. I got to see all of the incredible girls in my group use their own talents. Leah (our leader) explained the basic Gospel to all of the kids and I was captivated. Just watching someone that knew exactly how to reach these children was incredible. So even though we had planned and planned and planned, God has His OWN plan, and it ended up better than we thought.

Here I need to say that the past few weeks I've been feeling that old worthlessness creeping in... the kind that makes me jealous of those with boyfriends and makes me want to settle for anyone. The kind I haven't felt in months- ever since I made the choice to turn my love life over to the Lord. Anyways, we were on the ride home and we somehow got on the topics of boyfriends and everyone was sharing stories and I just wanted to die. So I put my headphones in and tried to focus on reminding myself that God DOES have a plan for me... a set apart plan. One that only I and a few others can achieve. Is it more beautiful than dating more than one guy? Not necessarily, but it's set apart for ME. It's made for ME. I tried so hard to remind myself of that, but I couldn't. Leah started talking and I took off my headphones. Thank the Lord. She then told us about who SHE was dating... (and I won't say specifically who, but he is one of the greatest men I know and brings so much life to our church). She said he had approached her one evening when a few Lakeview members were downtown spreading the Word at bars. He told her his feelings and asked her to pray about it. Long story short, they ended up agreeing that they felt he was meant to pursue her. Pursue. Leah kept using that word and I absolutely love it. He's pursuing her heart. He asked for her parents' blessing and now they're dating. Though it's not normal dating. It's the Eric and Leslie Ludy type of dating. It's the Jim and Elisabeth Elliot type of dating. One of my friends called it "courting". It's taking things slow. Letting the Lord write this beautiful story. After Leah had finished telling the story I was in a state of happy just because of how perfect they are together (seriously, I couldn't have picked a better match) and I heard one of the girls ask Leah if she had ever dated. She said, not really, no.

The whole weekend Leah blew me away. A sweeter heart I have yet to meet and such love for the Lord! She's a leader without being bossy, and can reach kids in a way I've never seen. She has a beautiful voice and a beautiful face. She's wonderful. And I kept thinking to myself ALL weekend, "Why hasn't some man snatched her up? Why isn't she engaged or married?
Now I know.
God was saving her for the guy she's with. She deserved more than just "some man". And she got it. I can have the same. If only I will wait on His will. If only I will be happy in Him alone. If I can, He will provide me with the most beautiful love story I could imagine- whether it's with an earthly prince or with Him.

I got home and just cried tears of joy. He wanted me to hear Leah's story. He wanted to encourage me right when I was losing hope. He wanted to remind me that He has a better plan for me than ANYTHING I could ever think up.

The title of this blog is "More of You, less of me", and yet I don't always live like that. That's the only way I can be happy though. The more I allow Him to penetrate the darkness of my heart and light up my life, the more fulfilled I will be. If we want to be happy, we need just pour ourselves into Him... lose our will in His will. Even when you think you've given everything you have to Him, there's always something more. He deserves everything we could ever give. We deserve nothing. Yet He still provides for us, even when we turn from Him... how could I ever even think about holding something away from Him? Give it all and you will receive everything you could ever need.

- Shelby :)

Something awesome

This was shared with me by a friend. While I'm not Catholic, the message is the same I've been working on/studying these past few months and it's an incredible one at that!  


Everyone longs to give themselves completely to someone,
To have a deep soul relationship with another,
To be loved thoroughly and exclusively.
But God, to a Christian, says,
“No, not until you are satisfied, fulfilled and content
With being loved by Me alone,
With giving yourself totally and unreservedly to Me,
With having an intensely personal and unique relationship
With Me alone.
Discovering that only in Me is your satisfaction to be found,
Will you be capable of the perfect human relationship
That I have planned for you.
You will never be united with another until you are united
With Me alone,
Exclusive of anyone or anything else,
Exclusive of any other desires or longings.
I want you to stop planning,
Stop wishing,
And allow Me to give you the most thrilling plan existing,
One that you cannot imagine.
Please allow Me to bring it to you.
You just keep watching Me, expecting the greatest things.
Keep experiencing the satisfaction that I Am.
Keep listening and learning the things I tell you.
You just wait.
That’s all.
Don’t be anxious.
Don’t worry.
Don’t look at the things you think you want;
You just keep looking off and away up to Me,
Or you’ll miss what I want to show you.
And then when you are ready,
I’ll surprise you with a love far more wonderful than any
You could dream of.
You see, until you are ready and until
The one I have for you is ready
(I am working even at this moment to have you both ready at the same time),
Until you are both satisfied exclusively with Me
And the life I prepared for you,
You won’t be able to experience the love that
Exemplified your relationship with Me.
And this is the perfect love.
And dear one, I want you to have this most wonderful love,
I want you to see in the flesh a picture of your
Relationship with Me,
And to enjoy materially and concretely
The everlasting union of beauty, perfection and love
That I offer you with Myself.
Know that I love utterly.
I Am God.
Believe it and be satisfied.
~ St. Anthony of Padua