Healing Rain

Healing rain is coming down 

It's coming nearer to this old town 

Rich and poor, weak and strong 

It's bringing mercy, it won't be long

Healing rain is coming down 

It's coming closer to the lost and found 

Tears of joy, and tears of shame 

Are washed forever in Jesus' name

Healing rain, it comes with fire 

So let it fall and take us higher 

Healing rain, I'm not afraid 

To be washed in Heaven's rain

Lift your heads, let us return 

To the mercy seat where time began 

And in your eyes, I see the pain 

Come soak this dry heart with healing rain

And only You, the Son of man 

Can take a leper and let him stand 

So lift your hands, they can be held 

By someone greater, the great I Am

Healing rain, it comes with fire 

So let it fall and take us higher 

Healing rain, I'm not afraid 

To be washed in Heaven's rain

To be washed in Heaven's rain...

Healing rain is falling down 

Healing rain is falling down 

I'm not afraid 

I'm not afraid...

Attributes of God

Almost two months ago a friend suggested that we do a little Bible study together. What we do is daily as part of our time with God we look for an attribute of God and text the verse and any thoughts we have on it to each other. It has been a wonderful time of learning about who God really is. I though I knew Him, but I have found that there is so much more to Him than I could ever imagine. The following are some of my favorites.
(All Scriptures are taken from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted)

• God is Our Sustainer. Psalm 3:5, "I lay down and slept; I awoke again, for the Lord sustained me."
• God is a Stronghold. Psalm 9:9, "The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble."
• God is My Portion. Psalm 119:57, "The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words."
• He is the God of the Living. Matthew 22:32b, "...He is not a God of the dead, but of the living."
• God has Steadfast Love. Psalm 52:2, "...the steadfast love of God endures all day."
• Jesus is the Same. Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever."
• He is My God. Deuteronomy 10:21, "He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen." (This is my personal favorite)
• God Calls Us. Romans 11:29 (NKJV), "For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable."
• God Rescues Us. Psalm 18:16-17 (NIV), "He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me."
• God is Patient. II Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."
• The Lord knows the Way I Take. Job 23:10 (NKJV), "But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold."
• God is Unique. Job 23:13 (NKJV), "But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does."
• God will be Our Rear Guard. Isaiah 52:12, "For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard."
• The Lord Loves Justice. Psalm 37:28, "For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his saints."
• The Lord is Slow to Anger. Psalm 103:8, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."
• God Hears the Brokenhearted. Psalm 147:3, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."
• The Lord Called Me from the Womb. Isaiah 49:1, "Listen to me, O coast lands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name."
• My Redeemer Lives. Job 19:25, "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth."
• God's Greatness is More than can be Told. Psalm 40:5, "You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with You! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told."
• God is Beautiful. Psalm 27:4, "One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple."
• The Lord Heals Backsliding. Hosea 14:4 (NKJV), "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely."
• God Supplies. Philippians 4:19, "And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

Trust God

God didn't plan for us to have our lives planned out;

He planned for us to trust Him to plan our lives.

Picking Up the Pieces

I never ever dreamed that I would be writing a post anything like this one. I really don't know how else to put it besides this way: Jason and I broke up! I know, that probably shocked most of you as it did everyone else. I'm really not going to go into the details but just know that's it's over and I'm in the process of picking up where I left off, and trying to go on. Right now I honestly don't know how in the world that is going to happen. Please pray for both of us as we move on with our lives.

HE'S BACK

Well as I'm sure you can tell by the title, Jason is back home in Ohio now!!! YAY!! He flew into Cleveland around 7:30 PM!!! I'm soooo excited and almost literally bouncing off the walls!!! He will be here in less than 4 days!!!

One Week

Today is one week until Jason and I FINALLY meet. I can't even begin to explain all of the emotions that are flooding me right now. We've been waiting for soooo long. I can't even write anything more right now because I'm so overwhelmed. Please pray for us as we meet and then spend more time together before and after Christmas.

Lessons From Deployment

When Jason was first deployed I really struggled with the Navy pretty much taking all of his time. I was looking back in my journal the other day, and near the beginning of his deployment I saw some entries where I was pretty mad at the Navy. I'll be honest, I had some pretty bad attitudes about it, which I'm NOT proud about at all! As I kept reading I saw how I began to slowly realize that if I wanted Jason, then I'd have to learn to deal with the Navy, and that the best thing for me to do was to walk closer with God and to focus on others instead of myself. Mainly I had to learn to cherish even more the time that I did have with him, and make the most of it. Did that always take away the ache of missing him? no! But it DID make our time together more precious and times apart less stressful.
Pretty much up until we say our "I do's" our relationship will be this way, because even once he comes back to the states we will both still be in school, and schedules will still vary.
On my own, I would probably throw in the towel and say, "Forget it! I can't do this!" But with God's help I know that what I'm doing is right, and in the end it will be worth it all.

Thankful Reflections

Looking back over this past year I was honestly shocked at all that has gone on this year. This has been the craziest year of my life. I've had the most horrible hurts and pains, physically, mentally, and spiritually. But yet, at the same time I've been blessed beyond my wildest dreams.

As Thanksgiving draws closer, I have really begun to look at my blessings, if I were to "Count them one by one" I'd be writing all day long. So, I'm going to try to focus on big things, and hopefully I won't overwhelm you, although I'm slightly overwhelmed myself!

One huge blessing was my family coming to visit me in NY for Thanksgiving last year. That was a HUGE and amazing blessing, and an amazing surprise. Only God knows just how much I needed my family at that time.

By Christmas break, I was REALLY, REALLY sick, which resulted in a not so fun Christmas break. However I learned so much through that sickness. God taught me some VERY important lessons. As funny as it might sound, I am thankful for the pain and hurt, because through it all, God drew me closer to Him.

To add to that blessing, I'm so thankful that the doctors were able to figure out what was wrong with me, just in time, and I was able to have surgery before my break was over, so I didn't have to miss any school.

My second semester of school brought some very important friends into my life. The McMahons, and Phillips' became like my second family and without them I don't think that I could have survived through my last semester in New York.

Oh, a crazy blessing about New York, and a thing I'm very thankful for, COFFEE! Before college I thought coffee was of the devil, NOW HOWEVER…mmm….it's great stuff! :) I love Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks is pretty good as well.

Coming back from NY I was once again sick, actually, I had been sick since Spring break. I was trying to see a blessing in that, and it was kinda hard. So I thought, and thought, and the blessing I could find was that through all the doctor visits, I got a good dose of Dunkin Donuts, cuz there is a DD about 3 miles from the doctors office! I know…that was crazy!

In June my family went to Antigo, WI for my best friends mom's memorial service. It was really hard and sad, but at the same time it was wonderful to see how Mrs. Pieri's quiet, loving personality was able to bless so many people. It was also nice to see Bro. Pieri, and Faith, and Joseph and spend quite a bit of time with them.

On June 16 my parents celebrated their 20th anniversary! I have to say that I'm VERY thankful for that because without them getting married, well, needless to say I wouldn't be here right now. I was able to throw a surprise party for my parents! Well, dad knew about it (that's because I clued him in on the whole thing), but somehow I managed to pull it off on mom, which was my main goal! It was AWESOME! :)

Also, not intentionally, on June 16 God brought the biggest blessing into my life. Many of you already know this, but I'll put it in here anyways. I sent an email to a Navy sailor who is stationed in Japan, who a friend of mine had been telling me about for quite awhile…actually, bugging me about! ;) Finally because I was tired of her bugging me, I gave in and sent Jason Hunsicker an email…hoping that I would never hear anything back, and also hoping that it would get Amanda off my back. Welllll….neither one of those things happened. Jason did send me an email back and I responded and the rest is history. Now after thousands of emails back and forth, and countless hours spent on the phone we have developed a relationship that goes beyond my wildest imaginations. Wow! I could go on and on…but lest I bore you with the wonderful details of my life, I will move on! :)

Other blessings this summer included seeing my friend LeAnne, whom I hadn't seen since 8th grade, the Pieri's coming to IN for a weekend, Samuel getting to go to flight camp, and then going on a missions trip to Canada.

Then in August I began college at Shawnee Baptist College in New Albany, IN. This is my first year here, but I'm still a Sophomore, which reminds me of another blessing…all my credits from International transferred without any problems. So far this semester has been jammed packed with school and work and trying to cram a few extra things in every once in a while.

The Saturday before Labor Day my former roommate got married in TN and I was able to go to her wedding and also was able to see some friends that I hadn't seen in a long time.

In September my Grandma Drazich visited my family for a few weeks, and one weekend they came down here to visit. It was nice to see my family, and I hadn't seen my grandma since my high school graduation!

October brought some bitter sweet news, Jason isn't going to be able to take me to the Christmas banquet in December, but he is still coming home, just a week later than originally planned. It did work out though that we will end up getting to spend more time together than if he had been able to come home the week earlier.

November also brought a WONDERFUL blessing, my brother got saved! That was the best news that I had heard in a long time!

I guess to sum it all up, this year has been the most amazing year of my life, and I'm sooo thankful to God for all that He has done for me!

LHC

I had to write this paper for my science class, and I know that Jason wanted to read it, so I just decided to post it for anyone who is interested.

The Large Hadron Collider


The Large Hadron Collider, also known as the LHC, built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (also known as CERN), is a 27 kilometer ring that runs 175 meters underneath the French and Switzerland border. It is the world’s largest and highest energy particle accelerator, and was built for the purpose of finding out what happened right before and right after the Big Bang. Using Physics, the end goal is to figure out what caused the Big Bang and what the universe was like before, during, and after it; and trying to find out if the Higgs boson is real, or if it is simply a myth. In addition to these, the LHC will also attempt to discover other “new physics,” and try to find missing forms of matter that were supposedly created during the Big Bang.



Scientists, trying to discover how the world was created, are attempting to recreate the Big Bang and figure out the missing parts of the Standard Model, which is how they prove the Big Bang. They are also making attempts to find the Higgs Boson, a hypothesized particle that is necessary for the Standard Model to work, but has as of yet to be found anywhere, or seen acting in the universe, or some other particle that will fill in the gaps and make the Standard Model correct. Some of the key questions that physicists are hoping to answer through the LHC are, “Is the Higgs Mechanism for generating elementary particle masses in the Standard Model indeed realized in nature?” “Are electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force and the weaker nuclear force just different manifestations of a single unified force, as predicted by various Grand Unification Theories?” “What is the nature of dark matter and dark energy?” “Are there extra dimensions, as predicted by various models inspired by string theory, and can we detect them?” “Are there additional sources of quark flaw or violation beyond those already predicted within the Standard Model?”[1] Professor Stephen Hawkings (University of Cambridge) said, “Whatever the LHC finds, or fails to find, the results will tell us a lot about the structure of the universe.”[2]



Operation began on September 10, 2008 when the first proton beams went completely around the main ring of the Large Hadron Collider. However, only a few days later on September 19, 2008 when two of the superconducting magnets faulted resulting in millions of dollars in damages, and halted the LHC for over a year. In all, 53 magnets were damaged during the incident. The plan was to once again begin operation sometime mid-November 2009, but that has been pushed out to sometime in December 2009, with the hopes that the LHC will be up and running by Christmas 2009.





Many scientists and other people are concerned that the Large Hadron Collider will be the end of the world. There are many “doomsday” theories predicting black holes on the earth. A black hole is a spot that has such a large pull of gravity that everything falls in, but nothing can come out. Another fear is of strangelets, which have been hypothesized to be made from quark. Quark is also a hypothesized elementary particle which is vital to the Standard Model. In 2003 and again in 2008 the European Organization for Nuclear Research mandated a study safety analysis to be done, and both of them reported that the Large Hadron Collider was safe, and would not cause any permanent negative damage to the earth. These reports were backed by the Executive Committee of the Division of Particles and Fields of American Physical Society, as well as a peer-review by the Journal of Physics G.[3] There have been several major news media outlets including The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Sydney Morning Herald, Time, CNN, and MSNBC that have protested in some way the possible threat to the earth caused by the Large Hadron Collider. In September 2008 Romania’s Conservative Party protested the Large Hadron Collider before the European Commission mission to Bucharest.

Hawking radiation could help to relieve some of the fears of black holes. It is a thermal radiation predicted to be emitted by black holes due to quantum effect.[4] The type of black holes that the Large Hadron Collider could produce is a type that loses matter faster than they gain it because of the Hawking effect. If the LHC can produce black holes, they would disappear almost as fast as they were created, removing almost all of the problems that they could create on the earth.



The design of the Large Hadron Collider is very complicated. The LHC has 1,232 dipole magnets which are used to keep the protons going around in a circle. It also had 392 quadruple magnets which keep the beams focused. Another 1,600 superconducting magnets are used to keep the temperature at -271°C, colder than outer space! The total weight of the magnets is over 27 metric tons (approximately 59,525 pounds)!

The proton beams are put into two bunches and rotated around the circle at set intervals so that the interaction between the proton bunches happens at set times that are no more than 25 nanoseconds apart. [5] The proton beams are accelerated during their rotation through the LHC to as high as 14 TeV, that is approximately 99.9999991% of the speed of light and takes less than 90 nanoseconds for a proton beam to travel once around the main ring. This equals about 11,000 times around the ring per second![6] The data that the Large Hadron Collider produces is astounding! Every year the LHC puts out 15 petabytes of information. To put that in perspective, if someone were to take all the words that are spoken each year by everyone in the world it would only equal approximately 2 to 3 petabytes! According to The Thai Indian article “The Large Hadron Collider” the LHC will at the most reach half of its potential by 2011,[7] which means that the LHC has the ability to produce even more information than it already has produced.

There are four main experiments that are planned for the Large Hadron Collider. The first one is ATLANTIS which is attempting to figure out from where everything came, and more specifically, where mass comes from. ATLANTIS is also trying to find “new physics” to help find the origin of the universe. CMS, the second experiment, is looking for the Higgs boson, and is also trying to figure out what dark matter is, and what it does. ALICE is attempting to find the liquid form of matter, also called quark, or gluon plasma, that supposedly existed right after the Big Bang, but disappeared at some unknown point in time and has never been seen by scientists. The final experiment called LHCb simply is trying to find where the anti-matter disappeared, and why it disappeared. ATLAS and CMS will look for super symmetric particles to test likely hypothesis for the makeup of dark matter.[8]

The world is desperately trying to come up with answers for how the universe began. They don’t want to have to admit that there is a God that they will have to answer to, so instead they turn to science and spend millions of dollars just so that they don’t have to be accountable for their sin. “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” – Ephesians 4:18. As Christians we know that God created the world. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” –Genesis 1:1 “To whom them will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” - Isaiah 40:25-26. The world needs to see that without God they will not be able to find any permanent answers. As Christians it is our responsibility to tell them of Christ and his salvation. “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he [Jesus] unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” – Matthew 9:36-38



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] www.wikipedia.org/largehadroncollider/purpose

[2] www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2710348/Stephen-Hawking-Large-Hadron-Collider-vital...

[3] www.wikipedia.org/LHCsafety/introduction

[4] www.wikipedia.org/LHCsafety/safety_arguments

[5] www.wikipedia.org/Larg_Hadron_Collider/design

[6] www.wikipedia.org/Large_Hadron_Collider/design

[7] www.thaindian.com/newspaper/largehadroncollider

[8] www.cern.com/LHC/why_LHC

Distance

My Life

I just realized that I haven't written a post about the happenings in my life in a LONG time! So I decided to do so now. I know that most of you already know everything, but maybe not everyone, or everything.
This semester is beginning to wind down, THANKFULLY! We have less than a week in a half before Thanksgiving break, and following break we have about one in a half weeks of school, including finals before we are completely done!! YAY!
Classes have been going well. I'm still struggling with the science class, but my grades are getting better in that, which is good. Please keep praying.
My internship at the Christian school has been interesting to say the least. Mrs. Whitaker, the original teacher resigned, and so for a long time all that the class had was substitute teachers. It was kinda interesting. Now they have a new teacher, Miss Snider, and she's VERY hard to intern for. She has me teaching a 4th grade history lesson, and a 3rd grade science lesson every week. I really like teaching, but it's a lot of work to add to the work that I already have to do!
I enjoy my job for the most part, although I'm not getting nearly enough hours. Only about 8 hours a week, and that's not nearly enough to get me through. I had started to look for another job, but I decided to wait until next semester, because I'm not sure if any other job will let me take Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks off and I REALLY need those breaks!
Of course the most important thing right now is Jason! ;) He has been deployed for quite awhile, but thankfully his deployment ends THIS WEEK!!! I'm SOOOOOO excited! It seems like he's been deployed FOREVER! On top of that in 23 days (I think) he's flying back to the US, and in 27 days we will FINALLY get to meet!!! I CAN'T WAIT! He is coming down here to Shawnee December 12 and 13 to spend the weekend. School gets out either the 16th or 17th and Jason is coming to my house on the 17th through the 22nd, and then we are going to his house the 22nd through the 27th when he has to go back to Japan. I'm sure it will be an AMAZING time!
Anyway, that's a brief summary of my life right now...sorry it's been so long since I last updated all of you and I will try to do it more often in the future.

Veterans Day

In my life I have been blessed to know many men and women who were/are in the military, people who served their country, loved their country, and wanted the best for their country. I could list soooo many, but I want to focus on five men, 3 of whom were in the military, and 2 who are currently in the military right now.

I'll start with my grandpa, Michael Drazich. I really don't know much about his military service, except that he was in the Army in WWII. He never talked about it much and whenever the topic did come up he rarely said anything. All I know is that he was in Europe fighting during that time.

The second man that I'm thinking of is my daddy, Paul Drazich. He was in the Coast Guard in the 1980s. He loves to tell stories of the things he did, and my favorite thing as a little girl was to crawl up on his lap and have him tell me stories of his time on the ships. I could probably tell all of his stories as good as can tell them! He was stationed on the Great Lakes, as well as the Atlantic Ocean, and on Governor's Island in NYC teaching electronics.

The last of the 3 men who were in the military is my friend and hero, Aaron Williams. Aaron was a Marine, and the best of the best. Of any one person I know, Aaron was the most patriotic person in the world. He was also one of the kindest, gentlest, most loving, caring, generous person I've ever known. Aaron had NO enemies, and that's saying a lot for a person, everyone loved and cared deeply for the rough and tough Marine, with a BIG heart. Soon before he was to be deployed for Iraq, Aaron was diagnosed with brain cancer, at the age of 30. All the plans and dreams that he had came crashing down around him with a diagnosis of 6 months to live. However, instead of allowing the circumstances to get him down and ruin his life, Aaron chose to fight, and fight he did, for 3 years! But finally, after touching thousands of lives, God decided that it was time to call Aaron home to Him, and on June 22, 2007.

Next comes my dear friend Ray Pfahl. He is in the Army, and pretty close to being a big brother, without actually being one! Ray is 22 and has been in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He just got back from Iraq in August. Please pray for him, because he is not saved, and as he sees more and more pain and sorrow only gets harder and harder toward God. He is still one of my good friends, and I think I'm probably the only Christian that he allows to get close to him.

Lastly, and the most recent to come into my life is Jason Hunsicker, who is in the Navy. I know that I could go on and on and on about him… :) Anyway, well he has been in the Navy since August 2007, and is stationed in Yokosuka Japan on the USS Blue Ridge, which is the flagship for the 7th fleet. Currently he is deployed somewhere in the Pacific.

I just wanted to say thank you too all of the men and women who are or have been in the military and to their families as well.

***Aaron Williams***

***Daddy (on the left)***
***Jason***

Answers

At long last the answer has come:

JASON'S LEAVE WAS APPROVED!!!! :)

He is going to be getting home on December 8th and leaving on the 27th. We will get to spend 11 or 12 days together and that is EXCITING! :)

I can't even begin to describe how happy I am…WWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOO HHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thorns and Roses

"Some people complain because the roses have thorns. Other give thanks because the thorns have roses." ~Unknown

I recently read this quote and it really made me stop and think about my reactions to life, or the thorns and roses in my life. What you make in life depends on your attitude. Often it is so much easier to see the thorns and forget that God gave us roses along the way.

For me, right now my thorns in life happen to mainly be centered around my relationship with Jason. The fact that he's thousands of miles away, and right now he is underway and moving even further away with every minute. On top of that there are more difficulties with long distance relationships than most people realize, especially emotionally it can be very draining.

Sometimes I start to think on nothing but the negative, and I start to get really down. Honestly, it's hard to see the positive at times. But when I allow myself to think on nothing but the impossibilities of everything then I take my eyes off of Christ and instead I turn them onto me, and that is never a good place to be. I'll admit, I spend much time on my knees, crying out to God because I have no where else to turn, and no one else upon whom I can throw all of my struggles. When I finish praying I try to think of the positives, or the "roses." When I think about that I realize that there are so many more roses than thorns. A few of those roses are the fact that God has given me a wonderful Christian man, who wants to serve God with all of his heart. Another major rose is that as of right now my family very much approves of Jason, and his family likes me too! Also, just by looking back on everything I can see how much God has worked in everything, and how He has continually guided us.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe life is hard and rough, and those thorns might try to prick you, but if you take a moment to consider all the roses that God has and is giving, then everything will look brighter!

Prayer

Psalm 55:17
Evening, and morning, and at noon will I pray and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.

One of the main things that God has really been working on my heart about lately is the matter of Prayer. In the past few months I've had a lot of unexpected things come into my life. Not necessarily bad changes, actually the main change has been Jason, which is a VERY good change. However, these few months have shown me just how badly I need to rely more and more on God. I've had a lot of struggles with various things in our relationship and at times I wish there was someone to whom I could talk to that would understand, but really, I don't know anyone that knows what it's like for me. I was getting pretty down down about it, and I even sent mom several emails about it. She tried her best to help me, but even she doesn't totally understand.

Earlier this week I was on the verge of despair, needing to get everything off my chest, but I had no one to turn to. Finally, I realized that I could tell Jesus, and so I did. For almost an hour one day I spent time just telling Him everything that was on my heart and mind. All the things that I could tell no one I knew I could tell Him. I shed many tears, but when I was done it was like a burden had been lifted off my chest - I felt so much more free. It didn't take long before the devil crept back in and doubts and fears once again began to consume me, but I had learned my lesson, and "Just a little talk with Jesus made it all right" again.

Someone once said, "The distance between an problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor." That's some of the best advice I've ever heard.

Just Pray

I was discouraged when no answer cameSee, I’d prayed for years, and I still saw no change I was ready to give up on my wish coming true But when I prayed that last time, His power broke through.

And prayer is just as big as God isPrayer is just as strong as God is strong Prayer can reach as far as God can reach Don’t ever give up, just pray, just pray Don’t ever give up, just pray.

We have been given a means to the throne Of the One whose potential is yet to be known There is no limit as to what God can do So just keep on praying, He’s listening to you.

~Rodney Griffin

My Wonderful Week By Myself!

This past week my family deserted me for parts unknown. Well, actually they deserted me for Wisconsin! So I spent 8 wonderful days ALL BY MYSELF! :) Let me tell you, it was a very nice experience. :)
Sunday morning I spent as usual in the jail. It was kinda interesting cuz Peggy was gone and I didn't know that before hand, so there was no keyboard, or anything to accompany the music, and naturally, since Peggy wasn't there, I was put in charge of the music. That was interesting. On top of that John put me on the spot and had me sing a solo, OCAPELLA!!!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! When he first told me to do it, I just stared at him like he was a fish out of water, then I said, in a very scared/shocked voice, "Are you serious??!!" He said, "Yeah, you can do it!" I was like, "Uh, ok...." So I did it! UGH! Everyone said it was really nice, whatever! Sunday night was the "premier" of "Israel 101," the big graphic design project that I was working on this summer. I hadn't seen the finished project up until then, and I thought it was really nice! Dave Ditton, who was the guy who took my graphic work and put it all together on the DVD, and I were trying to figure out how many hours combined just the 2 of us put into it, and we figured it was over 200 hours! That's not including everyone else! Talk about craziness! All of that for a presentation that is just over an hour long! It was a lot of work, but well worth it, and I know that through the hours upon hours that i put into it, that I was able to learn a lot about Israel.
Monday and Tuesday were spent going through all of the stuff that I brought back from college last year and figuring out what I wanted to take with me to Shawnee this year, and what I didn't, and what needed to just be thrown away, etc. I can tell you this much, I know that I'm not taking nearly as much stuff with me this year as I took last year! I well remember how packed the minivan was when I went to NY!! LOL! Fond memories...
On Wednesday I had a show, and sold a Rainbow!! I was THRILLED!! :)
Thursday I drove an hour to go to a show and didn't sell a Rainbow...sigh...Oh well, it was a nice day, so it was a nice drive....
Friday I finished up my first scrapbook, it's not very good, but I enjoyed doing it, and I think that I will continue working on those skills! :) I like doing it cuz I can be scrap booking and watching a movie, or talking on the phone, or doing a million other things! I hate just doing one thing at a time, my mind moves too fast I guess...I don't know, maybe I'm just crazy! :) Oh yeah, I got to talk to Jason on Friday night, which of course was WONDERFUL! :)
Saturday I cleaned up the house and then my family got home about 9 at night! I got a box in the mail from Jason as well, and that totally made my day!
It was really nice to have those few days to myself. I got some extra Bible reading done, and lots of time to pray! I was more than ready to have my family come home because during the week a really good friend of mine's mom died, and I had gone to the viewing and stuff by myself, and some other things had happened, and I just needed a really big hug!

Absolute Surrender

Well, I've been having a hard time writing this blog, because I haven't been exactly sure how to write it, so I'm just going to write it as it is.

Sometime around the end of April or beginning of May a friend of mine, known as "Rosebud" started telling me about this guy that she thought would be a great match for me. I was like, "Whatever!" Well, she was quite persistent about it, and finally on June 16 I gave in and typed him and email, hoping that would get her off my back. I never expected anything back from Jason. However, that was not meant to be. The next day I got an email back and I replied and thus was the beginning of a very good friendship.

Jason is in the Navy and currently stationed in Japan. At one point he told me that he had really been struggling with loneliness. Being a Christian in the Navy isn't very easy and to add to that the fact that he is thousands of miles from home doesn't make it any easier. Finally he had surrendered his loneliness to the Lord, and accepted the fact that God was trying to teach him a lesson. Soon after that took place he received the first email from me!!

As our friendship continued I began to develop some feelings beyond friendship for Jason. However, I didn't think that the feelings were returned. I was really struggling with this, because I knew that God wanted me to give my feelings to Him, but I was afraid to do that. One Sunday in jail Peggy and I sang "I Surrender All." We sang the first verse and then 2 verses that Peggy had written, they are as follows:

All my plans and destinations,

All the stuff I think I need,

All the hurts I've done to others,

Take them Jesus, take them please.

All my time and all my money,

All my rights I fight to keep,

All my health and friends and loved ones,

Take them Jesus, take them please.

As we were singing the last verse, especially the last 2 lines I broke down and began to cry. Many people assumed it was because of some of the health issues that I've had and am having. Little did anyone realize that I was really struggling with giving up Jason. The following day I spent a lot of time in the car working and getting a new cello bow, etc. During those hours in the car I battled with God BIG time, I spent hours talking to Him, giving all sorts of reasons why I couldn't give him up. Finally I gave up and surrendered all that I was desiring to God. The amazing thing, a week later Jason sent my parents and email asking if it was ok for us to continue our relationship. They said "Yes!"

It's amazing how God has continued to work. My parents have been getting to know Jason, and I have talked to his family. So far everyone who is involved is very happy. Jason is coming home on leave in December and will be spending some time here in Warsaw.

I am asking for your prayers as we continue this relationship, that we will listen and obey our authority and that we will continue to keep our eyes on God.