A little time

I love spending time with friends. Drinks at a coffee shop, a wheat-free meal, movies, chasing possums, coloring pictures, watching hockey, sitting in silence, sharing stories, building campfires...I don't really even care what we are doing as long as it involves being together.

It makes a huge difference when you take a part of your time and give it to someone else. You learn about other people's lives and the journey they are traveling. I've learned this about friends I've spent time recently. There have been moments of sharing both tears of joy and pain. In some moments there were lots of words shared and other moments just the peaceful stillness of each others presence.

This last week has been another reminder of how we have been created for community. A little time with a friend may just be the very thing they, or even you, need.

Change: A Love-Hate Relationship

I’ve always hated change. It is full of uncertainty and I can’t prepare for that. I don’t like not being prepared. Most of the time that is still true but I’m starting to find the beauty in change.

Not all the changes life has thrown at me in the last several months have been easy. Some come with great freedom and I welcome them with open arms. Most come head to head with my stubbornness. A few still come despite my kicking and screaming in resistance.

Perhaps the difference is the result of a better attitude. Perhaps I’ve just learned to accept that I can’t control things. Perhaps I’ve finally faced the reality that change happens. Regardless of what it is I’ve learned change brings an opportunity for growth.

I finding that growth from change may just be worth the uncertainty. I’m learning more about who I am and how God has created me. I’m constantly being reminded of how passionately God is pursuing me and how deeply he loves me. I’m being challenged to do more to live in community with others. I'm learning to trust. Had life continued as it was before, I fear I may have never grown in my understanding of these things.

I’ll probably always hate uncertainty. But somewhere in the middle of this love-hate relationship with change is the beauty of God molding and shaping me. That I love!

Impatient Dreams

February is my least favorite month. It is during this month that I wrestle the most with my lack of patience. Winter has been here forever and spring is too far away. The blanket of snow out my back window is beautiful but it has over stayed its welcome, at least in my book.

In recent years I've tried to do less complaining about the cold weather and start dreaming more of what spring and summer will hold. I can't say I've been all to successful but at least I'm trying. Today I've done lots of dreaming and praying about some of the things I'm looking forward to this summer. Things like...

Vacation Bible School - As much as I'm not a fan of little kids songs, I love serving alongside my family and helping young students learn what it means to worship God.





Family - Coming from a family of educators, there is always more time to be together once school is out for the summer.






Chicago - This will be the first year I haven't been able to go with our GSM students to serve in Chicago. I'm pretty disappointed but I can't wait to hear what God does on their trip.









Golf - Since my brother finally taught me how to play last year, I've decided this is the summer to demolish him in the game! As a sidenote: provided there are no ankle injuries in May, I'll be back on the softball field as well!!!









CAMP!!!!!! - I'm very excited about Deeper Life and Rock Lake's High School week. I really wish I could add Camp Adventure to the schedule but unfortunately that isn't going to work out this summer.





Dear summer, PLEASE come quickly!!!

Birthday Reflections

I know I've said it before but birthdays are a big deal in our family. We have a tradition of making sure we always call each other on our birthdays. It is the one day out of the year I know I'll get to talk to everyone in my family. However, this year my phone is broke. For the first time, I didn't get to talk to anyone in my family. It was weird and a bit sad but despite that it was a great day.

I spent my day working on gifts for our core students. I LOVE GIVING GIFTS! I really couldn't care less about receiving them. In fact I'm not a huge fan but I get so excited to watch people get them.

I was able to have coffee with my amazing friend, Honey. Our conversation was full of stories of what God is teaching us. It was an incredibly encouraging time. I'm so thankful to have a friend like her. According to her, I'll be writing a few more posts because of that conversation. We'll see how that goes.

This evening we had a little Christmas party for our core group. It was a blast. We laughed so hard we cried. We ate tons of food, including an ice cream cake they bought me for my birthday. We took a ton of pictures. It has become our favorite past time as a group. You can see all of them on Facebook.

This year has been a great one. God continues to blow me away. I find myself loving Him more and more each day. This next year is going to be another incredible one!

Another "Only Sarah" Story

I was told a couple weeks ago by a friend that they couldn't wait to hang out again because I have the greatest stories. I'm not sure how true that is but tonight will be added into my rotation of stories.

As I drove home tonight, it didn't take me long to realized the car behind me was following me. I didn't think to much of it because I was pretty sure I knew who it was. After getting to a road with better light I realized it wasn't who I thought it was. I pulled into my apartment complex and realized I didn't recognize the car. I pulled up to my building and noticed the car parking a few spots away from my car. I quickly ran into my apartment and locked the doors. I had never seen that car by our building before. They stayed parked outside my apartment for about ten minutes and then finally left.

Then I got a call from some creepy guy who knew WAY more information than any stranger should know. Information that wouldn't be found on facebook or my blog. If that was weird enough he proceeded to ask me questions about a friend of mine and wanted all sorts of information about this friend. He wouldn't tell me anything about himself or why he wanted all of this information. He got nothing from me and was rather frustrated by it. Did he really think I was that stupid?! CREEPY!

I honestly have no clue why random things like this happen to me all the time. I guess they do make pretty entertaining stories. I just keep laughing about it. What else are you going to do?