A Year of Marriage and Ministry!

It's hard to believe that almost a year has passed since we stood at the altar and committed our life to each other! Nine months since we started serving in college ministry. People keep asking me what I've learned, what's been the hardest thing, and what's been the best thing. It's a little overwhelming to think about the whole year. But here are our Top 10 favorite moments; 

1. A support-raising road trip! Amazing to see the Lord come through so faithfully by providing for us and our first year of ministry!

2. Kicking off the fall semester with dorm move in, volleyball, and meeting lots and lots of new faces!

3. Being discipled by this wonderful woman and her husband. They  have been a comfort, example, encouragement, and priceless resource to us!

4. Kicking off our community group. Loved living life alongside these freshman and sophomores all year!

5. Celebrating Birthdays!! cookie cakes on cookie cakes on cookie cakes!

6. TCU Football games

 7. Graduating from college!! Real life, here we come!

8. Starting Community Group up again. Welcoming new friends, developing leaders for next year.

9. Celebrating Easter with close family and friends

10. April Crawfish Boil! Celebrating another incredible year of ministry and life together with our college leadership and volunteer team! So thankful for each of these people. 

Honduras - Living Water

For Spring Break, we took a group of students to Saba Colon, Honduras with Living Water International. We had a great team and a wonderful week! Here's some pictures of our trip!

The team just before we flew out on Friday night.

Our Honduran friends picked us up at the airport in San Pedro Sula, and we started the 4 hour drive to the village we would be drilling the well in. We made a brief stop at a fruit stand, we got to try "lychee". Funny looking, but delicious!!

We traveled to Saba Colon to the village that needed the water well. We dug the well in a school yard of an elementary school. Here's a few shots of the classrooms, school yard, and toilets of the school. 

The guys spent the week helping the Honduran team drill and build the water well.

While they were drilling, we did hygiene lessons and Bible stories with the kids. And during recess we got to play lots of soccer and jump rope.

On Thursday, we finished and dedicated the water well with the entire school! The principal of the school thanked our team, and he began his speech by saying, "water is life". What an incredible reminder of the importance of what we got to do for this village. Provide clean, living water both physically and spiritually (John 7:38).

It was an incredible trip and we were so grateful for the opportunity to serve this village and learn from our Honduran brothers and sisters.

Fullness of Joy

I woke up this morning feeling a bit out of sorts. Nothing specific had happened to make it a bad day, I just wasn’t feeling super happy. So I cuddled close to Sam and whispered good morning. I got out of bed when I wanted to instead of to an alarm, because it’s Saturday and Saturdays are our rest days.

I had a breakfast of homemade granola and a banana. Spent some time reading my bible, and finally got down on my knees to pray, still trying to shake the blues. 

As I sat there trying to focus my brain and talk to the Lord, I grew increasingly more frustrated with myself. Why can’t I just be joyful? “Maybe I’ll get up and make some hot tea, it would fit a rainy day like today and it might make me feel better” I thought to myself. But as I began to stand up, I remembered something I’d read the night before. It was a line from Psalm 16…

“In Your presence is

fullness of joy”

Ps. 16:11

Here I was again. Looking for joy in all the wrong places. In my husband’s arms. In a homemade breakfast. In a day off. In a hot drink with a mug so perfect it deserves an Instagram post. And it wasn’t even intentional, it was just my knee jerk reaction to “I feel blue”.

It’s so simple, so easy, so obvious…and yet I miss it every time.

He whispers, “In my presence is fullness of joy”. Are we listening?

Where have you found yourself looking for joy lately? On a cold, rainy day, is your instinct to look to Christ or somewhere else?

An Intentional Christmas

Christmas is fast approaching and things are beginning to slow down a little bit. But only a little bit. As I’ve watched December speed by, I keep running across reminders of what this season is really all about. A sermon on Sunday, a gentle reminder from my mentor, a blog post. 

Christmas is all about Jesus.

I know, I know, you hear that all the time. But do you take it seriously? Do we really act like Christmas is all about Jesus? I definitely don’t. I put up the tree, the lights, and the decorations for tradition, or to make our house “feel Christmassy”. I buy presents because that’s what you do at Christmas time and people expect it. I make gingerbread men because those are the Christmas cookies and I love the way they make my house smell. None of these are bad things, but they are missing the point. What if instead, everything we did this season we did to celebrate Jesus?!

What if we bought presents and remembered how He has generously given to us. And then we gave presents with the hope and prayer that people's eyes would be turned to the Giver too?

What if we decorated our houses so that they are beautiful for Him? Just like I decorate the house for Sam’s birthday to recognize him and make him feel loved.

What if we took time to anticipate His coming and stopped doing things just for the sake of tradition and memories. What if we instead had Christmas traditions with the purpose of remembering His coming?.

What if we actually went to Christmas parties with the intention and purpose of celebrating who He is?! Instead of celebrating ugly Christmas sweaters and white elephant presents?

Because He is worth celebrating. In fact, He’s the only thing worth celebrating. His birth brought the greatest joy and the greatest hope! And celebrating anything else will ultimately leave us empty and disappointed on December 26^th.

“I bring you GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord.”

Luke 2:10-11

And then there’s that last line in verse 10…”for all the people”. The first challenge for me this Christmas has been to actually celebrate Jesus. And the second has been to tell others why I’m celebrating! Christmas presents us the best opportunity to speak about Christ because everybody is already thinking and talking about Him. But it is also the time of year that most of us are the most busy and most likely to pass up opportunities to share about the hope and joy we have found in Christ.

So this Christmas I’m striving to be intentional. I want to celebrate Jesus Christ’s birthday this year, recognizing that His birth brought the greatest hope and the greatest joy into the world. And I want to take opportunities to explain why I’m celebrating.

The funny thing is, a lot of my actions will look the same. We still have a Christmas tree, we’ve gone to 4 Christmas parties, and I’ve made 3 batches of gingerbread. But my heart is different. The tree and decorations are recognition that He deserves decorations and celebrations on His birthday. The parties were to celebrate who He was with people I love. And the gingerbread is a chance to deliver cookies and ask my neighbors how I can be praying for them this Christmas season. Continuing to pray for a focused, joyful heart, and eyes to see the opportunities He gives me.