Held

Isn't it amazing, when we are hurting, how you can feel yourself being held by God. Now there are many different situations of hurting, but specifically for me it is whenI am not feeling well. I just feel so loved when I feel God's loving strong arms holding me. I can almost hear Him saying "Mindee, I am here and I love you. This pain will soon go away, but then another type of pain may come. Just know I am right here holding you, and comforting you, and I will never let you go." We have such a gentle and loving God. I have been reading this book called "Do you think I am beautiful" By Angela Thomas. She takes you back to the memories of going to school dances and standing there in a corner waiting for someone to ask you to dance. How you sit there and hope you get asked. Now, I went to a Christian school where we never had dances, but we did have the silly little Jr High dance parties at someones house where that same thing would happen. I was always the last person to get asked to dance, and I only got asked because there was no one else there. I am not trying to have a pity party for myself. I say that because it makes what Angela Thomas says mean so much more to me. She says that God wants to know us so intimately, and wants to romance us. That He is the one dying to dance with us. He wants to tell us how beautiful we are, to hold us close and give us that security. The thing is we ignore him asking us to dance because we are so concerned with the cute guy across the room who could care less about our security and our feelings. Who wouldn't know true beauty if it hit him in the face. (okay, those last few sentances were more of my own feelings!) How can we not see the God of the universe standing in front of us begging us to dance? He sees and knows our true beauty and he wants us to see and know it too! I love the feeling of closing my eyes and seeing my Jesus ask me to dance. Wow!

Friends

I am finding myself so thankful for the friendships I have. With life being as crazy as it has been, I find that I am missing a lot of those friends! So for those of you who don't know all my friends I want to take a moment to talk about some of them! I am sure I will not cover them all, but I will try my best.

I will start with Jessica Clevenger. I have known her since 10th grade. We met while doing The Sound of Music in high school. She was a year ahead of me in school and when she graduated she moved to Atlanta. That was hard for me because we were so close. I would go to visit her and she would come here. We are still so very close! She has been my lifelong best friend! She is married to Rick and has two beautiful children, Madison, and Caleb. They are so precious. We hardly ever catch each other on the phone and are constantly leaving messages. The thing is though that we are so similar and get along so well! Our relationship has never changed through all of the hard times, her getting married, her having children. We are just always there for each other. I love her a lot!

Michelle VanMeter is a friend from Indiana Wesleyan. She was one of my first friends there and the only friend I still talk to from college! We cheered together and spent a lot of time together! We have talked off and on over the years. She moved to Virginia Beach after college. We have been in contact lately and I am going to a conference with her and her church in a few weeks. We have both changed so much!! But the thing is we have changed in such similar ways! We have both grown so much in our relationship with the Lord! We are different from what we were, but we are so similar. I hope that makes sense! I am so excited to spend some time with her!

Kristi Rogers is my dear friend that just got married in Dec. We were so close! We have not been able to see much of each other sense she got married. I miss her! We met a few years ago when she started coming to my friends, bands concerts. We started spending time together and found we had a lot in common! Especially our love for teens and helping them grow in the Lord! We went to Namibia together.





Lisa Jackson is my old roomate. We met in a small group we were both in and she decided she was going to buy a house. We moved in together and lived together for 3 years! When I lost my job I had to move back to my parents house. I feel like since then I have not been able to see her either! We are both so busy!! I do think of her a lot and pray for her! We also went to Namibia together.

Kathy Clark is such a huge blessing in my life! We also went to Namibia together. She is so strong in the Lord! She has gone through so much heartache the past 6 years, but especially this past year and through it all she has been so supportive and loving towards me! To see the stregth the Lord has given her is amazing!! Unfortunately she is moving to California in a few months and it makes me so sad!! She is such a servant! No matter what she has been going through she has been there for me!

Amy Gagel is a dear friend that I met when I joined her samll group. (The same small group where I met Lisa Jackson). She is such an amazing godly woman!! She is encouraging and loving! She decided to follow the Lords leading and go to Southern Seminary. She is graduating in two weeks! She got married last summer and is so happy! She is an amazing teacher and friend! I miss her a lot too!!

That is all I will give for now, but I will try and get pictures to go with the descriptions later!

What an AMAZING God we serve!

I feel lately I am reminded of God's amazing timing. How He is in total control of everything! Isn't it odd how we sometimes think God isn't quite paying attention to something and we feel we have to take control? Most of the time I guess it is subconscious. I don’t know, I guess I feel I do that at times. But I see God having me in places, which I don’t want to be, for a reason and I have to turn around and thank Him for his timing. We do not have the mind of God (Isaiah 55:8). He gives me every breath I take, He daily goes before me, He listens to little ol me and cares how I feel. He hurts when I hurt, and rejoices when I am rejoice. I do not deserve His love, but He freely gives it to me all the time. How can I not want to do everything for His glory? How can I not want to serve him with every breath I take? How can I dare try and take control into my hands? How can I dare tell Him that how He created me is just not good enough? Times may get tough, and I may struggle through them, but that is how God wants to grow me! 1 Peter 5:10 says “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.” Only my awesome God can do that! I pray that every day I remember the power and love of my heavenly Father. That I never forget He is in total control and longing to give me desires of my heart if I only delight in Him (Ps. 37:4).