Moving Out, Moving Up, and Moving On

Life in Stillwater has been an experience and a joy. It has been where I took my first step of true independence, living on my own for the first time! I have learned a great deal about myself in this place...what I really like, dislike, how I function, my needs, and even developed a greater understanding of what it means to be an adult and who God is amidst all of the chaos of change. Today I packed up all that has embodied these "Stillwater Experiences" and prepared to fully embrace the idea, and reality, of moving out. Tomorrow my mom and grandma are coming to help me continue packing and to move all of my small stuff (boxes, etc.). On Monday I will be able to officially pick up the keys for my new apartment and we will clean the place up and unpack a bit before I make the complete "move-in" on Tuesday. Then I will be living life alone for about the next month before my new roommate, Amanda moves in. Amanda is coming to Minnesota all the way from Kentucky! I can't wait to meet her! Life after college has been super lonely and I haven't felt all that close to my current roommate, so I'm excited to start a friendship with someone else who is in the same phase of life as me. Amanda and I have been emailing like crazy and I can tell we are going to get along great! Can't wait to meet her! And I can't wait to be all unpacked at my new place near Bethel, where I will be attending Seminary starting in September. I am so excited to live in community again! I have definitely missed that aspect of college!

While moving day is going to be great to just get it over with, it is also going to be stressful because I am so "Type A" and can't stand all of my stuff being so unorganized and all in boxes! ha ha Can't wait to get unpacked and make it through these next 3 weeks. After move in day, I have a few days to get settled and then Vacation Bible School starts at my church! AH! So not ready, but I'm sure it will go great. And then only 1 week left after that and I'll be done with my job at church so that I can just focus on grad school. That will be such a relief, but it has also been one of the hardest things I have done. I will probably cry on my last day of working there. Tomorrow I am teaching Children's Worship Hour, which is basically the children's message during the regular message/sermon. I get to teach the kids about missionaries and how God calls us all to tell others about Jesus! So exciting! I just love experiencing kids embracing and understanding the Gospel! :) Such a joy and definitely one of the things I will miss about my job at the church.

Just because the "job" part of my life involving children's ministry will be coming to an end, doesn't mean that I want to be done doing ministry with children at all!!! I am definitely going to volunteer with the children's ministry at the new church which I have started going to, Substance. I'm really excited to be able to invest there and make connections. It is a really young church and I think I will find a lot of ways to get involved, be challenged, and experience growth. I have been longing for all of these things since I graduated from college and began this transition into the "real world". Honestly, it hasn't been such a "bad" transition, but I know it could have been so much better! I am finally starting to learn life balance skills and can't wait to see how Bethel is going to continue to grow me in that, through the power of the Holy Spirit that is.

Tonight as I was packing up some boxes, I came across one of my fav Max Lucado books, which was actually one that my mom gave me as a graduation gift when I graduated from college. I can't remember the exact title, but it was something about an oak tree and an acorn. The story is all about this acorn trying to figure out what to be and what to do with its new, separate life. And as I was reading it, it finally hit me! Just as the acorn just needed to rest and allow God to make it into what he wanted it to be, that's all I need to do too. I need to rest in God. Go to HIM first and allow HIM to transform me into the person He wants me to be. I find that I am continually seeking to become something more. But I often leave the pressure of the change on myself, when in reality, only God can change me. So as my Saturday comes to an end, I'm resting in that truth. That God will make me who he wants me to be, and no amount of striving on my part will ever change that. Day 1 of life in the balance is a-okay and I definitely can see that today was for the best and I'm believing that for tomorrow too! :)