So a couple times this summer I have sat down to update my blog, and I just sit there. Staring at a blank page. Seconds turn into a minute, a minute turns into 10 minutes... you get the picture. I would wrack my brain for something to write about, but how can you put a life-changing summer into words? How can I describe the blessings God has poured out on me and the lessons He has been teaching me?
So I will try to start at the beginning and share the lessons God has been teaching me through these amazing last 2 and a half months.
I was on a mission trip with my youth group in Montana at the end of June. 3 days into it, I got a call from my best friend in the whole world. Not many people are as blessed as I am when it comes to my best friend. Her family is like my family. We share our lives with each other in almost every aspect.
I got on the phone with her around midnight, and the most emotional 2 hours of my life followed. Her dad had died suddenly of a heart attack. We wept together over the phone for hours, interrupted only by calls made to my parents to schedule a flight back home as soon as possible. During this time the rest of my team sat up and prayed for us. Which touched me in the deepest way.
Within 5 hours I was on a flight home, questioning God and demanding answers. By 8 I was at the airport, and by 3 I was at her house. Everything felt so surreal to me. People blessed us in every way possible. With prayers, with encouraging words, with hugs, with food, with helping around the house... My friends from home blessed me by keeping in touch and being there to listen to me for hours.
During this time I felt like i was just watching God. Watching Him work, watching Him use me. I would start to talk to Him, but I would fall short of words because I knew that He was seeing everything. And it seemed pointless to repeat.
God was teaching me that He always provides and that He is always in control.
So as if this wasn't enough.... about a week and a half after my friend's dad passed away, my friend's house was threatened by a wildfire. And so they had to evacuate. Again God provided. Friends stepped up and took animals, helped evacuate, offered storage, and housed us and relative who were coming for the funeral. And everything turned out alright.
After the funeral I returned home for two weeks. I was exhausted. Emotionally, and physically. I came home cranky, over emotional, and confused. And my brothers and sisters in Christ put up with me, and encouraged me, and lifted me up. I was rejuvenated and longing to return to my friend after 2 weeks.
And so I returned. We helped with a VBS for a week, and cleaned in our down time. We packed up boxes and boxes of stuff to keep or get rid of, and cleaned the fridge that had been left without power during the evacuation with food in it. ....Let that sink in for a minute. A fully stocked fridge, turned off for 3 weeks when it is in the 90's every day. It was bad. lol
After 11 days at her house we came to my house for a couple days before horse camp. And I'll continue this later. :)
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