Contentment

                                                        Source: Uploaded by user via Katie on Pinterest  

    I know I've blogged about this topic a couple times before, but it's so deep and broad. I keep learning more about it and feel like sharing it with you all.
    I've really struggled with being content in the season of life God has me for quite a while now. I would have good days and bad days. Don't we all? But it truly was a daily battle. I constantly found myself on my knees begging God to provide me with satisfaction in the only place joy could be found: in Himself.
    However, knowing that I should be content in my God and actually being content are kinda different. Watching my friends move on and start new stages of life was devastating and brought a new wave of restlessness and utter discontent. Why do I have to be the one who is always left behind?! When will my turn come?
    But praise God that He does not let us wallow in our self-pity. I was reminded of all that I have and to be thankful for. God chose me. He saved me. And most certainly not based on anything that I had done! This alone should wipe any atom of discontent with my life. It gets better. He also showed me a gentle reminder that this world is not my home. I'm not going to be satisfied by anything on earth because I was created to live somewhere else entirely. However, God has blessed me with many earthly things. I have a wonderful family and a close relationship with my parents. I have a good job that I love. School is going well and am saving lots of money by being able to do CollegePlus! All these things go to show I have no reason to ever complain.
    When the next stage of life comes, I'll sure be ready. But I'm going to enjoy whatever this season has for me because that's where God has me. And that truly is best.

Love,
Katie :)

Christ: Our Everything(?)

This sermon by Paul Washer on the Gospel of Jesus Christ is humbling and it's convicting.
Do we really know Christ? Do we even try to comprehend what He did on the cross?
If you're anything like me, than you most certainly don't.
Yes, I realize that it's 103 minutes long. Yes, I understand that time is important to us nowadays.
But I beg of you, even if it takes you a whole week to listen to this, listen and let God work on your heart.
Be reminded of who Christ is and what He has done for us! How different our lives look in the light of the cross. Is He truly our everything?! Do we seek Him and love Him as we ought? The answer is of course not, but do we run with endurance? Are we running after holy things and loving what Christ loves?
Praise be to our LORD who took the full punishment of our sins and gave us His righteousness. What a good God we serve.
Here's another video by Paul Washer that's only three minutes long. Run after eternal things. Live for Christ.

Love,
Katie :)

The Body of Christ

Here's the group of people I was able to spend an entire week with. These people truly personify the body of Christ. I have amazing brothers and sisters. But more importantly, I have an amazing God.

photo credit to Dr. Nisius

Love,

Katie :)

That Dreaded Word

                                                    Source: jojolete.tumblr.com via My Upside on Pinterest

There's this word you see. This word that I dread saying more than anything else. That one word that I put off saying for as long as I can. Yes, you can butter it up or try and make it as happy as possible, but you can't take away that sorrowful connotation. Some of you may have already figured it out.
Goodbye.
We've all heard that saying, "It's not goodbye, it's see ya later." But does that take away any of the hurt that goes along with that? If you're anything like me, it seems to just hide the pain that we all really feel. Just a mask for the hurt and the sorrow we amplify by giving that final hug and waving that last farewell.
I had to do that today. I had dreaded this goodbye all summer. I put it off anytime I thought of it. Busyness kept it off my mind for sometime. This past week was quite a bit calmer and left me plenty of time to think. It wasn't a bad thing necessarily, but those adios's replayed over and over in my brain. I questioned why I had to be the one left behind. Yes, I know God has a perfect plan. Thank goodness for His promises never to forsake us. But oh the thought of loneliness threatened to overtake a thousand times over.
Believe me, that goodbye seemed to almost kill me. One of my best friends for over 14 years is leaving for college. I know we'll always be close friends and sisters due to our bond in Christ. But no more spontaneous Starbucks runs, no more stupid impulse shopping trips, no more just hanging out to watch movies and paint our nails. I'll be driving over to bug her all the time. She'll be so annoyed with me.
And this isn't the only goodbye. Three other of my dearest friends are leaving. Two to begin their sophomore years at college and another to serve for 9 months in a foreign country. I love these girls. I would do anything for them and I have done everything with them. These are my dear sisters in Christ who have been there for me countless times. Girls who I trust and love with all my heart.
Thank goodness for Sundays. The text preached just yesterday included this verse that I shall hold near and dear to my heart as I struggle to make this adjustment: "And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age." Matthew 28:30b. The LORD is with me to the end of the age. What better promise could I ask for to cling to? Praise God I have an amazing family and good friends to keep me company. I am blessed with a church who seeks God in everything they do and strives to reach out to every person in attendance.
In just a week's time, I'll be with my wonderful CollegePlus! friends who are diligent seekers of our great God. It will be a time of refreshment and encouragement that will be much needed and met with gratefulness.
God is good. Change is hard, but God remains the same through it all.

My "niece"

My family had a precious little visitor at our house last Friday. Brielle Nix is perhaps the cutest baby EVER. I'm maybe a little biased since her mommy is one of my bestest big sisters. But you'd have to be blind not to admit she's adorable in every sense of the word :)

Here's a post showing off sweet Brielle's facial expressions as she celebrated being five weeks old!

Love,

Katie :)

Something To Chew On

"The thing that most consumes your thoughts is your god..."

Love,
Katie :)

"Be Thou My Vision"

Recently I've gotten into the habit of listening to hymns :)
"Greatest Hymns" by Selah has been my top album of choice so far.
"Be Thou My Vision" is by far my favorite hymn of all time.
Here it is as sung by Selah:



Love,
Katie :)

Party Time!

                                                                         Source: piccsy.com via Katie on Pinterest

I have a graduation party in four days!!

I'm giddy with excitement!!
It's coming up so fast and the list of things to do seems to never end!
But it can't damper how excited I am to spend all day with family and friends who have meant so much to me over the years!
And today I'm out to conquer three college credits! Nothing like accomplishing something so you can relax. :)
I hope you all are having a wonderful week!
May you continue to seek HIM in all your ways.

Love,
Katie :)

"Not as I will, but as YOU will..."

This is what God's been teaching me:

                                              Source: Uploaded by user via Katie on Pinterest

 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

God has a plan for our lives if we are His children. A perfect one that isn't our plan. We must trust Him and follow His leading, even if it's not what we had in mind.  

Love,
Katie :)

Proud Picture

taken at my grandparents house on Easter

SPRING IS HERE!

Love,
Katie :)

A Wedding and Good Friends

(photo credit to Jason Manion)

Elijah and Megan Lofgren.

The wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Lofgren was absolutely beautiful.

I cried.

The love that those two have for each other is incredible.

But even though their love as husband and wife is mind boggling, they love the LORD their God way beyond that.

That's what made their wedding that much more special and wonderful.

Megan is a great big sister to me and I simply adore her.

(photography credit to Jason Manion)
there was a joke after Megan and I hugged for the first time after her wedding that we hugged longer than Megan and Elijah's first kiss....yeah :P

(photography credit to Amanda Bridger)

Since Megan is sister to Robbie, who is a CollegePlus student, it naturally attracted lots of CP students.

Some I had met before...

(photo credit to Amanda Bridger)

(photo credit to Amanda Bridger)

(photo credit to whoever had Amanda Bridger's camera)

(photo credit to Jason Manion)

(photo credit to Jason Manion)

(photo credit to Jason Manion)

 And I got to meet some new friends too....

(photo credit to Amanda Bridger)
Marie was the person I was most excited to meet :D
She surprised me and it was AMAZING!

(photo credit to Amanda Bridger)
Emily Kunkel (Robbie and Megan's sister)
she's wonderful :D

(photo credit to Jason Manion)
Joey's a hoot :D he was my buddy

(photo credit to whoever had Jason Manion's camera)
Minion and John :D

We had an all around good time :D

I LOVE my friends so much!

(photo credit to Amanda Bridger)

(photo credit to Amanda Bridger)

(photo credit to Amanda Bridger)
BUBBLE FIGHT

(photo credit to Amanda Bridger)

(photo credit to Jason Manion)

(photo credit to Jason Manion)

(photo credit to Jason Manion)

(photo credit to Jason Manion)
"do it again!"

(photo credit to Jason Manion)
two peas in a pod right there

(photo credit to Jason Manion)

(photo credit to Jason Manion)

(photo credit to Jason Manion)

(photo credit to whoever had Amanda Bridger's camera)

The wedding was an overall success :D

Congratulations to the wonderful couple of Elijah and Megan Lofgren.

Love,

Katie :)

Famaversary

 Say what?!
What on earth is a "famaversary"?!
Well, for any family that's adopted, it means it's the day your adopted sibling came home to a forever family for, well, FOREVER.
It's a big deal.
I love my Meddie sis.
She is my precious little girl and I can't believe I lived a day without her.
She's growing up so fast and I'm SO thankful that God chose us to be her family.
Adoption is such a beautiful picture of what God did for His children.
He reached down into our pitiful existence that was destined for destruction and saved us from utter destitution.
Can I get an AMEN?!
My sister was headed down a path for who knows where.
I know it couldn't have ended well.
She still has memories and consequences from the four years she had in her native country, but we love her more and more each day.
We show her how much Jesus loves her and that He is her only hope.

To celebrate a little, I took my beautiful girl out for some sistah time!

I taught her the best way to eat french fries :D dipped in chocolate ice cream!

My only sister is one of the best gifts God has ever given to me!
He is so good!!

Love,
Katie :)

Journal Post 2

3/8/12

Day 4 in Ethiopia

  Sitting under my mosquito net, I can feel Him as I never have before; like I could simply reach out and touch Him. Oh LORD Jesus how I love You. God is REAL. I have felt His presence and seen Him at work. We're in southern Ethiopia now. Everything is dirtier and everyone is poorer than I imagined. It doesn't even seem real. Yet these people live in the dirt with no clothes, no toilet, no beds, flies constantly in their eyes and ears, lice, bedbugs, cockroaches, no food, no water, etc. I've seen the real deal. And yet I got to praise Jesus WITH them. I felt true joy radiating from them. I started bawling from the sheer overwhelming feeling of it all. Oh praise be to God! I am so blessed to be here. Trusting God has never been so hard or so sweet. I've had to surrender my fears and my heart every second since we arrived here. And isn't that what God wants from us as His children? Just to completely give up control and say, "I know you got this, God."

Love,

Katie :)

Journal Post 1

 The following journal entries are unedited except for names and locations are taken out for the sake of their protection.

3/6/12

Day 2 in Ethiopia

 As soon as I inhaled my first breath in Africa, I knew I was in love. I can't stop obsessing over every beautiful detail. From the red, dusty dirt to the unfinished buildings, I LOVE it. This morning when my dad was in the shower, I got to stand on the balcony of our wonderfully tiny hotel room of the Riviera. I took in everything: the melody of the honking buses and the bustle of EVERYONE walking to work. I stared across the open field and took in the breathtaking view. The mountains are gorgeous. As one of the staff members organizations drove my dad and I to Hannah's Hope where Meddie lived while she waited to be part of our forever family, I drank in every last detail. The craziness of traffic, without stop signs or stoplights and people walking everywhere, thrilled me to the core. Going to Hannah's Hope was such a surreal experience. I had seen hundreds of pictures of MY sister there, and now I finally got to experience it. It was ten billion times better than I expected. I got to meet several members of the staff whom my parents had gotten to know pretty well. And the kids...my heart aches with how much I miss them and I only spent 30 minutes with them. One girl was of the same tribe as Meddie and I did a double take the first time I saw her. She looked almost identical to my sister. I absolutely adored her. She and another little Gambella girl were glued to me. I loved those two like they were my very own. And while I wished I could just take them home with me, I knew I they had families waiting to love on them and be united just like God had planned. After a painful goodbye, our driver took us to the organization we were working for over there. Soon after, the whole  team loaded up in a bus. Ok, so I already admit that I'm weird, but I've just always had this dream of riding on a bus through rutty, dirty roads in a foreign country. I lived that to its fullest today, and I loved every second of it. The project we went to today was filled with beautiful children who are being sponsered. We played jump rope, swung on the swings, made beaded necklaces and bracelets, sang songs, and played duck duck goose and Red Rover. Some of the kids were absolute stinkers, but I loved every single chocolate child to death. The language barrier was frustrating sometimes, but we communicated with hand gestures and facial expressions. (Random: people across the street are listening to J-Lo and it's pretty loud!) Probably the saddest thing I saw while we were at the project was when we passed out anything. It was a mad dash and it didn't matter who was in the way. They wanted it and they wanted it FIRST. I was almost bowled over when I broke out the Dum Dums. I had already decided that each kid could only have one lollipop. Well, because it was so crazy, I couldn't keep track of who I had given suckers to. So kids would hide theirs and end up with 3 or 4 suckers. It just goes to show how dependent we, as humans, are on STUFF, and we shouldn't be. Even through being completely frustrated with the kids for lying and cheating me out of suckers, the bottom line was I just needed to love them like Jesus. We lie and cheat and yet God loves us anyways. And that's why we're here: to be an example of Jesus Christ and His love to anyone we come in contact with.

Love,

Katie :)

What Are You Living For?

Ethiopian pathway

I think most of us know the Sunday school answer to this question.
"Why, to live for God, of course!"
I don't want to take away from this "correct" answer, but how many of us actually live that way?
I know I don't.
My perspective on life and what I was living for was completely changed after my Ethiopia trip.
I was living for myself.
I would get upset if the smallest thing didn't go my way.
I don't think I even realized it.
I would get angry and upset (internally of course. I would never show it) if my favorite cereal was gone or if only two people "liked" or "commented" on my Google+ posts.
I would get irritated with my siblings as quick as wink if they did the slightest thing wrong.
I would get mad at my parents if they didn't give me what I wanted.
I would spend hundreds of dollars on clothes and Starbucks that I was so sure I needed.
me me me me me me me ME!
Now, this is not to hate on social networks or shopping or anything like that.
But, think about it?
WHAT is your motivation behind everything you do?
Is it to gratify yourself?
Or
Is it to glorify God?
I have seen starvation.
I have seen poverty.
I have seen extreme sickness and disease.
I have seen the homeless.
I have seen people with literally NOTHING.
And yet..........
They are happy.
I saw children's faces light up when they got anything they could call their own.
They were SO CONTENT.
They had Jesus.
They were incredibly happy with anything you gave them because you gave it in the name of Jesus.
I bawled at McDonald's last night when I saw how uncontent everyone was with even the large amounts of STUFF they were being given.
I was reminded that as Americans we are not happy with anything.
These beautiful Africans were happy with nothing.
Why?
Because they had JESUS!
Let's take a lesson from that.
Bow down to Jesus and cry out to Him to show us how we need to live our lives in order that we may honor the One who gives us every good thing.

Over the next few days I'll be blogging my journal entries I wrote over the past week.

Seek HIM.
Honor the One who saved you.

Love,
Katie :)

"Prices" to Pay

                                                         Source: npr.org via Katie on Pinterest

That picture is of Katie Davis and her beautiful children in Uganda.
I've been reading her book Kisses from Katie as preparation for my trip to Ethiopia.
It has been incredible. Her story has made me so excited to go.
Her dedication to her Savior and to the children of Uganda is encouraging and infectious.
I can't wait to go, to serve, and to love.

This trip does have a price on its head.
Like today for instance.
I had to go into the Health Department and get a Yellow Fever vaccination.
It was definitely not my idea of a fun way to fill my day.
But it's worth it. And what about all the people who live with it...and eventually die from it?
All I had to do was walk into a government building and get the treatment I needed.

Another thing I've been thinking about is my family I'm leaving behind.
My little sister prayed the other night: "Dear God, Katie and dad are going on a trip to Africa and I'm stayin' home. And I'm gonna miss them. I love my sister."
I started bawling. How can I leave behind this family I love so much?!
Because I love Jesus more. I'm going to show these kids WHO HAVE NO FAMILIES that Jesus loves them more than they could possibly imagine. What better joy or calling could I possibly have?

So this is why I'm going and paying those "prices".
I love Jesus and He's called me to do this hard thing for His great name.

Love,
Katie :)

A God Girl..."That's Who I Be"

                                                        Source: flickr.com via Katie on Pinterest

It's Valentine's Day.
Do I have a sweetheart to spend it with?
Mmmm that depends.
I have my Savior.
And HE is my first love.
He loves me and He saved me and is looking out for me.
Why on earth would I need a man?!
Don't get me wrong...I do still want to be married someday.
But for now I'm gonna be content to be a God girl.
I want to bubble over and talk about how amazing the love of my life is.
I'm His and that's enough.
He's my love and my heart is HIS!
Happy Valentine's Day :)

Be content in the only One who satisfies.

This song pretty much sums up what I've tried to convey up there. :D



Love,
Katie :)