AHHHHH!!!!

ONE MONTH UNTIL NEW YORK!!!!!!!!

Bowery Mission here we come!!!

Friend...

Friend. It's a pretty simple word. Webster's dictionary defines it as "a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations."


Jordan Spiers defines a friend as "a person who you can tell anything. A person who you can stay up all night with, talking and laughing. A person who will be there for you anytime. A person who sits with you even when you want to be alone, but does it anyway because they know you need them."


I have some amazing friends in my life. I can't begin to describe what I would do without them. The friends who are as crazy as me. The friends who look at me funny when I sing and dance like a crazy person because I feel like it. The friends who cry with me. The friends who laugh with me. The friends who encourage and support me. 


You make me a better person. You make me who I am.


I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason bringing something we must learn. And we are led to those who help us most to grow, if we let them. And we help them in return. Well, I don't know if I believe that's true but I know I'm who I am today because I knew you...

40 days....

In 40 days, 14 girls and 4 boys will be joining me on a seven-hour drive to Bowery. It feels so good to be able to say that name again.

Bowery...it's a simple name, but behind the name and red door lies something so amazing you can't put it into words. Have you ever had that place that makes you feel whole? Makes you feel at home? For the men I met in May, they call Bowery home. It's a place where you come in with nothing; you're no one. When you leave, you leave with a family, with an education and most importantly...a relationship with Jesus Christ. You become a follower of God. You become His friend, His child.

This entire weekend I've thought about Bowery. In church this morning, the pastor mentioned New York in his sermon. Most people would overlook it, but for me and 8 people that have experienced Bowery, New York means something. It's a place we think about all day, everyday. It's the place we thank God for. It's the place we place we pray for. It's the place where we left a part of ourselves. It will be forever with us. Never leaving, never fading.

I have a reason to sing...

This week at BCM we sang a song called Desert Song. It's a song written by Brooke Fraser of Hillsong United in Australia. The song talks about the trials and times in your life that you go through and how God is always there for you. My favorite part of the song is the bridge. All of my life, in every season, you are still God. I have a reason to sing. I have a reason to worship. 

Could these words be any more true? I'm at a point in my life where I'm having to make tough decisions. I have to decide what I want to do with my life, if I'm going to graduate on time, if I'm in the right major, who I'm going to spend my time with, what I'm going to be spending my time doing. Sometimes I get so frustrated and stressed about these decisions that I feel like I'm going to explode! Singing this song on Thursday and listening to it non-stop in my car this week, God has reminded me that he is ALWAYS there. He's there for me even when I don't think I need him. He doesn't care what mood I'm in or how I'm feeling that day. He loves me regardless.

How can I not worship a God like that? Someone who looks past all my mistakes and issues and loves me anyway. Whenever I play this song, I can't help but worship him. I feel myself raising my hand in the car, not caring who's looking at me funny, because I'm praising the one person who knows me completely inside and out and still loves me.

I have a reason to sing. I have a reason to worship.