emerging

The past few months have been very interesting for me. After returning from a great spring break, I received a second diagnosis and had my car broken into. While dealing with all of that, I began to wonder what my future was going to hold. I needed summer employment, a place to live, and money to pay for school. While listening to advice which came from every direction I looked, I tried to simply listen to the Lord and follow my heart. Several options arose and each time I became aware of a job opportunity or a place to live, part of me got excited. However, I would not allow myself to place my full hope in these possibilities. I have repeatedly learned throughout the years the truth of Romans 5. The only way for hope to not disappoint is to have hope centered in the right person, not in a possible situation. For whatever reason, the Lord gave me grace to just wait and allow Him to reveal things to me. At times I felt as if I were being lazy or perhaps irresponsible. Yet, I found peace and endurance from a source not of my own. He truly sustained me.

Without attempting to explain all of the details here in this post, I will simply share where I am now. I have been blessed with free housing for the summer through house-sitting for friends. I have a full-time job for the summer at the library. In the fall I will resume the job I've had throughout this school year and am pretty certain as to where I will be living. And as of this week, I have been hired by Trinity Hill United Methodist church as the new Director of Young Adult Ministries. This ministry is a combination of college students (undergrad and grad) and young adults in Lexington. I am replacing a fellow seminary student who has graduated and will be moving back to Mississippi. Between the salary I will receive from the church and my part time job, I should be able to pay for a few classes each semester and will continue to hope for scholarship money to resume a full-time status. In addition, I hope to have all of my medical bills paid off by the end of the summer, which I believe is a miracle in itself. Still, my hope remains in who Jesus is and His heart for me, not on the outcome of even these two expectations that I have.

I am really excited about joining with Emerge, the name of the young adult ministry at Trinity Hill. I am excited about the community I will have there, the opportunities it will provide me to love on and invest in fellow believers, all that I will learn through the experience and the various areas it will provide for me to grow in. It only seems fitting that my future has emerged from the very passions of my heart and the Lord's provision.



I am very excited and a bit nervous. The next few months in particular will be very dynamic and challenging. On a positive note, the pastor has promised to work on my "single" status. That should scare me.

May we all continue to allow the Lord to create our futures and our lives. Furthermore, may we allow Him to continue to create us into the men and women He longs for us to be. Out of the brokenness of our lives emerges the hope of our future.