"The Student Becomes the Teacher"

          Remember those days of writing in school, where you were given a topic and told to write your little heart out: please write about what you want to be when you grow up (actress, singer, teacher, professional gymnast and basketball player, coach, wife, mother…yes I wanted to be all of those), if you had one super power what would it be and why (I could clean my room in 1 second flat…I still wish I had that super power), and all of those topics that had to do with YOU, which made it all that much more interesting to write about because, well, what topic do you know more about than yourself?


          This past week I had to do the mid-year writing assessments with my middle schoolers; they were given a prompt, which was about them, and given no guidance on length, etc. in order to see how they are growing in their writing. The prompt was, “Describe something you and your family do together.” As I was reading these pieces of writing, I had the cliché movie nights and game nights, but then I came across one of my sixth grader’s papers. I read this paper and was so humbled by her words, which were wise far beyond her years. I want you to read what this sweet child wrote:

“My family is absolutely perfect. I wouldn’t miss out on our family time. Since I can remember, every two days we have sat down and read the Bible together. We have always done this and yet, even in those struggling times, we all still manage to make this work. The Bible might not be the most exciting book of the shelf, but we always learn something new. When our emotions get strengthened by the word of God, we get built up and encouraged by past Bible examples. What follows reading the Bible, well, my family and I always attend church. There, we can forget the outside world and focus on getting stronger and searching out our weaknesses. I will never regret the time I spend with my family.”

What a beautiful testimony. What an exquisitely piercing truth. Thank you God for using a child to teach me to seek you above all else and everything else will always fall into place.

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:33

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness," 2 Timothy 3:16

The Message Bible puts it beautifully: “Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.” 2 Timothy 3:16

Father, please use your Word to teach me and open my eyes to your will for my life. Let my trust be put in you and you alone. Thank you Jesus for being that lamp to my feet that guides each step of my life, whether a baby step or a giant leap. Let each step be completely God-driven. In your holy name, Amen.

Happy Heaven Birthday

Today I am celebrating the one year anniversary of my Gramma Lackie joining Jesus in heaven.

A video tribute to Alice Lackie

Proverbs 31

A Wife of Noble Character

¹⁰ Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?

She is more precious than rubies.

¹¹ Her husband can trust her,

and she will greatly enrich his life.

¹² She brings him good, not harm,

all the days of her life.

¹³ She finds wool and flax

and busily spins it.

¹⁴ She is like a merchant’s ship,

bringing her food from afar.

¹⁵ She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household

and plan the day’s work for her servant girls.

¹⁶ She goes to inspect a field and buys it;

with her earnings she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷ She is energetic and strong,

a hard worker.

¹⁸ She makes sure her dealings are profitable;

her lamp burns late into the night.

¹⁹ Her hands are busy spinning thread,

her fingers twisting fiber.

²⁰ She extends a helping hand to the poor

and opens her arms to the needy.

²¹ She has no fear of winter for her household,

for everyone has warm^[c] clothes.

²² She makes her own bedspreads.

She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns.

²³ Her husband is well known at the city gates,

where he sits with the other civic leaders.

²⁴ She makes belted linen garments

and sashes to sell to the merchants.

²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity,

and she laughs without fear of the future.

²⁶ When she speaks, her words are wise,

and she gives instructions with kindness.

²⁷ She carefully watches everything in her household

and suffers nothing from laziness.

²⁸ Her children stand and bless her.

Her husband praises her:

²⁹ “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,

but you surpass them all!”

³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;

but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.

³¹ Reward her for all she has done.

Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

Sunflower Promises

I missed you yesterday

  I miss you today

  I'll miss you tomorrow

  But the hope of heaven

  keeps the joys of His promise

  resting throughout my days

as you glimpse down upon

every smile and tear

in each new adventure

and old tradition

being etched within me

through the lessons

of love that you taught unknowingly

will be carried to the end

where we embrace at his throne

and you grab my hand and say once more

“I’ll always be with you.”

Better than baseball and apple pie?

          “Football and religion are two of the greatest things we have in this country, and there should be no problem with them coinciding.” Sports Columnist, Wes O’Donnell wrote these words to end an article entitled “Has Tim Tebow taken Faith too far into Football?”(1). This article proceeds to argue the exact opposite of what I was expecting from the title. Mr. O’Donnell went on to talk about a journalist who took Tebow’s words on faith out of context and basically made him out to be saying that if he has enough faith then God was definitely going to start him in the NFL (Tebow did not say this). Of course there are going to be people who are going to bash Tebow’s clear display of Christ in his life; it’s Biblical that there are going to be those who will want to persecute Christians, especially 24 year old quarterback Christians who play for the Denver Broncos.

          Well, you may be wondering why I was looking up articles about Tim Tebow in the first place...I do live in Colorado people, so come on now...I mean I tried to find a Tebow shirt/jersey to bring home for my brother and there were NONE...anywhere! In fact my students make fun of me for liking Tim Tebow so much; in addition to them making fun of my northern O’s (mOm, dOll, hip hOp...yes I have said all three of those words in my classroom) and my awesome driving skills...Yes, I am sure I am quite the role-model for them. Sometimes I think I forget that I have 100 middle school students watching me five days a week and if I like it or not, I AM going to be a role-model for them. That is something I really respect about Tebow, I feel like he completely understands the fact that God has gifted him with certain abilities and assets to be that role-model for an entire nation (well at least a football loving nation).

Decided to be eco-friendly and instead of throwing
this in the garbage of the staff lounge...I brought it to
Michigan for my dad to read..proved to be great inspiration
for a brand new blog post.

     Journalist, Pat Forde, stated in an ESPN article: “Most of us are lucky to know what we want to do by the time we get to college; Tebow found his twin passions -- pigskin and preaching -- about the time he entered grade school” (2). I believe Tebow is using not only his words to preach, but also his actions. Forde quoted Tebow’s response to various reporters bashing his faith when he wrote, “There's always going to be naysayers, people that are going to say it's fake. But that's fine because you can't control everybody. But I can control what I do, my attitude, how I approach the situation. So how I approach the situation is I want to do everything in my power that football gives me to influence as many people as I can for the good because that's gonna mean so much more when it's all said and done than just playing football and winning championships” (2). Woah, heart check time! Seriously, God has given us certain abilities and it’s about how we use those abilities; it’s not about winning, making money, or being the best of the best. How easy is it to put our jobs and ourselves into that quote:

“I (AMANDA) can control what I do, my attitude, how I approach the situation. So how I approach the situation is I want to do everything in my power that TEACHING and WRITING gives me to influence as many people as I can for the good because that’s gonna mean so much more when it’s all said and done than just preparing lessons, grading papers, etc.”

So, Tim Tebow, thanks for that most excellent win last Thursday night, but not only that...thank you for letting God use you to spread your faith and reminding me how my words and actions can influence those around me.

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 4:29


Check out these articles:
1.) http://tigerreport.blogspot.com/2011/08/wes-odonnell-has-tim-tebow-taken-faith.html

2.) http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=3812762&sportCat=ncf
3.) http://www.bpsports.net/bpsports.asp?ID=5657

FEEEE HE HE HEEEEEEENEEEEY...I miss TGIF

SYMBOLISM
1. The practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships (thank you freedictionary.com)


          This was a term that became one of my best friends in college; I loved looking for the symbolism in everything I read and wrote about! I’m sure my professors loved my endless papers about the symbolism any given author alluded to with his or her use of imagery in the form of light, objects, words, and so on (if you let me I bet I would look for the symbolism in everything from the movie Elf to Boy Meets World…I mean come on Mr. Feeny is a clear symbol of our conscience and desire for human wisdom in concrete form…okay okay, moving on…). I just really believe to get to the emotional essence of a piece of writing it is essential to look for symbolism. It is just so beautiful the way an author can weave together words to create a much deeper connotation than what is on the surface. Oh and wouldn’t you know it…another literary term has crept into my writing. “Connotation” goes beyond the dictionary definition of a word, but goes deeper to what is implied and gets to the emotional meaning that is associated, thus going full circle back to symbolism. The connotation goes beyond the surface. Symbolism goes beyond the surface.

          Isn’t that a great analogy for life? We have this amazing author who has woven together various people, situations, and events into our lives and if we could just look past the surface, we would see how clearly God is moving and working in our lives. Oftentimes we only look at the denotation (literal meaning; a.k.a. the surface definition) of a person and never take the time to really try to see them; to look for the connotation of that person. We never look for the symbolism of life. Perhaps that small instance in your life that you never took the time to look deeper into was God trying to get your attention. God uses symbolism all over the place…I mean come on now…Noah and the rainbow, now if that isn’t a clear symbol of the hope and promises that he has for us, I don’t know what is. I am going to challenge myself to look deeper into the ways that God is speaking, so that I can live past the surface of life; so that he will use me as a symbol of his unconditional mercy, grace, and love to allow his light to shine through me, for him, all of my days.


"Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions." Psalm 119:18

"From the first break of light, to last days"

          Remember when you were a little kid and wanted to listen to the same song over and over again or watch the same movie repeatedly? I bet glimpses of ninja turtles, the Mighty Ducks, Cinderella, Adventures in Babysitting and echoes of New Kids on the Block and the Macarena are being reiterated through your memories right now (and you’re welcome). Pretty sure my mom got sick of the Donut Man in about 2.4 seconds of my sister and me watching it. Well, I guess that contentment with certain things hasn’t left me…I fell in love with the song “Yahweh” while at New Life Church in Colorado Springs a couple of months back. This is the song I listen to as I get ready in the morning, the song I sing as I am getting my classroom ready for the day, and the song I am relishing in as I type this post. It reminds me of one of the most simple, beautiful and heart wrenchingly truth rendering words of wisdom my mom has ever given me.

          Let’s take a step back to a time when I felt further from God than I had ever felt; it was an era in my life when I felt like I was falling incessantly without a net and kept plunging deeper and deeper away from the person I knew God had intended me to be. This particular day was a day when I knew a change needed to come, but didn’t know if I had the strength to surge that transformation into gear. It was a warm summer evening in Michigan and I was sitting in my gym clothes in our den. My mom came up behind me, kissed my forehead the way only a mother can; that kiss that expresses more than any words of affirmation ever could. As she stroked my forehead with the hands that had shaped our household and engrained a constant surge of unconditional love in me, she sat down with a quiet air of ease. In a voice that can only be described as a whisper and a beautiful shout, she said these words to me:

“Amanda…God has never left you.”

          That was it. That was all that needed to be said. Those words spurred in me that flicker of passion that had started to slowly fade away because of no one’s fault, but my own. As the next few months passed of me trying to pick up the pieces, I kept hearing my mother’s words resonate when bouts of discouragement attempted to creep in. God had never left me; he was, is, and always will be there. What a beautiful truth. Even as I type, I can feel a whole array of emotions begin to burst within me: joy, peace, excitement, anticipation. Isn’t it exquisitely magnificent how God uses those around us to speak his truth to us even when we are so blinded by the lies that the truth seems like a shadow in the mist? Thank you Jesus for the prayers of my parents. Thank you Jesus that even though I may stumble, you have provided me with Godly examples. Thank you Jesus for lifting the fog that had surrounded me. Thank you Jesus for always being there.

YAHWEH New Life Worship

From the first break of light

To last days

Every echo of time

Every evening face

You've always been there

From a baby's first cry

To last breathe

Every fight in our minds

Every victory dance

You've always been there

Ancient One, so amazing

Unfailing You are

Holy One, overwhelming

My heart with Your love

Yahweh, Yahweh

Faithful God You're here to stay

Yahweh, Yahweh

Forever and always the same

Where the sky meets the sea

And breaks free

When compassion and love

Are met with me

You've always been there

Ancient One, so amazing

Unfailing You are

Holy one, overwhelming

My heart with Your love

Yahweh, Yahweh

Faithful God, You're here to stay

Yahweh, Yahweh

Forever and always the same

All consuming

Everlasting

God almighty

Lord of glory

From Lake Huron to Pikes Peak

          Well, I thought it was about time for an update! So I could just start and end with this: God Answers Prayers. That’s it…I hope you enjoyed the post!

          Alright, I guess I can give you a little more than that. I will probably share bits and pieces of the journey I have gone through during the past year in the months to come, but for now I will give a brief overview.
          Let’s start with last fall…it was time to surrender it ALL to God. I must say that was so much easier said than done. Have you ever felt like you were stuck; that feeling of asking, “Okay Lord, what am I suppose to do? Where am I supposed to go?” I had that feeling after graduating college and I hate to say it, but I was pretty confused and upset that I did not have a teaching job, not just in Michigan, but anywhere. Oh how silly I can be sometimes, since God knew I needed that time to grow in order to begin to form me into the woman he wants me to be (trust me he is definitely still working on me…sometimes overtime...).
          I was stuck, I mean I had an awesome permanent sub position, but I had this feeling that he had somewhere for me to go…I thought it would be a beach somewhere down south (once again, sometimes I am so silly when it comes to thinking I know the plans HE has for me). January 1st came along and that just seemed like the perfect time to take a radical step…so, I decided I would fast until I got some answers in my life. Wait, it is even more radical than fasting food…nope…I fasted FACEBOOK! I fasted it for almost six straight months…I felt totally cut off from the world (well from the social network world at least). I’m sure some of you are rolling your eyes at this right now, but it wasn’t that easy not knowing if those little red notifications, messages, and tagging of photographs were blowing up my wall…come on now!  I took this time to apply for jobs all over and even had interviews in Nevada, a couple in North Carolina, and even Florida; glimmers of hope were being speckled throughout my days (he always knows when and where I need encouragement).

          May comes along and through a serious of godincidences (haha god-inspired coincidences…) come along and I decide to apply for jobs in Colorado. I find this one posting for Pikes Peak School of Expeditionary Learning for a middle school History through Writing teacher; I didn’t know what an EL school was, but I had this crazy urging to apply. About a week later I get an e-mail to set up an interview, a few days later have the interview, and the next morning get offered the job. I knew it was my job(they say you just KNOW when you meet the right person, well the same can be said when you find the RIGHT job). It was this overwhelming peace and in the following months God amazingly opened doors and provided the finances for me to find an amazing condo with Godly women as roommates, a new car, and the maturity and independence to know that I am right where he wants me. He even showed me through another series of GODincidences to go to New Life Church. Can you believe Kari Jobe led worship my very first Sunday?! The overwhelming blessings he continued to poor our resulted in me crying tears of joy through the whole worship service (that’s a story for another time).
          Ok random Amanda moment…back in 2010, the door on my jimmy came off the hinges and I was in Saginaw for a student teaching conference, which meant I got to bungee cord my door until I got home to get it fixed. When I came out of the conference, there was a card on my windshield; I opened it found a five dollar bill and the verse Jeremiah 29:11. I can’t explain the shimmer of light that seemed to cascade off of those words and into my heart, but the encouragement was overwhelming. In fact, I knew God would take care of me…and take care of me he did, with an amazing woman just footing the $500 bill no questions asked. Last weekend that verse was reiterated to me in a variety of incidents and outlets; I know God has even bigger plans he is preparing to unfold. So what has he taught me this past year? He has taught me it is much better to trust him to reveal his plans in his time and that although I may feel that I want something to happen for my future, he is working something out in this very present time, even during those times of feeling “stuck.”


I can’t help but feel at peace as the words of Jeremiah 29:11 are often my god song for the day: “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”


Thank you Lord for painting out every second of every day on the beautiful canvas of this life you have gifted me with.

Peanut Butter Prayers

It is 11:59 on the very first day of 2011 and what was I just doing you ask? Well, let me tell you…I just Googled myself. (cue laughter) Well, low and behold I found this lil ol’ blog (yes, I just typed that while saying it in a southern accent). I decided it was about time to start updating, but considering the fact that it is indeed so late on January 1st…oh wait, nevermind, it is now January 2nd…I thought it best to find some old tidbits I had written here and there and post those so as not to let them get lost in the land of Microsoft Word; hence, the blog written in November right below this one. As I am searching on my computer I find a document titled “Babbling Blog;” my creative zest for titles is quite impressive I know.

          While I am reading through this blog that was written almost a year ago in January of 2010 I am sitting here wondering…who is this pastor that I am talking about that spoke at church?? Quick, scroll down and read the post below this one…seriously do it. I will just keep typing nothingness until you do. For example, did you know that the coach of Alabama before Bear Bryant had only won four games in three seasons?! I know that because one of my best friends was watching the Alabama/MSU game with her boyfriend’s family today so I thought it was my BFF obligation to text her some impressive “Alabama Football Fun Facts” (yes, I Googled that too). OK the point is I want you to read the previous post…all done? Good. Remember the part where I said “It’s funny how things seem to come full circle.” Ladies and gentlemen, it’s about to come full circle once again (signal dramatic zooming and music). That friend that had written me the e-mail about seeking the kingdom of God above all else is indeed the same fella that spoke on prayer…now is that a coincidence or a GODincidence (you like that term don’t ya? It’s ok I don’t care if you use it…it’s way better than that term Lacey Chabert’s character tried to coin in Mean Girls…sorry my distraction level’s at an all time high at the moment, which is most likely due to the three cups of coffee I had earlier).

So here it is..I left it as I had written it a year ago:

          I was just sitting at my computer doing some lesson planning for the week to come when my iTunes came to one of my favorite songs: From the Inside Out by Hillsong United. (Listen to it right now…seriously).
         How true are those lyrics? Everyday my soul is crying out to Him. I wake up and take my bowl of vanilla soymilk and cereal, usually some sort of organic granola of some sort (yeah I know I am one of those organic eating, tree-hugging types…well sort of) and I go to my computer and do some devotionals. Now I know what you are thinking…devotionals on the computer, really? (Hey, don’t knock it until you try it.) Before I go to bed I read my Bible. During the day I pray for strength, wisdom, discernment…I pray that I won’t tell that student that is rolling around on the floor smashing orange crayon into the carpet that if he doesn’t stop then…wait wait anyways the point is I feel that we as humans can not go through the day without Him. Even if I am distracted by the discouragements and even encouragements of the day He is always there. He is faithful, always faithful, so we should be faithful. How often do we lose sleep because we are worried about everything and anything from what we are going to wear in the morning and if we have matching socks to how we are going to manage the next house payment. I will let you in on a little secret…a secret weapon to combat those worries and anxieties of everyday life: Prayer. Yeah, I said the P word. Prayer…now what does that word mean to you? An all access, never-busy, straight path to the personal cell phone of the Lord and Savior that’s what it is.
          Last week I listened to a pastor preach on prayer. Now I wasn’t going to go to church on that cold January night, but I did. I am sure you can guess what I am about to say next: I felt like that message was meant for me. I felt like it was meant for my family. I felt like it was meant for that teenage kid sitting two rows in front of me in the collared shirt and ripped jeans. I felt like it was meant for that middle age couple quietly sitting behind me drinking their coffees. The point is God uses so many vessels to speak to us and I totally believe nothing is by accident. I feel like every single person in that church that night was drawn there by Him. We all needed to hear that sermon, even if we knew it at the time or not.
          There were two major aspects of that night that stuck out to me. The first was when the pastor said, “You don’t HAVE to pray, you GET to pray.” Now how awesome is that? I mean so many times we do the monotonous, day in and day out prayers that don’t really contain that authenticity of a relationship because we feel obligated to pray. Our relationship with Christ is so contrary to that though; we have the privilege of coming to him and being completely genuine. We have the honor of having that counsel right there for us at any moment. The other thing that really caught my attention was when the point was made with a rather humorous analogy of requesting a PB&B sandwich over and over and over and over again with that fact that many times we may make requests to God by continuously asking Him for the same thing in a million different ways. The pastor pointed out that we do not need to repeat ourselves; we can definitely have short prayers because He hears those. Along with that second element was the fact that we may need to come to Him in prayer for something 2, 3, 4…times because more often than not he is going to change our hearts and our wills to align with His.
           I pray that God will constantly work in me. I pray that God will constantly draw close to me as I draw close to Him. I pray that I can be a light for Him. I pray that contentment and peace will always overcome me as I trust in Him. I pray that I will never stop praying. I pray that not my will, but His will be done.

The Plaid Shirt Devotional

The Plaid Shirt Devotional-Written on November 29, 2010




Last night we had our weekly Euphoria church meeting at Ryan’s house. Although Ryan was out of town, we had a guest speaker, Jaleb Gillman, who is currently serving in an internship position at Cornerstone Church in Highland, Michigan. After a delicious dinner prepared by yours truly…yes I picked up pizzas…we made our way upstairs for the lesson. As we sat around chit-chatting, Jaleb began setting up a little table to set his Bible and lesson notes on. Nonchalantly he picked up the side table stand and stated “Hey this used to be mine.” Funny how things have a tendency to come full circle like that. Moving on, I knew he was ready to begin as soon as the cuffs of his newly bought black and white plaid shirt became unbuttoned and rolled up to the elbows (ya’ll might find it interesting to note that not only was this shirt quite fashion forward, but it even had black cuffs that were revealed as they climbed their way up his arm). Sure enough, he got everyone’s attention and gave a brief introduction of who he was. Next came the good stuff… “Alright, everyone if you could turn in your Bible’s to Genesis Chapter 4. The story of Cain and Able.”

          I was thinking…really…Cain and Able?? As in “Cain killed Able with the leg of a table.” I know what you are thinking…ummm that is not exactly true, but hey I bet you won’t forget who killed who now will you? He said we were going to dissect the different sections of the chapter and discuss it…oh my, now there is a lesson after my own heart. Then he even included life application principles and anecdotes to relate to. Cha-ching! Now that is what I call a million-dollar devotional! What were the principles? What were the anecdotes? What were the applications? I am sure those three questions, amongst others, such as, “Where can I get a shirt like Jaleb’s?” are going through your head right now. Ok, I won’t let you wallow in the feelings of being left out of a lesson any longer; I will do my very best to summarize for you: Master the sin in your life. Yeah, that’s my summary. Master. The sin. In. YOUR life.

          Wait…are you saying you want to hear a bit more? Ok then, I suppose I could include some of the highlights, but that one principle is a necessity for getting that vertical relationship in check. If there is sin that hinders one area of your life it WILL spill over to hinder ALL the other areas as well; trust me, I know what I am talking about. Now I want you to read Genesis 4:1-16 and then you will get so much more from this little summary that won’t even do Jaleb’s lesson justice, but it might bring a little bit of insight into your life. He started out by discussing how Cain sacrificed “some of the fruits” of his labor to the Father, whereas Able gave God the good stuff: the fat portions…MmmmMMM, you know what I’m talking about. Then he went on to talk about how Cain became jealous of Able and murdered him; the sin began to eat and eat and eat at him. God had mercy on him though and did not allow anyone to kill Cain. Jaleb spoke about how many times we have sin in our lives that we need to master.


          Now what does it mean to master sin? My interpretation is this: We need to acknowledge the sin. Confess the sin. Ask for forgiveness for the sin. Ask God to take control of that area of our lives. Then we need to stay away from and ask God to help keep us from that sin. Jaleb gave some great applications that I will just quickly go over: We need to have accountability, we need to pray, we need to read our Bibles. When I reiterate that we need to read our Bibles I am not just saying we need to read the same verses we always read…we need to READ ALL OF OUR BIBLES. Jaleb made the comment on how oftentimes we just read our favorite verses, but it is so important to read the entire Bible; hence, the whole invention of those marvelous yearly Bible plans.
          Time for another random Amanda moment (don’t worry, I will tie it in). This morning I was looking through old Word documents on my computer and came across an old e-mail from a great friend. The last line in the e-mail quoted a verse: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you". Cue the light-bulb, fireworks, and lightning!! Jaleb quoted this verse last night and I remember thinking, “Whoa, God really wants me to listen to that!” Was my coming across that verse this morning a coincidence? I don’t think so; I think it was confirmation of what needs to be done in my life. I need to stop putting other things first and stop solely focusing on MY future plans and start asking God “Hey…I am ready to give you control…where do you want me to go? What do you want me to do? How can I glorify YOU?” Oh one more thing…that e-mail I came across…it was from November 2008. Like I said…funny how things have a tendency to come full-circle.