Photo Shoot!

We took these pictures for some billboards around town!! These are my favorites by far :) It will be so cool if they actually get put up somewhere. I would be famous! And could the leaves have been any more beautiful? I love it here...God's beauty is everywhere <3

Rename my blog...? I think so

It seems that all my posts are going to be about my absolute love for the homeless community. I just can't get over the way my heart races and my stomach does flips when I see them smile. Not the "please reach out and help me" cheap smile...the real one. The smile they smile after you help them.

I just experienced this smile. I was driving back from running errands, and saw a homeless man on the corner as I was stopped at a red light. I could see my wallet sitting next to me on the passenger seat, and thought "God is basically screaming at me to reach out to this man." As I rolled down my window, I instantly saw the man's face light up. I handed him 3 bucks. It seems silly that such a small amount can make such a difference in someone's disposition. He went from sitting against a tree with a sulking face avoiding eye contact with people to standing up waving at people. Amazing...

I know, I know. Some people will tell me I'm crazy to hand a homeless person hard cash, because you never know what they are going to do with it. But this is the way I see it: they can spend it on whatever they want; I got the chance to look him in the eyes, smile a legitimate smile, hand him money, and say "God Bless you." From that point, he can do with the money whatever he pleases. He heard what he needed to...that God loves him and is with him. What was I gonna do with it? Buy a coffee? It will mean more to him no matter what he does with it. As long as I get to show God's love to someone in need, I don't even care.

If you're reading this, I'm sorry you just sat through a long rant. All that was to say that I have an in-extinguishable love for the homeless population. Helping them changes my heart every time. It makes me feel like God is right next to me...more than usual. He has blessed me in so many ways. I love splashing over to touch someone else's life.

God Bless you in the rest of your day.

God matched me step for step

Oh my goodness, there is just so much going on! Today was amazing though. I had to make a Safeway run to get brownie mix for FCA (because if you want college students to go to something, you bring junk food) Anyways, as I was checking out, the lady asked me if I wanted to donate to Breast Cancer Research. Usually I pass things like this up without second guessing. This time, though, I didn't skip a beat before I said yes. I don't know what came over me, but I didn't even think about it. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to donate that $5. When I said I would, the cashier looked me in the eyes and said "Thank you! You're the first person I've checked out today that has donated." As if that wasn't reward enough, she commented on the brownie mix and I got to tell her it was for a campus bible study I was leading tonight. That just added another spark into her eye, and she told me she was glad there was still stuff like that that is going strong. As I left Safeway and approached my car, I saw an elderly homeless lady. Feeling God tugging on my heart strings, I decided I needed to do something for the lady. I had a granola bar (something my mom taught me to always have on hand), but thought that might be too hard for this lady to eat. So I went back into Safeway and bought a couple snacks that would be easier on her teeth and hold her hunger. The look in the woman's eyes as I approached her was one of the most powerful things I have ever seen. I had thought the cashier's eyes lit up...until I approached the homeless lady. I don't think I have ever seen such humility and graciousness from any other human being. The opportunity to talk to the woman about NCU and how I love to do outreach and my life goal being that God's light would shine through me was amazing. The most amazing part of the day, though, was the woman telling me "Well let me tell you something! I knew God was going to send me an angel today. I don't usually stand over here on this corner, but today God told me to stand here. And now I know why." I can't even believe the amazing woman and her words. I felt so blessed to have spent those 5 minutes with her. Then I came back to school for lunch, where a freshman basketball player told me I inspire her. She was only talking about my healthy eating choice for that meal, but it just added to the joy I felt today. I felt like I made a difference in the community in several ways. Now I know only my wonderful sister reads this blog, but I had to share this with someone, I want to have written this down, so any time I have a bad day, I can look back and see my documentation of how I felt knowing that God was walking right next to me, step for step, today. Hopefully you made it through this whole thing...looking back at it, it seems a lot longer than it did when I was writing it.

Oh, and I finished a Pinterest project today...who doesn't like that?!? :)

This Weekend's Crazy Adventures

Where do I even start...?

We had a game on both Friday and Saturday night. On Friday night, I had a double double. That means that I got 20+ kills (I got 21) and 20+ digs (I had 24). I am the fourth person from NCU to ever do that! Sooo cool :) Then Saturday night rolls around. We played SOU. Let me start by saying, they are ranked 2 in our conference....and we are in last place...you can see where this is going. They crushed us!! For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to just do really awful this time. I wound up getting two kills. Two. I wonder if there's a record for "worst volleyball match ever played at the collegiate level". I might have a chance at that one! It was seriously so awful...

But Saturday night (the night before Halloween!!) I went to Dana's house. She plays on the NCU volleyball team too, and her family has kind of adopted me since I've been up here. So we had some laughs, hung out with her family, ate some yummy food, and watched a movie. So nice to just be in a home with a family. (And not a dorm with noisy teens).

So that's about all I have for now...but if I can make a suggestion to anyone that may read my blog. Read at least on Psalm per day this month. It is so nice, because Psalms are so nice for inspiration, comfort, and motivation. I have been doing this (in addition to other reading) and I feel better about myself afterwards. Just a suggestion!! :)