Whirlwind of a Road Trip….

Last week I ventured on what would turn out to be a whirlwind of a road trip… Me, Corinne and Travis all piled into his little car and set out for Kansas to be part of my friend, Girl Kyle’s, wedding… When we returned home, we had quite the list of memories behind us…. including a veeeeery long road trip from South Carolina to Wichita (we drove straight through), spending a ton of time with my huge family (wow i love them), being part of Kyle’s wedding (2nd time being a bridesmaid this year), driving from Wichita to Kansas City (our car broke down on the highway and we had to get out and push it in the 107 degree weather - it’s funny now, wasn’t really at the time) spending time up at IHOP (finally got to meet Zack and Jared - they are way too cool! Plus my time in the prayer room was AMAZING) and the even longer road trip back home (didn’t sleep for 30 hours straight - delirium + really small car = really giggly and slightly cranky Jen).. All in all - it was a blast! And we came home to ZHOP where the Holy Spirit has decided to hang out with us all day every day… especially at night and let me tell you, I couldn’t be happier that He is here… I love, love, LOVE the Joy of the Lord!! In His presence is the fullness of joy and He came that our joy may be full… Ahh He is so good…

Special shout-out to Zack and Jared - 2 of the coolest guys at IHOP! I have gotten to know them over blog and e-mail over the past year or so and I finally got to meet them, spend hours in the prayer room praying with them and their nightwatch crew, then go hang out at the other IHOP and grub a little.. they entertained me beyond belief, I finally got to see Jared do the splits, got to hear Zack tell some crazy stories and watch Jared eat a spoonful of hot sauce… You guys are great and I definitely look forward to hanging out with you again in the future!

The joy of sleeplessness?

Camp David 2007 - ZHOP’s Summer Teen Internship… 45 teenagers, 10 counselors, all living in a hotel, praying a whole lot, sleeping hardly at all - for 21 days straight…. Am I crazy??? Yes… yes I am because I have a desire set in my heart to see the next generation walk in purity and holiness and watching them get wrecked in the prayer room brings joy to my heart in spite of my lack of sleep… it really is worth it…. beyond worth it…

WordPress vs. Facebook

So, Zack encouraged me to post again so I could be added back to his blogroll, so, here I am posting again… The reason I haven’t lately is because I have switched over to Facebook and I have to say, it’s quite addicting… It’s weird and quirky and it took most of us 2 weeks to figure out how to work it, but basically all of ZHOP is on it, and it’s just alot of fun. Another reason I have been absent from the wordpress world is because my life has seemed to begin moving in fast forward these days (meaning I am just really busy)… here are a few random bullet point updates on my life:

- I am now co-leading our Thirst internship along with the one and only Mr. Kirk Bennett as well as getting ready to help lead our summer youth internship that starts on the 9th… 3 weeks running hard after the Lord with teenagers again… excited doesn’t even describe it! I can’t wait for these kids to get here…

- I got my nose pierced… I have been in the place over the past few months of wanting to do something way different and seemingly out of the ordinary for me so, I pierced my nose. It actually didn’t hurt that bad.. Until I had to get the ring changed a week after I got it pierced because the stone fell out… that was pain like I never want to feel again! But, it’s cute and I like it so, yea…

- My amazing nephew turned 1 on 7/1 and it threw me for a loop… I realized how fast life moves once you are in your mid-twenties and it makes me want to take every day and stretch it out as long as I can… love on the Lord more, love on my family more, love on my friends more…

- The Lord has me in this place where He is defining different things about my character that I have been asking Him to… in a sense, I feel like He is making me grow up! I am 25 but still feel 18 in some ways but He’s called to me certain things and He is defining me for that… I love it, I really do… but I still miss being a kid… I almost bought a coloring book and crayons yesterday - no lie.

- I joined the morning shift… I usually come in around 8, but there have been a few 6am times in there… If anyone knows me, they know that I am a night owl and NOT a morning person… a true testimony of the grace of the Lord is what this is!

So…. there are a few updates… The Lord is good… His leadership over my life is perfect and He is drawing me into a place of deeper intimacy with Him… Life is good

Best Feeling Ever…

I tell ya, when the joy of the Lord hits you…. it really is the best feeling ever.  Laughing until your stomach hurts so bad simply because the Lord is touching you, I mean come on!!!! It doesn’t get much better than that right there….

Blog retreat

I think I have decided to become a blog reader rather than a blog writer…. it’s just not as fun with no comments.

Greater is He….

He is greater than my weakness….

He is greater than my doubt….

He is greater than my selfishness…

He is greater than my darkness….

He is greater than any situation…

He is greater than anything I could possibly do or think would separate me from Him….

Though I am dark, He says I am lovely… Though I am poor, He says I have stolen away His heart.

So simple, yet so true…. as I sat in the prayer room and let these simple truths wash over me over and over again, I realized that sometimes we have to bring it back to the simple foundations and just let it hit us like it was the first time.

A long overdue picture post…

Well.. this is long overdue, but here it is! I said I was going to put pictures of our Camp David (summer youth internship) reunion up back in January… better late than never! Plus, I figured out how to do this wicked sweet “rock you” picture thing… so here ya go, pictures from the glorious reunion… I miss these kids!!

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Adrenaline Junkie

So I realized something about myself tonight that I didn’t really like and I really want to change… even though I am laid back, relaxed and whatnot - I am kind of uptight! Well, maybe uptight isn’t the best way to describe it… but I am certainly not adventurous enough… I realized this tonight when I went with my friends Travis and Maggie out to Travis’ Mom’s house in the country to ride 4wheelers. I haven’t ridden a 4wheeler in like 10 years and even then when I did it was alongside of a lake on very flat ground… So, when Travis suggested this - I was all for it! All was going great at first… we are cruising down this road, the weather is amazing, i’m having a blast…. Then Trav says “Let’s go on some trails” .. trails.. sounded fine to me since the image I imagined in my head are nice, lush trails with birds chirping, well beaten paths, totally safe…. Wrong. We start going through the woods and it was anything but what I imagined… I am praying the entire time thinking I am going to flip the 4wheeler because we are going up hills, i am tipping backwards, going over huge rocks, trees… getting smacked in the face by trees, flat out running into trees… So, in hindsight, it was a blast - we even stopped out in the middle of a huge field and just watched the stars, listened to coyotes, it was awesome… But on the “trails”.. not so much. I was whiny, stubborn and poor Travis - I just flat out yelled at him a few times because I was terrified. So thus I realized - I wish I was an adrenaline junkie!! I wish stuff like that - going crazy off roading on a 4wheeler - gave me a huge rush instead of making me scared and whiny… I mean, I chased tornados and loved it! What happened to that spirit of adventure…..?

A few of my favorite things…

I love my family…. they enrich my life more than words can say.

I love the Lord… I love everything about Him… even His chastisement because it is love.

I love online scrabble that you can play with your friends even when they are home in Missouri.

I love thunderstorms… hands down my favorite weather.

I love the smell of fresh laundry… no other smell compares to it!

I love the fellowship of my friends… my friends here at ZHOP who have become my second family… I can’t imagine my life without them.

I love little baby shoes - I mean, little girl UGG boots a few inches long… nothing is much cuter than that!

I love coffee… I had 4 cups today and each one got better and better….

I love the gift of worship…. I am so excited that I get to worship for eternity because it’s just my favorite thing to do…

I love vacuuming… it’s therapeutic for me.. and the end result is a really clean carpet - doubly good!

I love making up my own words like doubly. And floops. (That’s what I call flip flops)

I love moods like this when I am just so incredibly greatful for the Lords beautiful gifts…. even though some may sound strange.

Am I Nocturnal?

It has been prophesied over me that I would have the grace to stand in the night…

Even before this was prophesied over me I was thinking about it and praying about it…..

My schedule just changed so it would be permissible with my current schedule….

About 2 hours before it was prophesied over me, I was talking about it with my friends….

I have always been a night owl and am usually up really late anyways….

Is this confirmation?

Sometimes I wish a huge neon sign would just drop down from heaven with the answers…… Do I join Nightwatch or not?