Revealing Grace

My dear friends, it has officially been a year. One year ago today I moved to middle-of-nowhere Arizona full of hope and excitement. I knew that this year was going to change me. Little did I know how much this year would transform my life.  As I look back I am absolutely amazed at what God has done. One year ago our team was a little less than friendly to one another. Today we are praying for each other, connected as family with a love that overcomes our differences. When people are around us they remark without fail, " You guys really love each other, don't you? " And the answer is 100% glory to God. We are the epitome of iron sharpens iron. We have seen the best and the worst of each other and yet we are better people because of the ways in which we have been challenged. I have to say that I am so immensely grateful for the place this team has in my life. They have transformed who I am and I wouldn't trade in any of this past year, the good or the bad. ...

I woke up this morning to a frantic student. As we emailed back and forth I told her I could not help her. She angrily told me I was out of her life. The words stung a bit but I knew, like in any parent/child relationship, kids will say things when they are angry that they do not really mean. And I also knew that if someone does not want the help you are offering then we have no choice but to turn away. After all, the amount of students on this reservation is numerable and there are others that desire the help we do offer. As my mentor so smartly put it, we simply cannot always rescue students (or people) in the way that they wish to be rescued. But something kept stinging my mind as I considered this morning's interaction. It is a worry that sneaks in at moments like these. It is the deep-seeded fear that I am not doing things in a way that will please God. As we deal with these most unusual circumstances and I do my best to be/do as God wills, I am so worried that He will ...

Tomorrow I head out to a city I have always wanted to visit: Portland, Oregon . If that weren't exciting enough, I am heading there to participate in the wedding of a most precious friend. Some people don't like weddings. I love them. Adore them really. I fall in love with all of the romance and pretty flowers. I'm hopeless.  Seeing as this is the 8th wedding that I have been a part of (there is a phrase my mother sometimes says involving the words "always" and "never" that we will refrain from using here), I have a plethora of great memories involving my friends marrying the love of their life.  I'm reminded of returning from Spain to a Georgia that had completely changed while I was gone as I (the tallest in the wedding party) walked with the smallest in the wedding party down the aisle. I am brought back to the first time I became BFF with my Great-Aunt Ruth (she is a legend) and the time I got to solve all the problems of the day simply ...

The other day I thought I was a genius.  As I got out of the car in Flagstaff I had the all-too-common problem of not wanting to leave my half-eaten gyro in the car, but also not wanting to eat it or throw it away. Dilemmas, am I right? So after a brief moment of consideration, I tied the plastic bag with the food in it around the strap of my purse and let it hang by my side as I perused Barnes and Noble. Genius. So there I go, walking casually around Barnes and Noble in Flagstaff, filling my arms with more books than I could possibly take home to live with me, and my half-eaten gyro is flopping by my side. I swear I smelled like some serious onions and taziki. It wasn’t until the 8th or 9th weird look that I looked down and realized how absurd it was to have a plastic bag of chicken and pita hanging off of my purse. In that moment I concluded that if I were a hermit I would be crazy. I’m telling you, if you guys think I am a little weird now, you cannot even imagine what...