Wednesday, June 1, 2011

All the cool kids are doing it...

This is me caving into peer pressure...
I mentioned on Facebook a few days ago that many little pieces of my heart are scattered around the globe and that no matter where I am, I am always missing someone. Since that post, several of those little pieces have requested that I make myself easier to keep up with as I go on my own little adventures. I hope this blog will suffice. :)
This is a big week for me. After an extremely short three weeks at home in my beloved North Carolina, I'm bidding my family and friends and beautiful Raleigh adieu and moving approximately 15 hours away to Illinois where I will intern at a church. Needless to say, I am excited, scared, nervous, sad and thankful all at the same time.
Simultaneously, some of those "pieces of my heart" are going off on their own adventures. I feel that a few are worth mentioning in this post.
One of those pieces lives in Virginia Beach. She's not going anywhere new or experiencing any great change in the near future, but she has one of the larger pieces of me and is worth mentioning simply because she is amazing. She deals with things in her life that would make some people bitter, but she only allows them to make her stronger. The change I've seen in her this past year has been larger than she probably realizes. She's using stumbling blocks as stepping stones and taking control of her own destiny with the help of God. And I'm proud of her for it.
Another large piece of my heart belongs to a very small person who recently began a new adventure in Texas. She's a student at Texas Bible College and during the summer will be living in the home of a pastor, his wife and their little girl. The little girl is a special needs child that my friend cares for. She has been gifted by God with a patience and a compassion for people that I've never seen paralleled. I know that she'd love to take the summer off, come home and see her family and friends, but she never complains. She just works, cheerfully, with a smile on her face and a song in her heart.
Thirdly, there's a wonderful lady with whom I had the privilege of spending my freshman year at Indiana Bible College. Shortly after I move to Illinois, she will be moving to a new city in Indiana where she will be taking a position and starting a new life. I know that she will excel immediately as she's very talented and very lovable, but I can't imagine the emotional roller coaster ride that she must be facing, beginning this brand new job in a new city all alone. But, with Proverbs 3:5-6 as her mantra, she'll accept the challenge. And she's my hero because of it.
Then there's my dear Starbucks buddy who's moving from her beloved Minnesota to begin a grand European adventure that will primarily be set in France and which will last the duration of the summer. She's perhaps the one I am most jealous of. (Okay, there's no "perhaps" about it. I'm extremely jealous!) She's been dreaming of this and planning for it for quite some time and her dream becomes reality tomorrow. I met her almost two years ago in terminal one of JFK airport a few short hours before we and 23 other people boarded a plane and flew to Paris where we spent 10 life changing days together. If I'd not met her on that trip, I would not have known anyone my first semester of IBC, and, shy as I am, I would have been miserable! I appreciate her friendship and wish her all the best on her adventure of a lifetime.
Lastly, I will talk about a friend that I am leaving at home. We're about the same age and we've grown up together. When we were teenagers, well...there were times when we didn't exactly get along, but I never disliked him. Now, he is one of my best and dearest friends. He went through a period of time when he wasn't exactly living like he knew he should, but I've watched him change these past couple of years. Being away for several months and then coming home, there have been times when I have almost felt like his mother, as the pride at seeing what he has become overwhelms me. He's shifting from a crowd follower to a bold leader and he's branching out and trying new things in God. He just recently auditioned for the North American Talent Search and with voice like his, I'll be shocked and appalled if he's not one of the finalists. More than his talent, I'm so proud of where his heart is. That's where his adventure lies.
Obviously, there are so many more that hold those little fragments of my heart, but these five have grabbed my attention this past year. I am blessed to know them and to call them my friends and my heroes.
So as I begin my move to Illinois tomorrow, to a place I've never been, surrounded by people I've never met, stretching myself emotionally and spiritually, I know that I'm in good company. And I know that at any time, I can reconnect with these people, heart to heart, whether in Virginia, Texas, Indiana, North Carolina, or even France and tap into a network of support and love and prayer that not very many people are so fortunate to have.
Yes, it's scary out there. And, yes, I'm nervous to the point of nausea sometimes. But I get to go on some of the grandest adventures of a lifetime. And I wouldn't trade this life for anything!
I hope you enjoy this blog and those that will follow as I update you often (hopefully) on the adventures of this beautiful life that is mine.

1 comment:

Melinda said...

I love it. And I am so so glad that you're coming to see me.