Fall is coming.

Living at home is seeming harder than i thought.

i love my family but being away for 32 years and planning my own schedule only to move home and not have as much freedom as before is killing me.

still working up at Grace and doing all sorts of work, my internship will officially be over at the end of September after JIQ @ Midtown. sort of excited to have a break from the work and possibly do some running around. i need another job though. if im going to be paying for everything next semester i need to work. and save. everything.

so badly want to live in Atlanta. going house looking/dreaming with Lindsey today before manuscript study. excited. for houses and manuscript study. it should be good.

got a lot of rest last night. went to bed early, woke up late. trying to catch up on work right now. we'll see how much i get done before i leave with Lindsey.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." -John 14:27

Jordan update!

ok...so everytime ive tried to update something goes wrong.

not a lot of time to write now.

i think im just gonna have to end up hanging out with all the people who want to know about the trip when i get home and just tell them everything then.

sick right now. day 2 of sickness.

the rest of the team is at JRA teaching and will be back later. some people doing cultural exchange with some college students later tonight and hoping to hang out with some focus people later too.

be praying for our relationships with:

Sana'a, Amani, Amel (hope) and her friend Chris, Abeer, Baran, Fatimah, and a purple dress girl whose name we cant remember. thanks for your prayers!

Rachel

packing packing packing.












ready to go!

i cannot wait to leave wednesday for jordan but there is so much to do before then.

wrestling with the fact that tons of my family/friends have recently brought up my safety, not just in Jordan but in other places as well and it is kind of making me worry.

ready to be in Jordan, despite any fears (not that i have, but others), and ready to love on people like crazy. ive been dreaming about this for months. i dont think its set in yet that i leave in 2 days!

pray for the team and pray for encouragement and strength and comfort for my family while im gone. really worried about what will happen while im gone but im placing it in HIS hands.

"i will look with favor on the faithful land that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me"
-Psalm 101:7

"He who loves purity of heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king as his friend"
-Proverbs 22:11

Its a new season.

A season of growth and maturity, realization and....growth.
Its an interesting time.
a full time.
a busy time.

but a wonderful time.

Im dying to see where im headed.



Working at grace as one of the missions intern is wonderful and im able to see the fruits of my labor and how we are getting people involved. JIQ is gonna be big in june and the one in august is @ Woodstock and should be HUGE. Jordan is coming quickly and i have raised....NO money.
I dont know how im gonna get there but its gonna happen.
Im dying to be immersed in the Muslim culture and love on some cute Jordanian kids.
They have my heart already and i havent even met them.

Seeking the Lord and asking for this to be a wonderful time of revelation.


Also, really asking for time with Spring. She seems like a wonderful girl with an amazing heart and a crazy spirit. Artsy, fun and inspiring. we'll see how the summer goes.

Pour out blessings Lord. crazy awesome, unimaginable blessings! and i will praise you!



Psalm 71:15-19

My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
of your salvation all day long,
though I know not its measure.

I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD;
I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.

Since my youth, O God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.

Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come.

Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God,
you who have done great things.
Who, O God, is like you?

i cant wait for this.




Jordan, Middle East, Muslim friends, history, here i come!

restored.

i am restored.


more than ever before.



and i am realizing it now more than ever.








i need to paint.

Spring:




Spring, where are you?
can you get here at last?





my heart is dying,
so get here real fast.



the color you bring and the bright shiny faces,
the spontaneous adventures in unique new places.





spring is my favorite time of the year,
so why do you hide your glorious weather my dear?


so many anticipate your beautiful state,
so hurry up and get here, why make us wait?

moderation

im in this season of my life where i am longing for actuality. i no longer want to feel like the things i aspire to do are just a mere possibility. i want to embrace the gifts i have in order to use them to do the things i am craving in my soul to do.

i honestly didnt think i would ever get to this point of consistency in my life. like a consistency of colors throughout my apartment i have become consistent with my walk with Christ and with the number of things i am involved in. now im wondering if consistency was the right word to use. all i know is that i have become so content with being a part of things that i love and being consistent in the work that i do inside those things. i am immersing myself in things that bring light to what ive recently begun to call the "present day kingdom". i am embracing the Christ that i know now and am trying so very much to bring that person out so that those that do not know Him might have a chance to grab on to something so tangible and real, more than they've ever experienced before. so that they might have a chance to develop a healthy consistency in a relationship with the one who gave His all for our nothing.

the only downside to consistency is that i long to break out of that and bring life to the dreams i hav within those things i am involved in and within my very soul. i have this intense want to be a public speaker. to experience some intense encounters with the Lord like i have been blessed to experience lately and share those things with men and women all over the world so that they might find a little joy in the life they live. a little comfort. a little reassurance that the God of the universe is working through them. i want to share my own personal experiences as a normal teenager, college student, daughter, and friend, as well as those experiences that ive had that could have only happened through Christ. i want to invite my fellow brothers and sisters into something so extreme that they must beleive that theyve experienced it only through Christ.

i want to sing. and sing well.
i want to speak and have the Lord speak through me. and have the words be so powerful that the people listening could only beleive my words came from the Father.
i want to paint. and collage. and create.
i want to be a living canvas for all to see. for everyone to glimpse at my skin and see a reflection of the painter. for those people then, to look back at their own reflection seeing the majesty that is within them that was created uniquely by God. i want my colors to run together into a perfect mix of emotions: joy, sadness, love, triumph, glory. i want my colors to be clear. i want my colors to bring life. i want my canvas to reflect not my soul and my heart but the one who created me. the one who made me unique. i want the art i imagine within myself and that i create to be just a glimpse of the art that I AM and that YOU ARE. because we are living art. art that is displayed for the world to see. and our Father is the most talented artist. he created the universe and the places we call home, but more importantly he created himself (the spirit), with skin on, with a mind, soul, and heart. that meaning he created us. and we are the most beautiful paintings of all. let me be an appropriate depiction of the art he meant to awe the world.

i love to read.
right now im reading through the book of Luke in the New Testament. I love that Luke wrote so poetically and just wanted the Gentiles to hear the truth about Jesus.
his words and accounts are powerful and really give us insight to the life of Christ.

I encourage everyone to find some book of the bible that they might enjoy and sit down and read it, just as you would a regular novel. If we spend time in the Word, we are spending time with our Father, and in turn he refreshes us and speaks to us with a gentle voice of a Father, which He is to us.

"my soul magnifies the Lord and my Spirit rejoices in God my Savior for He has looked upon the humble estate of His servant, for behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed for He who is mighty has done great things for me and Holy is His name."
-Luke 1:46-48

Our Father chooses to love us. Chooses to be with us. Chooses to delight in us.
How powerful is that???

to start this thing off

so i dont really know how to get started with one of these things but i feel like it is just another way for me to speak up about the Kingdom of God and what the Lord is doing in my life.

maybe, just maybe, the Lord will bless this pge and impact someone's life in order to draw them closer to Him and to His love. God Bless everyone who reads this.
Rachel