the first of many

This is the first blog I have ever posted. It seems like firsts are becoming a common theme as the year goes on. This is the first time I've eaten peanut butter in my ice cream. It's the first time I have gotten four shots in one day, and the first time I successfully completed a 13.1 mile run. It's the first time I have been a camp counselor, and the first time I have taped my feet to protect and prevent blisters. This is the first time I've fallen in love, and the first time I have done nothing about it but wait for God's timing. This is the first time I will be without a job, without attachments and without a 5-year plan. It is the first time I will be living in another country. Not just visiting, not a short week or two week stay, but living and learning and ministering for months in a country I have only dreamed about. It's a year of firsts, and I could not be more excited about it.

What scares me more, I think, than all of the new and mysterious and unexpected, is a life of certainty. A path that is predictable. A routine that is habit. A life that is not open to be stretched and shaken and called to something more. God is calling me to something more, I can feel it in every crevice of my body. I have been so blessed this summer and I am bursting at the seams with an overflowing joy. A joy that surpasses all understanding, this unexplainable high that I feel only when I let go of everything I've ever known and just follow Him. Anywhere.

I'm on a journey right now. It's me and God. Some of the most incredible people I have ever met have been brought into my life, and my heart is so full just thinking about them. But they are on their own journey, too, separate from mine. Thank goodness our paths have crossed and intertwined together, but only the Lord knows what tomorrow brings and where it will take us. If you are one who is traveling down a different path, stay tuned. I will take you with me on this untamed adventure.
(once I get this blogging thing down :)


Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.
- 1 Peter 1:8