What do you do when God’s goodness is too good? when it stops you in your day, takes your breath away at the gracious goodness of His love? What do you do when you can’t help but thank God for all the undeserved blessings you receive daily? when you are simply overwhelmed by the loving pursuit of a relentless God? when you cup runneth over?

All I can think of–second to prayer and thanksgiving, of course–radiates from the lyrics of this old untitled hymn:

Weak and wounded sinner
Lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for love is passing by
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live!

O, and when the love spills over
And music fills the night
And when you can’t contain your joy inside, then
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus and live!

It’s just one of those seasons “when the love spills over and music fills the night”–praise the Lord!

God is teaching me more and more that we have the HOPE of nations, so why live like the hopeless? I am basking in the grace of hope and God is literally stopping in the middle of my day to thank Him for it. Amen!

I am unbelievably thankful for this new job and I will share with you, as best I can, a bit of the process and what it will be like.

Many of you know that it’s been a tad difficult for me to wrap my head around staying in Atlanta–I thought for sure we would not sign our lease again and that our season in Atlanta was up. Nope. God has other plans, thankfully!, and we’re actually considering more permanency in Atlanta than we ever have before–we might even buy a house?!

But there was a period in transition for me (ok, the whole month of April, basically) that was pretty tough. I really felt the pressure to find a job, but couldn’t find one–and with all the extracurriculars I’m involved with, I was a walking contradiction: complaining about not being able to find a job, while only half-heartedly seeking one out. I really really really did not want to nanny–I have 2 degrees and am 25… I should have a “real” job–but a nannying job found me anyway. A woman who seemed to present me with a pretty decent situation offered me a job and I took some time to think about it.

I wrote down my prayer, which was much like David in one of his psalms that begins by lamenting his situation, but ends up praising the Lord for His greatness. Anyway, the basic gist of my prayer was: “Father, forgive me. I complain about not having a job, and You have one find me, and yet still I am not satisfied. I will change my heart to be joyful in everything, fully submitting to You, and accepting whatever You have for me. You alone are good and You alone are God. Amen.”

I immediately opened up my laptop to reply to her request and found an email from OpportunityKnocks.org–a non-profit job search engine in Atlanta–and opened it to find a job listing for Next Generation Mentoring. As I read the job description, it just got better and better. It was about 1 mile from our place, in an area of town I knew well, half-way between our apt and Grant’s work, it was a non-profit centered on facilitating mentoring groups in established ministries, and Regi Campbell was its founder. I knew that name for several reasons: he’s written two books and is a good friend of Ellen and my people at High Tech Ministries (both of whom I’ve been working with for the past year). I knew that anything I could do just to be near this caliber of people was worth it, so I applied, sent out emails to all my mutual contacts, and prayed again. After talking to Ellen about it, I decided to stop by and drop off my resume as well–hoping for a more personal encounter than just the electronic submission.

I was one of 10 out of 271 applicants selected for a phone interview, then one of 4 selected for a face-to-face interview, and finally met with both the Executive Director (Chris Hornsby) and the Founder (Regi Campbell) on my birthday (May 3rd). Less than 24 hours later, they offered me the job. I will be working closely with Chris as a Project Administrator–to facilitate and administer group deliveries and launches. I could go on and on about how this job description and its potential to grow fits me perfectly, but I won’t. Just know that I am very grateful to have it, Grant is very proud of me, and I can’t wait to start on May 17th. Thank You, Lord!

Update: Grant and I are having dinner with Chris and his wife Shanna Thursday night (!!!) How obviously great is this new beginning?!

We went to the lake for the weekend to celebrate my birthday–it was awesome! We had the best time, and though some very precious people were very much missed, there were 15 of us who rang in my Quarter-Life Crisis together and it was perfect.

We rode to the lake with Jason and Chelsea Dasinger–thankful for his truck! because we brought our grill and donated it to the lake house–met up with Zach, and got in around 8pm. To our wonderful surprise, the Stingers and the Vessels ended up leaving Atlanta later on Friday and making it in before midnight! Lovely! Then my parents, Stahler, Alice, and the Nalleys made it over Saturday in time for fun and (some) sun, steaks, and cake!

We took the boat out–it was overcast, but not raining (kinda perfect to me)–and watched in amazement as Alice and Stahler wake-boarded. We drove the boat up and down some familiar stretches of lake and then when we got pretty close to home, cut the engine to enjoy the stillness and beauty–quite the time and place for serenity and comfort….

until we tried to crank it and head home.

The boat wouldn’t start.

We tried and tried, but to no avail. So we (7 guys and 5 girls) began paddling. Yes, paddling this 25 foot ridiculous throw-back of a boat (retro: 1960s) to the nearest shore. I now fully appreciate the expression “so close, yet so far away…” yep [It should be said that it’s never really failed us before]. Anyway, so once we get ashore, Stahler and I trek off to find help, which we do in the form of two women who live full time on the lake–the only two on the point, actually. They try to crank a fishing boat, and then another boat–neither have been taken out since winter, and do not crank–and finally get a jet ski running. They tow us back–Tonya saved my bday–and we were very grateful. It really wasn’t that big a deal and the whole thing from start to finish may have taken 30 minutes, but it was an adventure, nonetheless.

Grant cooked some of the best steaks I’ve ever had–ever–and then they sang to me and we had cake (so good!). My family went in and got me a Barnes and Noble “Nook”–to which I may devote an entire post because I already love it so so much!–a gift card to go with, and a really cool piece of wood painted with a Smith Lake water scene. The coolest thing: they got everyone there to sign the back of it. So now I have a really sweet piece of rough looking art that Grant and I both adore and a recorded memory of those that helped my celebrate my 25th birthday–very special. A gift and a memory, what more can you ask for? Total birthday success. A+ to Grant and everyone else who made it so very wonderful for me.

best birthday present ever!

[more details to come]
[I start May 17th]
[!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Also, we are planning a trip to ITALY later this year!! Can’t wait to go. Seriously. Grant and the two others going with us have never been to Europe, much less Italy, and this will be such a special time for me to show off all my very favorite places, and yet also get to experience some things anew with my Love–very exciting!

We’re going to fly into Rome, hit up all my favorite cheap (and mostly free!) things to do, enjoy the city, and then head up to Florence (or Firenze in Italiano). You should know that a not-so-small piece of my heart lives in a little piazza in Firenze: nestled beneath the windows where Michalangelo first conceived “the David” and near the place where it’s rumored that Shakespeare conceived the plots to some of his best works, the Piazza de Signoria will forever be a part of me; from the banks of the Arno, to the Ponte Vecchio, the Uffizi and Galleria d’Accademia, and of course! the Duomo, I embrace it all. Florence is quite lovely and is bursting at the seams with hidden wonders and local treasures. We will spend several days in Firenze, before spending our last day in Venice (Venezia)–what a city of l’amore–and finally flying back out of Roma.

More details to come! But we’re thinking either around Labor Day in September, or over Thanksgiving Holiday–either way we will embark on a memorable 10-day journey with two very awesome friends. I’d rather be packing than planning… can’t wait to go!

ciao!