not to us

So I haven’t written a post in like 8 months.  So I thought I should blog again. This doesn’t happen very often! The past 8 months have been pretty crazy, awesome, insane, etc.

I really felt blessed and in awe of God’s sovereignty when I first began here. I am still completely overwhelmed at the fact that I get to hang out with kids and teach them every day for 9 months out of the year. It is a really fun and great job and couldn’t ask for anything better.

5 months ago back in November, I met a boy. I play Ultimate in Friendswood when I’m home during the week. He was playing Ultimate the same night I was out there. We introduced ourselves, chatted a little and that was it. He found me on Facebook (that’s where it always starts!), started texting me like crazy and sent me multiple messages on Facebook.

I came home again in December for 3 weeks. During that time, I ended up playing some more Ultimate, texting some more, etc. 4 days before Christmas, I drove to Tennessee with my parents to visit my dying grandfather. Before that, I had told Caylon that I wasn’t interested in dating long-distance, wasn’t interested in dating someone younger than me. On the way to Tennessee, I had a complete change of heart. God totally spoke to me on that trip. He told me not to limit His ways, His will, His purpose for my life. I texted Caylon and asked him if he had ever been in a long-distance relationship. He told me he had, it sucked, but it was well worth it when he got to see her. Well, we texted the rest of my trip, talked for 3 hours Christmas eve, and met up Christmas day when I got back home.

We ended up hanging out at the park (you know what that means!), talked about dating, and he eventually asked me out. It was beautiful! Ha!

Anyways, we’ve been dating for almost 4 months now. It has been awesome. Incredible. Unimaginable. Breathtaking. I am so thankful to God for placing Caylon in my path. One thing that Caylon and I do every night is pray. We pray for our relationship, for our friends, for family, for each other individually. It is so exciting to have a boyfriend who is spiritually strong and who encourages me, gives me advice when I need it, who challenges me spiritually. There has never been anyone so in love with me, who thinks I’m the most beautiful woman alive right after playing 2 hours of Ultimate, who loves crosswords as much as I do!

I feel so content and at ease with our relationship and the way it’s going. I can’t say enough about it. The other day Caylon and I were having a discussion about the future. I said one thing, he didn’t like it, and he decided to hang up and go workout. He didn’t hang up on me, but he didn’t want to talk about it anymore, which is understandable. Anyways, I just prayed that God would speak to Caylon, that God would soften Caylon’s heart, give him peace, give him rest during this long-distance-crappy part of our relationship. Sure enough, a few days later, I got a message from Caylon. He said everything I needed and wanted to hear. It was so neat to hear how God was working in his life and how God was orchestrating that very message to be sent to me that day.

I love our relationship. I love God. I love being in God’s will even when things seem so extremely difficult. Praise God!

The past few months living in Mineola have been the greatest experience ever. I am truly blessed to have such an awesome job, awesome coworkers, and an awesome God! I am finally at home. I went to Friendswood this week for Thanksgiving and to visit family and friends. I was planning on leaving Mineola around 11 that day. I didn’t end up leaving until 1. I found this great antique mall in my own town and I was there for 2 hours! It was great! I write this to say that I was kind of not wanting to drive to Friendswood. I was really excited to see my friends and family, but I was torn about leaving Mineola. It was so weird to me that I didn’t want to leave this really small town where there isn’t much to do!

I called Dottie on my way home and asked her this question, “Do you ever not want to go to Friendswood?” I asked her because she moved to Austin after she graduated and has been there for a while. She told me yes, she sometimes didn’t want to go to Friendswood. I told her I felt bad for thinking that way because I didn’t want my friends in Friendswood to think that I was ditching them for new friends, which was not the case at all. She said that I was at home now. Although Mineola is so small, that is where I live now. I have made new friends. I absolutely love them dearly. They are incredibly awesome.

I told Joanna my dilemma today and she totally understood. She said she had been praying that I would make new friends, that I would be happy with my job. These little situations just go to confirm that I am where I’m supposed to be. God has placed me in this particular position to be a light to every single child that I come in contact with. I am overwhelmed at times just thinking about what I get to do for a living. I am blown away by God’s goodness, His graciousness, and His abundant love for me. I can’t stop thanking Him for all that I have been given.

Thanks, God!

So I’m finally writing a new post. I’m sure that every one of you reading this was looking forward to it! Ha! I have a new job, a new home, and pretty much a new life.

I absolutely love my job! The people are awesome and way cool! I have friends and that is very exciting to me! I miss my friends from back home like crazy, but I know they are so happy for me. There are so many great people that I work with. I could not ask for a better group of coworkers.

I have some wonderful friends who live about 2 blocks behind me…I feel like I live there. The big flat screen and internet draws me to the house…plus the great people who live there!

I will write more later…I can’t process thoughts right now. Peace.

So I have had some recent changes in my life. This is a great year! I got a new car, I got a new job, and I got a new home.

I will be working at Sky Ranch located in Van, Texas. I will be living in Mineola, Texas in a townhouse. I am so excited! I was talking to my great friend, Joanna today, and I realized how much I have been blessed. I had practically nothing to furnish a new apartment. I had trashcan and a sleeping bag. That’s about it. Well needless to say, I have not had to buy one piece of furniture. My family and friends have graciously given me everything I could possibly need. Furniture is the most expensive part of furnishing a place and I did not have to buy anything! What an awesome blessing! I have been given other things as well, so I am set! I could use a fan and some pot holders! Ha!

I feel like I’m a real adult now! I cannot believe how life can change so quickly. I was staring at my work info on my Facebook profile and I had a big grin on my face. I have always envied those people who have those “cool” jobs where they really enjoy what they’re doing and they don’t see it as a job. I think this is the exact job for me! I am truly thankful and blessed. My family is extremely supportive. This will be my 24th job!!! I think this is finally the job I have always wanted! I cannot wait to see what God has in store! I will keep this post updated as best as I can.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me during my rash decisions and my indecisiveness! You guys are the greatest!

I really love honesty. No matter how hard it is sometimes to speak the absolute truth, it is so much better when you are able to get it out in the open. I had to do that today and it made me feel so much better when I was able to explain how I felt. I completely respect people who are honest with me.

My last boyfriend broke up with me because his feelings had changed towards me. At first, I was really confused. But as time went on, I realized that I really respected his decision in telling me that. I was in the exact same situation where I wasn’t completely 100% sure about something, so I had to be honest with that person and tell them how I felt.

Being honest may be difficult, but in the end it is so worth it. Please be honest with me no matter how hard it is!

So the sermon on Sunday really really spoke to me. Alot of times I think to myself, “Why am I even trying to witness to people? Why do I need to be ‘good’? What’s the point?” Because Jesus will come down here to earth and either say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant” or “Depart from Me, for I never knew you.” That’s hard core. Jesus will be waiting with his arms wide open welcoming us home. He will have crowns waiting to place in our arms. How many crowns will I receive? Will Jesus be “proud” of my accomplishment here on earth? We should be living for this day as well as the day when Jesus comes back. I usually like to be in denial about that day because I am a selfish person and don’t want to leave yet. I feel like there are so many things I have yet to do.

As I’ve heard before and I believe with all my heart–the hard times will pass. They have passed already and I am more faithful and stronger because of them. One day there will be no sorrow, no pain, no hardship. Things will be perfect just as Jesus intended in the Garden of Eden.

I pray that you will continue to live out your walk on a daily basis no matter how stressed, tired, angry, or sad you are. It will be extremely worth it in the end.

i think i might become a professional wakeboarder thanks to my great teacher/coach melissa!

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34

So I should have learned my lesson the first time this happened. I start to worry about something, God “‘slaps” me in the face, says, “Sarah, where’s your faith?”, and then he reveals something to me. Why is it that I choose to worry when deep down I know all along that God has it under control? I continue to lack faith in the future department.

The moment I begin to worry, I realize that I am underestimating God’s will for my life. Just the other day I got a phone call about a job. I had been worrying about what I was going to do this summer since I needed some extra money. Sure enough if my phone didn’t ring about working a part-time job this summer.

Why even bother worrying when I know that God is going to show me why I shouldn’t worry?

I have the greatest friends in the entire world. I could not ask for better friends. This past week wasn’t the greatest for me, but through it all, my friends were there to encourage, listen, and hug. I am so grateful for them. Thanks, friends for being there for me.

My friends know what happened and you can read my past blog to find out. They tried to tell me to end my relationship; they hounded me actually! But I defended him and gave them excuses. I am so sorry. I know that it was the right timing when I did end up breaking up with him, but I should have trusted my friends’ judgment.

I realized recently that I would have moved to Indiana to live with a boy that didn’t love me as much as I loved him. I am so sorry, friends, for thinking like that. Thanks for all the prayers and for trusting in God enough that He would shake me and stir uneasiness inside of me.

Now that I’m single, it is the most freeing, calming, peaceful experience I have ever felt. It is the best feeling to know that you are doing God’s will and I literally feel him patting me on the back. I can’t help smiling at the blessings I have been given and I can’t thank him enough.

I love my friends so much!!!

Who woulda thunk it that a donkey could talk? Well apparently anything is possible with God. I mean, come on, if I ever heard a donkey talking, I think I would be slapping myself to make sure I wasn’t hearing things.

Here’s the story from the book of Numbers: The sons of Israel who had come from Egypt were a great many and Moab was afraid of them. He sent for Balak who sent for Balaam to curse the people because Balaam was a God-fearing man. Well God told Balaam not to go. Balaam told Balak that he couldn’t go because God told him not to. God them told him he could go IF the men came to call him. The men never came, but Balaam saddled up his donkey and went anyway. God became angry, sent an angel to stand in his way as an adversary. The donkey saw the angel, hee-hawed and brayed and put his “hoof” down, Balaam struck the donkey, and continued journeying. Two more times, the donkey saw the angel, kicked and brayed, but Balaam still refused to turn around. “The LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’ Then Balaam said to the donkey…” Balaam found out the angel had been following them to stop him from going to the Israelites.

The moral of the story: Jackasses do know what they’re talking about sometimes.

OK, that wasn’t really the moral I wanted to give, but I just had to say it. There are so many blatant signs from God that we are to not do something, but we continue on our quest to disobey or do what we think God wants us to do. We must be fully certain that we are doing God’s will and not our own, not our friend’s, not our pastor’s. God sent an angel to protect Balaam from going, but not even a talking donkey could stop him. It took seeing an angel of the Lord to stop Balaam in his tracks.

For the full account, read Numbers 22-23.