Worth It

I have so much I want to tell y'all about that I don't even know where to begin!

I will start by saying, God is awesome. I have been challenged so much this summer, tested, molded, changed, and blessed. We just finished a Crazy Love study at my church. I met with an amazing group of young ladies each week for 4 short weeks to talk about the book, and just how much God loves us. Each day I think about how much He loves me, and it blows my mind and just flat out makes me giddy! It's amazing how He loves me, what He's done for me, and what He continues to do for me.

Last week was my last full week of work for the summer. I am thankful to have had such a great summer job. I did not like 3rd shift at all. No one does. But let me tell you a little story...
Thursday was my last day, and I was actually on 1st shift last week (yay! normal people schedule!). Thursday morning one of the ladies I got to work with on 3rd shift all summer, came to my work area to tell me good-bye. Now let me tell ya, she is quite possibly one of my favorite ladies on the face of the earth now. She may be a bit grouchy but there is just something about her that I absolutely love, not to mention she's kinda short and I just want to put her in my pocket and take her everywhere with me :) So she comes up there, tells me it was great working with me, she's going to miss me, and proceeds to hand me her phone number and tells me to call her sometime because she would love to hear from me. Then she gave me a hug and told me not to cry, because my mom told her I would probably cry (which I have every summer when I've left Pepsi, no lie). Then she left...and I got a little teary eyed. But in that moment, all I could think was, "It was worth it." It being working 3rd shift all summer, having a messed up sleep schedule, not getting to do a lot of what I had hoped to do this summer, not getting to see the people I wanted to see so much over the summer. If I had the opportunity, I would do it all again. I just felt so incredibly blessed in that moment. I got to work with new people, made some new friends whom I hope to stay in contact with, I was challenged by nearly everyone to stay positive and be a light all summer, and as frustrating, painful, and downright just not fun as it all was, I can't imagine my summer being any different. I honestly wouldn't want it any other way.

Francesca Battistelli has a song called "Worth It" and it talks about how hard love is, what is requires us to do, but ultimately how incredibly worth it it is. That song was in my head a lot throughout the summer, it kept me going many nights! And Thursday morning it was in my head. As I sang it to myself I thought of how that song was kind of my theme song for the summer...

Love's not a feeling
Love's not convenient
But I know love will change your life.
Love takes sacrifice
Love cuts like a knife
Sometimes love will make you cry
Love's not easy
But it's worth it.

3rd shift was certainly not convenient, there were many nights when I went to my truck and cried on my breaks because I was so mad or brought down by how negative some people were, it wasn't easy by any means.

Love is a hunger
But love won't leave you empty
See it's a language of the heart
Love can steal your pride
But love won't let you hide
It takes everything you've got.
Love's not easy
But it's worth it.

One of my favorite parts of the song, especially the "love can steal your pride" line...woah. God helped me get through this summer and He helped me stay positive when I just wanted to quit and give up. Only a God like ours can do that!

Speaking of things only our God can do, God has laid some pretty big ideas on my heart the past few weeks. I don't know exactly where He is leading me with them, but I am meeting with my minister this week sometime to talk to him about them and hopefully getting our church involved with these ideas that God's planted in my mind. I'm not sure about any of it, they may all fall through because God doesn't want them to go through, but we'll see! I'm excited about it all though! I have discovered the past few years that I have a heart for my small hometown and I don't see that changing. I will be graduating next year...oh my...and I hope to be able to come back here and serve and love the people of this area for however long God wants me to. Maybe some of these ideas will help me do just that! :)

VBS starts tonight, and I can only help tonight and tomorrow night, but I may get to help with preschoolers...I am SO EXCITED!

19 hours and 24 mninutes until my braces come off!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm excited?!?

Have a fabulous day y'all :-D