A Piece of Summer in a Paragraph - Mission:Rome

This summer has probably been the busiest of my life. And I am not saying that to be dramatic. I am being serious. But everything that occupied my days were good things. Everything that I did, babysitting, going camp and on a mission trip, VBS, were wonderful. In all of that God has really been working on me. He has been teaching me a lot.

This piece of my summer was just five days. But it was five days of hard work, laughter, food, sweat, bug bites, and Jesus.

    I have made new friends and God has grown the old ones. I "went" on my first all college mission trip. A mission trip in your home town may not sound that glamorous, and it wasn't. But it was full of Jesus. We raked yards and smacked mosquitoes off each other's backsides. We pulled weeds and each swallowed our fair share of bug spray. We all made sure the other one drank enough water and took a sigh of sweet relief when someone showed up at the work site with Happy Hour! From Sonic, that is! (this was a Baptist mission trip) ;) We jammed and packed and pushed and squeezed and shoved Andy's truck bed until it was about to pop for the bags of leaves and brush in it. Then we unloaded it all into the dumpster while it was raining Cats and Dogs. And Birds and Bees. And Giraffes and Zebras. And lightning like Thomas Edison was in town or something! I was like, "Seriously?! Now?" But, like anything, we all laughed and kept working. On this same mission trip, God blessed me with time with a friend. Before this she was my friend. She was someone I knew I could pour my heart out to, and had. She was someone I could call and she would drop everything and come running. But now she is a friend who I can giggle with. She payed for my ice cream and then I payed for her supper. I had to wrestle with her in order to keep the ticket away from her  at Steak 'n Shake. The day I felt bad on the mission trip I wasn't embarrassed to tell her and then ask her to drive home. She holds and carries herself like a woman. And yet, deep in her heart I can see this little blonde haired girl playing in a sundress. Smassey is a beautiful woman, inside and out, that knows how to be a little girl. She knows when to get excited and giggle. She knows when to be serious and get down to business. She is, I think without realizing it, teaching me these things. With her actions, she has shown me how to be deliberate in my conversations with others. Smassey is a gift. And that is what God has given me a lot of this summer: gifts from Him.

He often gives us gifts. We just don't realize that they are gifts. Or maybe we do and we just don't realize they're from Him. Looking back over this summer I can see gifts that He has given me. I am s thankful that He chose to give them to me. Some of them hurt when He gave them to me. I didn't want them. I was like, "Uh, that's okay God. You can take that back." But He didn't. And I am so glad that He didn't. He just kept working on me. He kept being patient with me. He kept giving time. And Scripture. And sermons.

If God is trying to give you a gift that you know you need but you know is going to hurt, take it. Take it and let it change you. Let it heal you. Let Him move you and hold you.