Alright, alright!

Back, by popular threat! (And chiding about how even someone in medical school is able to make time to blog more often than I am! LOL) I've missed you guys too, and although I don't have time for too many details, here’s a quick update of what I've been up too the last 6 months...

I met someone in November, and after the first of the year we really started getting to know each other. We spent so many nights on the phone, and we have months of handwritten letters from the other. Not only were we interested in each other, but we began to build an awesome friendship. He's a wonderful Christian man with a heart for ministry (and politics!) and service. He's kind, sensitive, and has a great sense of humor. Oh... and he puts up with me! :) I would post an adorable picture of him, but he'd probably kill me! I spent Valentine's Day with him in KY and had a wonderful time!!! But not too long after that, everything came to a screeching halt...

I can't go into details, and probably shouldn't here. But I do know one thing...either he is not the one OR now is not the time. The Lord made it abundantly clear to each of us that we shouldn't pursue anything more than a friendship right now. Since that long conversation with him a few months ago, I've never doubted that this is the Lord's will. Especially after I realized how much heavier of a class load I will have to take to graduate next May (YEAH!!!), I realized that I wouldn't be able to devote time to a courtship even if I wanted to. And I'm probably not as ready for one as I'd like to think I am. As always, the Lord has been showing me some things in my heart that need to change...emotional issues from past relationships, among other things, that I need to work through and get rid of. I don't want to carry that stuff into a marriage someday...that wouldn't be fair to my husband.

The last few months have been really hard. It was harder in the beginning, and even now, some days are harder than others. Probably the most frustrating, and even hurtful, part of it all is that the Lord is choosing to delay in revealing to me what His will is. Right now I honestly have no idea what the future holds with him or anyone else. I know that God is sovereign though, and that He knows better than I do what I need. I can only trust that if this man and I are not to be together, that God will change one or both of our hearts. And if we are, that He will deepen the way we feel about each other and sustain us through this time of waiting. I know that the Lord knows what I need in a husband and what he needs in a wife, and that may or may not be each other. No matter what my heart wants, deep down I really want what the Lord has for me. His plans have proven time and time again to be better than my own. Even though I don't always understand...I trust Him.

I am really grateful though for the way we can still talk, relate, and laugh together. The friendship and laughter we share is truly a gift from the Lord.

I've also been in summer school this summer, running myself ragged as usual between work and school. :) But I'm doing really well in school, and have somehow found the motivation to forth all possible effort. It feels good to be working up to my full potential, and I know it's more honoring to the Lord.

I'm flying out of Indy on Saturday to be a camp counselor at Zenith again this year in Oklahoma City, on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University. I can't wait!!! I look forward to Zenith every year...I think most of us who go end up falling in love with it! I'm also spending a night or two in Denver at the end of the week with Benny and Niki, and I'll fly home from Denver that Sunday. Benny was the youth minister several years ago at the church I grew up at. I got to have them as part of the ministry team at Southeastern, but I got more than that out of the deal. I got some great friends and a dear brother and sister in the Lord!

I'll have a report of Zenith 2006 when I return and take lots of pictures to post. Please pray for the hearts of all of the teenagers who will be on campus that week at camp. Pray that God would open their hearts and prepare them to hear the truth, and that He would strengthen the faith of those who already know Him. Please pray for the counselors and ministry staff, that the love of Christ would be seen in us and that we would be faithful in sharing the Gospel and planting seeds of truth.