Life has changed!

Well, as you can see, I haven’t blogged in nearly two years. My life has changed a lot since then. My last blog two years ago was my support letter for Ireland. Well, I didn’t and I’m not currently planning on going to Ireland as a missionary. I’m not sure where I will be going in terms of missions. Maybe this week will hold some answers as I talk with Lisa from GEM. But I would like to revive this blog and try to keep up with it more. My first goal is to put up my Monday Meanderings (thanks Holly!). Since the death of several friends about a month ago, I have tried to be a bit more proactive about my life. I don’t want to wake up several years from now wondering where my life went and how I got to where I am. I want to be able to look back and see definite things that I have done and learned. I want to be able to follow the thread of my life and know exactly where all those years went. So to do that, I have been inspired by a few friends to write out goals for my life. Some things will go on a “bucket list”, other things will be things that I want to do that year (like my 25 in 25 list - 25 things I want to try to accomplish while I’m 25, then 26 things next year, etc.) Other things will be part of my weekly goals; hence, the Monday Meanderings. So here’s to the start of reaching some of my goals.

-cll

Growing, Growing, Growing

Last night, I put in a “new” CD while I was washing dishes and cleaning up my kitchen. It was a mix that I had made in April of 2004 at the end of my Freshman year of college. One of the songs that came on was, “Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer”. That song became my theme song for my mission trip to Minsk, Belarus. As I sang along with the song, I thought about how much I have grown over the last 4 years. That song is still a theme song for my life, but in a different way. My prayer at the time was that my trip would be a blessing to the people I would be working with as well as a growing experience for me. The trip to Belarus was my first experience overseas and my first real mission trip. I was scared but I had already seen God work miracles in just providing the money for the trip.
Today, the song still reminds me of my mission trip, but even more than that, my Christian life. My prayer isn’t as much that my journey would bring a blessing, but that I would become more life Christ as a result of my journey and that I would love Him even more at the end of my life than I do now.

“Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer”

Music by Keith Getty; Words by Margaret Becker
Copyright © 2002 Thankyou Music

Jesus draw me ever nearer
As I labour through the storm.
You have called me to this passage,
and I'll follow, though I'm worn.

May this journey bring a blessing,
May I rise on wings of faith;
And at the end of my heart's testing,
With Your likeness let me wake.

Jesus guide me through the tempest;
Keep my spirit staid and sure.
When the midnight meets the morning,
Let me love You even more.

Let the treasures of the trial
Form within me as I go -
And at the end of this long passage,
Let me leave them at Your throne.