Long Time No See, Friends!

          Woah. I have been MIA for almost seven months now. Nobody has emailed me complaining about my lack of upkeep, so I don't think anyone missed this blog too terribly much. Regardless, I've been feeling God tugging on my heart lately to return to this ministry that he called me to when I first gave my heart to Him. To quote one of my absolute favorite graduation cards, "I'm one of God's crock pots, we're a little slower than others."
          With that, let's just start with what I spent that long 7 months doing. First of all, I GRADUATED! Let me just say that public speaking has been a huge fear of mine, so being asked to give a speech in front of the entire graduating class was very intimidating. I was going through a period of my life marked by a hardened heart due to some issues with the school district and my little brother, so time after time my dad turned down my graduation speech. I couldn't make anything work for me. A few weeks before graduation, I turned my frustrated into prayers and gave my speech over to God. I wanted to speak Biblical truth to my classmates without hitting them over the head with it. God led me to Micah 6:8 through one of my favorite songs at the time, Courageous by Casting Crowns, which I may or may not have referenced in this post . . .  

Getting emotional talking about Jesus . . .
for a very quiet minute!

          Anyway, by the time I finished writing the sixth draft of my graduation speech, I knew I had a winner. I had abandoned my selfish pride and softened my heart to those who I had been angry with, and with my dad's blessing, I submitted it to my school's administration. With no questions asked, I was given the okay to tell my friends and peers a little bit about Jesus. Although the beginning of my speech started off rough -- I get teary-eyed thinking about the fact that Jesus Christ saved my life, what can I say -- I finished my speech with a heart full of love and compassion for the young adults I was speaking to, and a hope for the future of our class. A few minutes later, I had my diploma in my hands and I was officially done with high school! I'll admit I didn't feel any different at all, but I was definitely ready to enjoy my last summer before college! 
          Realizing how long this post has gotten, I'm going to section these last seven months up a little to avoid stimuli overload for y'all, so keep your eye on my blog! I promise not to leave you all like this again!
          (P.S., if you would like to read my graduation speech, you can read it here!)