I don't think I've ever had such an eventful week...

A little over a week ago, I suffered from a slightly bulged disc in my lower back. I woke up and had not been in so much pain since I initially hurt it in high school, 4 years ago. I wish I could put into words the pain I was feeling, but I can't. Needless to say, IT HURT! I called my mom and asked her to ask my chiropractor back at home for a recommendation of another doctor in my area. His college roommate in chiropractic school ends up having a practice 20 minutes down the road! Is God not awesome?! My roommates rushed home after clinicals and drove me to the chiropractor. As I was meeting with him, he looked at my x-rays and explained that I had a slight bulge in one of the discs in my lower back. He said that I would need treatments three times a week for the next month and I was banned from any physical activity (which is kinda inconvenient, considering I'm a fitness major and all...). After explaining all of this mess to my professors (who gladly cooperated with the doctor), I went into treatments believing that the Lord was going to give me a miracle. After 2 visits, the doctor was surprised with how quickly I was recovering. He said that he had never seen anyone bounce back so quickly. I found that extremely encouraging!
I had a meeting I needed to attend for my campus ministry on the power of the Holy Spirit 4 days after my injury. After the meeting was over, my friend Kalyne prayed over me and was believing in complete healing of my back. I went back for another set of week long treatments. Friday rolled around (which was a week and 2 days after my injury) and my doctor completely cleared me from all treatments and I was completely cleared to work out. The doctor told me that it was going to take a month to get back into the swing of things, but God had something much better in mind! I am going back to the gym tomorrow and am looking forward to being with my friends and being active again! I'm also looking forward to being able to participate in labs during class again! God is good! I encourage you to have faith and believe God really can do anything, even if other people think you are crazy!


I think it is safe to say that this weekend was filled with enough excitement to last me through the rest of my college career. First off, it was family weekend! This means my wonderful parents were able to come down and spend the weekend with me! Which means... they feed me, payed to park at football games AND took me grocery shopping... needless to say, I enjoyed being spoiled (maybe a little too much)! :) My roommate, Brittany, joined us at the football game and we had a lot of fun! It was The Pirates first conference game and our first win of the season! We started the season against two tough teams and played well during the first half, then fell a part during the second half. Needless to say, we really needed a win. We kicked off our conference play against UAB and played sloppy, but pulled off a win! Here are some pictures from this weekend:

These two girls are my best friends! 

My parents are my best friends and role models. I would not be the person I am today without them! 

My friend, Tyler, who is wearing the black jacket has been my study partner since sophomore year of college. I remember almost 3 years ago when he started volunteering with Pirate strength and conditioning and finally, after many hours of hard work, he made it onto the field with the strength staff! I'm so happy for him!

A view of half of The Boneyard at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. One of the craziest environments to be in!

Brittany and I braving the rain at the game!

It's crazy thinking that this weekend was my last family weekend as a college student. This time next year I will be living in a new place, working a real job and building a new life. I am excited to see where the Lord will lead me. I know that He has the perfect job in the perfect place picked out for me already! As I continue to pray for guidance on where I should go, I try to remember to thank Him for the job He already has for me. 

One of the things I am trying to stay focused on is the importance of this last year in school. I believe there is a lot that God wants me to accomplish and there are many girls that He wants me to reach out too and share His love with. My heart is that ladies would come to truly know their value and find their entire identity in Christ! 

I've typed a lot, but I've saved the most interesting and eventful story for last. Take a breather and keep reading.... alright, here we go! 

This morning at about 3:30 AM, my roommates dog woke up and started barking. Brittany woke up and heard something beating against our door. She looked through the peep hole and saw a guy coming at our door, trying to kick it in. She came into my room and woke me up and said, "uhh, I think someone is trying to kick our door in." I turned over and got out of bed to go see what was going on. Then I heard a "BANG," up against the door. Surprisingly, my roommate and I were extremely calm. I looked out the peep hole and saw this guy, who was obviously intoxicated, kicking our door and then turning around and doing the same thing to our neighbor's. Then he starts banging on our neighbor's door with his fist screaming, "It's not the same guy, it's someone different...you can open the door now!" Then I begin to start laughing because I have never experienced anything like this before and was having trouble believing it was actually happening. My roommate turns to be and asks if she should open the door and tell him to stop, I looked at her and said "no! He's insane!" He walks back upstairs and so what do I do? I do the exact thing I tell my roommate not to do and open the door. The guy comes running back down the stairs and looks at me, I told him, "dude, please stop." He said "I'm sorry." So I shut the door and he continues to kick our door. 

I attempt to go back to bed because I was fed up with all of this stupidity, but then I hear my neighbors come out of their apartment.

I couldn't believe what happened next...

A guy comes down the stairs with blood running down his face. He got punched in the eye by the out of control dude at a party going on upstairs. Ends up, the guy who was punched was the cousin of one of my neighbors. Two of our neighbors were sitting on the stairs, taking a smoke break and the guy runs down the stairs and proceeds to sucker-punch them both in the face. One guy broke his nose and had blood gushing down his face and the other one suffered a few scratches and bruises on his cheek. Minutes later, 4 police cars and 6 officers show up to handle the situation. I step outside, tell them who to look for and they bust the party upstairs, check on our neighbors and finally get things calmed down. I open our door back up to check on our neighbors, they were shaken up, but seemed okay. One of them had not been drinking and took their cousin (the guy who was punched in the eye) to the hospital. (I just saw him in the breezeway this afternoon, he seems to be alright). We stand their talking to them, getting the facts straight and making sure they are okay.

One of the police officers came down and talked to us... I'm pretty sure it is safe to say that she did not suspect anything out of me and my roommates because we had no make-up on, our hair was a mess and we were in our pajamas :) 

I talked to one of our neighbors this afternoon and he seems to be much better. Nothing like this has ever happened here before, according to my neighbors who have lived here for three years. I really do live in a safe area!

Some people don't party folks... and I can assure you, after witnessing this event, I don't plan on starting to party.

So, yes, this was quite an eventful week! I'm grateful for God healing my back, letting me spend time with my family AND for protecting me and my home! 

Cleansing is good.

Since I own a nutritional cleansing company, every six weeks or so I go through a two day deep nutritional cleanse. Last night I finished up day two. Those two days can sometimes be very challenging. It's funny (okay, not really) how irritable I can get because I am uncomfortable (usually due do to fighting my own will power), out of routine, and experiencing change. After those two days are finished, ultimately my body is a lot healthier! It has gotten rid of many harmful toxins and now my body can function the way it is supposed too.

It is interesting how familiar that scenario I just talked about can relate to my daily walk with Christ.  

Sometimes the Lord has to take us through a "spiritual cleanse," making us a little (sometimes a lot) uncomfortable, but it is only for our benefit. He says He makes ALL things work together for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28). So next time you are going through something that is uncomfortable and you do not quite understand what God is doing- know that He is only developing you into a stronger, healthier person.

We Will Never Forget

One Tuesday morning...

10 years ago today, life in America was changed forever. I still do not understand how someone could have so much hate in their heart to kill thousands of innocent people, simply because of their country. Growing up in a firm foundational Christian family, it hurts my heart knowing that these terrorists do not know the Lord. My heart breaks for all of the husbands who lost their wives, and wives their husbands; for all of the parents who lost children and the children who lost parents. They had no idea that that one Tuesday morning would change the course of history.

Thankfully, I know the One who makes ALL things good, even if they were intended for evil. I know the One who gives strength to the weak. His heart breaks for this great nation. His heart yearns for this nation to turn back to Him, our first love.

Father, forgive the wickedness of this nation. Have mercy on us, Lord. Please, show this nation Your great love. You are the King of Kings, The Lord of Lords, the Beginning and the End. Thank you for Your ultimate sacrifice, so that we (followers of Christ) can live with the ultimate freedom: to be in relationship and spend eternity with You. I know I don't deserve any of it, but You gave it anyway.

Thank You for this country. You could've placed me anywhere in the world, but You put me here. I'm proud to be an American, and am so grateful for all of the men and women that fight so hard to protect this Great Nation.

Comfort each family who was impacted on that tragic Tuesday morning. Let them know that their loved ones died as heroes and will never be forgotten.

Amen.

Becoming Set-Apart

One of these days I'll get this whole "updating in a timely manner deal," but that day is not today... and tomorrow isn't looking good either. :D 

Senior year has begun, which mean I am busier than I have ever been! Thank goodness, I have mastered the art of "staying balanced." I've always dreaded having early morning classes. I had one last year and had a lot of trouble getting enough rest. This year I have been getting to bed early, going to class and then working out. It's been great!

One major thing I've done is vow not to eat out for the entire month of September. My roommate and her fiance came up with idea and I decided to join in. It's been a little difficult, because it is one of my favorite things to do. My mommy says I'm high maintenance when it comes to food and I completely agree. It has been so much fun cooking different meals, and I have completely control over what it going into my food... makes it nice and healthy! :)

On a serious note, I started reading a book (I know, shocking). This time it's not a crazy awesome Jesus fictional love story, instead it's a challenging book. 

Leslie Ludy is a christian author who writes books geared towards challenging girls and women to become the Godly women God has set them out to be. I started reading, "Set Apart Femininity" about 3-4 weeks ago. Sadly, I'm only in the middle of chapter 3. There is so much to chew on and think about. I don't think I've been challenged this much spiritually. After going to Harvest Institute, I realize that the calling on my life is high. The Lord has put a desire in my heart to show women what is means to be a true woman. There is so much more to being set-apart than I thought. The book started out talking about the Proverbs 31 woman... a woman that so many women today feel like is unachievable. I'll have to type the whole commentary on it soon, but today I don't have the time. Something that I had never really thought about before (it actually came up during Harvest Institute, but I didn't think about it until I started reading) is that the Proverbs 31 woman did not become that way overnight or when she got married. A Proverbs 31 woman develops throughout a lifetime. It's always a work in progress. I feel like so many girls today (I felt this way once) feel like that are inadequate or unimportant until they become married. Now that I think about it, that's so silly. God has so many things that He wants to do in your life as a single lady. Instead of praying for the right person, become the right person! Let God do what He wants to do in You. I promise, the life He has set out for you is better than anything you have planned or can imagine. Trust Him! He loves you and works everything out for good! 

On a different note... Football season has begun!!!!! 

Not just football... Pirate football! :)

We took on South Carolina last weekend in Bank of America Stadium (home of my favorite NFL team, The Carolina Panthers). It was an exciting game and I thought that we had them during the first half of the game. Unfortunately, we did not come out with a win, but it was a great game! My friend, Daniel Drake, got his first career start as a pirate. It was a very exciting day! He's a linebacker and his hits are almost as big as his love for Jesus (which is waaaayyy big). After a lot of prayer and hard work, it was great seeing him take the field... and because God is amazing, He threw in the honor of receiving scout.com's player of the game! Yay!

It was great to kick off football season with the people I love most! I have the best family, but I hate that my little sister couldn't join us! She's a little young for football games, but one day I will take her to a Pirate football game! 

A first career start deserves a bright neon yellow poster amongst all of the Gamecock fans. Good times!

I love my Pirates! :)

I'd have to say it's been a great start to what I know will be a wonderful school year! God has huge things in store and I am so excited to see all that He wants to teach me!