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I sit here to tell you that I am amazed by my Savior, Jesus Christ. I had the honor and privaledge of working a DNOW this weekend at Okolona Baptist. Whitney asked me to help out a few months ago, and I have been excited ever since. I love anytime Whit and I get to spend together, but especially doing God's work. Nothing like it. This weekend, I got to lead the older girls. Let me just say my heart is STILL overwhelmed by all that took place this weekend. Yes, it was your typical DNOW weekend. Food, games, fun, music, missions, etc. But my oh my, God showed up and showed out this weekend. I wish I could describe how my heart feels about this weekend. I'm speechless, really. Saturday night worship was indescriable. Youth of all ages praising God because of His ultimate sacrifice. I get chills just thinking about it.
After worship, the older girls, Whit, and I went into our room for our time together. We shared things we were thankful for, and for a while just sat in complete silence basking in the love and wonder of Christ. We all became broken before a Holy God. I believe that when you come broken before God, he mends the pieces back together. He did just that Saturday night. Walls of bitterness, confusion, anger, hurt, shame were destroyed, and I praise God for that. We decided Saturday night that we were linking arms and going to stand on the edge together. We're going to fight the fight and run the race together. Praise God for teenage girls stepping up to be leaders in not only their youth group but in their church. I am thankful. I'm also thankful for the guys. God did a work in their lives too. Sunday morning a lot of the youth stood to share, and I've never been more proud. God opened my heart and eyes this weekend, and I will never be the same.
Here are few pictures from the weekend.
unbelievably blessed.
Our girls. :)
Until next time.
Love God. Love people.
Let me just say for the record...I have the best mama in the world. She's everything I desire to become in a woman, wife, and mother. She is beautiful, funny, loving, sincere, graceful, and the most caring woman I know. We got to spend the day together today, and we had the best time. We went shopping..(not our most favorite thing)..and oh we laughed all day. I love it when I can finish her sentences, visa verse. She's amazing. Everyone tells me all the time, "You are just like your mother..", and to that I say...Thank you! :) Goodness, I'm so blessed. I have a lot to praise God about today, everyday for that matter.
Our sweet Payton is growing up soooo fast. He's so sweet, and handsome!
He spent the night with us for the first time this past Friday night. Mama and I were in "hog heaven".
After bath time, we were both ready to hit the hay.
I'm so unbelievably blessed.
...here are a few pictures from San Francisco...We worked hard, and had entirely too much fun. God blessed our trip, and I, for one, am thankful.
Until next time.
Love God. Love people.
I'm in SAN FRANCISCO...and I absolutely love it here. The weather, the bay, the water, the people, etc.. It's completely gorgeous. A BIG city with a small town feel (sort of). I along with 23 other folks are working at the Golden Gate Theological Seminary. We've been painting walls, ceilings, scrubbing floors, busting up old appliances, etc. In other words, we've been working HARD...but having a great time. I have enjoyed being with all my friends on this trip. We always have such a great time together! :) We got to go into the city all day yesterday. FUN! We were going nonstop from about 9:30 until 11:00 last night. Exhausted is an appropriate word. It was so much fun though. I really like San Francisco. I haven't uploaded any pictures yet, therefore, they will come later! Just wanted to post an update. Happy Spring Break! :)
Until next time.
Love God. Love People.
Today is "officially" Wednesday. It's 12:46 am, and I'm wide awake...Not a good thing, haha. I have two tests tomorrow, and I feel pretty good about both of them. I've studied...hopefully my mind will recall properly. :) Anywho, I'm leaving to go on a mission trip with the BSU to San Francisco Thursday...as in TOMORROW. It still hasn't hit me yet...Why you might ask? Well for starters, I don't have a SINGLE item packed, at all. I think I work better under pressure when it comes to packing. At least that's what I'm hoping. Thursday morning we leave the BSU at 8:00 am, and my flying group leaves @ 12:35 on our first flight. We have a 4 hour lay over in Houston, TX, and then arrive in San Francisco at approximately 8:22 pm. Sooo, it should be a long day of travel for all of us folks. We are definitely excited though. Bro. Chris, our director, told me today that he knew for sure we'd be painting around the seminary. Which by the way, we are staying at the Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. We've "heard" that we have nothing but community showers. The "old, nasty locker room kind." Haha, the girls aren't so excited, however, we will manage. And hey, it's like I said...We could not have showers at all. We will just be warriors together. :) Seriously though, It's my prayer that God uses us. Every ability, talent, etc...I want us to leave exhausted to the point that we can't even stand up straight. All because we were servants of Christ. Amen? Amen. I really should get some sleep.
Can you believe my sweet Payton is growing up so fast???!!
After much convincing, Jacob finally has a blog :) Yay!
Hope you get to feeling better Best. Love you!
Say a prayer for all the folks going to San Francisco. Please pray for our safety, and that the Lord would be glorified in everything we say and do.
Until next time.
Love God. Love people.
Today I woke up to my family hollering SNOOOOWW! (I love the fact that in Mississippi we get excited about an inch or two.) Snow, for me, is just another reminder from my sweet Savior that says, "Hey, I love you. I'm crazy about you." :) It absolutely positively made my day. Church was cancelled this morning due to the icy road conditions. I missed the fellowship, but I did enjoy being home in the midst of my precious family. We just had the best time. Mama and Daddy cooked pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Delicious. And then Brit and I went out and attempted to play in the snow. The wind about blew us out to Mamaw's house...So with chattering teeth and freezing hands we smiled for a few pictures and went back inside. First, we got a bowl full of snow and made snow cream. Mama and Daddy were too funny adding a little bit of this and that. It turned out to be great though. Later, we rode over to our cousins. They were covered from head to toe in snow. I got out and played, of course. We had a snowball war...and I got hit smack in the face. Glorious, I tell ya :) So fun!
Beezie called this morning and said she was cooking lunch. So all the McGee's loaded up about 12 and headed to our favorite cook's house. We laughed and cut up, as usual. I adore my family. I just can't even begin to describe how wonderful they are.
Tonight, Scream/Worship team went to Auburn Baptist and performed. We had a good time. A lot of our friends came to support us. Thanks you guys. It means sooo much!
Here are some pictures from today!
Oh and I can't forget sweet Payton. He's growing up TOOOOO fast!
This pretty much sums up my Snowy Sunday. It was simply delightful. So thank you Father. For snow. Family. Friends. and Your little "I love you" reminders. I am growing to love you more each and every day.
Until next time.
Love God. Love people.
Can I just tell you how wonderful my Savior is? He knows everything I stand in need of and He always runs to my rescue. Let me give you some background. About this exact time last Feb (08) I quit nursing school. "My" dream of graduating high school, ICC for 3 years (nursing school), graduating, etc flew right out the window. For those of you who know me...you know the entire story. :) (Thank you for enduring it over and over) Including this time...
Anywho..So I quit nursing basically for 2 reasons. 1, and most importantly, I couldn't get a peace from God. I prayed, read, and sought...but it just wouldn't come. 2nd... I was a miserable human being. When I say miserable, I mean MISERABLE! I was no fun to be around. I was bitter, angry, and mad at the world pretty much.(just ask Whit, my parents, Brit, etc.) I cried almost every single day about absolutely nothing. Satan was slowly trying to rob me of every ounce of my joy.
The day of my "revolution" happened at clinicals. I was standing at the nurses station and my mind started running in a million directions. The main thought running through my head that day was, "I don't want to do this for the rest of my life." So for the next 2 hours I stood there (literally) and thought of every other occupation in the world. I had to stop myself from running up to every passing individual and beg them to tell me there story. I was crazy actually. When I left the hospital I called my mama crying. I just kept telling her over and over that I didn't want to work in a hospital, I didn't want to be a nurse. Long story short..I came home, cried for hours and hours with my parents. We prayed, read God's word, prayed, cried. My dad told me something that pretty much settled in my heart that I needed to quit.."Ash, I can't make this decision for you. You must do it on your own. I think you know in your heart what you need to do. Don't let Satan tell you otherwise." I didn't sleep a wink that night. I read my Bible and prayed, and of course cried...
The next morning I cried the whole way to school. And God, ever so gently, whispered I'm right here. I ran into my room, found Whit, spilled my guts...we wept together for a long time. I then got up the nerve to walk over to the nursing building. The walk of shame for me (or so it was in my mind). I went in found my fav. nursing instructor, and we both cried as I told her everything. We then proceeded to the "lady in charge." This sums up our convo...
"Ashley, from an instructor's position I don't want you to quit. You are in the top 10 of your class which has 130 students. You have an A. You are everything we look for in a nursing student. (pause) But from a mama's point of view get out. You are unhappy, and I can sense the pain in your heart. I know you've thought about this long and hard."
When she said the mama thing I knew I was doing the right thing. And God, ever so gently, whispered I'm right here.
So I quit. I cried the rest of the day. Told the story at least 200 times that day. And do you know what my family and friends did? They hugged me, loved me, cried with me..They embraced me just like Jesus did. Oh, how precious. When I told my friend Chadwick, He grabbed me and hugged me, and then said "I've never been more proud of you Ashley." Things like that. God used my friends. Oh praise Him!! So that's my insanely long story. Goodness.
My one prayer mainly that night was "Lord, if I quit nursing, please never ever let me regret it." And He hasn't. Not even once. Not even for a second. I know it was the right thing. Praise God!
Since then, God has led me to Education. Special Education. I've prayed and I do have a peace. I have a heart for those precious people. This past week Satan has been getting to me. He knows I want to be in the will of God. So he starts telling me that I'm not smart enough, not good enough, etc. Through my quiet time, God once again led me to Matt 25:40...'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.', and John 10:10 '...I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.'
Thank you Father. Thank you for your peace. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for friends and family. Help me to see the world through your eyes. Help me to make a difference. For your glory God, you alone.
My sweet cousin, Andrew, graduated from the Fire Academy. Valedictorian, might I add. :) Couldn't be more proud of him. Thank you Andrew...for running in when everyone else is running out. I know Papaw Moose is grinning from ear to ear.
Check out our little basketball star. :) You go ahead girl.
Sweet Payton. Cuuuuuute isn't the word.
Until next time.
Love God. Love People.
I have about a billion thoughts running through my head at this very moment. I've recently been reading some "journal/blogs" on Caringbridge.org. A family friend of mine had a sweet baby boy, David about 6 months ago. He's been in the hospital ever since...but God has done such a work in his life. He's used David to touch the lives of hundreds of people...family, friends, churches, doctors, nurses, etc. Baby David went home to be with Jesus Saturday night. I can't begin to describe how my heart is breaking for this precious family. I can't imagine how their hearts are hurting, longing to see Baby David just one more time. See his little fingers, and his little eyes. Times like these are when my heart screams the question..."Why God? Why did you let him live for 6 months and then take him?" God always responds in His ever so gentle answer...It's all part of my plan, my love, every bit of it. I really do know this...but I need that overwhelming reassurance every now and again. Thank you for that Lord! I ask you to lift this family up in your prayers, the Jones. Also, pray for Jordan Lindsey. I don't even know him or his family except through his caringbridge site. He's 22 and fighting for his life. Read his page. (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jordanlindsey) God is all over that family. Father, I ask you to give Jordan the strength to fight this giant.
As sad and broken as my heart feels at this very moment, I'm full of praise. I can't help but thank God over and over and over for our precious Payton coming into this world healthy. (Thank you a million times Father) I'm so thankful for all of my families health. I pray I never forget to praise God in the good and the bad. He's my Savior, my best friend, the lover of my soul, the giver of life, my everything.
I have new pictures of our little miracle. Praise you Father.
Until next time.
Love God. Love people.
