Week 43: A Week to Zumba

It's been a while, huh? It seems as if "A Week to Recuperate" turned into a couple weeks to recuperate! As always, a lot has happened in a short amount of time, including but not limited to an appendicitis scare, Hurricane Irene, Vacation Bible School with 20 very energetic kids, a broken down bus, my first sermon at Quincy Temple Corps, a visit from a friend from Chicago, an attempted break in to the building, almost getting mauled by a police dog, and a successful break in to the church van. Crazy, huh?

I won't go into depth for all of these events, but I will be honest and say that it was a difficult week for me. There was just a lot of stuff going on. With my stomach pain I wasn't able to run except for two times this week and that was frustrating. I felt myself slipping back into old unhealthy habits, but the difference this time is that I recognized it, and it will NOT continue this week. Also, maybe it's because of all of the weddings that have happened in the last year or maybe the fact that I live by myself, but my desire to be in a relationship and be married has been growing- more on this topic next week. It's actually all very funny because my sermon was about how focusing on God can break through the "static" in our lives- static meaning all of the things that bombard our minds like fear, doubt, sin, worry about the future, financial problems, relationship issues, etc. I pointed out that the way to do this was through clinging to God's promises, prayer, and memorizing scripture to combat the enemy. That's exactly what I'm doing this week, although that isn't my official goal for the week.

This week is going to be a fun one! Since I've started losing a bunch of weight, working out, and training for the 5K, I've really been enjoying being active. Being active makes me feel so much better not only physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. One week I want to make it a goal to go hiking which I've never done before. Also, I want to re-learn how to ride a bike- I'll explain later. But this week, I want to do Zumba. I've never done it before, and I hear that it's a blast. My Weight Watchers leader RAVES about it each and every week. She loves it and tries to convince us each week to go and try it, so this week I will! It's going to be a bit out of my comfort zone, that's for sure. Dancing in front of people makes me a little self-conscious, but I just need to get over it and have some fun, right?! I'm planning on going to Bayshore Athletic Club this week to check it out. I will let you know how it goes!

Week 42: A Week to Recuperate

Hey, friends! It's been awhile, I know! It has been an action packed couple weeks, that's for sure. Don't worry- I'll fill you on in everything : )

Last week, I had the privilege of doing some ministry with some amazing people in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. The Salvation Army in the Eastern Territory takes a week out of the summer every year and heads to Old Orchard Beach where they run camp meetings, pier ministry, and beach bible studies. It truly is amazing. This year I was asked to be part of the pier ministry, specifically part of the Spiritual Readings tent. I was on a team with a group of young adults from the War College in Vancouver, Canada. Basically, the War College is a year or two of practical ministry, living in community, doing street evangelism, taking classes, and so much more. It was so great to work with this group. Each member was amazing, and God did some pretty amazing things. The Spiritual Readings tent was set up on the pier and was a space where people could come and receive prayer. A person would come in and we'd explain that we weren't psychics who read people's palms (there was a psychic reading place right down by us), but instead we were a group of Christians who believe that God speaks and wants to reveal Himself. God spoke to us using scripture, visions, words....The week was such an amazing experience, and I was so blessed to be part of it. God taught me a lot about my giftings and even though I was so exhausted at the end of the week, it was a wonderful exhaustion if that makes sense. (The above picture is the team that I spent the week with)

So I was there for a week and this past Friday, I left from Old Orchard Beach to Portland, Maine where I had a flight at 5:30AM (left for the airport at about 3am- slept about 30 minutes that night) which took me to New York for a 3 hour layover, which then took me to Chicago! My friend Danielle picked me up (Thanks, Danielle!!), I brought her to Wisconsin so that I could borrow her car, went shopping for a bachelorette party I was planning for that night, headed to Blue Island, IL for the rehearsal dinner and set up, set up for the bachelorette party and had a great time. That Friday was insane- 4 different states in less than 12 hours.

Saturday I was a bridesmaid in Neisy and Robbie's wedding. It was a lot of fun, and I was so happy to be part of their special day! Then after the wedding, so at about midnight, I met up with some teens from my youth group that I led. It was so amazing to see them. They are growing up so fast!!

Sunday I spent time with my family. I just love them so much. It's hard coming home for such short trips, but even seeing them for 24 hours makes it worth it. Monday I met Lena Marie Neth and was able to spent time with the Neth family. I loved every minute of it. Then Monday night I went out with Jen for her birthday. It was just like old times.

So now that you know what has been going on in my life, you will understand why this week is "A Week to Recuperate." Don't get me wrong, I have loved the chaos in my life lately. It's been full of people who I love dearly, amazing experiences...I mean, how many people get to travel wherever God leads? SUCH a blessing. As I sit here though, back in Quincy, I find myself nodding off every once in a while....I'm tired. I'm so full right now, full of gratitude and awe at how amazing God is, how much He loves me and blesses me.

This week I am going to rest, process through everything that's happened in the last couple weeks and enjoy being full.