Week 4. Easter Edition.

Friends,
The Lord is so good. Always. Every. Single. Day. Goodness gracious. I can't get enough. As I sit here and think about this past week, I realize that there is no possible way that I can pick only 5 things that I'm thankful for. It's too hard. So because of this glorious day, I decided to double it. So excuse me if I'm boring you all with 10 things, but it's necessary.


My heart is abundantly joyful today. More so than I think it has ever been. I owe it ALL to Jesus. On Thursday night I had the awesome privilege of sharing the story of the resurrection with my high school friends at Mountain Brook. As I was reading the Word, the Lord told me that I needed to talk about 1 Corinthians 15. I'm not going to go on a rant, but I just want to share this verse with you guys:


"For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." [1 Corinthians 15:16-17]


Back up and read it again. HOLY COW. If Christ has not been raised, our faith is FUTILE. It is COMPLETELY INEFFECTIVE. It serves no useful purpose. If Christ has not been raised, we are still in our sins. We are slaves to sin.


BUT (wow, what a powerful word.)


HE IS RISEN. (Luke 24:6)
WE ARE FREE. (Romans 6:17-18)
HE IS ALIVE. (Romans 6:8-11)
WE ARE BORN AGAIN. (1 Corinthians 15:22/ 1 Peter 1:3)
HE IS COMING BACK TO SAVE US. (1 Corinthians 15:23-24)


With that being said, I am FULL OF THANKFULNESS. Overflowing, actually.  


[10] JESUS.
No words. Just greatness. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

[9] Family.
There's nothing like it. Because we don't get to spend as much time together as we would like, due to everyone living in different states, our time together now is so precious. I love how the story of the Lord's redemption is represented in my family. It's so so so cool. These people are crazy cool. Every single one of them. From the fourteen year old John to 88 year old Bandaddy. I'm so thankful I got to spend all of Easter with them. 

[the 7 grandchildren with Meme & Bandaddy]

 [the girls: louisa, emmy, me, and lydiann.]

[the boys: rand, john, and haughton.]

[8] Campus Wide Worship.
I've never experienced anything like this before. The Samford University student body coming together as the body of Christ solely to worship and praise Jesus. My sweet friend, Lauren Barry, had the idea and made it happen to make the name of Jesus known. The Spirit MOVED on Wednesday night in Reid Chapel. I am so thankful the Lord allowed me to be a small part of a HUGE movement. 

[7] Darby Sullivan Thompson.
When Darby moved to Gainesville in 8th grade from the small town of Vidalia, I did not like her one bit. You want to know why? She had it all. Everyone immediately loved her. I was jealous. Good thing high school came and I matured a little bit. Now Darby is my absolute best friend. Crazy how things change, huh? Even though it was a short amount of time, I am SO thankful I got to spend time with Darb. We went to Chili's and got a molten, naturally, and talked about Jesus, South Africa, family, and everything in between. My favorite thing about Darby is her optimism. She is full of it regardless of what is going on in her life. Thank you Lord for this friendship. 

[6] Studying With Mom.
Saturday morning I got to study the Word of God with my mom. Double whammy, am I right? We studied chapters 5 and 6 of Galatians. My mom has so much wisdom, which was pouring out as we read together. It was such a neat experience. I am so thankful that I have a mom who wants to dive into scripture. 

[my gorgeous mother.]

[5] MBHSYLT.
I can't say enough about these people. They are the most energetic, encouraging, loving, awkward, selfless, determined group of people I have ever been around. Thursday night we had our normal night of club, but it was different for me. I was nervous about speaking, exhausted from the day, and YL club was the last place I wanted to be. When I arrived at club I was greeted by big smiles, corny jokes, and hugs. They asked me how my talk was going and told me they were excited to hear me speak. They prayed for me and continued to encourage me. They did it without even trying to. It was just the outpour of Jesus in their hearts. I am so thankful I get to hang out with these crazy kids every Thursday night. 

[claire cole, danny price, jeff vincent, hardy reynolds, me, and jennifer taylor.] 

[not pictured: andrew dann and lauren strickland.]

[we miss you elise.]

[4] Home Sweet Home.
Gainesville, Georgia. Sweet tea. Back porch. Momma's cooking. My own bed. Family. Friends. Sunshine. Lake. No schedule. Relaxation. Nothing else to say. I'm thankful for a weekend of rejuvenation at home. 

 [there's no place like home.]

[where i spend all of my time. the back porch.]

[3] Bible Study.
On Wednesday night we all went over to Stephanie's for a night of spaghetti and fellowship. This group of girls is becoming way more than just a Bible study group. They are becoming my community. A community that I can be transparent with and they will appreciate me for that. A community that is full of accountability and people who care about my relationship with the Lord. My time spent in the Word with this group of girls has been one of my favorite things about this semester. I'm thankful for this specific group of girls that the Lord has put into my life at this very moment. And I'm thankful for spaghetti. 

 [#Kendall?]

[2] Emily Grace Griesbeck. 
Wednesday morning breakfast club with Emily is the highlight of my week every week. Thankfully, that is not the only time we hang out during the week. Although Emily is extremely busy with nursing school, she is still so extremely intentional not only to me but to everyone in her life. I think that describes Emily perfectly. She is a selfless disciple maker. She cares enough to talk to people and not only ask them how their day is but also how she can pray for them. She is constantly pouring out and encouraging others. She is completely sold out to making the name of Jesus known. She does it in every conversation. Thank you Jesus for Emily's accountability, her boldness, and her heart. 

[1] The Word of God.
You can easily go out to any bookstore and buy a Bible...the VERY word of God. How stinking lucky are we? Lately, I've been so hungry for the Word. I just want to eat it all up. It's SO good. For Easter, my mom gave my the ESV Study Bible. Words can't explain my excitement! I'm so thankful that I get to study the Word of God whenever the heck I want. 

"For the mouth speaks whatever the heart is full of."

[Luke 6:45]

Week 3.

The entry from Jesus Calling yesterday relates perfectly to this whole thankfulness thing I'm trying out so I thought I would share.


"I am calling you to a life of thankfulness. I want all your moments to be punctuated with thanksgiving. The basis for your gratitude is My sovereignty. I am the Creator and Controller of the universe. Heaven and earth are filled with My glorious Presence. When you criticize or complain, you are acting as if you think you could run the world better than I do. From your limited human perspective, it may look as if I'm mismanaging things. But you don't know what I know or see what I see. If I pulled back the curtain to allow you to view heavenly realms, you would understand much more. However I have designed you to live by faith, not by sight. I lovingly shield you from knowing the future or seeing into the spirit world. Acknowledge My sovereignty by giving thanks in all circumstances." 


"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." [Isaiah 6:3]


"We live by faith, not by sight." [2 Corinthians 5:7]


"Give thanks in all circumstances; fo rthis is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." [1 Thessalonians 5:18]




Good stuff right there, huh? Hopefully you enjoyed it just as much as I did. Onto my 5 things I'm thankful for this week...


[5] Saturday at the Railroad Park.
Leah and I had been planning all week to lay out on Saturday, but plans quickly changed when we woke up and felt that it was not warm enough by any means to do so. It was still an unbelievably beautiful day in Birmingham, the wind was just a little stronger than usual. We did not want to spend the day inside so we decided on the happy medium of going to the park. Kendall decided to join us on our adventure to the new hot spot- the Railroad Park. The three of us laid our blankets down and enjoyed the sunshine and awesome conversations. The day was completely unexpected, but exactly what we all needed. I am so thankful I got to spend time with these two beautiful girls on such a pretty day. 

[Leah and Kendall]

[The Railroad Park in downtown Birmingham]

[Self timer. Classic.]

[4] Morgan Elisabeth Read.

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to spend around four hours at Mug Shots with Morgan. Goodness gracious, talk a about a good day! Morgan was one of the first people I met when I came to Samford. I met her on the first day of orientation two years ago and even though she wasn't my specific orientation leader, I clung to her. I have loved getting to know Morgan's heart over the past two years. She is one of the most incredible people I have ever met in my whole entire life. My favorite thing about Morgan is that she takes the verse John 13:34 to a whole new level. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Morgan LOVES and that's how you know she is a follower of Jesus.  She is abundantly obedient to the Lord's command for us. Each second I spend with Morgan I am continually encouraged by her love for Jesus and her love for others. 

[above: morgan and i at semi formal. spring 2011. below: taylor, kam, me, morg, & jac at orientation 2009.]

[3] Lakeview Academy Family.
The past couple of weeks have been crazy weeks for my high school. Just so you can be prayerful of these situations, I will share them. About two weeks ago a guy that graduated from LVA in 2008, Benton Acker, got in a bad car accident in downtown Atlanta. Thankfully, he is okay, but is still recovering at Sheppard. Just a few days after that happened, a guy in my class, Jeremy Thompson, was in a freak accident and was life-flighted to Grady in Atlanta and is still there in ICU. Lastly, one of Haughton and Rand's teammates dad passed away the other day. Please please please pray for all of them and their families. With all of that being said, when all of this happened everyone from Lakeview acted fast with prayers and support. Yes, I constantly made fun of my tiny, private school when I was there, but now that I am out I could not be more appreciative. It's been really cool to see how everyone from Lakeview has been so supportive to these three families even though most of them left the Lakeview family years ago. It's kind of silly, but I love my Lakeview family. 

[above: haughton and i graduating after 13 years at LVA. below: class of 09. all 33 people.]

[2] Bernie Ankney.

Is it weird that I'm blogging about one of my journalism professors? Maybe a little bit, but it's for a legitimate reason. If any of you JMC majors are reading this, you understand why. Bernie Ankney is the absolute best professor I have had in my entire life and will probably hold that title until the day I die. Truly. Bernie is honest. If you wrote a bad paper, he'll tell you. If you wrote a good paper, he'll tell you. Bernie makes class interesting and only teaches us information that is applicable to life and the real world. He doesn't even know what busy work is. So yeah, he's got all of the awesome qualities of your typical good teacher, but he doesn't stop there. Bernie CARES. He cares about your career, your grades, your health, your family, your confidence, your social life...everything. I was even more thankful for Dr. Ankney this week than normal. Why? Because he gave me a 96 on my paper. Yes. A 96. I haven't gotten one of those since middle school. To top it off, he wrote the most encouraging notes beside the grade. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but toot toot! This is a once in a lifetime kind of thing. Don't get used to it, Mom & Dad.

[above: #1 teacher. below: my paper. i wasn't lying.]

[1] Prayer.

Okay so this is letting you in on a little bit of my private life, but for some odd reason I feel like I should share it. The Lord is so sweet. Lately He has been revealing to me the importance of communication. I am a strong believer in the fact that communication is key is all friendships and especially relationships. So this week the Lord was like "Okay ML, if you are such a firm believer in communication, why don't you make it a priority in our relationship?" Good question, huh? It's so cool how the Lord continues to show me the power and importance of prayer. We have a relational God. Pump the breaks. A RELATIONAL God that created the Heavens and the earth and STILL wants to have a conversation with us. Whoa buddy! Anyways, this week I found a new spot in Mountain Brook where I go to have my prayer time every day. I can sit here and talk to Jesus. Just us. It's perfect. 

Thank you, Jesus. I adore You. 

Week 2.

Goodness gracious. It's way to difficult to put only 5 things I'm thankful for this week. Jesus has abundantly blessed me and I am abundantly thankful. 


[5] Will Tumlin.
I can't even describe how cool this kid is. Let's just say it's always a good day when I get to spend time with Tum. He loves Jesus and that overflows in every conversation I have with him. He is the goofiest person I have ever met, complete with his own language and ridiculous dance moves. He takes the time to see how my day is going or to send me an encouraging text. Sounds awesome, right? Ladies, he's single. Jump on it. I'm so thankful I got to spend all Saturday night with him at semi-formal and I'm even more thankful that he's my best friend. 

 [above: last spring at sigma nu formal.] [below: this spring at chi omega semi formal.]

[4] Lady In Waiting.
 I read the first chapter and was immediately obsessed. Jackie Kendall and Debbie Jones wrote this book based off of the book of Ruth in the Bible. They did an awesome job writing a book but also incorporating so much of the Word of God into it as well. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Specifically to girls, but I truly think guys would enjoy it as well. Through reading this book the Lord has revealed to me how special the time of singleness is and how rich and intimate He intended it to be. I hope you all read this book and are encouraged just as much as I was. Head high, faith higher, ladies. This time is precious. 

[3] Citizen Cope.
Oh my dream life. When we found out good ole Clarence was making an appearance at Work Play in April, the four of us bought tickets in February. Too early? Not at all. I've seriously been waiting since 7th grade to see Clearence Greenwood in concert and it finally happened. To make things 10x better, it was acoustic. It was incredible. I got to hang out with these beautiful girls and listen to some quality music. It was the perfect Thursday night getaway and a number checked off of my bucket list. 

 [above: the musical genius himself, clarence greenwood.] [below: jaclyn, kara, me, and brittany at workplay.]

[2] Mountain Brook High School. 
Thursday's are my favorite day of the week because of these girls. I get to wake up as the sun rises and meet them at Panera for a cup of hazelnut coffee and awesome fellowship. After a day full of classes, I get to see them yet again for Young Life Club. It's awesome. I praise Jesus every single day for calling me to this ministry. These girls are so young and full of life. They pump me up with their love for each other and their love for Jesus. Shout out to my junior girls- it truly is the small things. #longhairdontcare #wopwopwop #GSG

[mbhs girls at sharptop cove.]

[1] Adam Scott.
I spent way too much time on the couch this weekend, but I had a good excuse. The Masters. One of my favorite times of the year. I opened all the windows in my apartment, turned on the TV, and throughly enjoyed watching Adam Scott play one of his best rounds of golf ever. Literal perfection. Although my boy didn't end up with the coveted green jacket, he had a good weekend which in turn means I had a good weekend. PS- these are not my pictures in case you were wondering. I didn't have that good of a view from good ole student apartments. 

 [yowza]

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" 

[Phil. 4:4]

Week 1.

Reading blogs have recently become my new obsession. Even though I can't even try to compare to the blogs that I read, I decided that at least I'd enjoy it if no one else did. 

So I decided that my blog was going to be based solely off of thankfulness. A quote from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young penetrated my heart when I read it: 

"You give me thanks regardless of your feelings and I'll give you joy regardless of your circumstances."

I believe the best response to the glorious gifts from the Lord is a life steeped in thankfulness.

So here I am. Thankful.

Each week I will blog about 5 different things/people I am thankful for. This could epically fail, but I guess we'll just see what happens.

[5] Sunshine.

Simple as that. The sun brings me so much joy. Last week it hid for a few days, but it made a glorious comeback today. Thankfully.

[4] Haughton.

For those of you who don't know, this kid is my twin brother. I really wish all of you had the opportunity to be a twin for at least a day because it truly is the coolest thing in the world. Other twins might not say the same thing, but I guess I got lucky cause Haughton is a baller. It's hard to fathom how one person can exemplify so many good qualities. I called Haughton on Friday afternoon freaking out about not having a semi-formal dress for next weekend. My twin brother came to the rescue when he showed up in Birmingham on Saturday morning with 4 different dress options for me from some of his girl friends in Athens. Yeah, that's just one of many stories about Habo. I could go on and on, but I won't. I'm just incredibly thankful that I got to spend time with him this weekend in Birmingham. 

[3] Baseball.

Baseball season is my prime. I love everything about it. Whether I'm at Turner Field in Atlanta doing the tomahawk chop or cheering on my bulldogs in Birmingham- it's bound to be a good day. 

[2] Journal. 

Finishing a journal is one of the best feelings in the world. Well of course, that is just my opinion. After a few months of hard core journaling, I ran out of pages of my plain-jane gold journal from Target. Now today was a big day: I got to pick out a new journal. Big decision, I know. After contemplating for quite some time, I finally decided on this one. It's a little out of the ordinary for me because it doesn't have lines on the pages, but I'm excited for the change. Looking at all of the blank pages really excites me. 

[1] Bandaddy.

My sweet 88 year old grandfather decided to come visit me in Birmingham for the weekend. As we were enjoying a nice dinner at Jackson's, a Birmingham classic, Bandaddy fell back in his seat, hitting his head on the stair case behind him. An ambulance ride and 5 staples later, my beast of a grandfather still had a smile on his face. This has been one of many bumps in the road for him this year, but he has yet to slow down. Completely unbeknownst to him, Bandaddy teaches me the life lessons of humility, selflessness, and simple kindness every single day whether I am with him in person or not. While lying in the hospital bed, Bandaddy, with tears in his eyes, says "Every single time something like this happens, I thank the Lord." Bandaddy gets it.