.: September 2015

One week into being home and I think I've official caught up on sleep and every part of family updates.My little over 4 months in the mountains of Colorado has been a whirlwind. The fact that I ended up at a Christian ( 10 points) Dude Ranch (horses = 10 points) doing videography and photography ( 10 points) as a ministry (20 points) just blows my mind. God is so faithful and good.

My excited nerves ran like never ending electrical surges through my veins as I was driving through the mountains, sleet came down and music filled my ears the adrenaline starting pumping this is my home for the next few months. I plunged head first into my task after the first week of familiarizing myself with programs, the ranch, getting tips from the ranches former videographer. After the first 2 weeks of Wounded Warrior Project family weeks we headed into our more normal guest weeks by the end of week 4 or 5 I was homesick. But what came up more frequently as get sick from food allergies. I couldn't figure it out, my body was being ultra sensitive. I have Celiac ,but my body doesn't usually react so badly to cross contamination.

Mid summer it was getting so bad my parents were encouraging that maybe I return home early.

The enemy was dealing a low blow and then whispering just quit in my ear.

I was telling myself I wasn't a quitter,but are you going to keep sacrificing your physical health?!

A few girls on staff prayed for me throughout the weeks anytime it flared up,but it kept on happening.

I knew God wanted me at the ranch it was a weird feeling and even weird to type here,but I was supposed to stay the whole time I knew that. Though my emotions and physical health seemed to be taking all sorts of wacky turns tempting me to return home. I prayed, opened His word and the first verse my eyes fell upon was Psalms 37:3 ;

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness."

I have never had a verse so specific and direct to my life situation at that moment, literally every word jumped out at me. Trust,Dwell and Feed off of His faithfulness.

The enemy was trying to cut me down,but my strength comes from the Lord and through Him I knew I could stand my ground. It probably wasn't until the last month and a 1/2 maybe last 2 months my reactions slowly got fewer and fewer.

When we walk in faith and obedience He is faithful to lead us through.

If I ever HAD to (cause I wouldn't otherwise) have something tattooed on me it would be

"He is Faithful" that truth has been felt so much throughout every aspect of my life.

It just fills my soul to know that, that truth rings forever true never to lose its truth and impact.

This summer though it came with several obstacles ,allergies, a certain computer crashing and losing the 'must have' video footage that wasn't backed up yet, yeah,that was a stressful few weeks. Amidst all of that I grew. I grew in my 'techy' skills and videography skills, I grew spiritually, my eyes were awakened to spiritual warfare in a different battles at the ranch,but the biggest thing was the whole summer was, I got to focus on my job and my time at the ranch.
I lived in the present. Which the past year or two that has been a huge struggle.

I didn't try to plan or stress (at least to much) about the future. I built relationships with so many people I am blessed to call my friends. I was poured into and I was able to reach out and pour into others. At the ranch I saw flaws in myself and when you live with so many others you see their flaws, you learned to work through them no place and no person is perfect and the ranch is no exception. I loved watching and envisioning more on how people, the ranch could and did grow in its passion of serving and shining for Christ. My prayer for the guests each we was that us as staff could let them through us experience the love of Christ and I believe they did.
Whether it was week 1 and a wounded soldier had so much going on,severe PTSD and the fact that he would literally run away from the bible to by the end of the week he let one of the staff give him one to take home and read. Just seeing his transformation was worth it, but God continued to use the staff to reach a few young girls various weeks going through hardship and using us to have them feel accepted and secure then kept going with a young atheist coming to Christ by the end of a week and all the teens that week just huddling in a circle praying. I am reminded of His faithfulness along with His amazing power and love that can shine through us when we allow Him to use us as His willing vessels.
That's the point all of y'all to do everything with such a zeal and passion that we are blessed to be able to put forth in serving and shining for our amazing Savior.