A little sursey...

This just got hand delivered to my office ... courtesy of the sweetest, most loving man in the whole wide world
(other than my dad, of course)

Francis' 9th book

I'll treasure this forever...

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine...

I found this video on my computer. I remember using several years back as an illustration at youth group...no clue what the illustration was but I remember loving this commercial:

Exposition Part 1 (of many)

Well, so far I've discovered that the problem with having a blog is not a lack of things to write about but having way too much to say and not enough time. I initially thought that I would hesitate to write anything because I was afraid of people actually reading it...or not reading it...gasp! But it turns out I really don't care about that. More and more I'm feeling like whatever that was (God or the spicy food) that told me to 'write about it' may have been on to something...


I live in Florida. FLORIDA. Growing up in South Carolina, Florida was where you found Shamu and Disney World and rocket ships and where old people went when they got too old to work. It was a nice place to visit but never somewhere I thought I'd live. EVER. 


---- ENTER Linda Strickland ----


It was a chilly February morning; Monday, February 1st to be exact. My day started off as normal: got to work by 9, checked emails, checked in with the most dynamic youth min team in the whole wide world, looked at some upcoming calendar items, etc...
Around noon I drove home to get some lunch and my phone made that little 'ding' it makes when I have a new email. I opened it and it was from Linda Strickland, also known as the beautiful and talented associate director of ministries and assistant to Judith MacNutt at Christian Healing Ministries in Jacksonville, FL. I had met Linda 2 years earlier at the St. Andrew's women's conference when Judith was our speaker. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Linda's email address on my screen - at the time I would have told you that my heart skipped that beat just because I love Linda so much but I know now that my spirit was trying to prepare me for something massive. Linda's email was short and a little cryptic ...all it said was 'can you please call me? I'd call you but I don't have your number.'


So, on my way back to the office, I called Linda and she said the wildest thing: she said there was a job opening at the ministry and asked if I would be interested in interviewing. GULP. We talked for about half an hour and decided that I would go to Jacksonville that Friday (the 5th) for an informal interview. I hung up the phone and cried for 3 days. Something in me told me, even though Linda had made no promises, that I should start packing. Nothing in me WANTED to pick up my life and leave.

 I had an awesome job. I loved my church: 

St. Andrew's Church, Mount Pleasant 

All of my family was there - including the most precious and adorable loves of my life: Betsy and James, my niece and nephew. I could not fathom being away from any of this:

And yet, that thing from within was pushing me out of the nest. I knew I needed to pursue it. The rest is history. Here's the timeline:

• February 5, 1st interview
• February 11, 2nd interview (with Judith)
• February 16-18, on campus at School of Healing Prayer Level 2 to observe
• February 18, offered and accepted position as 'prayer ministry coordinator' 
• February 28, announced to the church and the youth group kids that I would be leaving, aka hardest day of my life
• March 11, said goodbye to the place I had worked for 7 years...a place I had truly grown to love on the deepest level
• March 14, moved to Jacksonville (I cried the whole 4 hour drive - I do not suggest this - it gets really hard to see by about Walterboro)

• March 15, first day of work at Christian Healing Ministries
• March 15, also the first day of School of Healing Prayer Level 3. We had to go up to the front as a staff and introduce ourselves and what our positions were on staff. As the microphone made it to the person one away from me, I had to ask Linda what my title was 

So here I am. I live in FLORIDA. 

Everything I've ever known is 4 hours north. I know, I sound so dramatic...but when you live in a place for so long and don't ever envision yourself leaving, it's a big deal. I will say this, however: as big and scary and new and lonely and overwhelming as this has all been, I have grown to really understand the PARACLETE. haha my spell check doesn't understand that word - it recommends that I try parachute or parakeet. No, I got it right the first time:

Paraclete: comes from the Koine Greek word παράκλητος (paráklētos, "one who consoles, one who intercedes on our behalf, a comforter or an advocate").The word for "Paraclete" is passive in form, and etymologically signifies "called to one's side". The active form of the word is parakletor, not found in the New Testament but found in Septuagint in Job 16:2 in the plural, and means "comforters", in the saying of Job regarding the "miserable comforters" who came to him in his distress. 

In the midst of so much change, so much heartache, so much of the unfamiliar, I have not once felt alone. I don't mean I haven't felt lonely; I haven't felt alone. Since I got in my car on March the 14th, 2010 and set out on the scariest journey of my life, I have known without a shadow of a doubt that there has been an unseen presence with me who is giving everything I need. 

'there is always hope'

...TO BE CONTINUED...

'All the world's a stage...

...and all the men and women are merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts.'

I love Shakespeare.I bet that's something that most of you didn't know about me...maybe just my mom and Mrs. Mobley, my 10th grade English teacher. I also love John Donne. I think I'll do a whole post on him later... I think W.S. must have known Jesus. So often over the years, while in prayer, the Lord will hi-light something in my life and He will use my friend Will Shakespeare to do it.

So, while gathering my thoughts for launching this blog, I thought about Gustav Freytag. I'll give you a moment to rack your brains to try and remember who he is. You're gonna have to go back to at least 8th grade ... since I went to a really expensive private school (thanks mom and dad) I'd have to go back to 5th grade. Remember Freytag's pyramid? Or how about the dramatic arc? Well, for those of you who slept through Lit class, Gustav Freytag was a scholar who analyzed the dramatic structure of a play. Is it coming back yet?? exposition...rising action...climax...falling action...denouement...? That's the guy. He's the one responsible for this idea. And for that, I am grateful...because if we look at our lives, we must analyze all its parts and how they all fit together to make a whole. 

According to Wikipedia, 'the exposition provides the background information needed to properly understand the story, such as the protagonist, the antagonist, the basic conflict, and the setting. It ends with the inciting moment, which is the incident without which there would be no story. The inciting moment sets the remainder of the story in motion beginning with the second act, the rising action' so I think that given that understanding, the title of my next set of posts will be 'Exposition' and I will do my best to honor Gustav and cover all that should be covered. Now, Freytag's pyramid was really only intended for ancient Greek and Shakespearean dramas ... so if I stray from the structure, hopefully you (and Gustav) won't hold it against me.

I'm baiting you ... can you tell?

I'm not a writer...or am I?

So apparently I'm a blogger now. I've made fun of bloggers since that was an option. But here I am - September the 24th, 2010 - I am entering the blogosphere. The very fact that there are words out there such as blogosphere make me cringe but I figure I must embrace it...

So, why now? Well, most of my life, people have encouraged me to write, to journal, to put my thoughts somewhere and I have managed to shrug them all off. I've never really had the desire. But last night, I was lying in bed thinking about how many thoughts are rolling around in my noggin and clear as day, I heard a voice inside me say 'write about it.' Now, I'm not going to say it was God - I did have a lot of spicy food yesterday and a fair share of caffeine - but it was one of those thoughts that wasn't fleeting. It had some weight and conviction behind it and it hasn't left.

What will I write about? I don't know. Stay tuned...

I'm guessing the first several posts will be a setting of the stage of sorts: who I am, where I am, how I got here (which is QUITE a story) and who the key players are.

After that, who knows? My brain is a wild and unpredictable place ...

WATCH THIS SPACE.