Hello from the Philippines....month 11. I can't believe it's here. This place rocks. Before coming on the Race when people asked me what country I was most excited about, my answer was always India and The Philippines! India has always interested me for many reasons but The Philippines, the only thing I knew about it was that my grandpa was in the Navy and he and my grandma lived in Manila for two years. But for some reason I was stoaked to come here. The Lord has already done so much since we have been here. This month our squad is split up into two groups. We are all working with KIM, Kids International Ministry. Started in Manila and now they have another site on another island, only a short flight away, called Mindanao. 3 teams are staying in Manila and mine and another team are in Malaybalay, Mindanao. First we flew into Manila and it was great. We stayed at the site there and spent a few days resting, getting caught up on things, and seeing KIM at work. We got to check out all the incredible ministries they have there. I am excited to see my squad mates at the end of the month and hear about all the incredible things that happened. At first I was a little sad to be leaving Manila but now I see what a blessing it truely is. I LOVE THIS PLACE! It's the perfect set up in my opinion. We are living at Mt. Moriah Camp in a summer camp style dorm. The land has a children's home, a huge basketball court, soccer field, and volleyball court. It's primarily used for the childrens home but they host sports events and rent out the place to churches for conferences and events. "Town" isn't in walking distance but it's not too far either. The perfect distance away to get internet, snacks, etc. The scenery is beautiful. We are surrounded by mountains, and it's much much cooler than Manila. It still gets hot but finally a month where we don't constantly have sweat dripping off of us haha. I feel such an overwhelming peace and joy here. There's something about being out in nature that I feel so close to God and can hear his voice clearer than ever. He's been giving me lots of sweet revelations lately that I am so thankful for. It's a pretty sweet story about this plot of land. A couple named Glen and Grace own it and they have such a heart for the Lord and they have story after story about how the Lord has provided for their every need. There's even an example of how Grace had a fruit orchard and God told her to cut it down and put in the soccer field. She talks about how hard it was but how worth it it was to be obedient and how the Lord is blessing that decision daily. One day I sat listening to Grace talk and I was left in tears thinking about how faithful and good our God really is. The faith that woman has is encouraging and challenging. Through her and this place the Lord is teaching me a lot about trust and dependence. It's so good. I love learning all I can from her.

Our main ministry this month is working in the children's home just about a minute or two walk away. The kids are precious (more about them later!). So we take shifts helping the incredible house parents that work there. I love it. Our first week here we helped out at a sports camp/tournament held here at Mt. Moriah put on by a local pastor. They had everything already set up so we helped keep score, get to know people from the community, and serve in whatever way we could. It was a blast. They even had 19 salvations. Praise God! For the next two weeks we are loving on the kids here, hanging out with another Pastor friend of our contact- helping with Bible studies and house to house visits, painting a section of the children's home, and whatever other random opportunities come up :) I love everything about this month. It's such a sweet way to end the race. I am so thankful to be here.

 

me and my wonderful squad leader Michelle :)

Hello from Cambodia, the land of sweating my butt off, showering with brown pond water, eating rice with soy sauce every meal, bugs crawling all over me at night, lots of animals everywhere, wearing a couple of outfits over and over, and praying every night before bed that I don't get lice or have a rat run across me while sleeping. BUT also the land of precious kids, beautiful scenery, beautiful people, lots of sweet alone time with Jesus, waking up to kids laughter (one of my fave sounds), lots of fruit, and sweet times with my team.

That's just a little glimpse of my life these days. At first, I was not excited to be here. To be honest it was the first time on the whole Race that I was ready to get back to America. We are literally in the middle of nowhere. Last month we were spoiled with getting to spend a few days at a beautiful beach and the month before that we were in Bangkok-a huge city. This month we have nothing around....literally. At first I thought that was a bad thing...but the longer we are here...the bigger the gift I see that being here really is. When I am ever going to be living such a simple life like this again? Not saying never, but there is a good chance that I won't ever be at a place like this again for a chunk of time. I had a choice to make at the beginning of the month. I could either sit and complain and wish my time away here or embrace where I am, choose joy, take advantage of every second, and be a blessing to those around me. Well I'm choosing JOY people!!!

We really are blessed to be here. Yeah some days are rough. BUT where we are is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. We have free time between classes and I have had some of the best quiet times with Jesus that I have had on the whole race. Something about being out in nature and having nothing around, living the simple life teaches me a lot about the Lord. One morning I decided to have what I like to call an "alone morning". I just had a lot of frustrations that were ridiculous and totally from the enemy so I took a chair, went and found a tree and sat with the Lord for a few hours. Reading the bible, listening to worship music, and letting Him turn my frustrations to peace and my bitter heart to a joyful heart. It was for sure one of my top highlights from this month :) He gave me lots of sweet revelations and refreshed my spirit, getting it back to where it needs to be. I'm so thankful for that morning.

some of our beautiful surroundings and our church


This month we are working with a really cool guy, Vuthy, who used to live in the city as a tuk tuk (like a taxi in America) driver and through driving people from YWAM became a Christian. After thatGod called him back to his hometown where he now offers free English classes to the village kids, started a church here, and is soon moving into a house close to the church (Mercy Home) where he will be taking in 24 kids and being their Dad :)

We are working with another team this month and we have English classes several times a day. We take turns teaching and in the morning some of us switch off between doing house visits and working at Mercy Home, helping sand the walls to get ready to paint. Also preaching at church, which is always a given. The kids are precious, several of them have stolen my heart. They are sweet, excited, and ready to learn English. They melt my heart. This weekend before we leave we get to take them to the waterpark two hours away in the city, everyone is so excited!

　some of my favorites

So that's a little summary of my time here in Cambodia so far. We have about a week left until we head to the Philippines for month 11. CRAZY! I can't believe the race is almost over and I will be back in America in 40 something days! Crazy. Although the end coming is sad and bittersweet, I can't wait to see you all and share in person what all I have experienced this past year. Blogging just can't do it justice!!

Surprise we had a route change and we are no longer going to Vietnam. I am currently in the beautiful country of MALAYSIA!! I'm embarrassed to say that the only time I had heard of Malaysia before finding out I was coming here was from the movie Zoolander....yeah bad I know.  It is seriously so beautiful here. It's also sort of strange because it reminds me so much of India...who knew there were so many people of Indian descent living in Malaysia!? I'm pretty sure I've met more Indians than Malay people. It's been so great though. We are living with the sweetest family. They have moved here to Changlun from another city because they heard God calling them here. Pastor Thomas and his family have given up pretty much everything to be here. Left their friend and family, and left everything that they knew and that was comfortable. They are being a light in this community that is so heavily Muslim. They are being Jesus through actions. Serving this community whole-hearted. It's a beautiful picture of what we are all called to do- serve those around us. I have loved spending time with this beautiful family and they have been such an inspiration to me.

 

one of pastors daughters.

So what am I doing this month? Let me tell you....

First we are teaching a free spoken English class to kids in the neighborhood. Instead of just teaching the standard English stuff we have done in the past we are doing lots of interactive things that get the kids talking and having conversations. It's so fun and the you can tell the kids are really enjoying it. One of my favorite moments: we were talking about what foods we like to eat so one boy came to the front and slowly spoke his sentence with the biggest smile on his face so excited and said "I......am......a.....chicken!" Opps!! We tried not to laugh but it was the most precious thing.
 

=

Also we are teaching a character development program. Since everyone around here is Muslim we can't openly teach about Jesus...so again we are being Jesus through our actions. We are loving on these kids, making them feel important and loved. Teaching important values that encourage them to better people and live better lives. It stinks that we can't tell Bible stories and talk about all the incredible things Jesus has done for us but if it's found out that Pastor Thomas is sharing his faith with a Muslim he could potentially be thrown in prison. So we are coming alongside this family and their dreams for this community and honoring the way they do things. I feel so blessed to be working with them. In character development we teach good values, play lots of fun games, sing songs, and of course have snacks! One of my favorite moments: we played a few water games and at the end Pastor brought out a bunch of cups and wasn't talking in English and all of a sudden the kids charge us with water! We didn't even see it coming. We should have known. They thought it was hilarious that we all got ambushed and completely soaked.

 

 So these are our two main ministries this month. We also preach at church (which they do on Friday nights here. Love love that!) and on Thursdays have a service at the house with a sweet couple that are friends with Pastor Thomas.



Next blog.....the 6 day journey we took traveling around to visit different ministries in Malaysia that our Pastor knows!


 

600 baht....somewhere around 20 USD. That's all it costs to take home a prostitute for the night in Bangkok. $20. I was shocked. Like I said in my last blog we were able to go out into the bars, into the Red Light District a couple of times a week and do outreach. The main purpose of this is to make friendships. Make friendships with ladyboys that hopefully the ministry can maintain and then if the ladyboy decides they want out, get them out of the bars and give them a job in the coffee shop. It's not about going in and screaming the Gospel right away, but becoming friends and letting your actions speak huge volumes. Showing the workers the love of Christ by talking to them, getting to know them, and not judging or condemning them.

There are several Red Light Districts around where we were. Technically prostitution is illegal in Thailand but it brings in so much money for the country nobody does anything about it. The first night we did a prayer walk through a couple of different ones so we could get a feel of what it was like and not just thrown into it. You can feel the heaviness, the spiritual warfare before you even walk into the plaza or down the strip. It's a very odd feeling that I've never experienced before. I learned a lot about big prayers and believing my prayers because I had to fight hard in prayer this month. The workers wear numbers and that's how they are identified. They aren't known by their names or who they are, but as something that can be bought and treated however wanted. Most of the bars require that each worker have so many customers a month or their pay gets knocked in half. When you talk to them most of their stories sound the same. They are from pretty far away, and they don't like what they do or the kind of life they have but they have to provide for their family and they feel this is the only way to do that. It absolutely breaks my heart.

one of the red light districts.

My experience was a bit different than my other teammates. I went to a different bar every time we went out. It was great, I got to meet LOTS of different people. I got to go out and do ministry with my former team leader/now squad leader Michelle and other nights with our contacts. I loved seeing their heart for this ministry and the people working in the bars. And now I have lots of faces and names to pray for. My other teammates went to the same bar every time so they created some sweet  friendships. Our last night of outreach I got to go with Kendall and Rachel. Over the couple of weeks they had created a pretty good frienship with one of the ladyboys so the last night they decided they wanted to pay his bar fine and take him out to dinner and to hang out outside of the bar for the night. I am so glad I got to be a part of this because it was a night I will never forget and had a big impact on me.

To start out the night we took in some cupcakes to the workers of this specific bar. They ate them up SO fast. They loved them. Then we paid the bar fine of 600 baht and left with our friend :) They all wanted to come with us but we could only take one.

He got us a taxi and took us to a resturant that he used to work at and ordered us a ton of food that we all just passed around and shared(I even tried squid!). He probably asked us 50 times if we were happy, if we were having a good time. We spent the evening laughing, talking, and enjoying each others company as friends. 

We then tried to go to a building you can go to the top and see the whole view of Bangkok but it ended up being expensive so decided not to go up. After that our friend decided he needed to get back to the bar and hopefully get another customer :( It broke my heart. We paid for him for the night. He could have went home and rested. He could have had a night off from this not so pretty lifestyle, but instead he choose to go back. My prayer is that he felt so loved by us that night. That us taking the time to get to know him, not questioning or judging his lifestyle meant something to him. That he felt the love of God through us. He might not reckognize at this time that's what it was but hopefully we planted a seed in his life. I pray  that he will continue  a friendship with Dton Naam and that one day he will will come to know our amazing Savior and get out of this dark lifestyle. That he will see that he is worth so much, that he will see there is more to life, that he can place his identity and value in Christ and be done with chasing the desires of the world.  I'm trusting and believing that we made a difference in the life of this new friend, as well as other people we talked to and got to know. I'm believing that Jesus is going to change the heart of this man.

 

Thailand.

Beautiful. Heartbreaking. Broken. Joy. Exciting. Busy. Hope. Crazy. Love. Fun. Big prayers. Laughter. Heaviness. Wonderful. Too short. Spiritual Warfare. Favorite month of the race so far.

This pretty much sums up my experience in Thailand. I fell in love with this place pretty close to the moment I arrived. I can't explain to you the amount of joy I felt when walking through the door of our ministry site. One of my teammates even cried because she was so happy! I thought maybe it had to do with the fact that I just came out of 3 months in Africa, maybe it had to do with the fact that living conditions were much easier and similar to home. But what really sold me was our amazing ministry, our wonderful contacts, and the incredible people I met and worked with. This place rocks, seriously.

This month we worked with a ministry called Dton Naam. Which translates to 'source of water' in Thai. It was sweet because one of the founders is actually from Midwest City (pretty much my hometown!). The organization focuses on working with ladyboys. There are lots of organizations in Bangkok that are aimed at helping women get out of the bars and out of the sex industry but the founders of Dton Naam really have a heart for the ladyboys. Ladyboys are basically men that are living as women. That's the short answer....it goes way deeper than I could have ever imagined. A lot of times you can't even tell by looking at them! What I didn't realize is that it isn't always a choice. Most of the time it is spoken over them at a very early age. In the slums grandmothers believe it is lucky to have a ladyboy in the family. Lots of different factors go into the making of ladyboy that would take a while to explain. So back to Dton Naam...they run a coffee shop that gives jobs to people that have come out of working in the sex industry so that they can have some type of job training. Dton Naam teaches them how to work in a coffee shop setting, offers counseling, offer discipleship, and teaches them other skills that will be helpful in life. It's a beautiful community that made my team and I feel so so loved and really made us feel like part of the family. They welcomed us with open arms and taught us a lot about human trafficking which I am so thankful for.

What my team did while working with Dton Naam:

I taught one of the students how to sew (just ignore the awful picture haha). Someone had donated a sewing machine not long before we got there and one of the students has a dream of becoming a designer. He had a design made up for aprons for the coffee shop workers to wear so I showed him how to work the machine and helped him get started! It was so fun :) He is a natural at it and I can't wait to see his designs famous some day.

Other teammates taught English, dance, and nutrition/fitness.
 

This is a fairly new ministry so we got to help with lots of little projects that they haven't been able to get done yet. We made up an orientation packet for future volunteers, made a resource packet of other organizations in the area, made up maps of the Red Light Districts with names of all the bars, made new decorations for the cafe, painted and varnished the second floor balcony, and also helped make cupcakes sometimes :)

We lived on the 3rd floor of the cafe so we spent our time working on the projects or teaching classes, but we spent most of our time building relationships with the students (and staff) and encouraging them, speaking truth into them, and pouring the love of God into them. The students were so great! We had daily worship and Bible study time where we got to hear some of their stories and have sweet sweet worship together. God is doing some big BIG things in each of their hearts. It's a beautiful thing.

We also went out into the bars, into the Red Light District do to outreach (which i'll save for another blog).

This really has been one of the best months for me. Everything about it has been so wonderful. Thank you Jesus for a good month, for opening my eyes to how serious human trafficking is and what it's all about, for new sweet friends, for being able to help out a new ministry, for teaching me how to fight in big prayers against spiritual warfare, and for seeing this broken city through your eyes.

It was one I will never forget. I got to spend my 25th birthday in Uganda!!! I am so blessed.

Malaria and typhoid couldn't hold me down! After a week of laying around being sick, my team and I decided to venture out of our house and into the world aka Jinja, a town about 1 1/2 hour away to have a little fun for my birthday!

First we went to see the source of the Nile River. It's where Lake Victoria and the Nile meet. You take a little boat out to the spot where they meet and there is a cute little island with a gift shop. It's actually pretty cool. The water changes instantly from the rough lake water to the smooth river water. Our pastor was SO excited to take us there and asked at least a thousand times if we could see the difference in the water. It was hilarious.

 

For lunch we went to a fun resturant called Flavours. We had wanted to go there back when we were in town for rafting because we heard they had ice cream but ran out of time. It's owned by Americans, so we got a break from the usual rice and beans. This place was so great. I had guacamole, my absolute favorite thing. For dessert CHEESECAKE with a scoop of the best vanilla ice cream. I was in heaven. At home I always eat Mexican and my Grandma always makes me a cheesecake on my birthday... even in the middle of Africa I was able to have my two favorite things :)

I thought the birthday celebrations were over, but I was wrong! I walked into our pastor's house for dinner and SURPRISE my team had balloons and silly string everywhere and broke out in song! It was so great. They had a mandazi cake for me, which is like a donut with nutella spread on top. And the coolest candle I've ever seen that was more like a firework! And they even surprised me with gifts- oreos, coconut cookies, a dinosaur water gun, new sunglasses, a snickers bar, and lotion! My team made me feel so so loved. Thanks A-Team- you guys seriously are THE BEST.

So overall it was a GREAT day! Even though most of my team was a little sick, we made the most of it and it was a birthday I will never forget! Such a fun day :) Thank you Jesus for another year of life.

Dear Africa-

I hate to admit this but...I used to be slightly terrified of coming to visit you. I thought I knew what to expect, and I expected the worst. I was real nervous. I thought I would be counting down the days until I left from the first day. Now I can't believe it has already been 3 months and that I'm leaving! Where has the time gone?!? Oh boy I was wrong about you. I now understand why some of my friends and people back home love you so much. My expectations were completely wrong.

In Kenya, the Lord helped me experience major freedom. I mean I freaking preached, once even at a crusade! I don't think you could ever understand just how huge that really is. What better way to start my time with you?! I found my voice and I used it. And when I did that I found so much relief. We also worked with the most incredible pastors and translaters. The excitement and passion they had for God and life was so encouraging.

In Rwanda, the Lord showed me what true joy and hope looks like. That country has been through more than I could possibly imagine but I met some of the most joyful, loving people. Especially the family I got to live with. They know suffering but they are choosing joy. Our Mama (in the green dress, top left below) for the month lost both her parents (among many others) in the genocide and she went to the prison to visit the people who murdered them to personally forgive them. I was absolutely blown away. I want my life to look like that- being joyful and forgiving no matter what happens to me. We taught English all month to such a fun group of kids that like the parents, had so much joy. One of my favorite moments of the day was always when they would run full speed arms open wide to us for a hug :)

And Uganda, oh Uganda. We had our ups and downs. Even though malaria and typhoid pretty much sucked the life out of me my last week there, it was a good month. Hard month, but good. I experienced even more freedom. New team = new challenges. And boy was I challenged. I decided to give God my fears. I decided I was tired of letting my life revolve around what I was fearful of. I worked on having confidence in who I am and replaced lies and the things the world says about me with truth in who I really am. Who God says I am. Because in the end, that's all the matters. We also did sweet things like prison ministry, hospital visits, and worked at a school with precious kids even getting to bless them with new notebooks and pencils.

So I just thought you should know how thankful I am for you. How blessed I am by you. I really could never thank you enough. I am so glad God had it in my plans to come visit you. My time with you was life changing and I will not and could not ever ever forget you. Thank you for everything (except the malaria and typhoid of course)!

With much much love,

Jewels

Sometimes in life it's hard to find things to be thankful for. Sometimes in life it's really really hard to live with a thankful attitude. As I sit here typing this, I've got a little case of what we like to call malaria. Yep- with having been in Africa for almost 3 months, with one week left of ministry now is when the malaria got me and 2 teammates. Day 4 of being on meds, I'm over it. I'm so tired of laying around all day but still being exhausted. I'm tired of being sick and feeling like I have the flu but I know this is temporary and I will be better in no time The point of this blog is not to make you feel sorry for me but to tell you in being annoyed, uncomortable, and laying in bed for 4 days "resting" the Lord is showing me sooo many things to be thankful for. He never promised this 11 months to be easy and comfortable for me. So this is just a little speedbump on my journey. It will be over before I know it. So today I am choosing to be thankful.

It's not uncommon to hear people on my squad playing the 'thankful game'. Basically whenever you are in a bad mood, or super annoyed, or your heart is just not in the right place. You play the thankful game. You start calling out things around you that you are thankful for. For example (which I have had to make myself do the last few days)- I have malaria. It sucks. I feel like crap. BUT I look around and say you know what I'm thankful for this mattress I have to lay on instead of being on the ground, I'm thankful for crystal light packs to add to my water to help get the gross meds down, I'm thankful that there was a medical clinic so close, I'm thankful I'm not alone during all this, I'm thankful for teammates that pray over me, I'm thankful for the breeze that comes through the window every so often, I'm thankful I have movies to watch while recovering, etc... Focus on the good instead of the bad! Usually you keep "playing" until your attitude is made new and changed from being negative to positive. It works, it really does change your attitude! It's all about slowing down and looking for good gifts in life, no matter how small they are, instead of automatically focusing on the negative. 

So back up to Jan. 1st. Katie, one of my teammates from my last team, and I decided to start a thankful list. Back it up even more to our first team, team Eucharistia. Our team name was insprired from a book called One Thousand Gifts. It's all about being thankful. Taking time to see the beauty of life and the small gifts that God gives us each and every day. Slowing down and being appreciative of things that are so often overlooked in this busy life. In the book the author talks about how she created a thankful list. Eucharistia means thanksgiving, grace, and joy. All such great things that I want my life to be about. So that's when this whole idea of actively being thankful for the small things started- before even leaving America.

I had started a thankful list back in month 1- Moldova, but it wasn't very consistent and I gave up on it somehwere along the way. But on the first day of this year Katie and I were randomly talking about it and decided to give it another try and we would keep each other accountable. She figured it up and to reach 1,000 things by the end of the race we need to do 6 a day. So every day I sit down and write out 6 things I'm thankful for. Some are serious, some are just funny. But it's amazing the difference it makes in my attitude. Some days I struggle to come up with 6 things, and other days I'm overflowing with things. But I always always have something to write. Even with being sick, my eyes are being opened to things I can be thankful for. You really should try it sometime, especially on a day where your down in the dumps, things aren't going the way you think they should, or you are just in a bad mood. I promise you it will change your attitude. There is ALWAYS something you can be thankful for, no matter what situation you find yourself in.

But this is the World Race....so I imagine my list looks a little different than it would being at home....so I figured it would be fun to share a few random favorites :)

19. singing with kids
39. friends that bring my heart joy
43. ICE COLD coke in a can
45. my headlamp
52. ice to chew on
95. sleeping in my tent and being alone
97. easy travel days
103. having shade while locked out of our house for over an hour
111. pitch black room while sleeping
115. a cup to take a bucket bath with
119. going to a crusade to watch- no "performing"
139. my closet of completely clean clothes at home
158. I don't have to eat Ughali everyday
166. Pastor finding his cows
167, abundance of fruit in Africa
175. worship in the dark
178. new water bottle
179. day of wearing pants, instead of a skirt
194. declartions over myself
202. finding a sweet quiet time spot
203. being interupted at said spot by precious kids wanting to jump rope
211. that I've only been sick once and I'm in month 7 of the race
214. riding in a new truck WITH a/c to the medical clinic

　I think you get the point.

So today I just want to encourage you to stop looking at the crummy things going on in your life and pay attention to and focus on the small beautiful gifts God has given you. Because there are so many around you...we often just don't take the time to notice them!




And just because I haven't posted a picture in awhile.....this is my new team :)
Jill, Savannah, Rachel, me, Kendall!

Before the race, and even the beginning of the race, I was living in fear. It's so hard to admit that, but it's true. It's a miracle that I applied and actually came on a trip like this. My life revolved around what I was fearful of. Fear of what people thought of me, fear of failing, fear of not being good enough, fear of dreaming big, fear of new things, fear of losing relationships, fear of speaking in front of people, fear of asking God for more of him, fear of so many different things. I didn't even realize fear was such a huge part of my life until recently.

These past 7 months or so have totally opened my eyes and mind. Fear has been holding me back, it has been keeping me from going deeper with God, it has kept me from letting people close into my life, it has kept me from sharing the things on my heart, it has kept me from following my dreams, it has kept me from being who God created me to be and from all the good things he has waiting for me. This year I have had to face more fears than I could even begin to tell you. Spiritual, emotional, physical- the whole shabang. Lots and lots and lots of times of being awkward and uncomfortable...super uncomfortable. But time and time again when I face one of these fears, God shows up. He is always right beside me, helping me get through them. My team is reading 'Forgotton God' right now and at one point Francis Chan talks about how the Holy Spirit is going to mold us into the person we were created to be and that often is painful and uncomfortable and it strips us of things like fear. That's what this year has been about. Stripping of the junk and mess in my life that is not from God that needs to be trashed and replaced with things so much better, things from God that are beautiful.

I have faced a lot of my fears in the past months but now I'm choosing to give them to God and get rid of them for good instead of waiting around for another one to come up and just getting by. I am choosing to stand in confidence in who I am. I am choosing to be BOLD and FEARLESS in my actions and in my thoughts.

I'm done living in fear.

2 Timothy 1:7. For God did not give us a spirt of fear, but a spirit of POWER, of LOVE, and of SELF-CONTROL.

This is the verse I'm clinging to these days. Fear does not come from God. If the spirit of the living God lives inside of us then we have NOTHING to fear. Absolutely nothing and nobody. How did I ever let myself get so wrapped up in being fearful and not even know it. Oh yeah because satan sucks and he wants us to be in bondage to fear. Lame.

Galations 5:1. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm and don't let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Fear is a form of slavery and I'm done letting that crap run my life. Writing this blog and pouring out my heart is one of the steps in helping me get there!