ONE day for the books

Well, today has been one of those days- y'all know what I mean. A day of emotions, tears, smiles, and a million other things. Let me preface this post by saying I am not a typically "emotional-over-everything" person, but I tend to hold back tears and emotions and eventually they all come out at once. So when I tell the events of today please don't think I am over exaggerating or being dramatic, just know that today was the day they all were released... and for reasons I believe were necessary.
Oh, and I am not in any way looking for pity, just explaining how a crappy day can be turned into quite the opposite with the help of Jesus

Let's start with a short synopsis of today's event, beginning with this morning. Comfortably sleeping in my bed, waiting for my late alarm because of 10 o'clock classes. Vicious knocking at the door wakes me up- here comes phase 1 of the day's upsetting events. I walked outside, just out of bed, and there lays my first pet, my dog of many years, Honey, on the side of the road in my yard, and a woman and her grandson saying words to me I honestly do not remember. One of the smartest dogs I have ever seen, definitely the smartest of our large pack of dogs, and she is lying cold in the yard. Keeping this brief in order to hold back emotions, something I am way too good at doing... After my dad comes back home and buries her, my eyes were tear-stained and my alarm was going off. Lovely start to my day---Fast forward to school. School goes by, boring as usual, then work comes around- Phase 2. I work in a daycare and was with the 4-5 year olds today, who just "graduated" from preschool to daycare, and are most likely adjusting more to being so-called, big kids, than their parents are. Short fact about me- I don't handle confrontation very well, especially when the floodgates have already been open and my contacts are already cloudy from crying. Nothing can hold me back at this point. So here comes THE parent, thinking for some reason I could handle it I volunteered to go talk to him when he sternly requested one of the workers to come outside. I should've read the signs, and given over that conversation to someone else but I didn't. Apparently his little girl had a huge (invisible) knot on her head and none of us told him she fell. We knew she fell but she was fine and was playing and we didn't see a knot to tell him about. Let's just say he was stern, and I was weak. Playing on the earlier events of the day, that was a bad combination. It took all of me to hold back the tears until he took one step out of the room, and I had a difficult time explaining to the other workers what was going on because I was basically balling. At this point I am hysterical- instead of singing "open the floodgates of Heaven," I'm begging, "Jesus close my floodgates." ----I know that wasn't funny, just pretend. Oh, and to top it all off I am walking around with one shoe off trying to get some fresh air on a horrible ingrown toenail that is making me limp- and if you have ever had one you will understand.

I couldn't meet Pastor Chris and not get a picture!

The story gets better here. My red face and teary eyes have been looking forward to one thing all day, and this one thing happens to be ONE at Church of the Highlands in Ttown, with none other than Pastor Chris Hodges(!!!) to speak in Tuscaloosa- all of satan's attempts to knock me down only made me unsteady, he never got me down and stopped me from going to ONE the way I know he was intending to do, and praise God for that! With friends eating supper, the laughter came. With worshipping Jesus in a small room with a bunch of sweaty college students who love him, the joy came. And with an awesome message on eternity from Pastor Chris, I realized that I had overcome the obstacles Satan threw at me and made it to church in order to hear one of the greatest messages and most impacting I have ever heard. It all makes sense now. I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason, and usually I attribute all things to God, but I realized that God didn't have a reason for my upsetting awakening this morning, my unpleasant encounter at work, or my throbbing toe that I should really take to the doctor- these were attempts to keep me from encountering God the way I did tonight- and I overcame them with the encouragement by friends, family, and ultimately Jesus Christ. It is crazy how a day that is from hell (literally) can turn into a day that I learn things I didn't know about God and feel the presence of God like never before. I was inspired by Pastor Chris to set a new motto for myself, "Give, Serve, and share Christ intentionally," and if I can get through a day like today then I absolutely can do that. I left ONE tonight with an awesome sense of fellowship from Jesus-lovers like myself, and also with a newly driven purpose to live my life by. How awesome is Jesus everybody???


*Side note- ONE Ttown is awesome and meets almost every Wednesday night at the Highlands office complex at 8! You have been invited- let me know if you have questions. Promise you will not regret going, it is the highlight of my week!!

Jesus is STILL rooting for me

Here it goes... my first blog post. Bear with me. 

I made this blog with the intent of documenting and sharing the gifts God so gracefully gives me day in and day out with my future self, and anyone else who wants to hear about how great OUR God is. Of course, as I have been waiting for the perfect story, sunset, or moment to happen for my first blog post, God had a different plan. So instead of telling you guys how I have joyfully accepted and taken pleasure in a gift from heaven, I am speaking of the gift of opportunity and the way we can reject it or accept it. 
So it all began today in the Tuscaloosa DMV to get my driver's license renewed. If you have ever been to the DMV you are probably already wondering how there could be any good thing, or gift, involved- I don't blame you for thinking so. So I signed in at 12:39 pm and I walked out at 2:46 pm. 2 whole hours wasted sitting in a waiting room, but what I now see is that those hours did not have to be wasted. 
During those 2 hours, God was sitting in one of those chairs (rather standing- they were all full) handing me opportunities, and I did not even realize it. Worst of all, I didn't accept them. Later I realized that not only did I give up these opportunities, I gave up the very gifts that I have been waiting and begging God for. 

Two lost opportunities in the DMV: 

1. A woman carrying a baby, and her mother, were standing in the room waiting for one of their children to come out of the testing area, and this precious baby knocks a full can of Sprite right out of his mom's hand. Not only does every wall say "NO FOOD OR DRINKS," but the whole room full of people just stopped and stared, myself included. I did not have the guts to get up and help the mom with child clean up the drink- something so simple, but I was afraid to stand up. At that moment I could feel the spiritual warfare going on inside myself- God pushing me and stirring me up inside and Satan magnetizing me to the chair. I am a sinner- and Satan used one of my greatest weaknesses, the fear of man, to cause me to reject the gift God was offering me in the opportunity. 

2. A different woman walked in with a baby sleeping, a large baby I will add, and of course there were no chairs open. She checked in and stood in the corner and once again God was nudging me to the edge of my seat. I could almost hear him saying, "My daughter, give her your seat! You don't need it like she does." My reaction stayed the same. I let the stronghold of Satan paralyze me rather than seeing the light and love Jesus was offering me to give in that moment. 

 This Scripture that I read this morning before going to the DMV has been stuck in my mind all day, therefore I know God is giving me this as a communication that it wasn't either woman with child that I rejected today- it was Jesus himself. And it hurts my heart to know that I can love Him so much and still allow myself to sit comfortably and ignore Him.. please take a second to soak in these words of Jesus.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why: I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me."         -Matthew 25: 34-40 MSG

So now you all probably think I am a horrible person and that I should not even be writing a blog about gifts if this is all I have to say, and to make that better I will say that the drink got cleaned up pretty quickly and the woman carrying a sleeping baby girl very soon got a seat as someone was called back--- and I am not perfect in any way, shape, or form. I know that my Father is in heaven watching me and is not disappointed with my inability to step out of my comfort zone, but he is rooting me on and giving me more and more courage to take a stance next time and clean up or get up. As this day has gone on and I left the DMV I have been reflecting on what could have been done differently and why God sent me these tasks, or challenges, instead of the gifts I was hoping for. Hopefully I have spread some truth with you all, if anyone is reading this, and also let you know that no matter how many times we fail, Jesus is always right there rooting us on for the next opportunity, and he cannot wait to give us the next gift- we just have to accept it. And I know when we do we will be more full of joy than any beautiful moment or sunset could ever give us (and for me that is a whole lot of joy.)

I will be praying for the gift of opportunity to fall on you and for your ability and power to accept it in Jesus' name,
Good night!

-Bayly

I had to include this fiery sunset I was graced with tonight as well, I apologize for the bad quality :)