Direction

"Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of JOY comes in the morning!" ~Psalm 30:5

This past week has been the best week I've had in a very long time. I mentioned in my first post that God used this summer to refine me. I would not trade the brokenness, refinement and trial for anything because of the many, many life lessons learned. I will say, it is so refreshing to experience a full week of pure Joy with no pain for the first time in months! The only tears shed this week were tears of pure, true joy, love and admiration for my Deliverer.

God is always at work, but sometimes He allows us to see His hand more clearly than other times. I'm experiencing a very special time where I feel like I am seeing His hand in just about everything! Today, the Billy Graham Rapid Relief Team (http://www.billygraham.org/RapidResponse_Index.asp)held a seminar at First Baptist Wylie that my mom and I went to. I was just introduced to the RRT about a month ago and then 2 week later I received an email about this seminar. At first I deleted the email not wanting to travel to Wylie or spend the money on the seminar. Silly me... then a 2nd email came. I looked into it a little more, but wasn't sold on the idea of traveling to Wylie alone and spending money on this seminar...and getting up at 8:00 am on a Saturday. :) But the Holy Spirit would NOT leave me alone about this seminar. I finally figured out that the decision had been made: I was going. I registered and booked a hotel room for Friday night and emailed my mom to let her know I'd be in Wylie the first weekend of October. After looking at the event info on the website, mom emailed back and said she wanted to go too. I assumed no one would want to sit in a seminar for 8 hours on a Saturday, so I thought it was a pity offer because she didn't want me to go alone! She convinced me that she really was interested and said that she felt like everyone needed to be prepared to share their faith and know how to reach the hurting not just in the midst of disaster, but in our everyday encounters. So true.

So last night we headed to Wylie. It's always fun to have mom & daughter girl time. The seminar was incredible. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has really done their homework. After 9/11, they saw that the Church wanted to help, but went in to ground zero not really knowing what to do and in some ways ended up hurting more than helping. The first major rule of thumb with RRT is "Do no harm". This means physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. I have been struggling the past year trying to discern what God's plan is for me after graduation. I have two fields of interest: Counseling, and disaster relief. I've been going back and forth trying to figure out if I want to pursue counseling, which would mean grad school, or if I want to pursue a career in disaster relief. I went into this seminar knowing that God wanted me there and praying for direction from Him. He definitely gave me some answers today. I think for now I'll be putting counseling on hold, knowing that at any point, whether a month from now or 10 years down the road, God could call me into that ministry and I'll willingly go. I'm applying to volunteer with the RRT which means at anytime I could be asked to deploy to help with disaster relief. I'll have to make sure I can take off from school & work, but I'm so excited about this ministry opportunity!!! This is something I'm really passionate about and I can't wait to start serving. What an awesome privilege and responsibility to share God's love with those who are hurting.

"For Christ's love compels us...We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us." ~2 Corinthians 5:14, 20

SO glad my mom shared today with me. I'm so blessed!