I can hear the memories in my ears.....

With so much talk of emotions and such, I felt the presence of an abstract self-portrait was necessary.

So here I am. Last night in Redding until Christmas break. Christmas?? I feel like an over-aggressive, conniving department store already talking about the holiday season.

It's been a really great summer. Really! People have asked me (and definitely will ask me a million times over once I get back to LA) what I've done this summer. That's an excellent question. What did I do?

I didn't have a job. No internship. No international missions trip. No cycling trip across America. (Yeah, yeah Zane, not all of us can do that.)

Honestly? I just hung out at home a lot. I spent a lot of time with my family and closest friends (the ones that still live in Redding, at least). I drank lots of coffee, both delicious and dreadful sorts. I read classic literature and the Bible. I spent a lot of time with my seester and her baby girl. I cooked a bajillion different recipes and watched an obscene amount of Food Network. I journaled and wrote letters/postcards to far-away friends. I hung out with junior highers for an entire week at camp and then twice a week for the remainder of the summer. I went to Yellowstone, Portland, Sacramento, Modesto, San Francisco, San Diego, Mexico, and everywhere in between.

Okay so after listing the highlights of my summer, it sounds much more action-packed than I thought it would. Haha. But I really didn't feel overly busy at any point. I feel like our times of rest should be slowed down. And that's what this summer was. A true period of rest.

At the end of last year, I was so nervous about becoming complacent in my faith-- that leaving my amazing community at Campus Crusade would make my walk with the Lord suffer. I'm not denying that it wasn't difficult, to not have a lot of brothers and sisters-in Christ my age around... But I always had the same God with me, no matter where I was. That's pretty sweet. Who else in your life can you say NEVER changes? No one, that's who.

I learned about living in Christ, even when it seemed like an average, ho-hum day. God convicted me of my selfishness and showed me an endless number of examples in His Word of how to be a godly servant. He also showed me how easy it is to slip into legalism (booo, hisssss!)-- His grace is sufficient for me. Always. I was shown the power of memorizing Scripture and the power of godly friendships, even when my friends were hundreds (even thousands!) miles away.

I'm bummed to leave, but I'm excited to return to LA. I'm going to miss my family a ton, but I can't wait to see what divine appointments God has in store for me this year. Maybe I'll even figure out what I want to major in.... Hahaha. That's a good one, Pam. Wouldn't that be great?

All that to say... Thank you Jesus! You constantly exceed my expectations. I should just learn my lesson and stop having lame expectations, eh?

Typical Summer 2010 :)

Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it.

Psalm 37:4-5