What's Going On?!?!!?

  Well, I just wanted to update everyone about  what the heck has been going on in my life since Christmas (long time, I know!)

Shortly after Christmas, I attended CO's New Year's Conference in Washington, DC. This year the conference was called AL!VE and the Lord really showed up in a mighty way there! It was so awesome to be part of something so Big and Ultimate, yet having met so intimately with the Lord too!

On our free day, everyone who was at conference met up around lunch time on the steps of the Capitol Building to pray for our nation!

 It was such a unique & powerful moment! 

This is a picture of the Washington Monument as the sun was beginning to set, so gorgeous! 

After a dry (spiritual) season in the fall, I was yearning and thirsting solely for more of Christ. Not ministry, not Bible Study, not church. Nothing else. I just needed to be brought back to the Element of my Faith, Jesus Christ! At conference, God really showed me more of Himself and His commitment to my life! A fresh start had been washed over me, which is what I needed (and God in His Sovereignty knew that too!)  

I headed back to UNCC feeling pumped and so thankful for the way that God showed up at conference, but I knew what would lie ahead of me would be another tough season- J2! Haha! The dreaded J2 semester of nursing school. J2 is also known as "the devil". This is the semester where the professors kick things up a notch with assignments, completely packed schedule, you are in 3 different clinicals, sleep deprived,  and are expected to excel in your studies because there is chance that oh, wow, you may still be "weeded" out of the program after your already seamlessly ending efforts to try and get into nursing school! Yeah, J2...

  Needless to say, I am surviving! I am about halfway through with this dreaded semester! (It's actually not SO bad!) I have learned so much in these past few weeks and this time really will have a great influence on my nursing career in the years to come. I have a super crazy nursing instructor for my Illness & Disease Management clinical, but she's wonderful! I have learned so much from her and I really enjoy IPU. I have some crazy stories, which is super exciting! (I promise I will save you from the sickening details!) I have a super precious instructor for my Pediatric clinical, she is so wonderful and encouraging! I am very sad that next week will be my last clinical rotation with her, but I get to finish it in the NICU, which is the unit I have always said I wanted to work in! I have a big heart for little children and often have pondered (since the time I was 7 yo actually) if this may be an area that the Lord may be calling me to go into. After Spring Break, I will switch from Peds to Maternity! This semester has been emotionally draining and extremely exhausting physically and mentally. I feel sleep deprived most of the time, but somehow seem to truck on through each and everyday. The frustrating part, even though I know it is only for a while, is that I have to go to bed so early and get up before the crack of dawn everyday. I hardly feel like I am a college student anymore. Part of growing up, I guess... I know that there is pain only for a little while and that the Lord is going to use this to grow me, sanctify me, and allow me to use my talents for His ultimate glory! So it's worth it!!!!

  I wanted to share something exciting that the Lord is calling me to this summer! A lot of you have heard about my past two absolutely amazing summers at Summer Beach Project! My first year at SBP I was discipled by a young woman named Erica and then last summer I had the wonderful privilege of discipling 3 young women Rebecca, Julie, and Katy who are now laboring on each of their campuses for the lost world! Well, this summer the Lord is calling me to be part of something so much bigger than myself! This opportunity is one that I can hardly fathom that I am even getting to stand in the midst of right now. Myself and 11 other people are going to step onto a college campus in Johannesburg, South Africa staring May 16th- July 7th to share the Gospel!!!
  SBP was such an important part of preparing me to not only be a follower of Jesus Christ but develop and give me fundamental training to go to another country to share with others the One who gives Life! I am going to try to keep this blog updated throughout the whole process of my journey from the start of my support training (now) to returning home from SA!!! I would love for you to be praying for this and I will post prayer requests soon! Our team has met once before in Lynchburg, VA and we had an amazing time. This weekend we are going to Blacksburg, VA for another meeting to discuss support and to develop/unite more as a team!

I am thoroughly excited and humbled about being apart of this unique opportunity! I can't wait to see how the Lord is going to change lives and how my life is going to be so impacted from this whole process (as it already is). SA is such an influential area, it is considered the hub of all of Africa. It would be compared to the impact that a city like NYC, NY has on the whole United States! SO EXCITING!

That's all for now!
-L