King David.

As I was reading the Bible this morning, I just opened it and randomly started reading. This is something I have gotten into the habit of doing; just letting God speak. I opened to 1 Kings 14 and as I was reading along I kept noticing it said things like, "... but not like my servant, David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes."
That stopped me.
Now, we all know that while David was a man after God's own heart, he still had his crapload of mistakes. What about Bathsheba? Didn't he kill her husband after he found out that she was pregnant... by him? Yeah, he did. But he immediately knew he had done wrong and asked God for forgiveness. But it wasn't all fine and dandy then, the son ended up dying from some sickness and David paid dearly for his mistake.
So, I guess I wonder how, after David does something like that, can that passage in 1 Kings say, "... doing only what was right in my eyes."
Now, I'm not a biblical scholar and I don't have a degree in stuff like this but I like to think that 1 Kings can say that because of something God gives us everyday called grace. Grace means that when we mess up, we can ask for forgiveness, and God totally forgets it.
TOTALLY.
And that's why the Bible can say things like that.

Life.

Lately, for me, life hasn't been easy.
Work is to the max, on Monday, for example, I worked for 14 hours. And when I get a day off, I don't have much to do. Right now for me life is... boring, unsatisfying, in more need of... God, maybe?
Yes, I think that's what it is.
BUT everytime I think that, I come to a stand still. My church has nothing for people my age. My youth pastor says I am more than welcome at youth and I go every once in awhile but everytime I go I feel old and out of place.
Mom and Dad suggest going to Life Church but I can't, I just can't. I can't stand the thought of getting my sermon from a screen from sombody who I've never even met. It just seems so impersonal to me. (Yes, I now there's a base pastor but still... wierd.)
There's also the idea of me starting up my own group for people my age, but then it comes to me being way too busy to be running a group.
And that's usually where it stops. I don't now where to go or how to move forward.
I start school in a few weeks and I know this is only going to add to my business but there's got to be something for me besides standing at this crossroad going "Now what?"

Work.

Today was one of those days where you start out feeling great. Nothing can get you down. I woke up around 8, had my coffee (lots!) and sat down on the computer. I had my normal relaxing morning I even got some time to read.
At 11:30 I started working and it was going great. But then it was busy and all people ordered were the same thing: Buck Doubles and Whopper Juniors, which you guessed it, were all on my board. And that's kinda how it went the rest of the day. No break, just a steady, busy flow, of whopper juniors and buck doubles.
After 6 hours of this it's really easy to get stressed, impatient, and unfriendly.
My lesson of the day? Remember how happy I am when I get a good burger.

Switchfoot - Your Love Is A Song Lyrics :)

I have been on a couple of roadtrips to Florida with my sisters and the whole time we have listened to music and audiobooks. Jami, my second oldest sister, loves this song and has made me quite attached to it. Hope you Like it :)

Beauty and the Beast

Okay, so here it is, my first attempt at a real blog.

I have to admit I just joined a group on Facebook called 'I'd marry the beast if I could have a library like that'.

A library like this:

Who would've thought you would be jealous of Belle when you could have Prince Charming, right? I don't think Prince Charming has such a library.

Okay, if you haven't noticed from my info about me section or reading the first few sentences of this blog, I LOVE BOOKS.

I don't have a favorite type of book really, if it looks interesting I read it.

I even have a bookshelf in my room, which I realized about a week ago might be a little different, I don't know many people who own enough books to have a shelf for them. And to make it worse all my books won't fit on that shelf so I also have a shelf in my closet. Geeky? Who cares. :)

The Rosetti Letter and The Devlin Diary by Christi Phillips are some books that I have recently fallen in love with, unfortunately they are they only books she has written. They have just what I tend to like in a book: history, mystery, and just a tad bit of love.

And I have to admit that I've fallen into the trap of the Twilight Saga and yes, I'm in love with Edward Cullen.

But most of all, Jane Austen and her books have caught my heart. Especially since being to England and being in the places where the characters were supposed to have been and living in a manor much like they would have.

So, I love talking about books and.. reading them. Do you have any to recommend?

A blog... finally!

Well.... I haven't written in a long time.... like December. My apologies. Since then, I have been to India and had so many adventures and experiences. Now, I am back home, in the lovely USA.
I have to admit that my life has been pretty bleak since I have gotten back from my DTS. It's consisted of working 30 hours a week and a little bit of getting ready for school. I have decided to go ahead and get school over with, majoring in nursing and going on to become a nurse anethesist. My dream? To bring medical care to the ones who aren't as fortunate as we are in the western world.
So, that's me and what I've been keeping myself busy with the last 2 months. Although I didn't mention it, alot happens and a lot goes on in my mind, random stuff. This random stuff is what I hope to blog about in the future, a way of entertaining you... my readers. :)

Hello Friends!


I have been at Holmsted for 11 weeks now and the training phase is officially over. The past 11 weeks have been so full of learning, experiences, and good times.


A couple weeks ago we learned about ‘Identity’. It was basically a whole week of encouragement, they spoke a lot about who we were in Christ, how we were meant to see ourselves, and who as individuals God had made us to be. One of the first things they did in the week was our ‘Original Design’. Original Design is just a fancy name for how God made you and who he made you to be, basically prophecy. Some of mine were new and some were just confirmations. Over this whole DTS, the nature of a mother has been spoken over me several times; from my fellow students and the leaders. So, when one of the speakers was doing my original design she saw me showing moms how to take care of their babies and she saw me showing them basic healthcare. For me, this was confirmation; I’ve known that medical care was one of the callings on my life and ‘moms’ part was just another thing God has spoken into my life several times.

Now that lecture phase is over it’s time for outreach phase and I will be there for 10 weeks. There are 7 people on my team, 2 boys and 5 girls. We range from 3 Americans, 1 Dane, 1 British, 1 Swiss, and 1 Canadian. When I am on outreach I would love to have emails and Facebook comments but please, please, please, don’t mention God or evangelism. That is very important when you are emailing me, neither are safe and our visas could be taken away if it’s found. But please do feel free to email me! I will only be on the internet once a week, so if I am slow in getting back to you please do not feel I am being rude, I am going to try my best to get back to everyone in good time!

We recently just had an outreach simulation day. Outreach simulation it where you spend the whole day with your outreach team and you are “in another country”. Some of the activities included building a fire on wet ground, having 30 minutes to search for the market so that we could have food, only to find the food was not very appetizing but must be eaten, and being dropped off about 5-7 miles from the base and having to find our way back. The whole day we were not allowed inside and nor were we allowed to talk to other people from different outreach teams, if we had to use the restroom we went outside. It helped so much with unity in the team and it allowed us to see how others worked under stress. The whole day we had to work and interact as a team, we had to be one, and really be there to support each other.

Some prayer points for the team:

- Health and Safety: Travel (plane, trains, and local transportation), food poisoning, culture shock, and in ministry.
- Unity: To grow as a team, continue to learn about each other, and to be effective as a team.
- Strength, Encouragement, and Boldness: When we are in ministry, in prayer, in intercession, and in every situation.
- Hospitality: To be able to express full gratitude and thanks to the people who we are staying with and to know the best way to bless them back.
- Hearts: That God would continue to speak to our hearts about India and keep the passion for outreach ignited!

It’s Christmas at Holmsted and it’s so pretty! We had carols last week and we invited the community for mulled wine and mince pies and we sang for them. We had all the fire places going and it was very cozy, like Christmas should be, the only thing missing was the snow!

Well, as I come to a close I want to thank you all for your letters and support. Your prayers have really lifted me up and the letters helped in my lonely times, I was so happy when I got them!

Thanks to all! And I give you my love!
Merry Christmas!

Ruthie **Luke 1:37**