Going West

It’s official. I’ve accepted.  

The infamous question of, “What are you doing next year?” finally has an answer. I thought this day would never come. 

Starting August 27, 2013 I will be a year-long intern at Young Life’s Crooked Creek Ranch in Fraser, Colorado. 

My heart just skipped a little beat. I am so excited. 

The process of figuring out post-graduation plans is an interesting one. Some days it’s exhilarating and exciting. Then other days it’s exhausting and stressful. There were days where the options seemed limitless and then other days where it seemed like there would be no options. Some days I would sit around with Jen making lists of all our hopes and dreams and then other days where I just cried because nothing made sense. I prayed and prayed to God to give me guidance and then some days I got mad at God because things were not happening as I expected. Doors were shut and new doors unexpectedly opened. 

The list that Jen and I sent our parents as our "plan."

And at the end of it all, I am sure that Crooked Creek Ranch is where God wants me. 

I kind of laughed the other day while working on the Patriarch Bible study by Beth Moore when I learned that the children of Israel “had to move west to dwell in the fulfillment of God’s promises.” Scholars point out that in Scripture there are parallels of eastward movement with results in greater distance from God’s fellowship. So moving westward is associated with moving towards a deeper intimacy with God. Now really this shouldn’t be taken too literally because we live on a round planet and we’re all east or west of somewhere, but…

This southern belle really is going west. 

I am moving west to Colorado and am moving in hopes of finding deeper intimacy with the Heavenly Father. 

I cannot wait to see all that this internship will hold. I know there will be good days and there will be bad days. I know sometimes I will be eager to serve the Lord while working and then other days I will have to force myself to have a positive attitude. 

But all the while, my prayer and my deepest desire is to know the Lord more, and then too, for every person who steps on Crooked Creek’s property to know the immense love the Father has for them. 

Come August, it’s really happening. 

Sarah, Anna, and I visited CCR in October while in CO with no clue that I would be there within the year.

I will be leaving my southern comfort zone. Thank you, Brad Paisley, for this perfect song (Anna, don’t cry). And thank you, Patagonia, for a ski jacket called the “Snowbelle,” you are just what I need.