"When we trust our lives to the unseen but ever-present God, He will write our lives into His story and every last one of them will turn out to be a great read. With a grand ending." ~Beth Moore - Esther

Isn't it funny how all things always work out when you least expect it? Or how things work out when you're not even expecting it? I always feel in awe of God when these types of things happen.

That's how I feel today. I'm sitting in the lobby of our hotel at a conference for work and all I can think about is how awesome God is. Of how He takes care of us when we aren't even asking him to. Last night, I did some of my Esther Bible Study and I looked back at last weeks session. Last week, Beth Moore talked about how the book of Esther is all about time. Boy did God have something in store for me last week!

If you know me, you know that patience is one of those things that I do not have. Its not something that I struggle with, or have a hard time maintaining. It is something that I DO NOT have! Everyone always tells you..."don't pray for patience". Well I don't. I have realized over my life that I may not have patience, but I can accept things. Its hard to know people who stress over their jobs or things going on in their life and they can't seem to get to the point where they can just sit back and let God run things. Over the past few years, my mind frame has turned from panic and stress to "There's nothing I can...I might as well accept it". Take for instance my job situation: A couple of weeks ago, our Director comes to us with news from the state, from Governor Perdue. The Governor is trying to change things around with the way that school systems and RESA's co-exist. As of right now, the way things work for us at RESA, is that the school systems have to pay into their appointed RESA. They don't have a choice in the matter. In fact, the money goes directly to RESA and the systems don't ever see that money. The Governor is trying to change it to where the schools have the option whether they want to pay into RESA or not. Our Director sat everyone down a couple of weeks ago to give us this news. As you might guess, alot of people started to freak out. Alot of people started looking for other jobs and they started stressing over whether or not they were going to have a job. Me? I didn't do anything. I listened to what our Director had to say and went back to my desk and continued working. My only prayer was, "God." I didn't pray for it not to happen or anything. All I said was, "God". I knew that it was all in His hands. I didn't have to ask Him to take care of it. I knew that He was and is already taking care of it. I hate it for those people who just can't have faith that all things are going to work out for them. They just don't understand it. I can be an example of my faith but until they find it themselves, they'll never know.

I say all of this because up until last week that is where my mind frame has been concerning things in my life. Like I said, that was up until last week. Most of everyone who will read this knows about my situation with a certain somebody that I like to call P. P and I have been friends for a long time and with his situation we are remaining that way for a while. However, some days we start to see ourselves jumping ahead and we have to put the brakes back on. We start acting and talking like a couple. We know that until his situation is handled, that if we go any further with our friendship that it won't be pleasing to the Lord. Well....sometimes it is SO easy to forget that.

So last week...our Bible Study. Beth is talking about how the whole book of Esther is basically centered around time. She gives four points to show us how even in real life, time is important. I don't have my book next to me, but she talked about how sometimes we have to wait on things for them to be time for us, time for God, or time for someone else's time. I can't remember the 4th point, but the very last point was waiting on someone else's time. When she told us that last point, I started laughing. You see, God....he has a GREAT sense of humor. In fact, sometimes, I think He has a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor. He wasn't only reminding me that P and I have all the time in the world or that I needed to wait for P's situation to get settled. He was also telling me that I needed to wait on someone else's time. I needed to wait on P's time. Just because his situation will be over one day, he might not be ready for anything more than a friendship for a while.

Well...God's sense of humor goes even farther for me this week. As soon I get His point, or the point that I think He is trying to give, He shows me another part of His plan and all I can do is smile and shake my head. Like I said before, He just plain out amazes me.

As I stated earlier, I'm sitting in the lobby of our hotel at a conference in Atlanta. I've only been up here for 2 days. Well the last two days has definitely been a defining point for P and I. And let's just say that God has been having His own laugh these last few days.

I'm always so excited to see what God has in store for me. Especially now that P is part of my life's equation. But like I said before, I don't have patience and so I'm desperate to see where things are going. So....I can't wait to see what God has in store for tonights bible study! I'm expecting to be amazed once again! I guess that's why I entitled this post "Don't just wait and see. Live and see." I believe that to live life according to the way that God would have us to live it, we can't just sit back and wait for life to happen. We have to LIVE it.

2/17/09


"Faith is for that which lies on the otherside of reason. Faith is what makes life bearable, with all its tragedies and ambiguities and sudden, startling joys. Surely it wasn't reasonable of the Lord of the Universe to come and walk this earth with us and love us enough to die for us and then show us everlasting life? We will all grow old, and sooner or later , we will die, like the old trees in the orchard. But we have been promised that this is not the end. We have been promised life." ~Madeleine L'Engle

I start this blog with the above quotation. I think it explains how I preceive life in life itself. Without Faith, I don't know how one person can make it through this short journey that we all live. Life comes with sorrows but it also grants us with great joys!

I guess I should start off by introducing myself. My name is Nichole. I'm 24 years old and I consider myself to be just a "plain Jane". However, as far I precieve things...God never creates things to be plain. If my friends and family were to describe me, their choice words would probably be: fun-loving, opinionated, loud, funny, sweet, thoughtful, compassionate and maybe a little OCD. I'm a glass half-full kind of girl. I am a Preacher's Daughter that totally defies the typical definition of such. I absolutely LOVE serving the Lord. I have my ups and downs with being a PK. As with any other thing in life, the good always comes with the bad. I've worked at the same job since I was 16 and I absolutely love and adore the people that I work with.

I guess you could say that I've been forced to blog. Two of my friends have started blogs that touch my life each time they post. Being one that is usually not easily persuaded by peer pressure, finally broke after a little pressure from the two and here I am! I plan to dedicate this blog to all and any of my opinions (there's a fore-warning for you), my hopes, my joys, and my sorrows whether it be with real-life applications or inspired by movies, books or music. (I'm a critic by heart!)

Heart Wide Open. Hands Lifted High.
I entitled my blog as this because throughout my life I have always lived with an open heart. As hard as I have tried with past hurts, I have never seemed to build up those walls that so many people have had the chance to do. I go into all things and do all things with an open heart and usually an open mind. I think God granted me with a gift of discernment because of this inability to build walls. Thus, Hands Lifted High. Even though I've been hurt by friends, family, past relationships, etc.,I always end up on the other side praising God. Whether HE delivered me from unforseen circumstances or just had something better for me, HE always delivers.

So...with a Heart Wide Open and Hands Lifted High.....the blog begins!

2/10/09