The Joy of the Lord

The Joy of the Lord will be my strength.

What powerful words.

I have been filled with joy that can only come from God and I LOVE IT. God's joy is contagious, and I hope that it is spreading to others that I come in contact with b/c it's just too wonderful not to share!

On that note, let me tell you that Earn Your Wings 2010 was PHENOMENAL. seriously. this class of freshmen are crazy awesome and God is going to do great things with them. I do not have enough time in this blog to accurately describe how wonderful earn your wings was, so i'll save that for my next blog.

My first day of Junior year was today. cray-cray. I honestly can't believe it. but instead of harping on how short life is, I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to soak up life, breathe in the sights and sounds that God has given me and serve God in everything that I do. At least I'm going to try. :)

Earlier I mentioned that lately I have had such contagious joy. Let me tell you why.

1. My new friends. God has revealed himself through some of the most wonderful people I got to meet last week. I already love all my new friends and they make me so happy.

2. My old friends. They are the most precious wonderful things in the world to me. I am so blessed to be surrounded by girls who stand by my side, make me laugh like crazy and give it to me straight when the situation calls for it. I am so blessed to be surrounded by guys who protect me, crack me up and treat me with respect that comes from living a Godly life. I have friends who are involved, who love to love people and who genuinely care about making this world a better place by letting God take control and run with it.

3. My mom. She is just the best. seriously. I get an encouraging email from her every day and she loves me unconditionally.

4. MY LORD. He is so good to me. I can't express my love for him enough. His love is truly everlasting. He has blessed me with the job of being an intern for the MRCC Campus Ministry and I can't wait to see what he does through our team.

I can't wait to see what God has in store for me. I know satan is already working on a plan to exploit my weakness and take away my peace. But I stand strong in the Lord and I lean on him to keep me safe.

You are all in my prayers. Let me know if I can make your lives easier!:)

In HIS love,

Madison

Ch-Ch-Ch Changes!

Oh my goodness guys...i'm a JUNIOR! IN. COLLEGE.

Isn't it funny how every time we move up a grade or we get a year older, we are all so shocked by it!? I mean, it's the natural progression of things, and yet it feels so foreign.

CHANGE. that is a foreign word. It's a loved and hated word. On my end it's mostly hated. I've gone through some pretty rough and unwelcome changes in my life, so when it comes knocking I'm not the first one to let it in. In fact I'm usually looking desperately for something to barricade the door. I've noticed in these past two years of school that a lot of times, this hurts me more than it helps. Our lives are changing from the time we take our very first breath. and we have absolutely no control over it! That would be reason number two that I would rather resist change than give it an open invitation. I like to be in control...I know you are all shocked. Now just because I have identified these reasons does not mean that I'm going to invite change over for a cup of tea, but it does make me more aware of who is in control. GOD. That's it. He is in control of my life, and let's be honest, is there any better Captain than our Lord?

God has shown me amazing things this summer. He took me halfway across the world to meet some wonderful people that will influence my life forever. And some of them live not 3 hours from me! I believe in a God who can do anything. I believe in a God who speaks to me through whatever means necessary to get my attention. Like, let's say...a fortune cookie.

Yes, my God speaks to me through chinese take-out dessert. Just a few weeks after I got home from Switzerland, my family ordered Pei-Wei and this is what my fortune cookie said:

"Sometimes traveling to a new place leads to great transformation."

WHOA.

and if that wasn't enough, my 2 lucky numbers were the first listed in the line of lucky numbers...they also happen to be my birthday. 3/13.

How's that for a sign?

My God is a god of wonder and awe and power and love and jealousy and humor and majesty and limitless possibilities. And I am so excited about what he will do in my life this year.

That being said, let me tell you about some things that he is already doing for my family and for me!:)

1. my brother got a raise.
2. my mommy got a job
3. my dogs got clean bills of health

Now those are great things!

As for me, God saw fit to allow me two AMAZING jobs for this school year! I will be a College Intern at Memorial Road Church of Christ AND I will be working for student life as a Freshman Link! I am so so SO excited for this opportunity. I am already praying for all of my girls in my hall of the freshman dorm and I can't wait to meet them! I am also actively praying for the campus ministry at Mem. Road. Jeff McMillion is a fabulous campus minister and I am so blessed to be working with him and with the other 4 interns!

I am so excited about this year, but I'm also a little sad about leaving my family. I know they will miss me, and I them, but we will all be reunited quicker then we think!

Please be praying for this school year and for all of the students going back to school! I have a great feeling about it!:)

Wonderfully Awesome:)

Ok so first off some wonderfully awesome things that I just have to share.

So i gave a hint about my most recent purchase in my last blog and her it is...the big unveiling!




TA DA! and watch...




It is truly magic. LOVE.

Also, i've been doing some fun crafts to put in our precious phase 4 apartment this year!

Exhibit A




Letters to go in our kitchen! (they also spell out the word "tea"!)

anddddd




A fun little button frame!

I'm also in the process of making some pillows! I love it and I can't wait to move in! one more week:)

I solemnly swear that i'm up to no good...

Oh my gosh. It has been far too long since my last update! first of all, let me share with you something that I discovered about myself this weekend.

I truly LOVE Harry Potter.

Now all of my close friends are going DUH.

but seriously...it just brings me so much joy. oh the little things in life:)

and that leads me to my next exciting thing...my latest purchase.

all i'm going to tell you is that it's a mug and there is a hint somewhere in this blog. The rest will have to be a surprise!

In case you don't know me very well, i'm a sucker for mugs. I LOVE them. When i have my own house I will have a cabinet devoted to my mug collection. This sort of thing must run in the family because my mother also loves mugs and tea cups. I guess it's a Callaway girl thing:)

My fam just got back from a great weekend in Tulsa with my grandparents! It was wonderful to see old family friends and some great friends from OC were there too!

We had an interesting encounter as we were leaving to come back to Texas. We stopped at a quick trip and a guy who was probably around 25 or 26 came up to the window and was asking my mom and I if we had some extra change so he could get some gas. He began to tell us about how he and his wife and his 7 month old baby had come to Oklahoma from Wyoming because he had a job lined up. It turns out that he worked for one day and they decided to let him go. They lost their apartment and almost everything that they had. All they have in the world could fit into their car and they were about to run out of gas.

Now usually when people ask for money I usually say no unless I really feel God leading me to do so. And this time I really felt God leading me to help. We gave him what money we had and gave him the address of Park Plaza Church of Christ so they could get some help. I love the way God works to influence peoples lives. We didn't have to pull into that gas station or into that pump and if someone else had, that family might not have gotten any help. If you ask me, they helped us as much as we helped them. I will never forget his wife's face as we were driving away... I turned to look back and tears were running down her face as she rocked her baby and she waved and mouthed the words "thank you". Now that is a powerful memory.

The Lord is SO good!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful last few weeks of summer and getting excited to get back to school! I know I am:)

Phase 4 apartment 116 is gonna be AMAZING:)