Late night thinking= overwhelming peace

I know many people think late night thinking is a bad thing, but in my case tonight, it was an eye-opening and much needed wake-up call.

After being in the medical field for a little bit and watching people deal with life stress and even death, it finally caught up to me of what would happen to me if I died. Just the way I think, I think of those split second medical problems that could kill someone with them never knowing. Well here I am laying in bed at 1 AM, thinking what if something like that happened to me.

I've always believed in God and what He has done for me ever since I was little and always went to church, Wednesday night services and hung out in 'cell groups'. But I knew, even in high school, my faith wasn't as strong as most people thought. Once college came around, I could definitely feel myself backsliding with friends and just how I handled certain situations. Ever since then, I just felt like I've never really gotten back to that place. I guess I was drawn into the worldly 'hub-bub' of doing whatever I wanted and not really being accountable for what I was doing. And it's true what they say, I did kind of have that 'empty' feeling like something was missing. After I moved home after college, family and friends showed me how important it was to have that strong relationship with God and how things can just fall into place. Since that point, I have tried to get back into the Bible and quiet times and even joined 'lifegroups' which have been amazing in so many ways.

But tonight was kind of the thing that 'broke the camel's back'. I've never really given much thought of where I would end up. It was a feeling of confusion and fear I never want to feel again. As soon as I felt these feelings, I prayed for God to just forgive me for everything and it just woke up me to how important having a strong and meaningful relationship with Him can mean. It just made all these thoughts run through my head and knowing that He will help me through this time just gave me an overwhelming peace in an instant.

I know this is a very personal post, especially for those who do not know me at all. But what I'm trying to say is don't end up wondering where you'll end up, make an effort and know for sure. It's worth everything you put in to know where you'll spend eternity. It's something I just felt I should share.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Dream job (s)

After starting my job as a nurse (which I love), I've never really thought about my 'dream' job. It never occurred to me after I started down my medical path, that I would ever think of doing anything else. Thanks to life group (which consists of a lot of amazing people), I started to really think about it. After spending hours and hours (ok, more like 10 minutes) thinking and contemplating of what I really wanted to do, I have come up with a couple options I would love to have done if there were endless supplies of money and resources.

#1- I have always loved animals. They spark a type of joy that reminds people of being little kids again. It helps when people are feeling down or sick. I use to bring my friend to the animal shelter to play with the cats/kittens when she was going through a period when she just needed a little pick-me-up. It just brings joy to my heart when I see a smile light up someone's face. For that reason, I thought owning a zoo would be awesome. It's definitely a place that is interesting and amazing to not only little kids, but people of all ages.

#2- Definitely something dealing with music. Everyone in my family has a nag for music in some way or form. I've always had that dream of making it big with the songs I've written and having my own music career. Being a worship leader or music pastor would be amazing! If that isn't a possibility, I've always found it interesting to create songs for musicals. I love love love musicals, so that would be a definitely amazing job to have!

#3 (which I am trying to put into action sometime in the future) - Travel the world with either my Dad or an organization dealing with medical missions. I've had an opportunity to experience a taste of what this could be like when I traveled down to Guatemala. It's another one of those amazing experiences that just brings joy to my heart when I'm able to help those who are in need. It makes me realize how blessed I am when I travel to those countries that are less fortunate and really puts into perspective how much they need not only medical attention, but spiritual attention.

Those are definitely the top 3 for now. I'm working on #3. It really was an amazing trip and definitely overwhelming. It's moments like that, for me at least, that make any job a dream job!