Thank You Jesus!

I have been living in Newcastle for the past couple weeks and really praying about getting another housemate. This girl from my friends church needed a place to live, so I have hope that she would be able to move in and help cover Feb rent. She decided not to move in yesterday and I was praying because I had one day left to try to find a roommate for Feb. 

At this point, I have been struggling a little bit with faith and trusting that God is there with me through everything. I know it in my head, but I think with transitioning to another country and feeling a bit unsettled I was in a place of questioning. 

So after finding out this girl won't be moving in, I post some ads on Facebook, gumtree, and Christian flatmates. As I am posting I am praying God I don't know if you are going to answer this prayer, but I would love for you to show up in a real way through this situation and show me you are there with me in all these little details. 

About an hour after I posted the ad, I got a phone call from one of my good friends in Sydney saying this girl desperately needs to find a place to live and will be moving out to Newcastle within the week. I called her up and she is awesome!!! Her name is Becky and she is a first year student at Newcastle University and really wants to get involved with Student Life. It was more then a blessing and I am so excited to have her move in. 

After getting off the phone with her, I saw on Facebook that two of my other friends had responded to my housemate post saying, "Hey, you should contact this girl Becky because I know she is looking for a place to live." It was amazing seeing God's confirmation in this decision through 3 random friends. 

It was amazing seeing God work and I can honestly say my faith has increased through this. I know sometimes I can worry about all these little things that need to get done and sometimes doubt that God is in each and every one of those decisions, but the truth is He is each moment of our lives and He totally cares about us and will provide. 

So yes a big thank you to Jesus and His provision. I get to meet Becky next Wednesday and she will move in a couple days after. :) 

Australia Day!!

Happy Australia Day!!! :)

Australians Foundation Day: Day of bbq's, playing in kiddie pools, chilling, and playing games! :)

Time with Jesus!

So with the busyness of leaving the states, traveling back to Aus, and going to the staff conference here I haven't really spent time reading the Word or talking to Jesus.

Today, I got up and knew I needed to spend time with God and talk to Him about everything. It is amazing what a couple hours with Jesus can do to your soul. I went to a small coffee shop that I love called suspension and just sat and journaled, prayed and read this morning. It was so refreshing and filled my heart with a joy and refreshment that I had been longing for. I didn't read anything mind altering or even come to any life changing decisions, but it was just that I spent good quality time with Him and was reading and learning about Him.

I am currently reading Acts and am so falling in love with Jesus. :)

Prayer & Praise

PRAYER:
I feel like it isn't a place or city that makes somewhere feel like home, but it is the people and community. I have been missing my friends and family from the states and feel a lack of personal community here in Newcastle. I don't have any housemates yet and am lacking friends that are outside of Student Life. Prayer that I would be able to find a really good church here and community would be amazing. Also, that I would find the right housemates and that this house would really be a place of refuge and that the 3 of us girls that live here will have deep friendships.

PRAISE:
This last week we had a national wide Campus Crusade for Christ Australia conference and it was so encouraging. It was awesome to see all the workers for every organization within Campus Crusade there and see friends from other cities and catch up with them. The conference was so good and so encouraging. The speakers spoke to us on praying boldly, living a life of faith, and growing deeper with our personal relationships with Christ. It was extremely good for me and felt like a mini 4 day refreshment.

Back on Australia soil!

Well, God has provided again! :) I have made it back to Australia two days ago! It has been good to be back, but surprisingly it was also difficult and the transition has not been the easiest. I think it was hard because I didn't have a chance to process through transition or that there would be transition into the second year of stint. I knew in my head it would be different, but I guess I didn't realize how different it would be.

Since I was able to buy my plane tickets really quickly within leaving, I didn't have a chance to really say good bye or process the fact that I was about to leave the states and not see people again for another year.

Without the process time, it made it a bit more difficult of a transition. I stepped off the plane extremely tired because I couldn't sleep very well and entered into Australia again. Throughout the day, I hit some realities that were hard to process.

This year will be a different staff team, some of my friends won't be here this year, I just left my family and friends from back home, this year will be extremely different from last year. So yeah, after a few reality checks, it was good to take some time to process through everything that would be new with the second year.

After the first day, I have been able to unpack everything, set up the house again, and meet up with a couple students again. It has been really great to see them and talk about how their summers are going.

Tomorrow I fly to our staff conference where all staff members with Campus Crusade for Christ will be and am so excited to see everyone else again and talk about this next year! :)

Leaving Spokane

Tomorrow I am leaving Spokane and for the second time saying good bye to good friends and the city I love. It is bitter sweet leaving. I am so excited for what is to come next year and the adventure God will have me on will be amazing, but it is always hard leaving people for a year.

It is weird how God brings relationships into our lives for periods of time and then lets us go off on our own to grow. I am so thankful for my friendships and the people God has put into my life to encourage me and keep me going through life. So I just want to say a big thank you to Spokane and the people there who have been home to me. Even when I am gone for so long I can still come back and fit in like I have never left.

Tomorrow I start the adventure of 2012. I am excited for where God will take me and what will happen this next year! I will be on the road saying good byes for the week and flying to Australia next Wednesday the 11 of Jan! Please pray for safe travels and that I would leave the states well!