The First Few Steps.

Well friends, it has begun. Nine days staying at a castle in the middle of the Rocky Mts. with 66 of some of the coolest cats around all with the same passion for Jesus that I have!

I had never been to Glen Erie (Navigator headquarters) before, but always wanted to go. It's seriously such a great place to just be with God and lose track of time! (For real, check out the picture)! 

Isn't it amazing?! (Sorry, designer nerd moment). Anyways, among hiking, slack lining and jumping into a freezing cold basin of water, I learned not only a lot about my job for next year, but God really showed me a lot as well. Where to even begin?!

I think the biggest thing that happened while I was there was a perspective change. A perspective change about who I am and more importantly who I am to the Lord. I went to the summit with my heart and head in a completely different place, struggling with my worth (as most women do) and dealing with a lot of things especially in my heart. I felt inadequate and found myself comparing myself to others there. Like I have said before, I also don't do things alone, so I was questioning why God had me do this: alone, the only one from my school/not knowing anyone there.

God didn't let me feel alone for long! I rode out to CO with two amazing girls that I had never met before. These girls were great! They were very inviting and really sweet even though they didn't know me! We definitely were close by the end of two eight hr. car rides and nine days together going through the same experiences! One is even my prayer partner for our funding adventures this summer! God really gave me companionship with these girls so I wouldn't feel as alone going into a new situation. Love these girls and I am privileged to work with them in my region (more on that later) all year!!

Even within the first few days, God wrapped his arms around me and whispered in my ear: "You are worth it!" We studied how Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene (who used to be possessed by 7 demons) after He rose from the dead. The FIRST person, out of everyone who may have been more righteous than she, He decided to use her to tell everyone else. This sparked conversations among us about God using the least of these for his good works. Small, shepherd David not only killed a giant but was the next king of Israel. Esther was used to save an entire people. Mary, a mere teenager, bore the living Son of God. If these Biblical characters were worthy to be used, why couldn't I be used as well? This is my calling; God is going to use me; I am worthy to be used!

Another amazing thing that God did in CO was give each one of us on EDGE the encouragement to be able to get through our experiences together. Did I mention we have the largest EDGE class EVER!!! Staff have been praying for years that they have a class of 100. We are the closest with 86ish people. These people are amazing. Seriously. They are all great brothers and sisters in Christ, who were so open and vulnerable with each other that I felt like we all were pretty close by the end of just nine days. We will now all walk together towards the same goal: Jesus, on different campuses lifting each other in prayer. This year is going to be great!

KSU will have a great staff in and of itself. We will have four women on our staff this year. We haven't had a woman on staff for at least 2 1/2 years. How great is that?! We also will have five great Godly men on our staff to be great examples of brothers in Christ. This staff includes our full time staff, staff in training, and other EDGErs. The Heartland region (KSU, KU, UNL, ISU, NWMO) has one of the biggest team of EDGErs as well, which is great. I can't wait to work and walk with all these amazing people this year and to see how God uses each of us on our campus'! This picture doesn't even include the 2nd year EDGErs we will be working with!

Will you please pray that we remain encouraged and positive about funding our ministries for next year and that we continue to trust that God has a plan for us and will provide what we need for his plan?

I will leave you with something to think about. A quote from a NAVS staff wife, "We are ordinary people in love with an extraordinary God!"

New Beginnings...

Hi friends! It's hard to believe that college is pretty much over for me. The last four years have gone by so fast and have been some of the greatest years of my life! 


Coming to college I thought I had the whole Christian life figured out. I went to church, believed in God, and was always known as the "good Christian girl." God wasn't satisfied with me being just that though. Thankfully! Starting with my first painful break up at the beginning of college, Jesus began to break me, mold me, and pursue my heart. I was desperately lost and searching for something more in my life. In walks a girl, I will call her Dawn, into my life. (Ironic that this Dawn was the beginning of my new life in Christ as dawn is the beginning of the day). What a pairing we were; a friendship definitely from God! So much alike it was scary at times! Through this friendship I was shown what a true relationship with Jesus looked like. I learned that my worth was in God, not earthly men and that God's love for me was incomprehensible! What joy I was finding in my Lord!


Dawn was just the beginning of many, many friendships with others in The Navigators, who showed me what it meant to be a brother or sister in Christ. The Navigators quickly became my community of believers in Manhattan. I was in a freshman Bible study with other freshman girls and went to NAVnites every week. I started reading my Bible on a semi-regular basis and learned a lot about Jesus. Then, in the middle of my sophomore year, God decided to shake my world again. The leaders of the then Navigators decided that their vision was aligning more with a ministry called Student Mobilization, so they were going to start a ministry on campus for them. So what did this mean for all of us?


This could be an entire new post, which bits may come out later, but heres the shorthand version. We had to chose: to follow the leaders to this new ministry or be one of the students who tried to rebuild The Navigators on campus with the help of staff from another campus. After prayer and a lot of discussion, I was the only girl from my Bible study and one of the few in my group of friends who decided to continue with the "new" NAVS. This was a difficult decision for me because if you know me, I don't like to do things alone. One of the deciding factors of this decision, however, was that I felt a calling to, as an upper classman, start to take a leadership role and become a Bible study leader myself, which was a non-existent opportunity if I stayed with the leaders. I still remember the first meeting of the "new" NAVS: a few gathered in a small room in our union, two guys and their acoustic guitars; worship started and in flooded people! When we expected maybe 15-20 people, we had about 100! It was a great, overwhelming feeling that maybe, just maybe, we could survive on campus in our ministry! 


Fast forward a lot of growth of me and the ministry, a lot of traveling of staff, and a lot of emotions (also part of the long version of the story) to today. I've been co-leading a Bible study of AMAZING girls for two years. For real, they are wonderful and bring a lot of joy to my life. I'm sure you will hear a lot about them over the next year. We now have full time staff who started this year and they are great as well! Our ministry has grown to be a community of grace and a great place for fellowship. Seriously, I love this group of people!


As many of you know I am now going on staff with The Navigators next year. So why am I going on staff, besides the fact that these people are great?! What brought me to this point? Good questions! I honestly had never been "an EdgeCorps" type of person. I never thought it was for me, until...I was sitting in a senior breakfast at one of our conferences last semester and God put a brochure in front of me and told me "Check this out. What are you doing next year?" (Through many painful experiences, I have learned that when God speaks I should probably obey). So, for the next several months I prayed about applying and I attended a conference specifically about this opportunity, all the while without mentioning it to many people. This conference was an emotional roller coaster because I  heard God calling me to this opportunity, but I knew that my parentals would be less than enthused about me not using my degree for a year. At one point during the weekend, a staff member I was having a conversation with point blank told me "we need someone like you." Really, God?! Okay, okay I'll apply.


Throughout the entire application process (which happened to be about a 25 page application when finished), I kept my parents updated on what I was doing and prayed that God would work in their hearts. The conversations that came in those months were some of the greatest spiritual conversations I have had with them, and God definitely has changed their hearts to become supportive of my decision to go on staff with The Navigators. Praise Jesus!!


That is the how, so back to the why. I was a Resident Assistant in the residence halls on campus for two years. During those two years I encountered a lot of brokenness in the students: addictions, abuse, severe homesickness, depression, cutting, suicidal thoughts, and pregnancy just to name a few. Because of my job, I was unable to truly reach these students to show them who could give them a new life and hope.So without a title of having to befriend them, I want to be able to hang out with these people, love them for who they are, and show them the hope and love that comes in knowing Jesus! A verse that God has shown me, in the last month especially, is Isaiah 42: 6-7:


"I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness." 


This is why I want to be on staff with The Navigators. To show this campus that Jesus loves them deeper than we can ever fathom. You should also check out the song "God of this City" by Chris Tomlin. It's a good motivational song for the next year! 


In closing, (I know, finally!), I am creating this blog in order to keep people updated on my journey this next year as I encounter the students on campus, encounter the Spirit, and encounter opposing forces Face2Face. I am excited to see where Jesus takes me and the people I will meet and I fully trust that he will provide for me everything I need for next year!!


P.S. Ask me about how you can pray or support me for next year. And thank you for reading this incredibly looooong blog post. I will try to keep them shorter from now on. Congrats if you made it all the way through!