You Revive Me…
These past few weeks have been some of my most joyful and most tearful I have ever experienced. Recently, my Pappy was diagnosed with a very rare blood disease and his health has quickly declined as his 89-year-old body has begun to shut down. More than anything, my heart breaks because he is in pain and I desperately want to take his pain away and replace his brokenness, feebleness, and weakness, with strength and peace. While I cannot take his pain or weakness away, I am learning to surrender him to the One who holds him in the palm of His righteous and holy hand trusting that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.” Until the day comes when I am no longer able to, I am going to hold his hand, laugh at his jokes, call him, hug him, and kiss him every chance I get and do my best to convince him that I love him the most…fraid’ so deary.
I have been reminded that I am not meant for this world and that illness, brokenness, sadness, etc. are simply the product of a broken world. There will come a day when we see Jesus face to face and experience a kind of joy and peace our earthly minds cannot fathom. The song “You Revive Me” has pierced my heart and speaks such beautiful words of truth that have brought me great comfort as well as conviction these past few weeks. The word revive literally means to regain life, consciousness, or strength. In the midst of my own brokenness and weakness, my prayer has been that the Lord would awaken and strengthen my spirit and that in midst of this storm, I would look to my Father with arms lifted high trusting that He will revive me and move in my heart to draw me closer to Him. My prayer has also been that the Lord would be so evident in my life that others would have to ask to understand where my joy, strength, and peace come from in the mist of so much sadness and brokenness. I know that this is an opportunity to shine brightly for the Lord and show others that we are not of this earth and that death is not the end but instead the beginning of eternal life with our Creator.
"The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
–Isaiah 40:28-31
You Only Live Once…
For Spring Break, I got to go to Sarasota, Florida with over 80 of my closest CSF friends and boy was it incredible! While I had high expectations for the trip, my expectations were absolutely blown out of the water. My top 5 favorite moments of the trip were:
2. Worship on the Beach. On two of the nights that we were in Sarasota, after getting cleaned up, we headed back to the beach to watch the sun set and to worship under the stars. What an absolutely amazing experience that was! It was so beautiful to hear nothing but the waves crashing onto the shore and voices singing loudly to our Lord. On the first night, I saw a shooting star and was overwhelmed with the thought that the same God who made the stars and the seas made me and loves me more than I can comprehend. Wow. What an amazing God we have the opportunity to love, serve, and live for!
3. Laying On the Beach. Oh it was so glorious to simply lay on the beach and play in the ocean all day every day. The beach was absolutely beautiful and it was so relaxing to read, sleep, and listen to music and so much fun to take adventures and explore along the beach and play in the ocean. Gosh, it was just great. Ha!
4. SunniBunni. Oh if only words could describe the deliciousness of this place. After worship on the beach, everyone went to get ice cream and hang out before coming back for bible study. Being the Warrior Poets that we are, we decided that we would blaze our own trail and find an ice cream store that no one else would be at. After searching for places to go, we all decided that due to its name alone, SunniBunni would be our destination. After driving through Sarasota, we arrived at what was soon to become our new love. SunniBunni serves organic yogurt that is out of this world! We were all so in love with SunniBunni that we went through many adventures and hilarious moments to get it once more before we left for home. #SunniBunniSwag
5. “We’re at that Lutheran Church. We’re at that place we stay. We’re at that combination Lutheran Church and place we stay.” I loved staying at a church and having a big sleep over every night with my precious friends. It was like I had 80 siblings always having someone to play frisbee or basketball with, or explore with or simply laugh and talk with. Sleeping was definitely more like napping, but it was so fun to have so many friends to hang out with at all hours of the day and night with. Good times with sweet friends.
Honorable Mentions:
1. Studying James with Amazing People
2. Midnight adventure to Wal-Mart and Steak N’ Shake
3. Lent Dinner/Worship Service
4. Jazzercise with the Old Ladies
The week was so full of blessings, laughter, memories, relaxation, learning, growing, playing, (not) sleeping, exploring, swimming, tanning, praying, singing, dancing, reflecting, and living life to the fullest. The Lord answered so many of my prayers throughout the week, with the biggest being that I would make intentional and worthwhile friendships. I wish that words could describe how much joy I experienced on this trip and how incredibly thankful I am to have had the opportunity to go. What joy!
Music and Friends. Life is Good…
Last week, First Church hosted Gungor for an unbelievable concert/worship experience. The group was so down to earth and their love for the Lord was so evident as they used the talents they had been uniquely given to give all glory to the One deserves it all. I have listened to their music many times (perfect driving music, ha!) but to see them live was a totally different experience. Gosh, it was fantastic. On top of worshipping with Gungor, I got to worship alongside of my precious friends, which is one of my all-time favorite things to do. Goodness, what a blessing music and precious friends are!
Go Long…
Oh the embarrassing moments of Emilee Hancock. This past weekend, Dad, Mom, and Darin came down to Lexington for the “Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon.” On Friday, we went to the marathon exposition so that the boys could get their race packets and so we could just walk around the expo. Well, as we were walking I saw a table with free frisbees and due to my practice in Sarasota, I had convinced myself that I was now a professional frisbee thrower. SO, I grabbed one of the frisbees and anxiously waited to go outside to test it out. When we finally left to leave, we were alone besides one woman and her toddler walking on a sidewalk pretty far away. Perfect, the coast was clear and I was ready to test out my new (and free) frisbee. I told Darin to “go long” knowing that with my impressive skills, this frisbee was going to be taking some serious flight. I wound up and threw the frisbee as hard as I could and it went flying…straight…into…the…woman’s…back. This frisbee literally did a 90-degree turn and headed straight for her lower back. We all stood in total shock knowing what was about to happen but were unable to do anything about it. Oh, it was horrible. I apologized while suppressing a laugh (not because I didn’t feel bad but because I was in shock at what had just happened) and quickly walked away. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that moment will never not be funny.
Lessons Learned: 1. Ultimate Frisbees are NOT the same as regular frisbees. 2. Frisbees have minds of their own. 3. Darin is terrible at catching frisbees. 4. It is better to hit the mom over the baby. 5. In moments like that, words are hard to come by.
On the bright side, the boys survived and were extremely successful in their marathon AND we got to spend a lot of time as a family making (embarrassing) great memories.
We Are the Champions…
Oh my goodness gracious, this week has been so ridiculously fun and exciting. I have never really been interested in watching sports unless I am at the arena/stadium/etc. but this past week I officially became a fan of March Madness. Big deal. Being in Lexington as we won the Final Four game against Louisville on Saturday was insane and then winning the Championship on Monday was unreal. I have never experienced anything like the madness in Lexington after those two games. I raided the streets along with thousands of fellow UK fans and took in all of the excitement and ridiculousness. The excitement level was off the charts and the pride of being a UK Wildcat was evident as the C-A-T-S cheer was chanted every other minute. I absolutely loved getting to experience the University of Kentucky’s 8th Championship as a freshmen. So fun!
Headed to the Final Championship!
GR8NESS
The whole experience was unbelievably fun and exciting but also extremely eye opening and heartbreaking to see the level of disrespect people have for themselves and others. I have never been exposed to the level of drunkenness or “highness” (definitely a technical term) that I saw on Saturday or Monday night. There is so much brokenness here, which proves that I am exactly where I need to be. My light cannot shine where there is already light but can shine brightly where there is darkness. I am going to live out Matthew 5:14 and shed light on this dark campus.
Woodhill…
The Lord is moving in Woodhill and I am so thankful to have a front row seat in watching His work being done in the hearts of the people there. Each week I have the opportunity to go to a low-income neighborhood called Woodhill and get to simply love on people and build relationships with them while telling them about Jesus. Over the last several months, we have built some really awesome relationships with some incredible people and have had the opportunity to encourage, pray for, and just listen to people and learn about their lives. It absolutely amazes me that our families welcome us into their homes and allow us to be apart of their lives. They are such a blessing to us and it’s been so humbling and beautiful to see how evident the Lord has been in paving those relationships and opening doors for great conversations and moments.
This past Monday, the Serve the City team had an Easter celebration for the Woodhill Community and had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. My goodness, some of the kids that I got to meet absolutely melted my heart and it was such a blessing to be able to love on them and give them the attention that they are so desperate for. These kids are absolutely beautiful and it brought me such joy to see their faces light up as we played. Oh I just love them.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” -Matthew 19:14-15
And finally, some of the songs that I can’t seem to take off of repeat…
Reason to Sing (All Sons and Daughters)
Oh Our Lord (All Sons and Daughters)
Your Glory (All Sons and Daughters)
Brokenness Aside (All Sons and Daughters)
Awaken Worship CD
Passion: White Flag CD- Specifically You Revive Me, How I Love You, Sing Along, Jesus Son of God, and Lay Me Down
Hillsong United: Live in Miami CD
Okay, this post has clearly been too long so I am going to stop writing before I continue to ramble, BUT in case I am not able to post before Easter here are some awesome songs (I'm certain I'm forgetting some great ones) to reflect on as we celebrate our incredible Savior’s death and resurrection!
Why? (Nichole Nordeman)
True Love (Phil Wickham)
Time In Between (Francesca Battistelli)
Lead Me to the Cross (Hillsong United)
Christ Is Risen (Matt Maher)
What Do I Know of Holy (Addison Road)
Amazing Grace- My Chains Are Gone (Chris Tomlin)
At the Foot of the Cross (Kathryn Scott)
Grace Flows Down (Christy Nockels)
Revelation Song (Kari Jobe)
Beauty of the Cross (Jonny Diaz)
Redeemer (Nicole C. Mullen)
The Closer I Get to the Cross (Palisade)
