It Is Well.

"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." - Proverbs 16:9

"But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil." - Proverbs 1:33

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall make your path straight." - Proverbs 3:5

"For this is God, or God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death." - Psalm 48:14

"Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass....Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him." - Psalm 37:4,7

Verses like these have been flooding my mind for the past few days. I had an amazing weekend with Katie and Chris and Becks and Austin and other wonderful friends and it made me truly realize that my time here in Georgia is coming to an end. I'll be leaving this wonderful and WARM state in 4 days and it's still been surreal until this weekend and today. I got up this morning and drove to Atlanta for a Fusion Extension class taught by an instructor from my school and we talked about how this service would work into my salon plans. And then tomorrow: Tuesday, March 1, 2001 at 3:30pm I will officially be a cosmetology school graduate from Paul Mitchell the School - Atlanta. Funny to look back the the first blog entry I wrote in July and was still living in Indiana and excited to start my life here in GA..and now it's time for me to go back to Indiana..something I never thought I would want to do but know that it is where I'm supposed to be.

My parents have been working closely with Morgan Servies who I will be renting my shop from and working with and they have gotten SO much work done on my room. I literally have THE BEST parents in the world and I am so thankful for their continued support and unconditional love. I have pictures of my salon so far I'll put up at the end of this blog and I am so excited to be going back stress-free to my room almost completely finished. What a huge blessing! It's all coming together so well and all I have left after tomorrow is state boards. I never thought this day would come!!! For all of you that know how much of a procrastonater I am..you know that this is HUGE for me!

Another thing that God has just put on my heart lately is how perfect and wonderful His timing is. I know I've talked about that recently, but it's proving more and more true everyday. I just love the moments in life when you can identify a time or place in the future where things were so unclear and now see exactly why it happened. I live for the moments that I can't explain other than "they were/are a God thing." I feel so sad for the people who don't get to experience God's love and grace on a day to day basis and it's really been motivating me to be more outspoken and bold about my faith. I spent the night with a dear friend from school last week and we were laying in bed talking about life and the subject of God and Christianity got brought up and it really felt good to be able to answer some of her questions and be able to share what an impact Christ has had on my life and how a life lived for God is so much for beneficial than one lived for self. I haven't even experienced TRUE tragedy in my lifetime yet and I still don't know how I would've made it throught certain trials and experiences without Christ. And even when we do rely on God for comfort, strength, peace, etc. it's still very hard sometimes to feel those things, especially right away, so I really can't imagine a life of depending on other humans and being uncertain of your future. It kills me when people say that they "just don't worry about the future or what happens when you die," or that, "everyone goes to Heaven if you're a good person because I don't believe in hell." And I get it, I do, what person who hasn't been raised in a Christian home would want to, at 20+ years old, open a book that says Jesus walked on water, and that blind men were instantly healed, and that the whole earth flooded and that Jonah survived in the belly of a whale and truly be able to be like "yes, even though that's not happening to today's world now, sure I believe it" without hesitation. It sometimes just seems like it wouldn't add up. Had I not had child-like faith being raised in church I'm sure it would all seem far-fetched to me too, but I just wish that everyone could get and feel just a GLIMPSE of what a life lived with Jesus in your heart is like. The abundance and peace that comes with it. I guess it's just something I have to show through my life, and it's so good to be so motivated at such a transition in my life; being able to move back home and start fresh not only in my earthy life, but in my spiritual life and witness as well. Such a good feeling.

I am so excited for the new and crazy-fast changes in my life lately. I know that I am never out of the care of God and that He has an amazing plan for my life. It's so exciting to think of all the possibilities of my future and that it's all happening so soon. "Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul!"