A Sunday to Remember

So, yesterday was the last Sunday that I got to worship with my Clemson family before I leave for the beautiful coast of North Carolina. To be honest, I couldn't have asked for a better Sunday! Usually for goodbyes and such, we hold a midweek to celebrate everything that the person who is leaving has done for the church and how they have impacted our lives. This was way better. A girl that I had slowly gotten to know over the last half of fall semester, Jennifer Graham, was BAPTIZED!!! SO SO SO amazing! It was so refreshing to see another soul commit to God and accept Jesus as Lord of their life! On top of that one of my best friends who is studying abroad in Germany, Jessica Kirkus, just so happened to be listening in for the sermon yesterday morning and made sure that she got to talk to me before I left. I literally started to cry. For those of you that know me, I don't cry at stuff like that. I miss her so much and for her to take time out of her studies (she's going to school in a different language -- to take time out is a lot) to talk to me was super encouraging. It just brightened my day that more. For the icing on the cake, I got to meet some of my new family in Wilmington. It was through a virtual meeting, but I got to be a part of a meeting for the planting. This made everything that is happening so real and that much more exciting. It's so amazing the way God works. I have to tell this story:

So, Fall of 2010 -- I was pretty much fresh out of the water -- I participated in the 2nd annual sweatshirt weekend between the Triangle Church and Clemson Foothills. Basically when NC State and Clemson play each other, the away ministry travels to the home ministry for a jam-packed weekend full of fun and fellowship and a losing, bitter team haha. Well, that weekend I met Erika Murray and Olivia Graham (both originally from Triangle, but students at UNCW). We just so happened to end up crammed into the backseat of someone's car with Backstreet Boys cranked way up and we were all singing to the top of our lungs. It was SO much fun. What also happened that weekend was that us 3 talked about how much a ministry in Wilmington would be so awesome and how I really really really wanted to go there and how I had been dreaming of it since I was a kid. See the connection there? IT IS SO CRAZY HOW GOD WORKS! It's also incredibly amazing. If you asked me on April 18, 2010 if I would up and move without a plan of my own to a foreign city, I would have said "Absolutely NOT!" Now, it's all I can think about.

Jordyn Beaty talked about having our own stories of faith, just like the stories mentioned in Hebrews about men of God stepping out on faith. It inspired me to start/keep track of my own story. By faith, I am moving to Wilmington, NC without a plan. That's my start.

Love,
Elizabeth