Open Doors!

I have a lot on my heart and was so close to writing this blog about doubt, but instead, I have decided to update you on the crazy goodness that has happened in the last 48 hours!

• Thursday, August 21st at 2am: I was searching for jobs on the SPU website and applied for a few, including one for a position as a Saturday Concierge in Seattle.
• Thursday, August 21st at 8am: Received an email back from the Concierge position with an attached application and a request for an interview!
• Thursday, August 21st at 11am: Called my mama and asked what she thought of it all, she approved, and then called my aunt to see if I can crash at her place which is an hour and a half away from Seattle, on the way to Bend. Being the amazing aunt that she is, she completely opened her house to me! That's family love right der, folks.
• Friday, August 22nd at 12pm: Found places to get some sleep on the way to Seattle, worked out living arrangements, confirmed my interview, and worked on my application.
• Friday, August 22nd at 2pm: Found a belt to go over my skirt for 50 cents (for my interview outfit), it just doesn't get much cheaper than that!

All this is to say that I believe God has opened doors for me with this job and as I pray for His will through it all, He will continue to provide for me.  And even when money gets tight, His love is all I need.

Please be praying for me through all of the new, exciting, and scary changes of this month! If I get the job, I will be working in Bend part of the week and working in Seattle the other part until I move up to Seattle full-time for school, so it will be lots of driving and little sleep but so worth it! Also, my current job was not expecting me to have to cut down my availability so soon and we don't have enough employees so I'm praying and hoping for peace in that.

I hope you now feel so very updated on the semi-spontaneous life of Amy.

Your Robots Have Hearts.

"Stopped at the red light, looked out my window

Outside the car, saw a sign, said 'Help this homeless widow'
Just above this sign was the face of a human"

Those are some of the lyrics to Michael West's new song "My Own Little World".  This song, among other things, truly motivated me to think about how I see people. I work at a sub shop, make sandwiches, ring people out, correct mistakes, and take whatever comments that customers have with a happy face.  All the while, I am a person with passions, dreams, and most of all, feelings.  Now, I don't really care if a customer yells at me because I'm not close to them and  if they don't like me, I can deal.  On the other hand, I have some regulars that completely make my day because of their kindness and interest in my life.

But how many times have I, with the thought that a store's employee is like a robot, hurt someone or judged someone, or even just not shown love to someone?  How many times have I gone through the motions of picking up an order or buying a new shirt and not seen what Jesus sees in the person who helped me? I would say, most of the time I move past with no regard to the fact that every person in the world is a God-created masterpiece with a heart longing for something bigger than themselves. I'm not saying that I'm completely rude to every person that I meet but I'm saying that it's not showing love if all I am doing is not being rude, it's only showing love if I can go beyond what anybody normally does and truly love how Jesus would.

This isn't just about store employees either. As the song talks about a homeless woman. How do we treat people with love when we've stereotyped them from the beginning? There's a homeless woman that always stands on the same corner by my work. I've always seen her as the homeless woman, nothing more. Inside of her though, there's a dream and a desire to live a better life.

The third thing that triggered all of these thoughts was the movie, "To Save A Life" (amazing, go rent it, watch it, and do something about it).  It blew my mind. I can't tell you how many people I've passed by that were alone, or how many people I've shrugged off because they weren't in my "group". What if, I was their last hope? I want to pour hope into people but to do that, I need to be open to anyone and everyone. Not just open enough for them to come to me, but open enough for me to make an effort to create relationship with them.  It's going to be my goal to create friendships at SPU that I would not normally think of creating.  It's time to step out of my comfort bubble and make an impact on the lives near and far from me.

So my challenge for me, and possibly for you, is to see people for who they are in Christ. See if you can break down some walls in people's lives. And realize that everyone has feelings, dreams, and backgrounds that you can't see on the surface. Find the goals that they have and bring them closer to reaching their goals in love.

I need your help, please!

I’ve been doing scholarship contests like crazy, and I just entered one that I actually have a good chance of winning, or at least placing and getting some money. Basically, I just submitted an essay and after they receive my transcript and read over my essay, the company is going to put it online. Once it is put online, people vote for it and the essay with the most amount of votes wins.


This is where you come in….I was going to ask you all to vote, until I realized that I would need you to vote twice a day, everyday for three months. I figured that was asking a little much :p

So my new method might seem terrible or sketchy to you, but honestly by the number of votes that everyone else has (like 600 in just a few days), they have to be doing this too. If you don’t support my method, I understand. But anyways, voting requires inputing your email address. I’m pretty sure that you won’t get an email back because I voted for another person just to see and haven’t gotten an email back. If you do get an email, it won’t be spam-y 

So, getting to the point, you would be so so so helpful if you just gave me your email address so I can vote for my essay using your name. You can comment on here with it or message me with it if you don’t feel comfortable.

Thank you so much! (and sorry again if this seems really bad to anyone)

 
Also, if you know of family or friends that would be willing to give me their email address, that would be awesome! The more the better.

ALL Things.

People criticize. People see all of the obstacles that I will have to go through, and they shove them in my face as though I don't know about them. People see a girl, in the midst of the majority of male dentists and change their minds about the "everyone's equal" thing that many say they so strongly believe.

Usually, I don't let it get to me. But I had someone that I look up to today, bring me down. I let the frustration and negative attitude come over me all day.  I doubted my choice in school, my plans for life, God's help through it all and everything in between. I was driving home, praying and worshipping. I remembered the well-known and well-used verse:

"I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me" Phil. 4:13

As I thought and prayed over this verse, it came to life more than the usual.  We read verses and sing worship songs about the goodness of God but set aside the parts about how we need to follow God's path in order to truly recieve all the blessings that he has planned for our lives. So as long as I let Christ into my life, my actions, my plans, my schooling, and my finances and as long as I rely on His strength, I can do all things. I believe that Seattle Pacific, whatever the cost, is where I am supposed to be and until I feel that God has different plans, I will walk in that.

The second part of this, that I have touched on in the past, is being responsible. I need to take up every opportunity that God lays in front of me. I need to use my job, this blog, scholarships, job shadows, and volunteer work. God doesn't grow money trees, He doesn't make money rain down from the sky, He doesn't leave bags of cash under my pillow each night (Although, He could do any of those, He just usually works in other ways that will teach us and stretch us).

I hope and pray that I am doing God's will and I know that while walking in obedience with Him, I can do ALL things.