Missionary Life -- Mesi Bondye Mesi

“Jesus wants us to touch human misery, to touch the suffering flesh of others. He hopes that we will stop looking for those personal or communal niches which shelter us from the whirlpool of human misfortune and instead enter into the reality of other people’s lives and know the power of tenderness. Whenever we do so, our lives become WONDERFULLY COMPLICATED and we experience intensely what it is to be a people, to be part of a people.” Pope Frankie – Joy of the Gospel

My recent trip to Haiti showed me how the poorest country in the western hemisphere has everything they will ever need and how much I truly lack, they have love and they give love.  Without asking questions, Haitian culture takes in a stranger and feeds them even if they don’t have any food to give they will often give the food off of their own plate.  My favorite Haitian custom is that they GREET EACH AND EVERY PERSON that they pass.  A simple hello to a passing stranger, recognizing the dignity in the other person, man if I could explain how much my heart grows when that happens. 

We visited a prison in An Se Vau, a place where no human should ever have to live; an 8 x 8 cell with 35 grown men, in little to no clothing, sharing two 5-gallon buckets for water and bathroom.  One young man, 19 years old, had been there for 18 months because a cow that lived next door went missing.  He has yet to see a judge.  I was asked to share my story with the cell of teenage boys; my heart was full of love for them.  I told them of the time I was sitting in the same place (in America) as them.  How when I had made the dumbest decision in my life, God did not abandon me, but was in fact very close to me.  Scared and alone in my cell I cried out to our Lord.  I knew a glimpse of their pain and desolation.   I felt the gaze of Christ upon me.  I will never forget their eyes; their eyes pierced my soul as I shared my story with them.   I reached in to shake their hands, to touch Christ and they thanked me; little me, they thanked, in that moment again I could see the face of Christ.

Cathedral in An Se Vau

We ran around and played tag with kids off of the street, praised loud in the Cathedral at An Se Vau, we played soccer for hours, we went to many homes and visited with them, we went up to the Monastery and prayed with the Sisters, we prayed over Haiti on the roof we sang praises to God.  We visited the orphanage next door to the Monastery, and we were blessed (twice) by the head priest at the Monastery.  We talked, we prayed, we laughed and loved; we received far more than we could have ever given to the Haitian people.   For the longest time, seeing how scripture could come alive in my life was hard, when I visited Haiti the first time, I realized that scripture is not something of 2000 years ago, but is very much alive today.  My heart desires the simplicity of Haiti to be lived out in America; however, there is a people that I will visit often and always pray for.  Mesi Bondye Mesi – Thank you God Thank You.

Sitting in a coffee shop, typing this, my heart is full of love and joy.  In 2016, my word for the year was abundance.  As I prayed through last year before choosing a word, I remember tossing a few around.  When abundance appeared I knew God was calling me to trust him in a new way.  2016 has been filled with abundance; abundance of love, of mercy, of prayers, of confusion, of direction, of support, of healing, of hope, of trust, and of JOY.  My greatest desire is to love and be loved.  To be known is to be loved and to be loved is to be known -- to love as I have been loved; that each and every person whom I encounter may encounter Christ, knowing and praying that he alone can fulfill their deepest desires, wishes, hopes, dreams, and needs.  Love is very much a choice, one that I pray I can choose every second of every day.  I want to see others for their virtues not their faults, I want to touch their suffering hearts, giving them the truth that Christ desires to heal them, and setting the world on fire with the love of Christ.  There is no one to far from the reach of Christ.  If only we have the 20 seconds of insane courage to get outside of ourselves and put on the love of Christ for each person. 

Thank you very much for your generosity.  Thank you for joining me on this mission this year.  Thank you for believing that God has called me to something greater than I could ever imagine.  Thank you for wanting to serve God through your hearts and your finances.  Thank you for being you; you are always WELCOME with me, you are ENOUGH, and you are LOVED.  

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--Live Love--

Missionary Life -- God is good

It’s been a great month; jammed pack with adventures!I thought the best way to update everyone is with pictures.  Some of you follow me on social media so I apologize if you’re seeing these double, but I hope to give you a little snip into what each picture represents.  Let’s start with the chapel, this was taken before walking into morning prayer one day.  Every morning the missionaries rise and meet at the chapel for Holy Hour and then morning prayer.  This has truly been may favorite and most rewarding experience I have had while being at Covecrest; it’s not always easy to get up or stay awake, but it is filled with grace and Jesus.  I look forward to continuing to show up and train myself to begin each day with our Lord. 









Here's a reflection from one of my mornings that struck me to the core.  Living as Christ did, modeling gentleness, mercy, and love, is my deepest desire; that others my come to know Christ as they come to know me would mean I have lived as God desires me to.  A work in progress, but I'll take it!!! Praise God for his relentless love and mercy!

IHM Core team came for a retreat at St. Rita's that I was humbled to lead.  To serve and be served by them and their love was glorious, to see the Lord embrace each one of them in their own ways, enlightens how he is moving and working at Immaculate Heart of Mary!  It was a blessing to be showered with love from all my peeps and to shower them with the love of Christ!

We had the awesome opportunity and privilege to create, lead, and execute a middle school retreat for  St. John Neumann Catholic School.  God showed up in big ways, encountering the teens exactly where they were, calling them to know him and to be loved by him!  Our team included Rod, our leader, Kiernan, Sammy, Erin, and myself.  The video shows our teens on the last day, surrendering their desires to our Lord, trusting that he will make something beautiful out of him! My God is he wonderful!!!

If you know me, you know that staying out of trouble is a tad difficult at times ;) Here's a wonderful picture from my House Leader Erin! I may have sent her a picture of a silly card as we were looking for birthday cards for my roommate! What can I say, my mother is Madea! haha

Here's Mr. Rogers! He's one of our local dudes that we go to see.  He's been in Clayton his entire life.  Jorge (a fellow missionary and Men's House Leader) and I went to visit him last weekend.  We talked with him and his friend Jim for about an hour.  They have been friends since they were in 4th grade, over 60 years.  I enjoyed hearing the stories about the old days, driving around town, drive-in movies (which is still in Clayton), and picking up the ladies of course!! haha We called to visit him today, but he wasn't feeling well, please keep him in your prayers! 








Most of you know that I've been trying to go through Holy doors in whatever city I visit, Atlanta was no different.  Mondays are our Sabbath days, so this past Monday I thought it'd be great to go exploring in Atlanta.  I drove to the Basilica in hopes of going through the Holy Door of Mercy, turns out it's a holy window of mercy trying to catch the times that it is actually open.  For those of you who don't know what a door of mercy is; Pope Francis declared this year as a Year of Mercy, in which he opened doors of mercy throughout the world, in hopes that EVERYONE who enters may know God's mercy is for all.  No one is too far gone for God, sometimes the hardest thing to do when seeking forgiveness is opening the door.  These doors help us to recognize that when we seek mercy we will receive it, no questions asked.  {short and simple explanation if you have questions feel free to email me} So anyways, the door was locked, I waited for someone to come out and I walked it! About 30 minutes later I got kicked out...but it's all good!

We were able to go be missionaries at a College Soccer game in Young Harris, Georgia.  It was a great night getting off camp and talking to some of the Women's soccer players hanging around watching the guys game!  Isn't it fantastic how well God knows exactly what we need and when! This game was a last minute decision that we were allowed to go to! Praise God!

Thursday I launched Middle Schoolers on our zipline for 4 hours!  To chat with them for a few minutes about how they're doing is great, their honesty is admiring!

Lake Burton, 5 minutes from camp....God's beauty surrounds me! 

Another home visit with one of our local neighborhood peoples and most of Joy House is present (Alice green shirt my roommate, Sammy in blue head down, Joslyn hiding behind Alice, and Erin with a beautiful smile!!)

Life is good, God is great, and I am humbled by your support, generosity and prayers!!! Thank you thank you, thank you.  You're in my prayers!!! 

--Live Love

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Missionary Life -- Piece by Piece

Piece by Piece – The King of My Heart

Thank you for this incredible opportunity to fall in love with Christ every day; because of your generosity, God has poured out his grace, love, and mercy in abundance and has completely overflowed my heart.  Coming into Full Time Missions, I was prepared to be Martha (Luke 10:38-42) to work and pour out what I thought was Jesus into all of those people I encountered so they may encounter Christ.  Little did I know that God would call me to be Mary, to sit at his feet and receive his love.  There is a season for everything and the Lord is very clear that I am in a season of receiving; receiving his healing for wounds that I thought were already healed or forgiven, receiving his knowledge of how intertwined our lives are with the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that he is a God who keeps his promises, and receiving the Holy Spirit who is like water seeking the depths of our souls to purify and love us in the most intimate and profound ways.  LITTLE DID I KNOW HE WANTED MY HEART, he wants me!

Praise God for his providence and vision that he can see clearer than we can and is much more patient than we will ever be.  Praise God for each one of you who felt the call to join in the mission of winning souls, thank you for believing in the love God has for you and me.

Let me give you the highlights of the glory God is giving and receiving through Life Teen Full Time Missions.  We’ve had some pretty great teachers over the last couple of weeks.  Starting with Stephen Estes, Director of Life Teen Missions, we spent an intense 4 days going over Missionary Spirituality and the call to be a missionary with Redemptoris Missio by St. John Paul 2.  His love for the Lord shines through his teaching, his enthusiasm to lead and guide us to see how God has called each of us individually into a bigger mission (Life Teen) is incredible, and his childlikeness shows his vulnerability and strength as a leader.  We are blessed to have him.  Next up, we had an awesome lady named Kristin come to us for 3 days to speak about prayer.  We dove deep into the different ways to pray, the gifts that God wishes to continue to pour out through prayer, and ways to discern the different times in our lives and how to maintain prayer throughout it all.  Lastly, we were rocked by a fantastic priest from the Servants of Christ Jesus, Fr. John Ignatius.  This quote summarizes how he knocked us out the last 5 days of Missionary Academy: “It is my great privilege to introduce them to the depth where God spiritually envisions them” Fr. John Ignatius. 

PRAISE GOD!!!! Words can’t do these two weeks justice; I’m beyond grateful and glowing that God loves me more than I can ever imagine. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob is pursuing me and you…are you ready?! Blessed be God!! THANK YOU!

Glassy Mountain -next to Covecrest- Home

--Live Jesus--

Missionary Life -- Welcome Home

Welcome Home!!!

One of the greatest phrases to hear when you've been out traveling, when you've had a long day or week at work, when you're exhausted, when you've missed loved ones, or when you're looking for a place of rest, of comfort, of peace. Home is a place that I searched for throughout my life, being a military child I moved around A LOT, being an adult I still haven't quite found my niche.  About 6 years ago, God revealed I had been home all along when I encountered him in the Eucharist; it was my only constant in a transitional life.  It's only fitting that 'Welcome Home' is the first thing you hear when you step foot on Camp Covecrest, especially as you step into the service of our God as a Full Time Missionary!!!  

Covecrest is my new home; a place for me to encounter Christ face to face in the Eucharist and the community, a place of refuge, a place of healing, a place of sharing, a place of joy!  You'll hear a lot about Joy House, as it is the location on camp where I will be residing! There will be many tears and laughs shared I'm sure with plenty of JOY.  My hope is to keep you connected through this blog, through pictures, stories, the ways God is being glorified in our lives and the lives of everyone we serve, and everything else in between.  I'm very encouraged and excited by all he is doing and all he will do, my heart is overflowing with an abundance of love; I believe if it could burst, it would! Thank you for being a part of this journey, thank you for being a part of my life.  

Day 1 -- Arrive, move into Joy House, Dinner with Community, unpacking, night prayer! It was a wonderful day getting to meet and see new faces, not gonna lie though a little bit nerve-racking, all the same I look forward to journeying with everything this year! 

Day 2 – Mass/Morning prayer, Holy Hour, pray over guys as they head out for camping trip, unpack and hang out with the ladies.    

<---One of the greatest lessons I learned at Immaculate Heart of Mary was who I am and more importantly whose I am, because of that I can learn to be that well.  This hangs in my room as a daily reminder to always be true to myself in order that I may be who God is calling me to be! The very best me!!

Day 3 – With the guys still away on their “men’s retreat” us ladies headed up for our first hike of the year.  We went to visit Angel Falls; it’s about a mile hike to the water fall (pictured) and how about God’s glory and imagination in that! Brillance, pure brillance!  It’s also a feast day of Mary, her birthday in fact.  It’s a good thing too, because as we were hiking up we passed a snake.  We all know what she did to snakes, so the girls and I were ok! Well off I go for our first retreat, but first we will go to Mass to pray for all of you and thank Mary for her yes!!! I hope you’ll follow along this journey has me on, falling more in love with him every day! Praise God! Peace my friends until the next time!! 

 “When you know how much God is in love with you then you can only live your life radiating that love.” – St. Teresa of Calcutta

--Live Love--
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Missionary Life - I said Yes!

 “ A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

This is a lot harder than I thought it would be, sitting down to tell everyone that I’ve made the choice to become a Full Time Missionary with LifeTeen.  God has been on a constant pursuit of my heart, since before I was born and throughout my childhood I’m sure, but even surer am I that he has been pursuing me these last 7 years.  A lot has changed, I hit rock bottom, went to grad school (ECU), taught PE for a year (Northern VA), got a certificate in youth ministry, been a full time Youth Minister for the Catholic Church (High Point, NC) for the past 3 years while coaching Crossfit for the last year.  I realize that every day is different, yet the same and God is more concerned about the conversion of my heart than he is about using me to convert the heart of others.  Everyone has a story, but not everyone can see how God is a part of their story. 

In the fall, I will be leaving High Point, NC to become a missionary with LifeTeen in the mountains of Georgia.  I will leave my job, friends, and family to pursue Christ; to pursue his heart in hopes that he will continue to overflow my heart with his love.  I couldn’t be more ecstatic that I have been chosen to continue to impact the lives of teens through prayer and service, leading retreats and living in community.  I went on a Come-and-See weekend in April and on the last day in the chapel God asked me; will you let me love you?  In true Jessie fashion, I simply giggled and said you already do.  I could feel him shaking his head at me and say I’m going to ask you again, will you let me love you?  Yes, of course Lord.  He replied, this is how I want to show you the depths of my love, full time missions. 

You see for me, receiving love is one of the hardest things to do.  I believe with every ounce of my being that we are called to love, but how can we give something we can't receive?   A gift isn't a gift until it is given away.  God gave us his only Son in the Eucharist; today on the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we celebrate this fact.  In the Eucharist we receive Christ's love, nourishment, encouragement, strength, and grace to carry us on our journey.  The ultimate sacrifice is to lay down one's life for his friends, Christ does that and leaves his body/blood so that we may always be with him until it time for us to go to heaven.  Praise God!  My word for the year is abundance.  God has shown me nothing but abundance since this year has begun; an abundance of healing, abundance of love, abundance of travel, and he is asking me to continue to trust his abundance, how can I say no? 

St. Stephen's Chapel 

Covecrest, GA

"See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the wilderness, I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers." Isaiah 43:19

--Live Love--

Increase my capacity

A prayer I often cry to our God, I believe help my unbelief.  There are many situations in this world that leave me dumbfounded, searching for understanding.  In faith though, we don't always get understanding right away (or ever); in fact, we rely on our faith to fill the gap of understanding. Some call it a cop out, others call it trust. Jesus, I trust in you, is another prayer often muttered by me.  

Faith and trust, two of the hardest words in the English language, not necessarily to pronounce, but to authentically live.  To attain a great faith and a high level of trust, I would beg that it takes similar paths, paths that parallel with one another, often coinciding with each other. To grow in our faith we are often asked to trust in the unknown, to step out onto the water as Peter once did, keep our eyes on Christ, and trust where he is guiding us is to glorify him and abundantly bless us.

When was the last time you let your mind wonder or allowed yourself to dream? When was the last time you stepped out of your boat of security, busyness, safety, and said 'Jesus, I trust in You'?  We must condition ourselves to trust, but never put conditions on our trust.  Many times we will pray, Lord, I'll trust you if ______.  We put limits on God, when in reality we are the ones who are limited. We were created with an imagination, in order to be co-redeemers; to think outside of boxes and limitations and to dream with God.  To achieve our dreams, whether it be healing of a child like the Father above asked for or becoming a Professional Football player like Philip Rivers, we must step out into the unknown to trust and believe (faith) that God, creator of the universe mind you, desires our utmost joy and happiness.


Today, while at a funeral Mass, my imagination got the best of me.  Often times I sit in Mass and try to imagine heaven all around us.  You see, during Mass heaven comes down to meet us in the Eucharist, we're surrounded by angels and Saints celebrating with us, we are ONE.  Today, it blew my mind; overcome by joy, listening to "Can You Imagine" sung by a young lady during the Eucharist procession, I was in heaven.  We are not limited by God, it is us who limits ourselves.  My soul was on fire, for love of Christ.  

The priest at Mass said that our existence is measured by our capacity to love.  How true. We have a very finite capacity, but with faith, trust, and prayer we can all ask God to increase our capacity; whatever you believe, you can ask for your capacity to love to increase.  My prayer after communion, given to me by a dear teacher of mine, I love you Lord, increase my capacity to love!

May you take time to dream today, can you imagine standing face to face with God? What will you say? What will you do? I can't wait to run up to him and give him the biggest hug ever, but I can only imagine.

Judas or Peter

Many of us are familiar with the Passion of Christ, in fact, I'm sure you've been told to choose a character and walk through the Passion in the eyes of that character.  I challenged my teens to do that this year, to choose a character and reflect on how they were feeling, what they were doing, what you would've done differently, how could you relate to them?  I took my own advice, which I unfortunately don't do enough, and chose a character.  I've done this before and I've chosen Mary Magdalene because I'm a sinful woman and thought I would have the most in common with her.  This year I thought it would be interesting to pick a different character in the Passion, as I believe that we can find similarities in each within ourselves.

This year I chose Judas.  It was a couple weeks ago when we were talking about this and I'm not sure why Judas was the one I chose, but I knew I felt as if God was pointing me towards him.  A couple nights ago I was watching the Passion Live on Fox (a modern day depiction of the Passion of Christ) and Judas' part came up, he sang a song called Demons.

That's when I saw it in Daughtry's eyes; despair, doubt, darkness.  He sang about it, and for the first time in a while I realized the darkness still in my heart.  We all have darkness within us, and we will until we pass from this earth, but it's what we do with that darkness that matters.  We have a choice, we always have a choice. Judas chose to betray Christ, every time we sin we choose to betray Christ.  Darkness has the ability to swallow us, except it doesn't happen all at once, but usually little by little.  Judas traveled with Christ for 3 years, he had light surrounding him, yet he couldn't fathom asking for help, he couldn't humble himself to know that in his brokenness Christ is working.  

If you're anything like me, I often got into spats of trouble.  When I did I remember trying to figure a way out of it (or to correct my wrongs) before the adults found out.  The older I got the harder it became to get myself out of trouble.  As I ponder Judas' feelings and reflections, I can sense the overwhelming feeling of being alone, of isolation; the thought that I'm just too far, I've done too much, or I can't forgive myself how could anyone forgive me. "All God needs to forgive you in the invitation, and we can extend it at any time" (Mark Hart).

You see it is not God who condemns us, it is ourselves; we have to learn to let go.  Christ tells us to love as he loves, this begins with loving ourselves.  We can't give what we don't have, and we can't forgive others if we don't learn to first forgive ourselves; to acknowledge our shortcomings, to acknowledge our weaknesses, and to realize that we can't do life on our own, and we don't have to!  This Easter I pray you realize the love Christ has for you, whether Gentile or Jew, Catholic or non believer, Judas or Peter, Christ didn't just die for those who believe in Him, he DIED for all!  The difference between Judas' betrayal and Peter's denial is that Peter recognized that he needed a Savior, may all of us Judas' realize we need a savior! May God's love and peace reign in your heart, may you surrender everything knowing that he will always give you so much more! 

                        

--Live Love--

I love you this much

I ran across this picture this morning as I scrolled through my news feed; finally someone had articulated that which I could not.  How do you articulate God's love to those around you, to the most important people in your life, or to the least?  I have this incredible responsibility of passing the Catholic faith onto hundreds of youth and their families, but how do you pass on something so vast, yet so simple?  Theodore Roosevelt once said "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." Everyone has an innate desire to be known and to be loved, a God-shaped hole inside of them.  

We are called to love people exactly how they are; however, I think we fall short of love.  We like people how they are (or not), we accept people how they are (even if it's less then their best), we tolerate people (sometimes), but when are we loving them?  We are called to love people exactly how they are, but too much to let them stay that way.  We are called to love as Christ loves right?  Well this is how he loves us, exactly how we are, but too much to let us stay that way.  We aren't perfect, but Christ is loving us into perfection, into the person God has called us to be.  If we truly love as Christ does, the way we're called to love, we must start loving people the same way.   We must challenge them to speak the truth always, we must walk beside them through the hard times, we must encourage them to spend time with the Lord, and mostly we must love them; not the fluffy, my heart is floating love, but the hanging onto the cross with splinters in my face love.  It's time to start taking a stand for Christ, for looking to our neighbor whom we see every day and walking with that person, caring for that person, and when the time is right sharing your knowledge with that person.  You may be the only bible someone ever reads, when they look at your life what do they see?  Do they see a "christian" who's luke warm like the rest of society, do they see an ice cold heart that is too shattered to do this on their own, or do they see a fire-breathing lion ready to love fiercly, compassionately, and loyally.  

Christ walked on earth, walked with his Mother, with his disciples, with his people.  He loved generously, mercifully, and humbly; constantly challenging people to walk with him, to follow him so that they may see the Father.  He could have came down as a 33 year old man, die on a cross, and rise again, yet he came down as a child, he cared for people, and when the time was right he shared his knowledge with those same people.  The final weeks of Lent are quickly upon us, and as we prepare to enter into Jerusalem with Jesus, where will you be during the Passion?  You see as Catholics we often hear questions of "why do you wear crucifixes" or "why is Jesus still on the cross when he rose on Easter morning?" The answer is simple, the crucifix is a the greatest symbol of love, Jesus' crucifixation is the greatest act of love. an act that we are all called to as we are all called to love!  

This is my favorite Crucifix that I have encountered.  It's located at St. Mark's in Wilmington, NC.  I'll never forget the moment I walked into the church, I was overwhelmed by tears and God saying

  I love you this much.

"I love you this much
I'm waitin' on you
To make up your mind, do you love me too
However long it takes I'm never givin' up
No matter what I love you this much" --Jimmy Wayne

--Live Love--

What's your word?

God is love.  A phrase I hear all the time, a phrase I often tell my teens, a phrase that I will never grow old of hearing.  It’s one of my favorite bible verses, 1 John 4:8, because it precedes my favorite one, 1 John 4:18.  Today, though, it’s followed by the Gospel of Mark when Jesus feeds over 5,000 people. 

A new year often brings reflection and discernment, looking back over the last year and looking forward to where God is calling me to this year.  2015 was an adventure to say the least, as with any year there were joys and sorrows, but as I sneak up on turning 30 there was also a lot of introspection.  What do I want? Am I where I’m supposed to be? Does my life have meaning? I spent New Year’s Eve in a way I never have before, in bed by 10:30pm, I know crazy right?  I spent the last hour I was awake though in my prayer closet.  I wanted to leave everything that was holding me back right there at the foot of the cross, everything that made me lesser than God envisions me. 

You see I have a fear of inadequacy, I carry many doubts, I often run when I should stay, I’m constantly on the go, because I’m scared to face the silence, the loneliness, the solitude.  But if there is one thing that I realized over Christmas break, it’s that I am TIRED.  Tired of running, tired of alienating myself because I fear that if people truly knew me they’d go running, tired of carrying the weight of doubt; and tired of being tired!  I’ve lived my personal life, privately, instead of sharing it with those I most care about.  Those days are over.  I left them in 2015.   I want to live a life of transparency.  “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18

I shouldn’t have to fear anything because I want to live a life of love.  I was reading a blog yesterday (@intheheartofmyhome), and the author was talking about a word for 2016; a focal point to encourage you, to challenge you, to move you, and to bring you peace when starting and ending each day.  I thought ‘what a fantastic idea’ so I spent the good part of yesterday praying for the right word.  I stumbled across ravish, because I want God’s love to ravish my heart, but that wasn’t it.  I wrote down desire, because I realized that I desire love as a response to the desire that God planted in my heart, but that wasn’t quite it either.  Beloved, good, but didn’t feel right.  Remain, because if I remain in him then I will bear much fruit, but something said to keep looking.  I stumbled across it later in the day, in a conversation with someone, and a light bulb went on, this is it, abundance. 

Abundance: a very large quantity of something, plentifulness of good things in life, prosperity.  Jesus tells us in John 10:10 “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly”  You see God doesn’t want me to be in fear, he doesn’t want me to live only ¾ of my life, he wishes to give me abundant life.  He promises to, but first we must choose it, we must open our eyes and see that his plan is always at work in our life, especially when we least expect it!

This year, I will expect it.  I will strive to surrender so that I too may have an abundant life.  2016 brings me hope, a renewed hope that God is love, and looking at the Gospel of Mark today he shows us how much he can do with so little.  Here’s my mustard seed Lord, let your will be done!  Thank you @elizabethfoss for encouraging me to find my word!  What word is God giving you this year?

--Live Love--