Lend me a slice, would ya?

There's not much more I can write about before Tuesday. All I can ask for is prayer. Please, pray, pray, pray. I've already given suggestions and you can check them out here. Pray big prayers, pray tiny prayers, whatever you pray whether it's every day or every week, or whenever you happen to think about sending a few small intercessory words;

Thank you.


I have felt some anxieties subside and my faith has been heightened, bad fear has been extinguished. I cannot help to think that all of this has happened partly because of sweet prayers on my behalf. Many people I have ran into or have been at the same engagements with have encouraged me by their love and their excitement for me, but the most encouraging thing any of them has said is "I will be praying for you".

These words are music to my ears, the sweetest sound I've ever heard. What is sweeter is when you can really tell that these people are going to really dedicate some time to actually praying. God knows the desires of my heart when it comes to my experience this summer, and I assure you they are leaning towards his purposes. But when parts of a whole are praying for you and you can feel that love for you reaching to the Father, it's one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.

Psalm 66:20 "Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love for me!"


Praise be to God who has blessed me with avid pray-ers who will gladly give a little slice of their prayer time to what concerns me and my endeavors. It has mattered more to me than money. God has blessed me with finances for this summer quickly and faithfully, finances are always just a matter of faith.

Simply, I covet your prayers. God is good and he hears every one. Thank you, thank you, thank you, did I mention...I would like to thank you? Well just in case THANK YOU!! Have I reached a point of obnoxious yet? My apologies, a digression is soon to come. 

Well next time I'll be posting from Europe. Exciting huh? Well, cao for now lovely people. Know that I love you, and that...yep...I appreciate you a ton. Thanks for uplifting me.

All to God

Almost There

Well, not too many things new to write about. Today I got all my money squared away and ready to go for Tuesday and...well the rest of the summer as well. Many small containers of liquid product are tucked away in ziploc bags ready for the journey. Only a few days now before the leave, trying to spend as much time with family as I can before I shove off.

All that is on the agenda now is to go to another wedding, or be in another wedding rather, come home and start packing, ride a few hours to board a plane, and hopefully in the blink of an eye, arrive in Europe.

Yes, I know super exciting and new to you, the reader. Nothing I've written about 50+ times since I've started on this support raising and mission trip going extravaganza. But hey, here's the cool part; soon I'll be writing about the events that happen whilst I am in the actual country, which will be much more exciting than writing about how excited I am before arriving at the destination.

Waiting for things to move forward is one of the worst parts. I am a small bit at a stand still, I want to pack yet I can't, only those small containers of liquid stuff made it into the packing as of late. But God has given me a great patience for it all and I am very excited for Tuesday to come, but I am very much more excited to see what God will do this summer again.

I hope you will be reading this summer as I continue to post on what happens through the summer and how you can pray.

Thanks to you for your continued prayers.

All to God

Kiddy pools are not good for the soul

So much has been happening this past week that I have come to a complete halt. While I loved helping my sister with her wedding preparations, I was not so keen on how constant we had to keep moving and going only to finally get to sleep for a short while.

I haven't had much time to focus on my impending internship starting next Tuesday. I haven't had much time to focus on "filling up" as it were. Constantly being on the move has made me feel a little shallow; there hasn't been much time to focus on the Word. Times of prayer have been confined to:

"Dear God please allow us to get everything prepared before the wedding, and please help us not to snap at one another."


Obviously the word "focus" is a theme here.


Today I did some work cleaning up what was left of the reception from the wedding, not with a happy heart mind you. I was tired of having no time to just sit and reflect and ponder. As I was working I was well aware inside myself that being able to work is a gift and we shouldn't grumble when we work because it is a gift from God. Yes, really, I did think about this as I was stacking chairs.

But I couldn't help but to stay upset because I knew how I felt inside and how I needed time to just think about recent events and about future events.

Spiritually, I need to do more to be prepared before I leave. I'm not a fan of spiritual warfare and I would like to reinforce what I already have.

Because as of this night, I feel shallow.

I ask you, faithful readers and those of you dropping by, please pray that this shallow feeling will subside. Pray that spiritual warfare as I go and even before I go, will meet it's match; God is bigger than warfare, he gives us peace. 

Thank you for all that you do for me. I am excited to go and do work for the Lord this summer overseas; I am grateful for any opportunity I get to do the Lord's work. I just feel the need to dig deeper once again. 

All to God

Sunday Love!

Once upon a time it was a wonderfully sunny day in a small town called Jamesville. A bride awoke calm and assured that her day would be grand no matter what. Her day started out almost like most Sundays, with a shower and a bite to eat.

The rings were tucked away in their boxes with care...

After church and another small bite to eat, she was off to the hairdresser to get her beautification on. With her locks curled to perfection and her make-up done to accentuate and not over-amplify, she was back home in a flash to get on that dress that laid in hiding for so long.

The ceremony went according to plan, not a hair out of place, and if there was we just laughed. The bridesmaids came in to set the pace in anticipation for the star of the show. The groomsmen looked dashing in their handsome suits. Sweating in a hot little country church packed with possibly 300 folk, the crowd stood for the bride to show her face and stand center stage.

Minute after minute it all came to pass, the welcome, the vows, a beautifully written song, the exchanging of rings, first communion, first kiss, and finally "Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you Mr. and Mrs. David Broyles."

Happy and ready to celebrate with friends, smiling and laughing at their love for each other and all of those who have loved them throughout the years, they danced.

They made the most of it all, relishing in the moments that passed until it was all said and done. They rode off into the sunset in a trooper of a Geo Tracker to start their lives together.

Well she's still a Cooper by blood, but she's become a Broyles by choosing to love one as a husband. She was a beautiful bride. My sister Katie.

5/22/11

My new brother Dave didn't look to shabby either eh? Very glad they found each other to marry! 

All to God

Don't go clearing the supermarkets

I can't help but have negative feelings about all this hubub dealing with the "end of the world", at least as far as it has been anticipated for tomorrow (5/21). I'm very tired of humans constantly trying to pin down God's plan for the world. God is God, the Bible simply states, as many people on facebook have written "no one knows the day or the hour..." and more specifically, "only the father knows".

We worry ourselves with how and when the end will come. We buy apocalypse survival kits because of things such as annihilation 2011. Some of us even give in to these biblically unsound doctrines of how the world will end because we want to be "prepared" for it to end. I'm not talking about spiritually prepared, the Bible says that in this way we should be prepared for the Lord's return. However I am talking about people who are preparing by buying gallons of water and sticking to the news channels.

Biblically speaking the date of the end will be when no one expects it, when no one is ready for it, when it's just another day. This whole rage about May 21st 2011 and sometime in 2012 is just human speculation. This fear that grips some people, yes even some Christians, makes these suggestions about the end an idol in their lives.

Am I slightly distraught about a mere man predicting the day and time of the end of the world which is ultimately the Lord's work and not our own? Absolutely. I think if we are so bold as to start ruffling up feathers about the very day and time of Christ's second coming then I think we can be so bold as to seek the actual truth. The truth that can put some people's hearts in an uproar...

WE DON'T AND WON'T KNOW

I hope that we can become more wise in seeking the counsel of our Holy God and resting in the fact that if we believe and have trusted in him that our names are written in the book of Life. In this way we will never be sorted to the left but sorted to the right. This will ease our hearts as to the day and time we will see Jesus coming again, knowing that we will be with him for all eternity. We will have no need for gallons of water and gluing our eyes to the newscast, we will only have need to drop all earthly things and go with him.

Happy living on May 21st 2011.

All to God.

Writing You

I am very excited about this summer. This is obvious, I've been writing about how excited I am for months now. But I am very fond of writing as you all know, and one of the things I am excited to do throughout my summer is to write. Since it is my internship I am required to finish before I graduate it is also required that I write about it. I was planning to do this anyway, but I am most happy to do it.

For a moment I thought about writing in my journal all summer without blogging to you and only concentrating on the journal. My next step in the thought was that after all is said and done I would post my journal entries here with the date they were written. Then I thought, this is silly.

So instead of all that hullabaloo I have decided to write my journal entries as often as my thoughts and experiences meet my hand and flow out through the pen. Then after reviewing the entries I would pick the one I choose to share with you wonderful people. I also figure that I should let you all know what's happening while I am across the pond for a bit because most of you are friends and have supported me in the past as well as now.

After all, you are the people who are praying for me and have graciously and sacrificially given of your resources to make all of this possible. So be prepared to come with me, pack your bags and hop on the plane and be ready to step foot in Bosnia. Well imaginatively speaking of course, however I am very excited to let you all in this summer. I am excited to let you know about what is going on, how you can be praying, and everything else that might come up!

I'll be writing you!

All to God

Next Year

Next year, it'll be me in that silly hat, with a tear in my eye; a mixture of happiness and sadness. It'll be me with that piece of paper in my hands that says "I made it" and "I'm qualified". Next year.

Next year it'll be me hugging and saying goodbye to some REALLY good friends, knowing that we won't reunite in the dorms for school again. Next year this time, life will have another frame, and another picture. It will be like telling family goodbye for a really long time (considering a lot of my friends want to be missionaries).

It will also be a time of new beginnings, a new start to a new way of life. It will be an awkward awesome thing that will eventually get better the more I grow in the faith.

Next year it will be me in that silly hat.

All to God

Positive Train Wreck

This is another time where I just want to write. Though I have some thoughts on things, they are all the same. The end of another academic year, weddings, Bosnia. It's all coming like the most positive train wreck you could ever imagine.

I'm noticing more and more how ten months isn't a very long time. Wasn't it just August and I was saying "9 more months until I can go back to Bosnia"? Now I'm saying "almost 2 more weeks". It's really nuts how time works, I'm very glad God is in control of it and not me.

It's on to the packing of some things for the summer. My alternate RA position in school next year allows me to keep things stored in the dorm over the summer. This is a huge blessing seeing as six days after I get back into the country I'm off to school again.

I find myself stuck in moments of reminiscing. Which is not the norm for me at the end of the school year; normally I am stuck in moments of "I need to go so I can start the next thing!" It could be because next year is my last, maybe it's because of all the great memories that have just happened to blossom in my mind. Whatever the case may be, I daydream about the good moments in the past.

Time for so much life, and the time will go swiftly. Time for time to stop when I go back into the memory files. It's all a blessing and I'm very grateful for them.

Even for the ones that made me feel like I was in the dumps (punny I know).

All to God

As We Go Out

Well my dear friends the time is coming in which we will all disperse for a bit. In approximately four days we will be outside of this dorm room, this library, cafeteria, classroom, off of this swing and onto another form of life. We will venture out to put more of our focus into our ministries, our jobs, our marriages and so forth. We will be without each other for a while friends.

Much will change through a summer, but many things will stay the same. There will be many changes that we do not agree with, or wish would not happen. We might not like to think about our dear friend graduating and moving away, or a friend not living in close proximity anymore. We may not like some of the changes the new freshmen bring (we are creatures who love familiarity).

But as much as change moves me, no matter how small, there will always be an unchanging God. His rules will never change, he is not a friend that must move away, he is not a freshman that brings change to the environment, he is an everlasting, unchanging God who loves us even through our changes. Through our times of moving on and moving forward, he never changes, he is, was, and will be. He is beautiful like that.

So friends as we leave for a summer of excitement, or money-making, or a mixture of the two, I hope it is one you can come back to the new semester and gush about it.

But gush in a way that glorifies the One who got you there.

Oh my dear, dear friends I will miss you this summer. I feel as if we have become such a family of sorts this year and I am sad to leave you, but excited to hear what God does through you and for you these next few months. It will be a sight to see the newness God will give you through this time away. 

My brothers and sisters, lets bid adieu to this year so that we can make greater memories next time. 

All to God

Relax

Sometimes it's ok to just sit on the couch all day. Sometimes it's fine to nap on the couch while the TV is on. Sometimes after a week of
work work work work work work work work sleep work work food coffee work, it's ok to say, this weekend, I will do nothing.

Although this cannot happen forever, it's nice to have it for a moment. I'm glad weekends in the vegetative state do not last (or it would be a very boring life). But this weekend is good, healing my body from the sleep deprivation that has accumulated in the last week is always welcome. It's nice to have moments of rest.

It almost makes me glad for weeks like this past one to be able to really be grateful for weekends like this. It's good to be in relax mode, but only when you are looking forward to life happening afterwards.

All to God

We are Met

He meets us where we need Him. He sometimes meets us where we want Him. He meets us in our passions, He meets us in our joy, He meets us in our love, He meets us in our song, He meets us.

He meets us in our sorrow, He meets us in our anger, He meets us through tears, He meets us in our silence, He meets us in His silence.

Lately He's been meeting me through my stress, through my frustration, through my "coming up for air" moments. He's met me in the music I listen too. He doesn't have to say much, a simple reminder that this is a minuscule part of life suffices.

Through our brief meetings, He didn't have to persuade me that He was still on the throne, He didn't have to repeat the fact that there is purpose in all of this. I have the confidence in my God that his throne room is full of His majesty still, and that everything is going according to plan, there is no hair out of place.

I praise God for this.

What have your meetings with God been like? How has He been filling you with fuel when all you've been running on is steam? Has He met you? Better yet do you strive to meet Him? He always has time to meet you, there is always time to meet Him.

All to God

You might need a hand

It's here the end of the year, what a lot of us have been waiting for for some time now. The week before exam week is always the craziest.

So let people give you a hand if you need it, however you need it. Emotionally, Spiritually, heck you might need some coffee to keep you perked up on those long nights of study and work. Let a friend lend a helping hand and keep you caffeinated enough to do work, have a cup o' joe with 'em!

More than most times, you might need some encouragement. Let a friend lend an encouraging hand...

Oh but we all know that you are sleep deprived, let a friend gently lend a hand to persuade you to get some well deserved rest...

Sometimes when working on those tough assignments you may need a hand in figuring sifting through the confusion of those daunting tasks...

All in all, only a glorious week and half left of what was a pretty decent year all things considered and overcome. Exams come and go, but friends endure your downtrodden, sleep deprived, confused self forever. Happy exams everyone

All to God

30 days.

What a great weekend, I was graced by the presence of so many of my friends who also happen to be bridesmaids for my sister's wedding! It was good to have a house full of ladies that are good people and really interesting to be around. To think each one came into my life so differently, and some of my earliest memories of them are each so unique to the other. They are fantastic people.

Well....this is not a great picture of the group but it is the only one I have, and Annie if you're reading this, please don't kill me for the photo. We were taking a really nice boat ride on the river, twas fun! Although we were all really tired, it all turned out to be a really good time. We are blessed by so many friends who have so many different backgrounds and so much diversity but at the same time we can all come together and just be with one another.

Just as Katie's wedding is coming near (3 Sundays away!) so is the time for me to get out of here! As of today I have 30 days until I'm on my way to being halfway across the world again. It's almost as exciting as when you were in elementary school and they started the countdown till summer break when you only had 100 days left, except WAY more exciting. Way more exciting because of the goals I have made for myself, the ministry I will be a part of, and the people I will meet.

Looks to be an interesting time.

All to God.