Erica's Place

A few months ago, a young lady from my school introduced the song below during chapel to the student body. If anyone has a right to sing these words, she does. As this young lady recently lost her mother in a long struggle with cancer. Loss is something none of us take well. No matter what it may be. Some losses seem small to others, but to the person who has lost, it is larger than life. Whether it be the loss of a parent, a sibling, any family member, a friend, a pet, a pastor, a job, a house the list goes on. We try to rationalize the situation... But, sadly, our finite minds cannot comprehend the reason the Lord decided to allow this pain into our lives. Many blame God for so many different reasons, but God knows how much you can bear, and how far He will allow. Job was tortured, torn, accused, cursed at, heartbroken, and yet he still uttered those words that we can't even begin to think in hard times "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the ...

I cannot believe it is already May! Or that I have officially graduated from Indiana Bible College! The last 3 years here have been amazing. My time here was exciting, stressful, inspiring, entertaining, and just all around wonderful. I've made such amazing friends, and am going to miss the atmosphere. It's going to be sad not being able to have so many like-minded people around. But thank God for technology to be able to contact those people, and for the ability to go before His throne whenever I want. So on to the story behind the title of my post. Beyond the open door, but which one? Sometimes the hardest place to be is in the unknown. That's where I feel I am now. I know there are things that I feel others "expect" me to do, but "the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing" (I love Pastor Booker!). And right now, my MAIN thing is to follow God's Will for my life. One of the definitions of the word follow is "to accept the authori...

Still upward be thine onward course, For this I pray today; Still upward as the years go by, And seasons pass away Still upward in this coming year, Thy path is all untried; Still upward may'st thou journey on, Close by thy Savior's side. Still upward e'en though sorrow come, And trials crush thine heart; Still upward may they draw thy soul. With Christ to walk apart. Still upward till the day shall break, And shadows all have flown; Still upward til in Heaven you wake, And stand before the throne. I stole... excuse me borrowed... a great devotional book from my house before I left. I saw this poem in it and following the poem, there was a statement. The author said "We linger in the lowlands because we are afraid to climb the mountains." That phrase really stood out to me. It is true. A lot of times we are so willing just to stay where we are in our life and our walk with God, that we forget He created us to impact our world. There will be times that we are ready...

My all time favorite quotes have been from Anne of Green Gables. And anyone that knows me knows how much I absolutely ADORE Anne Shirley and the genius who decided to bring her into existence. One quote that I tend to re-quote a lot is "God's in His heaven and all's right with the world." However, I never fully understood that phrase until this last year. As I said in my last post, 2010 was a rough year. Both of my parents were sick, my best friend's daddy died, and two of my close friends died. Those are just the most tragic moments of 2010 for me, there were quite a few others, but those were some of the hardest things for me to deal with. When I received the call in October and then in November of the car accidents that took the lives of these people who played such fundamental roles in my life (one of whom played a part in the birth of and raising of my non-biological twin, and the other two who became family to me while I lived in Pennsylvania over the summer...

Here we are another year has gone by, and a new year has come in. And I am actually posting! Will wonders ever cease? I have been told that it is time to start my blog back up again, and I figured, what better time to start than the first day of the new year? It has been about 6 months since I last posted. And a lot has happened. 2010 was a long, hard year for most. And I am exceedingly happy to see the calendar flip to January of 2011. I already feel that this new year will be amazing. I have such high hopes for it. A new year is normally a time for some new resolutions. My resolution is quite simple. To make 2011 the best year ever. "Another fresh new year is here Another year to live To banish worry, doubt and fear To love and laugh and give! This bright new year is given me To live each day with zest . . . To daily grow and try to be My highest and my best! I have the opportunity Once more to right some wrongs, To pray for peace, to plant a tree, And sing more joyful songs...

So, first of all, I didn't get the nanny job. But hey, I'm not torn up about it! I am not giving up... yet. I ended up going back to Somerset and turning in quite a few applications to hotels in the area. To work at the front desk of course! And I also applied to work at the Starbucks there, but no call back yet. I'm still trucking on. I am just waiting on someone to call back, and if not, then I'll just keep applying everywhere else! Meanwhile, I'll just have fun! So, I haven't told you much about the town or church out here. I will begin now. The town... Normalville, Pennsylvania. It's up in the mountains, (although nothing like the California mountains), the elevation... totally varies but it's around 2,350ish. The population?? 2,500! The scenery is gorgeous!!! Everyone seems to know everyone! That in itself is great to me. This town is right out of a book. Even down to Resh's general store! It's wonderful! So, the church runs about 40 people ...