This weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to speak at the Bridge in the adult services. It's funny when Chris asks me to do this, I always get so nervous and scared. How will it be received? Will people even listen since I'm just the middle school pastor? But every time, God puts something in my heart that needs to be shared. It's never "my" message, it's never stuff that I can come up with, it's always backed by the Holy Spirit just speaking through me. I had in mind the message I wanted to give and as I was getting ready for it, it was like God said, "No, you're not listening to me...I want you to give THIS message". So everything changed.
I got up and shared about the Israelites and their desert experience. I shared my own story of my desert experience. It was something that I struggled to do, I didn't want to do it, but I knew I had to. Very few people in my life actually know what I dealt with in middle school and how I felt about God and my life. As I shared it saturday night, I felt the wave of emotion come over me. I felt those feelings again. I struggled to share it because my family was in the crowd and I know they didn't know that stuff about me. But at the same time, it was a release. It's something I have kept inside all of these years and only a few people have gotten a chance to know that side of me. I wasn't sure why my story was necessary, I'm sure I could've come up with something different to share, but this was it, this was the story of my life that needed to be shared.
After every service, I had someone come up and talk to me. Saturday night, a man came to me that I had never met before and told me that we had the same middle school experience. I got to have a great conversation with him. Sunday morning came and first service is usually rough. Afterward, a middle school student came up to me with tears in his eyes and told me that he needed that. That he was in that desert and it finally all made sense, which then creates a time for us to get together and walk through that together. At the end of the day, a lady came to me and could barely talk as she was crying. She poured out her life to me and shared some things that broke my heart. But what's cool, she shared how my life had intersected her life without me ever knowing it! It's so cool to watch God work. She was connected to the boy that stole our church bus and I was the one that went out to meet the boy when they stole our bus. That's a long story in itself, but as she stood there crying, she told me that she knows God put me through the desert for many reasons, but 1 of them was to impact that boy. I never knew that, I never even thought that. But it was incredible to have someone minister to me after I had just drained myself of all emotion that morning.
One thing I do each week is go into the local junior high (Highland) and have lunch with the kids. Throughout the year, I've realized that ministry as a middle school pastor isn't just for middle schoolers, but it's to those I encounter (everyone!). I talk with the lunch ladies every week, the janitors buy me cookies, I have a great relationship with the staff at the school. This sunday, they all came out. The janitor came up to me and gave me a huge hug afterward and just shared some cool things that encouraged me. Then I got to see the lunch ladies and talk with them. I never thought my time with them would make any difference or do anything, I never even thought I was at the school for them! God does cool stuff.
So here's what I can take away from this weekend. It wasn't about me, I want you to get that. As people came up to me crying, it wasn't me, it was God working in their own life and opening their eyes to what is happening to them. It's so easy to give a message and get the feedback I did and then think, "Dang, I'm good". But I was constantly reminded yesterday that it's not me, it's not my story, it's not what I think I can offer. It's that people want to be drawn to the heart of God, but we're all searching. We're all going through a desert at different times in our life and we want to know that the end is beautiful. As I left this weekend and left all of those conversations, I saw every person as they reflected on their life begin to see the hand of God in their life. As He had their path set and as He guided them through it all, they can finally begin to see how God is working in them! How incredible, how beautiful, how awesome is our God.
The end result of my life, what I want people to get from my life - I want them to see God. I realized this weekend that I really am nothing significant. As much as I want to stand out and be great at something and be the best at something, I am not. But the God that is in me, is great, He is significant and He gives me purpose. My hope, my prayer is that people won't see me, but they see the God that is in me and ultimately are drawn to the heart of God through it all. It's not about me, it never has been. If it was, we would still be in the desert, we would still be lost. It's when you can step aside, drop the pride and allow God to work through your life that you will begin to see how BIG He is, how great He is and how your life can be a tool to impact the kingdom for all eternity. "He must become greater, I must become less" - thankful that I am nothing, but in Christ, I am everything.

Trip Down Memory Lane

It's Saturday afternoon, and I have a big to-do list waiting for me to tackle. Gabe and I are leaving tomorrow afternoon for Gatlinburg, Tennessee! We are going on a six day getaway with two of our favorite people, Phil and Kylee. This is our third spring break trip with them, and we are looking forward to the time away from home with good friends. We're staying in a sweet resort in the mountains, going to do some hiking, eat at some great places, play a lot of Phase 10, and fill ourselves with rest and relaxation. Gabe and are pumped to go!

Like I said, this is our third spring trip with the Larsons. We have also been camping with them every fall since we have been married. I think we are so blessed to have friends like them who want to travel with us and be with us for a week! Thursday after school I looked through my folders of pictures and pulled out 20 pictures from our different trips with P&K. I have such great memories from these trips and wanted to share with all of you!

Enjoy the trip down memory lane...

October 2008

Camping trip to Summit Lake

(no dogs yet...)

I didn't take very many pictures on this trip.

I didn't know it would be the first adventure of many!

Hello, Larsons!

March 2009

Spring Break trip to Myrtle Beach, SC

They love each other.

Notice the overcast weather...it was like this almost all week on this trip.

It didn't stop us from having a great time!

We had to get our pictures at every one of these.

I just noticed I am the little boy in this weird painting thing. Ha!

The fearsome four....I LOVE this picture.

It's in a frame in our house. As embarrassing as it is asking

someone to take a picture, I'm always glad I do!

We made a picnic lunch and ate it at this little park one cloudy afternoon....

Another fun pic from this trip!

We rented one of these four-seaters for an hour and got a workout!

It was no easy task pedaling through the streets of Myrtle Beach.

But we laughed and laughed!

October 2009

Camping trip to Turkey Run

Look how little Sadie was! She was only four months old and this was her first trip.

Sweet hubby Gabriel....he's so good with our hyper dog!!

This is another picture up in our house!

Turkey Run is one of my all-time favorite state parks to hike and camp.

The trails and canyons make you feel like you're not in Indiana!

The Larsons.

Gabe, Phil, and little Sadie.

I like that they're in the middle of laughing about who knows what.

This is what they do....make fun of each other and laugh about it!

March 2010

Spring Break trip to Kissimmee, Florida

This picture just shows you that Phil and Kylee are FUN.

We were walking back from CiCis Pizza and took crazy pictures like we were models.

Oh, Florida, how I miss you and your palm trees.

We went to the coast one day so we could see the ocean...Cocoa Beach I think.

We were very close to Orlando and so we visited Downtown Disney.

It had a ton of fun places to eat and walk around.

We ate at Rainforest Cafe, and we were ecstatic!

Oh, the men...

We love getting away together!

October 2010

Camping trip to Brown County

(Now, there's two dogs: Sadie and Hashbrown!)

I didn't take get a picture of Hashbrown on this trip though...

Our little family....soooo happy!

We LOVE camping trips.

Our new tent...

Kylee and the Larson tent.

March 2011

Spring Break trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Pictures coming soon....

So there you have it. Three years of trips with our friends. I will take many pictures this coming week in Tennessee and try to post them on here when we get back. Looking forward to making more memories starting tomorrow when we take off for the south. Until then, I need to get going on that to-do list. :)

Happy Spring Break everyone!

31 days of beauty. day one

Hi friends. Most of you know that I really enjoy reading other people's blogs during free time. I love to search for blogs that revolve around cooking, home decor/nesting/renovations, teaching, and just creative and unique writing about everyday stuff. I came across this blog last night, She Breathes Deeply, and this young wife, soon-to-be mom had this great idea to celebrate beauty in 31 different days/blog posts. There is a list of 31 questions she encourages other writers to blog about. Well, I was inspired to try and complete those 31 questions. I am promising myself to keep the posts short and concise and not let my rambling get out of control. And I will try to keep updating about our little life right now.

Day 1: What does beauty mean to you?

beauty is the grace and mercy christ gives me everyday. beauty is unconditional love. beauty is having God's Word come alive to me. beauty is the sound of my second graders laughing their guts out. beauty is worship moments at my church. beauty is crying over a student of mine. beauty is encouraging a friend. beauty is letting a friend encourage me and believing what she says. beauty is communicating with my husband without having to talk. beauty is feeling beautiful. beauty is being secure in who God made me. beauty is being completely alive!

I hope you all have a great start to a new week. Guess what? Spring is coming because Tuesday starts the month of March. Woo hoo! Let's be happy about that.

Mother Dearest....

Happy Birthday to you!

You are so loved.

pictures of "peanut-man"

This is the woman who started calling him "peanut-man".....thanks, Grandma!

A very proud grandpa....

His amazing mommy!!

Have a great day, everyone! (I have ANOTHER snow day today.....woo hoo!!)

(Thanks to Daddy Joe who took these pictures, which I ripped off of Facebook.)

He's here!

Andrew Thomas Hughes is here! Katie had her sweet son on Thursday morning at 7:50. She did an AWESOME job delivering him with the help of her hubby, Joe!! I know what you are thinking, where are the pictures, Auntie Libby?!? Well, I don't have any right now. Boo! The Hughes live out in Columbus Ohio, so we have not been out to see them.....yet! We're going to head out there in the next couple of weeks, so we can let the happy family get a little more settled. Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) are visiting right now; holding, cooing, and reading with little Andrew.

Welcome to the world, Andrew! Here is a picture of how your parents normally act. You are going to have a GOOD life filled with fun, silliness, laughter, and a whole lotta LOVE, boy!

Katie Jane....

Most of you know already, but just in case you don't, my sister is about to have her first baby! I talk to everybody I know about Kate being pregnant, so this is not new news. But hey, this is my blog and I can talk about whatever I want! I want to celebrate how awesome Katie is and

dedicate this blog post to her!!

If you know me at all, you know that I adore my family. I feel blessed to have grown up in the Brown household. I think my parents did an amazing job as Mom and Dad. (They still do!) They taught Ben, Katie, and I to play, create, use our imaginations, and love to be together. That is why being together now is a JOY, and I feel pretty lucky to have that. As much as I love Ben (or Tootie, his nickname.....Gabe STILL calls him that!), this blog is going to be about Katie because, holy cow she is about to bring another life into this world!!

Here she is at 39 weeks!! I think this was just taken on Sunday.... I hope I look half as great as she does when I am about to have a baby! She's had an awesome pregnancy; everything has been healthy and on track. See the little pictures in the background. I helped her make the one with the little turtle and birdie.....it's just torn paper, modge-podged onto canvas! She made the other two pictures, and they look sa-weet!

We arethe original three Brown girls.....three peas in a pod, if you will. We are all very similar, yet God has designed us uniquely. Mom is a go-getter and makes things happen. She's a great decorator, and will be one heck of a grandma! She is also a woman of wisdom and of God. She's one of the biggest cheerleaders in my life! I am bubbly and like all things girly. I don't have an ounce of musical talent, but I am creative at times. Katie has a gentle spirit and a huge heart. She sees the best in people and that's why everyone likes being around her. She's an outdoors woman and loves Montana, fly fishing, hiking, and rock climbing. See, we're different. :)

These last two pictures were taken at my parents' house in Milford at her baby shower. I don't know how many weeks along she is at this picture, but isn't she just beautiful?? She's always been this pretty. She has always had freckles and I love them! She gets a ton during the summer, and my mom always jokes that she'll turn into one big freckle! I wonder if Baby Hughie (her last name is Hughes and this is our name for the sweet pea) will have her freckles.....we shall see!!

So, folks, this could have been a little too sentimental and "gaggy", but again I don't care because it's my blog and she's my prego sister. She's awesome and everyone should know! And don't you worry, I will be back shortly to announce the birth of my new niece or nephew and to post pictures. Until then, me and my hubby are praying for a quick and smooth delivery for the Hughes family!

We love you Katie, Joe, and baby H!