GRAPHIC CONTENT!

So you may be asking yourself why there is a huge picture of my leg to your left, well chill, we will get there.

As I was sitting here thinking about what to write and looking over some pictures, this situation just kind of hit me.

As some people may or may not know this summer as I was working at Lake Champion I fell victim to a belay accident, and when I say I fell victim it may or may not of been my fault, haha. None the less, to the left you are looking at a second to third degree rope burn around my left leg that has taken forever to scar!

There's your background intro. Let me tell you what God showed me through it, how it applies to my life today, and how I hope you can find encouragement through my story.

When this happened in early August it was the icing on the cake. I was tired, I had been working 6 days a week. I was attempting to lead others my age and older to serve God. I was trying to my best, to not let God down, to be His servant, to give Him everything I had every day. I had just wrecked my car, not a couple weeks prior, traveling 1000 miles round trip from Radford to New York (don't ask, it was totally worth it). So at this point, I get this huge burn on both my legs, right in a spot that greatly impaired my ability to walk.

What did I do? How did I feel? What did God do with all this? First off, needless to say it sucked. I went back to the intern house, got my jacket, and just went out into the darkness and sat on a rock by the lake. I think we have all had these moments, where we just sit and cry, and then cry some more. Maybe you stand up and yell at God some like I did.

I had been trying so hard all summer to be perfect, to be on time, to not make mistakes. But there I was, a failure, I had tried so hard to be safe and to make everything go smoothly, but that was gone. God showed me that He is in control. God showed me that I can't be perfect, that no matter how hard I try, I will fall, but He will be there to pick me right back up. I think I need to look back at this right now. We need to remember that God is in control. He is the beginning and the end. We will fall, but he will pick us back up!

I want to talk real quick about a song I have been obsessed with lately: Madly in love with you by Sean McConnell.

I believe it is supposed to be God talking to us:

"Well how do you think it feels to hear you screaming out my name
While all the while I’m trying to open up your heart
See you when you cry yourself to sleep
It’s tearing me apart

I know you wish you could see me
That’s the way it has to be
Someday you’ll understand,
don’t you lose your faith in me (insert your name here)

I know you wish you could hear me
Sometimes it’s so hard to do
But every morning sunrise it says
I’m madly in love with you
Yes I’m madly in love with you
Yes I’m madly in love with you
Yes I’m madly in love with you (insert your name here)"

I love that. It's like everything that I have felt. He tells us to not lose faith in Him, He will never abandon us. I added in where I think we should all add our name. Make it personal. He is a personal God. He wants you to know those things. He want us to know that He isn't just a little in love with us, He doesn't just kind of like us, He is madly in love with you and me.

Praise be to God in your trials, a god who doesn't let you sit in your own filth, a god who is madly in love with you, He has big plans for you!