break from reality

What an awesome past few days I have had. God has been pouring out the blessings and humbling my heart in the most gracious ways.



Friday: I worked in the morning, but it went by really fast and I made friends with one of the new girls. It has always been a challenge for me to make new friends, but God placed a really cool person for me to work with. There will be more on her later. Friday night I went to an AA meeting with one of my friends for our Cultural Diversity class. We're supposed to choose something that we've never attended or that is outside something we experience regularly that is preferably related to religion/spirituality. Some ideas were attending a worship service in a deaf community, attending temple, or going to an AA meeting. We chose the AA meeting because they are held frequently and close by. I was nervous going in at first because I didn't know what to expect, but God is really working in amazing ways within AA. They have a very spiritual focus and God is a definite topic at every meeting. They also closed the meeting by saying the Lord's Prayer and I found that to be so powerful. It brought an entirely new meaning to the Prayer for me. It has given me a deeper understanding of alcoholism and addiction which I think will be important in a counseling setting.

Sunday: I invited myself to go to church with the girl I work with because her and her family attend the church right at the end of our street. I had been wanting to check it out, but I've been too nervous to attend myself (Aaron has been working on Sunday mornings). I absolutely love the church and they have a a couple's Sunday school class which was pretty awesome. Aaron doesn't have to work until the afternoon this week, so we're going to go together. I feel very blessed to have found a church, and I think this could be our new "home" church. I'm going to give it one month before I make it official. I also want to do some research on the denomination (Brethren) and make sure they we're a good fit. The only thing I know about them is that they are part of the historic peace churches, but I know there are like 15 splits in the Brethren church so who knows where this church falls on the spectrum.

Monday: My parents came for the day and we went shopping in Columbus. I haven't seen them in over a month, so it was refreshing to spend time with them. I miss being able to see them on a regular basis, but I know that Ashland is the place we need to be right now (it's a very peaceful feeling!)

Thursday: We're hosting Thanksgiving at our place! My parents and brother and Aaron's parents are coming to spend the day with us. This means I will get to cross something off of my list (#57) and I'll be crossing another bread off of my list as I am making a simple white bread. I made a new food over the weekend that I will update with pictures eventually, and I made Chai Hot Chocolate so I will post about that as well.

I've worked the past two mornings and we've been trying to get the apartment cleaned up before tomorrow. I have a lot of homework to work on this weekend and I work Black Friday (blah) and Saturday night. This break will go by fast and it hardly feels like a break.

I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving, and remember to give thanks to Your Saviour!


Many blessings,
-Ash