Full Heart and a Hoarse Voice

Hello! Thanks for reading my blog today!!

Last week I worked an Eagle's soccer camp in Knoxville, Tennessee! It was the most incredible week and I have so many memories that I will never forget.  The coaching staff consisted of 4 of us from the Lady Eagles team, 4 guys from the Men's Charlotte Eagles team, 4 interns, and a camp director.  This was the crew on "Jersey Thursday"!!!

All of the boys stayed at one house and the 4 girls stayed just a few minutes away at the mom's parent's house.  The girls had the best of both worlds!  We had the opportunity to get to know both families.  Our host mom, who we called "Queen Elizabeth" was an incredible woman of God and here is a picture with her:

We just had such a fun time all week.  After chasing kids around all day, the girls went back to our house, to nap, shower, snack, lounge around, and best of all talk to Queen Elizabeth about life.  Then we would head over to the guys house for dinner and time for debrief and just fellowship. 

This camp had a mixture of all ages and all levels.  I was placed as coach of the micros, which are 5 and 6 year olds! It was insane. These kids have so much energy, no attention span, and so much personality.  I was really challenged all week and forced to grow in so many ways.  Each day, I was learning something new about what works and what doesn't, how to keep them engaged, how to have patience when things are tough, how to have energy at the end of the day, and just how to love these kids with everything inside of me.  By the end of the week, my voice was completely gone from all of the yelling I was doing!  The micros would stay from 9-12 and the older kids stayed from 9-3.  So after my kids left, my other coach and I would join in with another group and assist until the end of the day.  It was such a blessing to get to interact with two separate groups and know more kids.

Here are some more pics:

This is Luke, me, Ashley and Julia.  Luke and Julia were junior helpers from the community and Ashley was my teammate who I coached Micros with!

My coach name:

COACH NATTERPILLAR

 

A girl from the older group who I LOVED

Coaches on Wacky Wednesday!

Bedhead Tuesday!

The ladies

Since coming back from camp, I have been thinking more about what I should do with my life. AGAIN. Can my brain just cool it for a few days?  It's that age old question, "What am I going to be when I grow up?"  This camp ignited a lot of thoughts and feelings. I've always thought I wanted to coach.  I've always wanted to do something with the youth because I feel such a passion to empower them where they're at.  But in that, I always felt that my strengths were connecting to older kids... Yet this week God had placed me with the youngest of the camp.  Not only that, but there were 26 of them! The biggest group of the camp.  It was challenging and overwhelming.  Our snack time talks consisted of stories about ice cream and kids needing help opening up their wrappers.  The older kids spent their lunch time talking about the bible.  I was a little jealous because I desire to talk and connect with kids and being with the youngest group, that's not really part of the gig.  These young kids stole my heart and I loved them.  But I couldn't help but wonder, why had God put me in this group?

This Sunday at church, right after getting back from Knoxville, the topic was on knowing God's will for your life.  Oh man, I was so excited when the pastor started talking.  I thought, "Yes! Maybe I'll walk out of here finally knowing exactly which path to take".

Ha. Haha.

That's funny. Instead, I was so convicted.  I have made God's will for his creation all about me!  I have been so caught up in how as an individual I will contribute to his Kingdom, and have taken very little time to just step back and evaluate my motives.  What if it is not what you are doing but why you are doing it? What if the pressure was off to choose the exact route that God had for us, but rather that we had the choice?

1 Corinthians 10:31 

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Whatever you do. Whatever you do.  Hmm...

I think about all of the things I am interested in doing and feel like I could do... physical therapy, nursing, teaching, coaching, ministry, the list goes on. I can think of ways that each of those professions are good things... So how do I choose? Do I choose what I enjoy? Which do I feel like I can glorify God the MOST and enjoy doing it?

I went into camp thinking that maybe God would reveal gifts in coaching.  When I was put with the micros, I was a little nervous if I could do it when I felt more prepared to be with older kids.  But you know what?  God equipped me.  I was not necessarily in my "element" and my voice was shot by Wednesday (seriously, 2 days in I was struggling). All in all I did a fine job!

So when I look now on my option of coaching, yes, coaching can be an awesome way to glorify God. I know, that with the right intentions, God will equip whichever route I choose. But after how I felt on Friday, when I couldn't speak and I was struggling to even keep my eyes open, I think I am safe to make the decision that coaching 5 year-olds is not what I will do for the rest of my life. It was awesome. Those kids blessed me and there were some kids that I will probably remember for the rest of my life. Coaching may still be in my horizon, but now the horizon looks a little less blurry...

I guess I'm in a season of trial and error.  Well, it's less error and more just learning, growing, and finding out how to LOVE God and others in whatever I am doing.  After this week, my heart is SO full of sweet memories and precious smiles, but my voice is still recovering:)

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I love you!!!

Natalie

Discovering Our "Green Thumb"

Jessie (my roommate/teammate) and I started a garden about 2 weeks ago and the way it is growing has brought us so much childlike joy and excitement that I have to share.

Early this summer, we decided we wanted to start our own garden in the backyard of our home!  Our backyard is pretty dry, the dirt is like clay, and there are weeds everywhere, but we knew we could find a way!! After roaming around the local Lowe's for a few hours (not joking), we decided that we wanted to take on the challenge of starting from scratch with some seeds and soil. We talked to many workers who chuckled at our naivety and even discouraged us from doing it this way. They said, "There are tomato plants already grown at the front of the store, you should just plant those. You'll have better luck".  However, we finally talked to this awesome employee who gave us just the encouragement we needed. She told us to go for it. We decided to listened to her:)

Jessie and I had the time of our lives putting it together.

We were in the garage looking for a hammer and some other tools to use to try to put everything together.  I left Jessie in there while I went out back to start working. 5 minutes later, Jessie walks outside with this hysterical hat and tool belt.  We laughed so hard!!

Anyways, I CANNOT believe how much the garden has grown!!!! In 2 weeks!!!

Green beans, cucumbers, squash, and lettuce!!

We started this garden with no idea of how it would turn out.  Honestly, I think we had very little faith that anything would actually grow.  But every morning, we wake up and one of the very first things we say is, "Let's go check on the garden!!!" It has been such a joy! 

Our host family thinks it is hilarious.  I love it.  Jessie and I talk about it almost everyday at practice so now our whole team asks us how our garden is doing.  Such a fun thing to share!

With zero gardening experience, Jessie and I just took this leap of faith and decided to build it anyways.  We are always joking with our teammates now about our "green thumb".  Maybe that is how we discover what our gifts truly are and what God has created us to do/be.  You just go for it! And if it works out, keep going with it! Until all of a sudden you have a garden:)

Obviously I have a very little part in photosythesis and all of the other crazy things God is doing in these plants to make them grow.  But I built the framework, planted the seeds, and I water it everyday.  And look what God has created!! 

There are so many biblical analogies to gardening.  It's kind of funny and I could share forever.  But maybe this will inspire you to build something, plant something, water it, and see if anything grows:)

I love you.

Natalie

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.

1 Corinthians 3:6

Here are some other fun pictures from the week:

Waxhaw downtown summer concert tonight!!

We had an awesome welcome sign for our team dinner by the kids of the family

What is my Vision...

This weekend we went on a team retreat to a lake house in the mountains!

It was incredible.  On the way to the house, we stopped at a Walmart for a scavenger hunt! It was pretty intense with 20 very competitive athletes... After 45 minutes, sprinting through the store, taking pictures with strangers, my group won!! It was a great way to start the weekend.

Once we got to the house we had a game night.  We played some get-to-know-you games and then finished with a big game of bunko.

The next morning we had a group session talking about having a vision for our lives.  The three main aspects of having a vision is: know yourself, know your vision, know your strategy.

Know yourself:
- Figuring out your strengths, weaknesses, and passions
- Learn God's truths about yourself and actually believing it!
- The more we know who God is, the more we know ourselves

Knowing your vision:
- Vision in life creates purpose
- When we have a vision, we are given passion, motivation, direction, and purpose
- Our vision is an extension of HIS vision. Therefore, our vision should align with restoration and redemption!

Knowing your strategy:
- You have to take steps and do the knocking to see what doors open
- As you begin pursuing your vision, God will begin to reveal your steps
- God may reveal this through talking to mentors and people in positions of where you are striving to be
- Pray bold prayers

Visions are born in the soul of a man/woman who is consumed by the tension between what is and what should be!! This is so cool! God is growing us up to our ultimate vision!! We just have to keep acting on our convictions and trust that God will reveal our roles as we go!

Wow, this is exactly what I needed to hear.  I have been stressing so much on what I should be pursuing for my future once I graduate college.  I feel like I have too many interests and am passionate about so many things, so which route do I take?  My ultimate passion is the Kingdom of God. But where do I go from there?  So this conversation gave me the peace to keep on keeping on!  I know that through Christ, life has meaning! And I trust that as I keep acting on my convictions, that He will begin to reveal my steps and uncover my personal vision.

Proverbs 3 was one of the first words of scripture I read in my life and once again it has impacted me brilliantly over the last few days.  If you are reading this blog post, READ THAT CHAPTER RIGHT NOW!! There are two verses that I mainly want to harp on.

Proverbs 3:27-28
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.  Do not say to your neighbor, "Come back tomorrow and I'll give it to you" - when you already have it with you.

What do you have to offer your neighbor? What has God convicted you as a need in the world?  Are you using what God is gifting you with? Jessie (my roommate) and I have been having so many conversations about our role on this team, in this host family and small town, and even in our specific friendship.  And it has led us to act on so many convictions, like sleeping over at a teammates house who was home alone, getting to know this awesome store owner in down town Waxhaw (the town we live in), and being intentional in spending time with girls on the team! It has been awesome!! And in doing this, it seems like God is revealing our role for this summer! We have extra time aside from soccer practice, we have a car, we already have each other for support, and we both are good at making friends.  We have the power to act and the gifts to put to use. So we are not going to withhold this or put it off for another time when we are less tired from soccer or when we have more incentive for us. Let's listen to scripture RIGHT NOW and just DO.

God is so good!!

Read Proverbs 3.  Trust God.  Act on a conviction today.  Discover your vision!

Welp, this was supposed to be a blog post about my retreat but I ended up getting a little carried away :)

Long story short, the retreat was epic.  We closed the weekend with discussing the idea that we just had a mountain top experience.  Everyone was so vulnerable and we grew closer to each other and closer to the Lord.  The typical phrase that is usually used after an experience like this is "Now it's time to get back to the real world".  But, what we experienced WAS real life.  That is how God created real community to be.  So the question really is, how are we going to bring the real world into this busy, corrupted world.

Then I started thinking about what we were going back to in Charlotte... It's amazing! So really, this weekend we just had was a mountaintop experience on top of another mountain top experience.

Thank you Lord.

Love,
Natalie