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

What an Eagle's Game Looks Like

It has been too long since I last posted and I apologize! Because now I have too much to say!

Today is Tuesday after Memorial Day.  I got back in the middle of the night from a 2 game road trip to Dayton, Ohio, where we won one and lost one.  Our first game we got scored on in the first three minutes.  However, it became a back and forth battle until we were given a penalty kick in the box which put us up 4-3 to finish the game.  The second game everyone's bodies were pretty exhausted from the first game and the heat, so we came out a little slow.  Dayton was able to score towards the end of the first half. After half time we came back with energy and grit but just could not get the ball in the net, so the game ended with a 1-0 score for Dayton.  I'm so proud of my team and the way that they battled.

The soccer was great this weekend.  However, what makes this organization so unique is before each game we have chapel.  I will give you an entire pre-game regimen.  For 15 minutes we go into a time of quiet prayer.  Girls will pray silently, journal, read their bible, reflect on things they have written, etc.  Then, we go into 15 minutes of praise and worship through song.  Two girls from our team play the guitar and we sing worship songs to our amazing God!  We then hear from a chapel speaker for about 20 minutes.  This is a different person each game from the community and they share a sermon.  We are then given about 20 minutes to get mentally focused for our game, hear from our coach about tactics, and then go out to the field for our warm-up. Isn't that incredible?  We are a semiprofessional team in a very secular league.  Girls from the other team will walk by our locker room and hear their opponents singing along to a guitar. What they must think!! They probably think were a bunch of softies singing around the campfire, braiding each other's hair.  Little do they know that we are leaning into our mighty, awesome God and drawing supernatural strength for the game!  I imagine us preparing for war like so many biblical stories.  I just read in 1 Samuel when God anoints David and continues to give the enemy into David's hands.  David's army enters a battle with God going before and behind them, giving them strength and power.  Obviously a soccer game is slightly different, but what a beautiful way to worship God through soccer!  

At the end of the game we circle up in the middle of the field and ask the other team to join us in prayer.  Whether anyone from the other team decides to join us, it is such a privilege to get to pray over them, when they may not know God at all.  We hope and pray that our actions, the way we play, and the way we have treated them, will reflect the living, loving God and that just by brushing up against this organization, they may get a glimpse of Jesus.  

I feel incredibly privileged to be on this team and a part of this organization.  I haven't gotten playing time on the field, but God is rocking me and challenging me, and I am learning so much more about God and myself.  We have had Sports Ministry Training (SMT) sessions where we have talked about identity, competition, emotion, humility/confidence, unity, and more to come.  I hope to unravel some of these things that I am learning in other posts, but there is just too much to say already!

After the first home game I took some pictures with my roommate Jessie.  She is so great and most of the time we are together we are laughing. Our host mom thinks we're crazy and that only feeds into our laugh attacks more!  

Last week I also got the opportunity to go to NASCAR qualifying for the 600 in Charlotte! We wanted to go to the actual race, but we had an away trip in Ohio for soccer so we just went to the qualifiers.  Here are a few pictures! And of course, I had to buy a Charlotte race track camo hat...

From left to right:

Me, Nana (Host grandma), Jessie (Roommate), McKenzie (Host sister), Margaret Anne (Host mom)

I'm really hoping to blog more often so that I can share more what is going on here.  I love God so much and I'm so thankful for the adventure he has me on.  

Love,

Natalie

Just The Beginning...

Hello from Charlotte, North Carolina!

It is only Thursday and I cannot believe how much has already happened! It blows me away to think that a week ago I was sitting in the library at Point Loma, cramming for my last final of spring semester.

I'm not sure where to begin.  I have played soccer, met Reba Mcentire (well a life size cut-out of her), shot a gun (at paper plates of course), started a garden, met the owners of almost every store in downtown Waxhaw, and fed baby cows!  I am living with a host family with one other girl, Jessie, who is amazing and we hit it off right away. There was a point where we could not believe how much we had in common that we had a "Step-Brothers" moment:

My host family has been so awesome and have made both Jessie and I feel so at home. 

The team atmosphere is unreal.  The competition is so good and the level of play is really high. I am so excited to grow as a player by playing with all of these amazing girls.  Tonight we broke off into small groups of 5, which we will have for the rest of the summer just to share life with and read the bible together.  For the next few weeks we will have sports ministry training several days, learning many things, like how to use soccer is a tool to further the gospel.  Later in the summer we will be working a few kid soccer camps in the Charlotte area, which is one way to apply the sports ministry training.  Another way we will get to live out the things we are learning is every time we step out on a soccer field!  Our first game is on Saturday night and everything is happening so fast!

I have already learned so much being here. I have already had a horrible practice that brought up all of my insecurities and issues with self criticism.  Yet God was faithful and he brought me back to reality.  He reminded me that I'm not here because of my abilities, but I am here because He loves me, has a plan for me here, and honors the fact that I just love to play soccer.  I have already been in uncomfortable situations, meeting new people and not knowing how deep and open to be.  I have chosen to be open and it has already blessed so many situations and brought about great conversation.  There have already been many moments where I had to pray desperate prayers for strength and for grace for myself.  God has provided every single time. He is so real and so good!!

I'm not sure why God has me here yet.  I am already experiencing fellowship, growing as a player and a child of God.  I think God is shaping me and guiding me towards where he wants me to go with my life. I'm just having such a blast as God unravels this amazing adventure!!!

God loves us so much!!

Natalie

Jessie and I with the daughter of our host family at her soccer game

So. Much. Green.

Reba!

I don't even know if I hit the target because I yelped and laughed as soon as I shot it

Feeding the baby cows at Aunt Judy's farm!!

An Introduction - My First Post!!

I am currently a junior at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California, about to finish up my spring semester.  Time is flying!

In 9 days I will be on a plane heading to Charlotte, North Carolina!  This summer I have the amazing opportunity to play for a women’s soccer team called the Charlotte Eagles.  This team is a part of the W-league, a national semi-professional women’s soccer league, which is a secular league with no religious affiliation.  However, the Charlotte Eagles are a Christ based team, providing an experience much more that just playing soccer!  They provide “A season of training for a lifetime of service”. 

To be honest, I have no idea what I am getting myself into!  I know that I will be playing soccer, learning more about God, and working kid’s soccer camps throughout the Charlotte area.  Other than that, I don’t know a lot!  On this blog I will be debriefing my thoughts, memories and what I am learning!  I can’t wait to share this with you all. 

(By “all”, I know at least my mom will be reading this.  Hi Mom! J)

God loves you!

Natalie

http://www.charlotteeagles.com/

Their 3 minute promo video: http://youtu.be/M6YxdKLxBCs