New Look, New Adventure

Hello Friends!

So I took a very, very long sabbatical from my blog.

With school and friends and everything I really just could not find the time to sit and write.

But as you can tell my blog as a new look!

That is because I am doing things a little differently for now because I have some exciting news!

I AM GOING TO GREECE!!!!!

I am so excited!

I cannot wait till January 6 when I will meet with the rest of my classmates and teachers to embark on our journey!

I am going to take a class while I am there (Crucible of Civilization)
But I also wanted to go because I have never been :)

I don't really know anyone going a few a acquaintances and people I have met through meetings but that's really it!
Kinda scary but I have a good feeling about it!

I know that the Lord sometimes requires us to step away from our comfort zones in order to grow and learn new things.

So you may be wondering what this has to do with my blog...

My sweet roommate gave me the idea of sharing my adventure along the way through my blog.

That way friends and family can keep up with my travels and the things I am learning.

Now I have a lot of actual class stuff to do while I am there which includes daily journal prompts, reading a few books, and a presentation, so I am a bit worried about the time I will have to dedicate to this..

but I really think this will be a neat opportunity to share my adventures and in order for you all to be up to speed!

So here is my itinerary for the next 3 weeks!!!

Day 1: January 5 I will fly from the Tri-Cities regional airport to Atlanta. Meet up with the group at Lufthansa Airlines then set sail across the ocean to Frankfurt, Germany. From there we will fly to Athens Greece and will land at 5:15 on January the 6th (Athens time)!!!

Day 2: Jan 6 Arrive in Athens!! We will hike Mt. Lykabettos and have dinner in Plaka!

Day 3: Jan 7 Athens: Acropolis, Theater of Dionysius, Acropolis Museum

Day 4: Jan 8 Athens: Afora, Areopagus, Pynx, Olympeion

Day 5: Jan 9 Athens: Piraeus, take a ferry to Aegina and visit the temple of Aphali.

Day 6: Jan 10 Athens: National Archeological Museum, Kalambaka

Day 7: Jan 11 Meteora

Day 8: Jan 12 Delphi

Day 9: Jan 13 Olympia

Day 10: Jan 14 Poulithra

Day 11: Jan 15 Poulithra

Day 12: Jan 16 Poulithra

Day 13: Jan 17 Nauplion, Mycenae, Tyrins

Day 14: Jan 18 Epidaurus, Corinth

Day 15: Jan 19 Heraklion, Crete

Day 16: Jan 20 South Central Crete: Phaestos, Fortyn, Matala, Kali Limines

Day 17: Jan 21 Heraklion, Crete

Day 18: Jan 22 Rhamnous, Marathon, Brauron, Thorikos, Laurion, Cape Sounion

Day 19: Jan 23 Last day! Exam, Farewell dinner

Day 20:  Jan 24  Leave Athens airport and return HOME!

And that's my trip!

I am really excited to share this adventure with you!

I will be praying for safe travels and peace in Greece throughout my journey!

Love,

Diane Elizabeth

Summer Staff...When in Doubt, Peace and Pout!

HELLOOO World!!
I am home!

Actually I got home Sunday but I just couldn't bring myself to the computer to write this post.

How am I suppose to put into words the most amazing 3 weeks of my life?

I can't.

I can't even describe it in my own head because I am still trying to process it all.

Oh how the Lord is GOOD!

I have been simply blown away by him.

Lets start from the beginning.

We all have seasons of harvest and seasons of drought, and to be real honest I was pretty dry going into camp.

I knew that I would have a great time but I just didn't want to leave my home and my loved ones for 3 weeks.

I couldn't bring myself to spend time with the Lord and I was just running on empty.

Little did I know what I had in store [no pun intended].

Jesus met me where I was, sweetly broke my heart and loved on me in such intimate ways!

Whether is was from the community of strong believers that I lived and worked with

 (24 girls, 24 boys, 3 coordinators, interns, or assign team),

the  beautiful landscape and view of God's creation,

the "get real" talks with the girls,

or just basking in the light of the Lord,

God just wrapped me in his arms.

He did this especially through the sweet girls I worked with in the store.

I have never felt so challenged, encouraged, or loved in my entire life.

We asked each other hard questions and what our hearts really looked like.

We were silly but serious,

Honest but respectful,

we laughed and cried.

We [mainly I] messed up [a lot] but we poured out father's grace over one another.

I really saw how important community was.

There is a difference in living in a growing Christian community and living with someone who only believes.

We need to be challenged and help accountable by our christian friends but we also need to be loved by them and accepted through God's lens of Grace!

Another awesome thing about my time at The Gap was the

Gettin' Juicy 2K11!!

This was the special time I had with all my summer staff sisters.

We had "girl talk" once a week but it also happened constantly throughout the 21 days.

We all jumped in from the very first email**

 **yeah ladies you all know which one that was ;)**

and GOT REAL,

or as Jess says it BROUGHT IT!

We opened up and shared the real struggles in our lives and what our heart really looks like.

I often find myself covering up little spots of my heart that I don't want people to know about because I am embarrassed or ashamed of them.

But by me seeking out my sisters in Christ I was able to heal and grow from those things.

A third thing that I loved at camp was my quiet times.

I woke up every morning and just sat with Jesus.

There is something about starting your day off with the peace maker that just gives you a peaceful day!

I was able to read his word and write it on my heart in order to live it better throughout the day.

The hard thing is taking that home with me.

I am a busy person at home and find it hard to spend time with Jesus everyday but I need and WANT to!!!!!!

I love seeing the cool things he points out to me in scripture.

He has a funny way of showing me exactly what I needed to hear.

[and that is on a coincidence].

During my time at Windy Gap I learned a lot of things about...

• surrendering
• making Jesus #1
• my need for the cross
• my need for community
• putting away pride
• trust
• JESUS' ABOUNDING LOVE FOR ME!!

This is only to name a few because I could go on for hours.

I read this really cool quote in Jesus Calling one morning while there and it is the perfect moto and life quote for my right now!

"Do not miss the JOY OF MY PRESENCE by carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders"

Sweet Lord,

Help me to stop trying to carry the world on my shoulders.

Oh how I fail miserably.

Allow me to be filled with your joy and let it completely overflow.

Help me to surrender my doubts, worries and pride in order to be filled with your peace!

You are good My Father! So good to me.

Help me to find my contentment in the one thing that is ALWAYS good and ALWAYS steady.

I praise you for my sweet time at Windy Gap,for my 300 teenage friend's lives that decided to give their lives to you, and the amazing family of summer staff that you blessed me with!

Most importantly, I cannot thank you enough for the cross by which I am made whole and pure.

Thank you my sweet Lord.

Help me to call to your all the day long.

With Love From My Father,

Diane Elizabeth

THE GAP

Good Bye Blogger friends!

(if anyone actually looks at this thing)

I will be at Windy Gap doing my Summer Staff duties in the Country Store!!

I am so excited to get to be around strong Christian women and men who gave up 3 weeks of their summer to serve the Lord.

Please Pray for time at camp and the kids I will come into contact with!

I can't wait to share with the blog world how amazing my time was!!!

But while I am gone I would LOVE for you to

write me :)

or send me silly pictures!

or write  a song for me!

I will write you back!

I will not have my phone or access to a computer sooo...

your just gonna have to do it the old fashion way!

I CANT WAIT TO BE HEREEEEEEE

Here is my address

Diane Storie-Summer Staff

Young Life Windy Gap

120 Coles Cove Rd.

Weaverville, NC 28787



With Love From My Father,

Diane Elizabeth

Mud or Stars

Sorry about my sabbatical.

Life came at me fast and I forgot how to blog.

Lets recap...

So I got home from school on May 12.

The week before that was full of studying for finals, taking finals, and having some awesome dinner dates with friends.

The past week I have been home has been filled with nonstop Chrysalis things.

I love it!

I got the last minute opprotunity to serve on the team.

Even though I only found out a day before I know that God knew I was apart of Journey #23 from I was born.

I am so glad that I got to be apart of his ministry.

It was an incredible weekend of experiencing the Lord's love, sharing stories, rekindling friendships with friends, and hanging out with some pretty cool girls.

This past weekend of Journey #24 which was for the boys.

Words cannot begin to discribe how amazing it is see your best friends serve the Lord.

I am so proud of my J's and S!

I love watching them share their faith with other college boys.

What a beautiful weekend.

I have talked about it a little in past blog entries but lately one of my biggest struggles has been Control and Anxiety.

I want to be in control and make things perfect.

I believe that I know whats best for my life so I try to controll them to end up "perfect" for me.

When I fail...

(which I always do)

I get personally upset because I was in control and it didn't work out right.

 This need for control has lead to my anxiousness.

There are somethings in life that I have absolutely no control over.

For example, what my future will look like.

As hard as I try control things now I have no idea where I will be in 4 years.

This scares me to death.

I catch myself having freak outs because I so want to do things my way.

I become anxious, stressed, and nervous because  I can't control.

As you can see this is a big problem.

But thankfully the Lord has been showing me over the past 6 months my desire for control.

It has not be fun butt when he makes me aware of the problem it helps me to see that I need to change it.

I was talking to a very close friend of mine about my struggle and she suggested the book

Calm My Anxious Heart

by Linda Dillow

I have only read one chapter but I already am noticing a difference when I apply what I learn to my daily life.

So I want to share with you all some of the cool things I am learning...

First, Contentment begins with Eternal Perspective

 not on tomorrow because tomorrow is not ours but the Lord's!

So every morning I must remind myself that I only have to worry about today.

only today. only today. only today. only today.

Second, Contentment is not based off of our circumstances.

"True Contentment is a state of the heart, not a state of affairs." 

A really cool example of this is shown through Paul.

In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul makes a cool statement on contentment.

"I am not saying this because I am in need,

 for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.

I have learned the secret to being conten in any situation,

whether fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

It is amazing to see how conten Paul is in any situation.

This is especially cool coming from Paul because he was

beaten, chained to a guard, locked in a nasty dungeon with no sanitation or decent food...

 YET HE WAS STILL CONTENT.

A key word in the passage above is the word "learn".

It proves to us that we can learn to be content which is promising to people like Me!

Another cool thing from the passage that Linda shows is a translastion of the last verse.. a verse I know everyone who reads this knows.

It is translated by Kenneth Wuest and says,

 "I am strong for all things in the One who constantly infuses strength in me."

How does God infuse strength into us?

Through his WORD!

Third, I want to share with you a key verse that Linda gives for encouragment.

I have written this verse on my mirror, post its throughout my room,and on my hand to remind me that I am not in control.

"God is the blessed controller of all things, the king of all kings and master of all masters."

1 Timothy 6:15

Fourth, Linda shares a neat story that I have been thinking of throughout my day to keep myself positive and content in situations.

"Two women looked through prison bars.

One saw mud, the other saw stars."

Do you see MUD or STARS?

With Love From My Father,

Diane Elizabeth

Squall

My heart goes out to my fellow Alabamians.

(yes I just made that word up)

Being from the Tennessee Mountains I have never had to deal with tornadoes.

Man has this year been a surprise with the annoying sirens going off every day.

I just cannot get over the power that the tornado has.

The hundred mile and hour wind.

The hugee diameter.

The sucking tunnel.

It baffles me to see something that humans have no control over.

Now a days we can get basically anything we want.

Knowledge at the tip of our finger tips.

Any type of food.

Travelling all over the world.

We can control technology, human wills, and basically anything else in society.

But nature is one thing we have Absolutely No Control Over.

It just brings my mind back to the Lord

and how he has complete power over our lives.

People now a days think they don't need him

because they can take care of things themselves.

But guess what, you can't.

Storms and natural disasters bring us to our knees.

It reminds us that we need the Lords power, safety, comfort, and strength.

It reminds me of a little storie.

In Mark 4:35-41

" That day when evening came, he said to his disciples,  'Let us go over to the other side.'

Leaving the crowd behind them,they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.

There were also other boats with him.

A furious squall [storm] came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

The disciples woke him and said to him,'Teacher, don't you care if we drown?'

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves,

'Quiet! Be Still!'

The the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples,

Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

Incredible.

So heres a recap Jesus and his friends were on a boat.

A HUGE storm came upon them.

Where was Jesus... SLEEPING!!

His friends freaked out and woke him up.

What did Jesus do?

Stood up and said be quiet.

Seriously it gives me chills.

Thinking back to tonight and all the storms I try to imagine...

 First if I were on a boat instead a huge steardy building.

I would have been 1otimes more scared!

Second if someone was trying to sleep through not only the storm but the freakouts of hundreds of girls. seriously pretty impossible.

Finally I think of all the pictures of the huge funnel clouds and tornadoes.

Jesus just stood up in from of them and said

 "BE STILL."

Our. God. Is. So. Powerful.

He not only can control the powerful winds outside your life.

But also the powerful winds inside your life.

Don't Ever Forget That!

Nothing is too big for our God!

To the families and friends that lost loved ones today I pray that you just cling to the Lord in your time of need.

With Love From My Father,

 Diane Elizabeth

Bride

If you knew anything about Samford you would know that getting engaged before your senior year is a must.

Yeah I know kinda crazy!

The idea of that makes me anxious in good and bad ways.

It is very hard to be content in the present when your constantly wishing for the future.

But the thing is... I am a Bride...now..

I am a Bride of Christ.

He woos me and pursues me daily.

He blesses me.

He chooses me.

He loves me in ways I cannot even fathom myself.

He looks at me in awe of beauty.

Song of Songs4:7

 "All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you."

He purchased me with his blood.

He endured the worst death for me.

But the love he had for me beat death.

I am forever his.

Nothing can take me away from him.

He will never leave me.

He will forgive me even when I turn away.

I am the Bride of Christ.

I am the Bride of Christ.

I am the Bride of Christ.

I am the Bride of Christ.

I am the Bride of Christ.

forever.

love these girls

My

Yes I am alive :)

I know I went MIA for a few but never fear I'm back!

These past few weeks have been crazy, confusing, and distracting.

I just kinda lost sight of a few this to be honest.

However, the Lord never leaves us we just have to wallow in the pig pen for a little while in order to see what we really need.

I lost sight of my priorities and got wraped up in

my plans,

my goals,

my tests,

my papers,

my meeting,

mymymymymymymymy.

my

MY

MY

my

Get the picture?!

The Lord always calls me back though.

This morning he splashed some cold water on me and woke me up.

He pulled me out of the pig pen.

Save your best striving for seeking My Face.

I am constantly comunicating with you.

To find Me and hear My voice,

you must seek Me above all else.

Anything that you desire more than Me becomes an Idol

[school, extracurriculars, significant others]

When you are determined to get your own way,

you blot Me out of your conscioursness.

Instead of single-mindedly perusuing some goal,

talk with Me about it.

Seek me first and foremost; then the rest of your life will fall into place.

[Jesus Calling]

He has my whole life in his hands.

I just need to trust him.

Because I know that I cannot do this on my own...

Thats why I have melt downs, and get stressed.

I am thankful for a God

who will help me get through college,

who helps me get through papers,

who helps me to schedule my life.

I just need to trust him.

 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:33

With Love From My Father,

Diane Elizabeth

I love my sisters a whole bunch :)

I love my new roomie a whole bunch!!!

(Hayley we need a new pic with just us)

And MY BEST FRIEND and BOY FRIEND is COMING TOMORROW

Irrelevance

So I sat down tonight to have quite time and I tried something a bit different.

Instead of sitting down thinking of what I want to get out of this...

I prayed about what the Lord wants me to get out of it.

So I opened the book I am reading for my Bible study and immediately I read some incredible stuff!

Seriously the Lord can do amazing things if you just let him reveal himself to you!

The book I am reading is In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen.

I read it last year for Work Crew training but I always am able to get more out of the books the second time.

The book is about a man who had taught for twenty years at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard.

He was a genius.

He taught pastoral psychology, pastoral theology, and Christian spirituality.

He began to feel empty, dry, and spiritually drained.

So he prayed for an answer.

That answer was L'Arche Community for the mentally handicapped people.

He gave up all his knowledge and credibility to teach what people thought were the unteachable.

In his book he talks about reflections on Christian Leadership.

Relevance

is the name of the first chapter.

The temptation in it for leaders is our desire to be relevant.

He writes,

"I am convinced that the Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self. That is the way Jesus came to reveal God's Love. The Great Message is what we have to carry."

When was the last time you were told to be Irrelevant?

Our world thrives off of our self relevance.

We do anything to boost our selves.

Thats not what we need to be Christian Leaders.

The Lord's love is what is most important.

Henri Nouwen went to a place where

the people couldn't read his books,

the had never heard of the schools he taught at,

his higher level education did not matter ONE BIT.

Talk about irrelevance.

Jesus was tempted with the same things.

He was tempted to turn stones into bread.

When he was asked to prove his power as the Son of God by the relevant behavior of changing stones to bread, he clung to his mission to simply proclaiming the word.

I agree that it is hard.

Being put in a new environment,

new people,

new teachers,

new friends,

new younglife.

I strive to get back my credibility that was built back up at home.

The thing is I DON'T NEED IT.

The Lord will give me what I need to spread his word.

I can not do it on my own accord.

I need to be irrelevant in order to be a servant for the Lord.

His relevance> My relevance

With Love From My Father,

Diane Elizabeth

PS. I am currently writing this in the basement of my dorm during a tornedo drill. How fun...

Bones

206 Bones

I hate each and every one of them.

Seriously I cannot do this.

I have a week and a half to learn them all not to mention other random things.

**FREAK OUT**

The crazy thing is right when I felt the anxiety tightening in my chest,

the Lord lead me to this.

Psalm 94:17-19

Unless the Lord had given me help,

I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.

When I said, "My foot is slipping"

Your love, O Lord, supported me.

When anxiety was great within me,

your consolation brought JOY to my soul!

When you call out to the Lord and say "I NEED HELP"
He will come and give you support.

If the Lord can conquer death whats a few bones to him?!

I will be praying for Theta Iota Chapter at Gettysburg College in Penn.

Sorry this post is short and sweeet.

With Love From My Father,

Diane Elizabeth

P.S. So I have hard core studied for an hour and a half and I know EVERY BONE in the Skull! I CAN DO IT! I would like to thank Jesus for patience and a brain to learn. And a Special Thank you to Hayden Scott for the quizes :)



Now my Little Cranium and Occipital bone are hitting the pillow :)

Beta Nu

Please...

Be still

Stop running

Weep no more

For..

It is finished

I have overcome the world

I have already won...

Seriously I wish I could implant this into my brain.

I can never remember this.

I stress and plan and organize and work....

for nothing.

It is already done.

The Lord has already beaten this world.

"Walk upon salvation, let your spirit live in me"

I want that joy and easiness to be with me everyday.

I go mindlessly through my day only to realize that I am missing the picture.

I need to wake up every morning and be Thankful for another day.

We are doing this really cool thing in my Chapter of Alpha Delta Pi

where we pick, at random, another chapter in the country and pray for them.

I specifically pray for

their well being,

 that they just get covered in the Lord's love,

that they can advance his kingdom,

and for him to show himself to them in a mighty way.

This week was Beta Nu.

Seriously I think this is the neatest thing... Thank you Courtney Rogers (aka my aunt)

I have club tomorrow night and I am so excited!

This week has been going by smoothly my first test is tomorrow and only one more paper!

THE LORD IS SO GOOD!

With Love From My Father,

Diane Elizabeth

2 Papers

3 Exams

 All this week...

Only the Lord's peace will get me through this!

But I am looking forward to my the FIRST VESTAVIA CLUB of the semester

THIS THURSDAY.

YAY for Valentine's Day Club!

I get to do the game :)

I will make it through this week!

With Love From My Father,

Diane Elizabeth

unstoppable

Here I am Lord,

Take my life

Let it be consecrated to you.

Take my moments, my days, and my time.

Take my hands and my feet,

Take my voice and my lips

Take my money, my energy, and my resources.

Take my motivation, my goals, and my intelligence.

Take my friends, my classes, my future.

Let them be all for you.

Let them be beautiful.

Let them be pleasing to you.

Let them be all for you.



[google]



Lord, I own nothing.

Nothing that I have is mine.

You control my life, my world, my circumstances.

Whatever you put in my way,

I pray that I reflect you through it.

At the end of Acts 7 Stephen is stoned and becomes the first Martyr.

After his death, the church scatter.

They were scared and confused.

However, the Church in Antioch,

[The center of missions to the Gentiles],

was started as a result of the persecution.

 

[google]

Praise God for the stoning of Steven.

Because he is sovereign over

 the leaders in the world,

the persecutors,

death.

He used that persecution to advance his kingdom.

He holds our lives in His Hands and will accomplish the plans for our lives.

Our God is UNSTOPPABLE!

 

[google]

With Love From My Father,

Diane Elizabeth

refuge and strength

Oh Saturdays.

I forgot how special they are.

Seriously the best day of the week.

I love just relaxing and getting to do fun little things all day.

I have been watching cake shows 24/7 lately... bad idea.

I have been craving one so badly so finally tonight we went to YOLO and got cupcakes :)

how yummy does that look?!

So I just read Jesus Calling and of course the Lord just touched my heart.

I am still amazed that the passages I read fit so well with my current situation.

The only thing you can grasp without damaging your soul is My hand.

Ask My Spirit within you to order your day and control your thoughts,

for the mid controlled by the Spirit is Life and Peace.

[JesusCalling]

I really like this because I feel like this is one of the biggest struggles in my life.

I have, still, and will still struggle with this.

I always try to grasp or fill that whole of my heart with things other than the Lord.

Whether its a boy or friend or some other person or thing I always try to grab for things that are not the Lord for help.

Not that I have not done this myself, but it always breaks my heart when I see friends that are so lost because all they have in their life is a boyfriend and he lets her down.

Attention all girls:

If you only rely on a man to make you happy you will always be disappointed.

He won't text you back when you want him to.

He won't say the right things.

He won't always be there for you.

He is unreliable.

He will never fill that place in your heart that the Lord was made for.

Not saying that you can't have a boyfriend or that he won't make you happy.

But if you don't love and trust the Lord more than him, you will always be let down.

Psalm 46: 1-2

God is our refuge and strength, and ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.

With Love From My Father,

Diane Elizabeth

Ps 32 days HSH

Psalm 13:5

But I trust in your unfailing love,

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

Psalm 13:5

[google]

Nudist Colony Illusion

Yes, I am sure you read the title of this and thought to yourself,

 "What in the world Diane?"

If you are a Samford student and went to convo today you may understand a bit.

So the past 2 convocations [the one Tues and the one Thurs]...

we have been talking about marriage.

Seriously I think Samford is trying to make us think about marriage.

Hello, RING BEFORE SPRING.

[google]

 Anyways... So we had a speaker today and his talk was titled

How Marriage is Better than Joining a Nudist Colony

The name confused me but after some further explaining I like the point he was making.

He brought up the problem of how marriages today are not working.

He says we are taught at a young age the "Nudist Colony Illusion" which is:

1. Keep your independence as long as you can. [Sex and the City]
2. Date as much as you can. [Hitch]
3. Going as far as you can. [Jersey Shore]
4. Advance your career as high as you can. [The Devil Wears Prada]
5. Discover yourself as often as you can. [Eat, Pray, Love]

I have provided movie and TV examples for each of these.

He says that we spend our whole youth trying to accomplish the things above.

We make them our ideals.

But they we meet "the one" and then try to change your ideals.

The thing is we are so brainwashed that we can't change them and are unhappy in our relationships.

hello divorce.

Ever been in a great relationship but feel like...

you missing out on dating...

you still need to "discover" yourself...

you like someone else...

Yeah its because your ideals tell you that you are not suppose to be "tied down" to your relationship.

We are told that marriage is boring.

But guess what?!

ITS NOT!

In marriage you get to wake up every morning with your BEST FRIEND.

You get to share your life with the person that knows and loves you best.

You get to have sex.

Marriage was made as a gift from the Lord.

Seriously its going to be amazing.

So I just really liked the main points of this man's talk.

Even if he was a complete goof ball.

Guess what?!
Its Freezing Rain here in Birmingham!

With Love From My Father,

Diane Elizabeth