Day 3 of my “working” summer!!

Since I can’t really count my beach vacation as “working”, I suppose I should tell you guys a little bit about what I’m doing this summer!! I landed a pretty cool internship with my church. I’m the children’s intern…aka…best job ever!!! Seriously, I get paid to play with kids, make decorations, plan games and activities, camp, vacation bible school, etc. I absolutely adore children, and I’m so excited to have this internship. The Lord has definitely blessed me with it! Today marked my 3rd day on the job. I’m exhausted because I’m not used to working a 9-5 job yet. (My body is still on vacation time!) Tonight we played dodge ball and tag with the kids, and I got to run around like a maniac. More updates to come throughout the summer!!

On another note….

One of my all-time favorite musicians came out with a new cd yesterday!!! Be sure to check out John Mayer’s latest, “Born and Raised” I haven’t listened to the entire cd yet. If you have, I’d love to hear what you think!!

Enjoy…

I’m a senior!!

Ladies and gents…I’m proud to announce that I’m officially a senior at Liberty University!!!

I can hardly believe it!! It feels just like yesterday when I arrived on this campus as a bright eyed, bushy tailed freshmen, ready to take in all that the school had to offer.  I handed in my last paper for my junior year.

Wanna hear a story of how extremely gracious God was to me?

This semester, I took International law. The class is absolutely insane, seriously, it has a reputation. I’ve told people that I’m in that class and a look of horror comes over their face and they just say, “I’m so sorry!” I’ve talked to 1st year law students that have said that their classes aren’t as hard as this one (if that gives you any indication of how hard it is!) Our final was a take home exam, due at 1:00 pm.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to make it. I didn’t go to bed at all!! I left the clab at 8:00 in the morning, came back to the dorm, showered, and did white glove check outs for an hour and a half! Then I headed back to the clab to print it off. The exam consisted of 12 questions, and I only answered 10, but there is an automatic grade letter reduction for late papers, and I decided to risk it and just hand in what I had done. Prior to me turning in the exam, I had emailed my professor around 7:00 am asking for an extension into the afternoon, but never heard back from him. When I entered my professor’s office to hand in my exam, he looked up at me and said, “Chelsea, what are you doing here?” I replied that I was handing in my exam. He looked at me, and his eyes softened and he said, “Take the afternoon and turn in something you’ve done your best on.” I left the office with my heart soaring, and immediately headed down and spent the next 3 hours revising, editing and finishing my paper. When I turned in the final product, it was my very best work!!

I didn’t deserve that extension at all. The Lord was so gracious to me, and I am so humbled and grateful!

I plan on writing a longer post soon on the lessons I’ve learned this semester, but for now be encouraged with a story of God’s grace and faithfulness!!

P.S. This is what I looked like last night…enjoy!!

Moon…

The moon has a rare power to make my heart beat so fast it feels like it might burst, yet at the same time, leaves me speechless and silent. It is by far my favorite part of God’s creation. I can’t explain my love for it, but when I see it, my heart worships. All I can think of when I gaze upon the moon is how absolutely stunning my Beloved is, to create such a lovely part of creation. Just think, God didn’t have to create and place beauty here on earth, but He choose to, simply because He could. He could have left the sky pitch black with nothing but vast darkness, instead He sprinkled the night sky with millions of stars and placed the moon…all to declare His unmatched glory. Dear one, I pray that when you look at the moon (or whatever part of creation makes your heart beat faster) your first reaction is praise to the Lord. Allow the Lord to use His creation to remind you of who He is. Listen as He whispers His love to you.

Don’t worship the creation, worship the Creator!!

Enjoy….

Who I am…

I realized that I write about matters close to my heart all the time, but I haven’t truly shared about me! So, I have decided to take some time to share about who I am! I would like to open myself and my life up more…so here it goes, a journey into the life of Chelsea Patterson!!

My story begins rather unusually in a country on the other side of the world…

Bucharest, Romania

I was born in the country just a few short months after the fall of communism. The blood running through my veins is completely Romanian, because I was born to a Romanian girl. Two people decided to travel to the broken country in hopes of finding a child to adopt…I was the one the found. The Lord’s hand was on my life from the very beginning, because I deserved to grow up in a poverty stricken country, instead of the lush and luxurious United States. While my parents were in Romania adopting me, they decided to adopt another child, so they adopted a boy. Nicholas is 11 days older (He never lets me forget it!) and he is my very best friend in the entire world. We grew up incredibly close, and to this day, he is the one person in the world that knows me better than I know my self…

By the way, he flies airplanes…pretty cool if you ask me! He’s currently at a school in Texas where he’s playing baseball! I couldn’t be more proud of him!!

My parents decided that they wanted to adopt again, and again, and again. Now the Patterson clan consists of 6 children, making a grand total of 8 people!! Nicholas and I are the only ones from Romania, my parents tried again to adopt from Romania, but the government closed the doors to outside adoption. So, they switched countries and adopted from Russia. I have 2 brothers and 3 sisters, and consider my family one of the greatest treasures ever!

I wish I could convey with proper emotion how much I love and adore my family members!! They mean the world to me, and I love every moment I get to spend with them!

I currently attend Liberty University where I’m studying International Relations with a minor in French. My college experience has been wonderful, I’m so glad I’ve gotten the opportunities I’ve had here. I serve as an RA, and that has been one of the most challenging and growing things of my life. To be honest, I’m a different person because of this “job”. The position has grown me so much, and I’m very glad that my character has gotten to be developed. Even though it’s been difficult, it’s also been incredibly rewarding. I love the girls on my hall and am grateful that the Lord placed me where I am.

I love to travel!

My heart beats quicker at the thought of exploring new places and visiting the wonders of the world. I’ve gotten the change of many lifetimes to visit places such as Italy, Greece, France and Romania. They have been incredibly beautiful and I consider myself a lucky lady indeed to have gone.

The most important thing about me is my relationship with Jesus Christ.

I am in the most amazing relationship ever known to man. Christ met me in my sinful state when I was destined for eternity apart from Him. He won my heart by dying a brutal death on Calvary, and I am devoted to spending the rest of my days seeking to bring as much glory and honor to Him as possible. That is the essence of how I want to pour out my life. Oh that my moments at school, with my family, and my future would not be wasted on myself!

Hopefully, this little snapshot into my life has been helpful. I want my readers to know me, and that includes my life! If you have any questions about me, please feel free to ask! I would like to do a better job of sharing about my life from now on.

Lovingly,

Chels

God’s goodness in my life!!

These first few weeks of school have so full. It’s hard to believe that it’s already February. I’d like to share a recap of the past few weeks and proclaim how GOOD my GOD is!!

1. Nick.

Remember how I wrote about my brother transferring to a school in Texas? Well, I do miss him like crazy and school most definitely isn’t the same without him here. But the Lord has been so extremely gracious to me. Yes, it’s been an adjustment, but my Father has provided for me in so many ways, and I haven’t been extremely lonely like I thought I would be.

Thank you Lord for filling my brothers absence in my life with more of Yourself!

2. I turned 21!!

Waa hoo!! Around my birthday, I always think about my birth mom more than usual. (For those of you that don’t know, I’m adopted!!) To be completely honest, I was struggling this year. I won’t get into all of the details right now, but I prayed hardcore for my birth mom. I pray that she will come to know  Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. I was lucky enough to spend my birthday with my family!!

Thank you Lord for placing your hand on my life, even before I was born!!

3. I submitted some of my work to a magazine.

I’m not sure if they are going to actually publish it or not, but that’s beside the point. I wrote about something extremely close to my heart, and something I’ve had a big struggle opening up about. So, the fact that I was able to even write on this subject matter was huge. This is an area of my heart and life that not a lot of people know about, but I want to use to help and encourage others with. I’ll keep you posted on the status of the article but for now…

Thank you Lord for healing my heart enough to write.

4. Future

No, God hasn’t come down and spoken to me concerning my future, but He has recently placed a new passion on my heart. Adoption has always been one of my passions, and I’ve always known that I’d like to eventually work with children in some capacity. Well, after my family hosted the Ukrainian girls during my Christmas break, the ins and outs of adoption and the overall process began to intrigue me. I’ve done some personal research in the field of international adoption laws and the like. I think I would one day like to get more involved with this, but we shall see what the Lord has in store.

Thank you Lord for placing passions on my heart!

That doesn’t nearly cover everything that’s happened in the past few weeks, but hopefully that kind of gives you an overview. The Lord is working and the Lord is good!! Don’t EVER forget that!!!!

Hope in the New Year!

I’m sitting at Panera with a piping cup of coffee and my journal. As 2011 is drawing to a close, I’ve spent some time reflecting over this past year, the triumphs and the downfalls, the joys and the sorrows! It’s been quite a year and a lot has happened!

Reflecting is always hard for me because I tend to beat myself up over the things I should have done or the things I wish I could go back and change. The saying “Life with no regrets” is a nice feel-good saying, but how many of us honestly get to the end of a year or our lives and can say that there wasn’t one thing you would go back and change! I don’t want to live with a weight of guilt hanging over my head, but I think it’s healthy to have some honest self-evaluation. The purpose is to identify and improve with the help of our Lord. As 2012 approaches, I’m choosing to throw all of my regrets and shortcomings into the ocean of God’s grace, realizing that His grace covers me, His blood washes me, and now I am free!! I pray that that encourages you beloved! May you rest in the fact that your Fathers love for you never changes, regardless if you fulfilled all of your new years resolutions this year or failed miserably!! You are a child of the Most High, don’t allow the devil to steal your joy!!

I have just one goal this year, and I pray that this characterizes how I live every single moment of every single day.

To grow closer to my Savior, to accurately reflect Him to the world and bring Him the maximum amount of glory with my life

My book!

God has called me to do something! It couldn’t be any clearer than if He had spoken audibly to me. I believe that my Lord has asked me to write a book. I’ve tried to resist and argue with Him that certainly He must be mistaken, because I’m not the most talented writer, I’m not well-known, I have too many flaws to do this… I, I, I!! Recently, I’ve been listing reasons to God why I’m not going to do what He’s asked me to do. Do you see what has happened? The focus is on me, instead of what GOD wants. (I’ve been acting a little too much like Moses).

I’m surrendering to my King right now. Putting Him back on the throne of my heart and my life, and embarking on the journey of writing a book. I’ve already started writing a little bit, but have laid it aside numerous times. Why? Because it hurts! The subject I’m writing is not one that is written about often. In fact, I recently went to three different bookstores and pursued the shelves searching for books on the topic I’d like to address. What did I come up with? Nothing! There aren’t any books out there on the topic I’m planning on writing on. I believe that God has called me to write about what I’ve been through/going through. I desperately want to share my journey with people going through the same thing. I firmly believe that God has placed a certain trial in my life to glorify Him. But I am certain that others are struggling through the same trial. With the use of scriptures and lessons that my Father has taught me, I’m embarking on the journey of authoring a book.

The process is going to hurt, because I’m writing about something very dear and personal to me. Many tears have been shed, and my heart has been broken over this trial. But I believe that those tears and heartbreak are not in vain. I long to help people, and allow the Father to get the maximum glory for this trial. I don’t know if my book will ever be published, but I honestly don’t care! God has called me to write, and I’m going to be obedient in following Him. I’ll have to wait and see what happens. I ask that you be praying for me as I begin to write. I’m very excited, but very nervous! I would like to eventually share parts of my heart with you.

I leave you with one of my favorite quotes by Charles Spurgeon…

As sure as God puts His children in the furnace, he will be in the furnace with them.