Hey guys! Hope all is going well for ya! Things have started getting a bit rough but I can honestly say that without God and some awesome friends (old and new), things could be alot worse... :)

So... yeah first week of school is done with and I'm heading into my second week! Now that I've been to all my classes and have met all my professor and such, I can honestly say I feel a bit overwhelmed. I'm only taking 16 hours but the requirements for the classes I'm taking (Hermeneutics, Cultural Anthropology, Life & Revelation of Christ, etc.) is a whole other realm of "schoolwork" I've never experienced. I will SERIOUSLY be surprised if I have a 4.0 by the end of this semester... :S But like I said above, with God and the amazing friends that I have here at school (and elsewhere), I know I'm going to be just fine! :)



Well for the past week a couple of verses have kept popping up at me and what's crazy? They both talk about the same thing! Matthew 22:34-40 and John 15:9-17 both talk about not only loving and abiding in God but how that is so closely tied to loving others how you would want to be loved. Take a look:

"Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." ~Matthew 22:34-40

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other."~John 15:9-17

After reading these verses, I really started thinking and focusing on not only what it means to love God with all my heart, soul and mind (biblical scholars call this the "Shema") and to love others like I love myself (what we call the "Golden Rule") but also how by doing these things show me how I'm abiding in God and his love for me! I really can't help but notice how one, if not the holiest, of the decrees that God gave to his people long ago when he was beginning to give them a new life combined this with one of the most simple and most moral of all rules that have existed on earth. These verses show one of many ways how Christ came to bridge the gap between heaven and earth and more importantly between God and his children. :)



So... yeah this area was one of my hard ones. Some of you have heard me talk a bit about love and the like in these blogs but I have never had to deal with something so painful these past couple of days than what I'm about to tell you. But in this pain God spoke to me more and helped me to begin to see him in a light I've never seen him in before. Earlier the other day I had posted something on Facebook (Isn't that how it always starts?) and had a few "friends" (better term would be acquaintance) respond to it by sending me personal messages/IMing me on Facebook, all of them disheartening and flat out sucker punches! One of these girls said "Wait... you don't have a man? What's wrong with you?" Another girl also messaged me saying something along the lines of "Oh you aren't with someone? I feel sorry for you..." And the final girl was the real kicker: "Well that's nobody's fault but your own. If you wouldn't hole yourself up in a room and have your nose in books all the time, you'd probably have someone by now..." ((O.o;)) X-/ Okay, my first response to this was... SERIOUSLY?!?!? Not going to lie, I was hurt... very badly. I know that they didn't mean to come off harsh or rude but... seriously? I don't need it to be rubbed in, don't need a pity party and I don't need a lecture! *Venting session over*

Now, after all this I went to bed and had a really bad night's rest and woke up still weighed down by this. These negative thoughts were already in my head and now there were people saying it to me, to my face (well, virtually that is). I walked around alot today in solace prayer, focusing alot on Song of Songs 8:4 (Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires), asking God to help me. I kept taking these feelings and my wish/desire to be in a relationship back to him and putting it on his alter so that I could get God to be center again. I eventually ended up at Chapel today where an organization called Broken Voices came and spoke about their theme for the year, "Center". The guy who spoke talked about how if we don't have God in the center of our lives, we will be off-centered and weighed down with things that will burden us to death! With God being the center, you are completely liberated and free and with him at the center you will see the world being off-centered and long to bring it back into the alignment it was meant to be! So he asked, "What is it that is the center of your life?" As I thought about it, God was my center but there were many things (like the wish/desire to be with someone) that was getting too close to being the center of my life. Later, as I reviewed and thought more about what the guy had said, I suddenly realized something I hadn't in years and years: Christ was the only man who was willing to die for me! Because he was in love with me that much. God loved me so much that he turned himself into a human (far below who he truly is) in order to die for me and that the love that was displayed was undoubtedly true love and the love that was sacrificed was eternal so when he was raised from the dead, so this love became everlasting for all. It couldn't be a human love because then that love wouldn't be God's true love; it would be fickle, ever changing and subjective. :*) And slowly but surely God began to speak to me and my heart telling me how much he loved me and how he wanted to be so close to me! For the first time ever in my life, I was beginning to understand and look at God how I always wanted to and longed to: The lover of my soul... I couldn't help but walk around the rest of the day with a huge smile on my face and skip in my step! :D Yes, that wish is still there but its not so dominating in my life! Its so... well, liberating... :)

Well that's it for now... sorry if this was pretty long but I thought you guys would like to know. Now its time for me to get back to my homework and the likes... love y'all! Later days!

~Jeanne ;)

PS-Btw, got a phone! Email me if you want my number... :)

Hey guys! Hope all y'all are doing well.. I know I am! :D

So... its official! I'm here in Toccoa and already started going at it full throttle here! I had to show up here last Tuesday to begin orientation and thanks to the help of my dad and my absolutely wonderful best friend Rich I was able to move everything in real quick (unfortunately we got a bit a wet, Rich more than any one else...). Soon enough, I was set up and well underway the next day in Orientation. I spent the next 5 days doing nothing but learning about the school history, the different programs, where everything on the campus was, meeting my adviser, etc. Yesterday was all the new/transfer students last day of Orientation and we began to meet more of the regular students who returned the same day. With all that done, we started classes today and I'm actually really excited! I know these classes are going to challenge me and grow me like none others have! I can't wait to see what's going to happen next... :)



So, I did receive some discouraging news this week. I met with my adviser this past week during Orientation and I explained to him what I wanted to do and what degree I would like to get and all. He looked somewhat hesitant to say what he said next: in order to do the degree I want to do (Secondary Education in History with a minor in Cross-Cultural Studies w/ a TESOL certification) it would take me doing school straight through (Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer) for the next two years and/or tack on another year. O.O; Well that's... great... *Sigh* Fortunately, Dr. Jalovick (Dr. J for short) was very encouraging and said that it maybe that God needs me here. Well, if its his will... who am I to argue? All I know is, I think I'm done switching schools! ;)



Well if anything else, I know that one thing is for sure... new adventures and possibilities are on the horizon! Who knows where God will led me next? With all the new things, new people, new places that I've begun to get acquainted with... and what's even cooler is I get to strengthen, develop and grow relationships with friends that are up here near me so that's always exciting and encouraging... ;D (Although, a few of my new "friends" up here have already tried to set me up - not once - but twice now with two different guys in less than a week! Oy vey... >.<)

Well, that's it for now! Gotta get back to the homework already (man, I hate typing that word). Hope all is going well for y'all and I hope I get to hear/see ya soon! Come on up and visit me in Toccoa! I wouldn't mind it one bit... later days!

~Jeanne;)

Hey guys! Another week or so, Another blog for y'all to check out and see what's up with me... ;)



So its almost time... I have two days before I head to Toccoa and start into some new adventures! I can't wait!! :D I've been in checklist/packing mode for the past week trying to make sure I have everything I need to move up there with! And thanks to some wonderful friends, I have been able to get some necessities that I couldn't get so I have to give a big shout out of thanks to my friends like Rich, Melissa, Meghan and some others! Thanks guys... I wouldn't have been able to get ready without you! :*)



So as I told you the last time, I was finishing up Brennan Manning's Ruthless Trust and was looking around for something else to read... you know, something meaty and heavy to read and chew on during my quiet time and all. I haven't been able to find anything yet so any suggestions would be welcomed! Right now though I've started reading a book a friend of mine told me about years ago and never read it all the way through so I decided to pick it up and vowed to finish it this time... Shaunti Feldhahn's For Women Only. This book is about the results that came from her running several surveys and statistical experiments on over 1,000 men in order to truly and honestly understand men from the inside out! And let me tell ya... there have been so many times that I've had to pick my jaw off the floor after reading, learning and understanding some things about men that I never knew! Now that I do have this information, I hope that I can start implementing them so that I can become a better daughter, sister, and friend to all the men in my life (and eventually become an understanding and encouraging girlfriend and wife when the time comes).



Anyway, last night was a first for me... I had a hard time falling asleep so obviously I stayed up till 4am! >.< Why? Well... its hard to explain. It might have been all the stuff that is going on with me with the move to Toccoa, the expectations, the feeling of leaving again, etc. It may be that I again had to face some feelings and thoughts that I've had for a while now when it comes to different things about myself, my life, my relationships with others and my walk with God. It may have been a sudden need and urgency to pray for my family and friends, near and far. I prayed, cried, humbled, rejoiced and sang last night to God which I hadn't done in a while; thanking him for the good and the bad; the past, present and future; for my friends and enemies... its been a while since I've done something like that and I KNOW I needed it. It helped me today as I was going about my day... and it helped my heart begin to fill with more excitement and happiness for all that is happening and coming my way and more importantly, feeling and being overjoyed, blessed and humbled by God's love, presence and promise in my life. Yes, very good indeed... :)

Well that's it for now! Hopefully the next time I'll be talking to you will be when I'm up in Toccoa and getting things under way for school! I hope and pray that y'all have a great, new and blessed week ahead and I hope I see some of y'all soon... later days!

~Jeanne;)

Hey there y'all! I know its been awhile but all is well and hopefully the same can be said for y'all!



Well, I have about a week and a half left before I'm up in Toccoa! I can't wait!! :D New adventures, new people, new goals... I couldn't be more excited or anxious to see what life has in store for me up there! I do know that God has lead me there for several reasons and I can't wait to see! :)



Well, its that time of the year again: back to school for everyone (especially in my house). My mom is heading back to teach first grade for her 4th year now (she's amazing at it, just saying!) and all of the kids are heading to school as well: my nephew Jarrett is about to start Pre-K here (he's getting so big) while Layla, my niece is heading to 3rd (she's become a bit of a fashionista). Savannah, my little sister, is heading into 5th grade - her last year of elementary school while Harrison my little brother is starting into middle school this year. I can't believe he's in the 6th grade now! He's gotten so big and is so sharp! Its time like these I can't help but face the fact that they've grown up so much! I love them to pieces!! And its also good cause now the adults have the house to themselves again in the day... ;)



In the reading department, I'm still reading my LOTR series! Don't know if I'll get it done in time but I'm determined to finish it. Now when it comes to my books for quiet time... well, lets just say that I've been breaking some serious ground, especially in the areas of faith and trust which is something I've been needing to deal with for a while. I just finished John Ortberg's "Faith & Doubt" (which is incredible - that's one that everyone should read, especially those who dealing with the issue of whether or not Christians should have doubt). Now, I've started into another Brennan Manning book that a friend of mine has been recommending to me for a while now, "Ruthless Trust". I read the first chapter last night and it has already hit me hard in the heart and torn me up a bit inside - which is a very good thing. I don't have much to go on right now but if this is how its going to be every time I pick up this book, I can't wait to read it... :)

Well, that's it for now! (Told ya it would be quick) Hope you all are having a fabulous end to the summer, good luck (and God speed) to those of you returning to school (I know I'll probably need it) and hope to hear from y'all soon! Later days!

~Jeanne ;)