Buffalo Wild Wings, Krumpe's Donuts, Cameras, and Finishing well!

Hello dear friends!

It is 12:27 AM, and I am 18 years old! :) This is an exciting thing! I can now sign my own permission slips, drive after 11pm, buy a lottery ticket, and vote! Out of all of those things, driving after 11 is definitely the best :D

My very dear friend, Michelle Phillipson, took me out this evening to Buffalo Wild Wings, where I experienced some delicious Honey BBQ wings and Raspberry Iced Tea. Afterwards, she took me to Krumpe's Donuts-the sketchiest donut place you'll ever see, with THE BEST donuts you'll ever eat. Two new experiences for me, which makes them great! I love collecting memories, and tonight certainly was a good one.

Mom and Dad bought for a camera for my birthday-a Canon SX120 IS Powershot. Very nice...I hope to be a pro at it by Honduras :)

Besides all these wonderful things happening, I also need to touch up on some prayer requests, and what God has been doing in my life recently! This past Saturday evening the enemy really got a hold of me, bringing me down, discouraging me, and giving me an overwhelming sense of loneliness. I couldn't sleep at all and was really worked up. I asked a couple of close friends to pray for me, turned on some Casting Crowns on my iPod, and opened up my Bible. Not knowing what to read, I flipped to the back, searching through the concordance, reading passages on keeping the faith, anxiety, and loneliness. God really brought one verse up. It just jumped from the page and really got me thinking when I read it:

2 Timothy 4:7 says "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

These are Timothy's closing words, reflecting on his actions and his journey. But God gave it a different spin for me. This verse has become a prayer for me, an encouragement. Even if I haven't had a fantastic week, if I haven't gotten a bunch of support or responses to my Honduras trip, if maybe a talk with a friend doesn't go the way I plan, if I can say to myself at the end of the day, or at the end of the week, that I have "fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith," then I have done what I can, the rest is in God's hands. And His hands are so much more capable than mine. So my goal is to fight the good fight, to finish the race, and to keep the faith.

Thanks for reading this, just the thoughts of a now EIGHTEEN year old :)

Amor siempre en Cristo!

-Evi