Backwards.

Seldom does one think, in the middle of a huge moment, that it will define your life.

Those periods of your life that grow you, shape you and effect the way you look at life often are noticed after the fact. 

I just had one of those moments, well a series of moments.

This summer changed me.

The way I think about prayer, and life and about trust.

Earlier this year I began to shift my prayer life, taking God out of the small, well kept box I placed him and allowed Him to be big, powerful and real in my life.

I came to God with requests, fears and praises, and watched him reveal just how good He truly is. God has provided a dream job in my future, blessed friendships and fun memories,

My job as a front desk agent taught me to stand up for myself, gave me a backbone.

I learned how to not take rude remarks personally, and I learned to have enough confidence to stand up for myself and solve the issue on my own.

I moved into an apartment with just one roommate, my best friend Bri. The idea of a quiet house was a joke that last two years and now peacefulness overflows from those small walls.

I spent a week in Arizona at Lost Canyon with 12 of the most incredible girls. We cried, laughed and grew in countless ways. God taught me so much through those girls. 

I let down some serious walls that I had hid behind for many years. Finally letting myself trust others fully and be vulnerable with how I feel.

I never would have guessed back in May that God would use the most ordinary summer to develope me in such huge ways, but I am thankful that my God is extraordinary enough to use monotony to change my life. 

Juggling.

I remember the summer days of biking to the ice cream store.
Laying out at the pool and jumping off the diving board.
House boating trips and lots of sleepovers.
it seems like just yesterday.
Now nearly two months of my last summer ever has flew by.
This hit my yesterday.
I havent had time to enjoy even a little bit of it.
Oh the tragedy that is an overcommitted student.
I am seeing more and more how in every part of my life I am spread to thin.
In my perfect world I would work 2 days a week.
Go for long long runs.
Spend time with my younglife students.
Go surfing a couple times a week.
Invest in my sumer classes.
Invest in relationships.
Instead, I am working.
40+ hours a week.
For What?
This week, I am feeling more overwhelmed than I have in months.
Perhaps all year.
Someone told me yesterday that If you can do everything in your life with out clinging to Jesus then you are doing something wrong.
Well here it is. I can't do this without God.
I am being pushed to commit every ounce of my self to trusting God.
"When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I"
God is the only one who can multiply hours.
&& Encourage my heart.
My prayer is that God would continue to give me Joy, when I feel chaotic.
That he would teach me to rest.
Allow me time to invest in others.
Find new meaning in tedious tasks.
&& Continue pushing me towards a Him.

When God Makes Me Laugh

I've already mentioned before how hilarious God is right?
well this week is no different.
this week, I prayed for humility.
just as a side note, when you pray for a character trait, God doesn't magically have it appear, he tends to give you a chance to develop it. I used to pray for patience a lot, and God gave me SO many opportunities to be patient, that half of me wanted to never pray for patience again, and the other half thought I may actually be patience. It was a tie.
anyways, This time I prayed for humility.
I have been working for about 6 weeks now and am starting to understand my job- FINALLY!
I didn't want to get over confident because that prevents learning.
I also wanted to be sure that I was loving on others and acting in full respect and sometimes too much knowledge puffs up a persons, my, head.
That all being said I prayed for humility and the opportunity to keep learning and loving on my new work friends, without any pride getting in the way.
The next day, for the first time in my career history, I didn't double check my schedule time.
The one time I didn't double check, I thought I was scheduled at 3:30.
I was actually scheduled for 3.
30 minutes is a HUGE error in hotels.
All that confidence and knowledge I was feeling,
definitely just got knocked down a level.
Thanks for the humility God, much appreciated.
Here I go back to neurotically checking the schedule every day.
God really is funny.

prayer.

Prayer is powerful.
I am so confident that God hears my prayers, and yours.
Yet still each time a large prayer is answered, I still am incredible amazed.
or maybe its more like in awe of how good God is.
This very morning I was praying for a way to see my family.
I work a lot, and there is little time for days off in a hotel.
my exact words this morning were
"Lord I pray you would allow for me to see my family next week, I pray for consecutive days off work"
That same afternoon my manager comes up and asks me "allie, do you want consecutive days off next week"
Is this real life?
Sometimes I think God is just looking down on me and giggling as I am continually amazed at his goodness.
Of course God can give me days off,
He is God over my work, over all managers over everything.
This isn't the first time God has answered my prayers using the exact same words I prayed them in.
God is good.
He is silly.
He is powerful.
I am especially thankful today.
San Fran here I come!

How Can I be of Service?

I started my new job as a front desk agent at a hotel this month.

Boy is it hard.

Next time you check into a hotel, have a little grace on those poor agents, because there is so many little details I had no idea about! But the technical stuff aside.
 I absolutely love it.

I love meeting new friends every five minutes.

I love remembering a guests name and surprising them with a specific question about their day or an activity they did.

I love getting to upgrade a happy couple, a birthday girl.

But what I love most is the impact a smile and a listening ear can have on someones day.

Dont get me wrong, its not all puppies and rainbows over here.

every. single. complaint. from any guest, any room, any time.

They ALL come to the front desk.

Its a hard eight hours of listening to people complain.

I am 100% positive I couldn't do this Job without Jesus.

What encourages me through the long shifts and the endless complaints is knowing this.

Each person I interact with is an opportunity to love them, to show them compassion, listen to them and act with a positive attitidude that only can come from knowing Jesus.

I know that God doesnt need me to do great work, and its humbling to be reminded how little I am needed. 

But My prayer today  is that he might choose too use me.

good better best

tis the season...for finals.

Although for the average student, finals week is well, finals week.

For a Hospitality student, we get three weeks.

1. For all the Projects due.

2. For all the tests in HTM classes.

3. For all the business class finals during normal SDSU finals week.

This makes nearly a month of cramming, freaking out, procrastinating and oh yeah, studying.

Have I convinced you to switch majors yet?

Anyways, as you may guess tis also the season for to-do lists

color coded, highlighted and organized lists. 

its a matter of survival really. 

What have I learned from all this madness?

It is OKAY to say no. 

I am an eager human being, ready to take on every new adventure.

but rather than juggle 37 commitments with grace and perfection.

I tend to drop a few or many.

a dear friend of mine told me the other day,

"say no to what is good so you can say yes to what is better"

isn't that the truth.

there are lots of good things, but there are also a whole lot of better things.

better commitments, better opportunities, better relationships.

it's scary to let go of something good,
but be reminded that if your not totally confident about a choice,
 there is most likely a better option for you, if you wait a little and work a lot. 

in fifth grade, my teacher had a quilt on the wall that said:

"good better best, never let it rest, until your good is better and your better is your best."
That has been a constant reminder in my life to always look forward.

thats all folks.

worth.

There are those days where everything just seems to go wrong.

I had one of those days last week.

I could go into detail about why my day was lame, but who cares?

Its over, and I was reminded of some good stuff.

So really, the bad day, is good.

Its really easy as a student, well more like as a human, to be hard on myself.

To see my failures as HUGE, and let them weigh me down.

The bad tests, the failed projects, the embarrassing moments.

You know what keeps me sane?

Knowing My worth is not in what I do, what others think of me, or even who I am.

My worth is in ONE thing.

Jesus.

That is utterly, completely and totally freeing. 

It doesn't matter what my grades are, how awesome of internships I get, how popular I am, how many events I plan, where I live, how I look...the list goes on.

I am a daughter of the MOST HIGH, ALMIGHTY KING.

sooo come at me bro.

But really this is good stuff.

What helps me get through each day is knowing that my purpose is SO MUCH GREATER than my 'titles' of student, employee, member of student org xyz, ect.

My purpose is to know God and to make Him Known.

Who better to cling to than our Perfect, Constant and Loving God?

Yeah, no one better.

So this week, and every week, every day, and every minute I am clinging to Jesus.

&&

Remembering, it's not who I am, but WHOSE I am.