It's miracle time!

So as you may or may not know for most of my life I haven't had a sense of smell. At two different times when I was five years old I broke my nose. I also had surgery on it twice. My nose grew back wrong and I lost my sense of smell slowly over time. Around my 8th grade year I could really only smell gasoline and permanent markers. At one point my mom got really worried about this and I went back to my nose doctor and we tried all sorts of different things like using steroid nasal spray. But nothing worked. So since then I have been short one of my five senses. This past Sunday after church somehow the topic of me not being able to smell came up when I was chating with Jess, Tom, and Sophie. Tom hadn't heard my little story before so I quickly told him all of the details. He asked if anyone had ever prayed for me before for healing. I told him that I didn't think that anyone ever had and I hadn't really ever thought to ask for it. So he said we should pray right then....so we did.

Then...after we prayed Tom had a box of Peppermint Altoids at the table and I put it up to my nose and...... I COULD SMELL IT!!!! It was the craziest thing to realize that I had been healed really and truly. Jess and Sophie started yelling and screaming and I just sat there feeling overwhelmed. I was just blown away. I had almost told Tom he didn't need to pray for me because it wasn't that big of a deal...I was fine without a sense of smell...it really didn't matter. I think this was my reason for not ever praying before...it just didn't matter. Also, it was my interesting fact that I could always pull out and I think in a prideful way I didn't want to give it up. Then as Tom started praying I thought...'why not just say yes to the Lord?' I felt like he was going to heal me and then I realized that it really is one of the most well known things about me and how much I would be able to tell people about the Lord's healing and give testimony to him. So in my heart I said yes to the Lord's healing and he did it. Miraculously. Matt called it a creative miracle. So after crying for awhile and thanking the Lord....I started to get more excited. I smelled a few more things at church like garlic (super stong...took me off guard)...and some teas (which all smelled different...to my amazement!). Then when I got home I'm pretty sure that I smelled every smellable thing in my house. It was so much fun and so surprising. So many things smelled different than I expected them to. I discovered that I don't really like my perfume or deoderant haha. But with everything I smelled I thought of the Lord.

The last few days I have been experiencing this miracle personally in everything I do. I can't go very long without thinking about the Lord because I just have to smell something and I feel amazed. I feel so loved by the Lord. He is a God who gives good gifts. But I've also been feeling like this is something that can so easily be given back to him...for his glory. I've had the chance to tell quite a few people about the Lord's miraculous work in my life. And I expect to have a chance to talk to those at work soon. Most of the people I work with know I don't have a sense of smell already and I have been praying for more evangelistic opportunites at work. I'm excited to tell them that God healed me. I've been praying that as I tell people this story that they will see the Lord's personality behind it. That they will see that he is a loving, good, generous God. I pray that they want to get to know this God who heals. I feel like the Lord and I have just been laughing about this whole thing. I thought I was just fine but he brought me a gift that would bless me and that would point others to him. He's just too good to me. The Lord has also reminded me that he wants to gives good gifts...he wants to bring healing...he is a God of restoration...but sometimes we just have to ask. To be willing to accept what he gives. I'm excited to see what God will do!

Praise the Lord! He is good!

Thoughts of the day...

1. I really like having a working washer and dryer in my house. It makes getting laundry done easy and fast. I'll never have an excuse for not doing laundry again.

2. I like grocery shopping much better during the day time hours.

3. Red and purple are great colors when it comes to sunsets. Simply beautiful Lord.

4. I'm super humbled by evangelism. It will never be my great words or nice personality that win people to the Lord. It is only him. Only his Spirit that is drawing people. I must always ALWAYS be looking to the Lord...seeking to hear his voice and trusting that he is drawing people. And sometimes I'm just supposed to plant seeds. And that's good too. It's all about the Lord anyway.

5. 2 AM intercession at IHOP for human trafficking has become one of my favorite times of the week. The Lord has just been meeting us in powerful ways. Also several people have been super consistent about coming every week for the past couple months. I'm blessed by their faithfullness. We've been able to build relationships and trust. I'm thankful for this time to be able to battle with them. The Lord has also been teaching me the joy of intercession. He is so good. It all really comes back to that. And I know that he is bringing restoration to those who have been so wounded. Praise the Lord!

6. The more often I thank the Lord is all circumstances the easier it becomes to trust him with the difficult ones.

7. I have this beautiful flower that Kait got me for my birthday sitting on my desk. It makes me smile every time I look at it.

And today is...

my birthday! I've always liked my birthday and I hope I always do. I'm excited to be 23 right now and I hope I still am excited when I'm claiming 72. When I was in Thailand, Winnie who was there to teach English for a year was never afraid to tell her age. She was 75 and looking forward to her 76th birthday. She was my wise and kind 75 year old friend....and she was glad to be 75. I want to be like that. Twenty-two has been a good year. I don't think that one year ago that this is what I thought life would look like right now. I'm not sure what I thought but I am glad to be here. I always become a little reflective around this time. A lot happened this year.
Key Events (to me):
I started going to a small group and learned more about living life with others, being open, growing together, and pushing each other toward to the Lord.

I read all of the Torah and Creation to Complete by Russell Resnik with it. I learned a lot and learned that I have even more to learn than I ever thought before.

I learned about Exodus Cry and got involved with their street outreach. With this it felt like the Lord renewed my passion and burden for human trafficking.

I graduated from Nursing School...and passed boards and became a nurse.

I lived with my dear friend Stephanie for a month.

I started renting my first house with Sophie and Sarah.

I learned how to pay bills.

I learned I will never remember to take the trash to the end of the road on trash day or bring in the mail.

I started working as a Nurse on nights.

I switched from a day schedule to a night schedule....I felt like a should say that again because it is the reason for most everything else that has happened.

I started leading a side room at IHOP for intercession for human trafficking.

I became part of the evangelism small group.


This year I feel like the Lord took me through a several seasons which He named.
Courting-learning about the Lord's history, family, traditions...learning to be safe with the Lord.
Building (not what I expected to be next)
- Pointing out the boulders that had to be moved before foundation could be poured...healing.
- Foundation pouring- a time of the Lord pursuing my heart. Teaching me to love intercession, prophecy, evangelism. Building many things in me. Laying foundation. Opening my heart to seeing him as the bridegroom and preparing myself for him. And for who the Lord has for me.
-Preparing a house- The Lord prepares the house.
Waiting.....Just waiting. And walking day by day with the Lord. He knows the how, what, when, and where of what he has planned and I can trust that.

...As the clock struck midnight tonight Sarah, Sophie, and Jasmine sang happy birthday to me and we celebrated. The Sophie said "23...let's name 23 things we love about Bailey..." And so they did. I felt so loved, seen, honored, and respected. They then blessed me and this year. And prayed for me. One thing that stuck out was Sophie saying that she just really felt fruitfullness for this year. It just hit me. So a little later, after they went to bed, I looked up some references. I saw several for be fruitful and multipy....which doesn't exactly apply yet :)... Then I found this verse in Colossians 1: 9-13. I feel like it really is my prayer right now and I want to learn more about what the Lord means by fruitfullness. Here is the Colossians passage...

Therefore, from the day we heard of it, we have not stopped praying for you, asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all the wisdome and understanding with the Spirit gives; so that you may live lives worthy of the Lord and entirely pleasing to him, being fruitful in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God. We pray that you will be continually strengthened with all the power that come from his glorious might; so that you will be able to persevere and be patient in any situation, joyfully giving thanks to the Father for having made you fit to share in the inheritance of his people in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and trasferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.

And I'm thankful.

This pask week I went home for Thanksgiving. It was great to be home and spend time with family and friends. He are just a few pictures of some of thost I love. These two precious children are Hailey and Nathan. I love them dearly (along with little Liam who was sleeping). They are some of my favorite people and a must see every time I'm home. I was so blessed by their hugs and stories. It's so fun to watch them grow. 

One day while I was home I got to spend the afternoon with my brother Turner. We did some errands and had time to chat over coffee (I thought it was so pretty I had to take a pic). I love him so much! I couldn't ask for a better brother.

 

 Every time I'm home we have one night where we get lots of people we love together and talk, play games, eat, and just enjoy each other. This is one of my favorite things and I'm glad it's become a traditon now. I think I will definitely have to have a big dinning room table at some point in my life because I just love when a lot of people can be all together.

And......STEPHANIE!! Stephanie and Brad flew home for Thanksgiving and were in Branson for a couple days which is not far from where I live. I absolutely couldn't stand it is she was that close and I didn't get to see her so I drove to Branson one night and had a wonderful couple hours with the Griggs family. It was so good to see my beautiful friend that I love and miss...such a blessing!

I also had time with my wonderful mom and dad :) One night my mom and I put up Christmas decorations which is something we always do together. As we put up the tree my mom told me stories about the decorations. We always seem to tell the same stories but it never gets old. She talked about how the first time she decided to color coordinate the tree that they didn't have very much money and all she had was colored lights so my aunt came over and they took off all of color with fingernail polish so she could have white lights on the tree. We talked about the last year we had a real tree when she decided she wanted a really big tree and went to the tree farm down the road and picked the one she liked the best. My grandpa was with us and he thought the tree was too big, but my mom was convinced it would fit. Needless to say the tree took up about a fourth of the living room that year and about 5 foot had to be cut off the bottom (which my dad and grandpa did in the living room)...then there were millions of tree needles all over the floor. forever. My mom said that would be the last real tree we ever had...and it was...but I love our fake tree so its ok. One of my favorite stories though is about the year my dad hooked up the christmas lights on the tree to some sort of radio or cd player thing and programmed the lights to blink in time with music...I'm still not sure how he did that. We also talked about my favorite ornament which is the crystal icicles. I'm not sure why they are my favorite but they are. They were always what I was most excited about as a child and would sometimes just lay under the tree and watch them sparkle.

 

 We also had an amazing Thanksgiving meal with lots of family.

                                                                    The traditional olives-on-your-fingers picture.  

I am so thankful for my family and this time at home. I took more pictures this time because its one of my goals right now. Take more pictures....because this is a good season and I want to remember it.

Thoughts of the day...

1. The best thing about early morning classes is having a blueberry muffin from Broadway cafe.
2. Jesus is my best friend (I alway used to really want to say that but I just didn't think it was true. But I think its true now. I talk to him more than anyone else. He knows all of my secrets. He has the first of my excitement, worry, frustration, tears, joys, thoughts, and ideas. He has my heart and it is safe there.)
3. The first five months of nursing have felt like boot camp. Nursing boot camp. I've learned more than I ever thought I would and I've been stretched physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  I work nights but have an 8 am class every couple weeks. I'm almost done with the classes. It will be nice when I only have to work 3 twelve hour shifts a week...and not ever get up for an 8 am class... It's good though. I'm where I'm supposed to be.
4. My roommates are the best. They are so quiet while I sleep during the day and always greet me excitedly when I wake up. I am blessed.
5. I feel like I don't have as many pictures from this season of life...since graduation. Time is a lot less event oriented these days. And it moves at a much different pace. But it is really good and I want to remember it. So I think I'll try to take more pictures.
6. I really like my co-workers. I want them to know Jesus. Pray that I have opportunites to share with them and to build relationships.
7. I like being up late. I don't have a bed time now. That makes me happy.
8. I wish I had 10 thoughts of the day...but I can't think of any other significant thoughts from today...so I guess 8 will have to do :)

So it begins...

I've known for a long time that many people at KL blog, but I had never taken time to actually read them. The other day I just got really curious and looked at many of the community blogs and I was so blessed. I was blessed by stories, by pictures, and by a glimpse into the lives and hearts of those I'm so thankful for...so I've decided to start a blog. I have no idea what this will look like, but I'm excited. I had a blog when I was in Thailand and it was something the Lord really used to help me speak what I was learning and experiencing and it gaves those who weren't near me an idea of how to pray. Copies were even printed out and given to all of the elderly people that lived at the assisted living center I was working at at the time. My parents could read it and understand my day to day life.  Many people told me that the felt like they could be on the journey with me. So I guess that's what I want. I want to invite others to journey with me.

So why Unashamed?

Several reasons. Number one. The Lord has absolutely transformed my life. He has taken my shame, guilt, and sin and brought redemption in ways that still brings me to my knees in thankfulness. I am so blessed to be so loved. Number two. The Lord has really been building a lot in me lately. I have felt as if it has been a season of foundation pouring. During the long night hours that I am awake and alone (got to love night nursing) the Lord has pursued my heart. He has been growing my ability to hear his voice more clearly, he has spoken about being bold, he has given me a heart for sharing his love with the lost (especially those that I work with) and many other things. Mainly it leads me to being unashamed in the way I love the Lord, in speaking what he says with boldness, and stepping out in faith when sharing with those who don't know him. Number three. Sometimes trusting in the Lord requires waiting before we really see what he has planned. I don't really like this place very much, but I know the faithfulness of the Lord. So I hang on to his promise that those who wait on him will not be put to shame.

I guess now that I have a post I need to tell people that a new blogs exists. Thanks for journeying with me! Blessings!