Today. . . a few more words, a little less pictures.

It's been over a year since I spent 2 months in Nicaragua. I had an incredible team and we spent the summer working to build up a children's feeding program. The Lord revealed His power to us and brought the whole team to a deeper level of faith. However, I struggled returning home to the States. Thankfully, Jarred came back from Africa five days later. He has been the biggest blessing ever. God absolutely sent Him to me at the perfect time! To sum up the struggles, I suffered from severe depression and anxiety.

Many of you may not know why I withdrew from classes at Samford and moved home with my parents. That's because I was ashamed and didn't tell many people. Aren't we Christians supposed to have it all together and live a perfect, godly life? Well, that's what I thought (but would never say). But God gave me a wake-up call. So many of us Christians conceal our sins and struggles. I do regret not talking to more people during that dark season, because I think now of how many more sisters and brothers could have been praying for me! However, the friends and family that were involved were some serious prayer warriors, for which I am forever grateful.

I'm not going to go into detail about the pain and spiritual warfare; I'll save that for face-to-face conversations. But the Lord has really put it on my heart to share with everyone about that hard time. It's hard to believe that just a year ago I was dealing with depression and anxiety, not even getting out of bed some days. Now, I am an assistant manager at Chick-fil-a and marrying the man of my dreams in 3 weeks!!! I am confident that the Lord CARRIED me out of that deep valley because of His perfect plan and will. A couple months ago I shared my story with an old friend, and she opened up with me about her current depression. Since then I've been praying for her, keeping in contact, and making suggestions.  God answered my prayers; I had been praying for a few weeks for God to use my experience to help a fellow Christian in some way because I know the truth of Romans 8:28. . .

"And we know, that in all things, God works together for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

He used my hardship to be an understanding friend to a sister in need. The Lord created us to live in community!!

The Lord totally broke me of all my pride last fall. I never realized how easy it is to find our identity in successes and achievements. Someone once asked me, "Who is Stephanie?" and he was being serious! So, I started to list roles, activities and such. Then he told me, "no, you are a daughter of Christ. That is your identity." I am constantly reminding myself of that. Imagine if God stripped us of everything: school, job, home, car, money, food. Who would we be? This is unlikely, but I sometimes imagine the situation if I lived in the streets alone. Would I fall apart or turn to hope and faith in the Lord?

I can testify that during my time of darkness last fall, I never once let go of my hope in the Lord. And I believe that had to do with my family and friends constantly praying. I don't expect any responses to this post. But I do encourage you, if you are dealing with something, to please talk to someone! And of course, PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!!!! God just wants us to talk to Him; isn't that what we do with ones we love???

~Stephanie~

LC Shower

I've mentioned this before, but Jarred and I have been blessed to make good friends with other couples at our new church. The girls in our class had a shower for me Sunday here in Lake Charles. Everyone has been so sweet and supportive, and we got some really cute things!

We didn't take any pictures at the shower, but I set all the gifts up at home to show Jarred. His favorite was a Starbucks gift card. :) Thanks to everyone who came to Bree's house; it was alot of fun!!

Geaux Cowboys

McNeese State University had their first home game Saturday and defeated Sioux Falls 31-17. We had front row box seats and enjoyed cheering on the Cowboys. Jarred and I have been fortunate to make some great friends from Trinity. Two other couples came to the game with me and Jarred, and David and Kimberly.

We visited McNeese's bookstore before going to the game so we could support the school with cowboys attire. 

Jarred and I have been going through the process of enrolling at McNeese. I plan to start classes in the spring semester to finish my undergrad degree in Health and Human Performances. If all goes as planned, I will graduate next December. Jarred wants to work towards getting his masters in history/education. He plans to start in the spring as well. 2012 looks like it will be a busy (productive) year for us!!

work-less wednesdays

Lately, I've been loving Wednesdays. Our awesome boss has given both of us Wednesdays off work, so we enjoy relaxing and having a day of catch-up on life. Jarred was sweet enough to go shopping with me on this "restful day." We've both had a cold the last few days, so it was nice to have some down time too.

We enjoyed eating at a restaurant other than Chick-fil-a (I probably shouldn't say how often I eat it now). So we tried this restaurant downtown called "Luna".

It was definitely a unique restaurant; their menu says it's out of this world. I had The Sun Burger and Jarred ordered The Pluto Sandwich.

We were happy to have the company of David and Kimberly for a fun double date night.They both have been working hard these last few weeks, so I'm glad for them to be able to get away from work and hang out with us.

It's been fun for me to have a "sister" here in Lake Charles planning a wedding alongside me. David and Kimberly are hoping to get married in January. I've been counting down the days to our own wedding, and we are getting excited that the big day is getting closer.

Big Boi Brodie

Jarred and I have been enjoying having Wednesdays off work. We had our last session of pre-marital counseling today, I had a friend over for lunch, and then took a good afternoon nap. To add to the day of R&R, Jarred and I decided to take Brodie to the park and enjoy the nice weather.

Brodie is Kimberly's jack russell terrier. Kimberly got him when she lived in Austin, and since she moved to Lake Charles, he has become the family dog.

Brodie gets SO excited when we get his leash and ask if he wants to "go outside". He runs super fast in circles and starts heading to the door with his tail wagging.

Since Jarred has been recovering from his surgery, Brodie has enjoyed having a buddy at home. Jarred has started easing back in to work this week, several hours every night. He has been healing well and is ready to be back at work full time. We have all missed him at Chick-fil-a these past couple weeks.