This is Me

So . . . this is me! My name is April and I am 28 years young. I live in a small town with almost all of my immediate family and I love it! I have two sisters and a brother and I am the proud Aunt of two nephews and a neice! I graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Psychology. After barely making it to graduation, I came home to figure things out . . . . and well, I'm still here. I can see now that God had His hand all over that move. It's funny how we can't see God at work until we stop working so hard to see it! I have been working as a Pharmacy Technician for about the past 5 years. I love my job and couldn't ask for a better boss.

Now for the most important parts of me. I love God. He is absolutley my best friend and I would be nothing without Him. I felt a call to ministry probably as early as my senior year of highschool. I was unsure of where His call would take me for many many years. My senior year of college I participated in my first Beth Moore bible study. From the moment I began the study I felt God putting women's ministry on my heart. I began to really pray and seek God about where He wanted me. I was frustrated for a long time because where I thought God was going to lead me was not at all His plan for me. I didn't want to get "stuck" in a small town where all of my former friends had moved on and I was still single and alone. It turns out that is exactly where He wanted me! I remember driving home from a friends house one day and God spoke so directly to my heart I thought He was sitting in the passenger seat! When you hear a word from God that loud all you can do is say YES! So, I finally joined the church that my family and I had attended my whole life and began to look for ways to serve. For the first couple of years I didn't really see a place for me. I tried to listen to God to see what work I could do and slowly but surely He spoke to me about our lacking youth group. It just so happened that there was a big age gap and for several years there hadn't been a need for a youth leader because there were no kids in that age group. I started watching the younger kids and knew within a couple of years they would be ready. I couldn't wait to start the youth ministry back in our church. With much help and lots of prayers we were back in business. I have now been teaching and ministering to the youth of our church for almost 4 years now! It's crazy thinking back on how God moved and worked things out according to His good plan. I love these kids as if they were my own. Sometimes I feel like they teach me more than I teach them.

In the past couple of years I've felt God leading me back to women's ministry. He definetly hasn't taken away my desire for youth ministry, but I still feel Him calling. Last year I organized a Ladies retreat at our church and facilitated a Beth Moore study on Esther. The study was a Godsend and everyone that participated received a huge blessing. I just announced that I want to do another study starting in March. I am currently waiting to see how many will be interested in participating.

I think I wanted to blog because it's kind of like writing in a journal . . . . only very public. I am more of an intravert when it comes to talking to people I don't know and that has been a challenge as a Christian when it comes to sharing my faith with strangers. I'm hoping that in some way by writing this blog it will be a ministry tool. I love sharing what God is doing in my life and I would love to hear about what He is doing in yours. I believe that prayer is powerful and effective! I would love to pray for you and ask that as you read my blogs that you would pray for me as well! More later . . .