Internship Week 8

Because, you know I missed the 7 weeks in between and have been a horrible blogger. And now I'm struggling to come up with the words to describe how just absolutely, insanely perfect these past 8 weeks of my internship have been. So to start this awkward post, here's a link where you can see some of the work I've been doing. I've done maybe 10-15 of the latest post's cover pictures.

But showing you my work, doesn't show you the work God's doing in me. Even then, how do you write about such intense life changes? I first have to stay, that I am still so blown away that I was chosen to be here. It is an honor that people thought I was good enough to join the team that I'm on.

Elevation has changed my life.  It's where I learned to put Jesus at the center of everything I do. It's where I learned to fully rely on God. It's where I've learned to have full faith, even if my progress isn't visible. To give Him all my worries and find peace in Him. It's where I learned I still had room to grow. It's where I learned to stop comparing myself to people I'm not. It's where I learned to put others before myself. It's where I learned the importance of church participation. It's where I've learned how important community in the church is, building Godly relationships. It's where I've learned to praise God in any circumstance: joy, sorrow, peace, turmoil, God is always on the throne.

I'm sure these things could have been taught to me at most Godly churches in America, which still leaves the question, "Why Elevation?" Simply put, God has called me to be here. When we talk about Elevation's culture, the things we stand for, our mission statement, all of it, I'm brought to tears. We are creating a movement out of Charlotte, NC, and I'm so blessed that I've been called to it.

Something I noticed early on is that God keeps calling me back home to Charlotte, but I kept coming back the wrong way. Like my last time back, I had two jobs, an internship, and was in school part time. If I ever had the rare Sunday off, I'd watch online from my bed. And let me just tell you, there is a HUGE difference between watching church online and being there in person. Another funny thing about God's timing is that He's been pushing me to apply for this internship for years. But I'm noticing now that I'm here, His timing for this season of my life could not have been more perfect. He probably planted the seed for me to be here such a long time ago, because He knew I'd finally have the guts to apply this season. The people that He has surrounded me with this summer could not have been better for my spiritual health & growth. It's been so perfect working alongside them.

And to end the post, here's a random photo dump for those of you who don't stalk me on Instagram. You can see a description of each picture on my account! (I can't believe how few pictures I've taken.)

Internship: Day 4

Today. Was. Amazing.

It was long, tiring, and crazy.

But it was awesome. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

We all know how much I loved day 1 of my internship, right? Well today's day 4, and everything about it was above and beyond perfection.

It started with a 6AM history walk. We walked all over the city and got to see some amazing parts of our church's history. We saw our very first campus (we're currently at ten!), our second, and our third. And it was only 6.4 miles! The only reason it felt like it went so fast is because we set timers for 8 minutes to try and talk to every single intern in the group. I got so many life stories about how people got saved, and just what exactly this church meant to them.

Straight after this, we changed out of our stinky clothes, and went to our first weekly staff rally. Which was the most amazing experience I've ever had in a workplace. We basically just worshipped God so hard. They had the full band and read personal testimonies of what Elevation has done for their lives. It's so great to be reminded that we are having a HUGE impact on this city.

From there, I got to do some designing, eat lunch and meet even more new people!

Then 4:15 rolls around.

If you're not from Charlotte, One7 is a great outreach partner that we had the honor of serving. They bring in refugees and make a safe and loving environment for the children. They all came from a life of hurt and suffering, but through One7, most have been brought to life in Christ.

And this is where I'm going to start getting emotional.

Of course the first week they bring us, they just happen to be baptizing fifteen children. It was beautiful and heartwarming. They each had a story to tell, and I sobbed at like 90% of them. Some were raped, beaten, disowned for their newfound faith, but the love stretched out to them has restored their faith.

After baptisms, we had the most energetic worship that I've probably had since middle school. It was exhausting, but at the same time, it was really hard to stop. Now, I'm finally crawling into bed and am planning on staying there as long as I possibly can. :)

So while it might have been a 15 hour "workday" on 4 hours of sleep, every single second was worth it. 

Internship: Day 1

I feel like it's been forever since I've written a post of actual content on here. And mainly because, it's a shameful truth that I haven't posted anything real for 3 weeks. Mainly because I was busy packing and moving 7 hours away! I know you've heard of my internship by now. (If you haven't, it's amazing and perfect, and I'm beyond honored to be doing what God's called me to do.) Today was our first day, and it was a really great time to meet new people who were all in the same boat as me. We each had our own stories how God had brought us there, and it was a really great environment to be in. It's always been a struggle to talk about religion in the workplace, but now it's all we talk about. You can't even imagine the love and support in this group. Before we started the day, a few of us met up at Starbucks to go in with the right encouragement, and calm our nerves a little.

We read out of 1 Timothy together which was so ironic, because it's what I read the night beforehand.

Then we actually got to the church and took a super group selfie:

Seriously, these guys are amazing.

Just one more quick note, I wanted to talk about how awesome it is to have a supervisor directly over you who can see your goal and continuously encourage you throughout it. He and I got to talk for an hour today about what I'll be doing design-wise, and it completely blew me away. He understands my heart for this church and kept reminding me that this is something God chose me for. It wasn't random, it wasn't an accident. I am here for His glory.

Anyways, I'll try to keep this blog a little more updated over the summer. Have a safe week!