first timer.

I have wanted to start a blog for a long time. I read several different blogs regularly, possibly to a creepy point. But I just like to know people and know them deeply. I have seen that people are typically fully themselves on their blog, and it helps me understand that I'm not alone, whether it be in an outfit that I wore and was unsure about later, or to see that people deal with real pain too, or to understand the simple joys that come with life. I love to see that people, though created unique and vastly different, have a lot of the same ideas, dreams, thoughts, feelings, etc.

So here I am. Where to even begin? I'm a talker and I enjoy writing, so this has potential to be a dangerous thing or a great thing. It can serve as a distraction from studying or it could grow me as I explore who the Lord created me to be through writing. Maybe a little of both. I guess only time will tell.

Speaking of knowing people deeply, I have been learning a lot about that lately. The guy that leads the college group that I attend (newp) said this the other night in reference to relationships/friendships:

"Often times we are stretched a thousand feet wide and only an inch deep."

Ever since I heard that, it has been so clear to me that I'm often in that place. I know lots of people involved in lots of different things and organizations and I know people through people. And I believe in networking and I believe that it's a good thing to know people and have connections. However, there is real value in deep relationships that go beyond the surface. I have learned so much about that since I've been in college, and even more so in the last 6 months. I've also learned that friendships and relationships can only go so deep without Christ in them. I knew these things in my head, but I never fully understood them in my heart. (If I keep blogging and you keep reading, you will quickly find that my head and my heart don't agree a lot of the time, and I am learning how to differentiate my humanness from the Lord and his plans...we'll go there another day...) Anywaaay... I worked at a church camp in the New Mexico mountains for 10 weeks this summer. Through that, I gained some of the strongest and deepest relationships that I've ever had in my life. It was hard for me to leave them, knowing that I didn't know when I would see them again and knowing that they wouldn't be a part of my daily life as they had been the last 10 weeks. It was hard because these relationships weren't just topical and surface. I laughed, cried, prayed, worked, was encouraged by, and did some of the hardest things I've ever done with these people. As I drove to Lubbock from Albuquerque that last weekend, I realized the depth of those relationships, and that God created us to love and be loved by people like that. I longed for more relationships like that. I began to pray that the Lord would place people like that in my life when school started again. God is faithful and I have watched Him answer that prayer time and time again this semester. I am immeasurably blessed by some incredible people that I have crossed paths with this semester. It's my prayer that you will have relationships like this and that you can see Christ's love for you through them. Look for your relationships to be a mile deep and don't spread yourself too thin. It's so worth it.

These are some pictures of some of the people that I have mile deep relationships with. I am blessed. Also, the pictures are a brief recap of this summer and then this semester so far. :)

-m.