Thank you Father

There are so many mixed feelings and emotions as we begin our last week of AE. Feelings of excitement that we will be seeing our families soon, feelings of sorrow that will be leaving friends that we have draw close to in these last five weeks. There are feelings of anticipation of how our projects during practicum will go and feelings of hopefulness in seeing God work through our weaknesses.

One feeling that I would like to focus on is the feeling of gratefulness. It is overwhelming me. I am grateful for the all that God has showed me in the last few weeks. I'm grateful to Grace for having Life Vision classes that made us dig deeper and find out who we really are and what makes us tick. I am grateful to God for strengthening me to face the fears I'd been believing and to begin trading truths for lies. The feeling of gratefulness swells as I think of all the work that our leadership team has put into making AE 18 a fantastic success. I will enjoy looking back on the memories, and treasure the friendships that have started.

I'm grateful to Chrissy for the writing classes, even if I still don't understand it, I do understand it better than before and I have a new perspective on writing. I look forward to using the newly learned skills for the rest of my life. Thank you Hannah, for encouraging us in our discipleship class. You gave us opportunities to lead wisdom searches and you gave great hints and advice on the discipleship course we'll be leading during practicum. All three of you have been equipping us to go into all the world and make disciples, and I am so grateful to you for that.

My gratefulness continues to summit as I think of the speakers that took time out of their busy lives to invest in our lives and encourage us to walk closer to our Savior. They have be God's anointed tools in opening up our eyes to truths that God has shown them. I'm grateful to God for allowing them to come and mentor us and encourage us to run that race that Christ has set before us...they are right there along side us cheering us upward, cheering us homeward.

I could go on and on, and fill up page after page of the things I'm grateful for. Instead I'd like to close in prayer...Heavenly Father, you orchestrated each and every leader, speaker and student that was to be in AE18 and I want to thank you for allowing me to be part of it. You have taught me so much, I feel full to overflowing. Thank you for your truth that you desire to teach your children, and help us all to be willing students. Open our eyes to more ways that we can show gratefulness and thankfulness for all the blessing you have bestowed on us. We love you, Father! Amen

Soli Deo Gloria

-Katie