It's My Birthday!!!!!

That's right! I am officially an A-D-U-L-T! Look out world... can you tell I'm just the slightest bit bored?

Well, anyway... so today I hit adult age legally however after having already started the "adulting" portion of my life...  ya know, paying bills, cleaning the apartment, working....etc... I just wanted to make a public service announcement to every young person dying to become an adult....

SLOW DOWN!!! It's not all it's cracked up to be and your going to miss the time when you weren't the one paying for the power you used, the hot water you used, or the gas to fuel your transportation. When you buy that first grocery bill and read your total be sure you have someone you trust standing close so that they can catch you because it's going to be A LOT.

I'm not saying that being an adult is 100% miserable all of the time, but I am saying that it's a big time wake up call that your parents are trying so hard to prepare you for with all of that advice you keep ignoring...

So I repeat... SLOW DOWN. Spend every second you have enjoying your childhood and don't waste a minute of it. Listen to your parent. Learn responsibility, but right now... have fun. Don't run head first towards your adulthood because I promise you you'll wish you hadn't.

Am I happy? Absolutely!!! I am getting ready to marry my best friend! I am moving towards the "I do's" with each passing day.

Now... to my original point of this post (hence the title of this post) IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

I have been alive for 21 years today. God brought me into the world screaming and crying knowing the plans He had for me. Knowing that I would one day meet Charles and be planning our wedding. Knowing that I would start Great News Ministries. Knowing that I would be writing to you all right now on this blog...

He knew all of the crap I would go through before coming to know Him as my Savior and Redeemer on April 4, 2012 and He knew that I would be spending today knowing that He has allowed me to be on this earth for 21 years and spend the last 4 years of those 21 in service to Him.

God continuously blesses me beyond anything and everything I could ever hope and imagine, and I pray that He will help me to serve Him with all I've got for as long as I've got:)

We Got the Apartment!

Okay, so somethings changed right after I posted and no one got to really know... THEY CALLED!!! WE GOT THE APARTMENT!!!!

Yes, we've done a happy dance. Yes, we are thrilled. Yes, God IS AMAZING! I can't wait to see what He has in store for us next! Thank you all for your prayers!! This is the shortest post ever but... that is all :)

-Kelcy

Crazy. Random. Nervous Post O_O

It always seems that my posts have more and more time in between them, but life is busy as I am sure most of you know all too well. There has been a lot going on since I last posted. School, wedding plans, trying to get a place to live so that we aren't homeless after the wedding... 

I am sitting here as I type awaiting a phone call that will tell me whether or not Charles and I have gotten an apartment. I don't think I have ever been so nervous for anything in my entire life. THIS IS A BIG DEAL. Don't get me wrong, I know that if it's in God's will and apart of His plan it will all work out... however, I can't help but be nervous and hope and pray that it is in His will and that this phone call would hurry up and come and be good news.

Can you see my stress yet? Can you almost see the gray hairs this has created on my almost 21 year old head? This has been an ongoing super stress since Thursday of this past week. I am sick to my stomach, and I feel like my head won't stop spinning until the phone rings... then again that might make it spin faster until they tell me yes or no... 

You know the nervous I'm talking about, right? That, crawling-out-of-your-skin kind of nervous. 

I just looked at the clock and it is 8:52AM.... Their offices open at 8.... I hope they don't wait all day.... 

You all think I am crazy right now for typing this all up in a blog, but let me tell you it's helping. This post may be all over the place but hopefully it will make me feel better. 

I know what you're thinking though... You're wondering if I am going to write this post until they call.... well, I would like to say yes because that would mean they were going to call in the next few minutes however my answer would be, of course not! That would be insane! 

I am actually about to stop writing now... however... while we already have a small army of people praying for this to work out, we would love for that army to be enlarged. So will you pray with us... please? Pray that God would allow this all to go well... 

Thank you for putting up with this crazy post (if you made it this far, that is). May God bless you all with a wonderfully awesome day! Will hopefully post again soon (prayerfully with good news!)

-Kelcy

Hello 2016!

What a year 2015 has been. Filled with love, laughter, heartache, and adventure. This past year God has brought things my way that I didn't understand. He has blessed me with a few new friends. He has opened and then shut doors in a way that I didn't always like but some how came to accept. He allowed me to experience new things, meet new people, and grow in new ways. He answered prayers in ways that blew my mind, showed me things only He could, and brought me deeper in my relationship with Him than I ever thought I would go, and I know that as we kick of this New Year the best is still yet to come. 

Last year I was blessed to bring in the New Year with my (then) new amazing boyfriend and this year I brought in the New Year engaged to that same amazing guy. This year will bring wedding plans, dress shopping, a new bible fellowship class, and I'm sure new adventures as we prepare to marry. I look forward to all this year holds for he and I and whatever the Lord has in store for us. 

I look forward to sharing with you all what the Lord is doing in my life and going through this journey of 2016 with you all. May the Lord bless you exceeding abundantly this year, and overflow your hearts:) I love you all!

-Kelcy
#tobeJaegered ;)

P.S. At the beginning of last year I mentioned how my college ministry was told we were having a change in leadership and how awesome that change has been. Just thought it would be an interesting thing to share, that our "nearly married" class will be taught by the teachers we had when we first met. Who are also, coincidentally, the same people who sat down with us early in our relationship and helped us make sure we were going about things the right way.  How fitting:) 2016 HERE WE COME!

I've Forgotton...

When I was little one of my favorite things to do was to write. As I got older the love continued to increase. I would write little short stories and as time went on they got longer, always fiction. As you can tell (at least if you read my Great News) I still enjoy to write. Enough that I have chosen it as a main part of my ministry...

However, with all of that being said... I have forgotten how to write for pleasure. When I write now I approach each piece with a plan or a strategy of just how everything needs to be within the piece of writing. I'm not saying that this is a bad way to approach writing, especially when it comes to doing so professionally. But at that point even if you are enjoying that writing, just as I enjoy writing devotionals for Great News, there is always a piece of your brain that recognizes it as business. This blog is for pleasure. This is a blog I created to not be bound to any commitment, but to simply just write what I wanted, how I wanted about my life, personally. Obviously, if you've been following this blog for any length of time you've probably noticed that it has been a good while since my last post. In fact it seems that with each post the time in between then just keeps getting longer. I haven't had time, haven't really had much to write about I guess, but mainly I just criticize and critique every little things to death.

More and more often I stop and think about how much I miss writing for pleasure. Growing up, I always wanted to be an author. I wanted to write books for a living, and while I may never do that the way I though I would, I can at least blog about my life with pleasure. Stop holding back because I feel like it's not interesting enough. Stop hesitating because maybe it's too short. Stop critiquing every little piece as if it were more than just a personal blog. So what if no one reads this. I can still write it. Maybe one person in the world who finds themselves awake and unable to sleep late one night will stumble across and find some humor or even better find some hope.

In the last few weeks, as I have remembered how much I used to love just writing for fun, I've sat down and attempted to work on some old, unfinished stories. I've tried to start new ones. Each time balling up pieces of paper or wearing out my delete button. So maybe I won't write stories anymore. Maybe I will just stick to this blog. One way or another, I think it is time for me to stop forgetting and start remembering.

So now I am asking for your help. You reader. You one person unable to sleep for whatever reason.... I need you to remind me that it's okay to write for fun. Sometimes the subject will be serious because there are serious things going on. Sometimes the subject will be funny, or confusing, or completely random. Sometimes it will be sad, and sometimes it will be happy... but if I start to forget again... will you remind me? I sure would appreciate it.

We all have a lot going on in the world. Busy jobs, busy lives, busy business to attend to, but no matter how busy things get we all should have that outlet. That thing we love that we can always go back to. So I'm going to try to start refreshing my memory. See you soon.

-Kelcy

It Is Well

The enemy has decided in the last few weeks to really wage a war against my soul. Not just my soul, but specifically my emotions. He has sent people to hurt my feelings and made me super sensitive. He has caused difficult times to rise up and crash over me, but it is well. He has caused struggles, and hardships that I never expected... but.... it is well with my soul.

As I sat down today to write a devotional for Great News, I got about half way through it and the "It Is Well" by Bethel Church came into my ears. What a reminder I needed this morning. There is no sense in me going on this morning about the issues that have risen in my life and walk. There is zero reason for me to share the struggles, heartaches, or more prominently the hurt feelings with you. They are not worth sharing because that would be what the enemy would want me to do. Complain. I am not going to have a complaining spirit today. Instead, I choose to say through it all, it is well with my soul. I have the victory in Christ Jesus (and by the way so do you) and no matter what the enemy does to overtake me, even if I lose the battle, I know that because of the cross, I have already won the war. Therefore.... It is well with my soul.

From one Christian to another today, I want to ask  you... is it well with your soul? Is your faith wholly in Christ? Is there something that you need to lay at His feet so that it can be well with your soul? Then do it. He is waiting. He is your Father, your Daddy, and it is time. Give your worries to Him and He will give you rest and peace that surpasses all understanding.

Below I am going to post the song I mentioned above. I want to ask, if you would, please sit down, pop some headphones in and really let the Lord speak to your heart through this beautiful song. I love you friend:)

God Is Good

GOD IS GOOD.

A simple yet profound fact that can never be properly stated in mere human words. God is so very good. I have been seeing His goodness more and in the in's and out's of my days recently. My mentor told me one time a few months ago at the beginning of a meeting about how she was in the habit of telling people that she is good when asked how she is doing. She said that there is nothing good about her (and this is coming from a woman who radiates the glory of God's Spirit in her), but she is right. Only God is good. This truth that she spoke didn't really convict me until about a month later when someone asked me how I was and I responded with "I'm good." Two simple words but oh how convicted I became in that one moment. From that moment on a friend has been trying to help me and has even started trying to catch herself when asked how we are, we try to respond with we are "well" rather than "good" because as previously stated, there is nothing good about us.

It's a bit amusing, I will admit, when we are walking around and we slip up and say we are good because we immediately realize it and try to remember it, and then five seconds later...

Thoughts: You're not good, you're well, well, well, you're well...
Random Person: Hey! How are you?
Me: I'm good! (face-palm)
Thoughts: WELL!!! I'M WELL!
[walks away shaking head]

I'm not saying everyone has to do this, that is simply a conviction I felt on my heart that day and I have been trying to make that change every since. So with that being said, if you ever ask me how I am doing and I respond with "good" then say I'm "well", just know that I am still trying and God is still working on me:)

Anyway, as I said, GOD IS GOOD. It doesn't matter what circumstances you are in, it doesn't matter if you're in the valley or on the mountain top, He is still good. He is good in the good times and the bad. He is good in tragedy, uncertainty, and the unknown. He is good in sickness and health. He is good in life and death. He is good in joy and in sorrow. He is good during your healing. He is good during your stress. He is good when your finances are not. He is good when you are living pay check to pay check. He is good when you don't know what to do. He is good even when you are deep in the depths of sin... God's goodness isn't dependent on you... He is good because that is who God is. He is the Good Shepherd and the Good Father. He is good in everything He does. You're sick? He is still good. You're hurting? He's still good. You don't know where your next meal is coming from? He's still good. The doctor just told you it's cancer... HE'S STILL GOOD... No matter what, He will always be good.

You see there is nothing, absolutely nothing good about you (or me) at all. Even the things you or others would consider to be "good" about you, they are still not truly good. But God, IS goodness. Everything about Him is good. Everything about Him oozes goodness. Even in your storm...

So just remember as you go through out every day... as you wake up no knowing what the day holds for you, God has got you, God knows what your day is going to bring and He is GOOD, in ALL circumstances. Love you friend!

In Christ,
Kelcy