What time I am afraid I will trust in Him.

When I was a little girl, the verse in the blog title was one that I learned in Cubbies, a club organized by AWANA, a church group. I have always repeated that verse to myself when ever I am scared, whether it be because of a storm, quiet houses, dark roads late at night, or arriving home to an empty apartment.

There are other verses that have become crucial to my feeble mind. "Be ye kind one to another. Tender-hearted, forgiving one another." Mom used to use that one when we were arguing or bickering about something. "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." A great life verse and one that I repeat to myself on a regular basis. "The King in enthralled with your beauty. Honor Him for He is your Lord." Whenever I start to feel gross and ugly, I say this one over and over again.

While we were at camp, Eve encouraged us to find our "life verse." She noted that it could change for each season in your life and was just whatever spoke to your heart at the time. As I began to think about it, the women in our group began to share theirs. "By His Grace, I am who I am." "I am the vine, and you are the fruit." "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." "For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper and not to destroy. Seek me and you will find me."

As God's word was spoken over me, I knew what my newest life verse was meant to be. Psalm 86:11 says "Lord, Give me an undivided heart." As I poured over the scriptures in a rather constant state for four weeks, I found that I kept coming back to this verse and my heart was consistently coming back to contemplate it's meaning.

I will be the first to admit that my heart is divided more often than not. My focus is not always where it needs to be and I fail to just live out the life that God has given me with intention. I fail to be content, joyful. and faithful and instead suffer from a ungrateful heart, a complaining spirit, and a general discontentment with my situation. I long for an undivided heart. One that is focused Jesus and His love for me.

Any thoughts? What is your life verse?

Packing, Moving, Unpacking, and Preparing to Pack and Move Again

I have spent the last ten days packing up my apartment and making many trips to my parent's house with small loads of whatever will fit in my car. It's been an adventure at best. Horrifying at worst. Really hard is the best way to describe it. I have lived in that little apartment for 2 years. I moved in during the summer of 2007 and experienced some of the best and worst moments of my newly independent life there.

• I had five different roommates.
• One cat (Remi...A.K.A. Satan)
• One dog (Surls)
• Got engaged (not in the apartment, but it happened while I lived there)
  
• Got un-engaged (in the parking lot of the apartment complex)
• Bought my first Christmas tree
• Had my own closet
• Had five jobs
• Made new friends
• Lost old friends
• Joined Young Life
• Changed my major at least three times
• Had fights
• Made up after fights
• Got some old friends back
• Lost a TV
• Gained a better TV
• Lost better TV
• Was loaned a TV
• Had awkward conversations
• Had deep conversations
• Wrote epic emails
• Received epic emails
  
• Became a couch sleeper
• Joined a new church
• Had good dates
• Had bad dates
• Went on a blind date
• Hosted dinner parties
• Became a fan of the care package
• Became a fan of "The Real Housewives"
• Fell in love
• Fell out of love
• Cooked good dinners
• Burned good dinners
• Watched good movies
• Watched bad movies
• Became a better blogger

That apartment has a lot of Theresa in it. It was hard to load up those last few boxes and turn my keys in. A whole, long chapter closed when I locked that door. The new chapter is exciting, but I am going to miss the old one.

I am living at home for a month before Dad finishes renovating the attic above his office into a loft apartment for me, Caroline, and Sarah Ann. It is a super great deal. No rent, live with my sisters, and the ability to walk to school make this new living arrangement fantastic.

All in all, a good, but tiring ten days. Who knew you could acquire so much junk (or in my case, clothes) in just two years?

Here's to new chapters and new apartments.

Chick-fil-A

For those of you who don't know, and I assuming that is most of you, I started working for Chick-fil-A this past week. There were a lot of factors in my making this decision, the biggest one being money. Ever since my senior year of high school when I worked for Country's BBQ, I swore I would never work in the food industry again. However, the schedule is also going to be awesome and it is a job that I can go to and leave it there at work when I go home. It is going to be great with school in the fall.

The first SIX hours of working at Chick-fil-A are spent watching videos. Yes, folks. That's right. SIX WHOLE HOURS. A lot of it was pretty stupid, but I really enjoyed hearing the Truett Cathy story and how Chick-fil-A came to be. After watching several interviews (approx. an hour's worth), I got kinda excited about working for this company. The Cathy's aren't pulling anyone's leg with their reasons for being closed on Sundays and being a beacon of light in a dark world. This family truly loves the Lord and is committed to providing excellent service to those who come into contact with Chick-fil-A. This may sound super silly, but it made me want to truly put my best foot forward because, now, I feel like if I don't, I am letting Truett Cathy himself down. I know. It sounds absurd. It's just a fast food joint. But I swear it's not. There is something different about this company. I know what that something different is. It's in their purpose statement.

"That we might glorify God by being a faithful steward in all that is entrusted to our care, and that we might have a positive influence on all the people that we might come in contact with."

I mean, come on! How obvious can it be? It's all about service and it's all about doing it in the name of Jesus. I love that.

So, come see me at Chick-fil-A and I promise there will be true sincerity behind every "My pleasure." Every time.

Windy Gap, Here I come!

This coming Saturday, I am headed to North Carolina to work for a month at Young Life's Windy Gap. I am asking for your prayers during this month. Please pray for traveling mercies as I drive up to Weaverville on Saturday morning. Please pray for me as a I seek to minister with those on Summer Staff and Work Crew. Please pray for the hearts of kids as they come to camp. Pray that God's love would wash over them and that He would show Himself in a mighty way. Please pray for Young Life staff as they give talks, conduct music and skits, and present the gospel in ways many of these kids have never experienced.

Selfishly, I covet your prayers as I spend time with the Lord in the coming month. I have never done anything like this before, but I know that God has a plan for me. Please pray that my quiet times would be productive, that I would be filled with His spirit, and return refreshed by His love. Please pray that God would fill me with grace as I serve in His name over the next month and send me home on fire for Him and His people.

I love you all so much and appreciate you more than you know. I can't wait to fill you in on all my adventures when I return home. If you feel moved to send little notes to me while I am gone, the address where you can reach me is below. :) Check out the website too! Windy Gap is pretty awesome!

Much love and many thanks!
Theresa

Windy Gap (Theresa Garcia-Summer Staff)
120 Coles Cove Road
Weaverville, NC 28787

Web site: windygap.younglife.org

An evening with two of my favorite boys.

The Alford boys are three very special boys and I love keeping them. William, Henry, and Andrew always make me smile and they are a joy to "hang out" with. So, when their mom, Stephanie, called me about a month ago asking me to keep them tonight, I was more than willing to say yes.

William is spending the night with a friend, so it's just me and the younger two. When I arrived, Andrew immediately set to informing me of his love for John Deere (Of which I was acutely aware), what we were having for dinner, and the whereabouts of his big brother, William. Henry followed shortly thereafter.

After Stephanie and Bryan left, the boys and I headed outside for some playground action. As I sat there watching them play, I started to drift away into my own thoughts and before long I realized it was a little more quite than before. I looked back over at the boys and their gaze was very intent on a specific object. A small bird was hopping across the yard. Andrew started to tell Henry to go after it. Henry said "Shhhh." Andrew mimicked his older brother and Henry said "I was talking to you. Be quite." Andrew remained silent as Henry crept across the yard, head bobbing back and forth in an Egyptian way. The bird continued to hop until it was safely in a bush and out of reach from two curious little boys. We moved on to swinging and the next thing I hear from Andrew is what sounds like a college football fight song. Nope. "Bob the Builder" theme song was coming out of this fella's mouth. However, when I asked Henry who is favorite football team was, he quickly replied "Aubrin." With this mention, Andrew burst into "War Eagle! Fly down the field!..." Awesome.

Bathtime and bedtime followed shortly. After I had both of them in the bed for good, I hear "TWEESA!!!!" coming down the hallway. Andrew continued to yell his variation of my name as I walked from the kitchen into his room. I stood in the doorway and he got very quiet. "Yes?", I asked. "Is there a problem?" Calmly, Andrew replies, "I ter-sty." Off I go to get water and the rest of the evening was fairly quiet.

I love these boys and I love how much I get to laugh when I am with them.

It's that time of year again...

High schools and colleges all over the country are graduating their senior classes and Columbus, Georgia is no different. Already I have been to two graduations, one last Sunday night and one this very evening.

Tonight's honored the students at Columbus High School, a magnet school with some of the brightest students in the state. I know several of the graduates, one of them being very special to me, Ciara Pauke.

I have known Ciara for almost two years now. Although she is a student at Columbus High, she is a regular at Shaw High's Young Life club. Ciara is one of the sweetest, funniest, brightest people I know. She has a heart for others, but more importantly, she has a heart for the Lord. Campaigners (our Young Life bible study) is richer with her presence. Her quiet words of wisdom, her smile and infectious laugh, her sincere and genuine loyalty to those whom she counts as friends all make Ciara stand out in a crowd.

As I watched her walk on to the stage at the Civic Center, I was reminded of a day much like this one in May of 2006 when I sat in that same auditorium with Ben and watched as Anna Beck and many of our friends walked across that same stage. My own graduation had occurred mere hours before and I was officially a college freshmen.

As the ceremony ended and I met Ciara outside, I couldn't help but cry a bit as I walked back to my car. Gone are the Monday nights at the trailer before Young Life. Gone are our Thursday night bible studies. Gone are the prom nights and text messages letting me know they are safely home from a night of dancing and fun. This chapter is over, but an exciting new one is at hand. There will be new nights of fun, new reasons for pictures, and definitely text messages warning them to be safe as they hang out with friends.

Tomorrow morning, Ciara and I will meet back at the Civic Center to watch as Mandy Mussatti (a young woman who easily fits the above description of Ciara), Logan Bourne and others graduate from Shaw High School. More Young Life friends who are moving on to bigger and better things. My prayer for them is that they would "Trust in the Lord with all their hearts and lean not on their own understanding. Acknowledge God in all their ways and He will direct their paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Congrats to the class of 2009!

Dear Mac

You graduated this past week and now you are sailing through the Bahamas. La te da. Life is good.

You are like my little sister and I love you so much (even though, like Sarah Ann, you don't say it back). I admire your humour, your eye for photography, your technical theater knowledge, your ability to think logically in every situation. You are beautiful, sweet, even tempered, a hard worker, dedicated, and loyal.

It makes no difference whether you go to Yale, Boulder, UGA, or Columbus State. I don't care if you major in Art, Theater, or Chemical Engineering. I just want you to be happy doing whatever it is that life throws your way. Whether living in a downtown loft or the barn apartment, the next few years are going to be amazing. You aren't going to love every minute and sometimes it might feel like you never left high school, but this next chapter is so important and you are going to thrive! I just know it.

As you study the stuff that makes you happy, just remember that whatever happens, my offer still stands if you want to come with me and be a National Geographic photographer. I'll do all the talking. All you have to do is grunt and sign for more bread and water. Who needs ambition when they have an offer like that from Theresa Garcia?

I've got your back.

Love always,
Geege

Stella

Estelle Marie Yancey is number four in the Yancey line up.  I have to admit, there is a spark in Stella that I just adore.  Her eyes just pop and there is something about her grin that make me want to melt.  

Stella is always innocent.  At least in her mind. One of my favorite Stella moments was when she insisted that she had not had a snack even though I knew for a fact that she had.  It was my first run in with Stella and in the midst of tears, she swore that she would never speak to me again.  Two months later and she is quick to ask "Tree-sa" to pick her up and hold her. She is a girly girl who loves to dance and sing.  She is a ham and loves to perform for others.  She is very grown up for her five year old little self.  Stella loves to play dress up and she is extremely witty.  She has already had at least two marriage proposals.  One from her cousin, Peter, who realizes that cousins cannot marry one another.  He was not very happy with her second proposal, but understands.  Stella has given her heart to Hayes and says that even though she knows that others will ask her to marry them, it is too late.  Hayes has already asked her and she said yes.  Plus, he kissed her on the cheek repeatedly and that apparently sealed the deal for good.  

I most admire Stella's giving nature.  She is very quick to share her pretzels with Maggie or her toys with the little boy sitting next to her.  She isn't perfect and the sharing doesn't happen every time, but more oft than not, it is Stella that I can depend on to share her possessions with those around her.  

I am in love with this sweet girl and her funny ways.  I can't wait to see what kind of woman she turns into.  

Because I miss him today...

Me, Rearcous, and Caroline
April 30th, 2003
"The Odd Couple"

Bring the Rain: The Story of Audrey Caroline

Over a month ago, my cousin, Peyton, introduced me to a blog written by a woman named Angie Smith. The blog is called "Bring the Rain: The Story of Audrey Caroline." Angie is wife to Todd and mom to Ellie, Kate, Abby, and sweet Audrey who has gone to be with the Lord. The whole blog is about Angie's grief over the loss of her daughter, Audrey. Angie and Todd were expecting Audrey and were told that she would not live long after birth, if she was even alive at that point. They were given the option to terminate the pregnancy or carry Audrey to full term, knowing that she would die shortly thereafter. Terminating the pregnancy was not an option for the Smith family. So for the next few months, Angie carried her sweet baby with the knowledge that she would never really know her Audrey.

Peyton and I have been reading this blog like it is a novel that we just can't put down. It's almost like my daily devotional. Angie's faith is stronger and more alive than I have ever experienced from any one person in my life. Her dependency upon our Lord and Savior is inspiring and humbling. I admire her boldness as she proclaims the name of Jesus Christ in a non-aggressive way. She is warm, inviting, and open when it comes to her beliefs. She is sincere and consistent. Her story is thought provoking and full of lessons. She doesn't portray herself or her family in a way that they are not. She is simply human and talks about life as it happens. She is quick to admit her faults and just as Paul wrote, Angie says that she is "the greatest of sinners."

Angie's words make me stand in shame as I realize that there are probably those around me who have no idea how devoutly committed I am to my faith. There are times when I sit silently as others mock the name of my heavenly Father or carry on conversations about religious and spiritual things. As someone who longs to serve the kingdom of God as a missionary here in the states and overseas, there should be no doubt in any one's mind where I stand, yet I daily fail the gospel message. I daily fail to express my faith is word and deed. I daily fail to boldly stand before the thrown of Christ as His daughter and I daily fail to bring others with me as I fall at His feet.

Our conversation in small group tonight revolved around our roll as Christ's ambassadors in the world around us. How do I effectively bring the gospel to those around me in a way soaked with humility and grace all the while being content with the knowledge that it is Christ at work and not me? How do I minister to those around me when my boldness is lacking? My life is not perfect and I am the least among my fellow believers. Yet, I long to serve the Lord, even as I fail to show that in my day to day life.

I invite you to share and explore Angie's journey with me. I promise that you will not be disappointed. God is surely using her in ways that are far beyond my own understanding.

I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
Psalms 116:1-2

Josie

If you read this blog at all, you know that I keep five little girls twice a week.  Today I want to tell you about Josie, one of the twins.

Josie is the loner.  She plays well with the other girls, but she is just as content by herself.  She is outgoing, but reserved.  She is extremely smart and has enough common sense for all four of her sisters and me.  She is a go with the flow kinda gal who loves to read.  You can find her most often with her nose in a book.  She plays softball, the piano, is on the math team at school, rides horses, loves her sisters, and is quick to provide a hug.  She is an outdoor-sy girl and she isn't afraid of much outside of the occasional storm.  Her cheery disposition and her easy going nature make her a joy to love on.  

One of the things I love most about Josie is her genuine interest in others.  She likes hearing me talk about my siblings and enjoys asking others about their day.  She is curious, but not in a pushy way.  She is better than I am when it comes to asking questions in order to solve a dispute between one of her sisters and she is a constant peace maker.  

If I could see into the future and tell you what Josie will be when she grows up, I would guess that she will be a journalist.  Her curiosity, her love for people, her love of reading and words, all lead me to believe that one day she will be a great journalist with a knack for adventure stories.  She is a girl after my own heart. 

A letter to my Dad

Dear Daddy,

Thank you for being there last weekend when I ran my 5k. Not an unusual thing for me to do, but for some reason I wanted you there and you were. And that means the world to me.

Thank you for being a provider. Thank you for knowing how to fix anything and everything and for figuring out how to fix it if you just happen to not know how. Thank you for being good at math. Thank you for letting me drive your car while you have mine fixed. Thank you for all the lunches and chit-chats about nothing in particular. Thank you for being excited when I tell you how far I ran today. Thank you for understanding when I needed to move out and when I needed to find a new church. Thank you for being committed to preaching Christ's name in our home. Thank you for getting us together on Sunday afternoons for bible studies, cereal dinners, and movies. Thank you for praying the same prayer every morning because when I don't know what to pray I pray the words I have heard you say over and over again. Thank you for teaching me how to sing. Thank you for teaching four measures to a dozen or so hymns.

Thank you for being consistent. Thank you for being my dad. Thank you for giving me your name. Thank you for sharing your faith, your home state, your love of tacos, baseball, boxing, running, and tradition. You aren't perfect and heaven knows we don't always agree, but I love you so much and I am so glad that I am a Garcia.

Love,
Deedah

"We are close."

Rearcous Smith was a man among men. A killer smile, the voice of an angel, a talking voice that I could listen to for hours, a loving heart, a kind word for everyone (to their face and behind their back), and a way of saying "Baby" that could make my heart melt, Rearcous was just special. Plain and simple.

Several summers ago, I was interning at the Springer and I was the personal intern for Ron Anderson's son, Max, who has autism. At the time, Max was really struggling, although he is doing really well now. Anyway, Max was having a particularly hard time in Rearcous' Musical Theater class and everyday it seemed like there was something else. Rearcous' heart hurt for Max and I remember one specific day that we both just sat and cried together. The following days were much better as we worked together to make Rea's class the best possible experience for Max.

Another example of Rearcous' sweet heart was when we were both cast in "Suessical, The Musical." A heavy dance show, I have no idea what possessed Paul Pierce to cast me, but he did. Rearcous worked with me before and after rehearsal to make sure that I was ready for opening. And I was...for the most part.

Rearcous was a talented teacher, a triple threat in the world of theater, one of the kindest people I have ever met, and a very dear friend. I love him and I am going to miss those hugs and "Heeeeyyy, Baby!" mixed with that infectious laughter.

"Today will be a wonderful day because I have made a positive change in my life. I've made a choice to be all I can, because I know things will work out right if I have faith. I can do anything if I try. I know that I can, I know that I will. Today!"