Just some thoughts

Recently God has been showing me and teaching me so many new things. This past month at our church we have been challenged to "Live simply so that others may simply live." Our pastor has been preaching a series of messages from the book of Colossians that have opened my eyes to some very familiar truths, however I am seeing them in a new light. Not to be viewed as "legalism" but rather sacrificing so that others may receive, our pastor has challenged us to save anything above what we "need" for the month. At the end of March, we will be taking up an offering and what is given will be used for local and global missions. A few include a local crisis pregnancy center, the Barnabas center, South America mission work, and even overseas groups that help women who have been sold into prostitution because their families don't make enough money to allow them to remain at home. If anyone would like to listen to the Sunday sermon's you can find them at experiencecelebration.com. My initial reaction was "Lord, how are Dave and I going to be able to give when we don't make anything now?" And I began to think about all the useless things we spend "our" money on. The fact that "our" money is not "ours" to begin with. God has given each according to their own ability, and we are certainly blessed beyond measure. We could for sure not eat out like we normally would, or make a trip to the Gap, or go out for an ice cream date at Chicken fil a. So the money that we would normally spend doing these things, we are going to save, so that others may be able to have a nice meal for dinner, or even just a meal for that fact. One verse in Colossian's continues to stand out in my mind, chapter 1 verse 24 says, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions." Now just to make a note real quick... the big picture of the book of Colossians is that Paul is writing to tell of how God is sufficient in all things and how Christ is completely adequate. So why would this one verse say that there is something lacking in Christ? It reminds me of the song that goes like I wanna be your hands, I wanna be your feet... Christ no longer has a physical presence in this earth, and it is our place to go and bring the message of Jesus to those around us. It's also important to realize that God doesn't have a bank account that He uses when there is a need to be met. It's up to us to use what He has given us. One point pastor mike brought up was why did he pick you and me, people, to spread the good news? Simply put, because we have experienced His salvation and tasted of His grace. That is why we should be passionate for the Lord's work. Back to the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30, the Lord gave to each according to his own ability and when we are faithful with a few things, He will put us in charge of many things. My prayer for our family is that we won't be lazy to the calling of God's work and that whatever He leads us to do, he will provide a means for us to go or give.
~ Lindsey

The beginning to an end

Rotations are here!!! For the past 3 years, I have worked very hard to make it to this place in my life. My family has sacrificed alot for me and they have been an awesome source of encouragement throughout this journey in my life. So let the countdown to the finish line begin. In a previous post I listed my rotation schedule and a little about what they are. I would like to post my personal experiences with each so you can see (and I can remember) all the great things I get to do and see. March 1, 2010 was Day 1 at the VA medical center in Jacksonville. This is still my first week but I'm just too excited to tell of all that I have experienced in just 3 days. After having to drive to Gainesville just to get an ID and fingerprinted at 6am, I made it to my rotation at 10:30ish am. I met all the wonderful people in the pharmacy, including my great preceptor and wonderful pharmacy resident. For monday and wednesday afternoons, I get to teach a diabetes glucometer class to the veterans. Basically I encourage them to have a good handle on their diabetes and then I get to teach them how to use their new glucose meter. I watched the pharmacy resident teach the first class on monday and she would say some pretty cool things to help the veterans remember what to do. My favorite is when she would teach them how to use the finger pricker lancing device. She would say ok guys, its just like loading a gun and you all can do that, "You gotta load it (put the needle in), cock it (pull the back part back), and shoot it (push the little button)." One of my favorite repsonses so far has been "Is 393 a good reading?"... welllllll.... so I used my handy dandy ptx interviewing skills and said hmmm, when did you last eat? WHAT did you eat? Response: 2 cheeseburgers, a small fry, a large coke (i asked if it was diet and they responded "I filled it 3/4 with regular coke and then topped it off with diet, does that count?" hehe, I'm gonna love this diabetes class. So what else do I do? On wednesday's I sit in at either the GI clinic or the Wound care clinic. Today it was all about wound care. I saw some of the nastiest, smelliest, oozing, fungified feet around! I had a very weak stomach watching the podiatrist clip, trim, and clean out these wounds. Next week I will not be eating breakfast before I go to the wound clinic. Next month I will experience the GI clinic and will sit in during colonoscopy procedures. At the end of the week I will get to experience mental health. We will have topic discussions on all kinds of different mental health conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and many others. I will also get to sit in on visits of schizoprenia patients and watch them get depot injections of their medications and use some more interviewing skillz. And the best part is my hour and a half lunch break!! Yeah thats right, an hour and a half!! So thats just a little bit of what I'm doing. I dont have much to do or research once I get home, but I come home so exhausted that I either take a nap till like 7 or I'm in bed by 9.

One thing I am really enjoying about this new adventure is I am able to spend more time with David, my family and friends. Over the past 3 years I have not had a lot of time to just sit and relax and spend quality time with the people I care about most. I am excited to finally get some freedom back. David and I have started teaching the single/college/career small group in our church and we have an amazing group and we are looking forward to what the Lord is going to be doing in our lives and in others. We love studying God's Word and sharing with people around us.

Update from a previous post:
DAVID GOT AN INTERVIEW WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA COLLEGE OF PHARMACY!! This doesn't mean he is definetely in but it is the very last step to being accepted. His interview is April 9, 2010 at the Jacksonville campus. We are praying that if it's God's will, He will open the door.

Thank you for your prayer's and ecouragement. We are so blessed.