Open Mind, Open Heart

This is my life now.. 85 precious middle school girls (56 pictured here.) We had our last Bible study of the summer yesterday with a paint fight and slip n slide afterwards! I couldn’t imagine having a better, more perfect summer than the one God has blessed me with!

So as you can imagine yesterday was a busy day preparing, having, and winding down from Girl Talk Tuesday as the girls say and now have created as the hashtag! Like I said, God spoke pediatric oncology into my ear and I haven’t been able to get it out. Naturally I went into Nursing thinking that was His calling for my life. Over Christmas break I went home and started going to church with my grandparents at Frazer after months of them begging. After a couple Sundays of them begging me to go to Sunday school with them, I went and I wanted to fall asleep. But I went back the next Sunday, and I didn’t move for the whole hour. I have never heard anyone teach the way Mrs. Virginia teaches and I had to get some more of that. I got her number and texted her and we were at lunch the very next day! Talk about intentional!! I so want to be her when I am older! So needless to say what came out of it was I needed to be around more people my own age! That’s been something I needed my whole life and Mrs. Virginia had known me for barely 24 hours and she knew it. So when I got back to Auburn, I got up with April Burgin (now Johnson) and not even a month later I was on a mission trip with 300 of my closest STRANGERS! So totally something the Amy Smith anyone knows would NEVER do! On the car ride down I rode with some awesome juniors who were so sweet and talked to me the whole way down.. through the conversation I got to know Emmie Aldridge! She told us what she felt like the Lord was calling her to do and how she felt like Nutrition was the way to go.. just like I have felt called to work with pediatric oncology and I was in Nursing. As I listened to her story it sounded a lot like mine, science and the amount of school work it took for Nursing just wasn’t working for me but I didn’t really know it until I heard Emmie’s story. She told us how she changed her major to Human Development and Family Studies and she had never felt like she was in a more perfect place! I listened like a kid who was promised candy. The whole week I prayed and prayed and I just felt more and more like Nursing might not be the exact route God was calling me to. I have prayed about seminary and I was really felt the lean towards that more than ever. And then I met the most amazing woman ever, Martha Harris. She is the rector at Trinity Episcopal Church in Apalachicola, Florida and hearing her story of going into ministry and going to seminary encouraged me even more. When I got home I drove to the beach with my mom and when we got there I finally talked to her about changing my major and I told her everything I had learned from Emmie! I was so excited and she was so open!! I called a huge Christian mentor in my life and talked through it with her and prayed with her and I knew it was the right thing to do. So first day back from Spring Break, I changed my major to Human Development and Family Studies with a Child Life concentration with intentions to become a Child Life Specialist! I never would have found that major if it hadn’t have been for Mrs. Virginia who challenged me to find a church and the mission trip April who lead me to go on, and Emmie who rode with me. I would have never met Ms. Martha and heard her story of being a woman leader in a church and I never would have gotten where I am today, majoring in Christian Education. HDFS opened up my mind and heart and got me thinking outside of science. I don’t know if I would have heard God calling me to ministry or I would have had a hard time believing it. Every step of this journey hasn’t been anything without the people God has placed in each step! I am so thankful for Mrs. Virginia, April, Emmie, and Ms. Martha for who each of them are in my life, then and now! I love each of you so much and I’m seriously so blessed to know you! Thank you for obeying God and being who you are!

 Xo Amy