Updates

Shane started classes this past Tuesday!! He's officially a graduate student and couldn't be more excited. We went to new student orientation last week on Thursday & Friday and it was great to be a part of the activities. I just have to say that I think Asbury is a minority when it comes to spouse ministries as a major part of the school - and I am more than thankful for it! I'm able to audit classes for free (though I highly doubt I'll be attending any Greek classes!) and get involved with tons of ministries. Thursday night we went to a dinner for all the new Wesleyan seminary students and met up with a Houghton couple!! It's always fun to chat with people from your alma mater and find out what's been going on in their lives. We have found over this past week how many people are in our shoes... needing healing from the places we've come from. Someone made that statement during a couples' orientation and all I could think was, "AMEN!!" I don't think I even realized how angry and hurt I was until after we got here... and that even took a couple months of processing things. God has brought many people into my life here that have been so supportive and understanding of what I'm working through. I believe He's given me these friends quite specifically and I'm becoming more grateful each day for those He's allowed me to come in contact with. The first chapter of James has given me a ton of encouragement, as I have learned that it's necessary to go through the tough times so that God can make me more complete in Him. I ask that He will continue to shape me into the person that He wants me to become... not the person that I'd like to be.

And on another note - my brother, Tyler, had some GREAT news today!! I got a phone call this afternoon from my mom telling me that his most recent CAT scan came back showing hardly any cancer left in his body! God is certainly answering our prayers of healing... and much more quickly that I anticipated! Not to say that I didn't believe He could do it, but it's been amazing to watch the church as a whole come around my family during this time and really petition on Tyler's behalf. And to see that God is choosing to heal him is such a gift, I can't even begin to tell you. This time has brought such strength and faith to our family, greater than anything we might've had before. While God has always proven Himself faithful to us, we just didn't know if it was in His will to take this from Tyler. And we knew that no matter the outcome, He would give us the peace to walk through it. "Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds." ~Psalm 72:18