A Verse For 365 Days

Happy New Year!

It's a tradition in my family to sit down together on the 1st of January, and learn from my father, who is very wise, and has taught us from very young ages how to plan for our lives.

We have kind of a running joke in my house about three year old and younger kids sitting on the floor, staring blankly at my dad who is explaining assets/liabilities, having zoned out twenty minutes ago. But the truth is, the joke is completely true, that's exactly what happened. Over the years, we learned to sit still, to listen, and to learn.

I have come to really appreciate these family meetings, as I think most if not all of my siblings have.

Rewind to January 1st 2016. I was sitting on the couch during our meeting, and for some unclear reason, I turned to Proverbs.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.

I understood just then, that God was giving me this verse for the year, for all of 2016.

That year, it was AMAZING how close to that theme my life stuck. Constantly I went back to it, it corrected me, encouraged me, and comforted me.

On January 1st 2017, I was again sitting on the couch, and I asked God, "Please give me a verse for this year as well."

I turned in my bible, and ended up in Isaiah.

Behold, I will do a new thing. Shall you not know it? I will even make roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

To be quite honest, I thought it was a little bit lame at first. It reminded me of those "teenage Christian girl" verses which you would usually see with an Instagram photo, like Jeremiah 29:11.

But I felt convicted about that, so I asked for forgiveness and accepted it. I forgot about it for a while, until my life took a VERY unexpected turn, which made me extremely upset, and all I could see on the horizon was fog. I had no idea where I was going from there. I picked up my notebook one day, read what I had written, and began to understand.

The situation actually changed a number of times, each time I went back to that verse, understanding that God was doing a new thing, and I would know it.

In the end, it changed in such a way that made me...SO happy. But it wasn't finished. It was like God showed me how He was opening the door for a new thing, but He didn't really get it started, or if He did, it certainly wasn't anywhere near finished.

The "roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert" part, I didn't really understand.

I was praying about it on January 1st 2018, and God pointed out to me that a road is a means to an end. Yes, He said "I will do a new thing," but what does He say the new thing is, at least in metaphor? "ROADS in the wilderness, and RIVERS in the desert."

A road is a way to get somewhere. It is a thing, it's a good thing, but you don't walk on a road for the sake of the road, you walk on a road to get somewhere.

A river is a body of water, but it's not self sufficient. A river comes from somewhere, if you follow it, it will lead you to a much bigger body of water where it came from.

It took me an entire year to understand what God was trying to say through that verse, but I think I get it now. I still don't know what's at the end of the road, or what's at the beginning of that river, but I know that God gave me a road this year, and I will WALK it. I will walk it until God tells me to stop, because He said "Shall you not know it?" And I KNOW that He gave me a road.

So here's what I'm going to say to finish this. Bible verses for the year are SO awesome. If you'd like to, I encourage you to pray for one, and if you have a cool story about it, I'd love to hear it!
It's not always going to be that clear. I have two written down for 2018, maybe God gave me one, or both, or neither, but if I'm totally wrong, anything that causes me to seek the Lord and His purpose for my year more is going to be helpful.

May 2018 hold more knowledge and experience of Jesus for you!



Side note: Guess what? I am going to Mississippi, (God willing) in July 2018! There is a company called Ballet Magnificat which is based there, and they run a dance intensive every year in the summer, which I am planning to go to, but I need some help. My goal is to raise $3,015 by April, so if you would like to help support my trip, you can donate as little or as much as you like HERE.
Thank you!

Keturah's Summer: Ballet Magnificat

Hello everyone!

This post is going to be a little different than usual, because I really just want to tell you all about my newest exciting adventure. Or at least, what I hope will be my newest exciting adventure.

You may have heard of a ballet company called Ballet Magnificat. If you haven't, they are America's premiere Christian ballet company. I saw their performance of The Hiding Place once when I was little, and have been inspired by them ever since.

Every year Ballet Mag runs a dance intensive in the summer, they have a 2 week and a 4 week program.

I've set a goal to go next summer.

The company is based in Mississippi, so that is where the intensive will be. The tuition is $1,931 and then there are travel expenses on top of that.

(You can watch a video and find out more about the intensive HERE)

I've tried for the last few years to earn enough money for classes, intensives, and equipment, but I've been finding more and more that this is quite a challenge. To really earn enough money, I would need to stop spending and just save money for at least a year, but I can't afford to lose that time of training.

All of the money I'm making from working is going toward classes for September-June of 2018, so I have to come up with some creative ways to raise money for the Summer Intensive.

One of my ideas is a Gofundme page! Super original, I know. ;)

I had to have a picture for my page, so I took the opportunity to have a little photoshoot just for fun. I thought you might like to see some of the pictures!

I feel like I look like a ballet-modern version of a Jane Austen character.

For all you concerned dancers out there, yes, my pointe shoes are fine.

I'm just going to take this opportunity to promote my brother Jon, he has a juice/smoothie business. He also sells apple cider. Go to the City Market on Walker Road, buy it.

My niece wanted to wear one of my ballet shoes. How could I resist? (She was previously playing with that stick on the ground. She gave that up for the shoe. There's a true dancer at heart right there.)

Anyway, if you'd like to support my trip, please consider donating HERE. :)

Here are a few IQWATWPBFA's: (If Questions Were Asked, These Would Probably Be Frequently Asked)

-What if you don't raise all of the money, or your application is denied, what will happen to the donations you did get?

Good question! If for some reason the trip falls through, the money will still go toward my ballet education. As I mentioned earlier, I have been struggling to just pay for regular classes, so if I can't make the trip to Mississippi, the donations will still be really helpful.

-....I had another question I thought of, but I can't remember now. So if you ask, or if I remember, I'll just update this later.

Even if you don't donate, (I know a lot of you have donated to help me with things before, so I am not expecting anyone to twice) please consider sharing this post, or just my Gofundme link on your Facebook!

Just one last note: Gofundme is a great tool, but it does deduct a small percentage from each donation I receive. If you see me in person semi-regularly, it might be better for you to find a way to get it to me in person, with cash or a cheque.

Thank you in advance for any way you are going to help me out!

~Keturah