Adventure Awaits

As many of you know, life is about to get very crazy for me and Austin. We are both entering our last semester at Georgia Tech and will be graduating in December. Over this semester I am taking my MCAT (and probably a few other tests), starting a new internship with Georgia Tech Environmental Health and Safety, finishing my research thesis and trying to plan an entire wedding. And I better get to planning because our wedding is less than a month after graduation, which is still completely surreal. We're also really excited to announce that Austin was just offered a job at Boeing in Charleston, where he has been interning for the summer. We have completely fallen in love with that city; we got engaged there and have spent many summer days exploring it's cobblestone streets and sandy beaches. But it's also terrifying to think that we might be flying back from our honeymoon in Cancun and going home to Charleston, not Atlanta. On top of that, just a few days after the big move will be my 22nd birthday. That is a heck of a lot of change in just 6 months.

Knowing that all of these things are about to happen, I am torn between being crazy excited and being scared out of my mind. Don't get me wrong, I feel incredibly blessed by all of the opportunities that we've already been given and the many more that I can see opening up for our future. I have always desired a great adventure, and I see a lot of adventure in trying out a new job, marrying my best friend and moving to a new city where we will start an entirely new life together. The newness of these situations is what makes them so meaningful and exciting, but is also the thing that makes me think "Wait, I don't know how to do any of this... What if it's harder than I expect? What if it takes a while to figure it out? What if I fail?"

What if I suck at my job? What if I'm a horrible wedding planner? What if we move away from all of our friends and family and end up regretting it? What if we can't find a church to call home? What if this great adventure turns into a total nightmare? What if I kind of suck at being a wife? What if Austin realizes he can't put up with my hair clogging the drain and my inability to wake up on time? {Ok so that will definitely happen at some point...} But seriously, I fear the possibility of failure and regret. I fear the unknown.

But here's the thing, I don't want to live in fear anymore. I want to be like the Proverbs 31 super-woman that trusts God so much that she literally "laughs at the days to come" and everyone in town thinks she's a total boss (including her children, which is pretty impressive). I don't want to mope around in Charleston being sad about not having any friends when there is a whole city full of people to meet and learn from. I don't want to waste away our first year of marriage being sad that I haven't quite perfected the whole wife thing yet.

So as these next 6 months fly by, and everything in my life gets completely turned upside down, it's my prayer that I will see everything through the eyes of my God who never changes. I don't think I've ever really needed to rely on Christ in this way before, because life has been pretty safe and comfortable and stable up until now. I've heard God referred to as the "cornerstone" countless times, but it isn't until now that I actually understand what that means for me. Just like the people in Isaiah 28, I think I've found a lot of false security in the things of this world, when a much better foundation is offered to me. The Lord offers me "a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation" with the promise that "the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic." This makes a lot of sense when you remember that we're talking about the creator of the universe here... I mean why rely on the things of this world when I can just kick it up a couple notches and rely on the one in control of everything? So I'm excited to just give it a try and trust God to show up for me, just as he promises.

Preparing for adventure,
Kelly

**All of the pictures above were taken in Charleston by our mega talented wedding photographer Alea Moore. She is an absolute joy to work with and clearly can make anyone look like a model so we would definitely recommend her!**