Blog Silence for the Turner's

It's extremely hard to lose someone you love. But to lose your husband at the age of 32, no one ever thinks of this. In fact, it's just that--unthinkable. It's a tragic a thing I could imagine. Except maybe that he left behind his wife, younger than him, and his 10 month old daughter, Preslee.

Pray for this family, friends, because in the days, weeks, months, and years to come, they will hurt.

Father, I pray your peace and love over this family, Julee and Preslee especially. I have felt for them these last couple of days. I have cried for them and prayed for them. I pray for that peace that passes all our understanding. Matt is with you and he is whole. Thank you Father, for that confidence. Thank you for your Sovereignty. We love you, Lord.

-katie

Mentoring

I'm so thankful for my mentors. They set amazing examples of the woman of God that I want to be. They are amazing listeners and they always have a piece of wisdom to pass on to me. And I love it. I am blessed by their example and love. I learn a lot from them. I always tell my godchildren if they need to talk, need someone to listen, or just need to cry to someone, I'm going to be there for them. And even though I'm a whole state away, 500 miles away, I will never not be there for them. I am grateful for my mentors who show me how to mentor. And every time I'm talking to someone, I try to pray and ask God to bless our fellowship and guide my words. Talk to them through me, Lord. And it's so neat to see the results. After a talk, I sometimes think, wow--where did I get that? Oh yeah, thank you Lord.

I just wanted to share a few verses that have been on my heart the last few weeks. They have blessed my soul and quieted my spirit. They all come out of the New Living Translation [NLT].

"Give all your worries

and cares to God,

for he cares about you."

--1 Peter 5:7

"Don't worry about anything;

instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need, and thank him

for all he has done.

Then you will experience God's peace,

which exceeds anything we can understand.

His peace will guard your hearts and minds

as you live in Christ Jesus."

--Philippians 4:6-7

"Always be joyful.

NEVER STOP PRAYING.

Be thankful in all circumstances,

for this is God's will for you

who belong to Christ Jesus."

--1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

"Now all glory to God, who is able,

through his mighty power at work within us,

to accomplish infinitely more

than we might ask or think."

--Ephesians 3:20

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow"

-katie

Worry and Comfort

I've been having a rough semester in school so far. So much work with so little self-confidence. This is one of my many faults. And I don't admit that to just anyone. And not many people have ever noticed it. I'm really good at hiding or casting the glance away from myself. This is something that I have been trying to work on. Believe me, I will be a work-in-progress for a while. I need to get better at just letting go, in a way. But yet, I also want to guard my heart and mind. I am being taught my everything and everyone around me.  He is working on me and I am thankful.

God has been faithful, I have learned, throughout my life. I just never saw it. Hindsight, right? He has seen me through so many trials, mistakes, and triumphs. And I am thankful for all three. They have shaped me into the crazy, mess of a person that is typing to you right now.

I have been worried about my future lately. Am I making the right choice? Am I where You want me to be? Am I on track for Your Will in my life? Will this path lead me to what I want out of life?

Selfish, I know. I can't lie--I want to know these things.

And just a little while ago, I started thinking about it again. I could no more get two words out of my mouth into a prayer and God spoke a verse into my heart and brought me comfort. 

"'For I know the plans I have for you,'

says the LORD.

'They are plans for good, not for disaster,

to give you a future and a hope.'"

--Jeremiah 29:11 [NLT]

Now, I will not say that my worry is completely gone, but it has severely diminished. I have talked to so many friends and mentors about this and I have felt even more lost. But I barely get two words out to my Savior and He comforts me immediately. I am thankful and I will praise Him. 

Thank You, Lord! 

-katie

I'm baaaaaack!!

Oh, God is good. Can I just throw that out there?? He is SO good. It has been a CRAZY 5 months since I last posted. A lot has gone on. I have tons to tell you and update. Since I last posted, I have spent lots of time with my godchildren, gotten a new job, gone to 2 weddings, and made 3 A's in school. I am blessed. I can't put it anymore plainly than that.

I will post more about these events in the near future, but for now here are the highlights!

Me and my godson, Kayden Matthew Lewis Tucker

Isn't he gorgeous!

My beautiful friend/sister, Marla and me at her wedding

Celebrated my 24th Birthday & Easter with my family!

(Teri &; J, me, Jarrod &; Caira)

Another of Kayden 

The whole family of 7

(Kayden, Holly, Cameron, Tori, Trinity, David, Kaleb)

Mom got married and here's the new family

(Ian, me, Mom, Tim, Ashley, Shane)

Sadie, me and Sarah just showing the definition of our friendship

Caira, Addi, and Jarrod
(my favorites)

All (but 2) of the cousins
(Cassidy, Beth, Blake & Audrey, Tara & Dawson, Chase, Jarrod & Addi, me, Caira)

I have been truly blessed this summer. I have started a new job with the cutest kids ever and I love it! I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be apart of this family. Blessed. God is good.

Until next time...

-katie

Update

Well, hello there friends. It's been a while.

Since my last post, I have enjoyed meeting my new godson Kayden Matthew Lewis Tucker! He is absolutely precious. I hate that I have to miss the firsts of his life, but that is the down-side to living 500+ miles away. I am thankful for technology though. Calling, texting, and texting pictures of Kayden and the rest of the kids has made me feel great! I just hope he always knows who I am and how much he means to me! And I'm excited to say that I'll be headed back down there either at the end of the month, or middle of April. I CANNOT WAIT!

I started my job! Yay! I'm currently a teller at a bank and loving it. God certainly placed that in my life for a reason. And I sure am thankful for it. This is a great job with great people and great opportunities.

I'm so thankful for great friends in my life. My age, older, younger--I don't care. I learn something from them all and I am grateful! I need to post pictures soon, but my computer is currently on the fritz. So, I guess it'll be a while before that happens since I have to get my computer fixed. #storyofmylife Sorry for the hashtag, but I felt it necessary.

Hope y'all have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend! I'll be at a Bachelorette weekend starting Friday. So excited about it! I'm ready to celebrate this friend! :)

-katie

Goals?

My life might be officially on the way to starting. After nineteen days of searching and waiting and applying, I finally have a job! I'm going to be a bank teller at a bank here in Little Rock. I am so beyond thrilled. This is the job that I wanted and I'm so glad that it all worked out. I have a good feeling that God has something up his sleeve for me on this path. I am praising God and giving Him the glory for this opportunity! I am trusting that He is going to get me through the next month with all the learning this new job entails, not to mention studying for school as well.

Lately I've been thinking about "my plan" for my life. I know that God laughs every time someone talks about their plan for their life. We are human. Imperfect. So we do things like, think we can plan out our lives like we think they'll turn out. I've already failed at my life plan, so I'm not even sure why I still have one. Well, I don't really have one anymore... But, my life plan included graduating from college at 22, getting married anytime in my 23rd year of life, start having kids at 25. That's really all I had on my life list because for my entire life, the only thing I've ever wanted to do in my life is be a wife and mother. I've never had any career goals for my life. Well, I've never really had any other goals either. I've always wanted to travel, but I always wanted to be a Mom more. I guess I always figured I'd just travel with my family. I do want to travel with my family, give them culture and such. There's not really a point until they're old enough to enjoy and remember it. There will always be pictures, but I'd rather my kids have pictures AND memories. I guess I just want the best of both worlds.

But, even more lately, I've been wanting to travel and not just to see my godchildren. I want to go to different places and just explore the cities. These are the places I want to go as of right now(that I can think of):

San Diego, CA
Hawaii
Italy
England
Israel
Boston, MA
Savannah, GA
South Carolina

That's all that I can think of at the moment. Other goals of mine are to graduate from college, eventually (I have no time limit on this). To, one day, be a wife and a mother. To fall in love with reading and exercising (not at the same time). And to realize what I want to do with my life, career wise.

I think those are pretty reasonable goals right now, especially when I don't have a limit on when they should happen. Maybe? Maybe not. I don't have a clue.

-katie