Zoo

So my last day of volleyball preseason is Monday, and i have to be honest, i'm a little sad. I mean, this is the last time in my life that I am going to put my body through this kind of pain! (hopefully). But seriously, it's kind of setting in that this is my last year of playing volleyball. I can't believe it. Last night we had our game vs. the Trevecca Alumni and we beat them pretty badly. It was awesome.

Well, once Randy and I arrived in Nashville safe and sound, we did a few fun things :) This was a great safari adventure that we went on (aka, we went to the ZOO!) It was a great time, we walked around for a few hours, even though it was hot and really humid! But the animals were very lively and entertaining. We had so much fun. (I put lots of pictures below).

Today is Sunday, which means that it was the first time since i've been back that I was able to go to Mercy Hill Church. This made me really happy. God put me there today because the message was about looking at your life through your own prideful lens, compared to God's outward loving focused lens. I feel that recently (and not so recently) I've had very selfish desires for my life, i.e. not wanting to go back to Nashville, not wanting to play volleyball because it was going to be too hard, complaining about various things that weren't going my way, etc. etc., but God put my heart back in order today, and basically said "Rachel, your life isn't about you, it's about loving the people that are in your life, friend and stranger." Some things i wrote down in my journal were "As people, we will always worship something in our lives...am I tuning in to what God has for me, or what I want?...and What song do you sing in adversity? (is it "woe is me my life is terrible" or is it "Praise the Lord for teaching me something new and putting me in a new place.") I learned to sing the latter song today, and I really want to continue to do so. Having a love so big in my life outweighs any pain. I love Jesus.

-Rachel

Here's the aminals!!!