Prayer request

Today I went to the specialist my lawyer wanted me to see for my shoulder injury (from my car accident a year ago.) The verdict??? My doctor viewed the x-rays taken the day of my accident and thought he saw a fracture in my #2 rib. He said that if he was correct, then a bone growth/calcification would be evident on new x-rays. After the consultation (which included MORE poking and prodding) he concluded that he believed that my pain was due to a broken rib. SOO…I had more x-rays done and then he showed me what they revealed. Sure enough, it looks like there is a blurry white bulge on my rib which the doctor believes is due to my rib healing incorrectly. He has ordered a bone scan- which includes an injection of a radioactive fluid that will identify any factures and once we know what we are facing, we’ll talk solutions!

How does this make me feel? Well- to be honest, I have a lot of mixed emotions! I feel relieved that MAYBE we finally know what is wrong with my shoulder and I am anxious to fix the problem. I am scared about HOW we fix the problem…and I’m angry that if I do have a broken rib, that no one realized it sooner. I’ve seen many specialists, endured weeks of physical therapy and I’ve been on numerous medications for many possible injuries and if this is simply a broken rib, then it could have been fixed EASILY a year ago. Once a bone heals incorrectly, it can be harder to fix! Of course, ideas are flooding my head that they’ll have to break my rib again, re-set it and then let it heal. The fear of months of recuperation looms ominously in my mind. So, I’m anxious, READY for a fix, scared, bitter, and frustrated but most importantly I CHOOSE to remain patient and trusting.

I know that the Lord of the universe had His hand on my body the day of the accident, today and tomorrow and will continue to protect me. I pray for wisdom for my doctors and I pray for my own attitude and ask for your prayers as well!

One step closer to the end of this…

(see my car above which was totaled due to being hit by another car head on. At first glance, it doesn't look too bad does it?)

Mom's visit

This last week my mom visited me in Den-vah!

Not many 25 year old women can say that their mom is their best friend and always has been- but I can! It was wonderful having her here and as I dropped her off at the airport this morning, a single tear slid down my face. It's probably the first tear I've allowed to fall in months! I can't quite explain it, but when mom is around, everything seems complete- like she (and the rest of my family too!) is the missing link. Saying goodbye gets easier but it's never ideal- and anyone who knows me at all, knows that I truly SUCK at goodbyes! :)

While she was here we spent a lot of time talking, enjoying movies and each other's company. We spent time with my friends (mom dominated at Texas Hold'em poker until I turned on the heat and won at the very end...) and she did a fabulous job of spending my money!!!!! HA! Actually, she simply encouraged me to allow myself some luxuries and I purchased my very first bed (queen size, doctor's choice and VERY comfortable!) and a really cute coffee table and matching side table. Well worth the money spent!! My mom also spent a lot of the week encouraging me and restoring a bit of the energy I've been lacking lately. She built me up and reminded me of all the amazing blessings I have in my life!




Lately, my shoulder has been hurting...a lot. For those of you who don't know, I was in an accident last October and I sustained a shoulder injury. Short end of the story is that I've had about 12 weeks of physical therapy and have seen several specialists and no one knows exactly what's wrong! I've been on numerous medications for muscle pain, nerve damage, you name it and nothing has worked. I've hired a lawyer to deal with the logistics of things and I'm seeing another specialist on Oct. 30th. In an effort to be able to identify clearly where my pain is, I'm not on any pain medicationother than ibuprofen and that doesn't always cut it! The day before mom arrived, I was literally nauseous from the pain but somehow just having my mama around, made things better! :)

Once again God has reminded me how lucky I am. I cannot control my circumstances and I cannot control many aspects of my life- but I can control my attitude and my reactions. GOD, the creator of this world has me in His hand and that's pretty amazing!

On the ministry front- I am extremely honored to be speaking at my church, Grace Chapel this Sunday at all of our services. In the morning services I will be interviewed about my mission experience in China (I asked if I could demonstrate the 'running man' dance which was a HUGE hit in China! :-P ) as well as commissioned as a missionary in those services! I was also interviewed on video and that will be shown at the morning services. On Sunday night at the 'GenX' service, I am co-leading worship and will be comissioned there as well! It's very exciting (I LOVE public speaking- especially about things I'm passionate about) and I feel honored to be able to share my heart with my church family!

Life isn't always easy, but God blesses my socks off!!!

How it all began...

Today it hit me. I've been in CO for over 2 years now!! If you'd told me three years ago I'd be living in CO, 15,000 miles from my family in a place where I knew practically no one, I would have laughed and said "whatever!" But here I am two years later in a place surrounded by new friends, mountains and a family of sorts that I wouldn't trade for the world.

Sunset over the Rockies

Two years ago, my best friend Joy and I moved to CO. Basically the short explaination for doing so is "why not???" It makes me laugh to remember how many times we took turns sharing our story to new aquaintances and friends in the past couple of years. It became a common phrase for one of us to pass the story off to the other by saying "bump Joy!" or "Bump Megan!" We told our story many, MANY times and each time we told it we became more and more confident in our decision as we watched a look of admiration cross the faces of our friends. But in all seriousness, the reason for our moving here for me can be explained simply as "we just knew." Joy is spontaneous while I am more methodical in my decision making process. The perfect balance in many ways- Joy often runs ahead full speed and I tend to be more cautious- together we go at a pretty decent speed! So when we both realized that Colorado was where we were supposed to be, we made the decision then and there. Six weeks later we had sold everything that wouldn't fit into our cars, quit our jobs and were on our way to COLORADO- to our great adventure.

Girls night out!!!! AND our Stylin' Colorado hairdo's!

Now two years later we are still here. A temporary change has taken on a more permanent feel...at least until BOSTON calls my name for real! ;) I won't pretend that there haven't been many ups and downs in the past couple of years. I've experienced heart break, disappointment, a car accident, two minor broken bones, homesickness and tears. But I've also made incredible friends, found a family away from family, found my little man Riley (my cat!,) created life long bonds, bought my first car on my own, found my dream job, and hopefully somewhere along the lines I've impacted HALF as many lives as those that have touched mine.

As I look ahead to the last few months in 2006, I can see some tough times ahead as I deal with a lawsuit (surrounding my car accident,) some frustrations as I deal with some physical pain, some disappointment as I say goodbye to some relationships- but the future is BRIGHT. Why? Because the Lord is covering my life with His hand and through all the difficult trials ahead, I see the shinning light of His promise. I see many more moments of joy- more smiles than tears, more laughter than hurt and I am continually blessed by the many, many friends I have.

God is good all the time. All the time, God is good.

The new job begins!

The handover has officially taken place and I've moved into my new office!

The first month of my life at YFC has flown by and I've learned so much I feel like my brain is bursting! I'm LOVING IT!!!!!!!!!!

I've been training for the past month with Sharron Wilen (see our cute picture?) and she has been an incredible blessing! She's patiently shown me the ropes and has provided me guidance and support! Working in a non-profit Christian organization in a ministry position is VERY different than working in corporate America and there have been moments when I wasn't sure if I had bitten off more than I could chew!! (HA HA!) But Sharron was there to answer questions and reassured me on numerous occassions that I was exactly who they'd been looking and praying for to fill the position.

So why was I feeling the heat so intensely?

After two weeks of training, Sharron and I started preparing for Candidate School. CS as it's affectionately called is primarily my responsibility to plan and organize. It's a week long orientation/training for all of our missionary candidates. Anyone who wants to serve overseas for more than 6 months comes to Candidate School so that they can get a feel for YFC and so that YFC can get to know the candidate. During the intense 7 day orientation, the staff rarely sits down!!!!! So- I was WAY excited to dive into the preparation for CS but this didn't turn out to be a normal CS. We had not one, but FOUR last minute candidates register. Normally, you work on processing someone to come to CS for several months before they actually arrive and it's normal to have one person register last minute- but NOT 4!!!! So imagine if you will...trying to train in a new position (that's sort of a foreign career to you...) while DOING the new position, planning for your first 7 day orientation and then in the meantime, having four people join in at the last minute. Do not get me wrong, PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!! But OHMYGOSH!!! Sharron and I barely sat down the week before and my head was overflowing with new responsibilities and even the lingo in the office was foreign!

On one particular day, I felt like I was going to either burst into tears or maniacal laughter at the amount of pressure I was feeling. So in true-Megan-like-fashion I brought my hand to my head and pretended to faint in front of my team as they were discussing what still needed to be done. It was a complete joke and everyone burst into laughter as I lay on the floor pretending to hyperventilate while proclaiming that they were going to kill me with all this craziness!!! My supervisor began laughing even harder than the rest of the team and finally said "Megan, I'd like to introduce you to the president of Youth for Christ International." I was lying face down on the floor at this point still putting on a scene and I felt my heart stop at this point. I barely looked up-I couldn't! I was mortified. Iinstead I stuck my hand up in the air and said into the floor "Nice to meet you. I'm Megan." He took my hand and burst into laughter exclaiming "what are you doing to this girl?" We all laughed and I pulled myself together grateful that it seemed like this group was going to be more than okay with the dramatic theatrics that I sometimes like to pull out for sheer laughs.

Candidate School went off like a charm- not without a lot of minor blunders- but it was awesome! I had an absolute blast with the missionaries and got to spend a lot of time one on one with them. We dove into deep conversations about life, faith and our pursuit of God's desire for our lives. I went to dinner with them several nights, participated in their devotions and even led one of my own! I co-led worship with one of the girls who wanted to lead music in Botswana, Africa and swapped stories with Lauren who is leaving for Benin in less than a year! She was the first candidate I processed through and it's obvious that we have an awesome connection!

I can tell that CS is going to be one of my absolute favorite parts of this job!!!! I loved laughing, connecting and sharing with these people and hearing their stories was inspiring. So although this CS was crazy (and I vow that preparations for the next one will be smoother) it was amazing! I left CS two days early to travel to VA with a heavy heart since I had to say goodbye. Each one of these candidates touched my heart in a very special way! I've attached the picture of my very first CANDIDATE SCHOOL CLASS!!!!!!!!! Enjoy :)

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Keeping ya in the loop!

I vow to get better at keeping my blog updated!!!

I've been working for YFC for a month now and what an incredible season of growth and excitement it has been! There have been some ups and downs during moments where I've felt like I bit off more than I could chew but I can truly see growth during those times as well.

Let me back up and tell you how I found this position- or how God found me. I've always had a passion for people and relationships and I know that I'm gifted in organization, planning and thanks to my dad, I have a knack for managing people. Six months ago I gave a final speech in my Dale Carnegie class that revealed my desire to eventually to work full time in missions. My ideal job? To eventually run a non-profit missions organization that planned and sent missionaries overseas to serve. In my picture perfect world, my future husband and I would manage the organization from the states during the year and then each year we would embark upon short term mission trips with our children giving them the opportunity to have all the blessings of growing up in the US while being exposed to other cultures and experiences. I've known since I was a young child, that my heavenly Father had called me to serve in missions but have never known how exactly...until now!

A month after expressing this desire (in a corporate America leadership class) I met Bethany through a women's Bible study I had helped to start. She and I became fast friends and I found myself sharing my dreams of working in ministry. She mentioned that her dad, David Schultz worked for YFC/USA in Project Serve and that I should get together with them for dinner just to share my heart. I did and when I left there house I had a name and a phone number for Benjamin Royal with World Outreach. Only by God's timing and maneuvering I was offered the position of Missionary Candidate Processor the night before I left for a short term mission to China. Royal called to pray with me before I left for my trip and I got off the phone with him and flooded with emotions. I couldn't believe this was happening to me!!!


Upon my life changing experience in China, I knew that there was no other choice but to accept the position with World Outreach! I couldn't imagine myself doing anything other than sharing God's good news and supporting missionaries as they go overseas. If I could help encourage and support others to participate in trips similar to my experience in China, I was ready and willing! I put in my two weeks notice at Pulte Mortgage the day after I returned from China and was met by an overwhelming amount of support from my co-workers! The Lord affirmed me over and beyond what I could have expected by emails from co-workers, flowers, balloons, tears, hugs and words of kindness. Tom, the man I shared a wall with in the cube farm, wrote me an email that said he couldn't imagine anyone more perfect for my new job and that I made him want to be a better person. He told me he was proud of me and I was brought to tears. No matter how often I had complained about my circumstances in the past year (I was injured in a car accident and am involved in a lawsuit) or how often I had had a bad attitude, the Lord somehow penetrated through my selfishness and had used me to touch my co-workers. I was humbled and so grateful! The day I left Pulte was bittersweet as I said goodbye to seeing people who had become dear to my heart. But I looked ahead with great anticipation and excitement!

The Lord was going to rock my world...and I could feel it!