Joy Dare Super Catch-Up: 26, 27, 28

26. a gift before nine am, a gift before noon, a gift after dark

• Before nine: Riding the metro early in the morning, and doing devotionals in my freedom from driving. Good Word, Romans

• Before noon: all my classes at school. I'm learning so much, and enjoy so much of what I'm learning. Education is now only important to me if it's something I'm passionate about.

• After dark: sleep. I LOVE SLEEP. I wonder if sleep exists in NewHeavenandEarth?

27. 3 gifts that might never have been

• Our house: In fall of 2009, my parents informed my brother and I that we were selling our house and need to find a place to move into. They had no time to look for one, asked us to help out. One afternoon (when I should have been studying), after going out for lunch, LilBro and I randomly decided to drive around the neighborhood and just see if there were any signs. 93491349 random turns later (I gave the directions and he chauffeured), we found the house we're happily living in right now. It's fate...God-destined.

• International student ministry: at the end of my sophomore year at Bruinschool, I was really struggling to make a decision about where to serve within BCF the next year. The options laid before me were not only things I had only indifference towards, but the financial cost of moving to some of the dorms suggested were astronomical to my family. The night I have to go to a big meeting about living decisions, I get a surprise phone call from Ms. Songbird and Ms. Songstress, inviting me to a new ministry plant opportunity...and the place we were to live in was by far the cheapest arrangements in all of Westwood. It was definitely God-destined.

• Accountability with Superbakerbridesmaid: I had been searching for an accountability partner in my college community for a year, but found no one who wasn't already attached. I go to a conference, and they recommend Superbakerbridesmaid, someone I had just met and in fact was slightly jealous of at the time because she was so darn nice and sweet! But I plucked up the courage to email her. Turns out she was looking for an accountability partner too! We met, chatted, and found out that we had so much in common! She blesses me so much with her understanding, time, and butt-kicking softened with gracious advice. God-destined!

28. 3 graces found in your friends

• Meine Deutschen Freundinnengruppe: PB&J, LEmilyB, Spiffybaker, and Winggirl are one of the best legacies of high school for me. Their love for me (dinner on my 18th birthday!) cemented a relationship that lasts until this day; I am not a very good friend, but they cheer me on and endure my crabbiness and make me watch awesome movies and eat delicious food and throw me tea parties and all sorts of things I don't deserve. Thank you!

• Extroverts like Spiderloverbridesmaid and Narutorloverbridesmaid, loving an introvert like me: you understand me and fill my life with exuberance and put up with my FOMO self, and love Disney and Sailormoon with me.

• Acceptance and generous love. My friends are the quality type, who stick by me through thick and thin, even when I'm showing the worst possible version of myself! They accept me for who I am, kick my butt to make sure i'm striving for the person I could be, and love me when I deserve it least. It's the stuff of the Cross.