The Complex: My stone.

As I sit for my last night in what I have affectionately come to call "the complex" (my duplex where I have lived for two years at ECU) I cannot help but feel deeply sad but eternally grateful for this time that God has given me here. "The complex" itself is not special by any means, a dilapidated old house that has been split into a duplex with minimal upkeep it looks from the outside like a piece of crap that no one would want to live in. But to me this place has become home. Not because it is an amazing structure, but because this crappy old structure has housed an abundance of the Father's blessing in my life over the past two years. It has become a place where I have found family, joy, rest, grace, generosity, honesty and been drawn more and more into the Father's heart. I love this place because to me it is a symbol, a stone like the Israelites kept to signify the promise of God after He brought them through the Red Sea. As I sit here tonight that is how I feel. Like I have walked a hard journey in college. But God who is FOREVER faithful has walked with me and parted a way for me. Four summers ago as I entered college I was terrified. I was walking into something completely unknown (I assume that is how the Israelites felt as they realized God was leading them through a sea to their promise land). Like the rocks the Israelites took from the bottom of the sea as they moved through on their way to God's promise land for them "the complex" has become a treasured stone. I will carry this place and the abundant blessing that God has given me in this place with me for the rest of my life. 
There are so many blessing that I have received here at "the complex". The porch (that at any minute may fall off of the front of the house) has seen laughter, tears, encouragement and been my favorite place to meet with the Father and let His words rejuvenate my soul. My kitchen with it's cracked tile floor and small space has been a place where I have experimented and grown my love for cooking and filling the tummies of the ones I love. Finally my fondest blessing in "the complex" My roommates, women who have become soul sisters, fellow journeyers and mirrors of the Father's truth, grace and generosity in my life were found here. You know when you find those people who you can be yourself with and make you want to be better... well I have found them here. Women who love people and the Lord with such authenticity they daily challenge and enrich my life in ways that words will never be able to express. My love for them is a deep love, a soul love, a type of love that cannot be expressed in words but is understood only through the knowledge of the Father's love for us. These women and the love they have poured over me has been like a branch off of the Father's love vine for me and truly transformed me. 
  My complex will forever be a promise of His promise. He has promised that He will never leave or forsake me... and He hasn't! Instead, He has surrounded me, upheld me and poured His abundance over me. I could never have imagined how God was going to make ECU of all places a blessing and a place I would forever love and cherish but in His abundant grace He has done more than I can even imagine.  What God has given me here at ECU but especially here at "the complex" reminds me of the verse in Malachi...
Malachi 3:10
Bring the whole tithe into the storehous, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.


It is as if I brought, here in college, the tithe of my life, really dedicating myself to Him, to His plan and purpose in my life and He has THROWN open the gates and blessed be beyond my imagination! My heart is having trouble storing the abundance of His blessing as I reflect on His faithfulness tonight. I am so grateful for this time, to have another stone filled to the brim with memories to carry with me in my journey and to have found fellow journeyers to walk with as we walk together toward the Father!