And the new NCAA National Champions are...

Tuesday, April 4, 2017...9:20 PM...it all comes down to this.
University of North Carolina Tar Heels vs Gonzaga University Bulldogs
Both teams played their hearts out to make it there; both teams were striving to possess the same title and win the same game.
North Carolina started the game off with 2 points and so it began. The teams then scored back-and-forth, until Gonzaga got the ball and created a lead in the game for themselves. Although they were ahead, North Carolina stayed close behind. Throughout the first half, North Carolina struggled to make their shots, missing many; they never failed though to stay close behind Gonzaga. Gonzaga turned their 1-point lead into a 3-point lead with two foul shots; they ended the first half with 35 points and North Carolina behind with 32 points. North Carolina needed a good half-time to look at this first half and get their heads together if they wanted this win.
As the teams came back out for the second half, everyone anticipated what was to come and how this game would end. North Carolina kicked off the second half with two points, as they did in the beginning of the game, and made the score 34-35; they then gained a 1-point lead with 2 foul shots, making the score 36 North Carolina and 35 Gonzaga. Half time was exactly what North Carolina needed as they did what was needed and gained a boost to give them a lead in the game. North Carolina's lead was short-lived as Gonzaga took it back and made the score 41-40. North Carolina gained back the lead with 1 point on Gonzaga; the scoring then went back-and-forth between the two teams. Gonzaga tied the game making the score 47-47. At this point, everyone watching was on the edge of their seat and full of anxiety. North Carolina made 1 out of 2 foul shots giving them a lead with a score of 48-47; the scoring was back-and-forth between teams, but North Carolina kept the lead. With seconds left and a very close game, North Carolina scored the final points of the game and were titled the 2017 National Champions; the final score of the game was North Carolina 71 and Gonzaga 65. In those final minutes, the stadium was filled with anxiety and cheers; as the final buzzer rang through the building, the cheers of all of the proud North Carolina fans did as well.
Gonzaga fought hard, but North Carolina fought harder and ultimately won their sixth National Championship. Something we can all take from this is no matter how much life knocks you down, you can get what you want if you try hard enough. North Carolina started out behind, but their perseverance and resistance to quit ultimately won them the game. This was more than a game, it was a life lesson that we can all take something from.

My Summer At Street Reach

So I am spending my summer doing mission work this summer and it has already been amazing! I am working on staff at Street Reach in the inner city of Memphis, TN. I'm about 8 1/2-9 hours from home so the transition from being with my family to not has been a little hard, but I have made some really great friends here who help me out. Street Reach is an organization in Memphis that does Bible Clubs for the kids of the community and community service type projects for the rest of the community. Also, every week we have multiple teams from different churches come in and they stay at Street Reach and spend a week here ministering to the kids and community. Memphis is not the safest place and it needs a whole lot of Jesus! Street Reach provides Jesus to Memphis and wants to shine God's light over the city! It's a blessing in itself to be able to spend my summer doing what I'm so passionate about, which is spreading the love of God and bringing the lost to Christ, but then to see the smiles of all of the children in the community every week is the biggest blessing! Knowing that I may be the only Bible these people see and the only love these children receive pushes me to leave everything I have on the streets of Memphis! Street Reach has many Bible Club sites and I am working at Whittier this summer. I love it so much already and I have only been working one week! I'm also 1 of 2 people who takes the teams to a local nursing home as part of the afternoon service projects. The nursing home we go to is filled with some pretty great people who have some pretty interesting stories about their lives. I've met a man who was a carny growing up, a man who was an Ohio State football player when he was in college, and the sweetest little 103 year old lady. Week one has been so much better than I could have asked for and there is so much still to come! I'm so excited to see all that God holds for me this summer! I ask that everyone keep Street Reach & the staff, the teams coming in, and the people of Memphis in their prayers throughout their summer! If you would like to keep up with my summer in Memphis, I will put the links to my social media accounts below.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meredithlweatherford/
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/meredithlynne14
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Meredith.Lynne.Weatherford?ref=bookmarks

Passion 2016: The Aftermath

Two weeks ago I came home from the Passion Conference. I went last year for the first time and God rocked my world then. This year He exceeded any expectations I had. I knew it would be amazing and I knew He would work in me, but I had no idea that He would completely change me. Last year after Passion I blogged about how God gave me my passion back while I was at Passion. This year He did it again. A month or so before Passion I was in a slump where I just was not in it. I do not know where this came from, but God took it away and made me 10x stronger than I was last year or at the beginning of last weekend. This year I went to Passion with baggage and things holding me back, and I left with faith in God that He would now take care of everything I did not need. I gave Him everything that was holding me back and became a stronger Christian in Him. I knew that it would be hard and Satan has already tempted me with the things I gave God, but all my faith is in God. If I rely on Him then Satan cannot do anything. Satan's temptations are nothing for the strong power of God. Passion 2015 was amazing and Passion 2016 was a wake-up call. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for Passion 2017! Let's go!

Passion Gave Me My Passion Back

This past weekend I attended a young adult conference in Atlanta, Georgia called Passion. Passion is a conference for college students between the ages of 18 & 25 and their leaders. Passion is an experience like no other. It is church services over and over again with 20,000 other Christians who have a love for God. This link will give you more information about Passion  http://268generation.com/passion2015/story/ So let's rewind all the way back to June. In June I went on a mission trip to Haiti. I was changed in Haiti and ready to do amazing things back home. My relationship with God was pretty good, but obviously like everyone's there were some things that could be improved. In August I went on a mission trip to Memphis, Tennessee. In case you didn't know, Memphis is one of the most crime-rated cities in the country. It is not like the Tennessee everyone knows. In Memphis God rocked my world some more and I was accepting it. I was pumped and ready to share the word. In the second week of August I started my first semester of my first year of college, and that is when distractions started pouring into my life and interfering with my relationship with God. College was the farthest thing from any type of walk in the park and I did not take it seriously. Note to every college student: TAKE IT SERIOUSLY! I had gotten extremely stressed out because I was not doing good. I was failing my Math class and struggling in my English class. I was not putting in the effort that I should have been and all of these distractions of stress made me forget about God. I was the furthest I've ever been from Him and I was fine with it. I was okay with settling down where I was and I had no motivation to fix it. I had no desire to lead worship. It was no longer a passion, but more like a side activity. Church became just a Sunday morning and Wednesday night thing. I put on the mask at church and pretended to be excited to be there. I was honest that I was struggling in school, but no one knew that I was so far from God. The stress caused me to have anger at my parents when they would bring school up because I was embarrassed and instead of being angry at myself, I took it out on them. I wasn't me anymore, but only I knew that because it isn't hard to put on a mask and hide. Soon the semester ended and man was I happy. I was relieved, and then people started posting their grades on social media and that made me feel like crap. "I got all A's" and "I aced my first semester of college" was all I saw. I felt ashamed and angry at myself. I was jealous that I couldn't be that person. Well with that dwelling inside I needed to get away, to get away from this negativity and all of the distractions. In the beginning of December my mom bought my ticket for Passion as my Christmas present. My church was going. I was excited because I knew that this would get me out of this slump. This past Friday we left for Atlanta at 12:30. I was yearning for that God moment because I hadn't felt a God moment in a while. Friday night was good, but I didn't have my God moment. Saturday morning, no God moment and Saturday afternoon, no God moment. I didn't have a God moment in worship Saturday night and I began to wonder if I made a mistake by coming. At the end of the message that night the speaker told us to just take some time to pray. We all bowed our heads and prayed. I began pouring out to God and I started to feel Him there. We prayed for a little while and as we were praying they started worship and they went in to Forever by Kari Jobe. I love this song and by that time I was done praying. I stood up to worship and as I was singing I felt God's overwhelming presence. I hadn't felt that in a while. Tears filled my eyes and I raised my hands and gave everything to God. I automatically felt the joy in my relationship that I had been yearning for for months. All I could do was smile and thank God because I got my God moment and I was renewed. If I would not have gone to Passion I would not be happy and I would not want to tell people about the gospel. I thank God for placing me where I was Saturday night. Don't let the distractions stop you from pursuing God. It is miserable and you aren't happy. When you keep your focus on God, He will help you succeed where it is needed.