That is my dream, so bring on the plunge!

Here I am. A senior in my very last semester at Colorado State University. I feel like I'm plunging as if on a roller coaster going up that first hill. That very last second when you gaze down the steep hill waiting to hear that click of the track to let you go, the intensity of that fraction of a second, the excitement, the terror, the feeling of "bring it on" and simultaneously that I really just want to go back to the platform; that fraction of second spread out over an entire semester. I feel the exact same emotions leaping off of a dock on a warm summer afternoon. I run with excitement towards the refreshing water, always go, go, go, and then there's that moment in the air just as my toes leave the wood that I realize there's no going back, and for a split second as the cold water engulfs me, terror grips me... then fades to complete and utter joy as I swim for the surface and re-emerge, already swimming for the dock to do it all over again.
Change... something I have fought against my entire life. I hate it; it terrifies me and it rips me apart. And yet, the thrill of it, the adventure, the things God teaches me when He shoves me out into the unknown give me a joy and a trust my heart could not have comprehended before the plunges.
"The only reason people hold onto memories so tightly is because they are the only thing that won't change when everything else does."
And then there's the question:
"Do you love Me more than...?" "Will you still love Me if...?"
Finish the sentence how you wish... I take away your friends, I take you away from this place you love, I take you away from all you know.
However, with the take away, there's the give as well... and give you faith and trust in the only One worth trusting, give you a joy this world can never know. Yes, it's going to suck and hurt, but you'll cling to Me and bring glory to My Name, thus making you more satisfied.
I serve a big and good God who has planned everything from my birth to death, and beyond. I've seen it before when I came here, and here I face the question once more. What now??

Somewhere along the way I lost track of my dreams, or I never actually knew what they were. Dreams of being a vet, a horse farm manager, a PT, a teacher have all faded. Funny how dreams change. I sat down the other day and journaled for a while on dreams. I discovered mine. To get up with the sunrise, clean stalls, and feed warm fresh hay and grains. To tack up a young ranch horse that "just needs some miles" and ride for the horizon, checking fences and looking for anything else that may need my attention. Or perhaps I take a new prospect over a cross country course I've built in a pasture a couple miles west. Whatever it may be, I fly and worship the God who is... and that's more than enough. Back home to grab some lunch before an afternoon filled with the chores of the season...outside tending animals or gardens, inside cleaning or putting away vegetables or cooking or sewing :)
Shortly before dinner time, I return, take a warm shower and get ready. I put on a cute dress, curl my hair and trade in my Ariat's for some dancing shoes. "You look beautiful" as I head to town for dinner, a play, and a night of dancing, and the only thing that gives away my day 'job' is a stray horse hair that clings to the bottom of my dress.
That's not all though. Lately, it has been impressed upon me to serve people. I have prayed for opportunities on campus to serve others, even just little things like helping people pick up a pile of books they just dropped or giving someone a ride. I was discouraged that I hadn't seen any of those type things. Then the other day, I was walking in a mob of people towards one of my classes, when another student turns all the way around and out of all the people walking by asks me where a building or classroom is. I smiled and told her and realized that that very thing has happened to me several times over the last week and a half. God is good! Some people's ministries consist of outreach or discipling, and I've never really known which one I was more suited for. Obviously we all do a little of both, but lately, I feel more led to a ministry of service (Thanks Holly!). Enter youth group. God led me there last fall, and as a ministry, we want to serve the community. I want God to develop my heart of service for those kids, so I can live it in front of them, and we can serve together as brothers and sisters.
A life of service, coupled with whatever my career may be, a PT, the illustration above, etc... it doesn't really matter.
That is my dream, so bring on the plunge.