This, my dear friends, is life.

Do you ever have those moments of being so overwhelmed by joy, that words are difficult to find? Do you ever find yourself being confused because the chaos of life has hit you harder than it ever has, yet you are so at peace that it doesn't begin to make sense? Then, do you enter those moments where BIG pieces of your life seems to be shifting, and you want to love it, but you're finding it difficult to do so? Do you ever have all these moments all at once? Currently what's happening in my life. These past couple of months, significant relationships in my life have shifted immensely, strange scenarios have happened, my prayers have been answered, and some of the most joyous yet draining events have occurred. I can handle that, right? I mean, I'm Ashton Paige Mason, the fearless redneck. I'm the first one that says "hey, take a video of this. This'll be good." as I commence to do something that will probably cause myself pain. I'm the firs

We placed ourselves around a table and discussed our lives and our hearts passions, with bits and pieces being held back. We placed our phones into a basket before we walked downstairs. We then situated ourselves around a TV to not only view, but interact with a documentary called Nefarious. For the next 1 hour and 43 minutes, we cried. We questioned. We felt an anger swelling within us. We sat there in disbelief that it was real. We watched as girls that were far too young were pulled into the bounds of sex slavery. We watched other girls go in because their parents sent them for money. Cue anger. At times, people had to leave the room. At times, we sat there and sobbed. At times, we would begin praying so intensely that nothing else was invading our lives. More than anything, we erupted with joy that varied from tears to spoken words as these women spoke of Jesus that was always seeking them and met them in the room. The Jesus that saw their bruises, their blood, their filth, the

I first found myself searching my pockets, under my pillow, in my car, in random crevices here and there. Then, I began searching in actual places such as in nature, at school, work, wherever. When results were less than revealing, I began searching through things such as soccer, academics, a job. Still nothing. "Countless efforts leading to temporary results that were less than fulfilling" could be a phrase to identify my life up until here recently. Once I "found" church, I began searching through the youth group events, mission trips, retreats, church camp, you name it. Nope. Still nothing. When tragedy struck time and time again, the overwhelming question in my head was "Where are you now?" Beginning yet again the cycle of searching, wandering, hoping just for a moment that I would get a glimpse of this Divine Creature everyone kept referring to as "God". I was done. A life of constant searching with no substantial, sustaining res