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...

We are about to enter week three as the excitement is fading, we begin to regret staying up super late as we walk into 8 AM's looking like a train hit us, as we begin to grow into the routine of not knowing whether to grab your neighbors hand during chapel prayer or not, and, for some of us, as the excitement fades, the roller coaster begins. This roller coaster of extreme excitement as the head of an organization contacts you, as you're hired to teach English as a second language, as you begin your internship at a new church that fully lifts you up and supports you, then the lows of the roller coaster commission as your heart is broken by a best friend and the walls of trust around your heart that you took down piece by piece begins to rebuild. You plaster back on the facade of perfection and extreme happiness when the people that know you best recognize this is a stage of brokenness and they say "it's okay to not be okay." And they provide a safe place in the mi...

I walked in to summer, questioning as to whether or not I would return to MNU as a ministry major or change my major to psychology. I no longer felt any certainty that I was called to full time vocational ministry, and I feared so greatly the calling God had placed on my life to work with Anti-Human trafficking. Mainly though, I felt such a deep disconnect from our Creator and was no longer certain if I found my identity in Him or the calling on my life. I remember sitting in a posture of prayer back in the middle of May as the shock from my brothers accident was beginning to wear off, thinking "I'm so glad I could be here for that. But beyond that, my summer will just be work and I won't grow anywhere near as much as I was hoping this summer. God, would you just..do something? Use me? Teach me something? Just please, don't make these next 3 months wasted." I quickly learned that our God is a God of discomfort that calls us out deeper than our feet can reach, an...

I guess writing a blog devoted to a former relationship is a little odd. Oh well. Recently, God has been going through a period where He will reveal things to me out of nowhere, and it's kind of an "aha!" moment that makes things make sense. One of the greatest things that has happened to me this summer has been the immense healing of my heart from a former relationship. I suppose starting at the beginning would be most appropriate, wouldn't it? For the sake of protecting his reputation, I am changing his name on here. We'll call him Caleb. Caleb and I FIRST met my seventh grade year. He was this handsome cowboy that was older than I, and my oh my did he grab my attention. I finally worked up the nerve to talk to him summer after seventh grade at our local historical celebration (good ol' days). My cousin was with me, and with her pep talk, I walked up to him and talked to him. Trying to play it cool yet look super attractive, because he was this handso...

In response to last weeks sermon. Last week in youth group, I spoke about honoring your father and mother. Whenever I first agreed to speak upon such a topic, I figured it would be simple. Man, was I wrong. I do not feel I did this topic/commandment justice. I mean, what do you say to a group of teens whom of which (a good portion) have experienced their greatest heartbreak due to their parents? What do you say to a group of teens that know snippits of your story with your parents? What CAN you say to keep things in line, theologically? Ever since last Wednesday, my mind has completely just gone wild pondering this, I've watched my actions toward my own parents all the more carefully, and I've questioned why in the world did I preach on this topic. My 19 year old, barely a ministry major, just now honoring her parents ignorance restricted me from going too terribly deep into this topic. However, I feel as though some things were not said that should have been said. So, here ...