Broken pieces.

Hiding. I used to hide behind my mom when I was little because I was too shy. Or hide behind a door playing hide and go seek with my older sister. When I got older, I was hiding something much bigger. I was hiding my broken heart behind my smile. My past involves depression that occasionally comes back to haunt me at the most random moments. I can be having the time of my life and one second later, I feel like my world is crashing down. I would fake a smile everyday so no one would question me or my thoughts. Behind that smile was a broken girl who felt lost in the world and felt worthless, unwanted, and shattered. I always felt like I was trying to be someone completely different and that no one wanted me around. I always felt like the outcast and that no one would even notice if I was gone. These thoughts would take over and control my life. When I got saved, I thought my life would be so much easier. Let me tell you, it's not a walk in the park. Some days, the devil will take hold and try and tear you apart...DON'T LET HIM TAKE OVER. When you feel so alone in this world, turn to Jesus...He will never leave you or forsake you. I am still that same broken girl, but here is the difference. I now have hope. Hope in knowing He is God. King of all Kings. Turn to Jesus. He is willing to take those broken pieces of your heart and mend them back together. Cling to the truth of knowing that He is mighty and just. For He makes all things new. "That however is not the way of the life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." -Ephesians 4:20-24

Battlefield...

We often discuss on the team how we are on the frontline of the spiritual battlefield. Which is so true. Everyday, we get faced with plenty of spiritual attacks. From the simplest thing like a table breaking, to our health, to exhaustion, or injury. Occasionally, our vehicle likes to fail us. But no matter what, God always gets us through it.

We are currently in Baltimore and I decided to go down to the lobby this morning to have my quiet time. While I was sitting in the lobby, about 50 U.S. Air Force Soldiers came into the lobby just getting back from overseas. I saw one of them walk over to get a cup of coffee. Feeling a tug on my heart, I went over and asked if I could pay for his drink and thanked him for his service. Having a mother who retired in the Air Force and a sister who is currently in the Air Force, it brings tears to my eyes anytime I even see a soldier. I'm SO thankful and SO blessed that they never had to get deployed. I can't imagine having a loved one fight in the ACTUAL frontline of a real battlefield. Our little battles everyday do not compare to standing on the frontline of the battlefield. So this one is for all the Military out there. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your service! 


You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. -2 Timothy 2:1-3.

The next chapter...

2 weeks and 1 day. 15 days. 360 hours. 21, 600 minutes. That is how much time we have left on tour. Together as a family. It's mind blowing to me to think that I have been on the road for 8 months already. As tour winds down, emotions are running high. For me personally, God has given me confirmation and peace knowing that I am not meant to be on tour for next year. The difficulty of it is...I don't have peace yet about this tour being over. You learn to have the mindset, "We have 9 months on tour. 9 months is so far away!" That mindset is slowly changed when you realize it's May and tour ends May 23rd. When the team finishes our last show on May 23rd, that is it. When people hop on their planes, that is goodbye. We will never be together as a family again. Living with 13 people, they are your family. Think of it like this. A typical family. A mom, a dad, and a few kids. A family. They are together from birth and normally leave to go to college around the age of 18. But still, even when leaving, most will come home for at least the holidays to have that normal family meal. Not us. When we separate, we will never be together like this again. Even if there was a possibility for a reunion, 95% of my guess is that at least one person will not be able to come due to travel, jobs, or new families/lives. Finding peace in moving on is extremely difficult. We are all so excited for what is next, but at the same time, we don't want this to be over. It is going to be a culture shock when we get back into the real world and realize we have a normal schedule. Realizing we have to set our alarm for one time everyday. Realizing we have time on our hands to just sit on the couch. 

As tour ends, we realize it is God flipping to the next page and beginning writing the next chapter. We are learning that our lives are a book, and it is not finished yet. Every book has multiple chapters. If it only had one, no one would read it. Our tour chapter is slowly finishing and it is coming to its final pages. Just because this chapter is over doesn't mean the book is finished. God is going to slowly begin writing the next chapter and slowly give you peace knowing the last chapter has ended. You will always have those memories and be able to flip back and reread it, but you can't go back and rewrite it. 

As some of you are graduating high school and so excited for the next chapter in life such as college, when you get to graduation day, your emotions will be just as crazy as mine right now. But know this. God is planning your next chapter and you don't have to be upset that this chapter is ending. Find peace in Him. I am going to college next year and I realize I have so much to be thankful for that this chapter even was written. No matter what happens in your or where life leads you, always find peace in knowing that He is God. Your book is still being written. And let your life be a ministry. Because you may be the only Bible that somebody reads.

From Strangers to Family.

Something about tour is there is nothing quite like it. It's one of those things that you have to experience to understand. We find ourselves often saying when we are home, "It's a tour thing. You wouldn't understand."

A fact that most don't really think about is the fact we were 13 complete strangers being put on a tour bus to live with each other for 9 months. We eat, sleep, work, and live together. When we put on shows, we are together. When we go to host homes or hotels, we stay together. When in cities, we do the buddy system and are with each other. When we eat, we're together. When we get on this bus, we're together. 24 hours of the day, we are with each other. 13 complete strangers. We see each other more than a married couple sees each other. Within the first week, your friendships are put on fast forward. You learn to make friends within a few hours of knowing them. 13 different personalities, 13 backgrounds, 13 testimonies, 13 leaders. All coming together for one purpose. All possible for one reason...God. If this tour bus did not have God at the center, we would all hate each other. I would never hang out with some of these people in the "real world." It's awesome that we all get along so well and the lifelong friendships that we have made in the past 8 months on tour. Everyone's personalities are so different and each individual brings their own characteristics to our team. We go from being complete strangers to a family. Our own dysfunctional family of 13. Brothers and sisters in Christ. So...let's take this time to meet my family, shall we?

Danielle: Otherwise known as Dani, or Mom. Dani is our female leader. She is an incredible woman of God. Sometimes, we all like to fight with her...who doesn't fight with their mom occasionally? It's just a little bit different of an argument. Such as, "Retape these wires. Volunteer meeting at 4:30. Why aren't these done yet?" All in all, she does it to challenge us. To make us better in the end. She is so precious and is the cutest bus driver in the country:] She is also engaged to Kyle, which I will talk about a little later in this blog.

Paco: Paco is our tour leader. I like to call him Payco. Paco definitely knows how to challenge us. He pushes us to give 110%. He makes us strive for perfection in every aspect of our lives. His wisdom and knowledge help keep us challenged spiritually as well. There are often times where I overhear conversations between him and others with people coming to him asking questions about the Bible. He can easily lead you straight to a Bible verse and explain in detail what it means. 

Mason: Mason is by far one of the funniest guys I have ever met in my life. Our thing is I will call out, "MASANNN!" and I can expect a response of, "SAVANNN!" If Masan has a bad day, we all have a bad day. He brings joy to our hearts. His testimony is incredible and it has been a blessing for me personally to see how God has been working in his life. We always like to joke that he is the crazy Mexican.

Mary Scott: Nickname...MSG. Mary Scott is one of my best friends and will be for years to come. When we first came on the road, we briefly knew each other from the past and because of our COMPLETELY different personalities, we were expecting not to get along on tour. Both of us prayed a ton before coming on tour that we would get along. Within the very first week, we discovered we were gonna be roommates on tour. Within the first week, we were best friends. Our different personalities balance each other out. She brings out the crazy in me and I help her calm it down some. To see how God has worked in our friendship has been incredible and I know I can come to her with anything. Sometimes we want to kill each other, but that is what is so great about our friendship. 

Kristen: Otherwise known as Kristan due to a typing error at the beginning of the year. Also known as Big Red considering she is 6 foot 1 and red hair. Kristan is such a sweetheart and can fall asleep anywhere. She can fall asleep in a Starbucks, but goes for a run at 3 in the morning. At this point, we find it comical. She is so outgoing and so genuine that I just love her presence in the room. She is great. I'm so thankful she is from my same hometown so we can hang out when tour is over.

Ronnie: We like to call him, Rajay Smoothie...we are still trying to decide how you spell that. Ronnie is your typical guy with dreads. He spends way too much time on the phone. Half the time, we wonder who is willing to listen to him for that long on the other end. Since most of us have found a newer way of communication called texting, we find it fascinating how one can talk on the phone so much. It's also strange because he is one of the quietest on the team. Ronnie would do anything for me and I greatly appreciate the friendship that we have built. We have our own friendship handshake that we created the first week of tour. 

Parker: Our little Sparky. She is my seat partner. She knows how to be honest with you. The first week of tour, I could see a growth in her already. It has been great to see how God has been stretching her and taking her out of her normal routine to come on the road with 12 other VERY different personalities. I can definitely say there is no one quite like Sparky:]

Mackenzie: Mary Scott gave her the nickname of Mac B at silverringthing dot net. I gave her the nickname of Junie B as in the famous childhood book series Junie B Jones. She was the newbie on the road. Mackenzie joined us in January and became an addition to our hotel room:] She enjoys bringing her life with her into every hotel room and is definitely the pickiest eater I know. She is your typical blonde, but I love her dearly. She actually got saved at a Silver Ring Thing show. I love seeing her happiness and to see how much she wants to learn. We got her a baby Bible for her birthday and she absolutely loves it. She always wants to learn more and be fed constantly with knowledge.

Jack: Jackie is my other best friend on tour. He is my brother in Christ and my adventure partner. You can always count on him to find the best local food spots, best things to do in a small city, and carries the best conversations. We joke he needs to work with the FBI because he is great with interrogating people. I can go to him for absolutely anything and always count on great Godly advice. If he wasn’t on tour, I don’t know what I would do in cities! He reminds me so much of my best friends at home, so it is awesome hanging out with him. I always feel like I’m at home going on adventures with my bros. He is an incredible man of God and is going to continue doing great things for the Kingdom. 

Aaron: MSG gave him the nickname of Arab Tax Money Records. He used to be our accountant in our office but joined us on the road in January as well. Aaron is very quiet but can be super funny. And he is definitely a prankster. Before he came on tour, he decided to play a prank on the team and put tuna in our heater and air conditioner. We could not understand why our bus smelled like cat food! He has been so much fun getting to know and I enjoy our truck rides. I also enjoy torturing him by occasionally playing screamo music:] We often joke he is 30. He tried to get away with no one finding out about his birthday, but WE STILL GOTCHA. And Aaron, we know...you’re only 29.

Leslie: I had the blessing of having Leslie come live with me last year when I was a host home. She is so kind hearted and cares about everyone but herself. She is always willing to help me due to the fact I have no sense of fashion. She tries to help me look cute:] She went to school for fashion and that girl can pull off wearing anything. I love her so much, and she was one of the reasons why I decided I wanted to come on the road. She was my biggest role model last year. I knew we would be best friends when she said she had a tattoo of a bow on her toe because it rhymed.

Kyle: I have known Kyle for 3 years now. He has grown up so much since the first time we met. He is a big goofball and such a kind spirit. He sets such a huge example for what a Godly relationship should look like. Like I said, Kyle is engaged to Danielle. The two of them are incredible and we appreciate their relationship so much. They don’t hold hands, they don’t sit next to each other on the bus, they don’t kiss. Tell me what engaged couple you know that is that incredible. They chose to be best friends instead of a “typical couple.” It sometimes catches us off guard when we hear them say I love you. We forget they are getting married! I look up to them so much and love seeing how God is working in their lives. They also met on tour! How cool is that?!

Then, there’s me. Facts about me. Let’s see. My nicknames on the team are Sayvanay, Savy, and Savan. Paco always jokes I have been around Silver Ring Thing longer than he has. I was a host home for 2 years before coming on tour. Tour became my dream. I knew so badly that when I graduated, I wanted to come on the road. Now that it’s almost done, I honestly have no idea what my next dream is. This year has been such a blessing for me to use my passion for photography to work for a ministry like Silver Ring Thing. On the team, I am known for all of my t-shirts. I collect t-shirts from every city or state that we go to. I have about 75 t-shirts. At the end of tour, my mom is making me a t-shirt quilt. Oh, I also twirl fire and knives. And love bowling. That’s about it for me.

So, if you’ve gotten this far reading, you have officially met my family. We are 13 normal people with normal flaws living this life together on the same path...the path that God called us to. God placed each and every one of us together for a specific reason. So we can be one family, one body of Christ, all working together serving one God.

To Whom It May Concern...

If you are reading this, I may or may not know you. Depends how you got to this page. If it was through my Facebook, you probably know me. If it was through Silver Ring Thing's Facebook, I most likely do not know you very well considering there are 21,000 possible candidates for reading this blog. Either way, know this. I'm praying for you. Isn't that cool to think about? People you haven't even met yet are praying for you. If you have attended one of our shows, we've been praying for you long before you even thought about coming to our show. If you are planning to come to a show, we are praying for you. If you are reading this, God placed you on this specific page for a reason. I may not even know what the reason is, but isn't it crazy to think about? People all over the world are praying for you right now. Praying for you to stand firm. Praying for whatever situation you are going through. Praying that if you made a decision to wait until marriage, no temptation will overcome you and your faith. Praying that you will stay strong in your faith no matter how young or old you are. 

I think about it often and I find it crazy to think of how many people in this world pray for us, the tour team. Hosts from every show are praying for this ministry. People we have met in Barbados tell us often they are praying for us. Prayers from host families, our office staff, parents, friends, churches, and even students. If you have been praying for us, THANK YOU. We really do appreciate it and we will never take it for granted. 

I also think about my future. All of the people I am going to be blessed with meeting. Even to my future husband. I have not a clue who or where you are, but I have been praying for you. And I know that God has an incredible plan. I am going to college next year and I continue to pray for peace. Peace about the next step in life, but also peace with knowing God has life long friendships planned for me waiting for me there. My calling for Silver Ring Thing is not over yet, but it is just on pause. My prayer is that God will place me in people's lives and use me to speak to the broken and those who need it most. 

My prayer for you today is that you realize how loved you truly are. No matter what you are going through currently, big or small, nothing is too big for God. He is there for you and has you reading this blog. He also has me currently praying for you. I may not even know your name, but know that I love you and I am praying for you. Praying that God gets you through whatever you may be struggling with. 

I bet you didn't know
Long before the show
Late sometime last year we were thinking of you
We just wanted you to hear
And so
Listen up we'll make it clear
So there's no misdirection
We had you in our hearts before you knew us
Long before we were in your ears
We were...

...Praying for the crowd...

Here is the song we wrote about you
Here is the song that you can sing-along to
Up until you now you've only listened
So keep listenin and start singin'

I know
You've heard it all before
But you must admit there's something different
Something more than just a toe to the floor
Clap your hands and sing along
If your dancing keep on dancing
If standing still and holding on
Give yourself the chance to let go
And make it more

...Praying with the crowd...

Here is the song we wrote about you
Here is the song that you can sing-along to
Up until you now you've only listened
So keep listenin and start singin'
Here is the song we wrote about you
Here is the song that you can sing-along to
Up until you now you've only listened
So keep listenin and start singin'

So the curtains close
And you're heading home
And you're on your own
So we hope you know that we're thinking of you...

Here is the song we wrote about you
Here is the song that you can sing-along to
Up until you now you've only listened
So keep listenin and start singin'
Here is the song we wrote about you
Here is the song that you can sing-along to
Up until you now you've only listened
So keep listenin and start singin'

-lyrics from The Forward by Between the Trees