Hey guys!! Hahah it's been a second (yikes). If you didn't know, this past season (John) was my last season of Bible Quizzing as a quizzer, and my career came to a close at Nationals 2019 in Phoenix. Nationals was a bunch of fun, and very cool for me especially, to see just how much the Nazarene Quizzing community has changed and evolved since I first experienced it in 2014. I loved seeing the people who were novices, like myself, back in 2014-2015, who are consistently claiming places in the top ten of the nation. I think that's pretty cool. How I feel/felt about graduating: I'm pretty sure that I'll be making a blog post or YouTube video soon about what I learned during my senior year at Nationals, and about what I learned during my whole senior year of quizzing - but not in this post. And I don't want to get all sappy about graduating, LOL. I mean, I was expecting to be all sappy and emotional and crying during MY LAST QUIZ, but that didn't happen. I was honestly shocked by how relaxed, satisfied, and calm, I felt as my quizzing career ended. It was weird, LOL. And obviously it's still sinking in that I'm finished with being a quizzer (I haven't had a bunch of time to think about it, actually. I had one week at home after Nationals before I left for Taiwan for 2-3 weeks, and just got home a little bit ago). So, I mean, it could hit me harder later on - who knows? But I don't think there's any reason to worry about that. After dreading that day, and that one set of 20 short questions for about five years, it was more relieving than anything, to know that I got through it, and it was now behind me. Will I be involved in quizzing now? The short answer (and this is just going off of what I know right now) is absolutely, 100%. But I'll bet that not very many of you find that surprising :P. I know that a bunch of elite quizzers do kind of disappear right after graduation, but I think I always kind of knew that I wouldn't be one of those people. Not that leaving quizzing is always a bad thing, of course. I do believe that God can call people to intensely focus on the next part of their lives, that has nothing to do with quizzing. Since I'm not moving away immediately, I'll still be working out of the Colorado District in Northwest (and of course I'm not sure yet, but I would LOVE to take some CO teams to more invitationals this season...), helping with my church team and whatnot. Will I continue The Bible Quizzing Journey, while I'm graduated? I am talking with God right now, about how to move forward in regards to this question. My heart wants to say yes - I mean, how weird would it be for me to suddenly bring all of this to a stop, after nearly five years of working on it? BUT one thing that I've been learning this year, is that fully committing everything in my life to God, is not only something "good" to do, but just necessary. Necessary for my personal health (mentally, spiritually, emotionally), and also because if God's calling me to minister differently, then I'm depriving those people of the impact that God wanted for them. So I'm going to continue that conversation with Him over the next several weeks, or however long it takes for me to feel confident in a decision, and then I'll let you guys know. One thing's for certain: There's no way that (if God asks me to shift my focus away from TBQJ) I will randomly disappear from this platform forever. That just can't happen, LOL because it's been SUCH a big part of my life, so no worries!! I love you guys, LOL. And, just as a heads up I guess: even if I do continue making content, there is the possibility that my content would change a bit. I'm not saying that it for sure would (it might not at all), but I've tried to do my best over the past 4-5 years of running TBQJ to fully surrender it to God, and let Him do what He wants to with it. Because, as we all know, if He points it in a certain direction, that's going to be the BEST way to go. Thank you. I've loved, LOVED, every moment of knowing the people in the Nazarene Quizzing community. I have learned innumerable things NOT about the competition, through you guys. The adults in quizzing have mentored me, encouraged me, taught me SO MUCH about life, and showed me the love of Christ in a way I have never otherwise experienced. I can't really say enough, how grateful I am to the adults who have given to the Lord, and honestly just saved and changed my life, and set me on a path of life with the Lord that I am so happy with. I would not be the person I am, if I hadn't started quizzing, and hadn't met all of you wonderful adults. I admire you all so much - Your love for God, your incredible love for the kids, and your constant and consistent sacrifice of your personal resources, are things that I aspire to. Thank you so much for loving God, and for loving me, the past six years. And of course, to all of the quizzers I've had the privilege of meeting and getting to know, thank YOU for showing me the heart of God through all of your individual strengths, personalities, and gifts. You are some of the most amazing people I've met - incredibly talented, incredibly hard-working, and incredibly loving. Heavens, you guys are awesome! And for those of you I won't see (at least for a while), I'll miss you so much. But I know that God has amazing plans for each of you, and I hope that through the rest of your lives, you know and learn how much He loves you, and how that you are so perfectly covered by His grace. For the seniors I probably won't see again soon: May God's blessings be on you in such a complete way. May you be filled with His peace, His grace, and His love. May you run and dance through life with a child-like excitement, just wrapped up with peace. May you follow God's path for you, impacting His people, learning about Him, and experiencing His love in new ways every year. But, above everything, I pray that you may understand and walk in God's unconditional love for you, by His grace. God loves you guys so much. Well guys, this won't be my last post (LOL). I'll talk to you again soon. I love you guys, and God loves you so much more.
For those of you who are starting the Hebrews & 1-2 Peter season here in the next few weeks (or if you already have), I do have a few ideas for blog posts and videos about that, so stay tuned for those!! But until then, you know how it goes - Keep quizzing, and living, victoriously. You're amazing ;). Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer -Oh, oops. I mean... "Your fellow decades quizzer," (???) .... Mallory :P
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Trending Posts:Author:Mallory is a graduated Teen Bible Quizzer originally from the Southern region, moved to the Northwest, coaching quizzing over the book of Matthew. Check out our
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