The Daunting First Post.

Beginning to blog seems to be an unusually difficult task for me. I sat down to create this blog and then thought to myself, "What the heck am I doing? I don't know what to write about? Where do I even start?" Truth be told, I have no idea where to begin, or even where I'm going with this. Maybe I should just start writing and see what happens? Maybe I should plan it out with a rough draft, then post the finalized version? Or maybe I should start by introducing myself? I don't think I feel comfortable inviting you into my head without at least a proper introduction to me and who I am. So here we go...

My name is Savannah Grace Selby.

I am in what many believe to be the prime of my life and I am very much looking forward to my future. I am a daughter, a self-proclaimed Jesus lover, an optimist, an actor, a closet hopeless romantic, and a music enthusiast. The fact that I have an amazing relationship with the God of the universe is easily the best part of my life-- followed closely by the relationships I have with my family and the people I spend the most time with. Despite the low points and hardships I face from day to day, life is unbelievably good. I haven't always been in such a great spot, though. Discovering who I am in God and embracing it has just happened within the past few years. More so in the past year and a half. My first two years of high school were spent trying to impress the people I thought were most important. All I wanted was to be accepted and praised for who they thought I was, so I made incredibly dumb decisions. But it worked. At least for a while I was one of the most popular girls in school. I was still lying to my parents and everyone I spent time at church with, though. Thankfully, my family and I moved before I could really get into trouble. When my "friends" found out I was moving I was booted out of the group and then all-too-easily replaced. Ouch. After a brief stint in Charlotte I moved to the Tampa area and got involved at Grace Family Church where lifelong family friends, the Graves, went. I was also getting into the high school acting program with Nathan-- a definite highlight of my high school career. The friends I have made in the past two years are the kind that I know will always be around.

My life changed drastically on June 13th, 2009 around 1 pm when five of my good friends and I were T-boned while turning left at an intersection. My pelvis fractured in 2 places, part of my lower back broke, and I herniated a disc in my back. I spent my summer sitting or laying in whatever position I could find that was the least uncomfortable. I spent a lot of time by myself that summer. It was extremely hard for me since I'm a fairly social person, but God proved Romans 8:28 to be true and taught me that being alone isn't a bad thing. In fact, it can be a really great thing. I had friends come over, of course! And those friends are the ones I'm still very close with now.


As much as I liked to pretend, my life would never be the same. It just recently hit me: this doesn't just go away. I don't have the flu. It isn't a cold. I can't take a nap & some medicine and suddenly it will be gone. This is something that I am learning to live with for the rest of my life. The physical aspect of everything is hard for me, yes. But it's even more difficult for me to deal with the mental aspect: my pride, independence, fear of vulnerability, etc. I've always been a very independent person. I don't like admitting that I need help sometimes. And I don't let people see when I'm hurting. In my mind, it makes me weak. I don't like being perceived as weak. Weakness belittles me. I have been working on changing this mindset, though. I've already been mad at God. I've screamed and yelled and cried, all the while not understanding why. Why me? Why now? Why do I have to be the one who can't run? Why do I have to be the girl who has arthritis at 18? Just... Why? I don't have the answer to any of those questions. All I know is that I still love God; and He absolutely adores the least-deserving person ever created: me.


What happened to me does not define me; but it does influence my everyday life.

Another area of my life that is literally a part of every single day is Uprising. I am in a leadership internship right now that is growing and stretching me in ways that I couldn't have imagined. I'm learning about myself and about what it is to be working in ministry. The other interns (who are practically family by now) and I went to this huge conference called Catalyst in Atlanta last month. If I were to go into detail about each speaker and how they influenced my life I would be going on & on for hours, you would stop reading-- if you haven't stopped already. The most life-changing part of Catalyst was this, though: I want to work with orphans now. Until last month I was planning on going into veterinary technology. Now, though, I'm switching my major to education. I want to be able to teach wherever I am, whether it be South Africa, Land O' Lakes, or California. The point is, I don't know where I'm going to end up; but I'm trying my best to keep in step (Forgotten God).

I'm out of time today-- yes, I know, big sigh of relief-- but hopefully this has given you some insight into who I am and the things that matter to me.