Chancey goes to Jekyll

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To sum up my sweet Chancey, she’s my special one. She holds my heart. I rescued her about 10 years ago at around 1 year old. She was as close to death as you could get when I picked her up in my arms. The SPCA commercial that sends everyone scrambling for the remote to change the channel before the tears start flowing doesn’t even do her story justice. Yes, she would have the Sara McLachlan music playing in her background story if she had one. This was Chancey’s second trip to the beach in all of her 11 years. Thank goodness for Jekyll Island and their dog friendly beaches. Seeing her this happy touches my soul deep down inside. This was a big step for her. Her progression over the last 10 years has been heartbreaking and so happy all at the same time. To go from a bait dog that was completely emaciated to a full figured and full of spunk and personality pit-bull, I am one proud dog momma!  If I could capture my joy in this very moment and save that feeling forever I absolutely would. It has taken her years to actually feel comfortable and safe just being her. This picture exudes her passion for life that has grown so strongly over these 10 years. Some may say, “well she’s a dog?” Absolutely she’s a dog, but she’s got more sense than a lot of people in this world! Chancey has taught me a lot of lessons throughout the years. She has taught me to always keep fighting and never give up despite having all the odds against you. She taught me to smile no matter how bad things may be. Everyday I would go visit her at the vet while we were trying to help her fight for her life, and she would always meet me at the cage with a wagging tail. She has taught me that you can be strong and gentle all at the same time. She taught me what unconditional love is. Despite the days I don’t feel like loving, she loves me anyways. I once heard that dogs are God spelled backwards. That dogs exude love the way God does. They forgive you no matter what and they love you unconditionally. They never leave your side just like God never leaves our side. She has been right by my side through some of the toughest trials in my life.  I must say, she’s a pretty special pup. Starting out at a full grown pit bull weighing a mere 25 pounds, to now having hams like you’ve never seen! I must say, I’m pretty glad she chose me. 💕

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The McLeod's

Welcome to our blog! We’re glad you stopped by and we hope you come back and visit. We want you to be a part of our journey! We are John and Chelsea McLeod. Best friends who are embracing the most precious gift of marriage and life. On the way to be full time missionaries and currently living a life mentoring those broken by addiction from both sides of the pain- loved ones and those struggling with addiction. Here you will find our recorded histories of life, love, struggles, and the journeys that encompass our wanderlust spirits all with an unfailing love for God and His ever so perfect redemption and grace over our lives. Here lies a safe place where our minds wander off into the deepest places with documentation to never be erased. We don’t want our memories to fall between the cracks somewhere, so we write. We don’t want to forget how far God has brought us, so we make records that will prayerfully live on for generations and give others hope who have lost theirs. We met in the most divine of appointments thousands of miles apart that only God could orchestrate. Had our first date watching a fiery sunset go down over the Georgia coast, and ultimately fell in love over kindred spirits that beat for where and what God passionately filled our hearts with. Hindsight, and years later, we can see that God had big plans all along that we couldn’t see. Through our broken pasts, He was preparing us for each other and a future of redemption and testimony. {{{{Everyone has a story and this is ours:}}}}} He’s a Georgia boy, she’s a Carolina girl. ----Hi, I’m Chelsea!---- I’m a native Carolina girl who loves to explore anywhere I’ve never been. An old soul and an extroverted-introvert with a deep heart that overflows with passion and a hunger for God to use me to change this world for the better. Mysterious and meek to the eye, and particularly passionate for the very things that set my heart on fire, especially the things and people that my heart beats for. I get filled up in the untouched outdoors where I can always see and feel His splendor. I am a Master cosmetologist by trade with a BA in Social Work and Counseling. These which intermix daily. I absolutely love the career that God has placed me in and daily, it allows me to love on people all around me. If I can make one person smile a day, my heart holds a fullness that keeps me coming back for more. I believe in forgiveness and miracles because I’ve witnessed them both. I don’t want my life to be about what I accomplished but what God accomplished through me. To me, I’ve learned that in life there is good and bad, right and wrong, excuses and no excuses. But alongside of these very things is engulfed with a ton of grace, growth, and redemption. I don’t ever want to pay the cost of not following my heart, by spending the rest of my life wishing I had. ----Hi, I’m John!---- I’m a born and bred Georgia boy where my blood runs strong with salt water. I was born and raised on the coast where everything I did was engulfed with water and the outdoors. I’m a bold soul with a gentle spirit who loves to help others in any way that I can to believe in themselves and God’s plan over their lives. By trade I hold the title of professional hunter and fisher with a 100 ton captain’s license. What started in Georgia took me out to Alaska where I found my career there, then south Florida and the open blue water. I’ve seen a lot and experienced a lot of God’s beauty and I will be forever grateful for that. Today I’ve taken on the title of “Fisher of men.” After enduring a wearisome season of addiction, God called me to use my pain to help others in addiction ministry and it has become one of the greatest joys of my life. It’s what I live for in showing people they can overcome something that most think they can’t. Offering hope where there is none. Testifying that something they always thought they would be, is only a season that God is ready and wants to use. Where Chelsea serves alongside me pouring into the loved ones. It’s where my passion is, it’s where we love to help others find freedom the same way we did. Today, Chelsea and I are grateful for our struggles because we know that what the enemy meant for evil, God used for good. Here we will write and share. Not to glorify us, but to glorify Him and what He is doing in our lives. The magnificent ways that He is moving and the unfathomable circumstances that He has and will bless us with. All glory goes to Him. We hope you enjoy!!

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