Thankful to Greedy

My uncle put this as his Facebook status this morning and I thought it was interesting: "Thanksgiving Day/Black Friday - How ironic these two days back to back. Within 24 hours we go from being thankful for what we have, to fighting for what we want! Let's remain thankful all year!"

I had never thought of that irony, but it is unfortunately true. People complain about the long lines, the cold weather, items being out of stock, ect. but in reality, we should all be thankful that we have the money to buy those things, that we have jackets and gloves and scarfs to keep us warm, that we even have the ability to move beyond our front porch.

As we continue into the Christmas season, a time where the words "I Want" are heard more than any one person can count, I want to encourage each of you to continue being thankful. Shut out the greediness and selfishness, and instead be grateful for what God has given you this year. It's so easy to take things for granted, I know, but if we learn to count our blessings instead of overlooking them, we will begin to realize we have A LOT to be thankful for.

If I Could Go Back In Time I Would Tell Myself...

I am not too young.

Although the title of this post implies that I can no longer tell myself that I am not too young, that is not true. I'm not too young to lead someone to an everlasting relationship with Jesus Christ. I'm not too young to dream God-sized dreams. I'm not too young BE Jesus to someone. I'm not too young to change the world.

Although I realize this now, I wish I would have realized it 5 years ago. I had been told "You aren't too young!" a hundred times by multiple different people, but I never actually believed it. My mindset was always that things would be so much easier when I was older and could drive and have more freedom, which is true to an extent. The only problem with that is, now that I am older and I can drive and I have that freedom, it has become harder to share my faith with non-believers at school because of the fear of being judged. It has become harder to lead my peers to Jesus because in their mind, their ways are set and there's no changing them now. It saddens me that it took me so long to realize I'M NOT TOO YOUNG. And if there is one thing I hope young believers learn, it is that they are not too young to make an impact, to change the world, to be Jesus, to set an example for other believers.

I'm still young. It's time for me to start living like I can change the world, because I can.

Back Again .......(for now at least....)

First, I'd really like to thank all of you who are reading this, aka Mom and Jordan. You guys rock.
Now onto the part of the blog post where I talk about what's going on in my life and pretend like people actually read this and care:
WHADDUP JUNIOR YEAR. Freaking hardest school year of my life. I am soooo overwhelmed with homework and tests and more homework and quizzes and I also have a ton of homework. AND on top of all of that, I have even more homework.
I have a job! Yeah, Culver's of Mishawaka, REPRESENT.
For the past 8 or so weeks I've been rehearsing for a Christmas production. I'm a dancer and (lip) singer. It's a ton of fun! We had our first two performances last weekend and we have performances the next two weekends!
I have no social life and my only friend is my dog, Bella. I love her. I have also learned that I am my own best friend, so that's been a really cool experience. hahahaha just kidding. but seriously, I can't wait for Christmas Break or something so I can finally get my social life back for two weeks.
So basically, that is why I have fell of the face of the blogger world. But this is my attempt at making a comeback, so stay tuned for more!

Summer Playlist

Hypocrite

"Do as I say, not as I do."
That saying is absolutely ridiculous! How can anyone expect someone else to do what they can't even do themselves? It's so easy for us to see the stick in someone else's eye before we see the plank in our own. It's easy to give good advice but when advice is given to you, it's sometimes hard to take. That's where we become hypocritical as human beings. We seem to know what's right for everyone else, what's wrong with their life, why it's like that, how to fix it, what to do and what not to do, it all comes so easy until it circles around and you're the one on the other end. It's hard to listen to advice from someone who doesn't listen to it themselve. I want to be someone my friends feel comfortable going to for advice and I want them to be able to trust that I will listen to my own advice. In an odd way, giving advice forces me to hold myself accountable to certain things because I don't want to be a hypocrite. I think its definitely a good thing and I've gotta give props to the Holy Spirit for making my conscience so conscience-y. Sometimes I hate it in the moment, but later on, I'm thankful for it. I value the advice I get from anyone, but I value it even more if the person takes their own advice.

I'm Still Alive!

I fail at blogging.

This is my attempt at starting to blog again so I guess we'll see how it goes. No promises.


And on that note, I'm going to bed so my next post will actually make sense and be gramatically correct tomorrow morning when I write it.

Good night fellow bloggers!

Love God, Love Others

Why is it so hard for us to love a perfect, holy, loving, wise, strong, forgiving, faithful God? I even find it hard sometimes to really feeeeeel like I LOVE God. Now, don't get me wrong, I've loved my God since the day I came to know him and I will continue to love him for eternity, but sometimes it's hard for me to feel like I love God. I'm hoping that makes sense...I'm not too sure how to explain it like it is in my head. But anyways, if it is so hard for us to love a God that great, why does it often seem easier to love those who lie, cheat, steal, those who are weak, unforgiving, an unfaithful? It seriously does not make sense to me. It seems like it would be so much easier to passionately love someone as awesome as God instead of a repetitive sinner like you or me.

God calls us to love others. But he also tells us to love HIM. He actually even tells us to live him FIRST, and THEN our neighbor. Without loving God, how are we suppose to love others? There is no reason for us not to love him while there are plenty of reasons for us to find it hard loving others. Our love for God is reflected by how we love others. Once you begin to love God with all your heart and to follow him passionalty, there will be a change in your life. A change in how you treat people and a change in the way you think about them. Strive to love God first, and the rest will follow.

Eyes That See

In today's culture, it seems like everyone is constantly on the move to get everything they can crammed into a 24-hour day. With everyone always on the go and always looking out for their best interests, who has time to stop and talk to people? (oh wait, i forgot about cell phones, and facebook, and twitter, and skype...) But seriously! There are people who feel unnoticed simply because no one has the time to stop and talk to them. I go to Penn, a school with over 3,000 kids in attendence. It is so easy to go through an entire school day unnoticed. Going unnoticed may cause one to feel unloved, not good enough, ect. Imagine Jesus at Penn. Do you think he would just keep walking through the halls, sitting in his classes, acting like nothing is wrong? I sure dont. I think that he would be doing something about it! He DID do something about it, two thousand years ago. Jesus saw people. He didn't just see them on the surface, he saw them on the inside. He saw who they were. He took the time to stop and talk to them. He got to know them. Now, take that back to today, at Penn, or wherever you are. See that girl at lunch sitting by herself? She deserves to know God's love. She deserves to be seen. See that guy without a partner in Spanish? He is a child of God. He deserves to be seen. Talk to them. Call them by name. Get to know them. Ask them about their day. It may not seem like a big deal to me or you, but to them, it could make all the difference. It could make their day, just to be noticed for once. We don't know what other people are going through until we get to know them.

Jesus was on a mission to save the world. He chose to die on the cross. We are on the same mission. We must choose to die to ourselves.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
-Marianne Williamson

No Reason To Be Ashamed

I have no reason to be ashamed of Jesus. He lived a perfect, sinless life and then chose to die for my sin. He has every right to be ashamed of me, a repetitive sinner, though. But he's not. He loves me continually and unconditionally.


so why is it so hard for Christians, including me, to tell people about their perfect Savior?

Chicago 2011...it's coming!!!

Can I just start out by saying AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE CHICAGO MISSION TRIP THIS YEAR!!!! you don't even know. (well, unless your going on the trip too, then you probably do know and you can join me when I once again say, AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!)
We had our first meeting tonight along with the Nicaragua and Move teams! And it got me PUMPED UPPPP. there are 56 people going to Chicago this year. 56 woah buddy, woah. Not even everyone was at the meeting tonight, but I can already tell that this is going to be an AMAZING trip. There are amazing leaders, amazing students, amazing this, amazing that. I am really excited to get to know every one of the memebers of the team! New friendships are bound to be made and previous friendships will for sure be strengthened. And I'm really excited to see how God works through each one of us and how he reveals himself to us through our preperation for the trip and on the trip. I.AM.REALLY.EXCITED.

Please pray with me as we prepare for this trip. We need your prayers! and they will make a great impact!! Crazy, awesome, amazing things are going to happen on this trip! I know it! i'm just gonna say it one more time...I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!

High.School.

I have a very strong love/hate relationship with high school right now.

more hate then love.

but I'm tryin to keep it positive, ya know?

the end.

A Love Song From God

Countdown

18 hours until I will be DONE with finals

21 hours until the weekend

2 days until the food drop

63 days until my birthday

86 days until spring break

141 days until summer

247 days until I get my license

Refocus

This Chirstmas Break has been a lot of fun! I've got to spend a lot of time with my family and God and some time with my friends. I've got to stay up and sleep in (yep, i'm a total night owl). I wore sweats almost every day, I watched an unhealthy amount of movies, and I didn't do any of my school work that is due Monday. I also spent a lot of time with myself, alone, in the quiet, left with nothing but my mind (sometimes that gets scary because I don't understand how I begin to think of the things I think about. For example, the other day I was thinking about how I would go about robbing a bank. Don't worry, I'm not going to, but I think I could do a whole lot better job then some of the bank robbers we've got runnin around today. Justtt sayin). Anyways, over break, I've taken the time to refocus. It's so easy for me to go through a whole semester of school and forget why I'm here. I get so caught up in my school work, grades, friends, activities, and even church, that its often hard for me step back and spend time alone with God. So, I really made a point this break to take time to bring my focus back to what really matters.

I've focused more on spending time with my family. And realizing how important and sacred that time spent together can be. And not to mention a lot of fun!!

I've focused on being ME. Not the person I am when I'm around a lot of people, not the person I wish I was, not the person I think I am, but who I am. I find myself getting lost in personalities that aren't really me and getting caught up in other people's opinions of me that really don't matter. It was nice to remind myself of who I am right now, so I can start moving forward to become who God wants me to be.

I've took the time to refocus and fix my eyes on the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Prince of peace, the One who satisfies all of my needs, wants, and desires. He truely is all I need. He is more than enough for me.

I was able to focus on things that really matter without all the stress and craziness that comes along with school. I think I'm ready to tackle the second half of this school year.
98 more school days until summer. Ice gots dissss.

2011

Happy New Year to all 3 of you who will actually read this!
It's 2011 now and I am really looking forward to this year! I'm excited to see what all God has in store for me this year! Here's some things i'm looking forward to this year--

-my 16th birthday

-taking the SAT (okay, so i'm not really looking forward to this...but it's something big that's happening)

-spring break in Florida with my family, Jordan, the Usenicks, Celia, Kelly, some of my cousins, and old friends.

-finishing up my sophomore year of high school

-sweeeeet summa timeeee

-getting my liscense!!

-starting my junior year

-Christmas! (yeah, i look forward to it a year in advance)


this year is gonna be a gooooood year(: