Weird Moods.

Hey all,
So I am a girl (as I hope most of you have figured out right now) and as most girls I have mood swings/just weird moods in general (no offense to the girls that are not like that).Right now-it is just one of those moods that is really hard to explain! So I will not even try :)

Does this ever happen to you: You are talking to someone, trying to encourage them in the Lord, and all the sudden mid-sentence you start to REALLY listen to what you are saying? Then, you get done talking to the person and you go and sit and start to ponder whether or not you really believe what you are saying?

You see, I was talking to someone about what Christ tonight. About what it costs to be His disciple. About whether or not it is worth it.

I believe with all my heart that it IS WORTH IT! To be a CHILD OF THE KING...there is no greater HONOR! But I started to wonder if I was living as though I believed there is no greater honor than to serve my God.

As a result of that, I have been studying about what discipleship to Christ really is. What it should look like in my own personal life.

The Lord has been bringing this song to my mind a lot lately:

"Jesus is
The sweet, sweet love of my soul
Jesus is
The only thing making me whole
He's everything to me
All I desire to be
That's what Jesus is" (Jaci Velasquez)

Is Jesus the sweet sweet love of our souls? Is HE the ONLY thing making us whole? Is He EVERYTHING to us? Is He all we desire to be?


IS HE ENOUGH?

The whole thing about the cost of discipleship...Jesus never promised His children that it would be easy-BUT-He promised to be with us every single step of the way...

Is He worth it to you? Have you found your completion in HIM or are you still searching for it in other things (significant other, possessions, money, prestige)? Let me tell you from personal experience. Until you realize that Jesus Christ is the ONLY thing that will complete you-you will never find that completion you are so desperately longing/searching for. The thing is...it is YOUR choice "...Choose you this day whom you will serve..." (Joshua 24:15).

If you claim to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ then STAND UP and start to live it! Do you ever think what would happen to this world if we who call ourselves Christians began to LIVE each and every day in reckless abandonment and devotion for and to our God?

The things that our Lord endured FOR US on that cross and beyond imagination! And yet, HE DID IT. The almighty God DIED for you and I! He did not have to but out of His love for you and I He CHOSE to...That thought alone makes me want to live each and everyday in thankfulness for what He has done. To offer myself for His service as He offered His body as atonement for me...

Here is a quote that ,when I first read it, made me stop dead in my tracks. I actually have it hanging on my wall now. Take some time and ponder this last thought:

"Tell me in light of the cross, isn't it a scandal that you and I live today as we do?" - Alan Redpath. "

Christ died for us...the least we can do is live for Him! Something to think about...

Something big...

I have been wondering lately...

I wonder what would happen if Christians world wide started to pick up their crosses daily and follow after Christ?

I wonder what would happen if surrender became a daily occurance?

I wonder what would happen if we started to dream about impossible things and then trusted the Lord to make them happen?

I wonder if...

These past week I have been bowled over so many many times with the releazation (again and again and again) of the AWESOME God I serve! Then I started to think about how many times I limit Him in my own mind. A problem comes up or something happens and instead of going directly to Him I try to fix it myself because "God has other things to worry about...this is to small-or big?- for Him". Ok so maybe I do not say that outloud but how often do my actions portray that attitude?

When I think about the God I serve. The God of this universe. The God that SPOKE things into being and created us to honor and glorify HIM. Wow! It just gives me shivers down my spine thinking about the fact that He didn't have to create us...but He did. He didn't have to come to this world...but He did. He didn't have to die on that cross and take our sins upon Himself...but He did.

WHAT AN AWESOME GOD WE SERVE!!!!

So how are we serving Him? Are we living each and everyday in awe of what He has done? Are we content in Him alone?

I made the mistake for many years of thinking that I would find completion for my life in anything but the one thing that really would complete me. However! I serve an awesome God and He has shown me that we will never find anything (people, possesions, status, money) to complete us outside of HIM. HE ALONE CAN SATISFY!

So, I guess what I am getting at is: WHAT is it that we are living for? Are we living to honor and glorify God in everything we do? Or not? Are we living to do great things for our God NOT BECAUSE OF US but all because of HIM allowing us?

I listened to this song for the first time today. It struck a chord somewhere deep inside of me.

"Something Big"
John Waller

"I wanna see something I've not seen
Something so big
I wanna be a part of something great
Greater than me

It's time to dream big dreams
To see Your vision
Become reality
‘Cause it’s for You, by You, those who
Love You wanna do

Something so big
It’s destined to fail without You, Lord
It’s gonna fail without You, Lord
Something so great
It takes a miracle to do
We, Your children
Wanna do something big for You

We, yes, we are gonna sing a brand new song
Something so strong
We will be the sound that wakes the dawn
Something so loud

It’s time for breaking through
‘Cause there are no limits
For he who holds the truth
When it’s for You, and by You, and those who
Love You wanna do

Something bigger, something greater
For the glory of Your splendor
Something bigger, something greater
Tell the story of Your wondrous love
Your wondrous love
Those who love You wanna do

As long as we live, let us do something so big for You"

“Attempt something so big for God that it is sure to fail without Him.” I’m not sure who first spoke these words, but they’ve never left
me. I believe the desire to be a part of something greater than ourselves is built into the core of each one of us. That’s the reason I left
Georgia to become the worship pastor of a church plant in south Denver called “Southlink.” I believe that this song will strike a chord
with many visionary dreamers who are contemplating stepping out and doing something that only God can truly do through them. In his
book, “Visioneering,” Andy Stanley said, “A divine vision done God’s way and in God’s timing is sure to succeed.” (John Waller)


I wonder what would happen if more of us teenagers and young adults started to STEP OUT in faith and do hard things and even seemingly impossible things for our God?

Just something the Lord has laid on my heart today and I thought I would type it all out and give ya'll something to think about.

WE SERVE AND AWESOME GOD! Don't ever forget that...

Thinking about the Cross

"How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocing voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that helf Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I knoww that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast inJesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom"

~Stuart Townend

We serve an awesome God!

My 1st video blog :)

So today I had the amazing idea to tell you some great news in a way other then writing it out. SO CLICK PLAY BELOW:



For those of you who have never really heard me or really seen me "in person" there I am! I thought I would be fun to try the whole video blogging thing out :) If you guys like it I am sure it could happen again in the future :)

SO YES! I am on a diet. No dairy, wheat, or nuts. The awesome thing is that I already feel so much better then I have been in the last year and it has only been one day. Still a ways to go but hopefully this is the beginning of the end for me being so sick (which will be 5 months on April 1st).

So here is an AWESOME WAY that God provided for us today :)
So, I am going on such a strict diet and basically can eat NOTHING (well I mean I can I just have to get very creative at times). Well today we got given food by a wonderful friend who "just happens" to have the exact same allegy to wheat/gluten that we are 99.99999% sure I have. They also "just happen" to be heading to the mission field and "just happen" to be moving out of their house and "just happened" to not have room for all this food so we ended up with it including a TON of natural/gluten-free foods I can eat! Praise the Lord HE IS SUCH A GOOD PROVIDER!!!!!
What AWESOME GOD WE SERVE!!! Sometimes we may think it is too "small" to bring before the Lord...I was reminded again that NOTHING is to small for my God :) NOTHING AT ALL!

So yes, these next few weeks will hopefully confirm the fact that the only thing wrong with me are food allegies instead of something not so easily fixed. God is SOVEREIGN and I know that no matter what happens HE IS IN CONTROl.

So yeah, sorry if this was kind of all over the place :) I hope it made some sort of sense to ya'll :)

Sleep sound in Jesus!

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

This little baby boy is having some really bad bad (like almost deadly) heart problems. PLEASE PRAY!!!

Just a little perspective.

Hey All :)
So, yesterday was somewhat of a difficult day for me. It was like I hit a wall-hard. Physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally I just wanted to give up. I was so tired of not knowing what was going on with my body. Of being in pain. Of being so exhausted I could barely walk across the room. Of knowing something was wrong with my body but not knowing how to fix it. I was just tired...and I wanted to give up.

BUT I serve a GOD who KNEW that I was at the breaking point (at least emotionally) and He sent me along encouragement after encouragement yesterday.

One of my dear friends shared this verse on her status on facebook yesterday:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Let us FIX OUR EYES ON JESUS, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its ... Read Moreshame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12:1-3 (emphasis added)

As I read that it was as though the Lord gave me the strength to continue going. Was I still exhausted? Yes. Was I still walking into the wall (or at least it felt like that emotionally). Yes. BUT I was reminded that NO MATTER what happens I have a God who endured the cross for me. I figure if He could do that for me I could suffer through some small miniscule things for Him! So yeah, that got me kind of thinking.

Then, I found this video on youtube. It was amazing how the Lord just...spoke through this to me. Please take some time to watch this. It will amaze you:



Talk about bringing honor and glory to the Lord IN SPITE OF circumstances!! This man has no arms AND no legs and yet, he is living life to praise and glorify his God!

He has rough circumstances! In fact, out of anyone in this world I would venture to say that he has an EXCUSE to be down. BUT he chooses to instead trust his God and live life to praise His name!

I think that we as sinful human beings tend to gauge our ups and downs in life by what our circumstances are. My eyes have been open in the past few weeks to how WRONG the mindset is! At the end of the video he quoted part of this verse:

"And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (2 Corinthians 12:9)

When I heard that-it was as though a light went on and I saw ONCE AGAIN my God in a completely different light. I realized that although trials will come HE has promised His grace to bear it to us! What an awesome thought that is!

"Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul."
~It is Well with my soul

Christ is victorious! CHRIST is to be honored and glorified no matter what may come HIS name is to be lifted up and glorified!

So, those are just a few things the Lord taught me yesterday. He is so good! Have you thanked Him for dying for YOU today? Just something to ponder...

A very special guest post

My name is Danny. I am Katy’s brother. She asked me if I could share what has happened to me recently with my walk with God. I recently attended a youth seminar with my youth group called Passion. I didn’t really want to go. I kept asking my mom if I could just not go, but she kept saying that I had to go. Right now I am going to give you some background information about me. I was saved a couple years ago, but my walk with God had been struggling. I wasn’t really spending time with God, just trying to get through my devotions (when I had them). I really hated hearing about God, and Christian music annoyed me. I was really falling away from God. Instead of having positive influences in my life I had negative ones. I was filling my head with junk. I am not saying that all secular music is bad, but the music that I was filling my head with was bad. Instead of having God honoring things running through my head I had junk! Pretty much everything that I thought on all day was not something that glorified God.

So, now you know how I was doing with my walk with God (if you could call it that). I was walking with the world. I didn’t want to be changed. I liked walking with the world, but that same world would leave me feeling depressed and like I was nothing. Now the world can’t tell me that I am nothing. I am a CHILD OF THE KING!!!! So, Friday arrived and all day I was dreading going to Passion. The time finally came.

I was very glad when I finally got there. It was SO Christ centered. It was a two day event. We got there on Friday evening. Before we went, we picked out three workshops to go to. I was expecting them to be boring and I just wanted to get them over with, but we didn’t have them on Friday. We had the main speaker, Mark Shaw, he did a main session. So Friday was worshiping and a main session. The worship was AMAZING! It was just great to be with other teens that wanted to live for Jesus!

After some singing and games they showed us a video. It was naming all these countries all over the world that had NEVER heard the name of Jesus! Here I am thinking about ME! There are people dying that haven’t heard the name of Jesus!!! Matthew 28:19-20 says:” Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” That means me! I had used the excuse before that it meant some one else, but it means me! As that video played I kept hearing a still, small voice telling me that I needed to go to all the nations preaching the Bible, but I kept thinking, “I can’t do that! I am supposed to stay in America making a ton of money, and have a perfect life!” That is not what God was telling me though! God broke through all those thoughts and told me that He wanted me to go!

On Saturday we came back to Passion. We started off with some worship music and then Mark Shaw spoke a little bit. Then it was time for the first workshop. To tell you the truth I was dreading my workshops. I still didn’t want to give up a lot of the things that I still clung to. When I got to my first workshop, Passion for Purity, I sat down not expecting much. When the speaker started talking, I started getting convicted. The more he talked the worse I felt. He told us that a good way to judge what we are doing is to use the mindset of: “Would I do this in front of parents?” It is true though, we should be able to tell our parents EVERTHING that we do EVERY minute of EVERY day!!! Then he told us that we need to guard our hearts against things like music. Right then some warning signals popped up in my head telling me that he was right and that I was not guarding my heart! I decided that I needed to surrender ALL to Him!!! That meant the music that I listened to, the movies that I watched, and the things that I thought!

The rest of Passion was just as good, all I could think about is the fact that I serve an AWESOME God!!! That is the biggest thing that I learned. It was kind of hard leaving, but I knew that we had to put to practice what we had learned a Passion. When I got home I was glowing I was so filled with joy! I was ready to practice what I had learned. One of the first things that I did was delete most of my music off of my MP3 player. At Passion I had learned to love Christian music! I filled my MP3 to the max with Christian songs so that I would always be filling my head, with good, wholesome things. That doesn’t mean that I think it is wrong to listen to non-Christian music. It isn’t unless you know that it is not God honoring and that you shouldn’t be listening to it! On Sunday I started feeling REALLY discouraged. Satan was attacking me because I was trying to live for God. I started feeling like I was nothing and God could never use me. As I laid on my bed feeling discouraged I decided to switch on the radio. It was set for the Family Life Network, and right as I switched it on my favorite song, Mighty to save, came on the radio. I was AMAZED! I know you can say that it was a coincidence, but I think that God used it to encourage me. Then I got scared because Katy started not being able to breathe, so that quickly got my eyes off of me. God had used Katy to encourage me, and now it was my turn to encourage her! If you want to know what happened to Katy it is on an older post.

I just have to share with you what God taught me today. I woke up and asked Him what I could do to serve Him today. A thought came into my head saying, “You can’t help Him, because you are only fourteen.” I got out of bed feeling kind of discouraged about the fact that I was so young. I opened my Bible to 1 Timothy to have my personal devotions. The verse that stuck out to me was 1 Timothy 4:12 it says, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity.” That amazed me! God had spoken to me directly from His Word!!! Just because I am fourteen doesn’t mean that I can’t do something to serve Him! He has blessed me so much. I am ready to make a difference for Him today! Are you going to let Satan fill your head with lies saying that you are “too young” or “to old”? Go out and serve Him!

Whew...what a day...

Hey all :)
So yesterday was definately a one-of-a-kind day.

All four of us kids led worship for the Sunday School opening. Abby sang/spoke, Danny (yes my brother) played the guitar/sang, Jen played the guitar/sang and I played the piano/sang. It was SO AWESOME to do something like that with my siblings! God has really been doing a work in all of us!!! HE is so GOOD!

So everything was going pretty good until about 10 minutes before Dad finished the sermon. My right arm went completely numb and I lost all the strength in it. I sat there shaking it, trying to get some feeling back into it because I had to play the last hymn on the piano. Well. The numbness did not go away. In fact, I got up to the piano and not only was it numb but I could not even press down the piano keys because I had no strength in my fingers. That kind of freaked me out. I mean, I have had numbness for 4 months but NOTHING like that.

So I went home and tried to sleep. I felt very lethargic and just...exhausted...the problem was that the numbness/weakness spread from my right arm to my left. By the time I woke up my arms and legs were completely numb and I had no strength in them. They felt like dead weights on my body.

I tried not to be worried about it and just went on with my day. I watched a movie and then went downstairs, sat on the couch and had a wonderful in depth talk with Danny (which was SUCH a blessing in itself). Everyone else had gone to a birthday party so when they got home it was almost time for our evening service. Danny, Jen, and I wanted to lead the worship so we headed over to the office to get some songs together.

The whole time I was feeling stranger and stranger until finally (when I could barely get up from dad's chair) Dad sent me home.

I came in. Sat down on the couch. Started talking to mom. Then all the sudden I was having a very hard time breathing. It kept getting worse and worse until I was dragging air in and when I did it made this horrible rasping noise. I wasn't too worried about it at first (I figured it would just wear 0ff) and so I told Mom I would just rest, stay home from church and then I would be fine. All this started happening at about 5:20.

So, Mom left for church and I went upstairs and started to watch a movie but then went into Danny's room to keep him company. I was trying to instill words of sisterly wisdom but I was finding it harder and harder to get the words out plus the rasping was getting worse and worse.

We have an RN that attends our church but she normally doesn't come on Sunday nights. I remember wishing that she could come though just because it had been about an hour and I was starting to really not feel so good.

Well what would you know? As I was talking (well attempting to) to Danny Mom brought her up! She had come to church that night! Which was really a good thing because she took one look at me and after listening to me breath said that I needed to go right away to the city hospital (which is about and hour away from us).

Dad was still at church however, so they got me downstairs and on the couch where she monitered my breathing for the next hour. By this time I was so out of it and just unable to talk or really move. All I could do was focus on my breathing.

The awesome part was that I was so calm. God gave me that peace that passes understanding and I could just sense Him right there besides me. I just cannot explain what a comfort that was.

So finally the church service ended and Dad came over. A ton of people where there but I was kind of in this fog...I remember but I just could not...hard to explain. Anywho, so they got me in the van along with Mom, Dad, and Danny and we set off on our way with Grandpa Kelley following in his car.

As we pulled out of the driveway I saw all these people standing there watching us go and Mom was telling me: "The whole church is praying." It was such a comfort to know that...then I found out that the church where we go to youth group was praying as well, as well as tons of people on facebook. Let me tell you. Knowing that they were praying was something I clung to that ride to the hospital!

So, we finally got to the hospital. I was admitted into the Pediatrics ER.
After going through Triage (I think that is how you spell it...) They put me right into a room (I was surprised how fast I got in but not really because of all the prayers people where praying) and started hooking me up to all sorts of machines and monitors. Then they started me on a nebulizor (spelling again?) treatment which right away helped my throat not constrict so much. Slowly, my breathing started to get more regular and I was able to talk well for the 1st time in about 3 1/2 hours! Grandpa Kelley got me laughing by telling me that the reflections on the mask made me look like I had Bugs Bunny teeth! I was so happy He was there! I love my Grandpa...

So after the nebulizar (spelling again?) treatment was over they put me back on the oxygen. After the doctor examined me they sent me up to x-ray. When that was done it was back to the room once more to wait and see what was going on. The doctor came back and said that theyhad not been able to find anything wrong on the x-rays. Once again they were stumped and while they knew something was definately wrong-they had no idea what is was. The best thing they said to do was to get things figured out with my neurologist as soon as possible. That was definately a little bit disheartening. I was feeling a lot better then when I had come in but knowing that there is probably something serious wrong but no one knows what...that can get a little bit tough. The things is though that I knew (and know) that I had a choice to make. I could be bitter, worry, and second guess God OR I could continue to trust that HE knows what is best when it comes to me. After all He now only knows my life story-HE WROTE IT! Well suffice to say, I chose the latter: to trust my God and to completely rely on HIM for the outcome. On the way to the hospital I remember Danny reading me these verses:
"Truly my soul silently waits for God;
From Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense;
I shall not be greatly moved." (Psalm 62:1-2) As I was lying there waiting for the treatment I had gotten to wear off so I could go home the Lord brought back to my mind something that had happened in the car on my way to the hospital. I was looking out the window and it was as though the Lord just put this thought into my head as I was struggling to breath: "Jesus couldn't breath on the cross either." WHOA! Talk about putting things into perspective. As I sat there struggling to breath I was just overwhelmed with gratitude and appreciation for the fact the my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ had CHOSEN to not be able to breath FOR ME. He chose to die a cruel and excruciatingly painful death FOR ME. Why? Because He loved me...It was such an eye opener to me personally. It was as though the Lord showed me something so precious through not being able to breath! Who would have thought that possible!?!?

So yes, diagnosis: They know something is wrong with me but they are not sure what.
Steps to take: I am going to another appointment tomorrow for my back and then the MRI's and 3 hour test on April 10th and then follow-up with the neurologist. How am I doing: the numbness and the tingling never goes away. I am also quite weak (though nothing like yesterday) and there is a tightness in my chest that makes it a little more work to breath (but again nothing like yesterday) but other than that I am feeling pretty good. Not 100% yet but it just takes time. In the meantime: Continue to grow in my love for my family, friends and most importantly my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Blessings to you all :)

WOW!!!

Well, heh, where do I start...the kids went to a youth seminar this weekend and came back just really convicted in some areas of their lives and the Lord did some convicting in my heart today and basically our whole family is just started to think about certain areas on our lives that we weren't living the way we should for Christ and we just are now taking steps to be more sold out for the Lord. Us kids have just been brought together in a way that we all thought impossible and GOD IS JUST SO MERCIFUL AND GOOD!!! sorry I am still processing it all so if that didn't make sense I apologize. All I can say is GOD IS SO GOOD!

My brother who I have been praying for a while came home convicted in his heart to step up and begin seeking and saving the lost WHICH IS A HUGE ANSWER TO PRAYER. And all four of us have decided to step up and begin to lead worship TOGETHER (normally it is just Jen and Abby) on Sunday Mornings. As a result of that we all went over to the church tonight and TOGETHER just worshipped and praised the Lord in song. IT WAS SO AMAZING.

You know, I really believe that tonight was a turning point-not only for me-but for our family as a whole. We serve an awesome and just...and just...such a forgiving, faithful, and merciful God!

So what do you have to be thankful for today?

So much fun :)

Hey all! :)
So yesterday one of my very good friends who is also named Katie came over! We had not seen eachother in FOREVER and it was so nice just to be able to spend time together :)

We ended up going to the park and taking pictures along with a 4 hour hike. The day was GLORIOUS and it was just so much fun :)

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:














I got some awesome landscape pictures as well to see those ones click here:

Day with Katie Part 1

Day with Katie Part 2

Longer post coming later :) Blessings to you all!

Integrity...

Good Morning all :)
So I have been thinking about what integrity is this morning...what character is...I love the quote "Character is who you are in the dark." (D.L. Moody)
HAve you ever thought that who you are is NOT who you are in front of all your friends and your family but who you are truly is the person you become when you are all by yourself and no one else is around to impress.

What made me start pondering this stuff?

Every morning I get a devotional via email and today's really got me thinking. I thought I would share it with you:

"Doing What’s Right

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”
Genesis 6:6–8

Circumstances should not determine your behavior, but God’s commands should dictate your steps.



One winter a low-paid waiter in a major city found a briefcase containing cash and negotiables in a parking lot—and no owner in sight. No one saw the waiter find it and put it in his car in the wee hours of the morning. But for the waiter, there was never any question of what to do. He took the briefcase home, opened it, and searched for the owner's identity. The next day he made a few phone calls, located the distressed owner, and returned the briefcase—along with the $25,000 cash it contained.


The surprising thing about this episode was the ridicule the waiter experienced at the hands of his friends and peers. For the next week or so he was called a variety of names and laughed at, all because he possessed a quality the Bible holds in high regard: integrity.



The world laughs at integrity. Choosing between something beneficial and integrity seems to be a no-brainer to most people—choose whatever best helps you. If you have to lie to advance yourself, that’s just part of the game. If you forge something to help someone else, you did a great thing. Few people today value integrity.



Integrity can be described as doing what’s right even when no one is watching. When you’re alone at home, when you’re filling out a form, when you find someone else’s wallet; what is the right thing to do?



Noah was a man of integrity. As Genesis 6:5 says, “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” The world was filled with wickedness, so much so that God had decided to destroy the earth.



But one man still walked in integrity despite his surroundings, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8). Even though everyone was doing wrong and even though he was tempted to give in to sin, Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord. He did what was right no matter what. Noah was not a perfect man, but he walked with the Lord and chose integrity over wickedness.



As a Christian, God desires that you would, like Noah, choose integrity over wickedness. No matter who is around or what everyone else is doing, God desires you to choose what is right. Circumstances should not determine your behavior, but God’s commands should dictate your steps.



Are you walking in integrity today? Do you decide to obey God even when no one’s around? Determine today that no matter what others say or who is watching, you will choose to obey God. Remember that even if man isn’t watching, God is always watching your actions."

Just something I am pondering today :)

I am eating breakfast of stuffing and roast (weird I KNOW) and then I am off to a visit with a nurse practitioner about some stuff that has been going on healthwise.

Blessings to you all :)

Oh what a beautiful day for a creek walk with Danny! :)

Hey all!
So today was an absolute fantastic day! 1st of all I got online today to realize that I AM PUBLISHED!!!! Check it out here: Some thoughts on modesty. SO EXCITING AND MY GOD IS SO GOOD :) :) :)

My computor battery is dying but I just wanted to share that with you and then these pictures. Danny and I donned out rubber boots and old clothes and went creek walking today! I love spring! And the weather has been making me feel better actually! I think it is just being able to go outside...regardless these last few days I have actually had some energy! GOD IS GOOD!!! PRAISE HIS NAME!!!!

How great is our God!

"Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?" (Eccles. 7:13)

Often God seems to place His children in positions of profoiund difficulty, leading them into a wedge from which there is no escape; contriving a situation which no human judgement would have permitted, had it been previously consulted. The very cloud conducts them thither. You may be thus involved at this very hour.
It does seem perplexing and very serious to that degree, but it is perfectly right. The issue will more than justify Him who has brought you hither. It is a platform for the display of His almighty grace and power.
He will not only deliver you;but in doing so, He will give you a lesson that you will never forget, and to which, in a psalm and song, in after days, you will revert. You will never be able to thank GOd enough for haveing done just as He has. SELECTED*

We may wait till He explains,
Because we know that Jesus reigns.

It puzzles me; but,Lord, Tho understandest,
And wilt one day explain this crooked thinkg.
Meanwhile, I know that it has worked out Thy best-
Its very crookedness taught me to cling.

Thou has fenced up my ways, made my paths crooked,
To keep my wand'ring eyes fized on Thee,
To make me what I was not, humble, patient;
To draw my heart from earthly love to Thee.

So I will thank and praise Thee for this puzzle,
And trust where I cannot understand.
Rejoicing Thou doest hold me worth such testing,
I cling the closer to Thy guiding hand.
F.E.M.I."

~Streams in the desert

So my friend just read me this devotional and WOW! People...I am saying this from experiance-IT IS SO TRUE.

WE SERVE AN AWESOME GOD THAT NO MATTER WHAT HE SENDS OUR WAY IS THERE TO SUPPORT US AND TO TEACH US A VALUABLE LESSON THROUGH IT ALL!

I just...I am out of words. God is so good!

SO tonight was a fun night :) We had our amigos from the Bible Study over along with another migrant family that we have been ministering to and WOW. They brought food and we had food and...I NEVER want an American "taco" again after having the real thing tonight :)

Today was definately an up day for me. I had alot more energy than I have had lately and was able to accomplish alot (including cleaning AND vacuuming my room :-p).

I am just in awe of my God tonight...God is so good! Just...take some time to ponder HIM. Guarenteed it will blow you mind :)

Blessings!

So easy...

Hey all,
This won't be very long...just some thoughts.
These past few days I have realized how EASY it
is to let "little" things slide.
I have realized how easy it is to allow my time
to slide.
I have realized how easy it is to waste my time.
I have realized how seemingly innocent things can
become not so innocent.
I have realized yet again how deceitful my own heart
is...

I have also realized that God is...so forgiving!
He is not just the God of 2nd chances but of 3rd and
4th and 4,000,000,000th! HE IS SO FAITHFUL! HE IS SO AWESOME!


HE IS SO WORTHY OF OUR PRAISE AND GLORY AND HONOR!

So here is a question what I have been asking myself:

What are you doing with your time? How are you investing it?
Are you investing in things that are only temporary or will last
for eternity?

Blessings to you all :)

Spring, SPRING, SPRING!!!!

Some thoughts on modesty

Before the Lord began to convict me in the area of modesty I made the mistake many times of "going by my feelings" on what to wear or what not to wear. I did not really think about whether or not what I was choosing to wear was bringing honor and glory to the Lord instead, I tried to make myself look as trendy and fashionable as possible. Now please do not get me wrong, I do not think it is wrong to put some effort in looking nice. However, I took that to an extreme. The way I chose my clothing was: "Hmmm, this makes me look good, ok I will definately wear this." or "WOW, I can't believe how 'cool' I look! Guys will be sure to notice me now!". That was wrong. In fact, my whole attitude was wrong. I was more interested in portraying a sexy, put together, all American girl instead of a 110% surrendered daughter of God to those around me.

What is modesty? Is it what to or what not to wear? Is it just about how we look on the outside or is it something deeper then that?

I knew that the Bible had things to say about modesty but in my mind there was the extreme of modesty being an outward chore (with no heart involved) of just following man made rules and regulations and the extreme of not caring what you wore just so long as it looked good (in a sensual way).

I think that the most important truth I have been learning about modesty these past few months is that it is not about a list of man made rules and regulations but instead an attitude of the heart that has been shaped from what the Bible has to say about modesty. A dear friend reminded me of this just last night. She said:"...We can...have Biblical principles to guide us. Some, in short, include modesty (not dressing to show off), decency (not dressing to draw attention to the body sensually), propriety (what is fitting and proper for the situation), and femininity (embracing our gift as females)."

A few years ago I had made the decision to wear skirts and skirts only (except when I absolutely HAD to wear pants for decencies sake!). The sad part was that I thought that in order to be modest and embrace my femininity meant that I had to be as plain as possible and frumpish. That lasted about a year and then I left it all behind me and did not go near skirts for about two years.

A few months ago I felt the Lord again encouraging me to wear primarily skirts. But, there were some changes in my attitude. I realized that in order to be modest and feminine DID NOT mean that I had to make myself as plain as possible. In fact, now that I have been striving to honor God in my dress I look more like a young lady (hair and make-up done, dressed tastefully not my normal grungy look :-p) than I ever did before!

"Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."
~ 1 Peter 3:3-4

As Christian young woman we are to be examples to those around. As young women I believe that God has called us to (as the verse says above) work on perfecting our inside beauty versus our outward beauty. Because guess what girls? In 50 years I am guessing that it really will not make a difference whether or not we were known for our sense of "fashion" and our "sexy outfits". What will matter however, is whether or not we cultivated our inward beauty. "Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised." (Proverbs 31:30). Here is a really good illustration of this that I found which made me think about this concept in a whole new way: Beauty is Fleeting.

Do I believe that it is wrong to wear pants sometimes and the only thing that we can be modest in is skirts? Absolutely not! I have realized that is not about what I am or what I am not going to wear (obviously to a certain extent). It is about an attitude of the heart. That is where it all stems from! From wanting to honor and glorify Jesus in that area of my life. When people look at me I do not want them to be distracted by what I am (or am not) wearing (especially my brothers in the Lord). Instead, when people look at me I want them to not see me but instead to see my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ shining through me whether they have known me two seconds or 12 years.

Let me just leave you with this question to ponder:

When people look at you what to they see? Merely outward adornment OR "the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."?

Hah, I love when I think I am going to get something done and then don't...

Hey all :)
So today, I had a lot of plans. The most important one was write an article for another blog. Well, I ended up getting really sick so that ended up...not happening.
But you know what? That is ok. Because Lord willing there will be tomorrow :)

Mom ended up waking me up today at around 12. She was so sweet and ended up letting me have icecream and apple pie while we had a wonderful mother/daughter talk.

I cooked lunch (well kinda lunch/dinner because I woke up at 12). It turned out actually really well. I was suprised! Especially since I dumped 1/2 a bottle of chili powder in it (BY ACCIDENT)! I rinsed it off quickly and everyone ate it :-p

Tonight I started to attempt to teach Danny to dance. Yeah...we had so much fun and ended up just sitting downstairs and laughing and talking as a family. It was really a huge blessing!

GOD IS SO GOOD! Have you taken the time to thank Him or even acknowledge Him for the blessings He CONTINUALLY pours out on His children?

Just something to think about :)

So yes, I am sorry this post is so short. I am tired and am going to bed. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get my thoughts together and write that article I had been wanting to today :)

Just a last thought:

Please please join me in praying for this precious little girl. She and her family really need it right now...






Ok ya'll I am off to bed!

Just one last thought to ponder:

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
~Matthew 6:19-21

What are we investing our lives in? Things that will only matter on earth OR things that will last for an eternity?

Blessings :)

We serve an AWESOME God!

Hey all,
So I just got back from the neurologist. It was an interesting visit. We got there at 10am and hardly any time had passed before the doctor himself came and got us (they do not have nurses at the office the actual neurologists do it all which was kind of neat).
We went to the office and he asked me a ton of different questions and did a few tests. Then he hooked me up to a machine.
Now this machine was...a professional cattle prod LITERALLY! He needed to test my nerve reactions and some other thing like that so basically he zapped me (it was kinda like sticking your finger into an electric socket but not quite that bad. Anywho, by the 4th shock (he started on my left leg) I was in tears. It hurt SO BAD. I seriously would rather have had shots! It was funny because one time he zapped me and I almost came off the table (I think I startled him lol :-p) The nice part was that the more he did it the less it hurt so by the 15th time I had gotten used to it.
Once that was all done (he did it about 8 times total to my legs and my arms) we sat down and he said that he was going to run some tests to determine what was going on. So the summary is:
He has not diagnosed me as yet (he has some ideas but we are just eliminating).

Part of the elimination process is more bloodwork (to think I used to be scared of them!) and then a month from today it is back up to the city for 3 more tests.

That will be an interesting day! We will drive almost an hour up to the city and then I will be getting 2 MRI's. One for my brain and then one for my upper spine/neck. They will be 45 minutes each so that will be about 1 1/2 hours and then I will have a little break, then onto another test which will take 3 hours. That will be an exhausting day! I am not so sure how well I will do stuck for 1 1/2 hours in a tube (have you seen those MRI things???) but I am planning on taking a billion (ok like 2) Selah cd's and hopefully falling asleep listening to hymns.

So after that I will go back and see the neurologist again and hopefully be able to get the results.

I was sitting in the waiting room today after we had seen the doctor with so many thoughts racing through my head when Mom (who had brought along her Bibles/devotional books for the wait) handed me her Daily Light devotional. The verse for this mornings reading included these:

"Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear."
Isaiah 59:1

"Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the LORD his God,"
Psalm 146:5

"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Phillipians 4:19

"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
So we may boldly say:

“ The LORD is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?”"
Hebrews 13:4-5

"The LORD is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,
And with my song I will praise Him."
Psalm 28:7

As I read those verses my eyes got off of myself and my worries and were instantly turned in awe to my God. I mean WOW! This is the God I serve! This God who is my strength and shield, my helper, who promises to NEVER leave or forsake me! I was just completely blown over AGAIN by the fact that He is my Father in Heaven. That He loves me so much He sent His only begotten Son to die for me. That He will never give me anything that I can not bear in life. The fact that even though He doesn't promise that it will always be easy He does promise that He will be with us every step of the way. WOW!

Oh and then it gets better :)

I got home and I was kinda thinking about the fact that I have over a month more before we find out what is going on and that I still feel sick alot of the time. Anywho, I was worrying about just some different stuff and I opened my Bible and the section I was to read today "just happened" (YEAH RIGHT!) to be from Matthew 6:25-34 which in my Bible has this little heading: DO NOT WORRY. WOW!!!!

So I am reading that passage and I got down to the last 2 verses:

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matthew 6:33-34)

It was just another reminder from my AWESOME God that He will take care of everything. I was also reminded to just continue to strive to live every second of the day for my God and to seek HIM 1st.

How am I doing that? Well, today I was convicted about the way I treat my family. It is so weird how I can take foregranted the people that I love the most and sometimes hurt them through my words and my actions. So I have purposed in my heart this afternoon to strive to season my words with grace and to honor and glorify God in the way that I react to things. I think that it is just another area of surrender that needs to be dealt with...whew!

Oh, I haven't posted some actual pictures in awhile so here are a few from this saturday when I was helping the girls get ready for the ball:





Have a
wonderful day
and stay strong
in Jesus :)
He is so worthy of our
praise and
our honor and
glory.
WE SERVE AN AWESOME GOD!

Sorry it has been so long!

Hey all :)
I apologize for how long it has been since I have last updated. It has been an interesting past few days.

1st of all the Lord has once again been doing alot of pruning. It is so funny how you think that you are finally starting to get it and then all the sudden the Lord opens your eyes and you realize that you have so many things that you still need to surrender to the Lord and that you really have no clue! I don't know if anyone else has days like that...

Physically I have been doing better/worse.

Translation: My foot is doing like 75% better! I think that it has been since the walking cast came off and also the physical therapy has been helping alot and I have only gone once since I got my new "prescription" for it! I am going through desensitization of the nerves. I do not know what that means but it is working :)
So I have been praising the Lord for that!

The kinda worse part is that fact that my headaches and blurry vision have been getting worse and worse. This morning in church I could barely stand it and ended up going straight home and taking a 4 hour nap. That helped a whole lot :)

Tonight we (Pastor Mike, Jen, Danny, Heather, Scott, Jac, Andrew, Laura and I) went and visited some friends at a church about 45 minutes away. That was a ton of fun and definately an encouragement for all of us :)

Oh! AND I HAVE PICTURES FOR YOU ALL :)

Last night Abby, Jac and Laura went to a CAP Ball and I got the honor of doing their hair and Make-up. It took 4 hours but was soooo worth it! They looked like princess's :)

So check them out:

Getting ready for the CAP Ball 2009 Part 1

Getting ready for the CAP BAll 2009 Part 2

God is so faithful and so good :) I have so much more to tell ya'll but for now I need to go to bed!

Sleep sound in Jesus everyone :)

Blessings and Good Night!

PLEASE PRAY!!

Hey all :) Please Pray for this little boy named Brady. He has cancer. Here is the link to his mom's blog.

Steps for Brady

Please lift this little boy up in your prayers tonight...He really needs it. And also his Mom and Dad.

Blessings to you all!

PS: (YAYAYAYAYA!!!!)

Ok people it has been 2 months.

2 MONTHS OF THIS:

Yes
Folks;
I wore only the
left shoe
and it was weird!
2 months came and went
and my right shoes were
slowly but surely getting
lost...
well, except when I DIDN'T need
them. That is when they would magically appear :)



NO MORE!!!!

I am pleased to announce that today I looked down at my feet and THIS IS WHAT I SAW:

LOOK
AT
THAT!!!!
For
the 1st
time in 2 MONTHS
I got to wear
both shoes on
both feet
and did not clomp
around! It was amazing!
And it took all of 2 seconds
to get my shoes on as opposed
to like 5 minutes to strap all the annoying straps!!!!


So here I am folks! 2 months and the cast is gone :)

Yes the
pain is still
there BUT I am FREE from
that cast. I can RUN and well
WALk and JUMP as far as the pain
allows me to. I feel as though a
weight has been lifted and actually it literally
has! We serve an awesome God and it is so exciting to know that
while there are alot of questions that still need
answering I am finally getting some answers and help!
PRAISE GOD FOR THAT!!!
Anywho that is my PS to the last post :)
Night again :)

Where do I start?

Hey all!
Wow, today was a...very hard day yet, good at the same time. As many of you know I went to the foot specialist today. Let's start with the good news 1st:

~There is really nothing wrong with me "mechanically". Translation: My bone is healing well so I AM OUT OF THE WALKING CAST!!!!! YESSSSS!!!!

Ok onto the bad news:

~Because my bone is healing fine there is the doctor said that it is definately nerve damage. And it is on both feet (HAH that is bad) so he said it needs to get checked out by a neurologist ASAP.

~My headaches, blurry vision, dizzyness and numbness are getting worse by the day. I actually almost passed out in the doctors office today. I was so sick...and in so much pain!

~I am going to see a neurologist on the 10th. Hopefully he can figure out what is going on!

Anywho, to sum up: I am w/o the walking cast BUT still in a lot of pain/discomfort. You know what though...I For all the pain and the tears and the uncertainties GOD HAS BEEN SO FAITHFUL AND TAUGHT ME SOOO MUCH! You know I have been thinking about it lately and it has been over 4 months of my life since this all really started...but I honestly would not take back these 4 months or change them in any way. Heh, it seems so funny to be saying that, but really, God has taught me so much! And honestly, I am a completely different person now then I was back when things where "normal" 4 months ago. I really believe that He uses triels and hard times to refine us into the person HE wants us to be. I feel as though I have made that transition into womanhood. God is so FAITHFUL. And you know why I can say that? Because He has proven Himself to be faithful countless times during this season of uncertainty in my life. WE SERVE AN AWESOME GOD!

So yeah, please pray that I will be able to get through this pain until the 10th and that they would be able to diagnose me...and most of all that I would honor and glorify my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Night all :)

"All to Jesus I surrender;
all to him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust him,
in his presence daily live."

So what does it really mean to truly surrender to the Lord? Not a little bit surrendered, not like 75% surrendered, I mean COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY 110% SURRENDERED to HIM?

The past few months the Lord has really been laying a burden on my heart. It seemed an odd one to me at 1st but then I realized that I was glimpsing the Lord's heart. All my life I have had a burden for the unsaved. As Christians we all called to be salt and light to this world:

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
Matthew 5:13-16

The more I began to think about what it means to be the salt and light of the world the more I realized that my light was begining to slowly fade. I mean, sure I was a "good" person. I mean, as a Pastor's daughter, I was in church whenever the doors where open and I took part in different ministries. I was an example! Or was I?

I was the typical american teenager. I had dreams, goals and expectations. The difference? I was a child of the Living God. The problem was-you probably could not tell. I was a fair weather christian. When I was with my church family and friends butter could not melt in my mouth but when I was with my "not so christian" friends, I was a completely different person.

I was what I like to think of as a fair weather, riding the fence, lukewarm Christian. While I truly had repented of my sins and was a child of God, I was living my life with one foot in the world and the other in christianity. If any of you have ever tried that you know that it does not work :)

So what was the turning point? I realized that it was not about a religion but about a relationship. And not just any relationship with anyone but a personal relationship with the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE!

I realized that my God was interested in me personally. As in: HE WANTED TO BE A PART OF EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF MY LIFE! And then I realized that while He wanted to be an intimate role in my life-I had not been giving the God of the universe FULL ACCESS to my heart, soul and life.

The God of the universe loves each and everyone of us so much that He sent His only Son to die a cruel, inhumane death on a cross.

"Think about His love, think about His goodness
Think about His grace that's brought us through
For as high as the heavens above
So great is the measure of our father's love
Great is the measure of our Father's love"

So now I have a question for ya'll (no I am not from the south I just love typing/saying that!):

How can we not serve a God like this with every single part of our lives? How can we not strive to give Him full access to our everything? How can we not strive to honor and glorify Him with every single SECOND of our days? How can we look past people that are dying and going to HELL? How can we not care?

As children of the living God should we not have this attitude:

"My eyes belong to Jesus; therefore it's impossible for them to ____________________; my mouth belongs to Jesus, who would think of saying __________________________; my hands belong to Jesus, so they'll be glad to ____________________ (You fill in the blanks). This isn't just the power of positive thinking- it's DAILY yielding the parts of your body to God. Only HE can divert your eyes, your tongue, your hands, your feet, and your ears to constantly obey Him."

I think that part of the reason our generation is so...lukewarm and passive when it comes to the things of the Lord is because we don't want to take up our cross and follow HIM. We don't want to surrender our all. What we don't realize is that the only way we can fill that void that so many people are seeking to fill with drugs, bad relationships and alcohol is one person. But not only a person-our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters lets take a stand! Lets take a stand for what is pure and right! Lets take a stand for our God! Lets purpose in our hearts to make a DIFFERENCE in this world for Christ...

"He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."
Matthew 10:37-39

What will you do? Just something to think about...

"Holiness, Holiness is what I long for."

So, Abby, Jen and I had a very interesting weekend. We had the awesome oppurtunity to go to the All Access Revolve Tour 2009 with our friend Jacquie! We were the only 4 girls in the entire group (we went with her church) who HAD A HOTEL ROOM TO OURSELVES!!!! Yeah, the only reason they let us was because Jacquie's Mom assured them that we were "Incredibly mature and safe and would not get into any trouble...etc..."

I took a ton of pictures (when do not!?!?) and you can look at them here:

All Access Revolve Tour 2009 Part 1

All Access Revolve Tour 2009 Part 2

So besides being a ton of fun it also was very very encouraging/challenging. They had some amazing amazing speakers (including Jenna Lucado, Natalie Grant, Danielle from the group Out of Eden and Chad Eastman) that the entire event where challenging us girls to give God all access to our lives.

Coming from thinking about that this weekend, today I was really pondering what living a Holy life means and what it looks like. During our discussion at church tonight we were talking about what holiness really is. My Uncle brought up the fact that it is being set apart for Christ and living a life of no compromise for Him.

So I have been thinking about that. One of the main challeges we got this weekend was what where we going to do to impact our world for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To be a world changer for HIM. To not let our young age be an excuse to make a huge difference for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is Austin. He is 14 years old. He has raised over 1 million dollars for an HIV/AIDS infected and impoverished community in Rwanda Zambia. He to date has built a highschool and the 2nd medical clinic is almost completed. He got this burden when he was 9 years old and since then has worked tirelessly to help these people. How did he accomplish this? Through basketball. He has a ministry call Hoops of Hope check it out! Anywho, the reason I bring this up is because if a 14 year old could make such a difference for the Lord who are we to say "I am too young. No one would take me seriously."

So as I was pondering all this stuff tonight after church the Lord brought to mind this verse:

"Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity."
1 Timothy 4:12

As young people this verse is exhorting us to be an EXAMPLE to the believers. How? Well the verse tells us exactly how:

~In word: Ok so what have the words from your mouth been like lately? Do they mirror the Lord? Do they build others up or do they tear others down? I was told once that people can tell what is the most thing in our lives by what we talk about. Yeah...that can be a good or bad thing.

~In conduct: So how do you act? I mean do you believe that how you act is a reflection of what is in your heart? Now that can be a good or a bad thing? Do your actions show that Jesus is the most important thing in your life or do they show the opposite?

~In love: So do you love people? I mean, really love them? Do your actions prove it? I am not talking the gushy, romantic, head-in-the-clouds kind of love; I am talking about a sacrificial, putting others first, unconditional, Christ like love. What kind of love do you have?

~In spirit: What consumes you? I don't mean the outside...I mean the real you. Who is the master of your soul? Jesus or the deceiver? I love this saying that character is who you are in the dark...who are you in the dark? Who are you when there is no one else around? Who are you?

~In faith: What are you putting your faith in? In yourself? Your own works and the things you have accomplished? Or in Jesus?

~In purity: Ok, so I know that people are always saying that physical purity is important and DON'T get me wrong-I am not saying that it isn't- BUT have you ever thought about what it means to be emotionally pure? What about mentally pure? How many times have we given our hearts away in useless flings and/or crushes? I don't think that we realize it but that part of our heart/emotions we gave away we can never get back...

So what do you think? What is your example like? You never know who may be watching you. You may never know how a word or an action could effect someone for good or bad.

We are this next generation...lets make a difference!

Ok I have rambled on long enough :)

Specialist for my foot is tomorrow! God bless ya'll and good night :)