A Verse

My Bible kept falling open to this verse I have underlined:

"Behold I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind" Isaiah 65:17

Isn't it wonderful to think that God is going to do away with all the evil, death, sin, hate, wickedness, violence, cruelty and abuse? I cannot wait for when I won't have to strive against sin and when I won't remember sin. It will be beautiful!

Updates

I haven't been on in forever, so here are some updates on what life has been :)

School. School. School. More school. School. Then some school. School. Then more school.

Perhaps I exaggerate. Let's list it.

1.Advanced Biology
2.Chemistry
3.Math (Trigonometry, Pre-calc, Geometry)
4.Sewing
5.Christmas Shopping
6.Scholarship searching and applying

That's about it. Oh, and I've been reading a ton as usual. So.. that's what's been up. Oh, and... I have been accepted to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. *bows* So now for some fun awkward+awesome!!

Awkward:

1. Sitting here trying to think of something awkward....

2. Singing open air by yourself... at first it is then it's great.

Awesome:

1. Making $29 singing open air... :D

2. Having your mom for a friend

3. Blogs and friends :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,

Ruth

Books and Awkward+Awesome

So I've been doing a fair amount of reading, as usual. Here's a list of books I like (it is by no means a complete list!)

Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)
I Rode With Stonewall (Henry Kyd Douglas)
Around the World in Eighty Days (Jules Verne)
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers (Baroness Maria von Trapp)
The Dave Darrin series (H. Irving Hancock)
The G.A. Henty series (Lots of books about different kids all historic fiction with really detailed history in them! Awesome!)

There ya' go! Those are some of the many books I like! Now for Awkward+Awesome!

Awkward:

1. Talking to somebody and you know their family fairly well and you've met them twice before and you know who they are but they just nod and smile politely the whole time while their eyes just go back and forth over your face as they try to remember who on earth "this girl I see every time I come home and is really into the military" is. ....

2. Having all your younger siblings and an older brother go to Field & Stream and being back in the cramped bow area and having to duck twice to get out of employees ways....

3. Remembering how awkward you were as a tween and how you thought you had it all figured out how you just knew what you wanted to do and knew everything about being an adult. No.

Awesome:

1. Having chats with your really strong Christian aunt!

2. Having your friends' baby toddler girl finally grin at you and let you hold her. (Never could get her to let me hold her when she was a baby)

3. Feeling God's love.

How Beautiful the Feet

"How beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of him that... publisheth salvation"

I'll be quite honest. My feet are very frequently a great annoyance to me. They're wide so it's hard to fit in a lot of shoes. They're not long, so I can't opt for a bigger size without tripping on the toes. My feet are ugly. I tiptoed for many many years (still do.. it's why I like to wear heels ;) ) and due to the way I put my weight on my feet, my toes are at times bent to the side. As I said, my feet are ugly.

So as I've been getting older and figuring out the direction God would have me go with my life after highschool, I've been thinking of missions and praying about it. I forget how it came about but I suddenly realized that I don't have to fit into a size 7 shoe for my feet to be beautiful! I can have beautiful feet by publishing the gospel! That is the sort of beautiful feet we should want as Christians. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation"

I like that verse quite a bit. It is beautiful to me. I want those kind of beautiful feet! Feet that bring the gospel to people who need it.

Life is confusing and uncertain, but God is certain and as we need!

Isaiah's Prophecies

I was reading Isaiah 5 and in that chapter, there is a prophecy/warning. I was reading all the "because" and "woe" and the reasons behind the prophecy parts and it really began to concern me. Read the excerpts below.

"Because they are haughty" (Isaiah 3:16)

"Woe to those... they do not regard the work of the Lord, nor consider the operation of His hands" (Isaiah 5:12)

"Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if with a cart rope; that say, "Let Him make speed and hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it" (v. 18)

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil" (v. 20)

"Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight!" (v. 21)

"Woe to them... who justify the wicked for a bribe and take away justice from the righteous man!" (v. 23)

I read those passages and said to myself, "Oh, God, we have done all that against You! This passage is us- now!" It is really quite disconcerting! You know what was going to happen to Israel for all this? They were going to be put through horrible wars and famines and devastation and persecution.

We're haughty. We think we're the awesomest and whatever we say goes. (I'm speaking of us as a collective community of people here)

We don't regard the works of God.

You know how much sin goes on in this country??? And a lot of people say, "I want proof that God is who He says"

We call good evil and evil good. We call pro-life people evil, and pro-abortion people good. I don't think I can come up with a more drastic comparison than that.

We're wise in our own eyes.

We justify the wicked. We give them excuses and all kinds of loopholes.

We are collectively fulfilling this prophecy in our own country and believe me, God will respond the same way unless we repent. I've been praying for my country for quite a while now. Let's all pray that God would truly bless America and spare us and forgive our sins!

Prayer Date

Hey everybody! I hope you're reading this so you will know that I am arranging a prayer date for tomorrow night. Thirty minutes of prayer starting at 7pm EST. This time it's not prayer for the persecuted church. I want to have a prayer time for America. There are a lot of things going on, and a lot of important questions being brought up. We should pray for our leaders (in Peter it says, "Pray for those in leadership that you may lead a quiet and peaceable life") and we should pray for each other. Pray that other citizens would stand for what is right and true. Pray that their confused questions are answered through God's word. We cannot change just with human action. We must accompany effort with prayer!

So again, tomorrow, Saturday October 10th, at 7pm EST thirty minutes of prayer for our country! Let's pray that God will bless America!

Hearing God

Sometimes it is really hard to hear what God is saying. The Bible says to "Be still and know that I am God" The Bible also calls God speaking a "Still small voice" (see 1Kings 19:11,12)

In this passage, God is passing by, and it describes a great wind that "rent the mountains" and it says the Lord was not in the wind. Then after the wind there was an earthquake and it says God was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but God was not in the fire. Then it says there was a still small voice. And if you read the passage, that was God.

I know it's hard to hear God. I have a hard time doing it. I've found some things that work.

1. While you're praying, if somebody or a situation pops into your head, roll with it and pray about that! I've been doing this, and ... wow, prayer time just got so much longer. To be honest, I'll sometimes be like, Wow this is taking loooong! lol But, if God brings something to your mind, you better bet your life you need to follow it!

2. Pray and then don't just say, "In Jesus' name, Amen." Okay, I'm done! Pray, and don't finish. Just keep quiet for a while. Do your best to keep your thoughts empty!

3. If when you're doing something you feel like you should pray, or read your Bible, do it! Now, I understand if you're in the middle of talking to somebody or working at something or school, this isn't really quite going to work, but you can pray even without actually taking time to stop what you're doing! I know!

So, there are some ideas.. I may turn this into a series, I don't know!

Some cool news, I graduate next June, I'm applying to a local college, (UNC) and I am going to major (this is all grounded on if I make it in) in Nursing as a Pre-Med! I'm so excited! Working on applications and scholarships! :D

"I am holding your hand"

I was reading in Isaiah 42 and I came on this verse,

"I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand."

So in the NKJV, it says "Your" with a capital "Y", but in the KJV it says "thine" with a small "t". That being said, when I read the verse, I felt like it was God telling humans He is holding their hand. However, seeing as the NKJV has it with a capital (capital usually refers to God's name) its confusing me because its smack dab in the middle of a prophecy about the coming Messiah. However, (and I know I'm using that word a lot), everything written here also goes for followers of the Messiah.

"I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the gentiles, To open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house."

To sum up, my thoughts on this passage are:

This passage is written about/to God's servant. Christians are God's servants. Jesus is God's Servant. We are to be imitators of Christ who, "being found in appearance of a man, humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death" and so we also are to do as this passage says and therefore, the promise is ours as well.

These are my thoughts on the passage. What do you think? Do you think this passage is in fact a promise for Christians, not just a prophecy of the Messiah? Do you think it's just a prophecy of the Messiah and nothing to do with a promise to Christians?

Never Forget

I want to remind you, readers, to remember the people who died today fourteen years ago during the attacks on our country. Pray for their families and for their friends. Remember our emergency workers, our military members, and our leaders and don’t forget to pray for them.

When the towers fell, America came together in a great way to provide relief and cleanup and sympathy. We joined together to rid ourselves of a crisis. We were great! Because we would not be put down, because we turned to God in the midst of our calamity, we rose up from that crisis.  Never forget what we can be as a country! Never forget to pray for our nation. 

That's what I wrote for the group blog I blog with :) You can check it out over at https://girlslivingforgodsglory.wordpress.com/ 

Honestly, I cannot even imagine what would happen if we were to face such a crisis now. I hope we would be able to all pull together but at the same time, I am very glad we haven't had to find out yet! 

Our country is in my prayers. I hope it is in yours as well.

Never forget!

Forgiveness and Awkward+Awesome

I've been being taught a lot about forgiveness this year. Forgiveness and putting my trust in God because, let's face it, people are screwed up- Bad! I'm no exception but when you're on the receiving end of somebody's mess ups, it kind of is more noticeable.

Forgiveness is absolutely key to joy. If we hold back forgiveness, we're really doing a number on ourselves. It might hurt the other person for a while but in the end they're just like.. "Well okay then. What the heck do I care if they're like that anyway." and they can go on with life whereas you are still mad. Believe me, I've been on both ends of this!

Alrighty, time for awkward + awesome now!

Awkward:

1. Realizing you have quite a few scars on you and stating "I have soo many scars!" to your mom and she answers, "That's nice." .....she thought I said "scarves"

2. Dreaming that a really nice kid you knows runs off the side of a cliff and dies and everybody else at church is sad but continues with the church function while you go into deep sadness... I think too many books I write have something to do with people dying lol

Awesome:

1. Seeing a friend at church that I haven't seen in a few weeks. Who cares if I didn't get to say hi? I saw them!

2. God's Fatherhood!

Hating God

"If we hate what is in our lives, we hate God's will, which in turn is hating God"

I was writing part of a story and was making an important dialogue between two characters and this just came out. Then it struck me how true it was. We can't hate what's in our lives without hating God. God directs our lives. He directs what occurs. He directs it all. If we hate what is in our lives, then we hate God's will which is hating Him. It's quite a wake up for me...

Books and Awkward+Awesome

I've been reading a real real lot lately! Let's see... I have read, Secret Believers, The Calling, Tramp for the Lord, and The Hiding Place for "Christian books". I've also read two books by G.A. Henty (look him up if you're looking for interesting history books) At the Point of the Bayonet, and For the Temple. Both of those are really good. As a matter of fact, it was the second time I read the former and third or fourth I've read the latter.

Then I've been reading random various books from the late 1800's early 1900's.

Alrighty... that epic time in my posts! Awkard+Awesome!

Awkward:

1. Sitting in a bus on the way home from camp and finally deciding to read your shirt everybody signed and finding a random guy wrote "I love you" on it........... Yeaaaaah.. thanks for not signing your name, bro.

2. Not being able to tell when people are kidding..... gets difficult

Awesome:

1. Camp was awesome!

2. School starting soon! YAY!

Whats been up

Hey hey! What's going down eh? I've been at camp all last week which was totally cool. It's called CampEXP and usually three or four churches go to it. It's awesome!

So... where should I begin? How about beginning with how much fun I had meeting some new people. The sessions were totally awesome. Mostly we focused on getting rid of titles people have given us. I've got some really good quotes from this week if y'all are ready for 'em.  I'll give a brief recap of each session and include the quotes.

Alright so the first night was Monday and we had Cruvine Brewington as our speaker. He gave us his testimony and gave us some good advice as well as thought provoking questions. He said that "All that God has called you to do, He has equipped you to do." He also reminded us not to let the things that did not create us, define us. His talk was really good. Unfortunately, I cannot remember who gave which testimony because they were all very similar. Pretty much they grew up in the bad part of town and spent some time in prison for various crimes. I can't remember which one goes with who!

Tuesday morning was Joe Adams. Pretty sure he didn't give a testimony. He spoke about relationships and reminded us that God should be our number one relationship. He spoke about giving of yourself in relationships and making sure you find your worth in God not people.

Tuesday night was Kendrick Vinar who is the senior pastor at Grace Church Chapel Hill. He spoke about forgiveness. He told us that you have to own your role in your negative history or you'll always be blaming other people and carrying that with you through life. He said "You make peace with your past when you own your own piece."

Wednesday morning was Dornell Tayleor. He gave us his testimony and and said, "God chooses what you go through, but you choose how you go through it." It was a really good reminder.

Wednesday night I didn't catch the guy's name but he spoke about how God is bigger than our failures and wants us for Himself. It was a good talk.

Thursday morning was Heath Caddell. He said that "Life is a long road with small steps." And told us not to keep asking God to give us more of Himself when He's clearly told us to do something because really, if God's told us to do something, then He's going to give us the things we need as we need them. It was a good message.

Thursday night was about the Holy Spirit. I lost my notes from then cause... *cough* well... let's say some guys are not careful when they sign your notebook and end up ripping a page out and then you carefully put it down and end up stepping on it with your wet shoes and... yes.

Friday morning was by Jay Koopman (the same guy that spoke Thursday night) and it was about....not living Christianity through emotions.

So I met a lot of people, had fun kidding them.. swimming... splashing... word battles... lol

I have a decent amount of stuff for awkward+awesomes in the future! haha

Long Silence + Awkward+Awesome

Yes, it has been almost a month! I'm sorry, but I was taking a break from electronics. I'm back now, though, and I hope to give regular updates!

So, tomorrow morning, I will be heading to summer camp (confetti and cheers please?)! Last year's was awesome and I'm really looking forward to this year's! I hope it's even better than last! Prayers for safety for me and my youth group would be appreciated! Also, prayers that God would move in our hearts this week. It's such an awesome opportunity that our church and our parents are giving us! I really want it to help us spiritually and I know it can!

Real quick I'll do an awkward+awesome!

Awkward:

1. the picture your brother shows to everyone in youth group (youth leaders and pastors included, not to mention the intern who came along for fun) of you looking like you just threw up or died on your very first roller coaster. Please congratulate me, it was the Intimidator. First and last roller coaster ride ever.

2. A friend's baby's diaper falling off and you having to carry the baby back to its mom... yeah.... at least it was clean!

Awesome:

1. Having said baby like playing with you finally!

2. Worship meetings! THEY ARE SO AWESOME!


Well, there you have it! I'll be back with more details soon! I'll try to write a devotional soon! I've been spending so much more time reading and praying while I've been off electronics! It's so awesome! I think I'll take weeks off at a time more often! ;)

Love,

Ruth

Prayer Date

Hey, people! That time again. For those who are new to following me, I periodically arrange prayer dates to pray for the persecuted church. It's not big, and we don't actually meet together, but we pray together at the same time. Sometimes, it's the little groups of people, the people who really are in earnest about what they're praying for, that make all the difference.

That being said, I want to arrange a prayer date for us to pray again. Due to having company this weekend, it can't really be this weekend. Can we make it next Tuesday? Let's say around eight o'clock again? That would be July 6th, at 8:00  pm EST. I hope you can join us in spirit! Praise God He hears us as a group even when we are far away!

Awkward + Awesome

It's that time again. Even with no youth group! :O Imagine that!

Awkward:

1. My baby goat putting her muzzle up just as I say, "kisses" to her and pursed my lips. Yup, I got kissed by a goat!

2. My other baby goat refusing to put his muzzle up like he always does when I say "kisses" due to being in a bad humour with me for taking him back to his pen... very awkward to have a goat diss you.

Awesome: (this is very hard hahaha)

1. Successfully keeping house :D

2. Free time :D

Well there ya go :D Don't forget to give a title for the poem in my last post! I need help! hahaha

Poetry

Did I mention I also pride myself on writing poetry? No I don't pride myself... I just enjoy doing it! Here's a little sample that I never gave a name. Comment below and suggest names! :D

The baby cries, and dear old dad,
opens his eyes just a tiny tad.
He sees sweet mommy,
lift the tiny tot.
His mind is in a foggy,
incoherent spot.
"Let me hold her, just this once.
I'm certain that I,
can perform the stunt."
Mommy is tired,
and that he surely knows,
or he never would aspire,
to calm the baby's throws.
When finally the baby sleeps,
to the nursery daddy silently creeps.
He looks quietly in,
on dreaming, precious dolls.
O to give them each their whim-
puppies, ponies, castle walls!
But such a thought is just a dream,
Daddy's not as strong as he seems.
Tiredly back to bed,
his weary feet do go.
Mommy kisses his swimming head.
"You're our castle, dear,
I'm certain you already know!"

Let me know how you liked it and if you want, give me a title for a new poem and I'll see about writing it! :D

Updates!

I've been writing a lot! I have a book I'm writing at the moment, set in the early 1900's. It's about a girl and her brother and her brother's bestfriend who's had a breakdown and come out to the country to stay with them over winter break. (Sorry that's the best I can do at giving a basic plot without telling you the whole story :P )

Other than that, I've been sewing some (1700's stays) and doing yet more school.... Arcsin anyone? How about simple squamous epithelium? :D Perhaps chondrocytes? hehehe Anyway, that's what I'm doing right now!

I don't think I have much material for an awkward + awesome. there wasn't any youth group this week! haha

I currently really want to make an 1910's gown... like REALLY want to make one. However, I don't feel like going to the trouble of making a 1910's corset... *cough* So... perhaps I'll just forget about it.. or dream about it or just.. yeah.

That's what's up folks! Hope you had fun reading my little doings :)

Purity

A few Sundays ago, one of my youth leaders did a very good talk on purity. It was spot on. He pointed out quite a few texts, among which was Paul's instructions to Timothy about how to speak to different people. "Treat older women as mothers, younger women as sisters with all purity." It goes in reverse, too. Pretty much what that passage seemed to say when put in that context was, "If you wouldn't do it to your sister, don't do it to your girlfriend. If you wouldn't do it to your brother, don't do it to your boyfriend."

He also said, personally, that we should keep ourselves as pure as possible. He said that once you're married, you'll wish you had kept yourself even purer than you had. It all made perfect sense. It was a really good talk and not awkward at all (despite sitting between two boys the entire time!) Time and again in the Bible, it says to be pure, to flee youthful lusts.

To my mind, the talk made wonderful sense! I think it was wonderfully put and I know I'm not doing it justice at all. Coming from him, it was said perfectly and I was very happy with it! I think I have the best youth leaders (and ex youth leaders) a teen ever had!

Ruth

What Goes On

So we've officially breaked for Summer, but I am still currently working on schoolwork. Because, if I stop for the whole summer, I end up forgetting everything, and besides, there's nothing to do sometimes so it's nice to keep going! I officially like studying :D

I'm also working on some things, finishing closing the porch in, painted my bedroom set the prettiest colour (hopefully pictures coming soon!), redecorated it, dug fence post holes few weeks ago, taking care of goats... yup! Little bit of music going on, but not much. That needs to change!

So, and Awkward + Awesome, because I love those! (And I'm just a really awkwardly awesome person, you know?)

Awkward:

1. Looking into the Chapel at church (with your face painted blue) and seeing your Senior Pastor's wife sitting inside with a group of ladies... yeeeeeeeeeah

2. Your voice cracking trying to hit a high note while singing at church, and just- stopping. No way I'm going to try that again.

3. Trying to scoot across a floor on a bathroom rug faster than another kid (my youth leaders love making us embarrassed and putting us on the spot)

4. Shaking around with a tissue box filled with ping pong balls tied to your back... Very awkward. (Thanks youth leaders! It was awesome! haha)

Awesome:

1. Happening to bake the same flavour pie that all the people you know love. Awesomeness.

2. Winning the tissue box game for my team. That was awesome!

3. Friends graduating! EEEP! I'm left behind! NOOOO! lol

4. Hanging with friends... virtually and in person! :D


There you go! Now you know a little of what I've been up to.. peeking into rooms with a blue face... shaking around all over the place to get ping-pong balls out of a tissue box... baking pies... Yeah! Awesome!

Loyalty

Don't forget it. Freedom isn't free.

God bless our military and their families.

Updated About Me

Hey, kids! I updated my "About Me" page! Pretty much all I tossed in was that this wasn't only a devotional blog, but also kind of a sort of "interesting event" diary! I realized I needed to change the description after a few "Awkward + Awesome" posts! Haha! Hope you enjoy my blog!

Awkward + Awesome

Because these are always fun :D

Awkward:

1. Accidentally sounding extremely racist toward two Asians at youth group, who I happen to get along with better than anyone else there....

2. Getting dressed up for a photo shoot and your neighbour friend coming over.. yeah... I just.. look like this every day...

3. Standing there waiting to say goodbye to your youth leader as one of the kids' parents is having this deep discussion about looking deeper into things with them and you just have no clue what he's trying to say....

Awesome:

1. Making new friends (one of the Asians I sounded racist about hehehe)

2. Blogging :D

3. Winning all but one of the five games we've played in our youth group series so far! Go team Lacidar! lol

Hope you enjoyed it!

Doubt

Doubt has a sneaky way of creeping into my life. I'm not exactly sure what starts it, but probably hard times. Like, a change in who I'm around. Problems with people I know. Stress. But he comes in quietly and sneakily with just a quiet whisper in my ear. "How do you  know you believe? How do you know you're saved?" Shameful thoughts, really, and thoughts that should be put out of my mind as quickly as possible! But when they're not immediately pushed away, they bring more and worse thoughts. "How do you know God is real?"

This happened to me just over this past weekend. It was the worst feeling, wondering if I really did doubt God's existence. I prayed my way through it, though, and God gave me a feeling of his realness in my soul. "Yea, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him who loved us." Satan was beat back and I am so happy!

I want to say that, just because you allow a thought into your head like, "How do I know God is real?", it does not mean you have lost faith or were never saved. Satan has a way of quietly slipping ideas into our brain and it is  a war to keep them out. "Taking captive every thought to the obedience of Christ." I need to make that my practice! To not let thoughts contrary to what God and  His Word tell me continue in my brain. I need to push them back immediately. There is a part in "Pilgrim's Progress" which was written by a man named John Bunyan, where Christian (his hero) is going through "The Valley of the Shadow of Death" and a devil slips up beside him in the darkness and whispers doubts and blasphemies in his ear. Bunyan writes "the poor man was so confounded he thought these things did arise from his own heart, for he did not perceive the devil" or words to that effect ;) I don't have the book in front of me. But we need to beware that we do not let Satan's thoughts continue in our brain. We need to be ready "in season and out" to combat, not only people who confront God's word, but also devils.

My thoughts for today! :) Hope they encourage you!

Armed Forces Day

Hey there! Happy Armed Forces day! I found out, that a lot of people don't realize there's even a day that we honour men and women currently enlisted in the armed forces. Which to me, being the patriotic and supportive little soul I am, is quite astounding!

So... Armed Forces Day, is the day we honour people currently serving in the U.S. Military.  Veterans' Day is for honouring veterans (anyone who has fought) and Memorial Day is remembering those who died.

So there's your brief tutorial on military holidays! Don't forget to thank people in your life who are serving, or have a family member who is serving in our military! They deserve our love, our respect, our support, and our unwavering loyalty. Don't forget to pray for them and our Country and their families! There's a saying "The only thing harder than being a soldier, is loving a soldier" Show any military family or member you know some love today. They need it!

Thanks to all our military and their families for what they do for us! God bless you all!

Awkward + Awesome

I love reading these, so I thought I'd start doing them on here! I do have quite a few interesting moments, but for now, we'll limit it to three in each category ;)

Awkward:

Not receiving an answer to a text or facebook message and wondering if the person is mad at you.

Rounding the corner of your house whistling "He wears a blue bonnet" (old English folk song) and realizing state guys are putting up a "Work Zone" sign right there! AHHH

Taking selfies and realizing your face is extremely sunburnt...

Awesome!

Finding a baby deer at the park and picking it up! She was cute!

Going outside to feed my pets on Mother's Day and taking selfies with them and my yearling goat putting his muzzle to my forehead right as I snapped a shot! O.O So cute! He gave me a Mother's Day kiss!

Finding out the person that didn't text you back is not at all mad at you! *whew!*


There you have it! Hope it made you smile! Let me know if you want pictures of my goat and the deer! I love comments!

One of "Those" Weeks

I don't know if you've had one of these weeks before. You're super busy. You're happy. You're doing pretty well in school (except this week *sigh* I haven't been doing much school. But when I have, it's been going well!) And then you finally get a minute to sit down. Bam! Wait.. I was happy a minute ago....

Stress of things that happened.. things that are scheduled to happen.... things you don't know how they're going to happen. That's what makes me have weeks like this! I wrote a song about it... I'm going to be posting it to my Google+ if you're interested. (Not sure exactly when that will happen ... limited internet service around here) Here are the lyrics. It's called, "You Are the One". I wrote it on April 27th, 2015. It is my own personal work. Just putting it out there.

Here I am again,

Aching and hurting.

Here my cry again,

Begging and pleading!

I don't know why,

I feel this way.

But I know!

Chorus:

You are the One, 

My heart longs for.

You are the One,

Who gives me joy!

You are the One,

I run to, 'cause I know that You,

Are always here for me!

Here I am again,

Brought down to my knees.

Here my plea again,

Take this pain from me!

I don't know how, I really feel.

It doesn't really matter 'cause I know!

Chorus

Bridge: 

God I'm running for Your love,

I'll follow only You,

doesn't matter where You lead,

I'll follow only You!

Chorus

So there's a little insight into my lyric writing... my week. I actually wrote this last week, but I'm constantly reminding myself of it this week. God is my joy! He is always here for me and nothing else really, actually factually matters. I can be as stressed as anything, but so long as I have God, it doesn't matter. It's very comforting to be able to go to God with everything and to lean on Him. My prayers have always been personal rather than formal. I think that's how God wants us to come to Him. Remember Jesus said, "Abba" Which is "Daddy" in Hebrew. And we are brothers and sisters to Christ. We have a personal relationship with God the Father, through Jesus! He wants us to be personal! It's beautiful! I cannot imagine my life without Jesus!

Don't forget to lean on Jesus! He loves us more than we love ourselves!

Hey!

First post on this new blog, and I'm totally excited! I want to share with you something that I've been learning lately.

Patience and faith mostly. You know, I was worried for a while about what my life's going to look like in a few years. Will I get married? Will I have a family? Or am I going to be a spinster my whole life? I got impatient to know what the future was. Do you know that I heard at least three times last week (which was really a climax of my being like.. WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN?!) that God holds everything for us and gives it to us at the right time. A random cashier at the grocery store. A story on the radio. A small voice inside me while I was praying. I distinctly remember being incredibly surprised that I had heard the same thing so many times! Okay. I got the message. God, you aren't going to tell me right now what I can expect. I need to have faith and know You're planning a perfect future for me.

I may get impatient, but overall I am going to try my best to be patient and wait on God's timing. I may lose faith about His plan, but when I do, I remind myself. God is perfect. He's in control! Why worry when you know God loves you?! It's a great comfort!

There you go! My first post! I'll be trying to post about twice a week! Check out my about page! It has some info on me to help you get to know the writer behind the posts ;)

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus"

That's what this blog is about! My journey pressing toward the prize! It's going to be crazy. It's going to be awesome! It's going to be sad. It's going to be happy! But it will all ultimately be for God's glory!