Thankfullness

I'm going to dedicate this blog post to thanking God.

I'm thankful for my friends that I can depend on... the one's that are always there even if I haven't talked to them for a long time... I am SO blessed to have friends that will stop and think about where they're going with their lives and whether it's glorifying God or not... and if it's not, then they will sacrifice things so they can make it right and get on the straight path again.

I'm even thankful for the friends that don't seem to be there very often... or even the friends that sometimes focus more on themselves... because I still learn from them and it gives me the opportunity to remind them that their focus needs to be on God.

I am thankful that no matter what, God always brings me back to Him. I haven't been feeling the greatest lately and haven't been feeling God's presence lately... well in church today, I was in His presence... I felt such a love and praise for Him that I haven't felt in a long time... not like that. He has truly blessed me.

I am thankful that we can always trust Him... it makes things so much easier when you can just depend on Him and not worry about what the future holds... because I know that no matter what, I'm going to end up in Heaven with Him forever. And that's all that's going to matter in the end.

Thank You, Father God, for everything that You've blessed me with. You are my Creator, Father, Lover, and Friend. Thank You for simplying being You <3

How am I suppose to react to that?

Ok so I have a question, and if you can answer, please do so, 'cause I'd like to know.

I'd like to know how you're supposed to react when your little brother is being a pain. Not just annoying, oh no, but telling you to shut up every 5 seconds, especially when you're barely saying anything, or if you're not talking to him at all. Like just now, he was holding Gold Bond creme stuff and I asked him why, he said because he had bug bites. Since he said that, I was going to tell him about a guy I know who literally got bug bites ALL OVER his body! It's crazy! You should see it. Anyways, right as I said, "Dude, I know this..." he interrupts and says, "Shut up Addie! Don't talk to me!" and of course, I responded in a way that I probably shouldn't of, but I said, "No Andrew, you're not the boss of me" So he keeps telling me to shut up and I keep saying no so he tries to kick me and threatens to hit me because he's mad. So how am I suppose to react to that? Am I suppose to just do as he says and make him think that he's my boss and has control over me? I don't think that's the answer either. So please, if you have a really good answer, please please PLEASE let me know because I'm all out of ideas and I'm tired of being mad and frustrated with this.

I've tried praying about this over and over again but nothing seems to come. It's VERY irritating and I have no clue or idea what to do!!!!!!! Please help me!!!!!!!

Living for Today

I'm going to make my post today short 'n' sweet :)

God has really opened my eyes today. Not really to anything specific but just living one day at a time and loving life. Even if you're cleaning up the house and everything. :) I found joy in that today. Doing the dishes, laundry, and cleaning my room. I feel accomplished and I actually really enjoyed it. :)

If you're rushing through the day, stressed by how much you have to get done, or if you're anxious for the next day to come, please take a moment to breathe deeply and see the day God has given you with a new set of eyes. Because each day is a gift from above and you won't ever get that day back. We will never have Tuesday, July 13, 2010 ever again. So please, make the most of it. :)

True Love

I challenge you to read this whole thing. :)

1 Corinthians 13

1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

This chapter, as you can see, is all about love. Now whenever I always thought of this verse, I always thought of this is how we're supposed to treat other people. Which is 100% correct. However, I never thought about that this is also how I should treat my family. We're around our families all the time so we don't always think to treat them how we would treat our friends. So I want to make this my challenge, and yours if you choose, to treat my family the same way, by being patient, kind, not jealous, not boasting, not being proud, rude, self-seeking, easily angered, or keeping record of wrongs. Not delight in evil but rejoicing in the truth, I'm going to try to always be protecting, trusting, hoping, and persevering. :) I make this my challenge not to only treat my friends and everyone else this way, but also my family. :)

Thanksgiving-
#2: I'm thankful for love. Many people mistake infatuation for love. If you don't know what infatuation means, I encourage you to go look it up. But real love is all of the things listed in the verses above. Nobody's perfect, no one can do all of these things all the time. But God can. God is the only one with the perfect love. And I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful that God has perfect love and that He wants us to experience it so much that He gave it to us, by sending Jesus to die on the cross. The most perfect love, the most perfect sacrifice, anyone could EVER give just so we can experience true love with Him. <3 True love DOES exist. <3 It's up to you whether you want to receive it.

Proverbs 15:1

There's this beautiful young woman named Danae, that just graduated from my school this year, and lately, I've been reading her blog. She is such an amazing woman of God. In her most recent post she was talking about taking time to just be still, quiet, and be with God. She was the Valedictorian in her class and so she had to make a speech for graduation. This is exactly what her speech was about, to take time to just be still and KNOW that He is God. :) so I've decided to take time each day, whenever I could, to write on here a verse that's been on my mind or that I've come across. And to also just take time to thank God and look at the positive things in life because I'm tired of just seeing all the negative. So I'm gonna really dig down deep and find something. Not just the typical things like, I'm thankful for a house, clothes, food, etc. I'm not saying that these things aren't important, or that they're not worthy to be thankful for. I'm not saying that at all. It's just that every time I try to think of something to be thankful for, these are the things I think of, and I want to find something new and different, something that I don't normally think about being thankful for.

Proverbs 15:1
"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."

I was thinking about this verse today. Because this morning, I had just gotten up so I wasn't in the mood for people to be talking to me, and my parents were asking me to put my dirty clothes in the laundry room because I wasn't gonna have much time today (I had to leave about an hour after I woke up to go work at the fireworks booth and I wouldn't be home til 4 hours later as my parents pointed out). I knew these things. And that's exactly what I told them. I knew that I had all this stuff going on today but I also knew, and my parents knew, that I probably wasn't going to get to it later 'cause I'm just that way. So I got really irritated with them and apparently, my brother was irritated with all of us 'cause out of the blue, he yelled, "Shut up!" he was trying to sleep. So what did I say? "No Andrew!" but guess what! No one said anything after that. lol :) I was genuinely surprised he didn't have a smart remark for that. haha :) anyways, right after that happened, I thought of this verse. This is one thing that I REALLY need to work on... which I'm doing. It's worked several times when I was getting mad at my sister and was yelling, I would think of this verse, calm down, then apologize and try to state my point more calmly than just trying to yell it at her.
I went on Facebook just minutes after all this went down with my parents this morning and saw that my good friend, Taylor (whom I've been in the same class with since pre-school! lol), his mom put up this story as her status: "Dealing w/a snooty sales rep..I started to match her attitude, and it was going downhill fast. She put me on hold, saying they wouldn't do the refund, etc.. the verse came to mind 'A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.' When she came back, I apologized for my part of it..her attitude COMPLETE...LY changed..she apologized too & agreed to our refund! (It was almost $400, so what a blessing!)" so it became my verse for the day :)

Today, I'm thankful for all of my friends that I have met and ever will meet. Whether they've been in my life since forever, or they've only been in it for a short while. They have ALL made a difference in my life one way or another. God put them in my life for a reason to help me learn. :) so thank you guys <3

Your Music, Not Ours

I want to make Your music,

Become part of a symphony of instruments: Your children
Where what we create speaks to people, spreading Your name
Yes we aren't all perfect, we do have sharps and flats
But You use that to make our story even more beautiful
Tell us, again, Your story, Father. We want to hear it
And be reminded of everything You've done for us.

You're story is like the melody of notes, written on a page
And ours, just the simple harmonies, but You are the lead.

Be our Composer, Father God. Make us into Your music.
Make our notes, our lives, our experiences, short and staccato, or long and legato,
Pianissimo, or forte, for Your glory. To make a difference in this world even if we don't see it.
Music is a universal language, and You, are our universal Father. Father of everything.

You are also the Conductor. If you slow down, so do we.
No matter how we think the music, our future, is written before us,
You can change it however which way you want. Drag out the rests, or speed them up.
Make the music however You want it to be.
And use Your instruments, so we can be apart of the majesty too.

Smooth Hands

Ok so I know it's been a while since I've posted anything on here. I guess I'm just having a hard time thinking of good stuff to put on here. And when I do, I'm just not really in the mood to sit down at the computer and start writing. I really want to be in the mood when I do so I can really say what I'm feeling and make it more meaningful and understandable. So what am I going to talk about today? I'm not exactly sure... it was either yesterday or a couple of days ago (not sure which one but I'm pretty sure it was yesterday) I thought of something to put on here so I guess I'll start with that. :)

Ok so a while ago my mom bought this hand stuff from Mary Kay that is really rough and sand-like when you put it on your hands; it even kind of hurts when you rub it into your skin. But anyways, after your done scrubbing it and you wash your hands under water, your hands become really smooth. Like REALLY smooth! It's unbelievable! And I love it! :D It even makes my hands look whiter than they did before - like it washed off all of the dead skin or something. :) ANYWAYS, where I'm going with this is this - that hand stuff is like life, and how God works in it. There are times when it's really really rough and it hurts to the point when it seems unbearable. But in the end, God brought us through it and washed it away - the pain, the guilt, the sufferings. And it becomes smooth. Granted, it isn't smooth forever. There comes a time where you have to wash your hands with that stuff again. But everytime, God's right there to give us a break every once in a while and have our hands nice and smooth. :) No matter what happens, we have to remember what the outcome will be - Jesus. :D He died on the cross for our sins. He had to go through rough stuff BIG time!!!!! Bearing the weight of the whole entire world's sin, past, present, and future, on His back; to the point where God turned His face away from Him. But you know what happened in the end? Jesus rose from the dead. A perfect man, overcame sin, because He's the Son of God.

So I just encourage you all to remember who your Creator is, and who died for you. Continue to praise Him, even in your darkest hour. Don't give Satan the luxury of watching us suffer and taking us down with him. Jesus will carry you through! He said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." I'm sorry that I'm not quite sure what that reference is, but you can look it up on www.biblegateway.com It's a GREAT place to go to find verses you're looking for. :) Thanks you guys! If you have any topics you'd like me to go over, just let me know and I'll see what I can do! :D

For the Lord!!!!!!!!!! <3

Strengthening Relationships with God and Friends

God has been teaching me a lot lately. He's been teaching me to trust in Him and just altogether lean on Him. The disciples did just that. Even literally. In John 13 verse 23: "Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved."

When I came across that verse, it was evident to me that Jesus had a real relationship with His disciples. They weren't just His 'posse'. They were His friends that He truly loved and hung out with because He enjoyed their company. We have to lean on our Creator and lean on each other. When one of our friends stumble, we've gotta pick them back up and lean them against us and our God. It's important to keep good company around because you want others that will influence you in a good and positive way. Ones that won't just sympathize but will actually remind you of why you're here and of God's grace and love. Don't be afraid to speak up when your friends are doing something you know that God doesn't approve of.

One time I was in the car with my dad and two of my friends. We were talking about how the devil tries to attack us. That's when my dad said that once my mom was reading a book, and in it, it said that if the devil is attacking you continuously but you run to God every time he attacks, then he'll stop attacking you in that area of your life because he doesn't want us running to God. We have to remind ourselves and our friends of that because if you run to God for EVERYTHING, you become stronger in Him and you don't feel alone. That's how I feel. God has been teaching me to always run to Him for everything and I don't feel alone. I feel like I'm always on stable ground.

My pastor has been preaching about this a lot lately; that in the Bible it talks about Shadrach, Meshach, Abendigo, and Daniel. They stood up for what they believed in. They decided to influence others instead of compromise their standards. And the best part is, they stood TOGETHER. In Ecclesiastes 4:12 it says, "Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken." There IS strength in numbers and we ARE our brothers' keepers. So I just encourage you all to be there for your friends and help lead them along the right path. Ask them how they're doing and if they need any prayer for anything. It'll strengthen your relationship with them and God. And when they see how pure your love is for them, they'll begin to see God's love for them. :)

Trusting God ----- Hold My Heart by Tenth Avenue North

Today this song has really been speaking to me. I've loved this song for a very long time but there are a few times when it just really hits the heart and I can hear the trueness in the singers voice. I encourage you to listen to it. The name of it is Hold My Heart by Tenth Avenue North. I was looking up music for this song and I came across their website. The writers said that they wrote this when they were going through some rough things in their lives. This song is based off of Psalm 13 and like David, they decided to trust in the Lord even when He didn't seem to be there because they know He was. Psalm 13: "How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorry in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; lest my enemy say, 'I have prevailed against him'; lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved. But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me."

How long must I pray
Must I pray to You
How long must I wait
Must I wait for You
How long 'till I see Your face
See You shining through

I'm on my knees
Begging You to notice me
I'm on my knees
Father, will You turn to me

One tear in the dropping rain
One voice in a sea of pain
Could the Maker of the stars
Hear the sound of my breaking heart
One life is all I am
Right now, I can barely stand
If You're everything You say You are
Would You come close and hold my heart

I've been so afraid
Afraid to close my eyes
So much can slip away
Before I say goodbye
But if there's no other way
I'm done asking why

Cause I'm on my knees
Begging You to turn to me
I'm on my knees
Father, will You run to me

(Chorus)

So many questions without answers
Your promises remain
I can't see but I'll take my chances
To hear You call my name
To hear You call my name

(Chorus)

A Child's Mind

I think the reason why the Bible tells us to accept Jesus as a little child would is because a child's mind is open and endless; nothing is impossible to them. But as we get older and people tell us that there are things we can't do we start to get skeptical. As life goes on we have troubles and failures and as soon as we fail, that thing is crossed off our list of things that aren't impossible. We don't keep our creativity and imagination. We start to think logically and out of fact not faith. When in fact faith is what keeps us going. We need to accept and trust in Jesus just as a little kid would. Because to them nothing is impossible and for Jesus nothing is impossible. The human mind is put in a box. We can only grasp certain things. People say that there's no God because it's impossible for someone to have no beginning, no end, and to create everything. But think about this for a minute: God was here first. God created US. Not the other way around. We have no right to say whether it's impossible or not for Him to exist because if it wasn't for Him, we wouldn't exist. If we were capable of creating a person, giving it life, and that little person started to say that it's impossible for us to exist we would think, "How would you know? I was here first and I created you. Whether you exist or not, I still do. Without you I would still be alive but without me, you wouldn't be." So let's stop questioning God about the things He's capable of doing and just trust in Him. He created everything so why wouldn't He be able to change it? If we create a line of dominoes and only the first part works for us, we can go back and change the layout of the second part to make it so it all works out in the end. So can God. The Bible says that all things work out for good of those who love Him. He created everything little step in time and nothing happens by chance. He's the creater so let's give Him all the credit and put all our faith and trust in Him! :D
Matthew 18: 1-5 "At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, 'Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.'
If you have any questions or need any prayer, I'd be happy to help you. :) Just let me know! :D

Special Moments

Special Moments are the times when we have intimate conversations, the most fun, and just altogether amazing things with the people we love the most. We all wish we had more of those special moments. That we could just have them every time we see the people we most cherish because we want to get closer to them and enjoy their company more. The only thing is, those moments are the most rare and that's what makes them so special. If we had those moments everyday, then they wouldn't be special anymore. It's frustrating when those moments hardly come at all because then we're not sure if they're real. And longing for those special moments when you feel so alone-well, that's when they seem the most precious to us. So how do we be content? Let's give God our time and our Special Moments-because unlike people, He's always there to share them with us. And that's the only time we'll be truly happy. :)