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.