indecisiveness will get you nowhere.

I have been blessed

I haven't posted in forever! I have been crazy busy! i think the last time i posted was right after RATI.. and that was in April. so I guess i'm overdue on one. so here goes. Be prepared.. its long. :)

So, first off, on the 17th of June i went on a 10 day vacation with my lovely and amazing friend Caroline, and her fantabulous family:) we went to the Grand Canyon, four Corners, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore and tons more places in between. Here are a few pictures from it :)

Arches National Park, Moab Utah.
Grand Canyon!!

Four Corners. yes. i am in all four states. :)

so, that was an awesome, fun and educational experience. I was also so incredibly lucky to be able to spend that time with Caroline before she heads off for a missionary music thing this fall for a year! I shall miss her. *sniff* anyways, we had an amazing time.. over 3000 miles in a car makes up for some fantastical stories. ;) After ten days of epic, crazy, busy and amazing fun, they dropped me off and my brother Gage's house, in South Dakota. I was so glad to see them :D That night, I repacked all my bags, and the next morning at 3:30 am *yawn* they took me to the rapid city airport and I flew all the way down to Houston Texas. :D Thus began my next little adventure.

After arriving in Houston, (where the weather is oh so lovely and the air smells fantastic ;) ) I was picked by some of my awesome Friends... and they also gave me my very first Monster. Cuz goodness sakes, i needed it. :) They so graciously let me stay with them that night and i had a stinkin blaast :D And then that next morning we all headed down to S.M.I.T.E. (which was the reason i came down there :P )

Smite, which stands for "Summer Missionary Institute of Training and Evangelism" you can check it out at " www.smitecamp.org " basically its a camp teaching how to lead a 5 day Bible club. They teach how to effectively tell stories, how to lead a child to Christ through a worldless book, and lots of other things about witnessing. During that week, for the first time in my life, I got to lead two adorable little girls to Christ. Which automatically makes it a week i will never ever forget. Life changing, to say the least. Watching those little girls faces light up, after accepting Jesus in their hearts was something that i want to see happen again and again. Getting to tell kids about Christ is THE most satisfying thing i have ever done, period. I learned how to pray harder than ever and to seek God in every situation. I really cant explain what a huge an impact that it had on me.( Not to be hilariously commercial or anything, but if you are interested in going, hit me up and i shall inform you all about it ;) )

But besides all that, they have amazing speakers every night, and just general awesomeness all week long :) God worked in my heart that week like never before. One of the really impacting sermons was on Respect. Respect to Parents, Siblings, friends, every kind of relationship. Respect is key. And it's such an easy thing to forget. I think the main respect i need to focus in on right now in my life, is for Parents. I forget so easily all that they have done for me. and even if they had done nothing for me, God commands us to into the Bible. What better reason? :) So i have really been trying to put that into action since i have been home. Let me be real honest, I have found, whenever you have a spiritual epiphany and decide to be Godly and fantastic, Satan usually aims all his biggest guns at you. I seriously think I have had more trouble with respect now, than ever before. But if you keep at it, keep following Him, there's that breaking point when it hits. That moment when satan knows your heart is in the right place, seeking God and your not going to fall.. and he gives up and moves on. Then it all becomes so worth it. I'm still working on it ;) well that was my little sermon that i didn't mean to happen. but I guess i'll leave it.

So, as you can see, Smite impacted me in ways that will stay with me for... a really long time, if not my whole life. I'm so glad God let me go and I'm also thankful for my awesome friends that told me about it. :)

This song was one that was sang, probably every night, at smite. It was definitely my favorite. The words are so powerful and true. You can look up the real song, I believe it's by Champion Bible College.

When He walks among us, all that He does, All of His mercy and all of His love. If the pen of a writer could write every day even this world could never contain just how I've been blessed / The warmth in the winter, the flowers in spring, the laughter of summer, and the changing of leaves. Food on my table, a good place to sleep, clothes on my back and shoes on my feet. Oh, I have been blessed.

I have been blessed, God's so good to me, precious are His thoughts of you and me. No way I could count them there's not enough time, so I'll just thank Him for being so kind. God has been good, so good. I have been blessed.

Arms that will raise, a voice that can talk, hands that can touch and legs that can walk. Ears that can listen and eyes that can see, oh, I've got to praise Him as long as I breathe. Cause I have been blessed / Father and mother, nurtured and raised, my sisters and brothers, memories made. Our pastor to lead us, this altar to pray, Stripes that can heal and a Blood that can save. Oh, I have been blessed.

We live in a country, the greatest on earth, our flag stands for freedom and what it is worth. She stands in the harbor, Ms. Liberty calls, all have gave some, but some gave it all for me to be blessed / A shoulde to lean on when I am down, a rock where He leads me when I'm overwhelmed. The place where He hides me under His wings. He's not just a song, He's the reason I sing, Oh, and I have been blessed.

well, thats all for now :)

Life is great, and gettin' better!

I haven't blogged in a while. wow. my bad. But i am now. :)

So This past month was the Regional ATI Conference. I had so much fun, learned buckets loads of greatness, made epic, everlasting memories and most importantly, grew so much closer to Christ. I thought i would share maybe a little bit of this awesomeness with you. :)

First off, I will explain myself a little bit. I was a pre-excel team leader all week, (which is basically teaching and taking care of a class of twelve 8-12 year old girls from 8am to 5pm every day.) This was SO much stinkin' fun! I was a TL last year also, but I guess i have changed a lot since then, because, boy oh boy was it so much more fun! My girls were all amazing and all the other team leaders, assistants, and everyone else that helped, were just the bees knees :)

Our theme this year, was Proverbs 31:27 which is "She looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness" This was such the perfect verse for my week, my year, my life. Because, you see.. it's so easy to be lazy, idle, uncaring and sit back in my comfy little hammock, watching life reel by me like a movie. What kind of life am I living!? I know it was supposed to reach the little pre excel-ers.. but goodness. God used it so much in my life. It's made me really re-examine my own heart, motives, time and see what i am putting first in my life.

Another thing i came to realize while i was there is, I am so fortunate to have amazing far away friends. For real. I think i have the best far away friends... ever. Better than yours. no joke. I wait all year for conference to see these people. I know God placed them in my life at exactly the right time, to help me grown spiritually and ... well.. definitely not physically.. i haven't grown physically since i was twelve. Anyways.. I pretty much had the most fun Ever with these peoples :) But not only are they oodles and gobs of fun-ness.. they are some of the only friends i have that actually challenge me. You know those types of friends who tell you everything you want to hear, no matter if its true of not?.. My friends are not that type of friends. ;) They have chipped away at me so much i thought i would probably break into pieces.. But everytime, i grow stronger and more confident in Christ. They actually tell me when i am wrong..! You all need friends like mine. ;)

This post will abruptly end.

The End.

Josh Harris: Is God enough?

I thought this was so great. So i figured it should be shared :)

http://www.covlife.org/modules/listen-online/2671268

Stuff In my head..

Well, I haven't written in here in quite a while. fail. Life has been busy, what else can I say. Anyways, I have had a lot on my mind lately and I thought I would post some of my random thoughts.

#1. I know my last post was on contentment. I guess i have issues with it, because God's still working with me on it. But i can truthfully say, I'm getting better. There are a few books I have been reading that have helped with it. Crazy Love, by Francis Chan, is one of them. [http://www.francischan.org/] It's by far one of the best books I have ever read. This book has really helped me learn contentment for one reason. It has really shown me how much I love My Jesus. He is all I need and nothing else. I just need to remember how much HE loves me. I have found that if I focus all my attention on Christ, plunge myself into all that he has done for me, it is much easier to be content in His love. No person, foreign country, job, ministry, newest technology or anything else can compare to His Love for me. what else do i need? Nothing.

{Some other great books I've been reading lately are "Don't waste your live"-John Piper, "Radical" - David Platt, and.. The Bible. <-- thats a good one, for certain. :) }

#2. Family means so much. So why do we treat them like they are least important? It's ridiculous really. Think about it. We treat the ones we love the most, so substandard. Because we know deep down in our hearts that no matter how hateful we talk or how vexatious we may be, our family will always be the ones who will love us no matter what we do. This has been on my mind a lot lately. Maybe it's because I am so guilty of it. This is something I'm working on.. But I encourage you to examine your self. Does your family know how much they really mean to you?

#3. I don't have a #3 at the moment. well. I actually do, but it's not ready to share yet. So when it is, it'll be up :)

A lesson on being content.

I am reading through a little devotional book called "Streams in the Desert" which is a 365 day devo. I'm really enjoying it, even though it's only January 7th. But today's message definitely stuck out to me and i wanted to share it with you.

January 7

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstance.(Philippians 4:11)

"Paul. while being denied every comfort, wrote the above words from a dark prison cell.

A story is told of a king who went into his garden one morning, only to find everything withered and dying. He asked the oak tree that stood near the gate what the trouble was. The oak said it was tired of life and determined to die because it could not bear grapes like the grapevines. The grapevine was determined to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and produce fruit as large as the peaches. The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac.

And so it went though the garden. Yet coming to a violet, the King found its face bright and happy as ever and said,"Well Violet, I'm glad to find one brace little flower in the midst with all this discouragement. You don't seem to be the least bit disheartened." The violet responded, "No, I'm not.. I know I'm Small, yet i thought if you wanted an oak tree or a pine or a peach tree or even a lilac, you would have planted one. Since I knew you wanted a violet, I'm determined to be the best little violet I can be.

Others may do a great work

but you have you part to do;

And no one in all God's family

can do it as well as you.

People who are God's, without reservation "have learned to be content whatever the circumstances," His will becomes their will, and they desire to do for Him whatever he desires them to do. They strip themselves of everything, and in their nakedness find everything restored a hundredfold.

L.B Cowman

Mercy

I was at church the week after Christmas and our Preacher talked about something I had never thought too much about. Mercy. I always thought I knew what it was, but i now realize had never fully grasped its meaning.

Mercy:
a. Compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject; lenient or compassionate treatment.
b. Compassionate treatment of those in distress.

As I listened to My pastor explain what all mercy entitles and how I can gain it, I was convinced more and more that I wanted to have it. I want to show mercy to my family, friends, those that are suffering from heartaches and trials in their lives....everyone. God is so merciful to my sinful self every day, that I in return can only hope to portray a few traits of my maker.

Jude 1:21 says "Keep yourselves in the love of God. looking for the MERCY of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal Life."

This year I have decided, along with many more of my friends, to pick a word for 2011. I got this idea from www.gritandglory.com I would encourage all of you to read her post titled "one word." and consider praying about a "word for the year" yourself. :)

As you can easily guess, I decided on the word Mercy. It is such an important quality that is so easily over looked. (or has been in my life).

Mercy. It's a sketchy word. Hard to define. But this year I plan on defining it with my Life.