Makin' Time.

Good morning everyone!
(Seriously, it's 5:28am...)

I am actually working on another blog post but felt called to post this one now.

This past week has been so busy.
Let's see.

Homework. Of course.
End of 9 weeks = every teacher wants more points so they pound out the work, leaving students frustrated and stressed and having a ton of work.
Math test, English test, History essay due, make up gym, homework, study for History and Chemistry test, try not to fail anything.

The weekend:
Friday- Got home at 2:50. Babysat 3-4:30. Cleaned/Packed, slept over grandparents 6ish-pm. Stayed up til 2am.
Saturday- Went straight from grandparents' house to Harvest Party, 3-9. Babysat 7-11. Got home at 11:30. Exhausted. Sleep.
Sunday- Woke up, got ready, church. Got home after 1. Felt sick. Nap until 3. Helped my mom clean, family came over for Steeler game 4-8. 8pm... oh yeah, history test tomorrow and english homework due tomorrow. Do English homework. Try to study. Make my lunch for tomorrow. Exhausted. Bed.

I'm not telling you  my whole schedule to get pity or anything but I know we all have busy schedules like this and I thought it'd be more relate-able than if I just said "I was busy this week."

So my point in this is making time for God when you're extremely busy/exhausted.

Let me be the first to admit I am horrible at this.
I know how to do it, too. But I'm horrible at it.
But it's something God can fix in me, and you too cause I think we all struggle with this from time to time!

But here's how you do it:

Read your Bible/worship/pray in the morning.

Before your day gets busy.

It's really as simple as that.

Once when I was in kids' church, someone did this illustration:
They took a bowl. And they kept naming things they did that day. For everything they named, they put a scoop of sand in the bowl. When they were finished, the bowl was full of sand.
Then they took a ball, and called the ball spending time with God.
They tried to put it in the bowl, but there was no room for it.

Then they did it again.
But this time, they put the ball in first. And then scooped in all the sand.
And everything fit.

That's really how it works. Put God first and everything else will fall into place.

Get up a little earlier if you have to.

Put on some Hillsong or whatever gets you worshiping and get out your Bible and read. Maybe one chapter. Maybe one book. Maybe a couple different verses in different places.
Whatever works for you.

You're probably thinking,
"I'll be exhausted if I get up any earlier. I'm exhausted as it is."
Yeah that's my argument too.

But then I remember I'll be exhausted no matter what if I don't spend time with God first.
I won't be refreshed.
I won't be ready for the day!

Here's another idea: National Anthem Prayer!

It sounds really funny but I bet your school does this (If you go to school).
Every morning you have to stand there and listen to the national anthem.
Take that couple minutes to talk to God! Give him your day and everyone you  meet and everything you do, ask for boldness to speak his name, ask for protection for yourself and everyone else throughout the day, pray for the teachers, whatever comes to mind!
I started this last week and am loving it.
Just a thought!

If anyone else has ideas, comment them and I'll add them to this post!
This is definetely an idea we all need encouragement about.

Just put God first.

And everything else will fit.

"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24
Worship Him with the day He made :)

The Cry.

Okay so pretty much everyone knows the song Enchanted by Taylor Swift.

Let me just inform you that I do not listen to Taylor Swift. Not that I have anything against her or anything. I like Taylor Swift. I don't hate her music. It's not like I've never listened to or heard a single Taylor Swift song in my life. I just don't own any Taylor Swift CDs, there isn't Taylor Swift music on my ipod.

Butttttttttttt, in the song Enchanted, there is a part that goes

"Please don't be in love with someone else, please don't have somebody waiting on you."

Now, I've heard this a million times (my sister listens to her) and I've seen it on just about a million people's facebook statuses.
It's just a good line.

Cause isn't that what we want?

Well today it hit me.

I was walking down the hall at my school, and that line was stuck in my head.

Please don't be in love with someone else, please don't have somebody waiting on you.

And then I realized, that is GOD'S cry to US.

You. Me. The people we pass in the hall. The people we work with. Our families. Our friends. The people we see at the store.
Everyone in this world.

See, we belong to Him.
He created us to love Him.

And so many times, we turn to the things of this world.
We look to music. To people. To alcohol. To tv shows. To ANYTHING that will satisfy us for any amount of time.

God is BEGGING us. Please don't be in love with someone else.

Please don't go to bed and text 'til you fall asleep.
Please talk to Me.

Please don't spend all your money on Starbucks and clothes and designer bags and video games when My children are dying of starvation on the streets.

Please don't waste your time listening to and watching things that will only bring you down.
Please read My word. Please worship Me.

When someone asks you about Me, please stand up for me.

Please don't be so in love with yourself that you're afraid what will happen if you're in love with Me.

If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Romans 14:8

I think you get the picture.

Please don't be in love with someone else, please don't have somebody waiting on you.

Offended.

Good morning, everyone.

I woke up today to screaming.
Lots of screaming.
And I don't know about you, but that gets to me sometimes.
If you are a human being, your family probably fights.
Maybe you're the one screaming.
Maybe it's someone else.

Maybe it's your siblings, maybe your parents, your spouse, anyone really.

But it gets old real fast, doesn't it?

And sometimes the words they say hurt.
They offend you.

A lot of times it makes me upset, sad, hurt, or angry.
And I want to just not talk to anyone and that way they can't hurt me again AND they'll know I'm mad at them.

But I am constantly reminded of this verse:

Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!”
   Wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.
Proverbs 20:22 NIV

It reminds me to keep on loving everyone and talking to them even when I don't want to, even when it's hard.
This is God's battle, not mine.
He will deliver me.

So, life isn't always perfect.
In fact at times, it's the farthest thing from perfect.

But you keep doing what you know is right.
Reacting in love and not in anger.

Because this is not forever.

He will deliver you.

Called!

Hi guys, so you probably noticed I re-did my blog!

It's because I realized something.

I'm going to be a missionary, but more importantly, I AM a missionary. Right now.

We're all called to be.

Missions Convention recently ended, which left me with new thoughts.
A quote I love from one of the missionaries:

"God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called."

That is so true.

I'm just me.
Paul was just Paul.

But through me, and through you, God can do amazing things.

I'll be writing about my life, trying my best to be the missionary God has called me to be.
Here and now.

I know a lot of you reading have recognized callings on your lives as well, and I hope my blog can encourage you, as I journey to become who God wants me to be.
As you become who God intends for you to be.

If you aren't sure what you're supposed to do yet, I hope this blog will just encourage you in your daily walk with Jesus Christ.

I'm here to pray with you, talk to you, encourage you, whatever you need.
We're in this together.

It's not always easy.
It's a struggle.
It's a battle.

God didn't promise us easy.

He promised us HIM.

It's going to be so worth it.



"With God's power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we could ever ask or imagine." Ephesians 3:20 NCV