Nearing the end of Lent.

Hey all!

Well, I'm back on here again. I think it's been a week since my last post! AH. That's insane and I'm sorry that I haven't been on. Life just seems so crazy at the moment. Lots of stuff going on.

BUT. Lent's almost over! This Sunday is Easter Sunday. I don't know about you guys but Lent has just flown by. We have what, 4 days? I just want you guys to take a moment and pat yourselves on the back for getting this far. Maybe you cheated once or twice, but you know what? That's okay. We're not perfect and God knows that. Lent isn't easy and I think we can all say that that is definitely true.

So, how was everyone's journey? Did you guys find it was easier/harder than it would be? Was it a spiritually invigorating experience? I know it was for me. :) I became dependent on God even more than before and I'm reading my Bible alot. I'm sitting here at the computer, listening to Blessed Be Your Name by Tree 63 and I'm grinning from ear to ear because I'm just so happy to know God and to acknowledge the fact that I'm his daughter. Anyone ever have one of those moments?

WELL. My challenge for all you guys today is to think about how this Lent season has changed you. Has it added something new to your life? Maybe taken away something? I'm not sure. I ask you all to think about that. And, if you didn't do Lent this year, think about why. Did you just not want to? Did you not know what to give up? Talk to God about it. Sometimes it just hits you smack dab in the middle of your forehead, and we don't see it coming.

P.S,
I changed the layout back! Thanks for being honest everyone! To tell you the truth, I wasn't too fond of it either! Haha.

Happy Tuesday guys!

Suffering vs. Comfort.

Hey everyone,

Super quick post for today! I'm posting a Bible verse that I've loved for about a year. I pray with it and I really focus on it when I'm having a bad day or if I'm going through something hard.

2 Corinthians 1:5
And our hope for You is firm, because we know that as You share in our suffering, You share in our comfort.

It's going to be abit different in your Bible, because most people have a different version than someone else. Even though, each of the verses mean the same thing. :) God may put something into our life that is hard and isn't easy, but He's there to help us deal with it too.

Happy Wednesday!

P.S,
What do you guys think of the new layout? If you guys don't like it, comment me and I can change it back. I was just switching it up a little! You won't hurt my feelings. (: Promise.

On Your Own Two Feet.

Long time no talk everyone!

It's been over a week since I last blogged. :( I was away for March Break, and I actually HAD done a blog entry, but my computer deleted it because of our security stuff. Not sure why, but I HAD done a post on Saturday. After it got deleted, I was like, Okay. I'm not retyping all of that. I know I should have, but it definitely tested my patience.

SO. I hope that everybody had a wonderful, relaxing March Break. I know I did. :)
This blog idea actually came from the March Break, to tell you the truth. My family travelled, and I didn't bring my Bible with me. I know that I should have, but I didn't. I'm not proud of it, but that's what happened.

It was weird though, because on the drive coming home, this thought came to my mind. What if God put that into my life right now, so I could see how strong my relationship with Him is, when I don't have all of the pre-written stuff and His word to work with? I prayed and talked with Him everyday. I thanked Him for things and I asked for help with things, but I didn't have the opportunity to read my Bible or devotionals.

SO, my question for you guys today is, How strong is your relationship with God when it's just you and Him? When there's nothing written out for you to pray or any of His word to base your conversations with Him off of. Sometimes, we don't always have your work cut out for us. I understand that the Bible is massive, and we pick and choose what we read. But what happens when we don't have any of that at our finger tips? Does our relationship with God suffer?

I challenge you guys to think about this. A great way to strengthen your relationship with God is just talking to Him. Walking in nature and admiring His wonderful works. You need to be able to stand on your own two feet with God. The Bible is a wonderful tool of knowledge and gives us peace and shows us God's and Jesus' word, but we need to know how to use that AND build on top of it. Do you see what I'm saying?

I hope you guys think about it. I know I have.
Happy Monday! :)

Jonah.

Hey everyone,

Quick post for today! I wanted to let you guys know that I will not be blogging over the next week (March Break.) I'm going away with my family and won't be back until next weekend.

I reeeally recommend reading the the book of Jonah in the Bible. It's super quick, about 3 pages long. It's wonderful. I read it while I was on the bus ride to school this morning. I won't tell you what happens, because it's pretty self explanatory. But, there was about a page of him crying out to God because he couldn't do 'it' on his own anymore. It's a really powerful prayer that I think everyone can relate to. :) So, I don't have a message for today. The book of Jonah is going to be my message for all of you. Read it, and I hope you guys get as much out of it as I did!
If you read it and really enjoy it, or even if you didn't like it, comment me below and tell me what you thought.

If you don't have a Bible and would like to read this, there's alot of online bibles that you can check out. Talk to your pastor at church, or a friend or neighbour who's a christian. Alot of us have more than 1 bible, surprisingly. I'm sure they would loan you one.

Have a great March Break everyone. Safe trip if you're heading out somewhere!
TGIF! :)

Run.

Hey all!

Well, I'm in class, once again. ;) I feel like this is the place that I blog the best. Not sure why, but I do. Anyways, I have a SONG for you guys today! I was listening to it on my Ipod a few minutes ago, and it's one of those songs where the lyrics are just pummeled into your brain because they're just so beautiful/inspirational.

The song is called Run by Hillsong United. I'm not sure how popular it is, so you may know it if you're a Hillsong fan. But, none the less, I really love it. You know those songs on your MP3/Ipod that you just skip over when it comes to shuffle? Well this song used to be one of them. But I took the time to listen to it, and I really enjoyed it.

So, what got me thinking, were the lyrics to this song. I'm not going to type out all of the lyrics, because it wasn't all of the the lyrics that got to me. I think they're all beautiful, but there were a specific few that I really liked, and I'm going to write those.

You are God, You are Holy
History's Your story
You who was and is and forever will be, God we live for Your glory
So we will run altogether with hearts aflame
Like a fire that can't be tamed
Our God all glory to Your name, Jesus.

Aren't they pretty? I really liked it. 'History is your story' and 'You who was and is and forever will be, God we live for your glory' are my favourite verses from that song.

You who WAS and IS and FOREVER will be. Was, Is, Forever. The past, the present, and the future. I think that shows, more than anything that God's going to be there no matter what. I know these are just lyrics to a song, but it's true, don't you think? It's very reassuring for me, and I hope it is for you guys too.

I don't know where you are at right now, but I know that at the moment, if I had to rate everything on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say a solid 6. What would you guys rate where you're at in life right now? Be honest. If you lie, you're not lying to me. You're lying to yourself. So be honest. Factor in everything that's going on.

So I guess my question for you all today is, Where do YOU stand? No matter what, even if you have no idea where your life is going, where you're headed. If you feel like you can't think about a year from now, let alone next week, that's okay. Talk to God about it. You know where He stands.

Happy Wednesday everyone. :)

Patience.

Hey there everyone.

I apologize for not blogging over the past little while. It's almost been a week since my last entry. My post today isn't going to be very lengthy, because I'm in class. I know, I know. But I'm done all of my work, so I'm okay. I have a quote for you all today. Lately, I've been feeling almost at the end of my rope. I'm tired all the time, I feel like I'm constantly waiting for things that will never come. Maybe I'm just sleep deprived and stressed, but none the less, I don't like feeling like this.
I promised you all that I would write even when I don't necessarily want to. Even when I'm in a bad mood or when I wish I were asleep. But because I made a promise to you, I am. And, I'm letting down my pride so I can admit that.
The quote I have today is a quote about patience. For those of you that don't know, I'm a total english literature/poetry geek. I love it. So I tend to look up a lot of quotes and poems and excerpts from famous people or novels.

“Patience can't be acquired over night. It is just like building up muscle. Every day you need to work on it.”
- Eknath Easwaran

I think it's really true. A lot of the time we ask, Why can't it just happen now? Why do I have to wait? We're what my dad likes to call, 'instant gratification' people. We don't like to wait. We want it now now now. But, unfortunately the world doesn't work like that. And neither does God.
Patience isn't easy. But we have to work at it. I know I'm probably one of the most impatient people on the planet, but I teach young kids how to ski. Time and time again they fall, whine and complain, and I do lose my cool sometimes. But only underneath. I have to be patient with them, because someone was patient with me. And, they trust that I will show them how to ski. I owe them that much, don't I?
If it feels like you're constantly waiting, and that your patience is being tested, talk to God about it. You may be angry at Him for 'doing' this to you, but He's always willing to listen. "Good things come to those who wait". He can handle anything. More than we will ever know.

Anyways, I hope I have left you all with something to think about. Patience is something achievable, but it's tested ALL the time. No one's a professional at it. They've just had lots of 'practise.”

Happy Monday.

Is it time to change your toothbrush?

Hey everyone!

I realize that I'm blogging kind of late, so most likely you guys will see this tomorrow. Not that that really matters, but hey! So. I have a confession. This is where alot of my ideas for my blog posts come from. Are you ready for it? THE SHOWER. Yes, when I am in the shower, I think of alot of things. I shower at night, so I go through my day and I pray alot of the time. I don't know why, but I guess I feel close to God there.
So, I was brushing my teeth in the shower. I know, weird, but it's a time saver and it saves water. So I was brushing my teeth and I looked at the tooth brush, and it's one of those brushes that when it's ready to be thrown out, the blue fades off of the bristles. Well, guess what! The blue was almost all faded off! My first thought was, Oh. I need a new tooth brush. But then I thought that this could be turned into a blog post.
I think that alot of the time, we procrastinate on things. We leave them to the last minute; we expect other people to realize that we're not doing what we should be, and then they'll do it for us. Well, it works like that sometimes, but not always. Take my tooth brush for example. I waited to the very last minute to realize that I needed a new one. I know I won't die if I don't change it when the blue starts to fade, but still. What are you procrastinating on? What are you ignoring, even though you know it's there?
I was sitting in church one time, and my pastor said something that has stuck with me ever since. If God called YOU, would you put HIM on hold? Chances are, if God called us, we'd be freaking out. We wouldn't put Him on hold because He's so important. So if you wouldn't put God on hold, why would you put other important things on hold?
BUT, I ask again. What are YOU putting on hold? An apology, a good cry, a realization. What about God? Maybe you feel like God's putting something on your heart, but you're scared or nervous to acknowledge it. I don't know.
But I do know this. If you're putting something on hold, realize that you're doing it. Then, work on taking it OFF hold. It may not be easy, it may not take one day. But you'll get there if you stick to it. God can help you will everything, as long as you let Him. He's waiting for You. The cool thing about God is that He doesn't shove Himself in your face and say, YOU NEED ME. He waits for the right moment, or even the wrong one. I truly beliee that he knows what's best. I challenge you guys to think about what you'reputting on hold. You may be surprised with what you come up with.

Happy Wednesday guys! :)

Thank You.

Hey everyone,

Well, I've got some stuff I need to get off my chest before I begin blogging. I just wanted to say thank you to those of you that read this. It means so much to me that you take the time to listen to and hear out what I have to say. It's a really nice feeling to see a comment on one of my posts. It lets me know that I'm not just typing this and no one is getting anything from it.
Anyways! Onto the blogging. I've never really thought about posting this as an entry before, but I guess God's put it on my heart to talk about. Feelings. Emotions. We all have them, we all suffer from them, depending on how you look at it. Personally, I'm not always a fan of them. Like today. I had a horrible day. All I wanted to do was go home, cry and eat chocolate. It was bad. But I toughed it out, got through it all and tuned everyone out while listening to my Ipod on the bus ride home.
Then, I guess I kind of had this epiphany. Even when I'm feeling horrible, or sad or hurt or happy, God created that EXACT feeling for a reason. Whether it be to learn something, to feel how others feel, anything. And that is so powerful. There's a quote I really like, and it goes like this.
'Without suffering, there would be no compassion.'.
It's like Neuton's Third Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Think about it. What you're feeling has a million other things linked to it.

There's no challenge for today. I just wanted to put my thoughts out there.

Thanks guys, for alot.
Happy Tuesday.