Sunday, May 19, 2013

halfway.

So I've been back home for the summer for a few weeks now. It's CRAZY to think that I am HALFWAY DONE with college!!
I'm halfway done with classes.
I'm halfway done with living on campus.
I'm halfway done with moving every single year.

And I'm also halfway there.
I'm halfway to becoming a nurse.
I'm halfway to having to get a real job.
I'm halfway to being on my own.
I'm halfway to becoming an adult.

...
Woah. That's kind of a lot to handle xD I'm halfway done, but I still have halfway to go. Bring it on, next 2 years. I'm ready for ya.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

people are awesome.

I give major props to the guy who made this video:
 
 

IT'S TRUE! People are awesome. The people in this video are awesome for the crazy stuff that they do. Now think of your best friend. Why are they awesome? Think of your mom. Why is she awesome? Your favorite teacher? Your boyfriend? Your neighbor?

Do you have that reason (maybe more than one) in your head? Now go tell them. People are awesome, let's remind them of that.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Day #2...Military

Day #2 of what I'm thankful for...

Today is Veteran's Day. So I think it's fitting that I tell you that I'm very thankful for our armed forces. I am so thankful for the men and women serving our country because it's a choice. In so many other countries (and even ours during the World Wars and others) you are forced to serve in the military. The people that make up our Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard in the USA are completely doing it out of their own will.

I have become even more thankful for our military personnel since I've gotten to know a few of them. I have several friends from high school who are doing ROTC right now in college so they can join the forces. Peter, one of my best friends from home, is doing Air Force ROTC. Reid, my brother, is also doing AFROTC. I am so proud of them and thankful.

Another one of my friends, Jonathan, is currently serving in Afghanistan. He is a medic in the Army. Jonathan is one of the best people I know. He genuinely cares about people and is always smiling. His heart for the Lord is so evident in his life. He was a nursing major with me last year before he got deployed. I wasn't super close to him, but I still miss seeing him around and I know he is dearly loved and missed here. Please say a prayer for him.

I feel like this is one of my more somber posts, but I think it should be. Serving in the military isn't something to be taken lightly. They know they are risking their lives for ME, for US. I don't understand it, but I'm so thankful that they do.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Dubstepping kitties and whatnot.

"You are my sunshine, my lovely sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey."


This quote is pinned up to my desk, courtesy of a friend who sent me a letter at school!! **shoutout to you K!** You know, I've been realizing quite a bit about myself lately and how I work. Something I realized this morning when I was talking to a friend at coffee was this:  I feel in short, intense spurts. I definitely get stressed...but it's only for 5 minutes at a time usually. I get sad, but it doesn't last longer than a few hours at most. Happiness, however...ohhh happiness :D I love being happy. I don't know anyone who doesn't like being happy, so it makes sense.

Why am I so happy? I guess it's because I have so much to be THANKFUL for!! And since Thanksgiving is actually coming up quite soon, I want to dedicate the next posts leading up to Turkey Day as a way of showing what I'm thankful for in my life. So here goes. Disclaimer: these are in no particular order, just kind of as they come to mind.

Day 1:

I'm thankful for my family. Specifically I'll talk about my brother today.



Reid is my twin and he is an amazing guy. He's so goony. Once he posted on my Facebook wall and said "Here's your motivation to get through the rest of the week." This is the video he posted:


HAHAHA WHAT??? SO goony. He goes on little rampages where he will just start giggling really crazily and that gets ME going...people must think we're so strange.

He's also just a really solid guy. This year he's getting completely rocked by God and it's so cool to see. God has big plans for his life, that's for sure. He's becoming a leader and God is really developing him into someone special. Sometimes he'll post Facebook statuses and they kiiind of make me really excited because I can just tell he loves the Lord and that he is excited about it!

So that is my little shpiel (spiel? schpiel?) about how I am thankful for my hermano, stay tuned for more!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

the longest book ever

GUYS!! I know it's been forever since I last posted on here but something just keeps hitting me that I realllllly want to share with ya'll. So here goes :)

I was reading in John the other day, all the way at the end. The very last verse of John says "Jesus did many other things as well," (the whole book talks about his life and everything he did) "If every one of them were written down, I (John) suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."

THAT'S INCREDIBLE. Something that hit me...Jesus was alive for 33 years, right? He only did 3 years of ministry, right? According to John, there wouldn't be enough room in the WORLD to hold the records of all he had done. I know you can argue that he's using hyperbole, but still...that's a pretty sweet hyperbole.

I just imagine my college textbooks...they are HUGE. I just got my microbiology book yesterday (speaking of which I got it from some shady overseas Chinese market and saved $100 hollaaaaa) and it's like 800+ pages. It's pretty amazing to think that if a book could hold all the things Jesus did, it would be smaller than my micro book. That's a dang big book!!

This just got me thinking. Jesus's 3 years of ministry had an immeasurable amount of works come out of it. Just imagine the work that has been done since! Often I forget that the Holy Spirit is just as much God as Jesus was. For the past TWO THOUSAND years God has been doing amazing things through the Holy Spirit. Imagine all the huge books that could be published with all of those works...

This has just challenged me to let myself be more open to let God work in me. He can do so so so much through his followers, as we can see through the past 2,000 years of history. One verse I have fallen in love with over the past few months is 2 Timothy 1:7 which says, "For God didn't give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of loveand of self-discipline." The same Spirit that was working in Jesus is the Holy Spirit who is working in Christians...now that is something to be excited about!!!

The biggest book in the world can't contain the works of God...let's keep adding to that :)

Saturday, May 19, 2012

adoration.


"Jesus, I wanna walk like you did."
I wrote this in my journal a few nights ago after reading in 1 John.  A few of the verses I read said, "We know we have come to love him if we obey his commands...if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." (2:3-6)

I was just talking with my friend Jamie about this yesterday, about how normally when we think of obedience we are like "Ughhh...OK fine." Yeah you bring on the stink face, don't deny it. That can be to our parents, God, whoever. Obedience seems like a burden in most cases, and that does zippo in making me actually WANT to do it.

That made me wonder as I read these verses, "How can I come to the point where I actually want to obey what God wants me to do?"

I went back to verse 3 where it says "we have come to love him if we obey his commands." I wrote, "This is different than just 'we know him if we obey his commands.' COMING to know someone implies you know about their character, their motives; you come to trust them and love them."

Ohhh snap. If I had to make a list of adjectives that describe God's character...mmm. What do I know about God? He loves me, gives life, is faithful, patient, wise, understanding, holds me, blesses me...

GOD! I ADORE YOU!!!!!

The only way I can think of developing that desire to obey God is to know Him better. The past years have been an amazing journey for me coming to know the Lord better. But that isn't enough!! I want to CONTINUE growing closer, to continue seeing His character revealed to me, to get so incredibly lost in Him.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

getting old.

Do you ever think about dying? I always wonder when I'll die, how it will happen...I always thought it would be super ironic to die getting hit by an ambulance. HA watch it happen, people, watch it happen.

I was reading Psalm 71 the other day and keep coming back to read it. The title is "Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent" (I'm using ESV). The writer is just asking God, "Hey God, don't just leave me out to dry once I'm old. Stay here with me just like you've done for the past __ years." Throughout the passage he keeps saying things that talk about his lifelong walk with God:

v. 3: "Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come..."
v. 5-6 "For you, O LORD, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth, upon you have I leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you."
v.8 "My  mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day."


You get the picture, there's a ton more.

The part that really gets me though is verses 17-18. It says, "O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, don't forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come."

"Even when I'm old, God, don't forsake me, so I can tell of your name to another generation."  He doesn't want God to leave him when he's an old fart, but not because he's afraid of dying. It's because he wants to keep proclaiming God's name.

Wow. That is PURPOSE. That is LIFE. When I'm old and falling apart, I want my prayer to be that God continues to let me live solely for the purpose of making his name known. But that doesn't start when I'm old. That starts now. I said I always wonder about how and when I'll die. Well if that ambulance hits me tomorrow I'd better be praying NOW that God is using me to make him known!!

Our purpose is to keep chuggin along for God, even when we're old, even when we're young. THAT is life.