SCHOOL

OK Everybody I did it! I registered for Hamilton High School! It's extremely exciting, entirely nerve-racking, amazingly scary, and pretty cool (and it's only April! lol)! The craziest thing is that I have been homeschooled all my life (and loved it!) and now this is such a huge thing to me... After having the opportunity to go to Dare2Share i felt compelled to finally get out there and share my faith and at that moment I decided it was time to get of my comfort zone... and this is WAY out of the zone! I can't really describe it, imagine being the only student in any class ever and then imagine being one of 3300! It's SOOO incredible! Now, though I know it is a long time away still-Pray for me, please! I desire to be a light and to really stand firm for Jesus! Thanks!

DARE2SHARE!!!

I just got back from the DARE2SHARE-Gameday conference with my youth group! and let me tell you it was AMAZING! I could feel God in the midst! there was 4500 students all worshiping together and learning how to share their faith! And that feeling of being surrounded by people your age who want to serve God is INCREDIBLE! I have been a Christian for a long time, but i have always struggled with being BOLD about my faith, with just putting aside my own fears and doubts and putting that persons eternal life in my mind... This conference showed me how! It was a blast getting to hang out with all my friends and hear bands such as Starfield, Rachel Washington, and Superchic[k]; but this conference was sooooo much more then any of that! It was about seeing lives--including my own-- transformed! So because I am so excited I would like to give you the who, what, where, when and why of gameday!

What is GAMEDAY???
Gameday = When you JUMP out of your comfort zone and reach your friends, neighbors, family, school, work for Christ and do it with a fire and a passion that makes them truly want to know the difference!

When is GAMEDAY???
Yesterday is already gone,
tomorrow may never come,
TODAY IS GAMEDAY!

Who is responsible to get off the bench and get in the game at GAMEDAY???
Anyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ is responsible to PREACH THE WORD!
To GO - In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 2 Timothy 4:1-2
It is time to get out there and preach the Word to ANYONE who will listen!
To FIGHT- For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 4:3-4
We are fighting FOR them, not fighting them! The reward is their eternal life. whether they spend eternity in Heaven or in Hell is what we are trying to determine! Christ is giving them the opportunity, and he is COMMANDING us to get off the bench and tell them!
To Win- I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:7-8
If we are willing to follow God's command, we WILL receive the crown of life which He has promised! so PERSEVERE!

Where is GAMEDAY???
Gameday is EVERYWHERE! your school, home, workplace, neighborhood, and yes even your church!

So let's get our heads in the game!

Our Journey....

Life... it is a journey, a path to walk on, an unanswered question.
Life is what we never would have expected that happens. God has set us each on own journey and yet given each of us the same choices in different forms. He has sent us people to help us along the way, some that stay around a long time and some that come, teach a lesson or help encourage, and then leave as they follow their pathway of life. Life is not something that can be understood entirely, it is merely something that you go with and try to live to the fullest, and without God we would truly be living in vain or more acurately, not at all. He has gone with us every step of our journey... And the Journey is only just beginning!

Things to remember about this journey:

J-Jesus is the leader
o-Obey His lead
u-Understand He is the Almighty
r-Read His Word
n-Note His promises
e-Encourage other believers
y-You are the light of the world

J-Jesus is the Leader...
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." -John 14:6
Jesus is THE way, THE truth, and THE life... He is not A way or A truth or A life, He is THE... Without Jesus Christ we would truly have no reason to live and no way to either... He came to earth so that He could save us, and so that He could go through all that we must go through, He has been there. He knows hunger, thirst, being tired, and any other physical feelings; But he did all this without sinning and therefore, HE is THE leader!

O- Obey His lead...
"But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul." -Joshua 22:5
He promised He would go with us, but He has commanded us to follow Him. He will not force you to follow, which is the true beauty of God, He loves us enough to give us a choice to love Him... But for those who choose to follow Him, He warns them to follow Him carefully... and to OBEY HIS LEAD! Often we want to go our own direction and take our own detour on this journey and usually, we get lost and have to humble ourselves again to the King of Kings get directions back to the straight and narrow... It reminds me of one of my favorite movies "Facing The Giants" that explains better then I could the need for the straight and narrow! (Watch the movie it will amaze you!) So just remember who is leading and remember He DOES know where He is going...

U-Understand Jesus is the Almighty...
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. -John 1:14
There are many people today who say that Jesus was a great man, a teacher, maybe even a prophet... But they refuse to accept who Jesus really is, JESUS IS GOD! The trinity is a dificult thing to understand and even more dificult to try and explain, but I will tell you this, God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit are One God. And for us to survive the journey, we must UNDERSTAND that JESUS is the ALMIGHTY!

R-Read His Word...
"Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near." -Revelation 1:3
You cannot obey commands without knowing what they are; just as you cannot go on a journey without directions... The Bible (Basic Instrutions Before Leaving Earth) is our map and our lifeline, READ IT!

N-Note His promises...
Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled. -Joshua 21:45
God's promises are ALWAYS true! Look at every promise in Scripture, from Abraham having a son, to the flood not reoccuring, to the coming of the Messiah! Be confident in His promises and
note the promises God has given us!

E-Encourage other believers...
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. -Hebrews 3:13
Each of us has a need for encouragement... And God desires us to be fully encouraged in our walk with Him, and He has asked for His followers to encourage each other... think of it like this, the coach of a sports team wants his players to be unified, encouraged, and diligent and in order for that to take place he often requires hard practices or difficult sacrifices; but he hopes that the players will encourage each other in their daily life... He gives encouragement as well, but the players needs and relies on both the coach's encouragement and his peers... so I challenge you to remember to encourage one another!

Y- You are the light of the world....
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. -Matthew 5:14-16
We are the witness for Christ's message! He has given us a job to do! We are the light in this world of darkness!

Happy trails!!!

Happy New Year!!! Resolutions...

It is a familiar countdown, the glorious 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 HAPPY NEW YEAR countdown that is... It is one that brings joy and excitment to everyone (or atleast me) and it is one that gets everyone (again, atleast me) thinking about how in the world am I gonna make this year count... So then i started pondering, it is a new year, a new chance, what am i gonna do about it? How am i gonna serve God this year? What will make the difference from last year and this year?

Here is what i decided:
1. Serve God with all my heart....
2. Help others out of love working for God not for man...
3. Choose Joy when things are not the greatest...
4. Encourage others in the way I speak...
5. Not to be bossy or demanding but to be honoring aand respectful and an example...
6. To give to God first...
7. Read the Bible everyday...
8. Not be jealous of what anyone else has or does, but instead rejoice when they succeed...
9. Be patient in situations...
10. To truly forgive...

Along with all those other resolutions I make:
1. Finish all the half read books i started...
2. Count my shoes and reduce to under 40 pairs
3. get the mail everyday
4. reduce to a max of 4 sodas a day (AHHHH is it possible?)
5. To floss atleast once a month!
6. Attempt to ski! (Pray for me, and i'll pray for you!)
7. try to think of something else to type....
8. still thinking
9. still thinking
10. NOPE, thats about it... LOL

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"IT IS FINISHED!"

I am VERY VERY pleased to announce that I am OFFICIALLY on Christmas break! (And for those of you keeping up with the posts, it means I finished Spanish! With a full attempt not to complain! Including putting that sign up I was talking about) You know, I entitled this blog "It is finished" for a lot of reasons... One of them was DEFINITLY because hey, I really wanted to be done with finals and school and etc... But I think the biggest reason for it was the thought of where those words come from, and that would be the Bible (The B-I-B-L-E yes thats the book for me... HA HA! it is the truth!) As i thought about I thought more about how those words were the reason for Christmas, With the "Big Day" approaching (Evidenced especially by the lack of parking at malls, screaming children not quite patient as they wait for Santa, and loud bells outside of Wal-Marts everywhere...) people sooo often forget that there is soooooooo much more... and even if they do acknowledge Jesus' birth as told by the excellent movie in theaters now The Nativity Story they often leave Jesus as "a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger..." and forget that the whole reason he came didn't come about for another 33 years! and wasn't in a manger, but was on "an old rugged cross" after constant beatings that left him unrecognizable as a human, after mock trials, and so many other forms of torture we cannot even comprehend... People like to accept the beginning and dismiss the grown up-baby's full purpose... and that was to restore a close relationship with the Father... And to "seek and save the lost..."The salvation story all begins with the Christmas story and that is only the beginning leading up to the "it is finished" part... I love Christmas even with the lines at the mall, the screaming children in them, the chiming bells, and even the frustrated people because it is the time of year that reminds me of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the Savior of the world! And it gives the perfect lead in to share the message of Hope this year... I praise the Father in heaven because He came as a Baby in a way that no other human has (a virgin birth)... I praise the fact that he made Himself nothing, that He did NOT lose his power but instead limited it to become the most helpless man He could be... I praise that he knows exactly what we go through because He has been there, and I seek to praise Him in all that I do... And I definitly praise Him for me finishing school for the semester! AMEN!

Brain OVERLOAD! Heart needs to RELOAD...

So this past week or two I have been trying to start wrapping school up for the semester and what ended up happening was doing one subject at a time till it all got done... so after finishing History, Math, and English I was left with Chemistry and Spanish and twenty lessons of each... (Now for those of you who seem to forget how many hours that should be, multiply lessons by one...) so at first i was all excited about getting in there and working hard but well by the 15th lesson of Chemistry I was a little bit not so, whats the word, EXCITED but I kept working and today I finished my Chem. Exam and was left with only 21 lessons of Spanish... as I was looking at all the work I needed to do i began to get discouraged (imagine that! LOL) and soon began to complain... and even get a little frustrated and maybe began to feel a little bit like if a heard another "Hola" my head would explode!!! The war in my head was getting quite intense and even a little painful and then it hit, like a huge cannonball aimed straight at a castle, my conscience told me that the attitude i was emitting stunk and I mean BAD... And as I am writing this I am still working on figuring out my battle plan for kicking the complaints and frustration out of the running... But I think possibly I should make a HUGE sign with this verse printed in both Spanish and English and tape it to the wall in front of my desk...
Philippians 2:14-15a
"Do everything without complaining or argueing so that you may become blameless and pure..."
So that and a whole lot of prayer and perseverence and choosing JOY and I will be ready to get in there and finish a LOT of Spanish... God sure does use odd things to teach us awesome lessons! I like that, Odd things to teach Awesome lessons... Well, Adios and if you need me, you can probably guess where you'd find me for the next couple days!

P.S. The weirdest thing is that I actually like my Spanish class! LOL

So much to say... So why didn't I say it?

Have you ever had that feeling after a conversation where you cannot stop thinking about what you should have said? Well, yesterday I answered the door and two ladies were standing there with books and pamphlets... and as some may have guessed they were Jehovah's witness'... They asked if my parents were around and while my parents were in the other room they wanted ME to handle it alone. And I was left there dumfounded... they asked there questions and made there statements and yet, me--a girl who has been a Christian for 9 years, someone who has been in deep Bible classes since kindergarten, a Pastor's daughter, someone who always imagined defending the faith for some great cause--I didn't say a word to challenge their beliefs to stand up for the faith i cling to... After accepting a flyer to try to get them to leave and closing the door i felt guilty. more guilty then I can ever remember feeling because i saw my oppurtunity and ignored it... for soo long i have prayed that God would send me an oppurtunity to witness to someone and when He did, I in my selfishness chose not to respond... All day long verses i had memorized came to my head about Christ being God and how the Trinity is equal and the same yet different and I continually thought "Why didn't i say that?" or "Wow i should have showed them that..." immediatly after closing that door i walked to the back room where my mom was and responded with "Thanks for the help it was greatly appreciated..." and though at the time it was pure sarcasm, i see now that it truly was help because I learned that Faith is one thing and APPLICATION with FAITH is another thing entirely...
James 2:14-19
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
I Know now that God has changed the way I look at witnessing... because now I have seen first hand what a missed oppurtunity looks like, and it is not pleasant... I challenge you to be willing to put feet on faith!!! And hey, the next time your doorbell rings, why don't you be the one with YOUR Bible in hand?
I am ready to be a light now even if that means a little but of work and even resistence or persecution because Jesus Christ went though soooo much for me.... Life is not about me, when I look at my feelings at that doorway i was thinking about me and because of that all words of God that i knew were gone because I didn't ask for His help... So I decide to take a stand the next time I answer that door and find myself getting the oppurtunity to stand up for the God that died for me...