Reflection of 2011

Well, it's been an amazing year filled with some of my highest highs and lowest lows. Lost some old friends, gained some new ones, became close to others, and not sure of where I stand with some of them. I have had a great time experiencing another year of life and never knowing what to expect during it.

Throughout this year I have learned many things.
1. That with the help of Christ and amazing friends, I can get through and do anything.
2. Friends come and go, and friendships with people can fluctuate
3. Bacon is no doubt about it the best food in the world.
4. School is like jail. They tell you what to wear, offer you an education, you can't leave until your times up, and you would rather be anywhere else but there. The only real difference is jail gives you free food.
5. Church/youth group is definitely my second home, and without it, I have no clue where I would be in life.
6. I think I might actually really like children
7. Life is full of twists and turns, and ups and downs, but hey if you think about it so are all the rides at Magic Mountain.

This year has been filled with amazing memories and amazing friendships. I thank God every day that he has blessed me with such amazing people that I honestly can't imagine my life without. My friends and youth group have become more than just friends they have really become part of my family. Each and every person that I have met and gotten to know this year will always have a place in my heart, even if they decide to leave my life, that spot in my heart will always be open in case they ever want to come back.

God has been so good to me this year. Yes, I have had tough times, but I know that there was a reason for them and he has helped me out of them. I've grown closer and closer to him over the past year, and am very thankful for that because I have noticed a change in me because of that. It just continues to amaze me at how he is not only working in my life but also in other peoples and I'm so blessed to be able to see that and even sometimes, hopefully, be apart of it. 

This has been one amazing year filled with so much stuff (good or bad? Both I guess) it just continues to blow my mind! I am extremely thankful for everyone I've not only met this year, but have become closer to. I'm very thankful for my friends, church, and family for helping me through this hectic year. I thank God everyday for blessing me with another amazing year, and helping me through it. 

Hopeful for 2012! I can't wait to see what highs and lows this new year brings me! (PS The London 2012 Olympics, no doubt about it will be a high! I've waited 4 years for these!). Happy New year to you all! Be safe and don't drink and drive!

Late: Christmas And Why I Celebrate it

I love Christmas with all my heart, it is truly one of my favorite holidays. I love the feeling and the good vibes you get from everyone at this time of year, they're all just so happy.

Now we do most of the big stuff on Christmas Eve with my family. All the aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters and cousins get together at my grandparents house and we spend time together and have an amazing home made meal! Its really a lot of fun to see the people that I only see about twice a year. I love my family and I love when we get together and hang out. (Although sometimes I do wish I could have gone to my church Christmas Eve service). But we get together and have a blast and get to see all the baby cousins experience Christmas.

Christmas at my house honestly is not that big of a deal. We don't celebrate all day, we don't throw massive get-together's with the family, and we don't spend all day opening expensive presents.You see, we actually do the exact opposite, we are very relaxed about it. We wake up around 9:30-10:00, calmly open a few gifts, watch some T.V. every year we go see a movie (This year it was Sherlock Holmes, very good by the way), and then we come home and relax, watch T.V. eat an amazing Ham dinner, and since it was on a Sunday this year I got to watch football! Very relaxed, and I love it because I get to spend time with my family.

Now if you don't know this, Christmas is a very important holiday, it was the day our Lord and Savoir Jesus Christ was born. Crazy right? Anyway, this is the real reason we celebrate Christmas, to celebrate the birth of the man, who only years later, would sacrifice his life on the cross for us, all of man kind, so that we could be free and cleaned from sin and have the opportunity to spend eternity with God our Heavenly Father. 


Please people, don't forget this holiday was set aside so that we can celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Happy holidays, hope they were great!

I Want Camp!

I know its Christmas time, and I should have a Christmas post up, but I'll do that tomorrow or something. What I really want to talk about is how much I freaking want winter camp! Every year my church goes up to winter camp for like 3 days, and every year I fall more and more in love with it. I mean I get to go away with some of my best friends, to a place where all we do is learn about and worship Christ. That just amazes me so freaking much! 3 entire days of games, camp food, hanging out with friends and fellow followers of Christ, praying, worshiping, and learning about Christ. 3 ENTIRE DAYS OF THAT!!! Does that not just make you the happiest person alive?!

I love it so much! Its an amazing feeling when you pull into camp, when you realize the only thing you have to do this weekend is be yourself and fall more and more in love with Jesus. When all your burdens left you back at home, when you see the chapel and you think "all this, all this is made for the worshiping of Christ, and I get to be apart of this." It just blows me away!

Every time I go up there, I get this thing I like to call a "Jesus High" Weird I know but that's what I call it. Its when you go somewhere like camp, or a christian rock concert or something big and amazing like that and you come away from it thinking "YEAH! Alright man I got this, I'm going to be a better Christian! Camp totally changed me!" and all that nice jazz. Unfortunately it doesn't always last, but each year I hope more and more that it does.

Anyway I love camp and can't wait until it finally arrives! Ah I miss it.

Evening Strolls

Today was a lovely day, I slept until noon (the most amazing thing ever), woke up and watched T.V.  and then around 4 went on an afternoon stroll over to my nearest Starbucks with a good book at hand, and hung out there for an hour. I must say, I love love love evening/night strolls.

I love walking around town in the evening as the sun is setting, and the crisp winter air is out, its just amazing to take it all in, to think, to be yourself. Ah I just love it! Now, I don't usually stroll because I am a very  lazy person, but I have done nothing with my holiday and wanted to get out of the house. Also I recently got a new C.S. Lewis book, and wanted to read that, (Huge surprise because I hate reading...a lot).

My favorite part of the day is early morning or late evening/night. I love it because the weather is crisp, there are less people out and about, and I love the lights, the street lights, the car lights, the porch lights, it just reminds me of the city. I love just wondering around town with a coffee in my hand, a nice sweater on, and flip flops (hey don't judge, my style is a mix of winter and summer comfort.). It gives me time to think, and relax.

I ended up sitting at Starbucks reading for about an hour, and wondering around town for about 30 minutes. I just love it, it's so relaxing. While reading and wondering I decided that the simple life is what I want. I want to live in a small town right outside a big city, if possible maybe on the coast, give me my bible or an amazing book, give me a warm drink in the winter, and a cool drink in the summer, give me a person to converse with, let me wonder around town for hours, and I will be content and happy.

So my evening consisted of that, a Starbucks, a book, and wondering around town (mostly looking at stores, and cute Christmas lights). Simple yet amazing.

You're Beautiful

You're beautiful, you really are. You're beautiful in so many peoples eyes but more importantly you're beautiful in Gods eyes. Thats something that I know everyone struggles with. Whether they think that they physically aren't beautiful, or aren't living up to certain standards, or are just struggling with fitting in. Everyone struggles with being "beautiful" at some point.

People struggle to be perfect, but news flash you can't be perfect. I hate to say it but it's true. There is, was, and, always will be only one perfect person that ever laid foot on this planet, and that man is Jesus. Why strive to be something that only one man can be? Perfection does not exist unless you are Jesus.

With that being said though, I want you to know that you are beautiful. You are so beautiful! God created you in the image of him (Genesis 1), and only beauty can come out of him. Beauty does not mean perfection. You are your own beautiful, don't be anyone else's. God created you as you, God created you beautiful! You are beautiful in his eyes!

"...The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." -1 Samuel 16:7.


"Let the King be enthralled by your beauty..." Psalm 45:11.

Woah! God is enthralled by your beauty. God created you in his image and his image is beautiful and good! You are beautiful and good!

This song gets me every time, Mercy Me gets me every time. YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL! Don't you ever forget that!

I Am Here

Dear people, I am here. I am here to be an ambassador for Christ. I am here to show Christ through me. I am here to introduce Christ to the people who don't know him. I will not be pushy. I will not be a Bible basher. I will help you with whatever you need. I will be clam and content with you. I will show you Christ but not shove him down your throat, I'm giving you the option to be a believer, I'm not forcing you.

Thats all I want. I want people to know that I'm here, and if anyone has any questions about Jesus or Christianity, they can come to me. I may not know all the answers but I can try. I mean thats what I'm supposed to do, be an ambassador for Christ, and it makes me happy. It makes me so happy when people talk to me about Jesus or religion. Some of the happiest moments of my life are the moments when I talk about religion with both nonbelievers and believers.

I'm here for anyone who doesn't know Christ, and for those who do know Christ, I'm here. I want you to come to me, I want you to ask questions, I want you to know Christ. Please for those of you who know me, or even those of you who don't, feel free to contact me. I want to share Christ's love with you, and everyone else.

All I Am Is Yours

Oh my goodness I love worship music. It just amazes me that the men and women that write the worship music, can always know exactly what you want to say. The lyrics always hit home with me. I have a ton of favorite worship songs, but this one has been on my mind a lot lately. I know, it cuts off at the end, but Hillsong United's version is very long, but I do recommend you find the entire version and listen to it.

Crazy right? Isn't it just amazing? Ah I love it! I mean standing in front of God, giving yourself over to him, ALL of yourself over to him so that he can be in control because you know that when God is in control and the center of your life, things are going to be so much better than if you were in control. 

Woah! I mean that's my goal, that's what I want in life, for God to be in control. "So I'll stand with arms high and heart abandoned in awe of the one who gave it all, I'll stand my soul Lord to you surrendered all I am is yours."

Quick Visits And Amazing Friendships

Some of you may not know this, but recently my youth pastor Stephen, a man whom I love with all my heart,  moved to Utah. This week though he was back visiting for the holidays! No doubt about it, it was the highlight of my week, I've been looking forward to the day he came back to visit since the day he left.

Stephen means the world to me. Heck my entire youth group means the world to me. I can honestly say that I have no clue where I would be if it weren't for them. Sometimes I sit around and think "You know I really wish I was with my youth group right now. I think people think they are my only friends...Eh oh well."  I mean I have the most fun with them. God placed all of us together for a reason, and I think one of the reasons is for all of us to have people that we can lean on in troubled times.

I'm not much of an emotional person or I don't show it, but today that side of me came out, and the only reason I was ok with it was because I was being emotional around my youth. I saw Stephen and I ran to him, gave him a big hug, and I shed tears...tears of joy. Maybe a bit over dramatic, but you don't understand how much this man meant to me, how much he still means to me, and how greatly I have missed him.

I just can't get over the amazing people God has blessed me with. All these people from my youth mean more to me than they will ever know. My youth group, my youth pastors, and my church family will always and forever mean the world to me.

Thankful Thursday December 8th!

Woah I'm proud of myself, I've done it every week so far. Yeah go me! So this week has been a very strange one, very emotional, very crazy, and very stressful. I'm getting through it though, and the week is almost over. Yay!  So uhm I guess I will get started.

Emotions: I actually don't like emotions at all really. You know what I'm just going to be honest, I hate them. They always get in the way. The plus side to emotions though is that it reminds me that I am human, and I do feel things, and that its not my responsibly to go through them by myself, I have other people to help me and more importantly I have Christ.

Trust: Yeah, that's been on my mind a lot lately too. I have always had trust problems and it wasn't until recently, maybe less than a year, that I have started to open up to people. It takes forever for me to trust someone, and don't be offended if I don't trust you, its just who I am. Fortunately, over the past few months maybe a year, I have found a few people that I do trust with all my heart. Many are from youth group, some from school, but either way, I am very thankful for them.

The Holiday Season: Oh man I love the holidays so much! It is my favorite time of the year because people are in such good moods, and its the season of giving ah I just love it!

Planes: At this point in time right now, and in the next few weeks I am going to be VERY thankful for planes, you know like airplanes (am I the only person that pronounces it like Arrow-Planes?). Airplanes are so very important right now because those big hunks of metal are transporting many of my friends and "family" over to me during this holiday season! The people in my life that have recently left, are coming back to visit and I can't wait!

Youth Group: I told you they would be on here every week. I just can't get over how much they mean to me. It continues to amaze me that God has blessed me with them and I can honestly say that I have no clue what I would do without them.

Prayer: This is my last  one I promise. Prayer is such an amazing thing isn't it? Its like you are talking to God...Well you basically are. For me it's just so relaxing and comforting to know that at any point in time I can just pray to God, breakdown and pray to him, and he will listen. Woah crazy right?

Ok so lets see what we have learned. 1. The week is almost over and I'm so happy about it. 2. Emotions are the worst thing ever invented but without them we wouldn't realize that we need to lean on God. 3. Trust is a difficult thing to develop, but sometimes its a necessity and in time it comes. 4. This holiday season is my favorite, and its hard to explain why. 5. I thank The Lord for planes and their ability to transport important people to and from me. 6. My youth group will always be on these, and they are very important to me. 5. Prayer is a powerful thing, you should try it.

Thankful Thursday December 1st!

First let me start off by saying how happy I am that its finally December! December is one of my favorite months, not only do we get to celebrate Christmas, but throughout the month of December there is this amazing mood that seems to come over everyone. Ah I just love it! Anyway, Thankful Thursday. Let me just say that this week has been a crazy one, and there are so many blessings in disguise.

Youth Group: You will probably see this on almost every Thankful Thursday post because I am so very thankful for them! My youth group, as I have said before, means the world to me. They are like my family, really. These people are hilarious, fun, and amazing children of God. They are always here for me in hard times, and when I'm struggling, and they seem to know when that is. It just amazes me that I have them in my life.

The Random Struggles In My Life: God likes to do that to me, he likes to put random struggles in my life, and I'm not sure why, but I know there is a reason for it. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 Amazing, just amazing.

Understanding Math: This was for sure one of the big highlights of my school week. For the first time in my ENTIRE LIFE, I actually somewhat understood what we were doing in math. You know what this means? Thats right, I'm going somewhere in this world!

That God is ALIVE And Is Working In My Life: Yes, God is alive! No, he's not dead! Even better, he's living inside us! Whenever I think of this, I always think of that new Newsboys song, "Gods Not Dead (Like a Lion)" (Huge fan by the way) When it says "My Gods not dead he's surly alive he's living on the inside roaring like a lion" Ah I love it! The Holy Spirit, God, he's living inside me! "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever-the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him not knows him. But you know him, and he lives with you and will be in you." John 14:16-17 Crazy isn't it?! Oh man it just blows me away!

Amazing some of the things we can be thankful for. Somethings are obvious, while others may be in disguise. Either way, we should be thankful for them. God is good, God is oh so good!

Please enjoy this amazing Newsboys song. Oh I love them so much. Shout out to one of my good friends who is so in love with Michael Tait!