I have never been the girl that hated everything about herself. I never really wanted to change a lot about the way I looked. I have always just been... who I am... take it or leave it... love it or hate it.
When it comes to happiness, it shouldn't be defined by how many rolls you have on your body, the color of your eyes, how big your hair gets in humidity, or how splotchy your skin is. Happiness is so much more than what you look like or sound like, it should be about how blessed you are, how you can bless others... things like that are what's important. If I never lose weight, if my makeup isn't great it doesn't change who I am. None of that can ever change the fact that I have been blessed with amazing family, friends and the opportunity to change the world. God is good, and He blesses beyond measure. We can get caught up in appearance, or talents or whatever else but the reality is that none of it matters. What are you doing with your life??
4.17.2012
4.12.2012
nope... just fat...
Gaining weight is not something I would recommend... however let's just all be honest... IT HAPPENS! For whatever reason, people gain weight. Now, I have NEVER been a skinny person, for my entire never was a skinny girl, never cared, didn't cry about it, didn't desire to be it. I lost a good bit of weight right before my wedding, for the obvious reasons... who doesn't want to look AS GOOD AS POSSIBLE in their wedding dress. Well, apparently the weight missed me, because it all came back... with some friends! Still, it never really bothered me...
Until yesterday!
Someone who doesn't see me often, and hasn't seen me in a while, asked if I was pregnant. Now, let me be clear, I don't know what made (or possessed) this person to ask, however all I could think was "OH MY WORD, I am fat!"
Generally, I don't pay any attention to other people and their opinions. But this is a whole different ball game! SO... Low-Cal diet and exercise to begin ASAP! I mean, let's just be real... if you are NOT pregnant (which I AM NOT) the last thing you want is to be assumed pregnant! AWKWARD!
Now, I'm not interested in losing all kinds of crazy weight or anything. I just #1 want to be healthier, because I want to have as much energy as I possibly can get. And #2 I do not want anyone else EVER to think I am pregnant, until I actually am!
This should be a very interesting next few weeks, considering I HATE vegetables with everything in my being! I'm hoping that I can learn to like them... but we will see about that.
Life can be so funny sometimes! I love who I am and the way I am... I would just also LOVE to avoid any other awkward moments!
3.21.2012
UNLESS
I went to the movies this past weekend, to see The Lorax. I was a little surprised at the movie, it wasn't as funny as the DR. Seuss movies usually are. However, it had a really good message. When the movie ended, it ended with this quote:
"Unless someone like you cares an awful lot, it's not going to get better, it's not!"
And, while the movie was talking about earth, and taking care of it; it just reminded me that it is up to us. As Christians, if we don't become burdened with the responsibility of reaching people and showing them about God's love IT WONT HAPPEN. People don't change themselves, in some cases maybe they can realize that they want to be changed and move towards it, but the bottom line is that if we don't care they wont either.
It's easy to coast through life and forget about the responsibility placed on our shoulders, so I pray that God would burden the hearts of Christian across the globe, so that the content and complacent will get up and do something to save the nations.
Unless...
"Unless someone like you cares an awful lot, it's not going to get better, it's not!"
And, while the movie was talking about earth, and taking care of it; it just reminded me that it is up to us. As Christians, if we don't become burdened with the responsibility of reaching people and showing them about God's love IT WONT HAPPEN. People don't change themselves, in some cases maybe they can realize that they want to be changed and move towards it, but the bottom line is that if we don't care they wont either.
It's easy to coast through life and forget about the responsibility placed on our shoulders, so I pray that God would burden the hearts of Christian across the globe, so that the content and complacent will get up and do something to save the nations.
Unless...
3.03.2012
Helpless NOT Hopeless
Thinking about helplessness. Considering my family is going through a rather rough time and I am hundreds of miles away, this is what has been on my mind.
Whenever someone you care about goes through things that you have no control over, it leaves you at a place of helplessness. You can't ever allow yourself to get to a place where you feel like there is nothing you can do. The reality is there is always something that can be done. There is always prayer, there is always hope. We have to hope for others. Sometimes in their circumstances they can't see hope, they can't remember how to. We have to always be able to remember that prayer is the most powerful thing that we own, and it needs to be used. The Bible says faith without action is dead, we have to put some prayer into action. We can say "hope" until we are blue in the face, but that wont bring them hope. The only thing that is going to bring hope to others is our prayer, our acting on our faith. As Christians it's our responsibility to bring hope to the hopeless. We should never pass up an opportunity to bring Jesus and the hope that comes along side Him to someone who needs it. We have an amazing gift, we should be prepared and desire to share it with others. We would be doing others a MASSIVE disservice if we dismissed their situations, due to the fact that we FEEL like we can't do anything. WE can't do anything, that's why it's not about us.
Never feel like there's nothing you can do. Regardless of how bad the situation is, and how far away you are, there is always prayer. There is always hope!
That being said, I hope if you read this you will agree with me, in prayer, for my uncle. Yesterday afternoon he was electrocuted at work. 480 volts went through his body. His coworker pulled him off and started CPR, and thank God for that man! He wouldn't have even had a chance if it wasn't for him. He is currently in a coma in ICU undergoing tests to see if he has any brain activity. He has no internal injuries that they can see. He is breathing on his own, and his heart is strong. The DR says that there is a 25% chance of survival for him. Thank God that statistics don't match up to His power. Tomorrow they are going to find out if he is brain dead or not.
It's hard being away from them whenever they are hurting, but thank God prayer still works, and isn't limited to a particular area. It's easy to be hurt, it's easy to be scared, it's easy to let emotions get in the way. Even though it's more difficult to be encouraging, and to be hopeful in the face of a bad situation it is what we, as Christians, are called to do. It's a part of our DNA. I always want to be able to bring hope to my family.
Whenever someone you care about goes through things that you have no control over, it leaves you at a place of helplessness. You can't ever allow yourself to get to a place where you feel like there is nothing you can do. The reality is there is always something that can be done. There is always prayer, there is always hope. We have to hope for others. Sometimes in their circumstances they can't see hope, they can't remember how to. We have to always be able to remember that prayer is the most powerful thing that we own, and it needs to be used. The Bible says faith without action is dead, we have to put some prayer into action. We can say "hope" until we are blue in the face, but that wont bring them hope. The only thing that is going to bring hope to others is our prayer, our acting on our faith. As Christians it's our responsibility to bring hope to the hopeless. We should never pass up an opportunity to bring Jesus and the hope that comes along side Him to someone who needs it. We have an amazing gift, we should be prepared and desire to share it with others. We would be doing others a MASSIVE disservice if we dismissed their situations, due to the fact that we FEEL like we can't do anything. WE can't do anything, that's why it's not about us.
Never feel like there's nothing you can do. Regardless of how bad the situation is, and how far away you are, there is always prayer. There is always hope!
That being said, I hope if you read this you will agree with me, in prayer, for my uncle. Yesterday afternoon he was electrocuted at work. 480 volts went through his body. His coworker pulled him off and started CPR, and thank God for that man! He wouldn't have even had a chance if it wasn't for him. He is currently in a coma in ICU undergoing tests to see if he has any brain activity. He has no internal injuries that they can see. He is breathing on his own, and his heart is strong. The DR says that there is a 25% chance of survival for him. Thank God that statistics don't match up to His power. Tomorrow they are going to find out if he is brain dead or not.
It's hard being away from them whenever they are hurting, but thank God prayer still works, and isn't limited to a particular area. It's easy to be hurt, it's easy to be scared, it's easy to let emotions get in the way. Even though it's more difficult to be encouraging, and to be hopeful in the face of a bad situation it is what we, as Christians, are called to do. It's a part of our DNA. I always want to be able to bring hope to my family.
2.27.2012
Speaking of Family...
Thinking about family, seeing as my mom, sister and niece just left. Family is an amazing thing. They are there for you REGARDLESS of your situations, mistakes, stupid comments, embarrassing moments, etc. They love in an amazing way, they love so unconditionally. Family is important. Without family where would we be? Who would we be? Sometimes you might say that you'd be better off with a different family, but I'd have to disagree. Even in the worst situations, without that family you would not be who you are. Family helps us in many different ways. They teach us things, even if it's by their mistakes and not their words. Without my family I wouldn't know how to love, or give, or be compassionate. My family is not perfect, many people in my family have made mistakes and done some pretty ridiculous things, but without ALL of them I wouldn't be who I am today. It's so easy for us, sometimes, to take them for granted; because they are our family and they have to love us. Or sometimes just getting caught up in life we forget to love them back. Family is where it's at, without family we wouldn't know very much.
People say that "family is who you make it" and that can be true in some situations. But I have found that there is no one on this earth that can come close to my family. There is no friend that will love me the way they love me or comfort the way they comfort or care the way they care. Being 3 states over from, what I'll call my REAL family, I realize how much people need people. And if someone around me doesn't have family near them, or has a rotten family, I want to be able to love them like family would, care like family would, and comfort like family would. After all we are the church, that's what we should do, and we should be good at.
People say that "family is who you make it" and that can be true in some situations. But I have found that there is no one on this earth that can come close to my family. There is no friend that will love me the way they love me or comfort the way they comfort or care the way they care. Being 3 states over from, what I'll call my REAL family, I realize how much people need people. And if someone around me doesn't have family near them, or has a rotten family, I want to be able to love them like family would, care like family would, and comfort like family would. After all we are the church, that's what we should do, and we should be good at.
2.17.2012
What joy...
I have spent the past 2 weekends with family from back home. It has been so incredible to spend time with all of them. It's good to have them here, seeing everything we are doing. Especially when we miss them all so much!
With everyone being here, the grand opening of Emerge Church, and the correcting and tweeeking the issues we've ran into it has been crazy and busy to say the least. But it has been so fun and rewarding to do. I love what I do. I love that I get to be a part of something so much bigger than myself. I love that I get to teach kids about God and help to shape the rest of their lives. I love that I know that no matter how hard it is, I can still be obedient to my God. When you can't make hard decisions because of fear or doubt, that just means that you are trying too hard to be in control. Why would you even want to be in control? I mean that's just too much pressure! I used to not be able to say this... but I can now... I am more than willing to sit back and let God control what happens in my life. That can be a hard thing to do sometimes, because the things that God will ask you to do don't always make sense in our heads. Sometimes we can't figure out how it will work, or why we even need to do those things. God always sees a much bigger picture than we can ever even dream up, so just because we can't understand doesn't mean we shouldn't step out in faith. I mean... after all Faith is doing and believing without seeing. God is too good, and He always blesses His children.
With everyone being here, the grand opening of Emerge Church, and the correcting and tweeeking the issues we've ran into it has been crazy and busy to say the least. But it has been so fun and rewarding to do. I love what I do. I love that I get to be a part of something so much bigger than myself. I love that I get to teach kids about God and help to shape the rest of their lives. I love that I know that no matter how hard it is, I can still be obedient to my God. When you can't make hard decisions because of fear or doubt, that just means that you are trying too hard to be in control. Why would you even want to be in control? I mean that's just too much pressure! I used to not be able to say this... but I can now... I am more than willing to sit back and let God control what happens in my life. That can be a hard thing to do sometimes, because the things that God will ask you to do don't always make sense in our heads. Sometimes we can't figure out how it will work, or why we even need to do those things. God always sees a much bigger picture than we can ever even dream up, so just because we can't understand doesn't mean we shouldn't step out in faith. I mean... after all Faith is doing and believing without seeing. God is too good, and He always blesses His children.
1.31.2012
Important OR not...
This past week I have been thinking about the different, ridiculous things we rely on. You don't always realize how much you rely on certain things or people, but if you sit and think about it, it can be just crazy. From food to talents to hobbies to friends, we can over use these things. I mean, I love food, and I need it to survive.... but I'm not going to eat all day every day. And I have things that I'm good at but they don't make me who I am. I think we get lost in our friends, talents, things and such... we need to get back to a place where we are not defined by what we have but by whose we are. I wouldn't be who I am or have what I have had it not been for God deciding to bless me. It is so easy to get caught up in reality and life and we can abuse the use of things that we have and people and we can allow ourselves to be defined by those things. Sometime we need a wake up call, to pull us out of chaos and hectic schedules so we can see what the most important thing is.
It's easy to forget that we are defined by who God created us to be, but it's just as easy to remember that things are just not as vital to our lives as we seem to make them.
It's easy to forget that we are defined by who God created us to be, but it's just as easy to remember that things are just not as vital to our lives as we seem to make them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)