::A Little Longer::

...

MAY 1ST?!?!?!
ALREADY?!?!?!

Dang. Time flies when you're alive. It's amazing.

So. It's May first... and it was basically a blizzard outside today.

Unbelievable.

I love the place I live... but can really do without the loooooooooong winters. The random blizzards during the months April - July. They kill me.

But this past Tues, I was able to get together with a long-lost friend of mine over lunch who had just gotten back from doing a 6 month YWAM mission in New Zealand and Nepal.

It was really nice to get together, we went up to one of my favorite places on the side of the mountain... a place where I can overlook the city and "dangle my feet..." =) .... and talked about God and life and how we can make those two things merge as much as possible and as evidently as possible in our lives.


As I begin to talk to Mark, I was amazed in seeing how much God has grown in him. We've been friends since freshman year of high school, not necesarily best of friends or even friends that saw each other a lot... but we kept in touch and have known each other for a while.

He's you're typical reserved, introverted guy sporting the "hot surfer" style. Long, shaggy bleached blonde hair, really athletic and good at soccer, extremely smart and top five of his graduating class of 500+, very cynical, extremely sarcastic, and absoutely OBSESSED with photography, hiking, and God's creation.

He's the type of guy that doesn't stay in one place for very long. I'll randomly call him up one day and I'm like "Mark, where are you?" and he's like "Hey Jo. I'm in Africa." or one time, this was probably one of my favorites, I called him up and this is how the conversation played out:

-------------------------

"Hey Mark! How's it going? Wanna hang out soon?"
"Hey Jo! Well, I would... but I'm in Durango."
"Oh cool. What are you doing there?"
"I'm living here. In a tent by a river."
".... are you serious?"
"Ya."
"Whoa. Why?"
"Why not?"
"Ok sure I guess. So you live in a tent?"
"Yep."
"What do you do all day?"
"I got a job as a server at a restaurant."
"Wow. Where do you shower?"
"In the river."
"... wow."
"Ya. It's cold. But great. I've been out here for a month."
"A month?"
"Ya."
"How much longer are you staying there?"
"Until whenever my dad is thinking of coming down to get me. I only have my bike out here."
"Woooow."

-----------------

That was probably one of my favorite conversations. I told everybody I knew that I had a friend who was living in a tent on the side of the road in Durango, working as a server, and showering in the river. Ha!

It doesn't end there tho. Mark's biked across the state of Colorado, hiked almost all the 14ers in Colorado, gone to Africa to do the "World Race," gone to New Zealand and did a back-packing missions training where he then went to Nepal and back-packed in the mountains for 2 months. He hikes up 14ers in his ski boots, just to ski down in like 30 seconds. He's constantly somewhere totally random... like last week he caught a ride up to Vancouver Canada and spent a few days there. (Why? I'll never know.) Anyways. This is my friend. And I've always admired how obsessed he is with Nature and how I can call him any time and he'll mostlikely be on top of a huge mountain being with Jesus. :)


I love having friends like that. I love having friends that are obsessed with something amazing, and bend their lives around it. So anyways I hadn't seen him for a good 10 months as he had been gone in New Zealand and to the ends of the earth... so catching up was good for us. Really good. He talked about God and how He'd become SO real to Him. How he'd realized God is more than just something to be intellectually grasped. He told me he realized that the one thing more important than "Doing" God's work is actually "Being" with God Himself!! (I called it the Mary/Martha concept.) :)

That's huge! And so true! So many times we get caught up with doing things for God and going and going and going, and we miss out! God's just up there going, "Jo! Stop for like, 5 minutes, be quiet, and just be with me. I think it's great that you're doing this and this for me, but you have to remember what I want most is to just be with You!"

There's a song that this girl, Jenni Johnson, wrote. It's called "A Little Longer" and here are the Lyrics:

A Little Longer - Jenni Johnson

"What can I do for You? What can I bring to You? What kind of song would You like me to sing? I'll dance a dance for You, Pour out my love to You, What can I do for you Beautiful King ?

Cuz I, can't thank You enough. No I can't thank You enough."

Then I hear You sing to me...

You said "You, you don't have to do a thing. Won't You please stay here with me, in love with me a little longer." He said "Wait, this moment is too sweet. Just please stay here with me and love on me a little longer... I just want to be with you a little longer.... because I'm in love with You."

:)

That's so nice. I love the God I serve.

So Anyways. It was a really nice talk. Sometimes we just sad there, dangling our feet in silence for a moment or two, just enjoying the sunshine and staring at God's amazing creation. Other times, we had pretty in-depth conversations with each other and then with God as we prayed together for each other. Good, quality time with a dear brother of mine that has an overwhelming desire to keep God on the throne of his heart.

Well as we were talking, we both realized that we're in the waiting room of our lives: with nothing to do but sit, listen, and see what God's plans are for us. Mark is torn between going up to Boulder and getting a degree in engineering, or going and helping at this YWAM base in California for the rest of the summer... and I'm torn between doing YWAM in the September in Honolulu, or just staying here and finishing up school for another year. I'm definitely leaning toward the former... praying a lot about it and waiting to see where God leads me.

I hate waiting rooms. I even in fact at times will arrive to the Doctor's office a few minutes LATER than my actual scheduled appointment, JUST to get in there right on time. I hate having to "fakely" occupy myself for a good 5-10 minutes, reading a dumb health magazine that everybody else in the room knows I'm not at all interested in. I'd rather just check in and go in. That's the way I like it. :)

But, to my amazement, God is continually showing me that I don't always get things done the way I like them. Basically... it's not about me, people. *GASP!* Oh... I know. I had the same reaction.

But it IS about God. It IS about loving Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is about putting Him on the throne of Your heart and keeping Him there. It is about submiting your plans, time, money, and LIFE to Him day in and day out. It is about loving other people enough to want to see them in Heaven. It is about overcoming sin and Satan's hold on your life... living victoriously in Jesus. It is about being in constant communion with the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to speak to you and guide you in EVERY SINGLE LITTLE decision you make. It's about standing on your tippy-toes... desperate to hear His voice. It is about loving people. Doing life with people. Picking up your cross and carrying it everywhere you go. It's about being Jesus to people. That's it. :) Live it!

::"Blog it Out" he said::

"... It'll make you feel better."
(oh... he knows me so well.) :)

So here I am "blogging it out."
I truly do feel better than I did when he spoke those words to me. Time heals much I suppose... although I do find myself pretty sad from time to time. A sudden, random burst of tears every now and then to remind me that all I really need is God and to bring me back to the place of absolute trust and dependence on Him.
As Aaron Stern said, it's keepin' me needy. I like that. :)

God, I wanna be needy...

So. This is what I'll forever be. Needy. Being slightly vulnerable, but not too vulnerable to all you crazy pedophile's that stalk people on the internet. (Not a fan of any of you crazies at allllll....)

Ok this is so random.
Let's narrow it down a bit.
Topic: Life. (verrrry narrow.)

Well it can be a little narrow in my situation today. Recent changes have occured that leave me wondering, doubting, but clinging to Him and trusting Him moreso than before. Back to my knees again I suppose. Back to the reality of my life.
Bottom line:
God is so amazing.
He has given me so much, and when I feel like I don't have everything I want... he's showing me that I'm ok without... and gaining character in the middle of it.

I know that God sits on the throne forever, ruling and reigning in every area of my life.
I know that Jesus saved my life and that He loves me with a love that never fails.
I know that the Holy Spirit is alive and will guide me and comfort me in every situation and circumstance.

THAT, right there, is absolute truth. And I will always bend my life around that truth. No matter what.

I made the decision a long time ago to follow Jesus. I'm done being me. I'm done having worries. I'm done doubting. I'm done being anxious and I'm done pretending like I can daydream my future into reality. I'm done with that.

I'm ready to trust God. I'm ready to lay my life down and serve Him. I'm ready to find out His calling for my life and obey. Whatever the cost. Whatever the amount of tears. Whatever the uncertainties or "dashed hopes." Whatever the "spiritual highs" and the times when I feel I can do it on my own....

It's so hard being a place in life when you're dreams or plans don't really seem to mesh with His. The desires of my heart at times don't seem to line up... and I'm not gonna lie, it's a difficult thing or me to surrender sometimes.

-- It's hard fully grasping the reality that God's timing isn't always my timing.
-- It's hard trusting in the reality that God's timing is actually better than my timing.

But one thing I know for sure is this:
I know that I would rather have what He chooses more than anything else in the world.

"God it hurts to give you what I must lay down,
but when I let go - freedom's found.
God it hurts to give you what I've held so dear,
but because of Your love, it's clear:
I can trust You with this.
I can trust You with me.
I can trust You."
- RSJ

Truth is: I'm excited for life right now.
In the midst of these changes and unknowns... I'm really excited. :)
In the midst of the doubts, I find peace. :)
I'm right smack dab in the middle of God's will... and I'm gonna rest in it.
:)
____________________________________________
Reading: (still) "Pursuit of God" - Tozer *soogood*//// "Passion and Purity" - Elisabeth Elliot.
Listening: "All I need is You." - Hillsong United ///// "Take my Life" - Chris Tomlin

:: ... Let's talk about love::

I know what you're thinking. "Oh boy. The 'L' word. Here we go...."

Well ok then. Let's go. :)

Ok so I'm just gonna set the stage by stating the this whole idea of love is a big deal. Probably, the biggest deal if you think about it long and hard enough. And yet, it's amazing to me how something so vital and so important to the human soul, something that has been made perfect and can heal and cover anything... can be so manipulated, twisted, and perverted. I'd have to give those props to Satan I suppose... actually props might not be the right word now that I think about it... (I take it back.)

Anyways.

Welcome to the world.

Since we're living in it now, let's go ahead and take a look at the worlds' definition of love... (and what better way to find out what the world thinks than:::: google.) :)

If you google "love," this is what you will find:

- First, a picture of a big fat red heart (Accuracy people) and a picture of two people kissing. (true love.)

- Next, is a bunch of random college students (who think they know everything about everything)'s definition of love (aka... wikipedia.com) Stating, and I quote, "Love is any number of emotions and experiences related to a strong sense of affection." (... interesting.)

- And finally, my favorite, a link that says "The Love Calculator" - an online "calculator" that calculates the chances of a successful relationship between you and another person. (Welcome to 2008 people.)

... So there you have it.

Of course, since google is just oh-so amazing, there are thousands of pages that can connect you to even MORE sites about true, wordly, Americanized love: Online Dating, the LOVE nightclub in NYC, quotes and poems about love, "wikihow - How to Love," lovetests, and I'm sure you can even find a nice porno site in that search somewhere.

But... it doesn't end there.

Turn on the radio, any time of day to any station, and I GUARANTEE you you will hear a song that has something to do with love (or loss of love); whether it's NeYo singing about how he lives because of you, Taylor Swift singing about the teardrops on her guitar, Kelly Clarkson singing about how life is great since you've been gone, Rihanna singing about how you can stand under her umbrella, Donna Lewis singing about how she'll love you "always forever," and the Beatles belief that, "All you need is love..."

So according to these general observations... apparently "love" is something our society is, for lack of a better word, obsessed with. People sing about, write about it, want to learn about it, are constantly looking for it, and in a sense, can't live without it. People need love. It's that simple. However... we'll have to clarify the definition of love a little bit.

So... is love a feeling? Is it just an emotion like everything else; anger, sadness, joy? Can you technically "make" love? Does that imply that love is just sex and nothing else? Or is it bigger than that? Is love the feeling you get when you have 2083 butterflies flying around in your stomach?

Well, I'm sure some may say it's a feeling. I'd like to believe it's a little more than that.

Some say "Love is a Verb." (Actually I think it was just DC Talk who said that... but I can see where they're coming from.)

I've also heard different things about love, from some place other than the secular society:

• Love is patient, and always kind.
• Love is NEVER envious, never boastful, never proud, rude, or selfish.
• It keeps no records of wrongs. (Wow thats huge.)
• Love doesn't delight in evil but rejoices in TRUTH.
• Love always protects.
• Love always trusts.
• Love always hopes.
• Love always perseveres.

Another way of putting this (from the Message Version) is:

• Love never gives up.
• Love cares more for others than for self.
• Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. (wowww.)
• Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others.
• Love never says "me first."
• Love doesn't fly off the handle.
• Love doesn't keep score of the sins of others.
• Doesn't revel when others grovel.
• Love takes pleasure in the flowering of truth.
• Love puts up with anything.
• Love trusts God always. ****
• Love always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.

.... I like that. :)

I think it's so sad that love - true, pure love that is patient, kind, unselfish, trusting, hoping, persevering - has been so secularized in today's society, specifically in my generation and the generations behind me. It's been diminished to, pretty much sex.

Unbelievable to me.

While yes, I do think physical contact does play a pretty big role in the relationship you have with someone you love... there HAS to be more than that. There has to be. It can't be all about sex.

Prostitution, for instance, can't be the number one calling in life and can't be the ultimate "love job" so to speak. Does that make sense?

No I think it's more. Why do I think it's more?

Because I've seen and felt love for people in SO many different ways than just a physical touch.

I think love is a regard for someone else's well-being.

I think when you love someone, you literally want whats best for them at whatever cost - even if it costs your life.

I think "Falling in love" with someone, and I don't mean this 7th grade - pass the note - check yes/no- hold hands at lunch and kiss between classes type of falling in love - can probably be the best feeling in the world.

Think about it.

For (probably) once in your life, you are completely in love with a person to the point where you want to give whatever you have to make them happy. For once you (hopefully) feel completely compelled to give your life up for someone else.

Amazing.

"Greater love has no one than
to lay down his life for his friend..."

I've also heard something that's always, ALWAYS stuck in my head. That is that love is a commitment, it's a decision you make.

For instance, say you fall in love and end up marrying the person. As what happens most marriages... things get a little rough. It's so easy to just give up and quit on everything and get mad at the spouse.

The person used the example of when you're in a fight, you may be thinking about the other spouse something like this:

"You know what, I really really don't like you right now. You're being
ridiculous, not making any sense at all, and you're really not my favorite
person in the world to be around right now. Actually I don't like you one bit to
be honest. But, even though I may not like you right now, I love you. I'm
committed to you, I made a promise to you, and I love you."

.... it's a decision, & a commitment. And a very nice thing when you find a way to mesh all those things together.

I keep coming back to Pauls' definition of love tho. I really in my heart can't seem to separate that from being truth. He hits it head on. Love's patient. (Probably one of my biggest struggles.) Love is all those things that he mentioned.

God is the author of love. He IS love, in its complete entirety. Nothing we can do can separate us from His love, because it's everlasting to everlasting. It was there before we cam to be, and will be there regardless of anything. It's unconditional. (Lucky us huh?) And I believe it's the only thing that makes us truly complete.

I think it's impossible to really love something, really truly LOVE something, apart from God. He IS love, therefore if we don't have Him, we can't have that true love. Yet at the same time, when He does woo us into an amazing lovestory with Him, it's the most amazing, humbling, satisfying thing we will ever encounter in our lives and thus, finally, we are truly complete.

Nothing that the world at this time has to offer could ever measure up, I really don't care what it is. Sex. Boyfriends. Porn. Being skinny. Being hot. Being famous. Being rich. None of those things will ever complete you... so stop trying ya know? The times when I feel most satisfied in life is when my heart fully turns upwards towards the Lord and I am at a state of mind that acknowledges the fact that I really am NOTHING without Him. So humbling, so necessary...

Sometimes I think it's so hard to get to that point in your life tho, when you truly can grasp that. God sometimes seems so hard to find and so far away.

Welcome to the world right? Well, go ahead and look around at your world. What do you see? :: Rape. Violence. Murder. War. Pain. Tears. Satan in his prime. :( It's sad huh? It really, really is. But if we listen, apart from what the world is telling us about love, apart from our own fleshly, selfish desires of love (that can somtimes even be confused with Lust...) Then we'll know. We'll find it.

So. Every so often - maybe more often than I'd like to think - a little miracle takes place when human creativity manages to depict some faint but totally accurate reflection of something ridiculously, maybe even fearsomely true. And when I witness or hear or read something like that, I experience something like the dropping of a pin inside me. It's like my innate intuition and at times retarded yearnings are an echo, and for a brief lil' nanosecond I hear them next to the original sound and everything starts to make sense. To be honest, I mostly will feel that way when I read C.S. Lewis or the Bible, or when I play old hymns or listen to certain Sara Groves songs. But I think revelation in its entirety to be a two edged sword: a quite miraculous thing which can bring one both comfort and isolation, and maybe even a state of mind that really makes you stop liking yourself.

In Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller, I have found a true friend. His book has really been something that's rocked my life and could even be classified as one of those pin-dropped miracles. He's honest, open, real, hilarious, and after spending countless hours pouring my gaze over each page and really soaking it all in, I learned a lot about God. I began to see Him in a different light, to see His Word from a different perspective. It truly is amazing. So ya. We'll leave the last note to the author. And in the meantime... allow the Spirit to being a work in us, causing us to revel, learn, and yearn for a love that is so vital and true. A love that completes, never ends, and can only be found in God Himself - the author and finisher. Praise Jesus:)

("Blue Like Jazz", copyright 2003 by Donald Miller, Thomas Nelson Publishers, please don't sue me):

"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside
the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing saxophone.
I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes. After that
I liked jazz music. Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something
before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way. I
used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of
this happened... In America, the first generation out of slavery invented
jazz music. It is a free-form expression. It comes from the soul, and it is
true."

__________________________________________________________

Listening to: Sara Groves "When It was Over." - gooood stuff - Hillsong United "Look to You."

Reading: AW Tozer - "Pursuit of God." - incredible... I think everybody should read this book at least once. And then one/two more times after that.

::1 A.M::

There must be more than this.
Oh Breath of God come breathe within.
There must be more than this.
Spirit of God we wait for You.

Fill us in You, we pray...
Fill us in You, we pray.

Consuming Fire
Fan into Flame
A Passion for Your name.
Spirit of God
Would You fall in this place?
Lord have Your way, Lord have Your way with us.

Come like a rushing Wind.
Clothe us with power from on high.
Now set the captives free
Leave us abandoned to Your praise

Lord let Your glory fall
Oh Lord, let Your glory fall!

Consuming Fire
Fan into flame,
A Passion for Your name.
Spirit of God
Would You fall in this place?
Lord have Your way, Lord have Your way with us.

Oh there must be more... there must be more.

Stir it up in hearts Lord
Stir it up in hearts Lord
Stir it up in hearts Lord
A Passion for Your name!
___________________________________________________________________

I love worship.
I really do.
There's nothing else in the whole world that could really capture my heart the way worship does. Which I think is the way God intended it to be.
I'm so glad God allows us to be able to participate and interact with Him in that way. It's unbelievable.
Worship really is so so powerful. It's almost like a drug or something, which is a weird concept, but its true to me in some way. Whenever I hear worship music, it numbs my heart to other realities and my problems or worries or hurts really begin to fade and I'm confronted with something so much bigger and so much more real than anything I'm dealing with at that moment.
Worship LITERALLY changes my hearts perspective... it changes from being focused on ME to focused on HIM... and as I behold Him and focus on Him, it's cool because I know His spirit is working in my heart and I'm becoming more like Him in the process. It leads my heart to a state of wonder and awe and amazement, just singing to Him... seriously it's crazy!
There's something so powerful about proclaiming things like "Lord Have Your Way with Us," and "Here am I, All of me... take my life, it's all for Thee," and "In My Life, be lifted high..."
Ahh!!! I love it!
:)

Tomorrow is Easter.
Which is cool because it's a little day set aside to remember that Jesus is still alive and that death could'nt hold Him down. Ha. :)

It's awesome that I worship the only God (among other god's... that is, little "g's") thats not just a statue or rock or peice of wood... but a God that's actually still alive!

Ok now I'm just rambling because it's like 1 in the morning.... and the reason I started this blog is because I just heard the "Consuming Fire" song by Tim Hughes (Above lyrics) and that song like really, randomly, out of the blue touched my heart and set me in the right place and made me start writing and writing. Crazy I know.
Crazy how that happens.

....
ok seriously I'm done.
I'm gonna go get the beauty sleep I so desperately need...
And sing to my favorite man tomorrow and tell Him how cool I think it is that He's still alive... :)
_____________________________________________________________
Listening to: "Consuming Fire" - Tim Hughes ::::: "Take My Life" - Chris Tomlin
Reading: Same D-Miller book... good stuff. :) :::: Matthew

::Quickee::

So... I have a little time on my hands at work and haven't posted for a while. So here I go. It'll be a quick one too. :)
Anyways life is SO interesting right now.
I've learned more in the past few weeks than I have in a long time. And the stuff that I've been learning isn't "book-smart" type of stuff, but rather stuff about relationships, honesty, how to be a better communicator... etc etc. (aka... stuff that really matters in life.) :)

Also, I've learned a lot about God's grace and what it truly means to love the Lord with alllll your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
D-Perk preached a message at the Mill on Friday called "All" - that is - Giving your all to God.
Loving Him with allll of you.
Basically it rocked my heart and caused me to start thinking about a lot of stuff. Unfortunately I have to give people money right now... but trust me I'll elaborate more on this later and be all over this blog next week --
-- ESPECIALLY since just about everybody I know&love will be ditching me allll of spring break...

:(
Lame I know.

BUT it's ok I'll survive... and probably be able to renew my heart since I'll have a lot of time on my hands to spend with my first love. :) Yay I'm kinda excited now that I think about it...

____________________________________________________________
Listening to: Ray LaMontagne - "Trouble" :::: Jared Anderson "Praise Belongs to You" **Loving it!*
Reading: "Searching for God Knows What" by Donald Miller *STILL... I'm loving the book and really trying to pick it apart* ::: James, Daniel

::Present::

So... lets talk about the present.
I heard my favorite speaker last night at an FCA meeting. I like to call him D-Perk. He talked about prayer and it was good. He is a prayer warrior so I'd like to think he would know a thing or two about prayer.
I love how he didn't make it this huge, emotional pep-talk that leaves people on a ridiculous spiritual high... and only that. I've had many of those feelings in my time. You get this fire in your spirit and you want to pray 10x a day for 2 hours each and tell every person in the world about Jesus and you feel like that for about 2 days. Then when you come down from the mountaintop... and realize how much of a failure you actually are.... your in even worse shape then you were when you first started climbing the mountaintop.

"The King of your mountains is also the Lord of your valleys..."

But no, D-Perk didn't do that. He was very matter of fact in his little talk.
Summary: When you pray, God listens.
Think about it.
When you pray, whether it's a long, 2 hour prayer, or a quick, split-second, "God help me" prayer, He hears it.
The God of the Universe who created mountains and waterfalls and hurricanes and ants and dogs and sunrises and atoms and trees and clouds and angels and demons and sharks and midgets and oceans.... that very same God.... heard YOU. Ha. :) And out of His love for us, He will respond.

I love how David stated that we may not see the fruit of our prayers in this lifetime, and that for me is a very important concept to grasp.
And I doubly LOVE how he said that so many times we lose faith in prayer and instead always try to physically DO something about it and MAKE it happen.
We live in America in the 21st century, so we're gonna want immediate results. However, I'm realizing that God doesn't work that way. He's outside of time, so, obviously, His schedule won't always match up with ours. And the sooner we realize it's actually BETTER that way... the better. :)

Anyways, back to the last thought. We tend to trust in our own actions and our own strength to make sure the work of the Lord is done in our lives... rather than falling to our knees and PRAYING and trusting in the His word and His timing.

*sigh*... I'm not gonna lie, sometimes being a human sucks. I wish I could always trust whole-heartedly in God, never letting my own worries or ideas get in the way.
I want my faith in God to be greater than the faith I have in the air I breathe. Does that make sense? It should. I have pretty great faith that as I'm writing this, the next tiny little breath I take will be enough to keep me living until the next breath that I need.
The same goes for the sunrise. I have pretty great faith that after my day is over, all is said and done and I go to sleep tonight, the sun WILL rise tomorrow morning and a new day will begin.
I want to trust in the Lord more than I trust in those things, and if you think about it, that's HUGE.
And that's what I need.

Let's see.... other stuff that is going on in my life...
Well one of my best friends is bulimic and that's hard for me. I love this girl so ridiculously much it's almost unbelievable. It hurts to see her feel that way about her body when in all actuality, her body isn't that far off from being an "America's Next Top Model" body. No joke. It's insane when you think about it. She's hurting herself, and whats worse, is that its so addictive that she can't get out of it.
What can I do? Pray. Encourage her. Be her friend. Be there for her. Listen when she needs somebody to just shut-up and listen. Speak truth over her life and over her insecurity in that area. And most of all... love her. To death. And... that's what I'm gonna do with God's strength. :)

Other than that, family is good. Relationships are good. School is good. Work is good. God is good. (All the time...) :)

::Talk soon::

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading: "Searching for God Knows What" - Donald Miller - *LOVING IT!* Romans, Psalms.
Listening To: "God is God" - Steven Curtis Chapman.

And here are the lyrics to the song that humbled me and helps me realize that... I am nothing. :) And that's ok. I think the most beautiful feeling you can have is the feeling of complete, absolute, dependency on God. It humbles you and sets your heart in the right place; the place where it should've been from the beginning.

"God is God"
by: Steven Curtis Chapman

And the pain falls like a curtain
On the things I once called certain.
And I have to say the words I fear the most...
I just don't know

And the questions without answers
Come and paralyze the dancer
So I stand here on the stage afraid to move
Afraid to fall, oh, but fall I must
On this truth that my life has been formed from the dust...

God is God and I am not
I can only see a part of the picture He's painting
God is God and I am man
So I'll never understand it all
For only God is God

And the sky begins to thunder
And I'm filled with awe and wonder
Til the only burning question that remains is... "Who am I?" ( - LOVE that line!!)
Can I form a single mountain?
Take the stars in hand and count them?
Can I even take a breath without God giving it to me?
He is first and last before all that has been
Beyond all that will pass

Oh, how great are the riches of His wisdom and knowledge
How unsearchable for to Him and through Him and from Him are all things
So let us worship before the throne
Of the One who is worthy of worship alone

...Amen.

::Lessons Lessons Lessons::

So, I'm going to theMill to worship the Living God here in about 20 minutes and I'm SO excited. :)

I need it. Badly.
I need to be in His presence.
"Beholding is becoming..." and since I want to become more like Him... I'm very excited to behold His presence tonight with other people who love Him too. :)

I honestly want to be like Him so badly. I've been being like ME for the past 18 years, and I've found absolutely no joy or fulfillment in that. The only time I feel SO satisfied or truly full of joy is when I'm sometimes acting like Him; that is, TRULY loving people, making people happy, serving people, not worrying about ANYTHING, and being completely unselfish.

It's amazing how the times when you stop caring about YOU being happy... are the times when your really happiest. :) Funny funny funny...
So ya. I wanna be like Him. I want to love people how He loves me. I want to have a deep compassion for lost people, I want to laugh at the things He laughs at and cry at the things He cries at....

Lets see, what are the words that have been flashing in my brain lately these past few weeks...
Well there's RESPECT.
Which I'm learning is HUGE, especially in relationships and marriages. That's honestly the biggest thing that I've been realizing lately. Never have I seen the importance of respect, until I recently saw the lack of it!! I don't know if that makes sense, but a relationship without respect is ridiculously horrible. It's sad and unsettling

There's PATIENCE.
Which is something I tend to lack most of the time, to be honest, but it's cool because I'm taking baby steps to having that complete TRUST in Him and growing my capacity of patience along the way. :) Something that is MUCH needed, especially since I am an extremely impulsive person.
I'm always "go go go" and get stuff done and am bored when I'm in the same place/situation for too long. I want to travel and meet new people and see the world and change LIVES!! I want to learn and do stuff that actually matters, like helping young girls overcome eating disorders and insecurites, helping them realize how ridiculously beautiful they really are and how God has made them perfect, whether they're size 15 or 0.

I want to help young guys learn the truth that is spoken by God over their lives and help them become the Men of God that He's called them to be; men that are chivalrous, protecters, courageous, MASCULINE, and men that truly love the women in their lives the way Christ loves us - willing to die for them at any second.

THIS, is the stuff that I want to be doing. :)

There's SATISFACTION.
Which I've realized it impossible to obtain outside of Christ. Period. It's weird, I know this fact to be 100% true, yet I still try to find statisfaction in other things like relationships. I mean, I LOVE people. I love meeting new people, learning about them, discovering different personality traits, spending time with them, hugging them, EVERYTHING. I love the people in my life and how God's strategically placed them there to challenge me ahd help me grow and make me laugh and bring joy to my heart.
But sometimes I let these special relationships become my source of satisfaction, which is funny because it NEVER actually happens and never can happen... and since it NEVER can happen I find myself feeling sometimes sad or upset or just down. Which is dumb.
"The Joy of the Lord is my strength..." That's truth. And I love it. :)

Anyways. Just some random thoughts before I go and pour my heart out to the love of my Life... I'm so stoked for it.
Back soon:)

::It's Times Like These...::

"... that remind me, there's no such thing as happy endings."

These are the lyrics to a song that two of my best friends wrote. Oddly enough they've been running around in my head all day long, and the funnier thing is that I couldn't disagree with the statement more!

My heart is in mourning tho. My youth pastor and his wife just received news that their baby girl, expected to enter the world in April, actually passed away this morning. This would've been their 4th child and their first daughter. My heart breaks for them... :(

I don't really know why I started this blog. I guess I want to get back into writing a little more, and blogging is definitely a great way to do that. So many things have been going on in my mind lately and it'll be nice to focus and put them all down. It's so easy to let all these things become so stressful in my life, to start worrying about relationships and school and tests and work and family and everything else, and to lose focus on what actual reality is.

And this is what I think actual reality actually is.

...

God's got it in the palm of His hands.
He's had it there since before I even existed and He keeps it there regardless of my decisions or actions or faults or mistakes or victories.

Why?
Because He loves me. Unconditionally. Unconditionally. And I believe that with my whole heart and I will allow my soul to REST in that.
Peace.
Ahh..... it's so nice. :)

It's nice to know that when things seem to be confusing and so "up in the air..." that it's still gonna be ok because God's got the best view of it from up there. I love that!!
And I love Him.
A lot.

... I'll be back. :)