"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
You're playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our prescence automatically liberates others."
-Marianne Williamson
Monday, November 30, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
Renewal
This past weekend I had the absolutely amazing privilege of being a leader at Renewal-GSM's middle school retreat. I had such an incredible time and the most amazing girls in my group. They were so fun and full of Jesus, it was great to get to see them grow spiritually over the weekend. While the weekend drained me so much physically, I really feel so renewed and restored spiritually. During the weekend we had 3 sessions/ chapel/ church times or whatever you want to call it. Each session truly spoke to me and moved me.
In the first session DC talked about how as a Christian we don't have to live by a huge set of rules; God's love is always permanent and can't be altered. There is nothing we can do to make Him love us less and there is nothing we can do to make Him love us more. Looking back on the session I can see how the devil was trying to grab hold of me because all I could think was, "Ok, so if there's nothing I can do to make God love me less and my place in heaven is locked, why do I continue to try to do the right thing? Why don't I quit? Wouldn't that be so much easier?" But then as we stood up to worship I glanced up and saw a wooden cross placed on the wall and I pictured my Savior, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords laying up there for me and I was struck anew with the wonder of the gift he gave me when he hung up there. My thoughts immediately changed to,"Wow, that's why I try. He is the reason I try," and as I sang "All Because of Jesus" I had my eyes fixed upon that cross hanging on the wall and thanked him over and over again for the ultimate sacrifice he made for me and I prayed that my actions would reflect this love that I have received through it.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." -Ephesians 2:8-10
In the second session DC talked about checking ourselves in the mirror. During the session we had time to prayerfully evaluate ourselves and ask God what parts of our life were on track and on purpose for him, and what parts were not. This time was really an eye-opener for me; it made me realize that although I was on track in some areas, I needed a lot of work in others. While writing the list was a little hard for me because I have a major pride problem, I am very grateful that I did. I have been pulling it out every night since to review the day and see how I tried to work on those not-so-great areas and pray that God will give me the strength to keep improving them.
"Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out." -Romans 12:2
The third session was called A Whole New you. During the session DC made an illustration of Jesus washing us white as snow by taking a t-shirt full of different types of sin that people had written on it and said that before we had Christ, this is how we looked. Then he placed the t-shirt in Clorox and after a few minutes pulled it out-white as snow. This illustration was really encouraging for me to see because a lot of times I find myself focusing on how sinful and 'dirty' I am and I think that when I do this it's the devil's way of taking away from Jesus' sacrifice. The illustration again reminded me of the magnitude of Christ's gift. Because of him I can now start fresh, wearing a shirt as white as the one dumped in Clorox.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." -2 Corinthians 5:17
Basically, the weekend was sheer awesomeness! I think what I got out of it most was that I need to focus more on Christ, his sacrifice, and how he alone can heal me instead of me, my sin, and how I need to try harder.
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." -Hebrews 12:2
In the first session DC talked about how as a Christian we don't have to live by a huge set of rules; God's love is always permanent and can't be altered. There is nothing we can do to make Him love us less and there is nothing we can do to make Him love us more. Looking back on the session I can see how the devil was trying to grab hold of me because all I could think was, "Ok, so if there's nothing I can do to make God love me less and my place in heaven is locked, why do I continue to try to do the right thing? Why don't I quit? Wouldn't that be so much easier?" But then as we stood up to worship I glanced up and saw a wooden cross placed on the wall and I pictured my Savior, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords laying up there for me and I was struck anew with the wonder of the gift he gave me when he hung up there. My thoughts immediately changed to,"Wow, that's why I try. He is the reason I try," and as I sang "All Because of Jesus" I had my eyes fixed upon that cross hanging on the wall and thanked him over and over again for the ultimate sacrifice he made for me and I prayed that my actions would reflect this love that I have received through it.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." -Ephesians 2:8-10
In the second session DC talked about checking ourselves in the mirror. During the session we had time to prayerfully evaluate ourselves and ask God what parts of our life were on track and on purpose for him, and what parts were not. This time was really an eye-opener for me; it made me realize that although I was on track in some areas, I needed a lot of work in others. While writing the list was a little hard for me because I have a major pride problem, I am very grateful that I did. I have been pulling it out every night since to review the day and see how I tried to work on those not-so-great areas and pray that God will give me the strength to keep improving them.
"Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out." -Romans 12:2
The third session was called A Whole New you. During the session DC made an illustration of Jesus washing us white as snow by taking a t-shirt full of different types of sin that people had written on it and said that before we had Christ, this is how we looked. Then he placed the t-shirt in Clorox and after a few minutes pulled it out-white as snow. This illustration was really encouraging for me to see because a lot of times I find myself focusing on how sinful and 'dirty' I am and I think that when I do this it's the devil's way of taking away from Jesus' sacrifice. The illustration again reminded me of the magnitude of Christ's gift. Because of him I can now start fresh, wearing a shirt as white as the one dumped in Clorox.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." -2 Corinthians 5:17
Basically, the weekend was sheer awesomeness! I think what I got out of it most was that I need to focus more on Christ, his sacrifice, and how he alone can heal me instead of me, my sin, and how I need to try harder.
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." -Hebrews 12:2
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Abraham-Genesis 22
I just finished doing a character study of Abraham for school and boy did I learn a lot about faith. Abraham had great faith in God. he trusted him when it didn't make sense; he really let God have control of his life and God blessed him tremendously for it. My favorite story about Abraham is found in Genesis 22. In this chapter Abraham had finally received the son that God had promised him. It was his first and only son and I imagine Abraham love him very much. In this passage God tells Abraham to take his son to the region of Moriah and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering. Now, my thoughts when first reading through this story were along the lines of, "Why would God promise Abraham this son and then order him to essentially kill him? That makes no sense God!" But after reading further through this story I realized why God was asking Abraham to do this. God was testing Abraham's love for him. He was asking Abraham to put the very thing that he loved and adored on the altar and give it up for him. You see, God doesn't want to be put second in our lives. He demands, and is so worthy of, being number one in our lives. God asked Abraham to place his son on the altar to show him that God is worth so much more to him than anything else, even his son, and Abraham had such a great love and faith in God that he willingly was ready to do this for God. What has taken over the number one place God should have in your life? Are you ready to place it on the altar for him?
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Christmas!
Oh how I love the Christmas season! I think I get a little bit too much into the whole Christmas spirit though.... (: hahaha
Monday, November 9, 2009
CAMP ADVENTURE!
Every summer for the past 4 summer's I have had the privilege to go to (in my opinion) the greatest place on the face of planet earth. Seriously, it's that great. Every year I meet terrific people, I make amazing friends, I grow so much closer to God, and I have an incredibly great time! If it weren't for Camp Adventure I don't know where I would be in my walk with Christ right now, I have grown so much spiritually there. This summer me and my two best friends went to Camp together. We were in a group that we nicknamed the Welts (: It's a long story how this nickname came to be, but basically it was the result of absolute camp hyperness (which there tends to be a lot of at camp)! This group was the funnest, craziest, loudest group I have ever been in (: I love every single person in it, and while some of the people in this group live far away most of us have still maintained the bond that we established at camp. This bond is something only Camp Adventure can do to a group. To all you Welts reading this, I love you guys like crazy!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
My Review Of Disney's "A Christmas Carol"
So last night me and a couple of friends went to see Disney's A Christmas Carol. Let me just say that it was totally nottt what I expected it to be. I expected it to be a cheerful, happy, get me in the mood for Christmas kind of movie and it was but it was also a terrifying, grip your seat, nerve-wracking movie (: Weird mixture, huh? It was a greattt movie with a really good moral lesson but if you have high blood pressure or are prone to heart attacks, I advise you nott to go see this movie (:
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Trick or Treat!
This Halloween me, Olivia, Brittany, and Emily went trick-or-treating as hobos. Yes, some people may think we're a little too old to go trick-or-treating butttt we have great fun and hey, it's free candy! Who would pass that opportunity up?! Anywaysss, we went trick-or-treating, we were hobos, and we had fun (:
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