Celebrating singleness--

Well...you probably think this will be another blog about...

"Celebrate being single.."

"God is going to use you in your singleness!"

"You should be happy there's no man in your life to annoy you."

And while maybe those above statements are true...that doesn't mean those statements make single ladies feel better about being single. I've heard those statements a lot when I've been a single woman, especially after a tough break up with a guy who, only if someone hadn't basically slapped me across the face and told me I was crazy--I easily would've married the guy, and to be honest would've had a pretty miserable life. THANK GOD because it took me awhile to realize that I was selling my self short. That even though ending that relationship hurt, God was saving me a lot of pain, and he had someone better in mind. Now there is a guy who is the love of my life, I could not be more happy that I get to be his wife one day, the mother of his children.This is the guy who constantly holds me accountable to my relationship with Christ, and desires to be more like Christ himself, he has the heart of a servant, and when were together my gut hurts because he makes me laugh so much. The only problem is....

I haven't met him yet.

I am completely and almost desperately single, and besides going and throwing myself at guys to try and find the one who fits all the qualities above (Which I don't want to do) I can't do anything about it except realize that right in this very moment....

The creator of the universe pursues me daily, loves me, and always will love me more than my future husband does. 

This is why I celebrate my singleness, because at least according to me, because Christ is my first love, I already have everything I could possibly need. This doesn't mean that I don't get sad, mad, jealous, and maybe even a little bit angry...that It feels as if i'm the only single college girl left not only at my church, but my own school. I have to check myself though...I have to remember that pouting isn't going to make God want to give me my future husband any faster...in fact, it probably means he's going to hold it off for awhile. The statement, "God is going to use you in your singleness.." is so true, because he does. He uses this time of singleness to mature, and prepare you for your man, and he also uses it to give you ministry opportunities that if you had a boyfriend, lets face it, you wouldn't be doing it because it takes A LOT of time. That's not to say couples aren't actively involved in ministry because I know many couples who pour their hearts into ministry and its what I want my husband and I to do later in life.

I feel blessed to being able to mature in God's word, and in my life, and ministry through my singleness. It is always a joy to be able to further God's kingdom.

So ladies, I know...seriously I really know.

It kinda is not fun sometimes seeing all your friends getting in relationships, and getting married, maybe even having children.

But i'm telling you, our patience is going to pay off, I feel it. I know that God has someone so incredible in mind for me. I know he has someone incredible in mind for you and, instead of trying to make it all work out for myself...I think maybe I'll let God work out all the kinks, because I think he probably is a lot better at all of this stuff.

Lets celebrate being single, and lets celebrate being single together! (Raises glass of sparkling grape juice ;D)

FOR THE RIGHT REASONS: A College Freshman's view on Dating

   FOR THE RIGHT REASONS: A College Freshman's view on Dating 

• -Don't date for fun, because its not fun, it's a disaster. Date to marry.
• Date someone because, He is a man after God's heart. 
• -Date someone because, you've prayed about him.Chances are if you're not praying about him you're afraid God won't approve. God cares about relationships too. 
• -Date someone because, You feel good about talking about him to your mom, and especially Dad. (Remember ladies, he'll be giving you away at the wedding, his approval is important.)
• -Date someone because, he's sweet to your friends, if they're going to be around him it's good not to have drama.
• -Date someone because, he encourages you. Not to do bad things, but to live a godly life. 
• -Date someone because, he makes you want to try things you normally wouldn't try. He makes you daring and fearless.
• -Date someone because, he's good and gentle with kids. 
• -Date someone because, he's gentle with you, and willing to take care of you when you're sick or hurt. 
• -Date someone because, he is Godly and serves God whenever he gets the chance to. 
• -Date someone because, he inspires you to be a godly woman. 
• -Date someone because,he gets along with your siblings. 
• -Date someone because, he listens to and comforts you. 
• -Date someone because, you feel a God given connection with him.
• -Date someone because, he's done everything above and makes you happy.Your happiness is important, not to be selfish though. God wants you to be happy.I'm sure if God gave him to you, you'll feel pretty happy being with him.  

I'm not married. Nor did I get a ring by spring. But I do wear a purity ring on my left ring finger. A reminder that i'm God's way before i'm his. You might think differently but when it comes to a relationship I want to date the person that God has put in my life for me to marry. I'm willing to wait for him because it's not time wasted. Waiting is the important part because you allow God to work on you and make you more mature. He prepares the way for your future hubby. So wait patiently ladies, because I'm sure who God has for you is way better than you have planned. 

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! -Psalm 27:14

College Life

             The past month has been some of the most hilarious and wonderful times in my life. College serious is such a life changer. It's crazy how you go from being so dependent on your parents to figuring out your schedule on your own. But as scary as that can be, if you handle everything well...you get over that feeling like the first day, especially if you love your school like I do. Heres some pictures: :)

 Getting Bored Doing Homework

 My wonderful small group 

The Room 

 The Room

 The Room 

 Our Godly Dating Contracts 

 Felicia can juggle! WOAH! 

            I've made so many wonderful friends, especially my very best friend Felicia! My roommate is seriously the best, there's a campus full of wonderful Christians who have helped me in my faith, the staff prays with you...Is there any place on earth better than where I am right now? Others might think so but I don't think there is. I currently joined a new church here in Mount Vernon, and after just 3 weeks there I LOVE it. I just love it here...there's no other words to explain it. I just...love it.              

Compassion International :)

Looking Back: Winter Jam 2009... 
          I was PUMPED up to see TobyMac, and Barlow Girl, It was my first big concert, and the first time I had heard anything about Compassion, what they did. I was only 14 at the time, and sponsoring one of thos kids has been on my heart since that day in 2009. Every concert I go to that has been my least favorite part knowing that I did not have a way to sponsor one of those beautiful kids. But now, i'm 17 years old. Just graduated from high school, i'm headed to college in the fall, and I'm EMPLOYED, meaning yes i'm getting a pay check every two weeks. Yesterday afternoon(July 8th, 2012), I headed to compassion.com and I decided to sponsor a beautiful little girl from Mexico. He Name is Maria Magdalena Perez Gomez, and yesterday she turned 5 years old. I'm so excited to be able to take on the responsibility of helping this little girl. I love her to death already. 

           
I guess that's all, God bless. You'll hear more for me as I start receiving letters, and sending letters! God Bless! 

Listening to God

You know how sometimes your praying, and God brings something totally irrelevant to what you're actually praying about. Yah I know cause he was bringing up the same thing over and over again. I had a little bit of a listening problem though. My mind didn't want to listen to what he was saying, it wanted something different. The bible says that I should surround myself with Godly people, those who will help my faith grow. I knew I hung out with some ungodly people. But they were good friends, I still loved them. But at the same time I knew they were dragging me down because I the end of every night with them. I felt disgusting. I understand very clear that I can not force a change on people, I can only pray, pray, pray. I asked God what he wanted me do. "Love them like you have, but hanging out with them like you do, no matter what they say is NOT good for your faith." and for some reason those words that he spoke gave my heart rest thinking about it. So i talked to them about this what God had spoken to me. These are the types of things they said....

"You're not being a very religious, what you're saying is judgmental."

"The bible says you're supposed to love everyone."

"God didn't say that, and you don't want that."

1. I'm not religious, I have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

2. Never said I didn't love them, in fact I said I still loved them.

3.How do they know what God said to me?

I'm sure glad my pastor pointed out the way the Devil works, cause this stuff had him all over it. This is one of the hardest things I've done in my life, but I know even though it hurts now that God is getting it out of the way right now to deal with later and more difficult pain it could have caused if I didn't listen to him. My point is God might ask you to do some hard things in life, and my advice to you is to listen. Cause even though I'm a little heartbroken now, I know i won't be forever. God first. Listen Up.

The People We Love

    We all spend our lives trying to find LOVE, and you can't  deny it. You know its true. Maybe its not love as a partner, but love from good friends, and family. We try to attach our selves to people and no matter what they've done, and maybe if they don't even fit in your life we're bound and determined to make sure they do. We are a puzzle you see, different things complete us, and it takes a whole life time to complete the puzzle because there are millions of pieces. We try to build our own puzzle but the problem is we are not advanced enough to see all the pieces clearly, and when we're trying to build this puzzle on our own we put pieces in the wrong place. The pieces in reality don't really fit, but we keep trying to make them fit anyway. We don't realize the longer we try to make that piece fit, the harder the puzzle is going to be to complete.
     This is the same thing that happens with people. We find a person that we think is going to complete us, your happiness is soaring. You think you have it all until BAM! that person rushes them-self out of your life and all the sudden this depression sneaks in, and we let ourselves live in this darkness just because ONE PERSON.ONE PIECE. ONE DECISION. Lead us straight into something we never thought would happen to us. They broke your thought to be completed puzzle, and if anyone has ever built a wicked awesome puzzle, it took so long. Then someone steps right on top of it and breaks it. Yes, it's happened to me, and i was frustrated. Thats the way your life will continue to be if YOU try to build your own puzzle, If YOU try to write your own story. Because i'll be totally truthful with you right now. YOU CAN'T DO THIS ON YOUR OWN! As much as we think we were built for it, we just were'nt. God didn't do this to watch you struggle, he's not mean and cruel. He loves you to much for that. Yes, He LOVES you. Love; a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person, or a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend. Thats what the "Definition" of Love is. Too Bad it's wrong. GOD IS LOVE. He loves you, he loves you beyond your understanding. Is that not enough?


"Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run

And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you" -Tenth Avenue North; By Your Side

God is the only one that can build your puzzle, and write your story. Even though he was kind enough to give us free will, its not your decision where the puzzle pieces go. You can't search for LOVE when its already there. God loves you. And if your keep faith in him, and I mean REAL FAITH. He's gonna bring along the person that fits perfectly, without having to change that person, or alter the piece.

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose   for them." Romans 8:28

Time

        It's crazy how fast time flies. The reason I am starting this blog is because I just finished my junior year in high school and now i'm officially a senior. I look back on my high school years and think "WOW, I've grown up so much!" I'm so much more confident in everything I do now. My faith is totally different now too. I used to be so scared to talk about Jesus, and what he had done for me but now I will do it anywhere with anyone. 


       The way we spend our time is so important in our faith. We can't go around doing sinful things, and believe in Jesus. Then expect on judgement day to be shipped right up to heaven. I mean if that was the case then where would all the good in the world be? We have to really spend our time wisely, spread the good news, while living in it. Reading our bible, praying, doing good works, praying more. "for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now." Philippians 1:5




       But for some reason. Time changes things. The seasons change, people change, we change. We struggle to find something to cling to that wont change. Our prayers grow weak, we forget why we are actually praying, we stop reading our bibles, then we stop praying. You sit there and wonder what happened. You're broken, worried, stressed, and feel like nothing is there to cling to. You see we forget that even though times change. Jesus NEVER changes. He remains the same. "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow." James 1:17 


    So if your curious to know the real reason why i started up this blog. Its not for you, even though maybe you'll appreciate it. But its for me, and my faith to remind me as I go through these future changes like graduating and going college, that Jesus isn't going to change and I can continuously count on him to be there, and help me through every situation. God Bless! [:




"And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see." 1 Peter 1:5