And All These Little Things

Yes. Okay. Maybe I should be reading my book on fossil legends and writing a paper on it right now instead of writing this blog.  But guess what? I a wonderful procrastinator.  

So I just wanted to share how wonderful my day has been.

I went to classes as usual, but then after my final class of the day I hurried off to the gym to run on the track. Can I run well? Nope. I'm working on that.

After that I got all cleaned up and went to the BCM on my campus. (BCM stands for Baptist Collegiate Ministries) I listened to the fascinating lesson on God's power and then I auditioned for a role in the dinner theater production that the BCM will be having. I have no idea if I'll get a part, but just auditioning made me so happy because it brought back fun memories of my high school's dramas that I was in. 

And lastly, I went to the cafeteria with a friend and ate a wonderful sandwich and a yummy yummy brownie. (It's the little things y'all.)

Okay so yeah, I really liked my day. Nothing major happened, but like I said above, it's the little things.

Happy Tuesday!

(So this is what my walk to class looked like at 8am today.)

Oh How He Loves Us

"Oh God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you,

as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,

beholding your power and glory.

Because your steadfast love is better than life,

my lips will praise you.

So I will bless you as long as I live;

in your name I will lift up my hands." (Psalm 63:1-4, ESV)

Have you ever been running on a really hot dry day and not carried your water with you? Your throat and mouth become so dry and your strength begins to drain as dehydration sets in; all you can think about is getting to water before you pass out. 

I rediscovered this underlined passage in my Bible last night, and it really hit me in the face.  It's just so beautiful to me, and a powerful wake up call. 

Think about it, this passage is basically telling us as Christians we need to seek God as if we are thirsting to death.  He is our water; He is our strength.  We need to constantly be striving for God.  We must continuously work to become closer and closer to Him.

In this passage, David writes that God's love is greater than life.  How completely and breathtakingly beautiful is that?  God's love is greater than the mountains; than the sunset on the beach; it's greater than this whole earth. It's greater than life.  I don't know about you, but that just makes me smile.  

God's love is greater than life, and we have His love.  He loves us!

God's love is kinda like that glass of ice cold water you finally get to on the hot day after running.  It pierces your dry throat and revives the strength you didn't have before.  When you are weak and straining to remain standing, God's love saves.

What really hit me in the face about this passage was that I really haven't been working hard to become closer to God.  I kinda put God on the back burner last semester, and it showed.  I was miserable.  (Now, not to say you can't go through hard times as a Christian and while seeking God. But Philippians 4:11-13, Paul tells that in whatever situation we face, no matter despondency or prosper, we can get through it with God.  We can find contentment in God; He is our strength.)

So yeah, I'm not perfect. Totes obvi. I constantly forget to put God first in every situation.  But I'm working on it.  I'm just so grateful for his unconditional love.

I hope that this passage makes you as happy as it made me.  :) 

Picture Day 3

I took this on my way home sometime over the summer. (The clouds were gorgeous that day!)  I cannot wait to go home for Christmas break and spend holiday time with my family!

And Then That Word Grew Louder and Louder

Hey Everyone :)

Okay so today has been so wonderful.  This week had some rough spots, but for the most part it was great, and I am so excited about what's coming up! 

I'm participating in the sorority recruitment at my college and today was the first official day of rush! It was so much fun! And might I say, I'm officially exhausted. If the standing in the hot sun didn't wear me out enough, the smiling sure did! :D It was great and I made soooo many friends.

Aren't we so cute?!

Anyway, back to the blog challenge.

Favorite Quotes and Bible Verses

(Please note: any Bible verses I quote are being quoted from the ESV)

Bible Verses:

• "For I am certain that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." --Romans 8:38-39
• Psalm 28
• "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received form the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." --Acts 20:24
• "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.  Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord you God is with you wherever you go." --Joshua 1:9
•  "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." --Jeremiah 29:11
• I pretty much love every single Psalm

I could just list and list Bible verses all day :)

Quotes:

• "Be a true heart not a follower." --Ed Sheeran
• "Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire." --St. Catherine of Sienna 
• "Hold on to what you believe in the light, when the darkness has robbed you of all your sight." --Mumford & Sons
• "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain."
• "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." --Corrie ten Boom
• "Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible." --Corrie ten Boom
• "Get over your hill and see what you find there with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair." --Mumford & Sons
• "Smart is sexy." --Ashton Kutchar

Okay well those are just some of my favorite quotes and verses.

What's one of your favorite quotes and/or Bible verse? Leave a comment below! I'd love to hear them :) 

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

Consume Me Like a Fire 'Cause I Just Want Something Beautiful

Hey everyone. :)

I hope today is going well for you! I'm just going to be honest, it started out as a very rough day for me, but it got better as the day progressed. I'm glad to be in my quiet dorm now though.

Today's topic of the blog challenge I'm doing with my best friend is to write my favorite and least favorite things about myself.
  
So here we gooooo....

Least Favorite/Stuff I Hate About Myself

• I overanalyze pretty much EVERYTHING.  I guess it can come in handy in very rare situations, like if I needed to deeply think through something important, but for the most part it's just annoying.
• I'm super shy which does not help when meeting new people.  I'm trying so hard to overcome this.
• I am an introvert(which I suppose has to do with the above fact) and so I would much rather just hide in my room or find some quiet place at the library to chill than be around a bunch of loud people.  I really hate this because I don't want to be a cave hermit.  So I'm trying to push myself to be more out there.
• I can't sing work a flip, and I've aways wanted to be able to. It just seems like it would be a lot of fun.
• Oh and I'm not even the slightest bit athletic.  Seriously, it's embarrassing.

Things I Like About Myself

• I love to have fun with my friends and family, and I think I'm friendly :)
• I'm pretty compassionate and I like helping people
• I like that I'm artistic/creative. art=my happy spot.
• I'm a Christian and I'm very happy about that because I LOVE Jesus and don't even want to imagine what my life would be like without Him.
• I'm pretty good at solving problems (like life problems, not math problems.  Math scares me.)

Weelllllll those are some of the things I hate and like about myself.  Yeah, I'm not perfect, and I realize that every single day.  No one is perfect. But Jesus loves us anyway!  That's just amazing to me.

I wasn't really excited about this blog prompt.  Talking about myself and being personal freaks me out (introvert probs).  But that's one of the good things about this challenge! It's pushing me out of my comfort zone! So yay :)

Hope you all had a good day! :)  We're almost to the weekend! Sort of!  Hang it there!! 

And We Danced All Night to the Best Song EVER

Hey Everyone!!

So today Victoria and I are blogging about our weekends as a part of the blog challenge.

This weekend was just kinda chill for me.  But I'm not complaining, I really needed some fun relaxing time after this crazy week!

Friday I slept in til about 1pm.  Crazy, right? I didn't have any classes that day, thank goodness, but I did miss eating lunch with my friends which made me sad.  I think for a while they thought I was dead somewhere or something... Oops.

But the day got so much better!! That evening I went with some friends to eat at a fun local restaurant that has really weird and yummy food, and then we went to see a movie.  What movie?  THIS IS US.  Yes, we went to go see the One Direction movie, and it was wonderful.  Ha.

(I don't own this picture.  Obviously.)

 Not only did the boys make it just a wonderful movie to look at, but it was actually super funny and entertaining.  Highly recommend it ;)

Saturday I pretty much did absolutely NOTHING.  My roommate was out of down for the weekend so I had the whole dorm to myself.  I walked to the library with the hopes of getting some Starbucks, but Starbucks was closed, so I ended up just going in and writing.  That was really cool because I usually don't take time to just sit and write.

After that I came back to my dorm and was a very good college student and I did all of my homework.  Ha.  Just kidding.  I watched wayyyyyy more episodes of Pretty Little Liars than I would care to mention.  My roommate got me addicted to it!

Sunday I went to church and then met my family for lunch.  I hadn't seen them in a week so that was nice.  And then I came back to my dorm and then I went to a Bible study that evening.

My best friend, Victoria, spent the night after that because our plan was to wake up extremely early and go kayaking with a group of people.  But there was a flash flood warning so kayaking didn't happen.  Instead, I went home, did laundry and ate dinner with my family. Then came back to my dorm and did homework.  Livin' it up.

Well that was my weekend!! And all in all it was very happy :)  I hope you had a great Labor Day!!

(And by the way I've been playing around with the look of my blog.  So if you thought it looked different, it does.  You aren't crazy, about that at least..)

It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day

So this past week I did something daring, something bold, something slightly idiotic, and something I feel might make all the "live while you're young" people out there very proud.

I quit my job.

I quit my job without a backup job.

Smart, huh?

Why the heck would I do this?  Well, it was not as spontaneous as you might think.  I'd been thinking about it for a while.  Truth is, I'll be leaving for Ireland in less than 2 months and as soon as I get back I'll have a few weeks before I start my freshman year of college.  And my parents really don't want me working my freshman year.  And without having the commitment to work, I will be able to visit with some family that is out of town that I otherwise wouldn't be able to see over the summer.

So yeah, it wasn't as reckless a decision as it could have been.  I thought through it, did a cost benefit analysis, and here I am with 2 days left of work.  It's kind of bitter sweet because I really have enjoyed my job and the awesome people I work with and such. And I've learned so much from this employment.  It has been truly a wonderful experience for which I am extremely grateful. 

But I'm excited about where this is taking me.  I am going into a new stage of life, jobless though I may be.  Soon I'll be in college learning things and striving for a degree that will enable me to start in a career that I love.

In the words of Mr. Buble: "It's a new dawn, it's a new day."

Yeah I know, that's a little dramatic.

But really, I kind of am now understanding what people say about remembering when they were my age and feeling like they had the world at their finger tips.  Right now I don't feel like I'm on top of the world, but I feel like I'm climbing my way there.  Yeah, it's going to be tough, and yeah I'm going to mess up.  But I'm excited about making mistakes.  I'm excited about coming to the realizations that I am so far from perfect, and I'm excited about living with that.  I'm excited about fighting my way to the top.  I'm excited about not having an extreme life plan set up, like the major or career I want to pursue. 

I'm just excited about my plan for climbing and falling and climbing again.

--Mary