turn that frown upside down.

 The other day I was texting a friend. She had a rough day and was sharing with me some things that happened, but then she shared with me something cool that happened in her day! I loved that, even though all these things went wrong there was something good. This was my response....Even on the rough days there is at least one positive, almost always. Sometimes you just have to look a little harder.

I believe this was a total God thing, because as I was typing it out, I'm thinking to myself...wow. Okay, God. You're right.

I think it can be so easy to get so caught up in the drama, the sickness, the financial struggles, the relationship problems, the loneliness, the never ending list of things to do, that we allow those things to take up our attention. We end up spending all of our precious time thinking and dwelling on the awful things that are going on in our life, our struggles, our worries, and everything that has gone wrong or differently than what we planned for ourselves. But the thing is, yes life is hard sometimes, but I think in those times it's more important than ever to look for the positive things, the good things.

I want to give you a challenge today. If you are one who is just having a bad day, nothing is going right and you are just feeling down, take the time to think about the good things in your life today! Search for the positive things! It seems to make the rough days a bit better, gives you something to smile about.

I don't know if you are familiar with the song 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) by Matt Redman or not, but lucky for you I am posting the link for his music video below. :) Also I will include the lyrics since the video does not have them!

                                                  "10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)"

[Chorus]
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

[Chorus]
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

[Chorus]
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

[Chorus x2]
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name
Lord, I'll worship Your holy name

Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name
Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name
I'll worship Your holy name

My favorite line of the whole song says this: "Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes." There are 10,00 reasons and more for us to sing praises to God and give Him thanks, no matter what we are going through. Whatever comes our way, He promises us that He will not leave us or forsake us. So whatever you are going through today, know and believe that you are not going through it alone. God, the Creator of the Universe, gladly walks with you through this thing called life but not because He needs you or me, but because He chooses us. He wants us! He loves us. He cares for us.

I was reading through the book of Psalm, browsing through looking for a Scripture to share with you (Psalm has hundreds and hundreds of verses about giving thanks and praise!) and came across this. Psalm 149:4 says "For the Lord takes delight in his people...". Read that again and take in what that really means. The Lord delights in you! The definition of delight is something that gives great pleasure; joy. You my friend, give the Lord great joy!!! How cool is that?! He love love loves spending time with you. He is waiting to hear from you.

I encourage you to have a heart to heart with God. Call out to Him. Draw near to Him and I promise He will draw near to you! Pour your heart out to Him, share your worries, your fears, your hardships. Let go and let God take care of it. Trust Him. 

"You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with you, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent." Psalm 30:11

Delight in Him because He delights in you!!! And when you are having a rough day, week, month, or year....look for the positives. Remember the good things in your life and give Him thanks and all the praise! "For all your goodness I will keep on singing, 10,000 reasons for my heart to find!"

december in pictures.

Since I haven't blogged for a while, I am going to show you what I have been up to via pictures the last couple of months.

The first part of December my family and I took a trip to Lawrence, KS. We went to celebrate my dad's 50th birthday. Last year, Devin and Kelli bought a ticket for a KU game for my dad for his birthday. This year...we joined him. Me, Devin, dad, Dustin and Chrissy all went to a KU game. It was my first game to ever go to! I was ecstatic! I loved every minute of it. Can't believe it took me 23 years to go to a game.

Before the game, these four ran in the Lawrence Jingle Bell Run!

At Allen Fieldhouse! So fun.

 Chrissy and I at our first KU games!

The guys.

The whole gang. Dustin, Chrissy, me, Devin, and Dad!

Allen Fieldhouse!!

Warm ups.

After we met up with Kelli, Brodi and Mom for a family picture.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Celebrated Christmas with the family! We spent the day at home not doing a whole lot of anything. It was wonderful! This was Brodi's first Christmas. He loved it! It's hard to believe that Christmas Eve last year we got the exciting news that Devin and Kelli were expecting. What a blessing Brods has been! I don't remember what we did before Brodi...:)

Christmas Eve

Uncle Dusty and Brodi

Games on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning.

Kel and Brodi

My brothers.....this picture perfectly describes them. 

My favorite picture from the day :)

Siblings...and the baby...and the dog!

We spent a majority of the day playing marbles.

So fun.

The 28th was what is called The World Mission Summit (TWMS3...it's the third Summit, just in case you were wondering where the 3 came from!) World Mission Summit is a missions conference where Chi Alphas from all over the place come together. There is worship, speakers, and missionaries from all over the place! And as you have probably guessed....it's all about missions, which I loved. I enjoy anything that has to do with missions. If you have ever been to or heard about Urbana (another missions conference...I went to it 4 years ago!), the Summit is similar just on a smaller scale. Urbana there were around 18,000 people. The Summit there were about 4500 of us! But the other awesome part about the weekend was getting to spend time with some of my Topeka friends! :) I had a blast.

Leaving Topeka! 

Ari and I taking advantage of the empty bean bags. This was the only time they were not taken!

Andrew, Ari, me.

Eric and Erin.

Fort Worth! 

Ariona.

Last night at The Gathering.

They had what was called "Windows to the World". It was neat. Over the weekend I went to Africa, Europe and Eurasia. Africa showed a video, Europe was cool. We went to an "art gallery" and walked around there and then ended up in a different room where 4 different people from different ministries around Europe talked about what they are doing. We also sat with our "tour guide" (who are missionaries in Europe) and we got to talk to them about what they do and what life is like in Europe. It was cool. Our tour guide was awesome! We ran into her later and talked to her for probably 30-45 minutes! We also met her husband. I just met them, but they are awesome! I loved it.

Then we went to Eurasia. It was quite the experience. You had to have a passport to get in. The guy who I had to talk to saw my sticker for a ministry so he was questioning what I was doing there and if I believed in Jesus. He finally let me go and I made my way through. Phew. They did have a jail that they were throwing people in. One of my friends I met got her passport taken away and she was sent to jail. They wouldn't let her in. They did a really great job of making it seem so real! Anyways...as we were walking to where we were supposed to go, there were people grabbing you, trying to take your bag, shoving things in your face trying to get you to buy it....I have never been to Eurasia but I feel like I have been! haha. Oh and we had to wear head coverings and the guys had to wear hats.

Here are pictures from our trip to Eurasia! :)

As we arrived to Topeka on New Years Eve, it was snowing. The plan was for me to keep driving, but it was dark by the time we got to Topeka and I was afraid everything would start freezing over. So I decided it would be best to stay the night in Topeka. I ended up going to my friend Stefanie's house and staying the night there. It was a huge blessing, I had so much fun! I am so thankful her family let me come stay on such short notice! We ate dinner, talked a lot, played bananagrams (so fun!) and talked some more. It was a great way to ring in the new year! Thanks Stefanie! :)

And then there is Brodi! I haven't watched him in two weeks, so I'm in heaven today. (He is taking a nap now...playing with all of his new toys is exhausting!) Watching him is still the best job ever! I love being an aunt!!! I will leave you with this picture...Have a beautiful day!

twenty thirteen.

I have started half a dozen blog posts, but they are all unfinished. I guess you could say writer's block? Can you get writer's block when you're not even a writer to begin with? Sometimes it makes me laugh that I have a blog because as you have probably figured out, I am no writer. And my grammar is terrible. I probably put commas in all the wrong places, use the wrong kind of to/too more often than not, and so on. But nonetheless, I have a blog. Anyway..

I don't know what the point was of that paragraph! I'm just rambling...that's what I do. Another reason it's funny that I have a blog. I tend to ramble. But now I am going to put an end to that and get on with the whole reason I am writing this blog post.

It's a new year as you all know...or at least I hope you do... and I have been pondering what my "word" or "theme" for the year should be. Now, I know that this is usually done before the new year begins, but friends...I am a little slow. I am starting the year behind...not exactly the best way to start but I am determined to turn that around and be on top of things! Which brings me to my word that the Lord keeps giving me to focus on this year..... intentional.

When people ask me how I'm doing, I find myself always responding, "I'm good, just busy." Every. Single. Time. I always feel behind. I feel overwhelmed. I feel so unorganized. And when I try to get organized, I get frustrated because I don't have a whole lot of room to get organized. And by that I mean, I am living back home in a very small room, and somehow while living in Topeka I managed to accumulate a lot of stuff. It's a task trying to find a place for everything.

I start out each day with the best of intentions to be productive and check things off my list of to-do's, but I feel as though each day passes and more things have only been added to the list than are taken off the list. And have you ever reached the point of having so much to do that you don't know where to even begin? Then you get discouraged and the day passes and you did nothing productive? Welcome to my life.

The days are quickly slipping away from me, one after the other. Before I know it a week has passed and then another. I am learning just how precious our short time here on Earth is. It's only but a second compared to eternity. And I don't want all of my days to go by wasted one after another. The thing is, time isn't going to get any slower. My life is always going to be busy. There will always be things happening. If anything, my life will only get busier and time will go quicker the older I get. That's what I hear anyway. Kind of frightening because it's already flying by!

So it's time to take control and be intentional with my time.

This year I want to focus on how and what I fill my time with.

-More Jesus time. That is my priority this year. Jesus. I want more of Jesus. Spending more quiet time in prayer with Him and getting into the Word every single day. I wish I could tell you I already did this, but I would be lying if I said I read the Bible every day. But, it's not even about reading my Bible every day just to read my Bible and say that I did it. I want to spend time in the Word studying it, reading it, praying it, memorizing it, and most importantly....living it out.

-Less me time. God is showing me how selfish I am with my time. I'm not saying it's bad to have "me time". It's a good thing, but it can quickly become a problem. Part of it, for me anyway, is laziness. I am just lazy sometimes. Sometimes -okay fine...way too often- I make deals with myself, "I'm going to watch this show now, and then I will do whatever it is I'm putting off. And then when then comes, something else has come up. And then it's time to go to sleep. Am I the only one who does this? Something tells me that I'm not, but maybe so. Either way, it's a problem and I need to stop. There will be days when I don't want to do anything, but I need to do it anyway. If I don't...I will never accomplish anything. I need to find a schedule that works for me and work on my time-management skills. But I need to STICK WITH IT! (That should also be another theme for this year...being intentional and sticking with the things that I commit too!)

-This goes along with what I said above, but I am giving it it's own spot. I will read the Bible in a year. I am determined to do it. I realize you have heard those words before though, unfortunately. I would say this time is going to be different, but I have said that before too. So if you could pray for me, that this be something that I can be intentional with and follow through on that would be great. Thanks!  I really really want to do it...to read the whole Bible. I have read quite a bit of it, but there are some books in the Old Testament that I have only read bits and pieces of. I pray that come this time next year I can honestly say, I have read the entire Bible, every word, front to back. Also...memorizing scripture. This is something I used to do but fell away from it. I definitely want to get back into the habit of doing that!

-Friendships/Relationships. I am always hesitant to put relationships because I don't mean just a relationship with a significant other. And not that I have one of those to work on/worry about anyway, but you just never know what could happen this year I suppose! But that is besides the point. I am going to stop myself now before I ramble anymore. So being intentional in relationships that I have. I have learned that friendships don't exactly happen on there own. You have to be in communication with the other person. This goes for friends, brothers, sisters, significant others, husbands, wives, children, cousins and on and on. If there is no communication, the relationship fades away. Not that you forget about that person or stop caring about them, but you just go your separate ways I guess. You become "acquaintances". All of this to say, it takes effort to keep a relationship healthy. In moving back to Chanute, I left an amazing group of friends, people who I plan to be friends with for the rest of my life. I have learned that as I get "busy" it's easy for time to pass by and before I know it, a week went by and I didn't attempt to call/text/email/write anyone to see how they are doing and what is happening in their life. Which is another way I have been selfish! But also, being intentional in the relationships that don't yet exist. Reaching out to people, connecting with people, building friendships with people.... Since moving back to Chanute, I have really been praying to find a group of friends to get connected with so this whole reaching out/connecting with people is a big thing for me now seeing as how I don't really know many people who are my age here. All of my close friends from high school have moved away! I'll be honest though...this is something I struggle with sometimes. I can be shy when I'm in a room full of people who I don't know. I know....hard to believe, right?! Everybody always says how quiet I was when they first met me and how they worried if I would come out of my shell or not. haha No worries...I do, just give me time! But...I have really come along way! The Lord is definitely helping me with that! But I'm not someone who can walk into a room not knowing anybody and walk out with 8 friends. (I don't know where the number 8 came from!) I need to pray for more courage and boldness I suppose! But also being intentional in the way of showing Christ's love to those that I come into contact with whether I'm at the grocery store, Wal-Mart, the post office, church, or the library. I don't want to be too rushed or too busy to have a conversation with someone, to be a listening ear to somebody needing to talk, to help someone, or to potentially make a new friend.

These are just a few things that the Lord has put on my heart to pray about and focus on this year. I know that life isn't going to come to a halt to let me get caught up and organized and planned out on how I am going to work on/get better/accomplish these things... If only it were that easy.

 But honestly, of all these things, I just want more Jesus. And I know I am repeating myself, but that is what it comes down to. More of Jesus. I want to give Him control of how and what I fill my time with. In some ways, I still like to have control and I don't think this is something I have every fully done....giving all of my time to God and say, "Lord, it's yours. What do you want my schedule to look like? What am I supposed to be doing with my time? What things do you want me to fill my time with? What things do I need to change?" Instead I kind of pick and choose what it is that I want to do and don't want to do. But I'm done with that. I want everything that I do to be for HIM (less of me). And that starts by abiding in Him, spending quality time with Him. Having His truth, His words written on my heart (memorizing scripture). I want to live and breathe for Him and Him alone. Everything else is just bonus, the sprinkles and cherry on top.

 When I begin doing that, my list of "to-do's" will turn into a list of things that I get to do. Isn't that a wonderful concept? Instead of, oh I have to go do this, and I have to be there for that later, and then after that I have another thing....it can get hectic and exhausting sometimes! But when you are abiding in the Lord and the things you are doing are to further His kingdom, to bring Him glory, it becomes more about Him and less about me. It becomes, I get to do that rather than I have to do that. And that doesn't necessarily mean it won't be hectic and it won't be exhausting, but I will be walking in His strength, His peace, and His joy, not my own.

What is your word for this year? If you don't have one, I encourage you to pray for one! Let this be a year of happiness, growth, and love! :)

Cheers to Twenty Thirteen!

Day 30---Day 30

List 10 things you would hope to be remembered for.

I watched a video the other day... it was about a guy who passed away at a fairly young age. At his funeral, the pastor had asked a couple of people to come up front and share about this guy, and what part he played in their life. After these two people shared, someone else got up and shared. And then another. And yet another. This funeral service turned into a time of sharing how this man played a part in so many peoples lives. It was so cool to see the ways in which Jesus used this man to change lives. But with all the stories that were shared, you can wrap what every one said into one word...love.

This man loved people. He was there for so many people when they needed someone to be there the most. He was always reaching out to the hurt, the lost, the broken, the poor. It was amazing. I was crying by the end of the video. But more than that, this man loved Jesus with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. Jesus was everything to him and that is how these people knew him and would always remember him by. And in return, he was able to share that love with a lot of people. Jesus used this man to reach out to so many people. He brought so many people to Christ by simply loving them with the same kind of love that Jesus has for us.

This part of the post doesn't have much to do with the question, but I wanted to share this part of the story with you! The most amazing thing about this man... Before he gave his life to Christ, he was a mess. He was heavy into drinking, drugs, and who knows what. He ended up jail. His wife wanted a divorce. And on top of all this, he ended up in the hospital from having a heart attack. He was at a very low point in his life. But in that moment, God moved in his heart. He ended up giving his life to Jesus. He quit his big fancy job, him and his family moved out of their big fancy house. His life was forever changed. He began feeding the poor. He was a friend to people who didn't have anyone else to turn to. He was there for them. He loved them. He wasn't doing all of this just to be a nice guy, and he wasn't being fake about it. He genuinely loved these people. But at the funeral, nobody talked about his past and all the mistakes he had made.

That is the beautiful thing about Christ. He takes us undeserving, messed up, broken, sad, angry, depressed people and he gives us new life. He makes us new. And your life will forever be changed. It's truly a beautiful thing. After surrendering his life to the Lord, when people encountered this man, instead of seeing his past mistakes and the mess that he was, they see Jesus in him. The past is forgotten and washed away by the blood of Jesus.

Back to the question now...

 I don't care about how many things I am remembered for. There is one thing that matters...I hope that I would be remembered as a person who truly loved Jesus with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. In the same way as the guy above, I don't want to be remembered by anything that I did, but rather what Jesus did. How he saved me. How He provided for me. How He loved me. How He cared for me. How He took care of me. How He protected me. And did I mention how much He loved me? I want to share that love in everything I do, everything I say, and wherever I go.

That is how I hope to be remembered. As a person who was in love with Jesus and would do anything for Him...even if it meant selling my big fancy house (which I don't have, but sticking with the above story) to move into a smaller one so that I could give more. To quit a fancy, high paying job for a not so high paying job that would allow me to reach out to the poor. That is love. That is sacrifice. That is faith.

This is a prayer I need to pray every single day:

"So let my life be the proof, the proof of your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died,
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof, the proof of Your love"
-Lyrics from the song "Proof of Your Love" by King and Country.

30 Days---Day 29

What do you think people misunderstand most about you?

Hmmm.....

Well, I tend to come off as shy. Some may find this hard to believe, but I have come a long way with this! I used to be really super shy...it was bad. So there has been improvement, it's true. Most people, when they have known me for a while, they always talk about how quiet I was when they first met me. But I promise if you keep talking to me and I'm around you more, I'm not so quiet! :)

30 Days---Day 28

What is my love language?

I will share with you my top 3 love languages...

1) Quality time
2) Acts of Service
3) Physical Touch

I took the love language test and the above were my results. I do believe they are fairly accurate. I love to spend time with people, and I love having good, deep conversations about life, with my friends/family. They are my favorite. Just being open and honest with your feelings, opinions, and thoughts about something. Talking about anything and everything. I love having one-on-one time to get to know a person. And I like when people feel comfortable around me, and trust me enough to share with me about their life...even the hard/difficult/sad/embarrassing/not so easy to talk about stuff.

On the other side of that, I like when I am able to truly open up and share my own thoughts, feelings, and thoughts about whatever is going on in my life. To be able to be myself around people. Something that doesn't happen easily with me. Not that I don't trust people, but I guess I like it when people take the time to get to know me. I'm not going to share my life story with everybody I meet as soon as I meet you. But if you get to know me, if you take the time to ask and find out, I will share it with you!

As far as the acts of service, I am a pretty independent person. Sometimes I like to do things myself and not ask for help. This isn't exactly a good thing though. But I do like it when people volunteer to help me out with something or even just do it without me asking. I definitely don't complain about that! But I'm not one to always come out and ask for the help.

Physical touch....I love hugs! Although if I am just meeting you, I'm probably not going to hug you. But that also depends on the situation. If someone I am just meeting or barely know came and gave me a hug, I wouldn't stop them! I'm just not going to be the one to initiate the hug. :) It goes along with what I talked about above...feeling comfortable around someone. If I'm just meeting you, I'm not going to feel as comfortable walking up to you and giving you a hug as I would someone who I have known for 3 months, 6 months, 8 months, 1 year, or 5 years...

30 Days---Day 27

What is your favorite part of the body and why?

I'm not sure how I feel about this question... I feel weird writing a blog post about this. But here it goes....

My favorite part of the body... I would probably have to go with the eyes. Actually, the smile. Yeah....a person's smile is my favorite. And always the first thing I notice! And then eyes would be the next thing! Why? Well...I don't really know. I guess that is what I notice first when I see a person? Unless they're not smiling, then I notice that they are not the smiling type. Or maybe they are just on a mission to do something. haha.

 Anyways...I'm rambling. People tell me I am always smiling, so I think I just like to be around people who are generally smiley, happy, and friendly people. It makes me smile when other people are smiling...it's contagious! So I'm going to go with that as my final answer.

Ok...that's all.

Awkward post done.

:)