Change

Hello everyone!
I hope you are having a fantastically, blessed week!!

I decided to post again and thought I would share a little about the last few years of my life. So, if I don't manage to bore you all, yay!

As I believe I mentioned in my testimony that I posted on here awhile ago, I seem to tend to suffer from something like depression. I was never diagnosed as having anything, but I knew what I was feeling wasn't normal, unless it was caused by depression or something like that. When I was younger, this was kind of seen a little bit also. But as I got older, I felt it more and more. I finally figured out that there seemed to be a cycle to it- about 3 months feeling awful and about another 3 months feeling better. I think that I was always feeling it, just during a certain period, it was a lot stronger than another period.
After going on like this for a few years, I had a really horrible week. Probably one of the worst I had had in a long while. So, I told my mom- we have to do something. I couldn't stand feeling that way any longer. I also told her that it wasn't happening because of things going on around me, but probably because of something in my body not working right, etc. My mom began looking into ways to help me. She finally found this test that I could take. I took the test. We wanted to try the natural approach first and see if it helped. So, I started taking some supplements that the test recommended. I honestly didn't think it was going to help, but I began to see a difference.
It helped me to be truly happy with little effort, when before it would've taken a lot. I believe it also gave me more energy. I have started exercising and eating a little healthier. I now have something that motivates me to do something and not just sit around all day feeling depressed. I believe that taking a couple supplements helped me take that first step.
I am very thankful that the Lord helped me with all that- guiding my mom as to what to do, etc. I am so blessed that He stepped in and helped me out.

Being Happy In Spite of the Circumstances

I recently had the opportunity to go to camp to assist the camp nurse who happened to be one of my friends' moms. There were some unforeseen conflicts that arose though causing my trip to turn out entirely different than I thought it would. I ended up leaving on Wednesday instead of staying till Saturday due to this.
Normally, this kind of situation would have left me upset and not happy without any work, but I found this struggle going on inside. Was I going to be happy in spite of it? Or was I going to let it upset me and ruin my week as I normally would let it? I will confess that I don't normally have a struggle like this one. I normally just let it ruin my week/day, but something about this time was different. I believe that it could've been a lot worse if I would have let it take me down as far as it normally would have. I am thankful that the Lord helped me have a decent week in spite of everything that happened. :-)

AWANA Camp

Last week, I had my first real experience of camp.

I have been to camp in the past. But one of my parents would always be there, and it would be more of a leadership conference for just a few nights. AWANA camp was totally different. It was a six night camp with a lot of people. Since the whole camp thing was pretty new to me, I did not know what to think of it for the first few days. At first, honestly, I did not really like it. It was hard for me to fit in since this was my first year and almost everyone else already knew everyone else. (I did have a close friend go with me which was really nice and helped the factor of not really knowing anyone easier to work with.)

The first day, I got there early since I rode up with some of the counselors. I was able to help one of them set up their cabins. The ride up was okay. I got to sit next to a friend. A silly friend who keeps everything pretty fun and interesting.
After setting up, I went up to sign in. There were no signs that gave me any direction. And the lady I talked to thought I was Rebecca W. the junior higher.... I do not even think I look like a junior higher... but okay. After finally figuring all that out, I set up my cabin.
They ran a tight and sort of strict schedule there. You also always had to wear this bead necklace and your name button. I was on the blue team. Out of the four colors- blue, green, yellow, and red- blue would be my favorite color, so, that was kind of cool. We kept in the lead with the points almost all week and only lost to the yellow team by a whole 15 points. I am very competitive, so, it was a real bummer not winning. Haha.
Throughout the week, I got to memorize lots of verses, play lots of game, etc. They also had a lot of freetime. That was kind of nice.

Enough with the details..

This was a Christian camp, and maybe I should share what I learned there.
Let's just say- When I got to camp, my heart was pretty hard. I have been going through some stuff lately that has caused me to ask God "why?!?" a lot. And my heart was hardened toward Him. And I did not want to soften it. But even through my unwillingness, God was able to soften my heart through being daily in the Word, and the daily worship and Bible study.
So, I came away with a softer, more open heart.

Camp was a different kind of experience for me. But after spending a whole week there, I grew to like and enjoy it. I am definetly going to consider going back next year even though I was not so sure if I wanted to go back the first part of the week. The people there are pretty amazing and my friendships with the people I already did know grew quite a bit that week. :-)

Below is a video with pictures from camp:

Click here to view this video

Free books!

The last few months, I have started going out on Saturday mornings whenever I am free. 

There is a man that goes to my church that runs a table full of free Christian literature. He goes almost every Saturday morning and sits out by an old restaurant. This really drew me in. I decided to go one day and liked it enough to go back again and again. Sometimes there are hardly any people that come, but other times, we get lots of people that stop by.

For the most part, the man I go with does most of the talking, but I had a really cool experience a few weeks ago. I do talk to people some, but this time, I was really the only one doing the talking. A young man came up and was sharing some struggles he was having. It meant a lot to me for him to share and let me talk to him. I gave him a few pamphlets and stuffs, and he went on his way. This would have made my whole day, but later, we found the pamphlets in a restroom next door. Even though he left these which seemed really discouraging, I hope that God was able to somehow use me in this man's life as an encouragement.

So there you have it. That is what I do almost every Saturday morning unless I have something else going on. It has been a cool thing to do, and I hope that I will be able to use what I am learning through this opportunity in my life more and more. :-)

Beauty

Beauty. What do you think of when you think of that word? I guess the first thing that comes to my mind would have to be... Looks. 

In our culture today, people are put under pressure. Pressure to look good. But we've taken it too far. We spend way too much time and energy trying to make sure we look "good enough". But is that what really matters?

When I think of this issue in our culture, I am reminded of this passage:

1 Samuel 16: 6-7 (ESV)

6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Samuel was told to go anoint the future king of Israel. And look what he does- He looks and sees the outward appearance of Eliab and is quick to think that he is the one just because of his outward appearance. God saw Eliab's heart and knew he wasn't the right one. Samuel couldn't see his heart- what was inside.

I believe our culture does just this. They see a person and judge them by their outward appearance. Although we can not obviously see what God sees, we shouldn't be quick to judge a person by their looks or put pressure on them to look good. We should look at who they really are in the inside and encourage them to be more and more like Jesus Christ.

Don't worry about what people think about your outward appearance. Yes, it is nice to look nice on the outside. But we should spend much more of our time and energy trying to have a heart like Jesus and letting Him work in our lives. That is all that really matters.

Everything- AIM SD West

I love this song... And the way it is choreographed. I'm sure many of you have seen the Everything skit. But... have you seen a group of mimes do it??

Justification

I had to write this paper for Apologetics class... And then.. They made me give it as a speech.. :-O

One of my earliest childhood remembrances is when I was about five years old. I must have really liked candy because I was willing to sneak it out of the candy bowl in the cabinet when no one was around. I was sneaky because I didn’t want to get caught. Have you ever done something like this? You knew something was wrong but yet still did it? This is called sinning. We have all sinned, but sin is not a light, fun thing. It is a bad thing with horrible consequences- some now and some later. Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to pay for those sins? Well, maybe there is another way. Justification is the process in which your sins are in a way forgotten, and you can go free. It is the process in which Jesus Christ takes on the punishment for your sins. This is significant because it saves us from our sins. We are going to look at what justification means, the process of it, and what makes it so significant.

My first point- Justification is an act that God does in us by which we become cleansed of our sin. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, justification is “the act, process or state of being justified by God”. Joyce Meyer, who is a speaker and author, describes justification as being “just as if you’ve never sinned.” Because God is a holy, perfect God, He cannot look upon us when we are living sinful lives. But since God loved the people in the world so much, He came up with a plan that would cleanse us of our sin so He could bridge the gap that our sin had made between Him and us. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

This leads me to my second point- The process of justification came through God’s Son, Jesus Christ. And mind you, this was not one of His hundreds of sons. This was the only Son He had. And God gave Him willing for you just as John 3:16 says. This Son lived a perfect life which means He never sinned once. He was tempted just as we are, but He never fell into the temptation. And then, He willingly died on the cross for each and every one of us. He then was raised again three days later by God, His Father. What this did for us was give us the opportunity to be free from our sin. You see, when Jesus died, He took every sin that you would ever commit during your whole life and paid for it all. All you have to do is accept His free gift. Romans 10:9 says “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved”. William Gurnall also once said, “We are justified, not by giving anything to God, -what we do,- but by receiving from God, what Christ hath done for us.” It is as simple as that.

My last point- Justification is significant because, without it, we would be faced with eternal punishment instead of eternal life. Because of our sin, we deserve death. But when Jesus died on the cross, He paid for our sin. We no longer have to die for our sins. Romans 5:9 says, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” His death saved us from God’s wrath. We can now be declared righteous if we accept Him. “This is the rock where we stand when the dark clouds gather and the floods lick at our feet. Justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone” (John Piper).

Looking back years ago to the candy bowl incident, I know that was wrong. God gave everyone a conscience to know what is right and wrong. We have no excuse. That is why when we sin, we must be punished. When we are justified, we are made right in God’s sight. We are no longer guilty in His eyes. God’s plan in sending Jesus Christ to die a sinner’s death made a way for us to be justified. And justification saves us from death. The way has already been paid for you, will you accept this free gift and be justified?