Loving Others- A Job we are all called to

Frustrated and a little offended, I walked away from a family sitting at the table tucked in the corner of the small family restaurant I work at. I walked up to one of the other girls that works there and said something like- "I hate when people make you feel like crap. I'm a person just like them! I'm not being paid to be treated like crap."
Sometimes I'll go to a table and cheerfully say- "Hello! How are you doing today?" To which the reply is sometimes "..." What's worse is when your boss gets on you making you eat humble pie. (But when that happens, you know she is really the sweetest person and is just having a moment.) But honestly, people can be so hard to care for. So hard to love. God calls us to love everyone. Even the people that treat us like dirt. The people that somehow missed the part where you are as human as they are. Other people are really pretty easy to love.. Like the couple that regularly comes into the restaurant. They are very friendly and caring.

Many people think that if you become a Christian, you will have an easy life. Haha. Nope! Not how it works. When someone becomes a Christian, they are called to be more. They are called to love those grumpy people that treat them like dirt. They are called to love that friendly couple. It doesn't matter who it is- they are still called to love them. I am still called to love them.

And believe me.. This definitely has not been easy for me. Yeah, some people are easy for me to love. But if someone hurts my pride and causes me to eat humble pie, I will put up a fight. No, I do not really care to care about them. But I know that isn't the godly approach. I want to encourage you all to love all those around you, because as a Christian, that's the job you have been called to. We can not do this in our own strength.. We must ask God to help us. That is the only way we will succeed. So, what are you waiting for?? You got a job to do! Ask for God to help you. Go love others. Go love everyone.

I'm a Senior Now?

I have been consistently bad about posting on here.. I meant to post last month, but I just never got around to it (if that wasn't obvious ;-P).

I've been staying pretty busy. It has finally been winding down around here. I still am working some. But... Aim is almost done for the summer. I also have finished 11th grade. So, that technically makes me a senior, right? I am super excited about this coming school year. But maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself.. Haha. 

I have been working on my summer plans. I was originally hoping to go on a missions trip for like a month or so. But that didn't work out. Instead, it looks like I will be in town for most (if not all) of the summer. Hopefully, I will be able to use my time productively.

Here's kinda what I'm looking at for this summer:

• Study for SAT test this fall
• Put together a reading list
• Follow the reading list
• Finish my college list
• Start working on college application stuffs
• Be a little more social ;-)
• Etc.

Also, I may (huge *may* here) take a trip to another state this summer. Maybe. We will see if the Lord keeps that door open.

What are you guys doing this summer? I hope you are able to do some productive and fun things! :-)

I have like three other blog drafts.. We will see when I get to them. Maybe I can post them all soon. 

Well, so long for now!

Have a blessed week!!! :-)

Movie Night Fundraiser

Hello!

As you probably know, I am apart of Aim (aimsandiego.org). In case you don't know what Aim is, Aim is a family that trains young people to follow Jesus. We also share the gospel with people through mime and drama.

Aim has a fundraiser coming up, and I would love to see you there! We are showing a movie called Mercy Rule. If you haven't heard of it, Mercy Rule is a movie that was put out last year by Kirk Cameron. It is a family movie starring Tim Hawkins. Below are more details:

When: Saturday, April 25th

Doors open: 5:45 pm

Movie starts: 6:00 pm

Where: Grace Brethren Church (3455 Atlas Street, San Diego, CA 92111)

Price: $7 per person presale, $8 at the door. $25 family (immediate family only) presale, $30 at the door. Children 3 and under are free.

Concessions will be available. We will also be having a raffle.

I would love to see you there!! If you have any questions, please let me know. I will also be selling tickets.

Thank you and God bless!

God at Work

The Lord has been showing me so much lately..
Recently, I have gone through a time of extreme spiritual dryness. Even being on a missions trip didn't seem to help me through that dryness. I felt like it would really help. Yes, maybe it did help. But when I got home, that is when I started to feel God really working in me. I guess the missions trip was kind of like a push in that direction.
I thought I would share some of the things I wrote in my journal from the missions trip to coming home, etc... I think it will best show what was going on in me during the missions trip and coming home.
2/3: Why do I keep pushing God away?
2/10: Coming back has been very hard.
2/18: God is working in me. I can feel it. A growing desire to be in His Word and surrender myself to Him. Again.

After I felt God was really working in me, He started to show me certain things..
2/24: I was thinking last night and I believe God put this on my heart: What kind of older sister would I want? Am I being that kind of older sister to my sisters? I was convicted. I could be so much better as an older sister.
3/15: Am I being the kind of daughter I would want to have?

That was a lot of what was going on inside of me. I found that if I look at who I am as a sister and a daughter and what I would want in an older sister and daughter, I could see that I am nothing close to that.
 There were other instances that I could see God at work in my life. It has been so encouraging and wonderful to see.
I just wanted to share a few of those things with you guys.

Also, below are some "nature" pictures from the missions trip.

Aim Missions Trip Winter 2015

It's been such a long time since I posted! The last time I posted, I hadn't gone on the missions trip with Aim.

The missions trip went really well! Doors were opened- Hopefully, a team will be started in San Jose. We also were able to visit a couple teams and teach them some of our songs.

There were 8 of us total on the trip. Three of the people on the team were from Pennsylvania. The rest of us are on the Aim San Diego team. Having people from two different states come together and work together was such an awesome thing to see. The unity between everyone even though some of us had just met was something God definitely worked out. Even the love for each other and the vulnerability we showed was amazing. Talking about it gets me all excited.

But now, we are all at home. It's been almost a month since we came home. It has been really hard for me to adjust back into "normal" life. All these amazing people that I got close to are either back in Pennsylvania or in San Diego somewhere living their lives. Yeah, I live in San Diego, but even not being able to see them very often is hard after being with them everyday almost 24/7 for two weeks..

On this trip, I wasn't a leader. It was so different. The hardest part about this was not knowing beforehand that this was happening. I guess my inexperience of missions trips didn't help in my thinking that I wouldn't be.. But the day we started, I found out. I also found out that this other girl was supposed to pour into my life. That is hard because I am the type that likes to pour into others. It is hard for me to let others pour into me. This is something I can definitely work on. Anyways, the girl who the leader put to pour into me was amazing, and we became friends pretty fast. I wish we would have had more time to talk and stuffs. Although, we did stay up super late (or early) the night we got back to just talk. :-)

The car rides were kind of one of the best parts. All 8 of us were stuffed with all our things into an 8-seater car. I was sitting in the back with two very outgoing girls. We laughed. A lot. They even came up with their own funny language or whatever. It was quite the experience. The three that sat in the middle of the car were pretty quiet and introverted. The contrast between the bunch in the back of the car and the middle was very funny.

As some of you may know, I am the outgoing introvert. I love people. People are fun to be with. People make me happy. I love serving and working with people. But it wears me out. I need alone time to reenergize. The thing about this trip was, if you were an introvert, you didn't really get any introvert reenergizing time. So dealing with that and the other things going on in my life (including getting sick and working through some relationship problems from back home while on the trip, etc.), it was hard not to get grumpy and moody. God really worked in me and helped me in this area. I couldn't be all grumpy and moody towards everyone just because I wasn't have a great day. Even though things were going on, I couldn't let them affect the way I treated others. It was a good reminder.

One of the most amazing things for me on this trip was the love God gave me for my fellow teammates. It was amazing. He gave me a love that I could tell wasn't my own. It had to have been His. Also, being open with others was cool. I had good conversations with some of the girls on the team. It was nice hearing them be open, getting to know them better, and hopefully, being able to encourage them in some way.

This trip was very cool/amazing/exciting/busy/etc. If you want to hear more about the trip, feel free to check out the blog on Aim's website (aimsandiego.org). I was able to post on there almost every day. There are also pictures on there.

Thanks for reading and have a blessed weekend!!! :-)

Aim Missions Trip 2015

Hey guys!

So I decided I should probably post and tell you what's been up and all lately.

I decided to go on a missions trip with Aim, the mime team. We will be traveling up the coast of California and back down. Because of this, we trained all day Wednesday and Thursday and half of Friday. Today, we had a service project. And tomorrow, we hit the road after a presentation. We will be heading to San Franciso first. 

I would appreciate all of your prayers for the team's health, safety, strength, and relationship with the Lord. 

I will be blogging about the trip on Aim's website. Please sign up for the email updates if you wish to stay updated with everything we are doing. You can go to the website (aimsandiego.org) and go to the blog page. From there, you should be  able to fill out a form from one of the posts. This will sign you up for the updates. 

Well, thanks for reading this post. Have an amazingly blessed week!!

God bless!!

Dear Church...

When most believers think of the Church, what do they think of? A building? A group of Christians? What about when most unbelievers think of the Church? A building? 
When people hear the word Christian, what do you think the first thing that comes to mind is?
I feel like people have a twisted vision of the Church and Christians in general. Well, maybe it isn't all that twisted.
Guys, what is a Christian? A follower of Christ, right? When people look at the Church, they should see Christ so very clearly. But what are people seeing?? What a lot of people see is something that repels them. When people look at the Church, they see a lot of hypocrites. They see people who pretend to have it all together but are really falling apart. They don't see love. They see judgment. They see people changing their opinions of the other the second they learn who that person truly is. Doing this tends to close many doors that would otherwise have been open to minister to that person.
Great! Doesn't all that make you want to be a Christian?? Sure! Why wouldn't you want to be a hypocrite that people are repelled by?
Church, what happened? Instead of clearly showing Christ, we have given the world a distorted view of Him. People don't see God as a God of love. By the way we act, He might as well be a God who wants to condemn everyone to hell.
Church, while you mingle in sin, you judge others.
Today, you find it okay to live with someone outside of marriage. The Bible is very clear when it says this is wrong. Yet, it is becoming more and more common in the Church itself. While the Church is caught up in this sin, they still have time to look around and judge others. It seems like a lot of Christians are very judgemental of the gay population. Yes, while I believe the Bible definitely points this out as very wrong, I also believe that it is the Church's job to love these people.
A sin is a sin. No matter how big or small. Yes, some tend to be more of an abomination than others, but as Christians, we are definitely held to a higher standard than others. What makes one way more wrong and worth judging others over than the other? Shouldn't others be the one to judge us because we have lowered our standards so much? Look at 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Think about Jesus's ministry on earth. How did He treat those looked down on? What about the Gentiles? If you look at the story of Jesus with the Samaritan woman, He knew her sin, right? But was He quick to judge? No. He didn't judge. He loved her. And by doing this, many were turned to God.
Think of the impact the Church could have if they loved people. Genuinely loved. If they forgot how to judge others because of their looks, beliefs, and lifestyles.
What if Christians would take a look into their own lives and ask God to help them stop living in sin and instead walk in Christ. In love.
Now, I know all Christians are not judgemental and living with someone they aren't married to. But I believe these are two things that are becoming more and more common in the Church today. And I believe that we should do something about it. The change should start with you. With me.