Today I'm thankful for...

a whole lot of stuff.

God. The one who gets me through it all. I am, and will be, forever grateful to him. And Jesus. They're my homeboys. (Yeah. I know. I'm white. I really shouldn't use words like "homeboys" in my blog. But I do. What can you do about it? Nada. Hah!)

My family. My parents. My sisters. They're all awesome and fantastically funny. I laughed a lot today.

My best friend. She's insane. She's gorgeous 24/7 (no matter what she thinks). She gives me great advice. Annnnd yeah. I like her a whole lot and am SUPER thankful that we became friends... 8 years ago? Yeah, I think so.

My youth group families. They're a whole 'nother level of crazy. Andrew, Brandon, and Erin are awesomesauce leaders. I love them. They give great insights into life and God stuff.

Food. AHHHHHHHHHHH. Food. I love food. It's SO good. Yeah. I'm thankful for goooood food.

People who stretch me. People who are willing to push me out of my comfort zone, into a place that I wouldn't push myself. Thanks, people.

Christmas music and decorations. They're gorgeous. And SO much fun. Music? Manheim Steamroller. Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Yeah. Thems are the best. The best to listen to while putting up the Christmas tree! :)

My camera! I can take pictures galore. And they actually turn out semi-decently. :)

Amurica. (America*) I'm thankful for a country where I can worship and speak freely.

And with that, I think I'm going to go to bed. The tryptophan is kicking in... =P

MY utmost for HIS highest

Oswald Chambers has a way of hitting it home. Every day. I read this today and went, "Woah. That totally applies to me."

SANCTIFICATION
"This is the will of God, even your sanctification." 1 Thessalonians 4:3 The Death Side. In sanctification God has to deal with us on the death side as well as on the life side. Many of us spend so much time in the place of death that we get sepulchral. There is always a battle royal before sanctification, always something that tugs with resentment against the demands of Jesus Christ. Immediately the Spirit of God begins to show us what sanctification means, the struggle begins. "If any man come to Me and hate not . . his own life, he cannot be My disciple." The Spirit of God in the process of sanctification will strip me until I am nothing but "myself," that is the place of death. Am I willing to be "myself," and nothing more - no friends, no father, no brother, no self-interest - simply ready for death? That is the condition of sanctification. No wonder Jesus said: "I came not to send peace, but a sword." This is where the battle comes, and where so many of us faint. We refuse to be identified with the death of Jesus on this point. "But it is so stern," we say; "He cannot wish me to do that." Our Lord is stern; and He does wish us to do that. Am I willing to reduce myself simply to "me," determinedly to strip myself of all my friends think of me, of all I think of myself, and to hand that simple naked self over to God? Immediately I am, He will sanctify me wholly, and my life will be free from earnestness in connection with every thing but God. When I pray - "Lord, show me what sanctification means for me," He will show me. It means being made one with Jesus. Sanctification is not something Jesus Christ puts into me: it is Himself in me. (1 Cor. 1:30.) http://myutmost.org/07/0722.html (I don't own any of this... blah, blah, blah.)

Let me explain... no there is too much. Let me sum up.

Ahhhhh yes, a Princess Bride quote... that isn't quite accurate because this turned into something that was way longer than I intended =P


A lot has happened in the past two days. And I can't believe that our service project&stuff was yesterday!

Sooooo Yesterday. After breakfast we went to a church to get briefed on what we were doing. Then we walked down to the Boys&Girls club to do some work there. We were split into groups and some people went outside and weeded, one group went to a middle school where they helped do some yard work (me thinks) and then some of us stayed inside and cleaned the locker rooms and helped clean out the sports closet.

I was in the cleaning brigade. And Christina, Jen, Catherine, and I cleaned the showers... Noelle mopped... and it looked goood when we were done. And we got done fairly quickly, so we went out into the gym where there were boxes of stuff everywhere! So we just kinda asked what we could do and did what they asked. We had about half an hour and a lot of stuff to sort/put in boxes/label/put back into the room. But it all got done and I'm sure it looks much better than when they started.

After our service project we went back to the dorm and ate lunch. We were planning on going to the beach afterwards, but we didn't have enough time. So we kinda just chilled out and played some games... I played Euchre with Zach, Luke, and Josh. Then we left for evangelism.
Our group went to Cape Fear Community College. We weren't really sure what it would be like. But there were a lot of people around since they were signing up for fall classes (I believe). So we were able to talk to a lot of people. We didn't pray with anyone, but we handed out a lot of fliers for Wednesday (Tom Short is speaking on campus). So that was cool. We also talked to a lot of people who were already Christians.
I also didn't really do a lot. I kind of asked the questions (we did surveys) the first few times, then Erin&Nathan took over. Nathan was a beast! He kept on talking to more&more people. And Erin talked to a lot of people. And I just kind of sat back and watched them like a proud mom :) Jon and I were the only ones who had ever done evangelism like that, and I really haven't had much experience with it, so it was super super cool to see the younger kids really stepping up to be leaders! (The Seniors were with Tom @ Unleashed)

We came back after evangelism and went to dinner. It was good. The lines were long. But we got food.

Then we headed over to the church. Tom spoke again... the topic was "My turn to walk" So it was like about walking with God. It was good. I would have to go over my notes again to remember anything =P

We came back to the dorms after that and had our "home group" (we called it "tie-down" at past LTs) and then split into guys&girls and talked and stuff. Some really good advice was given from the senior girls to the upcoming freshman girls. It was sweet to hear the older girls giving the younger girls wisdom. From their experiences. It was just cool.

Then we slept...

Annnd today: WOW! Yesterday was long. Today was probably longer!

We got up&ate breakfast in the common area outside of the girl's block of rooms.
After that we had to book it out of there to get to the church for our first session (at 9:00 am). Greg Burlile from Darby Creek spoke about loving one another. "My turn to love." It was super good.

After Pastor Greg finished speaking, we had a 5ish minute break (where they made us work&take all the chairs out of the room for tonight) and then Shea Willis (who did the Creative Evangelism breakout that I went to on Sunday) spoke about service. That was good too... (I'm having trouble remembering everything. It's so packed! But it's good to kind of decompress.)
After Shea spoke we went back to the dorms for lunch and after lunch we got ready to go to the beach for our "Church Initiative" (I think everyone went to the beach... to play frisbee or football or play music or whatever to draw people in so we can share the gospel with them). It was windy. Too windy to play frisbee. So we ended up walking up the beach and doing beach evangelism. We talked to more people... didn't really get into any deep conversations. But I'm hoping and praying that we at least got people thinking about spiritual stuff.

After the beach we rushed back to the dorms to shower and get to dinner. We ate dinner and then went back to the dorms to get stuff. And then we headed out for the famous "Tuesday night Worship night."

It was fantastic. We got there and were standing outside talking to people. It was fun. Then we went inside and everything got quiet&serious. I don't really remember what all happened. David Root, the worship leader, probably sang a couple songs... And he told the story of Jesus's ministry from John's perspective. Like, he was John and was telling us what happened. It was interesting. It was different and made you listen.
We sang a lot... I wrote some... I read Psalm 139 and Isaiah 40... I cried a lot. I prayed for people. I prayed for myself. I worshipped God. I let go of anger. I let go of fear of other people's expectations of me. And I worshipped God with all that I was. It was so amazing. I have a couple videos from tonight... One of Jesus Paid it All, a little bit of Salvation is Here, all of How He Loves by John Mark McMillan. Google that and listen to the song... or wait until I get around to posting it on YouTube&embedding it on here =P

One thing that we did tonight was write down what was keeping us from God... or whatever. And we were able to nail them to the cross. Sooo freeing. So fantastic. I loved tonight.

Ross spoke a little bit at the end. And he talked about how we have to make a conscious decision to worship God every single day. Not for it to just be a one night "this was a fantastic feeling" type deal. But to really worship God every single day in every moment.

Wow. That was probably long. I'm not going to go over it... I might run spell-check, but that's the best you're going to get at almost 1am! =P

I'm glad I typed all this out though. It's a lot less to think about. There's still a lot left to think about, but it's a lot less than there was before.

If you've read this far, you are awesome!
Also, if you've read this far, would you take a few minutes to pray for everyone at LT?
We're tired. And when people are tired tempers tend to get short. Pray that we would all be able to love one another and not get "short" with each other.
Also, my dad is talking tomorrow morning at 9ish! So pray for him too. That he'd be able to speak what the students need to hear. I know he's excited. I'm excited too! Just not for the bad jokes that I know are going to be in there ;P
Pray for the other speakers too. That God would speak clearly and effectively through them.
And feel free to add whatever other prayers you want to that! All of them are appreciated!

Thank you soooo much for reading this. You are a truely awesome person.
So I guess it's time for a "thank you and goodnight!"


P.S. This is my 200th post! Yay LT posts making the "records"! =)

In a year from now...

how many of these things will have changed? How will they change? How much will they change?

"What are these 'things?'" you might ask.
These things are the answers to the question "Who am I?"

My mom is reading a book called What Color is Your Parachute? and there are exercises in it. (WCIYP? is a book about finding your ideal job... job market... and yeah.)
There are exercises about finding out what you're really passionate about and what kind of job would be your ideal job.
So on Saturday night, the four of us who are home sat down and did this exercise.
What you need: 10 pieces of paper (we used half sheets), a pen or pencil, and YOU.
At the top of each page write "Who am I?"
Then on each sheet write one answer to that question. Just one.
Once you've done that, go back over all of the sheets and expand on what you wrote. Look at each answer and write underneath it why you said that and what turns you on about that answer.
When you're finished with that go back over them and arrange them in order of priority. Which one is the most important to you? That page goes on top.
THEN go back through all of them and look at the answers to what turns you on about each one and see if there are any common words or themes throughout them. If there are, write them down on a separate sheet.

That's all my paraphrasing of What Color is Your Parachute? 2009 by Richard Nelson Bolles.

Ready to see what I wrote?
1. A Christ follower
2. A daughter/sister
3. A good listener
4. A friend
5. A student
6. A person who has a good sense of humor
7. A photographer
8. A blogger
9. A musician
10. A dancer

Now I'm going to go through and type out what I wrote under each thing :)

1. Being different. Being passionate about something as a teenager. Having something to work towards. Knowing that I can change myself with God's help.
2. Being part of a goofy, silly, loving family. Being loved unconditionally/loving unconditionally. Having "Yackley culture"/inside jokes. Laughing!
3. Knowing that people trust me. Helping people understand their feelings. Being a mediator of sorts.
4. Having fun with people that are similar to myself. Being goofy. Being able to share my thoughts and feelings with others without fear.
5. Learning new things. Seeing things from someone else's perspective. Sharing my own perspective. Being able to ask someone more knowledgeable than myself questions.
6. Getting a joke. Giving a joke. Laughing! Plays on words. Cleverness.
7. Colors. Focus. A good end result. Working with other people. Capturing what God has made. seeing things differently. Beauty in unexpected places. Sharing the pictures I take. Capturing emotions.
8. Sharing my thoughts through writing. Sharing Jesus through writing. Telling people about what makes me me. Sharing things that I love (Music, bands, pictures, other bloggers). Giving my opinion on stuff. Getting feedback from other people.
9. Music. Performing. Challenging myself. Learning new things. Bringing other people happiness/joy through music. Worshipping God through music.
10. Music. Movement. Grace. Pushing myself. Performing. Working with other people to make something beautiful.

You might've noticed that I underlined somewhat sporadically. Those are the words that stuck out. That were repeated.
I wrote down on a separate sheet of paper the things that stuck out to me. I'll write down that list for posterity too :)
Sharing my thoughts and feelings. Doing things with other people. doing things for other people. Laughing, being goofy and silly. Seeing things differently. Challenging myself. Learning new things. Beauty. Goals. Sharing.

After all that is said and done, he asks the question "What must my career use (and include) for me to be truly happy, useful, and effective?" This is what I wrote:
Something where I can share what I think and get feedback and different people's perspectives. Something that is challenging, but I can still set goals and meet them. Something where I'm constantly learning and doing things with and for other people. Something where I can be myself and laugh and be goofy. Something where I can share beautiful things.


That's about it! Feel free to do this exercise! It's fun. It's helpful. It was interesting to see what the rest of my family put. I'd love to see what Katie's results would be :) (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

Hope you're having a faaaaantastic day!

NIPTO, Day 91

Ahhhh the heat of the moment. This was written earlier today. When I was angry (see the update after my signature...):  

This isn't actually NIPTO anything. It's just me. And my thoughts. And a couple of verses.

I've been incredibly frustrated today.
Things haven't gone how I want them to. I know that they don't always go the way you want them to, but today has been particularly hard.
It's Mother's Day. I want to do what makes my mom happy. But what I want to do isn't what makes my mom happy.

I'm not going to youth group tonight and that makes me sad. The people at youth group are the ones that get me through the week. And I don't get to see them this week.

I decided to go up to my room and read my Bible a little. I just realized that sometimes, God tells you things you don't want to hear when you read your Bible.

I'm going to be honest. I'm angry right now. And God kinda threw this verse in my face:
Jonah 4:4- But the LORD replied,"Have you any right to be angry?"

No. The answer is no. I've had a bad attitude. I haven't honored my parents like I should have. But I'm angry anyways.

Another verse that popped out at me while I was flipping through the Bible (not the best method of finding something relevant, but God will give it to you if you really need it...)
Lamentations 3:37- Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?

Puts me in my place. This is happening for a reason. It's what's best for me in the long run. And that's what my parents are trying to tell me. All three of them.

This probably isn't the happy-go-lucky Mother's Day post you were looking for.
I might put up a happy-go-lucky Mother's Day post if I have it in me when I get home. If not: Happy Mother's Day to those moms out there. I love my mom. I really do. I just sometimes get frustrated with her. I guess it's part of being a teenager.

I was thinking that I felt more like a "normal" teenager. Sitting in a corner. Sulking. Messing with my phone. What a sad definition of "normal."

Well. I think it's almost time for us to leave. We're going to my sister's church on campus. They're having a baptism tonight. It should be good... once I get over myself.

Hope you had/have a good day.






  

UPDATE: Hey. I'm doing better. I'm not angry at anyone besides myself now. And I'm not really angry with myself. More frustrated that I can't seem to kick this thing.
I was selfish. Incredibly so. I wanted to do what I wanted to do, and I wanted to do it now. But that's not how things work. Ever... really.
Chad, the guy who spoke @ h2o tonight (that's the church) talked about remembering. Remembering what God has done for us. I forget a lot. I forget about the sacrifice that set me free. Which is bad. I think that satan got a little bit of a foothold today and I'm still fighting that. Right now, I'm fighting that. I've been doing NIPTO for almost 100 days. I haven't felt that until now really. I've had a couple bad days, but this has been by far the worst. But lots of things have made it better. Like friends who ask if you're doing okay. Friends who don't mind that you burst into tears and they just hug you. And then they tell you if you still have makeup running down your face. Good friends.

I feel kind of selfish doing this, but if you could pray for me, that would be amazing. I would appreciate it a lot.

Today at church, Pastor Mike was talking about how the church needs to be a place where people can come and say "I'm not alright, you're not alright, but that's alright." And I feel like it is. I love my church family so much. They help me through a lot. And I'm oh so very thankful for them!

This isn't the day that I'm on for 100 Days of Holiness. It's actually today's devotional. (Correction: It's actually Friday's devotional, but it was on the homepage and...) But it punched me in the face. As literally as words can. (It wasn't like a book being thrown at me, but it kind of seemed like it.)

We can't control everything that happens in LIFE! Having a good attitude is a choice! How do you react when things don't go the way you want?

Proverbs 3:5
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." 

Thanks for the punch in the face whoever does these devotionals! 

Soooo... I'm getting better. Slowly. But surely. 

Thanks for reading. I'm a pain, I know. =P

You people who read this are awesome! (I have no idea who all of you are, but you're awesome nonetheless!)

Have a good week! I'll be back in the morning... hopefully in a good mood!

NIPTO, Day 36

Good morning!

Yes. It's morning. I'm up. I'm blogging. Life's good.

Last night after I finished my post and went upstairs to get ready for bed, I was thinking. (A dangerous pastime... I know!) I was thinking about this week that's coming up. I think it's going to be a hard week. And I was mentally complaining about it, and then I decided: I need a challenge. What's life without the ups and downs? Boring. Soooo... I've decided that I'm just going to face this week head on with God by my side, and we'll see what comes of it!

Acts 8:30-31- Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. 31"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is significant, I think, because back then, they had to have someone explain the word to them because many of them didn't have the Holy Spirit to reveal God's word to us. We are privileged to have the Holy Spirit inside of us. 

Proverbs 15:1-A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. I can't help but notice that one harsh word stirs up anger. It's hard to go through life and not say harsh things. Sometimes they need to be said (in the kindest way possible, at the right time. If you say something that is harsh but honest at the wrong time, the person is going to get angry.) But when someone confronts you about something, it's important to not answer in a roughly defensive way. I know when someone confronts me about something, the first thing I think about is defending myself. It's important to take a step back and see from their perspective what's going on. 

Revelation 15:3-They had harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the lamb: Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways King of the ages. Revelation reminds me that we will ultimately be in heaven worshiping God constantly. I wonder if, whenever I think a certain thought that I think a lot, I could remember to praise God in that moment... I'm going to try this. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Hebrews 11:8-By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. Abraham obeyed God without knowing what was going on. In America today, we like to know what's going on. I know that I freak out when I don't know what's going on. My mom freaks out when she doesn't know what's going on. So to trust God without knowing what's going on, is crazy. It takes faith. The end.

Hope you're having a good day! 

NIPTO, Day 18- REALLY long post. Brace yourself!

So I'm chilling at Panera right now! Woot. Love this place. Great atmosphere for just hanging out! I'm here for my date with God, so this might be a "random thoughts" post along with NIPTO.

I've been thinking about what Brandon said in the Mid-week YouTube service video. Thinking about thinking. It's not really something we do very often because we just think... without thinking about it? If that makes any sense at all. It does, but it doesn't. Thinking isn't something we would normally think that we need to think about.

This is the point that I go get a hot drink.

Okay. Hot drink: Check (DELICIOUS byy the way). Music: Check. Bible: Check. encounter62.blogspot.com up so I can see what the reading is for today: Check.

I feel like it's been forever since I've posted... and it has been a good 36 hours... which is too long if you ask me =P

Today I went with a friend from church to do a photo shoot at a day care. It was awesome. I'm not completely sure, but I think that might be what my calling is. I LOVE photography and working with kids. It was a lot of fun and it was good to see what it's really like to "work" as a photographer. I put quotes around "work" because it didn't SEEM like work. It was just fun for me! And to get paid to do what you love is just an extra bonus. I think it's great to do what you love without getting paid, but just to be able to do it for the glory of God. But getting paid? That's a sweet bonus. =D

We're doing another shoot at the same day care tomorrow, just different kids. I'm looking forward to it. I think it'll be super. I get to be a BUNNY wrangler. tee hee hee. I basically put the bunnies back in place when they move. It's actually kind of humorous. But not when they don't stay put AT ALL. Then it gets annoying. But it's still fun to work with the bunnies because they're soft and fuzzy... :) So tomorrow is another day of shooting kids and bunny wrangling. Should be good. The only bad thing about it is I have to get up like... wayyyy too early. My thinking on that is that no one should have to be awake before... 6:45 (because that's when I normally get up.) Having to get up before 6 is basically torture... especially since NO ONE in my house EVER gets up before 6. It's basically unheard of. (My dad might break that rule every once in a while, but that's my dad. He's insane... so it all makes sense.) But on these days that I do the photo shoots I have to get up EARLY. Like, 5:55. Yes. I set my alarm for 5:55 so I can hit snooze once... (or twice) and still have enough time to get ready. It's insane, but worth it. But I should really go to bed earlier if I have to get up that early... but I think I might just stay here at Panera until my sister is done working/closing and I might just go home with her... but she's not usually done until almost 10... so It's kind of a tricky situation... but then again, it is nice to just sit here and type. I'm enjoying this... if you hadn't noticed. I've written a tonnn more than I usually write. And I still haven't gotten to the NIPTO stuff yet... I'm wondering if I should make that a different post for that... Eh. No. haha. If you've read this far, then you'll probably make it to the end. I think I'm at the end of my stream of consciousness. Maybe.

Panera's Cafe Mochas are scrum-diddily-umptious!

Focus. NIPTO.

Ah. This is INSANE. I just read Luke and there are about 50 bazillion verses that I want to post... to limit myself or not... I don't have a TON of time... seeing as Panera is technically closed... but my sister works here, so it's okay if I hang out here until she's done right? I mean... her manager's girlfriend does it too... =P

Okay.

Luke 17:9-10- Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'"

We shouldn't expect praise when we do what we're supposed to. We're supposed to consider ourselves unworthy servants. We need to be humble. If someone does praise us, we shouldn't glorify ourselves. WE didn't do it. We shouldn't really even be doing stuff for people. We should be doing it for God. I mean... if someone asks you to do something that you're capable of, by all means do it. But don't do it just to do it. Do it to glorify God, whatever it is. This week I wrote "Geometry for Jesus" on the front of my Geometry notebook. I don't always like doing Geometry, but it's probably a skill I'll need to use if I am going to do stuff with photography. So I need to remember that I'm not just doing it to pass the class, I'm doing it so that maybe, someday, I can use it to glorify God. (I need to remember to write "Chemistry for Jesus" on the front of my chem notebook. That's another subject that isn't my favorite. But still useful in photography because of developing photos and whatnot.) wow. that evolved. And I think that might be all I'm going to post for Luke... let me look over the other verses I underlined.

18:7- And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? No. He won't. If you're calling out to God day and night He's going to listen to you. Don't despair. Psalm 42:11: Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. =D (I also read Luke 19 today. That's scheduled for tomorrow. Oh well!)

Proverbs 25:11- A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of sliver. I'm a word person. I like words. I'm coming to like writing more... as you might be able to tell by the length of this post. So this verse stuck out to me because of the word aspect of it. I also noticed that it doesn't say "words" it says a "word." That's singular. (Thank you. It's been great.) One word can be like apples set in gold? Not quite sure what that means... I think it means it's beautiful... pleasing? Anyone care to clarify if you have any idea what this means? I'd appreciate it.

Also: Proverbs 25:28- Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control. Whew. That's kinda heavy for being 14/15 words. (Depends if you count a hyphenated word as 1 or 2 words. =P) It just kinda makes you think more about being in control of your self and your thoughts and well... yourself. Again. Something to think about.

On to Revelation 18:2- With a mighty voice he shouted: "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. If I'm not mistaken, Babylon was a GREAT city in its day. Aka... thousands of years ago. But in the days when the Lord will come, it will become this haunt for evil things. I think it was a spiritually significant city, but I'm not completely sure. I'd have to do some research. I think that's kind of significant though if Babylon was a spiritually significant city because things that were once spiritually significant to us can become this place for demons and evil to abide. Interesting.

I think that is ALL for today. Tonight. Whatever. Almost 3 hours after I started this post, I'm done. Kind of. ;)

P.S. I'm totally rocking out and dancing to my worship playlist for the week. While sitting in Panera. It's awesome. Here's a list of the songs if you want to listen too :)

Mighty to Save

Marvelous Light

Can You Hear Us?
Thank You For Hearing Me (Did NOT notice that those two were next to each other until RIGHT now. =P)

Your Love Will Never Change

Come and Listen

Turn Your Eyes

Beautiful

Lily of the Valley

Be Thou My Vision

More Than Life

The Stand

You'll Come

Where the Spirit Is(?)

Your Love Will Never Change.

(If you want more info on these songs you can leave a comment and I'll get you artists and whatnot :)

P. P. S. After reading this over again... skimming really. I have decided that I have a slight form of ADD... and probably OCD to go along with that. Crazy combo!