1 Peter 4:7-11

"The end of all things is near.  Therefore be clear minded and self controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen."

God is so good!

Today, I am just sitting in awe and contentment.

I don't always have my head on straight. By that, I mean I don't always see the bigger picture and I am looking away from God. Sometimes I struggle to spend time with Him. Sometimes I am consistent spending time with Him in the mornings and then don't think much of Him during the day. Sometimes I get caught up in the world. Sometimes I am distracted from why I am here on this Earth.

All of these struggles have always been in my life and when I was younger, I would sit in bed at night and beat myself up about it. I would go over every single thing I had done that day that was sinful and I would feel so much guilt. Then, one day I understood what grace was and that I will never be perfect or even "good". I am sinful and I will always fall short... BUT I can rest that I am loved by a God who is bigger than my sin and who has conquered my sin. Praise God!

There have been alot of great things in my life lately that have put my head back on straight and turned it back toward the cross. Here are a few!

Don't get overwhelmed or overcommitted.

Amen! Reminds me to focus on the relationship, not routine.

Helps me to TRUST the plan!

Wow... I am not nearly grateful enough for His blessings.

One of those blessings... my group of friends. (Not just these ones haha) I've realized so much throughout college that the people you surround yourself with truly do rub off on you and effect your life . I cannot thank God enough for the incredible friendships I've had all throughout life. They always turn my face back to the Lord.

Amazing trip. Being able to look at God's creation and realize that He's got it handled. 

Awww... I just loved this. Realizing imperfection, receiving grace, and love regardless of the circumstances.

Caedmons Call- Draw Me Nearer

Amazing song. 

Radical Christians

Posts on this blog will probably be more few and far between but I loved this article. It was very challenging. How different would my life look if I were more rooted in Christ in everything I do?

Wanted to share it! Here it is!
Great Article on Christian Living

So it's been awhile...

Wow...I am graduated! Weird, right? It still hasn't fully hit me yet! Now I'm contemplating whether or not to start a different blog for post-college or just keep this one. We'll see how I feel. For now, I will just keep it!

Ever since I've graduated, life has been a complete whirlwind! I went to Playa del Carmen, LA, had a family reunion in Austin, saw Travis' Iron Man in Houston, one of my best friends got married, and I was a leader for a Wyldlife Camp. I think I'll talk about Wyldlife camp tomorrow but today I will write about my music obsession since summer began.

Country music.

I've always loved country music. I was raised with my dad, who is a huge country fan, listening to Garth Brooks many nights out on the back porch while he grilled BBQ chicken haha.  Actually, I do that all the time now. Something must've rubbed off on me! Anyways, all I have been able to listen to lately has been the country tunes. Here is a list of my absolute favorites recently.

- Eric Church- "Homeboy"
- Josh Turner- "All Over Me"
- Keith Urban- "Without You"
- Jason Aldean- "Dirt Road Anthem"
- Josh Abbott Band- "Oh, Tonight"
- Blake Shelton- "Honeybee"
- Thompson Square- "Are you Gonna Kiss me or Not?"
- Ryan Bingham- "Hallelujah"
- Billy Currington- "Let me Down Easy"
- Hayes Carll- "Down the Road Tonight"
- Zac Brown Band- "Colder Weather"
- Kenney Chesney- " You and Tequila"
- George Straight- "It Just Comes Natural"

Ok, ok...maybe there is ONE other song- non-country- that I love lately...haha.  Enjoy. Slow jams til I die...sorry 'bout it.

- Miguel- "Sure Thing"

Found a gem...

1) This is in an Apple Store
2) I wouldn't make him stop.
3) This will probably be me on the job next year
4) I hope my child dances and acts like this
5) The girls in the background stink ha. :(

Apple Store Kid

Time to LIVE!

http://vimeo.com/terjes/themountain- loved this and thought it went perfectly with today's theme!

I went to the Reflections Display after my big test and class today and just like every year, I had the same perspective shift.

Looking at the lives of people I don't even know and seeing how much they did with their time always gets me thinking. Life is short, no matter how long you live.

I had a cool conversation with my friend Wiley last night about our concept of time here as opposed to what eternity will be like. It puts perspective on life and about what really matters...spreading the Gospel, glorifying the Lord, loving others, and making the absolute most of the limited time we have.

Life is too short to waste it.
Life is too short to leave no room for spontaneity.
Life is too short to care what other people are thinking when you are being yourself.
Life is too short to try to be someone you're not.
Life is too short to take yourself too seriously.
Life is too short to not meet as many people as possible.
Life is too short to not invest deeply in close friendships.
Life is too short to try to be the perfect girl.
Life is too short to sit inside all day long.
Life is too short to study all the time. Sorry not sorry.
Life is too short to keep your emotions inside.
Life is too short to lose your sense of humor.
Life is too short to worry about the future.
Life is too short to walk with your face and eyes down.
Life is too short to settle.
Life is too short to avoid spending as much time possible with your family.
Life is too short to be angry or bitter.
Life is too short to not make new goals and accomplish them.
Life is too short to dwell on the past.
Life is too short to not apologize.
Life is too short to pass up trying to help the people around you.
Life is too short to not eat that piece of chocolate molten lava cake.
Life is too short to not think about what happens after and act on what you know!

Those were just a few of my thoughts today after leaving the Reflections Display. I cannot waittt for Muster!!!

Bucket List

I've been doing pretty well with my  "10 Things I Want To Do Before College Ends" list. I have started making personalized gifts for graduation gifts...I have run a half marathon with Chris and am doing another one this weekend....I'll be going to the George Bush Library this weekend for Parent's Weekend...and there are already plans in the works for taking Aggie Barn pics.  The others I need to get on!

One item that I failed to put on my Bucket List due to lack of belief that I could accomplish it is...
Winning an intramural championship.

I have played more intramurals in my lifetime than I can count. Between outdoor soccer, indoor soccer, outdoor volleyball, indoor volleyball, softball, dodgeball,  powder puff, etc.,  I have made the rounds. There have been several championship games and second place awards but not a single first prize....UNTILLLLLLL!!!!!...

Last night! Chi Omega/ BCA brought one home! Here is a picture of our soccer team. We actually had a lot of talent, I think you would be surprised! (I had to copy and paste it from FB and can't delete that other weird stuff... sorry.)

Photos of You in Mobile Uploads By Anna Massey · 3 of 2,882 Tag This PhotoDone TaggingShareDownloadMake Profile PictureReport This Photo

In this photo: , Courtney Frey (photos) , Marshall Clapp (photos) , Kimberley Frey (photos) , Kasi Thorman (photos) , Will Mogk (photos) , Abbey Talbot (photos) , Rebe Long (photos) , Will Pittman (photos) , Lindsay Thornton (photos · remove tag) , Travis Crawford (photos) , Megan Jarvie (photos) , Jimmy Elliott (photos) , Bekah Gold (photos) , Jeff Brown (photos) Intramural C-league soccer champs! We will be signing autographs by academic plaza tomorrow Added 12 hours ago via Facebook for iPhone · · Kelsey Ray, Kasi Thorman, Will Mogk and 4 others like this. Write a comment... Press Shift+Enter to start a new line.

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Thanks, Gee!

My good friend, Chris Gee, sent me this podcast that he really liked and guess what! I liked it too! ha I think it may be my favorite Dating/ Singles talk I've ever heard. It was very convicting and at the same times encouraging. It's about an hour, but it's worth your time! Check it out!

http://theparadoxchurch.com/sermon/?sermon_id=16

7ish

7ish. That's around the time I got home this morning.

No. I was not out clubbing or talking with a boy all night. I was awaken very early this morning and couldn't for the life of me go back to bed.

This is not a regular occurrence at all!  Sleeping has never been a problem for me. In fact, I tend to be a pretty light sleeper who is often woken up, but then alwaysss can go back to bed in an instant. Not to mention I have a nasty habit of staying up until around 3 a.m. every night. That equates to me never having a problem sleeping in until my alarm blasts multiple times to wake me up.

However, some mornings are unusual...and I always have the same thought when those days come around.

"Why, out of all days, can I not go back to sleep? It's like 5am!"  Then it hits me!  I'm supposed to be up and STAY up for a reason. Actually, it's not so much a thought...I literally cannot stop tossing and turning. It's like I am being moved out of bed.

Do you ever have those mornings? I feel that the Lord, for some strange reason, tends to pick certain mornings to rattle me out of bed and make me do something. Sometimes He wants me to go out on the porch and watch the College Station clouds race by (they move so quickly in the mornings here). Other days he wants me to go outside and pray. This morning he wanted me to get up, leave the house, and go to the REC.

So I did...and I did it with much confusion haha.

So I did my whole work out and got to have some nice time with the Lord playing a little Jon Foreman. That was nice, but the most interesting part was after the workout! I went outside to stretch out and so many emotions just flooded over me. Then while listening to JJ Heller's, "Your Hands", I just felt a release of so many worries and fears I had for the coming year of uncertainties which I honestly didn't even realize were even there.

"So THAT was the plan for this morning, huh?" haha.

I find it so funny that we can spend every single moment of every day with ourselves and still not even understand what's going on in our lives. God is working in us in ways we can't even imagine and don't understand until He finally decides to reveal it to us.

Anywho, that provided me with the number 7 in my countdown! Also, I think it's about 7 weeks until I graduate! WHOOP! Have a blessed day!

8 Oh Snaps!

After alot of thought and consideration, I've decided to put up 8 of my favorite pictures from college. Whether it was of a fun memory or a picture that makes me laugh for hours... here they are!

Kenzie and I got our BABIESSS!!! :-)

Spring Break junior year! GIRLS ONLY!!!

This is my #1 favorite. It is simply perfect.

RING DAY!

Summer after freshman year in Zambia!

Senior year. I love these boys so much! They are straight up goofy! haha

Sophomore year Spring Break with my best friends!

Senior year. Dodgeball. It was a must! haha

List of Tens: Fav Songs This Week!

I'm too tired to start thinking of top 10 SB'11 moments...but no fear! They will come, eventually! For now, Enjoy!

-Yael Naim- Far Far
-Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull- On the Floor
-Florence and the Machine- I'm Not Calling You a Liar
-Rihanna ft. Kanye West- All of the Lights
-Enrique Iglesius- Tonight I'm Lovin' You
-Granger Smith- Sorry, I had to! haha
-Jerrod Nieman- What Do You Want
-Dave Matthews Band ft. Incubus- Crash into Me
-Ingrid Michaelson- Breakable
-Josh Turner- Long Black Train

Dedicated to my LOVES!!!! :-)

My loves.
They have blessed my life so much this year.
They are beautiful inside and out.

They are freshman. :)

 I didn't think they actually read my blog...because I figure most people don't...but SURPRISE! THEY DO!

So, ladies and gentlemen...here they are!

KAYDEE BECKER

Kaydee is incredible! Her love for life, her family, and kids make me smile every week! This girl is selfless and relational. Kaydee can be a little shy at first, but the moment you get to really know her, you find out she is a little fireball and is absolutely hysterical. I love it when I can make her laugh because it is the cutest thing in the world! haha The thing I have loved seeing in Kaydee this year is her love and care for others. After we do our studying and talking about life, we move onto prayer requests. There is not a single week when she doesn't want to pray for a member of her family or someone other than herself. She doesn't realize it, but I notice every single week and grin. :-) Kaydee is humble and always wants to learn more. Like I said before, she has such a tender heart for children and I think it reflects her childlike faith she has in the Lord perfectly. She's always wanting to learn and becomes a bright-eyed little girl when we get the chance to meet up each week. I LOVE WATCHING IT! She desires to know the Lord deeply and I love seeing how wise she is already. With the decisions she makes in her daily life, the people she surrounds herself with and her sense of discernment... Kaydee is an absolute stud. Just look at her... she even just looks so sweet and cute! haha

 EMILY SUTFIN

Emily amazes me every week. She is one of the most genuine and real girls I've met. Emily has the incredible ability to open up to you and be vulnerable. I admire this quality so much in her and I believe it shows her strength. She loves her family and friends and wants to become more like Christ every week. One big thing about Emily is that she is very curious! haha (she will laugh at that) She loves to climb trees, learn how to play the guitar, explore, and the one I like most...when she doesn't understand something we're studying, she'll ask questions and not just take it at face value. This quality in her has challenged me so much. I know that if I'm going to study the Bible with these girls, Kaydee will soak up every word we talk about and reflect on it later and Emily will ask plenty of questions right then and there...haha. It makes me study up more than I ever have on the Bible and know my stuff before I'm faced with these two! :-) This is Emily. She wants to find truth and she is constantly finding more and more, which has been awesome to see her growth just within these 2 semesters.

Oh, these two! :-) They are so very different...and actually, we all 3 are very different girls, but it has been one of the most incredible things I've done in college. We have been able to get to know each other's hearts in a relatively short time and grown together in, and because of, the Lord. I remember a few weekends ago, sitting at a table at their Initiation Luncheon and watching them hug and talk and I got teary eyed and all choked up!(...the maternal instincts in me, I suppose. haha) They have grown to love one another and I am confident that even when I can't hang out with them all the time, they will still be solid rocks for each other. Praise God for fellowship and praise God for not making us walk this life alone!

“I don't need to pay a therapist to give me crap. I have a roommate that does it for free.” -Ally McBeal

Some songs I've loved listening to lately...
  -Sean Hayes- Garden
  -The Script- For the First Time
  -Sean Hayes- Never Alone

Now, for the good stuff!

Roommates.

One of the biggest blessings of my year has been some dang awesome roomies! It has been one of the most interesting thing because we are all soooo very different but we have such a great dynamic. The biggest problem we've had is that our kitchen is constantly a wreck...but none of us really care so...NBD!

I want to dedicate this blog to my four roommates. They have blessed my life, made me a better person, and I think they've added years to my life by all the laughter and smiles they've brought me this year!

Here are their profiles, from yours truly! haha

Allison Grace Harrell

Love Language: Physical Touch (owww!owww! haha jk)
Personality: Allie is pretty chill most of the time...but then, out of nowhere, she gets a burst of extreme excitement and weirdness.. which is one of my favorite things about her. She loves good, intentional conversation. She is one who will be honest with you and straight up no matter how hard it may be. She keeps me in line.
Loves: Allie love sports, journaling, and going to It's a Grind for hours. She is a huge math geek and wants to be a high school math teacher and volleyball coach. She's one of the smartest chickies I know. BIG O' BRAIN, YA KNOW!?!?! haha
How we are connected: Allie and I met at Impact Camp when this girl came up to me and said, "Hi! I'm Allie! Want to meet people with me?" Of course, I hopped right on board. We rode on the bus there and back together, talked about sororities and she said "You are FOR SURE a ChiO, trust me" when I was telling her I wanted to be a TriDelt. Told you, she'll say it how it is! We also both have a love for sports, so that is another bond we share pretty deeply. If there's a game, we'll be there! ;-)

Alexis Constance Collett

Love Language: Words of Affirmation
Personality: Oh, Alexis. Who doesn't know her personality? haha She is the most encouraging, intentional, sweet girl I know. She has such a love for others and you will always catch her having an awesome deep heart to heart with someone. She is someone I can go to with my deepest sins and struggles and she'll be a prayer warrior for me and keep me accountable. Lex is probably the 2nd most chill person in our house after Allie, but she too has a fun, sassy side. Just watch her dance! GO GURR GO GURR!!!
Loves: Alexis loves deep conversations where she can see your heart. She loves Greek food (p.s. Alexis is Greek) and she loves to play sports and compete! She is a finance major and will be working at Pine Cove this summer where she'll serve as a senior counselor!
How we are connected: Alexis and I became best friends our freshman year during Songfest practice. Songfest is our philanthropy for ChiO and our baby pledge class does the opening act for the show. Alexis and I LOVE to dance, so we were front row center together! haha We always laugh about that, but we first bonded over rockin' it on stage.

Julie Anne McCaleb

Love Language: Gifts (Get ready, Kerr! haha)
Personality: Julie McCaleb is a ball of fire and fun! She constantly makes me laugh. She has so much energy and joy for life and it is absolutely contagious. Julie is one of those girls who you never have to think what she's wondering, she'll just say it! She is so secure in herself and if you like it or not, Julie is Julie! Man, I love that about her. She loves serving others as you will see by her "Loves".
Loves: Julie loves serving others. :) She started this thing called "Art in the Park" where she gets kids from low-income neighborhoods and takes them to the park to do art projects and learn about Christ. She loves being girly and cooking, but most importantly she loves her MAN!, Kerr Joseph Friedman, who she will be marrying in August!!!!
How we are connected: Julie went to Baylor, but got her head on straight and transferred her junior year. One of my best friends, Brooke, got to know Julie really well and I got to know Julie at first through her. Our first big bonding time was going to Baylor together to see "Sing". We are also connected because we have "Barbarian Days" together, as you can read about farther into this blog.

Kenzie Louise Chesnut

Love Language: Service
Personality: Kenzie is quirky. She is one of the most unique people I know. Kenzie loves to figure people out and analyze personalities. She also loves being a connector. She loves bringing people into groups and making them all mesh and come together. She is very outgoing and is probably the most genuine person I know.
Loves: Kenzie loves discussing life. She does NOT love sports, which i don't get. Kenzie loves being roommates with me (we live in the same room) haha. Kenz likes art, fashion, design, photography, anything that keeps her creative juices flowin! She also loves mentoring younger girls and investing in the lives of others.
How we are connected: We got to be best friends our junior year through being pledge trainers together. We're still not sure how we never really hung out before that because we just CLICK! We are also both very goal oriented people so we bond by making goal sheets with each other and making sure we accomplish them.

And yes, you guessed it. My love language is quality time. Our house makes up the 5 love languages. Isn't that weird? How do we get along so well? We've definitely learned how to love each other well in our own individual ways. I love these girls and have such great community with them!

Yay for GURLFRANS!

Yes... this post is on Guinea Hens...deal with it. :)

Oh...the Guinea Hens...haha

I will never forget the first time I was driving through the historic district and spotted those goofy lookin' turkey-like creatures walking through someone's historic yard haha. My first thought...

"What are you doing sitting in your car? Go get something- a gun, slingshot, rope, anything!- and go kill dem' turkeys, girl!!! How were you RAISED?!?!"

Haha...for some reason when I revert back to my tribal instincts, I have a redneck accent? Anywho, I thought I could get some free turkey in my freezer for dinner! Good thing I stopped myself. Turns out these things are "Guinea Hens", or "Guineafowl" as those more politically correct would call them, and they are illegal to shoot and kill and take home to your freezer...!

When I moved to 505 Ayrshire, I discovered that they were living in my area very quickly. I was woken up every morning by these creature's "SQUAKS!". At first, I hated their existence so I tried to come up with a plan to sneak into my neighbor's yard (hoisting a sign with the words "Guinea Hen Crossing" in their yard and a corn distributor to attract these animals) and then tie strings around their beaks. Now-a-days though, I have grown to absolutely love them!

I love going outside in the morning to sit on the porch for some alone time and watching their goofy bodies waddling along the yard...haha. They bring a smile to my day. What a strange and interesting creature for God to put in our lives to make us grin. Turns out, these birds are actually really cool! Look at what Wikipedia (my favorite "scholarly source") says about them:

-The species for which the information is known are normally monogamous, mating for life.

- If a guineafowl's mate were to die, it would mourn for several weeks before choosing a new one.

-All guineafowl are social, and typically occur in small groups.

-Guineafowl that are kept in the United States are often kept for meat, but their eggs are edible as well.  (hmm...maybe I was right on my 1st instinct...I KID! I KID!)
-Guineafowl have a long history of domestication.

AWWW!!! Guineas!!! I guess you're pretty cool in my book :-)

List of Tens: Things I want to do before college ends!

I am a goal-oriented person. Having a list and accomplishing it makes me get butterflies...as strange as that may sound. Some people understand this fire in me... others think it's very Type A and ridiculous. Nonetheless, it is me and it drives me to accomplish the things I lay in bed at night dreaming about doing! Here is my list:

1- Run 2 more half marathons, 1 with Chris, 1 with Allie!
2- Take pictures by the "Gig 'Em" Barn!
3- Have a Fish Aides Reunion with the class of  '07. :-)
4- Road trip to Galveston one last time!
5- Visit my Granny and Popo for my last "college crew" trip there!
6- Have another "Barbarian Day" at Lake Bryan full of kayaking, journaling, exploring, connecting a knife to the end of a stick to "catch fish", opening a cold brewsky with a rock (right, Jules? haha)...
7- Make personalized arts and crafts for graduation that show my friends what they mean to me and characteristics I love in them.
8- Go to the George Bush Library (sad I haven't done that yet!)
9- Plant a time capsule with my best friends!!! haha like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants...
10- Write my name on the wall at The Chicken! WHOOP!

So keep me accountable, friends!

"It's not about FASTING from sin, it's about FEASTING on Christ" -Meredith Zeophat

WOW! This weekend's Masterpiece Conference was absolutely incredible! Last year was the first year the conference was held and it's put on by Ben Stuart's wife, Donna Stuart. Like I've said before, something about women getting together to praise God with singing and dancing is quite a sight to see.

Anyhow, the Holy Spirit was definitely amovin' in that place! :) We had one speaker for all of our main messages and she was so great. That woman knew Scripture like the back of her hand and it was definitely one of the things I was convicted on this weekend. We also had break-out sessions and we were able to choose 3. We also had the whole gymnasium set up for "A Part of the Solution". There were numerous mission organizations there that we were able to give money to, pray for, and write letters to as another element of our weekend worship.

This weekend was a time of refocusing, resting in the Lord and the Lord alone, finding out more about my identity and security in Him, and resting in His plan for my life. From learning about Sin and Redemption to how to be good stewards of our finances in the working world that is soon to come, there was so much wisdom poured out over us...

The Lord has such a tender way that he relates and talks to us women and this conference did an awesome job of channeling that. Overall, it was an emotional time with the Lord that involved a bunch of wrestling and a lot of growth! Praise God for showing himself to some College Station women! WHOOP!

Here are a few of the songs they played that I loved! Enjoy!

Christy Nockels- Choose
Christy Nockels- A Mighty Fortress
Chris Tomlin- All To Us
Chris Tomlin- I Will Follow You

List of Tens: Songs I Love at the Moment

I was doing my usual lurking of blogs...and I stumbled upon one of my favorites, Krissy McKenzie's! She had this great idea to do "List of Tens" and she gave me permission to steal this idea for my blog! Thanks, mamma....you're the best pi (I think I can say that considering no other pi's look at my blog...okay, maybe nobody else but like five of my friends do...and my moms!)

Behold, my List of Tens: Song I Love at the Moment
1) Tyler Ward- Born This Way (cover)
2) Phil Wickham- Heaven Song
3) Lady Antebellum- Our Kind of Love
4) Adele- Rolling in the Deep
5) Florence and the Machine- Cosmic Love
6) Diddy ft. Skylar Grey- Coming Home
7) The Civil Wars- Poison and Wine
8) Lecrae- Go Hard
9) Eric Chruch- Love Your Love the Most
10) David Crowder Band- Never Let Go

Until the next list of tens! Peace and Love...Peace and Love... haha

Breakaway Ministries- "Coming Clean"

Wow...it's been awhile since I've last posted.. I will try to my best to get better about that!

So, I have a confession.

Three words.

All Men's Breakaway.

Every year... a lot of my friends and I really enjoy listening to the podcasts to see what they talked about ha. What I like about most of them is that they never have to do with things girls would normally talk about in their All Women's Breakaway.

They're not about emotions or self-worth or anything girly, but rather, they're about pride and realization that one have fallen short. A lot of times that's exactly opposite of what girls are taught because we struggle with confidence or image, but I think this other aspect is vital for girls to hear too.

God isn't ONLY the God who loves and adores us but He is the God who is constantly sanctifying us and humbling us to remind us of His grace.

All this to say, the All Men's Breakaway podcast this year blew me away! It talks about how we position ourselves to become so good at a certain type of spirituality, whichever one that may be (consistently doing quiet times, speaking eloquently about spiritual things, serving others constantly) in order to make ourselves think we are okay, when in reality, we are all defiled and filthy in comparison to Christ.

The overall conclusion of the sermon was this, as Ben Stewart says: "I'm not shocked by sin in my life anymore. I'm disappointed by it, I'm grieved by it, but I'm not shocked...but Christ took my defilement for me...he's sanctifying me and making me holy. I grieve the sin that's still in my life but the answer is Jesus."

Today, I will praise God for humbling me by this podcast and I want to examine the things I do more closely and check my intentions behind everything in my life. I am not perfect. I'm one screwed up little girl and I have come to grips with that.

The good news? My Father is working on me even still and he has cleansed me from my filth. ALSO, All Women's Breakaway is tonight!!! :) I am glad I can go into tonight with the realization that I am dirty and a mess, only to most likely hear more about how God cleanses and redeems me. How cool is the complexity of God? WHOOP!

If you haven't hear the podcast, go to Breakaway Ministries, and the sermon is called "Coming Clean". Check it out!

Goodnight!

I'm really sleepy so i'm going to make this nice and quick! Here's how the art project turned out! Now... deciding where to put it... hmmmm...

Tuesday Party Time

This is going to be my next art project! Yay! I plan to do the exact same thing as I did last time. Go outside, put on Bon Iver, and get to work! Art days are some of my favorites. The first picture is the one I'm going to make, but i'm going to try to combine that lettering and sizing mixed with the lettering below...? Does that make sense? Check it out! I found it on someone's facebook a long time ago and have saved it to do later. The time has come!!!

The other great thing about today is that it's a Tuesday and when night comes around, the party begins! It all starts with Muster Committee meetings, which I'm obsessed with. I don't know what it is, but every year, the committee becomes so close and has quite a little family feel! Maybe it has to do with the purpose of our organization, but it's just incredible.
Next, Breakaway with the roomies! We've made it our "thing" to go as a house. Those four girls I live with bless me and challenge me so much. I believe I'll blog about them tomorrow! Until then.. here's a clip of Breakaway!

Breakaway

David

Hi! So, I've been reading a book by Charles Swindoll called, "A Man of Passion and Destiny; David" lately and I love love love it! I've always felt that I could identify with David in that he was such a screw-up at some points in his life, but he was used by God and truly loved the Lord with all his heart.

I got up and went to Mugwalls this morning and read a chapter in the David book. Here are my favorite things about this chapter. When talking about Samuel going to the house of Jesse to pick one of his sons to one day be King of Israel, Samuel kept thinking that the older sons, those which were big guys and looked like kings, were surely God's chosen one.

"The Lord said to Samuel,' Do not look at his appearance or the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

This was so convicting for me. Samuel couldn't see their hearts and their deepest thoughts. Not only am I guilty of judging the book by its cover, but in my own life, what are the intentions of my heart? What does God see that others might not see...maybe even things I can't see in myself? Just reading this was definitely a challenge to evaluate my heart and intentions in every interaction I have.

Moving along, Samuel eventually sees David, the youngest boy who was humble and tended to the sheep tirelessly and knows that he is the one the Lord has chosen. The Bible says he was a man after God's own heart. Swindoll notes this about David,

"I think that's one of the reasons he was a man after God's heart. He was always approachable, always believable, always authentic... and always faithful in the little things."

I love that David would go on to do many incredible things, and also some horrible things, but either way, he cried out to the Lord constantly...for forgiveness, for comfort, for praise. He was a humble servant whose heart and focus would also turn back to the Lord whenever it had strayed.

This week, I want to observe my heart and intentions constantly. I want to strive to focus my face on the Lord and keep the big picture in mind, being faithful in the little things.

Let the Good Times Roll!

My mom says I should talk about how much I love her today... my dad says he doesn't know what I should blog about and that that's why he doesn't blog. haha   So...today...I think I'll talk about the big things of these last few days!

   *I got to go to Dallas and see TONS of my friends. It was one of my favorite trips ever because of it! 

   *Hung out with Kenzie and her 3 cute cousins. Josh, the middle child, reminded me of and looked so much like my brother, Josh, when he was young! He was 3 and a half and talked my ear off. It was so much fun to think of my childhood with the best brother in the world. Josh and I have only gotten into one fight in our entire life... my mom says it was in a basketball game with the neighbors and I was blatantly fouling. Sorry, Joshy...always so chill. haha

   *Hung out with MaryCameron and Gracilynn...those 2 girls bring so much light into my life. We've gotten very close this past semester through our humor and powderpuff, respectively. After lunch with them, we ate at Sprinkles cupcakes!!! Yummmmms

   *Banders and I went to get fitted for Julie's bridesmaids dresses!!! The store was located right in the middle of this little "post-college-like" community...and I started to get sooo pumped up for next year! I may even look at that area for apartments...so many new people and also an area where alot of my college friends will be as well!

   *BGriff and I went to see a movie, as always. That girl is so great! Her and her family bless me so much!

   *Went to the Village with my friend, Chris. This was the second thing that made me so excited for next year! I'm pretty sure this will be the church I attend. I went this whole past summer while I was on my internship in Flower Mound and it is so good for me. Matt talked about Habakuk and how he was completely honest with God. He explained that honesty with God is essential for growth and intimacy in our relationship with Christ. I cannot WAIT to be there and get really plugged into that church community!

   *I ran 10 miles! However, i was soooo stupid. I ran when it was snowing, made the worst, most boring route ever on mapmyrun.com and then I hurt my knee. I'm not sure what's going on with it, but 3/4 through the run, every time I took a step, I felt a pinch. I ran to my Aunt Kay's house and then jumped in the hot tub to stretch and massage my knee. I rested it today, so I'm going to be honest with God about how depressed I'll be if I can't run a full marathon. We'll see what His answer is ;-) haha

That's all for now because my fingers are freezing. Dad keeps the heater on like 60 degrees...ah! Great weekend, Great friends, Great times! Bye bye!

Times

When being in Wichita Falls for a long period of time, you can often run out of things to do. When this happens to me, I grab my things, go to Hastings and have some Lindsay time.

Today's Lindsay time was great! Last year, I had an obsession with the band, Tenth Avenue North. Every one of their songs just touched me and when I would listen to the lead singer explain each song and the meaning of it, I enjoyed the songs even more. There's one song in particular that I would replay over and over again last year and just today, I thought of it again! It's one of those songs that I can put on, sing with, dance to, and it feels fresh and new each time. It relates to everyone at some point in their life and it reminds you that He's always present no matter what. There's one certain part at the end that moves me to tears no matter if it's the 5th or 50th time I've listened to it that day. I put the lyrics of that certain part below the song. Enjoy!

Tenth Avenue North- Times
Explanation of the Song

I hear You say,
"My love is over. It's underneath.
It's inside. It's in between.
The times you doubt Me, when you can't feel.
The times that you question, 'Is this for real? '
The times you're broken.
The times that you mend.
The times that you hate Me, and the times that you bend.
Well, My love is over, it's underneath.
It's inside, it's in between.
These times you're healing, and when your heart breaks.
The times that you feel like you're falling from grace.
The times you're hurting.
The times that you heal.
The times you go hungry, and are tempted to steal.
The times of confusion, in chaos and pain.
I'm there in your sorrow, under the weight of your shame.
I'm there through your heartache.
I'm there in the storm.
My love I will keep you, by My pow'r alone.
I don't care where you fall, where you have been.
I'll never forsake you, My love never ends.
It never ends."

Simple Joys

Today was a day full of reflecting and thought! Today was also a day of running! Alot of times the two go hand in hand for me and especially today because my training called for a 9 mile run. Yikes!
I decided I wanted to do a marathon about 2 months ago and I've been training for 5 weeks. The most I'd ever run at one time was 6 miles before I started training and that was when I was in a little better shape than I am now... haha. It's been an incredible experience already because I have tons of alone time to run and think. My thoughts today were full of blessings. I found myself looking around more than I usually do (mainly because I needed to take my mind off of "left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot"). I've been reading a book called, "Praise Habit" by David Crowder where he reflects on the things in his day that seem simple and ordinary and transforms them into a form of worship and appreciation for the blessing they really are. I listened to some good worship music and started to reflect on the things in my life that truly bring me joy and make me the happiest. Here are just a few:
-Sunsets and Sunrises
-Children
-Adults with childlike hearts
-Deep conversations
-Talking with my mom about life for hours on end
-Sitting in my dad's lap and acting like I'm still a little girl :-)
-Skype-Bible Studies with Josh
-Fellowship without masks
-Reading the words of God that fit my situation perfectly
-Quotes
-Driving by meadows and just taking in the country... feels so freeing!
-Baking desserts
-Art projects on my back porch
-Being outside
-Kayaking/ having "Barbarian Days" with Julie
-Roomie Hangouts
-Writing letters to the people I love
-Taking pictures of memories I never want to forget
-Reflecting on old moments (especially Wichita Falls ones)
-Playing competitive sports, adrenaline rushes!!!
-Journaling to Jesus
-Singing alone in my car
-Reading my favorite chapter, Psalm 51, and realizing that brokenness before the Lord is exactly where I need to be
-Music that brings me to joyful tears
-Movies that can get me so wrapped up in them that I feel like it's real life (basically, all movies) haha
-Seeing good in people that may seem unlovable at times
-Being with my extended family
-Watching a parent with their child and taking a mental note of how I'll teach my kids life lessons :-)
-Lunch dates
-Any water that I can sit by, listen to, watch...
-Running
-Watching the stars
-A nice, cold Diet Coke... duh.

That's all for now... these are some things that bring me joy and make me turn my face back to the Lord. My hope for this year is that I start turning my face back to the Lord more often. When my days get scattered with tons of homework or errands, I want every little thing I do to remind me of His love for me.