Salt Life

Today was one of the most fantastic days of my summer. Sit down, because I am about to spill my heart. I woke up at a bright and early 6:35am and drove to meet my best friends at an abanded house next door to our favorite coffee shop. We had a complete blast. Why? Because we decided to end our summer with a photo shoot. After the abandoned house, we drove to a field and completely camped out, while enjoying each other. Now, our little friends group is different. We love to bond over our bibles and things that make life fun. We have all (waiting on two) gotten our license and have matching stickers to go on our cars. The sticker says "Salt Life."Now originally this sticker is meant for beach bums. But we take a different look on it. We see it as Matthew 5 calls the Salt and Light of the earth. We are constanly reminding eachother to be Salty. Especially as teenage girls, we find it so easy to follow the world and forget sometimes to do everything to the glory of our sweet Jesus. These girls have shaped me into the girl I am today. They encourage me and strengthen me everyday.
These are the people that I go to coffee shops and bible studies with. These are the people God has specifically placed in my life and I wouldn't have it any other way. How perfect is the plan of Jesus? He knew when I moved schools that my life would be transformed by these girls.

Baby Brother

Lilies of the Valley

Crafted Bouquets

I am honestly going to get better at posting my pictures. Here are some unedited pictures I took the other day, while it was drizzling. Once I figure out how to post photoshopped pictures, I will really begin to post all my pictures! More pictures are coming so get excited!!

Raindrops On Rainboots

"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth." Hosea 6:3 (NKJ)

Does anybody else adore rain? Rain is one of my favorite gifts from God. Today after my run in the rain, I walked home barefooted and splashed in the puddles. Rain helps me see and have faith in God. When I watch the little drizzles from heaven spiral down to earth, I see the face of the Creator. In the verse above, Hosea 6:3, it tells us if we acknowledge God then we shall see him. I encourage you to look it up in the NIV version, where it specifically says "acknowledge".  In our daily faith walk with God we must acknowledge His presence. Have you ever wondered what makes God smile? What pleases God? What tricks God's trigger? Well the answer is found in Hebrews 11. To make God smile, we must have complete faith in Him. Faith gives credit to Him where credit is due. When we look at His created world before us and give Him the glory it takes us from the creation back to the creator. Faith brings us to the feet of God. Faith also demonstrates a relationship instead of an obligation. "For is the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have" 2 Corinthians 8:12. God doesn't deserve you to not give Him your best. Look back at Cain and Able. Cain felt like He had an obligation to give something to God, while Able felt it was a privilege to offer something to God. Faith demonstrates your joy to serve the Creator. Faith also acknowledges His presence in our daily life. Listen up because this is the meat of what I'm talking about. God is not our shadow. We think we can ignore Him and let Him follow us around wherever we want to go. We think we can bend God's will for our life with our own desires. Finally, faith shows we believe He is serious about what he says. "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it" Luke 11:28. It's the daily stuff that puts a smile on God's face. We have to ignore public opinion and believe in His ability to come through. God is pleased with faith in Him.

Get Up and Go Women and Men of God

Something I have been trying to instill in my girls in my small group is speaking up for what they know to be true. I am happy to report that they are all learning how to do this very well. I received this from one of the girls, Maggie, and I wanted to share it with you. She is an encouragement to everyone she comes across.

"Life? What is life? Life is something you were given, but of course we take that for granite. We as humans are self centered people, who cannot go  a day without looking in the mirror. What does that say about us? It means we live in our own sinful nature and in a sinful world. If you look around you see the worldview which is everyday, but if you look around and look really close you see sin. The world may look beautiful, but there is a different side to the world, where it is dark, freeing, never-ending storms, pain, and death. One you see this side of the world you will be shocked. This side of the world is blind to the lost, but the not lost to the found. We as Christians can't just side around and wait for Jesus to come back. We were told to get up and go! It says in Matthew 28:19, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Nowhere in that verse does it say just to go to Church and read the bible and then you are done. It says to GET UP AND GO. He doesn't say, "Oh you can sit there and wait for Me." He says, "Go Make!" Make? This word sticks out the most to me because when you make something it is important to you and you want to share it with someone. Well, when we get up and go we MAKE the lost get found. We as Christians may say things like, "Oh I go to church and stuff, so I get to go to heaven." No you have to ask Jesus into your heart and let Him take over your life completely. There is that word again. Life. I said that life was given to us, but we take over our life with our needs and selfish ways! We forget that God creates us and He wants to take over our life. I didn't say God "made" us because we can make stuff, but He creates us. The word "Made" is nothing compares to "Created." We can't "Create" anything! We can only "make" things. We can't create anything, we can only make things. A friend told me this, "God takes an impossible task and a impossible man and he crushed them!" You see...We don't control our lives...God does. Life is not ours to life. It is ours to give. Jesus gave His life to our sins. Wake up men and women of God!!! Christ is coming back!! Give your life to Him NOW! GET UP AND GO!" ~ Maggie

A Living Walking Running Prayer

I love to run. I might not always love it while I am doing it, but afterward I feel so good. I feel like I defeated  my myself and forced myself be better than I was the day prior. I always run with 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 bouncing around my mind. Especially vs. 27 that says, "I strike my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."  I know Paul is using running as an example for spiritual things, but I think the analogy is really magnificent. Now, if you're like me you love to think. I think most when I run and it also helps to clear my head of the worldly things I struggle with on a daily basis. Today, like most every day, I went for a run. But during my run today I began to think of my small group that I lead. I have been talking to my girls about praying. When I talk to them about it, it also encourages me and reminds me the importance of prayer. Prayer has always been one my biggest struggles in my relationship with my Jesus. I suddenly stopped running, ripped out my earphones, and started walking. Now keep in mind, the great thing about my daily runs is that I run in a field by my house. I began to just talk to God as I walked through this field. I just talked to Him like I would to my dearest friends. I talked to Him about girls in my bible study. I prayed for them specifically. I prayed for my friends from school. I talked to God about this next school year in comparison to last school year. After I told Him my goals for this next school year, I  paused and just walked in silence. Then I finally said, "Jesus let my life be a living prayer to you." Now, I know we are supposed to be silent and be still in His presence. I love to do that. But after today, I believe that He can convict your heart of certain things with the very words that you speak to Him. That's what He did to me today. Last week at my small group I was sitting among my dear girls and told them something I had heard about a year or two ago. Someone told me, "When you wake up start a pray and don't say amen till you lay your head down at night. That way, every waking moment is a prayer to your Jesus. Everything you do and say is directly to Jesus." Now after I told them this, one of my girls said, "Well, I don't know that would be a good thing. I don't know if I want everything I do and say would be good to pray to Jesus." That's exactly my point. Everything we say and do should be a prayer to our sweet Jesus. Now, doesn't that make you want to think before you do everything? Personally, I don't know if I would want everything I say to my siblings to be the same as saying it to Jesus' face. But actually it already is. Our lives are a living prayer to our Jesus no matter if we like it or not. God hears our prayers and He also hears everything we say. How silly are we humans to think that we can hide from God when we want to. We think He doesn't see us when we are doing things that He wouldn't approve of. In reality, He sees us every moment and second of the day. He hears every thought that crosses our mind and sees every breath that we take. We must begin to live a life of prayer because our lives are prayers. Why do you think that the people of the Church look so much like the people of the world? We as christians have forgotten what it looks live a life for Christ. We have forgotten how to stand up and be different. We are so used to brining all the attention to ourselves that we have forgotten how to sit back and let Jesus take the spotlight. I believe that Jesus has called us to something different and something uniquely special. Something that the world could never even hope to reflect. A life of  living prayer.

"I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow or your wings." Psalm 17:6-8