The Hot Topic

There is this social debate going on in America and I would like to put my two cents in, feel free to completely disagree.

So I got on Facebook this morning and I was accosted with this… Nice equals sign, and statuses about equality for marriage, and love and such.

I was disturbed. But before I get branded a hater, hear me out. So in case ANYONE had ANY doubt about what I believe, I am a Christian, I believe that Jesus died and rose again on the third day and that he is the son of the one true God, I believe that EVERY word in the Bible is the word of God, and I believe with all my heart that God loves each and every person, ever. Now that we have that cleared up, there are several frequently asked questions to Christians I feel I must answer.

Q.) Do you believe that Gay marriage is a ‘sin’?

A.) Yes I do. God says so quite plainly in the Bible and who am I to argue with the infallible word of the creator of the universe?

Q.)Do you hate Gay people because they are ‘sinful’?

A.) Oh goodness no! Do I condone their life choices? Nope. Do I want to burn them at the stake? Heavens no! I have grown up in a world of theater, where people are people and if you can work with them you don’t complain about them. I have worked with several Gay people in my short life time and I have, enjoyed working with and cared about every one of them even though we disagree.

Q.) How can you expect people to change who they are to fit your Bible? Gay people are born that way.

A.) Well let me the first to tell you, Lady Gaga lied to you. Gay people were NOT born that way. It is not a medical condition; it is a state of mind. Physically there is nothing different about the people “Born that way” their anatomy is the same as everyone else. So what is the difference? Being Gay is an emotional coping method. It is either starvation for attention, or the desire for something exotic and new, or the need to be different. But more often than not, Gay men had a bad relationship with their fathers, or the predominate man in their life, and because of that, they never got their desire of approval by another man met as a child. That carried over to adult hood and is now creating relationships where two men crave the approval of the other and never find the total emotional satisfaction they are looking for. As for women, it can be an inability to connect with men due to a traumatic experience or lack of male influences in their lives, or rather that need for the approval of other women. My point is, it is a choice one that you must make consciously, so please no more Lady Gaga songs. She wears meat and she lies to a young generation about life… and wears meat. Should we really trust her?   

Q.) Do you support the Gay marriage bill?

A.) Umm No. It is a sin and makes my heart break to see so many people trying to find affirmation of their self-worth in, a man or women. And this bill would encourage this sinful behavior.

Oh and before we go any further if ANYONE compares this to black rights then I will scream, That was a race of people being oppressed and put in slavery. This is a minority group, living their lives how they see fit and just want everyone to agree with them, because what have we learned is the root of most of this hoopla? A people starving for love, attention, and acceptance, without God that’s what life is reduced to, a cry and plea for attention and true love, and that you can only get from God.

 

P.S

I am still trying to get over the corruption of the word gay, it was such a good word meaning happy and joyful! Kind of ironic, huh? Because most people living in sin are anything but happy and joyful.

P.P.S

Thank you for letting me say what is on my mind. You in no way have to agree with me but do have an open mind. God Bless

 

Hello-Goodbye

So just an update,
I am not gonna be posting this week because .... I am gonna be at national honors choir starting tomorrow!!! I am gonna have lots to say when I get back though!!!!! I pray that this week is full of adventure and excitement for everyone, I know it will be for me. Lots of life lessons when I return, but for now I must bid you all adieu!!

Happy Dance of Happieness!!!!

So sorry about not posting yesterday but I came home from a dance and couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. So I would like to do a happy dance. Why would I want to do a happy dance? Because our God is just… beyond description!! I have seen so many friendships strengthen and some restored in the past few months it’s amazing! People I was convinced wouldn’t ever be able to be in the same room, are working together and enjoying it. Heart changes like that can only come from God! So be willing to make a heart change and who knows what kind of adventures you will go on!! So let us dance for joy because we have a God who loves us and helps us and can fix what sin broke. Isn’t that encouraging?? We have an amazing God who as everything under control and want’s to help us do what’s right and wants us to be our best. When you have the creator of… well everything, on your side what have you to fear or worry about? Oh and Don’t ever think that your problem is too small for God. We tend to think that God only cares about the BIG stuff, well I can tell you he cares about the little things just as much as the big. In fact there is no area in your life that he doesn’t care about! On that note, Go; and thank God for all the blessings in your life, even the small ones J

A person's a person no matter how small

Ok really quick, I work with elementary and middle school students every week. I see how care free the elementary students are with each other, if one is a little odd then so be it, the odd one just keeps on being themselves and the others can like them or go play with someone else. But middle school, oh goodness how they care about what the others think of them. They are so sacred to look “silly” that they refuse to have any fun. They play the ‘games’ of high school students, who is dating who, and who cheated on who, THAT is what is silly. Let me explain like this. Ever seen a tadpole hop around like a frog? I haven’t. Why is that? Because they are not ready to hop yet, their legs are not grown and they don’t know what they are doing. (Please take a second to get the amazingly odd mental picture of a tadpole trying to hop, in your head… Great) now I know that tadpoles don’t try and hop before the right time. But kids try and grow up before the right time, and adults encourage them! They ask us kids who we are dating and what we want to do with our lives as early as 11 years old. That I know 6th graders who brag about the fact that they have had 14 boyfriends just makes me want to cry. It has become an encouraged thing to act FAR beyond your years. There are so many kids who aren’t allowed to just be kids. High school student are the same way, trying to figure out who we are and how our lives should be, thinking that we are so grown up and mature when in reality we are still kids in the eyes of everyone else. I enjoy being a kid, now, I have a car, I work, and I am responsible for my siblings at times, but I enjoy the ability in being a kid to say “I don’t have it all figured out. You heard me! I have no idea how life works!!!” I am learning as I go and I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I am letting myself admit that I don’t know it all and that there are many older and wise people who I must let help me if I ever wish to live a real and true life. Most importantly, I must let God guide me, I know NOTHING compared to him, and no matter what I will never know what’s best for me, ONLY God does. I have heard it put like this, if someone lined up for me 10 different lives, all good, and said now choose your life, I wouldn’t pick the right one. So let yourself be a kid, always learning and growing up, and never try to make a kid grow up to fast, God will handle that.

 

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity

1Timothy 4:12

not much

I don't have much to say today, just how thankful I am that God has given me the ability to teach kids. I love my middle school drama class they are the best kids and I LOVE them. that is all i mean to say tonight :) be thankful every day for what God has given you! It makes everything so much fun!!!

I feel a song coming on!!!

I Love to laugh. I find so many things hysterically funny, even when no one else does. I don’t have a quiet laugh either…. if something strikes me REALLY funny, it will take me a few minutes to pull myself back together. It doesn’t take much to set me off either, just a bad pun or perfectly placed sarcasm. So you’re probably sitting there thinking, why is she telling me this? Well I haven’t always been like this you see, it all started last summer. When I was so full of joy from being with my best friends for days and also a little slap happy from lack of sleep, that when my scrambled eggs bounced and landed in my lap I just lost all my composure, my dignity and any shred of stoic-ness I had left. I let myself feel joy so strongly that tears came to my eyes and I couldn’t stop laughing for quite a few minutes. I let everyone who cared to watch see me being ridiculously joyful, and it was freeing. Now it’s second nature to fill with joy and burst into giggles, but that’s not so with everyone. As I was wondering why, this question popped into my mind, “Why is it so hard for people to show a strong emotion?” Like fear, why is it a ‘sign of weakness’ to be afraid? It’s a legitimate emotion felt by everyone at some point. And joy, why is it weird to be uncontrollably happy? If I am really laughing and smiling people assume I am faking because, and I quote “no one is that happy.” Well duh! But I am not happy I am joyful. I let the joy of the Lord fill me and then nothing on earth can make my heart stop singing for joy. I am afraid that today strong emotions such as joy are made to be shoved down and ignored for fear of looking foolish. If that is the case then I am a fool, because I will NOT stop feeling, and expressing how I feel because of America’s “society rules.” God has given us emotions and feelings for a reason. We are created in his image and He feels deeper than any human ever could. We just get a taste of the joy God feels, and what do we do with it? Stuff it down and contain it, because we don’t want to look silly. So maybe I laugh a lot, I wouldn’t trade that for anything because My Creator made me this way.

 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    You’re works are wonderful,

    I know that full well

Psalm 139:14

 

I encourage everyone to fear no longer how you appear to others, simply be who you are. Let no one take that away from you, for it is a gift from God.

What Normal?

Ever watched the movie “Meet the Robinsons”? If so you know that the slogan, if you will, of the movie is Keep Moving Forward!!! I have found it proven to me today, yet again, that when it comes to relationships you have no choice but to keep moving forward. Now when I say ‘relationships’ I don’t mean the, guy and girl meet, fall madly in love, then date until it’s no fun, then break up, kind of relationships. I mean your friends, your family, and people in the work place. The people in your life that you have to coexist with, whether it was by your own choice, or Gods plan for you. Each person in your life you have a distinct relationship with, and those relationships are always changing, epically when you’re in high school. High school is when your best friend can become your worst enemy, and guys desperately try to get out of the “friend zone,” it’s when the tenth graders are convinced that they are fully grown and the seniors just want to be kids again. It’s where you first find out what love is to some extent, whether it be by the love of your friends or family or the person you believe God wants you to marry. So with all that crazy turmoil, no wonder, us teens try to keep all our relationships in a box. Never wanting to change, scared of what might happen if we let God grow our friendships, scared of how close to people who can disappoint us we get. But relationships change with the blowing wind. And they are out of your control; there is nothing worse than someone pretending that nothing has changed when everything has, someone clinging to the delusion that all can go back to a time before. Before promises were made, before feelings were made known, before hearts were broken, before arguments and flaring tempers. The ‘before’ is done, it is etched in time, and life will never be like that again, ever. As much as we wish it could go back to the “good old days” it can’t.

I have heard the phrase “back to normal” a lot tonight; I don’t think any relationship can ever go “back”. So I have stared saying “let’s find a New Normal” and that, though crazy in concept, may have saved a few friendships that couldn’t go back they HAD to move forward. That’s what I wish everyone could understand you must move forward. It would make people think twice before they start to date, or even start deeply talking about anything, the questions everyone should ask themselves are, are you prepared for the relationship to move forward? And more importantly is it God’s plan for this relationship to move forward?

 

I am not always good at this. My track record would say that I am AWFUL at moving forward. But God has shown me that the only way I can ever find peace in any relationship is to move forward and find a new normal.

 

So let me leave you with the words of Walt Disney

“Keep Moving Forward.”

Am I really THAT crazy?

Today has been a day where people are talking to me about growing up. It’s time to start looking at college, and making plans for my life. It’s a strange place in life to be, people keep asking me, ‘where are you going to college?’ ‘What do you want to do with your life?’ and my answer is simply ‘I don’t know, and whatever God wants me to do.” People give me funny looks when I say that. Is pure trust in God such a foreign thought? Is it really that odd to not worry about life? Because I am not worried at all, does that make me crazy? Because I don’t think it does. I enjoy this worry free way of life. It’s not that I am always good at this fully trusting thing, but I am praying for help. There is an odd sense of peace about trust. At first it was the most frightening thing I could imagine, to give up all my dreams and my hopes. I like to be in control of everything, I hate to feel like I am helpless. But once I got over my control freak nature I could let God control my life. Since I have lost control lots of things have changed for me. I had to get out of some unhealthy situations and rebuild some friendships (and that was no picnic) I have done some crazy (for me) things, I have learned to act on the Holy Spirits guidance, I have stopped fretting over every little problem; I am learning to let things roll off me. I am far from perfect and I have a long way to go to be good, but there is a marked change in me when God took full control. So I say all this to say, Life is full of change, and it’s easy to grow and change when you are not consumed with worrying about the petty things in life.

 

I have let this part of Matthew guide me as I struggle daily with worrying about the life ahead of me

 

5 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Why should I worry about how my life when the God who made EVERYTHING and who loves ME said “Do not worry about tomorrow”

 When it’s put like that worrying seems so, silly right? Like it would make a difference, it almost funny! But saddy many people live their whole life worrying about EVERYTHING. There would be such a lack of JOY and FREEDOM in that. So when you worry, because we all do it, remind yourself what Jesus said “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…”

Will I ever learn?

I feel like a fool around the person I am trying to impress. Well maybe that’s my problem. I am trying so hard to impress, to NOT look like a kid that I am actually coming across as one. Isn’t that ironic in the most painful of ways? When we try so hard to correct our flaws by our own means. Then they fail and normally the exact opposite of your goal is achieved. But what else is there to do? I mean I am still a kid, one who is almost grown, but still has her kid moments. But being a kid isn’t my problem, my problem is I am TRYING to impress a person when the only one I should be trying to impress is God. His opinion should be more important to me than anyone else’s. This is hard for everyone to handle, we care about the opinions of our friends, our family, our class mates, the people we work with. But I keep trying to remind myself, God is in charge of how people see me and my reputation. He cares about me and wants what’s best for me, that’s why he, is his wisdom, doesn’t let me handle it alone. If it was up to me I would fail, I would look like an idiot and never get anything right. So I have learned, When I know I am getting to wrapped up in me slef, I stop, and ask myself, who it is I aim to please? Am I trying to please the creator of the universe or the boy I like? My lord who has brought me through many trials or the girl who looks down on me because I am different? If the answer isn’t, 'The Former' on both questions than it is time to rethink my behavior, and attitude. I am so guilty of this; I want people to like me, to respect me, to love me, And there is nothing wrong with that. but I can sit and fret and worry about that untill I am blue in the face and it won’t change a thing. Only God can change me, fix my sinful nature, my pride that gets in my way, my easy embarrassment at saying the wrong things. He (Jesus) says that he will teach us and guide us

 

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew 11:29

You will find rest for your soul. My soul that is trying to impress everyone, my soul that is to prideful to admit that I am in the wrong, my soul that needs to learn a lesson in patience, and any other issues that trouble my soul. God himself, says that he will give you rest for your soul. If you learn from him, and take his yoke upon your shoulders, and that entails giving EVERYTHING in your heart to God, even what others think of you.

 

Sounds easy right? ;P

 

Pray about it, God will give you the strength

 

“Ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find”

~Jesus

So much Joy!

Beautiful time in the sunshine! It's been cold and dark for WEEKS, and now it's finally sunny and warm! It fills everyone with a sense of new hope and rejuvenation. I am working on a great new book my friend gave me and just taking pictures of the new earth that comes with spring and SUNSHINE!! Sorry for the lack of deep meaning to this but I am just so full of JOY!

'This is the day that The Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it'

Do I have to?

Ever have one of those days where you can’t seem to get it all done? I am sure everyone has had that moment when you realize that you haven’t made the smallest dent in your mountain of responsibility. School, work, social life, all require your attention and they don’t like to share you. And like most humans I tend to enjoy the social more than the work or school, so I tend to give more time to talking to friends or playing piano, or getting on social media such as Twitter and Facebook, than I do studying for my physics test or getting my work projects done. So what is to be done with the unorganized one? When me time is managed about as well as my five year old nephew’s? Actually come to think about it, he has more of a schedule then I do. What happens when your good intentions to work turn into hours spent watching Doctor Who and Downton Abby? My advice to myself and to anyone else who is easily distracted by the world around them is to pray, yes I said pray. Pray that God will give you “The want to, to want to.”  When you simply lack the motivation to get up and start working, pray. God will help you, and you may even find joy in what you were dragging your feet to do. And after saying that, I suddenly feel the urge to go get back to working on school!

It's a tough one

The Tough Questions

 

 

So there is this boy, No not like that. He is 14 and in 8^th grade. I have known him since he was in 4^th grade. I have watched him grow from a little boy to a sweet and caring teenager, and now he is making the scary transition in to being a young man. So with that comes this discovery, via trial and error, of who he is and what God’s plan for him is. So tonight when we were working on our scene for the play we are in he asks me a question that floors me. “if you “ ( Paraphrase) “ could choose between living on an island free of responsibility and hard choices, or returning to your life as it is now, what would you choose?” for me it only took a few minutes to make a choice, I would leave the island and return to normal life. I told him that I love my life and my friends and I wouldn’t leave them. Then he looked sad, “but I would stay.” He said, “And I don’t know what kind of person I am, what person would leave his friends and family for a life of ease and be ok with it?” When I got home and thought about what he said, it hit me! I know who I am, who God created me to be, because I am older. I have found myself in the hard choices and in the sudden responsibility for growing up. But my friend has barely begun to discover who he is, and what a scary thing to be thinking about something so deep without firmly knowing who you are as person yet! Question like the one posed by my young friend, are difficult for people of all ages to wrestle with. They can sometimes, when we are honest with our self, shake us to the core. If we are not founded in the one thing that has stood the test of time and tough questions, Jesus Christ. He was asked many difficult questions, “is it right to pay taxes to creaser?” “Are you the messiah who is to come?” These questions were meant to trip up and in tangle him. But to their shock and amazement he, so grounded in his heavenly father never faltered. but he also asked tough questions that shocked and shook the people around him such as, “Why were you so afraid?” “Are you not worth more than many sparrows?” “Do people light a lamp and then set it under a bowl?” Today these questions have been thrown around in churches so often the answers seem simple but back in the day they were revolutionary, crazy, thought that confused and frightened all around him. Jesus knew better than ANYONE there is no quicker way to get to the heart of a person then to ask a few tough questions. And that is exactly what he did he asked the tough stuff and never backed off and pushed for an answer. It often made people angry and spiteful but it was because his words cut people to the heart. My friend cut me to the heart with his question, it made me think of this verse:

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect

1 Peter 3:15

 I pray that I will always be able to answer the most important question that anyone could ever ask me, what is the reason for the hope that you have? That should be the tough question that EVERYONE should have an answer for.