If only this worked.....

The Motions.

This was written by my cousin Kaleb who is a high school sophomore. Let me just tell you how amazing he is and how encouraging he is to me.  I love this kid to death!!

Enjoy!

"The worship leader tells everyone to stand cause church is about to start. The lights over us slowly dim as the lights over the stage start to become clearer. Drummer hits his sticks together 4 times and worship begins. Everything seems like an ordinary night at church until the guy next to me starts jumping and screaming out praise to God. It kind of caught me off guard but I just smiled and kept singing. As I keep singing I get a bump from my cousin and I can tell it has to do with the guy next to me. She isn't mocking him but rather acknowledging his enthusiasm just as I did. We both smile and continue in worship. After a few songs everyone sat down and announcements began. I started thinking about the guy next to me and how my first reaction to his enthusiasm was a sense of embarrassment for him.

A parable from the Bible quickly came to mind, it was from Matthew 13:1-23. I talks about how a farmer went out to plant his seed. Some seed fell into shallow ground, other fell into thorns, some on the path, and some fell on good soil. The seeds that did not fall onto the good soil eventually perished and only the seed on the good soil remained. Then God explains the parable in verses 19-23.

"When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Then it hit me. The difference between me and the guy next to me was the he flat out got it. He heard the word of God, and wasn't ashamed one bit to show it. He realized that church isn’t about going with the flow and going through the motions, it’s about going beyond your comfort zone to praise the Creator of the Universe.

So now the announcements are over and eventually the pastor comes up and begins to preach his sermon. At one point he has everyone open their Bibles to the book of Isaiah. I didn't have a Bible with me so I just turned to the screen to read. As the pastor began reading from the passage I noticed the guy next to me still going through his Bible. I started thinking to myself, "this guy puts on this great show during worship of how he is madly in love with God, and yet he can't find the book of Isaiah?" And then God spoke to me again.

There will be a day when you rise up to heaven and stand before the almighty God for Judgment. When you do God will look at your life and judge to see if you are worthy of His Kingdom. When God looks at the life of the guy next to me, he is going to see that this man was not ashamed to proclaim his faith under any circumstance. When he looks at my life he isn’t going to say, "Well, you knew all the right verses and you went to church every week, and you knew every worship song so welcome to My Kingdom." No, he is going to say, "You might have known the right verses but you never put them into action, and you might have gone to church but you didn’t listen to one sermon, you knew every worship song but never meant a word you said."

I'm not saying I don't put verses into action or listen to the sermon or really worship God. I'm saying that God gave me a wake-up call to tell me that I shouldn’t be ashamed to proclaim something I know is true. And that I should be more concerned about the passage and not the time it takes to find it. Because church isn’t about going with the flow and going through the motions, it’s about going beyond your comfort zone to praise the Creator of the Universe."

Please.

Lord, please show me YOUR plan for my life. NOT mine. I'm all ears......

Follow your heart.

:)

Even if it's tough...

Finals...Let's do this.

Organic and Biochemistry.

So finals are approaching and I have SO much work to do.  Only FOUR more days of school and four finals and then guess what......summer is all mine. I have this hugeeeee chemistry project I have to do before I'm done with this class forever! It reminds me of elementary school because yes, I hate to admit it, we're using the gigantic science fair boards.  I thought I was in college and I was growing up? Apparently not. I've already spent at least 25 hours on it and it's MAYBEEEE half way done? All I can say is God has a plan for my life and right now He has me in O-Chem.  Even though this project is a nightmare and is challenging, it's teaching me more about God each day.  Even the metabolism points back to God. God is  good. ALL the time!!! :)

Emily and I were going crazy so we got dressed up and took a much needed and deserved study break!!

This girl means the world to me and I don't know how I would be getting through this class without her! Love you Em!! :)

please.

Love never fails.

photo cred: sista sista!

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8♥

Be Yourself.

Don't give up.

Never Ever EVER Forget This.

Please don't ever stop.

My new favorite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMu8BOqw22E

Lyin’ here with you so close to me
it’s hard to fight these feelings when it feels so hard to breathe
caught up in this moment
caught up in your smile

i’ve never opened up to anyone
so hard to hold back when i’m holding you in my arms
we don’t need to rush this
let’s just take this slow

just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
just a touch in the fire burning so bright
and i don’t want to mess this thing up
i don’t want to push too far
just a shot in the dark that you just might
be the one i’ve been waiting for my whole life
so baby i’m alright, with just a kiss goodnight

http://www.hotnewsonglyrics.com/lady-antebellum-just-a-kiss-lyrics.html

i know that if we give this a little time
it will only bring us closer to the love we wanna find
it’s never felt so real, no it’s never felt so right

just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
just a touch in the fire burning so bright
and i don’t want to mess this thing up
i don’t want to push too far
just a shot in the dark that you just might
be the one i’ve been waiting for my whole life
so baby i’m alright, with just a kiss goodnight
no i don’t want to say goodnight
i know it’s time to leave, but you’ll be in my dreams
tonight

tonight

tonight

just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
just a touch in the fire burning so bright
and i don’t want to mess this thing up
i don’t want to push too far
just a shot in the dark that you just might
be the one i’ve been waiting for my whole life
so baby i’m alright, oh, let’s do this right, with just a kiss goodnight
with a kiss goodnight
kiss goodnight

Lady Antebellum – Just A Kiss.

Forget the coffee.

sista sista.

hellloooooo pets. you may call me aunt Katie. So, sista sista and I decided to do guest post today for our precious babies.

   

it took me forever and a day to figure out today's post because i wanted to do a little sompin sompin different, but i finally figured it out. 

Since we share this obsession, here's some quotes to start us off: 

QUOTES:

"Do not regret growing older. it is a priviledge denied to many." -Unknown

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you will never walk alone. People, even more than things have to be restored, renewed, reviewed, reclaimed and redeemed.  Never throw out anyone!" -Audrey Hepburn
\"and when you are done with her, dont you dare think of me."

knowledge without ambition is like a bird without wings. -Unknown

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate." -Nikka, Age 6

"It's gotta be that can't eat, can't sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, world series kind of thing." - It Takes Two

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
- Abraham Lincoln.

"I am who I am because of you. You are every reason, every hope, and every dream I've ever had. And no matter what happens to us in the future, every day we are together is the greatest day of my life." - The Notebook

The best smell in the world is that man that you love.”
Jennifer Aniston

PICTURES

how hilarious is this!?

im currently in the process of recreating this.....

and dear sister,

the end.

visit asunflowerlove.blogspot.com for my own daily updates 

and thanks for visiting where the wind blows.

interests in guest posts email me at asunflowerlove@gmail.com

or jordyn at jordyn.a.tyler@biola.edu

tootles.

Fact.

Never forget this.