21

God blessed me with another birthday on August 20th. I am now 21 years old. Wow. I am getting old. Ha!

Have you ever heard of "the golden year"? Well, supposedly, it is the date of your birthday that is the same as your age. Like, my golden year was this past year because I was 20 and my birthday is August 20th.

This past year has really proven true to its name..golden year. It was truly a blessing that keeps on growing. God did some pretty amazing things....for example: delivering me from nursing school, ending a not-so-good relationship, taking me to China to teach me about Him, changing my major, allowing more time for friends, bringing this AMAZING man of God into my life and proposing to me, and allowing me to have a wonderful summer full of God's teachings.

So yeah, I would say I had a GREAT 20th year!

Update on my life!

I haven't blogged in some time. so for those of you who actually read my ramblings...here is an update on what my summer has been like.

I just finished up my summer working as an intern at my church, Eastwood Baptist, and I have to say that this has been one of the best summers of my life. I was able to learn so much about the inner workings of a church and how things should be done. I was able to learn how the cooperative program works and meet with Alabama State Board of Missions several times. I now know how to plan mission trips and everything that comes along with it. I know how to research and find my way to get in touch with people to get things accomplished. I know how visitation should work throughout the week. I know how to prepare meals for 200 people on Wednesday nights. And I now know what it all going to take to be a pastor's wife. And that means long hours at the church, in people's homes, at the hospital, and lots of time spent away from home. Better to find out now rather than later, right?

Speaking being a pastor's wife, I got engaged on July 1st to the best guy in the whole wide world! We are both so excited about what is to come in the next 4 months and we know that God is in full control of it all. We receive affirmation after affirmation that this is what He has planned for our lives and we can't wait for December 17th! :)

We took engagement pictures a few weeks ago with one of my best friends, Hannah Meherg. Hannah just moved to Taiwan yesterday for the next year. So, it was awesome being able to do that with her! Speaking of her, please be praying for her as gets adjusted to the culture, time difference, and language in Taiwan. This is going to be one amazing journey for her and I am so excited that this is one of the many ways God is using my dear and sweet friend! :)

We had our first wedding shower on Saturday with some of Tim's family and it was an absolute blessing! We received many of the things we will need for our new home! The shower just made me more excited for our life together and made it more real to me that I get to marry this amazing man! We have many more showers to come and I am thrilled!

School starts back in a week and I move back to Livingston for one more semester this week. this means one more semester of babysitting the Hoopers. I am kind of sad about that because this family God has blessed me with means more to me than I ever thought possible. They are most definitely one the biggest blessings God has ever gave me. I have learned so much from them and will continue learning from them. But I know that December will not be the last time I see them and our friendships will still grow after then. I just won't be able to see them as much as I am used to and that will be okay.

Other than my ties to the Hoopers, I am excited about moving to Auburn in December. Auburn is one of the prettiest towns in Alabama. It has the best of both worlds. It has somewhat of the city life and also the woodsy scene. I will transfer to AUM and finish my degree there..that is the plan as of right now unless a better option becomes available to me. :)

So, I have had one of the best summers ever! I have learned how to work in a church, disciple, visit, make intentional friendships, and serve in different capacities. I have also learned that God is faithful and never changing and I should long for a deeper and more intimate relationship with Him.

This is all for now. Have a great day!

My life should be a movie

So, my life is crazy!! True story. Let me fill you in on what last week consisted of!

Last Sunday, May 29th, I went to Pensacola, FL to catch my plane to Arlington, TX, where I would be for the summer doing missions with NAMB. Everything is running smoothly for the day. I got to airport on time, checked my bags, told my mom, Ethan, and Tim goodbye, went through security, and boarded my plane. Then, the problems started occurring. I never left the runway because of engine problems. So, we sat on the plane for about 45 minutes for the maintenance crew to fix it. We then deboarded the plane and waited for 2 1/2 hours for them to fix it. The rest of the flights were booked for the day, so I re-booked my flight for the following day and the same time.

On Monday, May 30th, my mom, dad, Tim, and I did the same thing all over again. This time though I don't arrive as early I should have and then got stuck in security. I make it to my gate and the plane is still here, but they decided to take my baggage off and not let me get on the plane. They put me on standby for the next flight that is 4 hours later. So, we wait around for that time. I am #3 on the list for standby for a booked flight. The employees thought there was a lady missing from the plane. They offered the seat to the people ahead of me on the list, but they were a couple and did not want to be split up, so the seat was offered to me. They give me my new boarding pass and put my luggage on the plane. I started walking from my gate onto the plane and as I am about to put my foot on the plane the flight attendant stops me. They wouldn't let me get on the plane because the lady they thought was missing was on the plane the whole time!

God made it clear that I was not supposed to get on that plane or any other plane that would take me to Texas! The following day God opened two opportunities for me for the summer. The first option was to move in the Hooper family and be their nanny for the summer and make money. The second option was to stay at home and intern at my church as missions strategy coordinator and make no money. I really thought I needed money and wanted to babysit for the summer, but after much prayer and reading God's Word I found that I needed to be obedient to Him and intern at my church. I would benefit the most from doing that and it was just what I felt like God wanted me to do. I was happy in my decision and worked at the church on Thursday and Friday. Then, this weekend the Hoopers get in touch with me and told me that they had been praying about my situation and knew I was being obedient to God and they felt they needed to be obedient and still give me the money we had talked about since I was not going to make any at the church. How awesome is that?!?! God is amazing and ever-present in my life and is CONSTANTLY proving His sovereignty and faithfulness!!! I serve a crazy awesome God! :)

So, yeah..my life has it's ups and downs, but God is always in control of it and my faith in Him has definitely been strengthened this past week! :) Hope this is encouraging to you as well.

Dreams really do come true

I thought I would let the world know that God decided to let me in on His best kept secret. His best kept secret is a guy named Timothy John Mathis. :)

You know every girl(and some guys) has this list of what she wants in a significant other. She has this dream/picture of what he like and how things will be in her future. Well, guess what!! My reality with Tim is far, far better than I have EVER dreamed possible! It seriously is! I am head over heels for this man of God! He is truly one of the biggest blessings I have ever had!

In past relationships, I was trying to make the guys fit into what I wanted, but with Tim..he just fits perfectly. God's plans are so much better than mine and that is proven time and time again in my life. I thought I had this "perfect guy" in my mind, but God placed Tim in my life and blew me away. I underestimated and was cheating myself out thinking the guy in my mind was as good as it was going to get. God showed me otherwise. Praise the Lord! :)

Would you like to hear about mine and Tim's little fairytale? :) I love telling it, so I will share it with you! We met in March 2010 at FBC Abbeville's Disciple Now. One of my best friends, Morgan, went to Honduras with the youth pastor of FBC Abbeville and Tim. The youth pastor, Ryan, asked Morgan to be a leader for the D-Now weekend and then asked her to find another girl to help as well. Morgan asked me to help and I was all for it! It was that weekend that I met Tim and I thought he was awesome! He had already added me on Facebook before that weekend and I think we had maybe talked on chat, too. We were able to talk some and shared our testimonies on the way to a Rush of Fools concert in Dothan. I was able to learn more about him and the amazing person he is. But at that time, I was dating someone else and he was liking another girl. So, nothing happened between us at this time, but we kept in touch with each other. In October is when we both ended our relationships with other people, not knowing what God had in store for us. In November, we started talking more and getting to know each other better. It was then on November 16th when I randomly asked Tim to join me in a 30 day blogging challenge. He agreed and we blogged almost everyday the month before I left for China. During that time, we were talking everyday and learning more and more about each other. I left for China on December 17th and came back in January. When I came back home we started talking just about everyday again. We had exchanged phone numbers and started communicating through texts. I went home one weekend with Morgan at the end of January and he came over to her house and hung out with us. At this point, I still had no idea that he liked me and he did not know that I had feelings for him as well. That next week on February 6th, Tim told me his intentions about our friendship and where he was planning on it going. He told me that he felt like I possessed the qualities he wanted in a wife and he wanted to date me and hopefully eventually marry me. I flipped my lid!! No joke! I had been praying about it all and never thought he would actually be interested in me, too. I was blown away by his boldness and being a man about it all and initiating things between us because hardly any guys do that nowadays. Ever since then God has blown my mind through this amazing man of God! Things between us couldn't be better! It may seem like a short period of time to have fallen so hard for a guy, but when you meet the right one and know you have a future and lifetime with him..you just can't help yourself. :)

So, this is just the beginning of my real life fairytale with Tim Mathis. I could not be happier with the one God has blessed me with!

Lessons on Love

I had the opportunity to speak at my local Baptist association's WMU annual conference. They asked me a few months to be the guest speaker. I considered it an honor for them to ask me because these are all older women and for them to ask me, a 20 year old nothing college student, was a big deal to me. I was able to share about how God worked in my life over Christmas in my time in China and how He is working now. The enemy tried to attack me this morning when I woke up. I woke up with no voice. Ironic since I would be needing my voice to tell about my amazing God, right? Well, I went straight to my Bible and started praying. I asked some good friends to pray. God prevailed like always. :) (Thanks to those who prayed for me! I love you!)

I displayed a power point presentation before I spoke and I did not realize just HOW much I missed that country. The tears started coming and I was even more heartbroken for the Chinese people. This was also the first time I was not nervous whatsoever about speaking in front a crowd. I shared about one of the many experiences of time in China. It was the time we spent at the street kids home that really struck me this morning. God's love..it is unfailing, never-ending, filled with hope, wonderful, amazing, awesome, patient(VERY!), kind, and full of trust.

One of the children from the home ran away while we were there. We split up and started looking for him. There was a prison near by the home and I knew that, but did not realize where I was walking..I was just looking for the kid. Our missionary started shouting my name like crazy! I turned around and he is telling me to come to him now! I walk towards him and then realize I was walking straight to the prison gate. He tells me to look up and the prison guard had his gun aimed on me. In other words, if I would have kept walking towards the gate I would have been shot. After it all happened, I remembered that there a man shouting Chinese at me, but since I did not know the language that well I did not realize he was talking to me or any of what he was saying. Ha! Through that little experience, I was reminded that God has kept on earth this long for a purpose and that is to tell others about Him and my time is not up yet. I am also reminded of that every time my heart messes up on me and I pass out. Anyways, back to the story..we did not find the child. Later in the afternoon, the police show up while we were outside playing with the kids..they had brought back the child we were looking for. Praise the Lord! I am busy with some other children and the next thing I know the child comes up to me and just starting hugging me like I had never been hugged before! I did not know what to do. He was in tears and just hugging. I was told he was deaf and I did not know that much Chinese to begin with and so I was like, "God, show me what to do." And He responded, "Show him the love I have shown you." So, I just started hugging him back and just embraced him. The kid looks at me and hands me a tissue to wipe his tears away. I lost it on the inside. My heart broke instantly. I wiped his tears away and he smiles so big at me.

I realized what God's love is that day. I thought I knew, but I had no idea. How many times do we feel lost? We find our way back to God. We had been searching for Him all along and never really realized it. We come to Him with tear-filled eyes..longing for Him..needing Him like no other. We find His love in His Word and our brothers and sisters and their encouraging words and godly counsel. God wipes our tears away and tells us He loves us everyday!

We all know what it feels like to be let down by our friends and family. They break promises, they lose our trust, they break our hearts, they turn against us, and sometimes they just have no idea what the meaning of the word "friend" is. I have good news for you though!! God is my best friend and has been for quite some time now and He knows everything about you and loves you anyway. He will never leave you or forsake you. He will be there when no one else is.

Know that God loves you and we are called to show His love to others on daily basis. If you love someone, then you will tell them about your Lord and Savior. :)

Peace and Blessings!

Back to the Basics..

In the past year or so I have been constantly reading a book of some sort, and in the past month I have noticed that I have not even picked a book up except for Bible. And I have not even opened my Bible as much as I should have. I have noticed that my focus has shifted some and that is in the middle of changing right now! God deserves my undivided attention and nothing less. I have been so busy with school, work, people, and doing stuff that I could go without doing and forgot about my purpose. Wrong thing to do by the way.

I have been feeling completely overwhelmed by all of my responsibilities and obligations. The things I have been busy with are not "bad things", but they become bad things when they take focus off the Lord. On Tuesday nights we have a college worship service at my church, Livingston First Baptist, and it felt like my college pastor was preaching directly to me tonight. I know God used Scooter to speak to me. And not only did He use Scooter, but he used the worship music too!

One of the songs we sang was "Forever Reign" by Hillsong. The first line of it says: "You are good, You are good when there's nothing good in me". This line hit me like a ton of bricks for some reason. My mind went back to the sermon I heard on Sunday based out of Romans and also the verse Isaiah 64: 6, which says "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." Wow. Just wow. It does not matter how many "good things" I do or how involved I am in church or how much of the Bible I read because my most righteous acts are considered filthy rags! I have been so caught up in doing things and not in my relationship with God. The next line that stuck out to me was "You are joy, You are joy. You're the reason that I sing." God should be the reason behind every single thing I do and everything that I do should be to bring Him glory and honor! No other reason! And the last line that rung a bell with me in this song was "You are God, You are God. Of all else I'm letting go!" Nothing else matters except God. End. of. story.

Scooter's message was on point fo sho! Definitely the exact words I needed to hear. One of the verses that he used was Galatians 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." I cannot put into words exactly what all I feel right now or how the sermon spoke to me, but I know that my sin was pointed out to me clearly and I have been encouraged. Back to the basics for me.

Crazy Awesome Week!

Last Thursday morning I was asked to be a leader at a D-Now in Calera, AL that started the next day. I said yes right away because I had no plans for the weekend and what better way is there to spend my weekend learning about God and allowing God to use me to help teach some youth? I automatically got pumped! I didn't know anything about the weekend except where it was going to be and what the theme was. Spontaneity is pretty cool.

Last Friday on my way to Calera I had my 3rd appointment with my new cardiologist and praise the Lord I have finally been diagnosed!! It has only taken 15 years to figure this out. I have vasodepressor syncope. It is not life-threatening. I have to take blood pressure medicine twice a day along with aspirin, drinks lots of water and gatorade, eat 5 meals a day, and make sure I get rest that I need. This is an answered prayer for sure! Thanks to all who prayed for me, I really appreciate it. :)

So I leave from Tuscaloosa to Calera. The whole weekend was awesome. We discussed how important it is to be a leader. You have to be a follower of Christ before you can lead others to Him. We talked about discipleship and how Jesus did things. We were able to help with the town's local ministry called Acts of Kindness. We also got to learn about being a leader and a follower by going geo caching in Oak Mountain State Park. That was a first time experience for me and it was awesome! Although, it would have been a lot better if it was not raining the whole day. But we were all wet together! Awesome weekend, awesome worship, awesome people!

I also got to spend Sunday afternoon with my cousin Haley, who attends UAB, and her roommate Deidra. We got to eat lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and hang out. We went to Church at Brook Hills. I got to hear David Platt preach the Word of God. He is in a series going through the book of Acts that I did not know about and since I have been studying that book for a while now, it was pretty cool.

This Tuesday I got to go worship with Hillsong!! That was something I have been looking forward to since the beginning of December. It was well worth the wait! Definitely one the most powerful worship experiences that I have ever been a part of!! The gospel was preached and people came to know God. Awesome time!

This Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. I take part of the college ministry of Calvary Baptist Church called The Well on Wednesdays in Tuscaloosa. We had a special service that was really amazing. God never fails. He is faithful like no other. We deserve nothing He gives. "Hear and draw near."

There are a lot of other things that have taken place this week. Lots of answered prayers. Lots of praises. And prayers and asking for guidance are constantly going up. :)

Learning.

In the past few months, God has been teaching me A LOT! I think I have especially been learning a lot since I got back from China. I am trying to become more disciplined with certain things. God has been showing me several areas that I lack in, which is awesome!

Patience and time management skills are my two biggest things at the moment. Most people say not to pray for patience, but it is something I know I need and I want to learn from God. My patience has gotten better, but I still have a long way to go. I think I will forever more be learning to be patient. Last week is when I realized that my time management skills STINK! I have several responsibilities in my life, along with school and work. Some of those things took a toll on me last week and I got behind in several things due to procrastination and just being lazy. It is all my own fault and I am definitely learning my lesson because of it. I decided that I spend way too much of my time on Facebook, so I had to say "peace out!" to it until I feel like I can use my time wisely. I went without Facebook while I was out of the country over Christmas break and I really didn't miss it that much. I am getting a lot more done now that I deactivated it. God is completely AWESOME!!

There are so many other things I am learning and coming to understand. There is also a ton of Scripture that is being revealed to me and breaking my heart. God is so so so very good to me and I deserve NOTHING..AT ALL!! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! :)

Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Sweet Memories.

I have been thinking a lot this week about my time in China. There is a story that I would like to share with you all.

On Christmas Eve, my team and I were preparing for the Christmas parties we were going to have the next day. We were wrapping Christmas presents, singing Christmas music, and just enjoying each other's company. Then, we get a phone call from the pastor of a government regulated church and he has asked for us to come sing. We were hesitant at first, but decided to do it. We practiced our songs all of one time and left to go. We were supposed to be there a hour. We walk in while the pastor is speaking and all the attention turns to us. Everyone starts clapping for us. They clear off the first pew for us to sit down and we do. Oh! Did I mention that I was under the impression that there were only going to be a couple hundred people at the most and the reality of it was that there were over a thousand, if not more?! My nerves set in at this point. Then, a lady from the choir comes down and starts speaking Chinese to me and I have NO IDEA what she is saying. What I got out of what she was saying was that we were going on stage in 5 minutes. Haha!! Two hours later...we are still sitting on our pew enjoying all this Chinese culture around us.

Also, Americans are a pretty big deal in China. There people constantly sticking a camera in my face and asking to take pictures with me and videoing me. This can make your ego increase dramatically, by the way.

The pastor is sitting with us at this point and I see that he has a list of the line up for the night. I then realize that I misunderstood what the lady from the choir told me. We were number 5 on the list, not going on in 5 minutes. There are 15 acts on the list for the night. That is right, this Christmas Eve service has been going on for 3 hours and we are number 5 and we have not went yet. :)

Our time comes up for us to get on stage. There is no translator of any sort, but we sing in English anyways. We sang some Christmas songs, Glory to God, How He Loves Us, and a little melody of songs. We were on TV too. Yeah, this was pretty legit. While we sang, the congregation just clapped and smiled with us. We only wanted to glorify God and praise Him, so that is what happened.

We finish and get off stage, gather our stuff to leave, and aim for the door. People follow us out of the church and we are swarmed by them. A lady comes up to Matt, who is a guy on my team, and says that she is an English teacher and she wants her son to know who the One True God is and that she will translate what he has to say. Spiritual warfare automatically hits! We have people all around us and she cannot understand what is being said. So, we go downstairs to the exit of the church and there is a very loud speaker system there blasting. We then tag team to gather people to come to us to take pictures and talk while Matt can be with this lady and her son to share the Gospel. Matt was able to share with her and her son. They were able to exchange contact information to get together so she can ask more questions.

We leave and 2 days later we get in touch with the lady's son so Matt can meet with him and talk. The son texts us back asking if we are tourists or missionaries. We automatically think this is sketchy and are not wanting to meet with him anymore. But, we came to the conclusion if we are going to get kicked out the country it will be because we are sharing the Gospel! Matt and Chris go to meet with this guy. I was not there for the conversation that took place. Matt came back and said that he went into the restaurant thinking that was going to be his last conversation to take place, but he came out so humbled and in awe of God than ever before. They were able to share the Gospel for 4 hours that afternoon!!!!! It was not sketch. This was a mother and a son genuinely seeking the Lord and they had legitimate questions about the Bible and our God! The mother has read through the Bible 3 times in the past year! How incredible is that?! It all started when her son asked her who the One True God was and she has been searching ever since for him. And by the way, one of the local believers was with Matt and Chris and got so loud and excited about the Gospel that the whole restaurant was able to hear that afternoon. Praise the Lord!!

This is just ONE of the many awesome experiences we had while we were there! My God is amazing, wonderful, incredible, holy, majestic, great, mighty, powerful, sovereign, all-knowing, caring, loving, awesome, and He is my Everything! All I need is Him and nothing else. I seek to glorify Him in all I do and make Him known to the people around me. I want people to see Him before they see me because I am nothing with God.

One of those days

Have you ever just needed to get away from everyone? Have you ever needed to just be with God and only Him? Have you ever felt like an epic fail? Well, I can answer yes to all of these questions.

I have been spending a lot of time with people and do not get me wrong, I love being with people, talking, and just fellowshipping. But sometimes I just need to be by myself and recharge my batteries. I could feel this coming on this week because I have been going non-stop since I got back in the country. I have been spending time with family and friends, going to school, working, babysitting, and speaking at different places. I kind of feel like I have not really soaked everything in from China and had time to write down all these things God has been revealing to me and just spend good quality time with Him.

Also, I was talking to a friend about music that they like. This person said that they only listen to Christian music and I asked why. They answered with this: "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31. This verse hit me like a ton of bricks. I was immediately drawn to my memory of a situation in China. One Wednesday afternoon my team gathered together with some American English teachers to have worship and then hang out with some university students. That evening I was able to share the Gospel with a girl named Tibby. Tibby believed in Darwinism and I showed her what God's Word said. We had a pretty lengthy conversation about everything and she asked some pretty deep questions. After our conversation, we started singing and playing different songs together with the rest of the group. She then asked me to type in her phone who my favorite music artists are. So, I did. If I would have had this conversation with my friend before I left for the states then I would have never put the names in her phone that I did. I listed some Christian artists, but not all of them were. The music we listen to should bring glory to God. Everything we say, do, think, eat, and drink should be meant to bring glory to God.

And this evening I watched the worst movie I believe I have ever seen. It is my own fault though. All I really knew about the movie was that it had Ashton Kutcher in it and it was rated R. I should have never dropped my standard of not watching R rated movies. Never again will that happen.

So, I came to the realization that I am an epic fail and I need God desperately. I left the theater, came back to my place, got my stuff, and left for a couple hours. I turned my phone off and just drove and got alone with God. I really needed to do that. I am so thankful for a loving, merciful, and awesome God!! Without Him, I would be completely lost and not where I am today.

Recent Sermon Notes on Dating

So, I listened to 2 sermons today by Ben Stuart with Breakaway Ministries and these are the notes I got on them.
Sex and Dating Part 1- 1 John 4:7-11
Dating- It can either be a stressor or great thing. You will make it one or the other.
Anyone can get a date if you really want one..you just have to drop your standards, which is NOT a good thing to do. Questions people ask are: How do we date correctly? How do we glorify God through dating? Can you build something that will last?
People tend to freak out when it comes to dating. There are bigger things happening in the universe than dating. They do not see the bigger picture. It it like their hand is directly in front of their face and they are like "Wow! My hand is huge!" and you tell them, "Move it away from your face." And then BOOM! It is not that big of a deal anymore.
Marriage is to be the picture of how Christ loves the church. Singleness allows you to be fully devoted to God without distractions.
1- You HAVE to get your relationship with God right first. If you do not have a growing relationship with God, then you do not need to be dating. Adam and Eve had a great relationship going until they took their eyes off of God. So, without God in the relationship it will never be right.
2- God needs to be the One to fill your heart, not man.
3- Love is when you put someone else's needs before your own. God is love and if you love God then the rest just comes naturally. We are all called to love one another.
4- We have to be obedient to God. We are to obey His Word and commandments.
5- You do not want to date/marry a guy who you are having to drag to be the spiritual leader. Older women are to train the younger women. We are to chase after God no matter what and never stop. God will send someone who will chasing Him right alongside of you.

Sex and Dating Part 2- Matthew 6:31-34
We exist to know God and to make Him known. We are to bring God glory. Dating is meant to bring marriage, which is supposed to be the picture of how Christ loves the church. Dating is intended for the purpose of marriage. Any other type of dating is just stupid.
Who do you date?
1- A believer and follower of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:14 Deut 22:10 You both need to be chasing after God.
2- Someone morally submitted to God. Watch this person's fruits of the Spirit. Girls- You need a Psalm 1 and 1 Timothy 3 guy. Guys- You need a Proverbs 31 woman. Guys you need to be the Psalm 1 and 1 Timothy 3 guy and girls we need to be the Proverbs 31 woman! You do not need someone perfect, but someone perfectible. The experience of dating is not always the mechanism you need to use to evaluate a human being. You should hang out in groups to see how this person interacts with others. Anyone can put up a front for 2 or 3 hours.
3- Someone who is moving at the same pace as you.
4- Someone theologically compatible.
5- Someone socially compatible. They are headed in the same direction as you. What you want to do with your lives mesh well together.
6- Someone who you are physically attracted to.

How do you date?
1- Date with clarity. God is not a God of confusion. You do not play games with people. Do not go into the relationship uninterested. Be honest with the other person. **Guys should be clear with their actions/intentions. Guys should not confuse girls. If you are interested in pursuing the girl, just tell her. If you start spending a lot of time talking to a girl and especially about spiritual stuff..the girl is going to think you are interested in her. Tell her your intentions. Do not go around asking each other's friends, just be truthful and clear. And ladies, let the guy initiate everything. Be patient.
2- Date with autonomy. You are brothers and sisters in Christ. Let people make their own decisions. You are not married to the person yet. Do not force the other person to do anything. You are not bonded with that person in dating.
3- Date with purity. Being impure can sabotage your evaluation efforts. Have God's love for this person and that will build your friendship. You want the person you marry to be your best friend, so make sure there is friendship there and not just physical attraction to the person. 1 Corinthians 7:4.
4- Date with wisdom. Be private in public. If you are going to be alone with this person, then be alone in public. Do not expedite the romance.
5- Date in community. Have your family and friends watch your relationship. Make sure you each have accountability partners to keep you accountable on everything going on your relationship and have them call you out on the things you do wrong.
6- Do not rush into forever. Give things time. Be patient and wait.
7- Pray and trust God. Seek first His kingdom and everything else will come later and in its' perfect time.

You can go to breakawayministries.org and look at their podcasts or look these sermons up on itunes. Itunes is how I listened to them. :)

Complete 180.

So, I was talking to a couple of my friends today and we were talking about how God has been using me lately and everything that is going on in my life. And then it hit me.

A year ago, I was not thinking like I am now, I was not doing the things I am doing, I was not trying to start new things in my community, I was not caring about the people I come in contact with, and I was not living my life according to God's Word like I should. God has been able to open my eyes to the Truth. And I am truly thankful and grateful for that. I will admit that giving EVERYTHING over to God was not the easiest thing to do, but it the absolute best decision I have ever made. We have to surrender ALL to Him, not some or most, but ALL. I am now in complete and total peace about everything in my life. I have a joy I cannot describe! And I am the happiest I have ever been!

I do not why I have been so comfortable in everything I was doing and not caring about the Gospel being preached and heard, not having a right relationship with my God, and not pouring my life into others so that they can be encouraged. What was I thinking? How can you sit there and not want to bring God glory and honor? My mind has been blown by God everyday in the past month and a half. My mindset has completely and totally transformed and I am thankful for that. God has given me opportunities to share with others about Him and form new relationships. There are things are happening in my life that I am SO excited about! :)

What is going on in my life is definitely not what I had planned for myself, but I so glad that this is what God has planned for me. This is 100 times better than what I had planned for myself! :) God is so very good to me!!

REAL!

I have been back in the country for 3 weeks now. It doesn't seem like it has been that long, but a lot has happened and kept me busy so it has flown by. God has given me SOOO many opportunities to share about my time in Asia with people. I am thankful for those opportunities and it seems that everyday I get a new one!

God has drastically changed my life and it is change for the better. My eyes are opened and I feel like I am actually able to breathe. I have a renewed heart and spirit. I feel like I am getting bits and pieces of the "bigger picture" everyday. I am constantly learning from God whether it be through my prayer time, His Word, or His people.

I have learned that Americans have NO CLUE what it means to be a Christian. We have no idea what it means to lay down our lives for our Lord and Savior. We cannot get over ourselves for even 5 minutes in a day to spend time with God. What is up with that?? Geez! I mean, the only reason we live, move, breathe, speak, and everything else we do is because of God and we cannot give Him the time He deserves. We stink. Horribly.

We have been given a message to proclaim wherever we go and do we do that? No. This message (AKA: THE GOSPEL) is pretty important. I mean, it does save lives. Who are we to sit in our little comfortable houses, comfortable cars, comfortable churches and not share with others the most important message that they will ever hear? I know stepping out of our comfort zones can be a big deal and all, but Jesus said to deny ourselves, pick up the cross and follow Him. When someone dies and rises from the dead 3 days later and gives instruction to us..um, we are supposed to do it.

So, what does it mean to be a Christian? It means denying yourself DAILY, picking up the cross DAILY, being bold DAILY, sharing the Gospel DAILY, overcoming sin DAILY, giving glory to God DAILY, reading His Word DAILY, praying to our awesome God DAILY, and seeking in everything you say, do, think, eat, and drink to bring God's holy kingdom glory! As important as these things are, we tend to forget them or let our flesh become more important. We would much rather have something else have priority over God, right? It is easy to do though if you are not constantly keeping yourself in check. Watching tv/movies, Facebook, Twitter, boyfriend/girlfriend, reading other books, pointless conversations..these are just some of the things we put before God. Why? Why are these things so important to us?

American Christianity is so crazy to me. It makes me really frustrated. We take EVERYTHING for granted. Like praying in a public place, openly reading your Bible, not having to talk about your God in code, and everything else. You know, some countries you are not allowed to talk openly about God, the one who can radically change your life. You are not allowed to pray in a public place. You have to watch everything you say because if you say the wrong thing then you get yourself into trouble. What if the US was this way? Who would be left to fight for their faith? Who would proclaim the Gospel? Who would withstand the persecution and count it joy to suffer for Christ? Would you go through trials upon trials and never deny your faith? These are the things I have been thinking about for weeks. I was in a country where the above mentioned things are not allowed.

My eyes were opened to Christians who were truly real about their lives with Christ. If you are a Christian in that country, then you are risking everything and everyone you know. There is no lukewarm Christians there, praise the Lord! They understand the urgency behind the Gospel and share it everyday, day in and day out. They read their Word. They study their Word. They risk their lives everyday. God challenged me while I was there and still is because I cannot get these people out of my head. I know what they are going through and what they face and they are not giving up. Their country's Christians are praying to send missionaries to the US. They are also praying that we face persecution, trials, and tribulations so we can stand up for our faith. I am praying with them. The United States of America needs the Lord something fierce. We really do. We need to take the God seriously and fear Him.

I just want people to be real.

How can God change your life? How can God use you to impact your community, state, country, and other countries?

What are you going to do about it?

So I just returned home from the most amazing experience of my life. I cannot describe in words what all exactly I experienced. I really cannot. It was definitely humbling and God revealed so many things to me. I was away from all technology and everyone I knew. Sometimes it really does take God getting you away from your comforts, your cellphone that is constantly going off, your family, your friends, your computer that is a constant distraction, and all sense of time to show you things. I am so glad that I was away from those things. To be completely honest, I did not miss those things. I did not even think about my phone until it accidentally went off one day while I was there. When I was asked what I missed about home my answer was that I wish I knew how my family and friends were and how their Christmas was, but other than having a small conversation with each of them I was good.
Things I learned
1- I lack a lot of things in my life starting with faith. I tend to forget that my God is real and alive and can do anything and everything He wants to. I do not take my faith serious all the time. It is so easy to get bogged down into a routine and get stuck in a rut in your relationship with Him.
2- Another thing I lack is boldness in my relationship with God. We studied the book of Acts everyday while in China and it was awesome to see the Holy Spirit leading in every verse of it. Peter prayed for boldness. He would preach the Gospel, go to jail for it, get out of jail, and then go back to preaching the Good News again! Who does that?? I should!
Side note:We should risk it all for the glory of God! I am not holding back anymore! I pray that I am intentional about everything I do and say and that it all brings my God and Savior the glory! We are pathetic!! China is a closed country to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Christians there risk EVERYTHING for the sake of His holy and precious name and what do we do? American Christians have the freedom of religion, we risk nothing, and STILL sit around not doing a thing about sharing the Gospel! Who are we to not share the most amazing thing in the world?! They risk their lives day in and day out and we do nothing. We were studying one day and were talking and came to the realization that America needs persecution of our Christians. Maybe then we see everyone's true colors and stand up for what we believe. Our country NEEDS to hear the Gospel!! So, what are you going to do about it??
So since I shared with my team that I felt like I lacked faith and boldness and prayed about it..God gave me opportunities to share with others.
3- I lack a lot of patience. I thought I knew how to patient. I was wrong. Ha! What is new? I have NO IDEA where God is taking me and I thought I was okay with that..but I was wrong..again! I mean, for the most part, I am okay with God leading and guiding me. I just wish I knew WHERE He is taking me and WHEN I am going to get there and WHO will be around in my life once I get there. I just need patience and I have decided that I am not going to wear a watch anymore. I need not to put God on a time table. We holds the most perfect plans for my life. And that is all I need to know. He is sovereign. End. Of. Story.

This is just a little snipit of my time spent in China. More to come later.