On Fire

Since I didn't get all churchy on my last post (and I could have!) I decided to write about something very spiritual that has been on my mind lately.

During the Olympics opening ceremony they always light up the Olympic torch. This time in London they did something I had never seen before and it got me thinking. They had 7 young athletes light 7 cauldrons, these seven would then light up all 250 of them that would then be raised up to form a beautiful, powerful fire that was kept alive for 17 days straight. It interested me that they chose young athletes to do this, they could have chosen anyone, more recognized athletes or former retired athletes, but no, they chose the new generation to light up the fire. I come from a generation where God is not a daily thing, in fact God is a forgotten thing, it only took 7 athletes to light up 250 cauldrons, it might take only one YOUNG person to light a fire for God in many other people. Being young doesn't mean we are at a disadvantage, on the contrary it means that we have the power to impact people more. Most unsaved people see teenagers all the same because our generation has given them the right to see us that way, you could be the one that makes a difference, you could be the one that God chose to light a fire. These athletes were already carrying their fire, as a christian, you have to carry your fire and make sure it stays alive. DON'T LET IT DIE DOWN!!!
Don't let your passion for God die because of the things around you, the problems, the people, the sin. God works for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28), good things are bound to come your way if you work for the kingdom of God, it's a reality. Do you really think he'll forget about the good that you do? Have courage when God calls you to share his love with someone, to light a fire in someone, he is with you all.the.time!!!!

A fire is kept alive by adding some form of fuel to it. Yesterday I really felt overwhelmed because I realized I haven't been fueling my fire for God, I haven't been reading my bible or remembering my verses or praying as often as I used to and I felt guilty and scared, I don't want my fire to die! This reminded me that my fire is alive and healthy, my passion is there and my faith is alive, but it could diminish if I don't fuel it, my passion could go away if I don't keep seeking God. If I don't pray or read or remember God at least once a day everyday, I will eventually forget about him and that's a place where I WON'T allow myself to go. I HAVE to constantly seek God in order to keep my fire alive because I want to see more kids like me be on fire for him, God chose a 19 year old to light the fire inside of me, to inspire me to accept Christ and be crazy about God, maybe tomorrow my fire could inspire someone else. It's all for His glory!

After all 250 cauldrons were lit I pondered, how sad would that fire look if only one cauldron would have gone up? And even worse, what if by the end of the games all the cauldrons would have gone off? I started thinking about the youth around me. I am surrounded by teenagers who love God and I love encouraging them, I love to tell people that God is AMAZING and that they should read their bibles, or sometimes I share bible verses with them. I believe that one of my many jobs in life is to encourage Christian youth to be crazy passionate about God, think about the 250 cauldrons and the picture I put up, doesn't that fire look beautiful? It is BRIGHT! And fierce!! A group of kids ON FIRE for God can do amazing things for the kingdom! If you know your fire is going steady then help the people around you go steady as well. Jesus doesn't call us only to go out and light fires (make disciples), he also calls us to keep each other accountable. You can't let your fire die but you also can't let the fire die in the people around you that's why I beg you, PLEASE PRAY for your fellowship! Help them fuel the fire in every way but if it doesn't work let God take care of it, he knows their hearts.

I AM ON FIRE FOR GOD and I encourage you to feed and fuel your fire (as I also know I have to fuel mine). My passion for God is the greatest passion I have ever had because I know I'm being passionate about something that matters, something that is real, I am passionate about God because I know he is crazy about me, he loves me more than I could ever love him and that is why I CAN'T let my fire for him die, because no matter what I do I know.....he is on fire for me too :)

Well here's a funny thought......dating!

Don't ask why cause I don't even know but this has been a theme in my life lately. I've been talking to several friends about dating. It's not an easy topic because I am a teenage girl but it's a topic that I like to discuss because it's normal. I think teenagers SHOULD talk about dating because the more taboo we make it, the less we'll get it, the less we'll understand it.

Now here are my views on dating and if you are a teenage girl, PLEASE consider some of these things, please!!

First of all, DON'T EVER DATE SOMEONE YOU WOULD NOT MARRY!! What I mean by this is, don't date someone that doesn't have the qualities you see in your future husband or wife. That right there is so huge because most teenagers date just to date. Girls date because they want, they NEED someone to tell them they are beautiful and they don't want to be the only one of her friends without a boyfriend, most guys date because they are guys and they have hormones. I feel that most teenagers date simply because that's what everyone else is doing. DON'T, just don't date for that reason. Don't date just any guy or girl you like, just because you like a person it does not mean you should date them. Be very selective and whatever you do, don't just date someone because of their looks, those come and go, date someone because you adore their heart and who they are.

Second of all, girls, until you realize that you are beautiful you are always going to need a boy there to tell you that and it's going to destroy you because you won't always have that. You need to recognize your own beauty. Beauty is not a size 0 with light eyes and beautiful hair, beauty is whatever YOU think it is! Yes it does lie in the eye of the beholder so don't let the world tell you whether you are or aren't beautiful. Other people can see it, why can't you? Why do you believe the lies people feed you? YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!! And you DON'T need a guy to make you happy, when God made you he didn't make a two for one package, "I'll give you this girl and I'll throw in this guy too, for free!!". No, God doesn't make market deals like those. He brought you into this world without a boy next to you, what makes you think you need one now? If you really feel like you need a boy to tell you that you are beautiful, God says it in the bible SEVERAL times! TRUST HIM!!

Guys, don't let your hormones get the best of you, yeah some girls like players but princesses will always wait for their prince. You want a girl that completely blows your mind? Fine, then build yourself up so that you can be even more amazing to her than she is to you. Don't go around telling sweet words to every girl you have feelings for and please make sure that what you feel is not lust. If you like a girl make sure it's not just her looks that draw you to her.

In my opinion, you don't need to date someone to show them you care for them. Honestly. In fact, I think the best way to show someone your love and appreciation for them is NOT to date them, get to know them extremely well first, get to know their views on dating, their dreams, their needs, know this person really well before you even consider the idea of maybe dating them someday. Get to know this person but guard your heart, even though you should be honest with this guy or girl don't be TOO honest where you are telling them everything about everything in your life, only your husband or wife is entitled to that.

Now I'm almost an adult and I still haven't had my first kiss. In jr high this kind of made me feel ashamed because all of my friends were getting their first kiss and I wanted that so badly! Now as a senior in high school I feel SO HAPPY that I haven't kissed anyone. I had one boyfriend and I never kissed him, I wasn't planning on kissing him until later in our relationship. We ended up breaking up after 3 weeks so that never happened (thank God!) but my point is that ever since I can remember I've never wanted to rush the whole kissing thing and now I'm glad I didn't because I really really really want to give that to my husband. You may think it's old fashioned but just think for a second, if you knew who your future spouse was and you saw him or her kissing someone else, how would you feel? I don't want to be kissing just any guy I date. That's giving a part of myself to just random guys. They may be special guys but they are not THE special guy (my future husband). If you ask me I think you shouldn't kiss every guy you date, in fact you should only kiss your future husband.

If the kissing thing is extreme, imagine how I feel about sex. Every person should stay pure until marriage, I believe I discussed it in my purity post so I'm not gonna go into much detail but I can't fathom the idea of being with more than one partner, I just can't. I can't imagine myself being loved like that by more than one guy. And if you are a teenager, you have no business having sex, don't sleep around with whoever you are dating, it's ridiculous! What's the point? Please help me understand what's the point? What's the point of giving a part of yourself to someone who you don't know as well as you think. You never stop knowing a person, specially not teenagers, we grow and change constantly, do you really think you TOTALLY know someone who is still changing? Who is still discovering him/herself?

Yes I like someone. I like this boy because it takes him a second to make me smile, everytime we are together I can never stop smiling. No boy has ever looked at me the way he does. He loves God more than anything in his life and he has a crazy passion for Him. He is the most handsome guy in the entire world according to me and everytime he hugs me I feel safe. He treats me like a princess and he protects me even when I don't want to be protected. He is WILLING to follow God's will and thats all I could ask of him. He loves God more than he loves me and that's the best thing about him. No we are not dating and I don't think we are going to date for a while because we both have A LOT of spiritual growing to do. I need to fall in love with God before I can fall in love with a man, especially with this boy. I'm not saying don't date, I'm saying be careful, don't go around dating just anyone and have your lines very well drawn and defined before you date because the person you are dating might now want the same things you want when it comes to a relationship. As for me, I pray that God guides me because I want to date only one guy, my future husband.
 

Do not conform

Yesterday I had an amazing day at church and then later on with my friends. One of the many reasons why my day was amazing was because of a "little thing" that a woman at church did for me and my 3 other friends.

She had told us she needed to talk to us after church and sure enough, after the sermon was over she pulled us aside and said to us: "I see in you four godly women who are seeking God and I have seen many girls that look like they want to live a godly life and then they don't and it hurts me and I want to tell you that you never, EVER have to do what this world tells you. You NEVER have to conform...." At this point she was crying and overwhelmed with emotion which made me tear up. This meant so much to me, this woman is extremely special to me, she is my youth leader, my friend, my support when I need it, I mean she is overall amazing in my eyes, the fact that God chose HER to deliver these words to me.....wow, well played God :) I was able to control my tears during her talk but after she was done I couldn't help it, I broke down, I was so thankful and so happy.

She wanted to encourage us to never ever conform to this world and the whole time she was talking I was remembering Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." This verse is one of my favorite bible verses and I try to use it in my life as much as possible, as a non believer I would conform to this world all the time, I didn't care about God's will, it was always me the one "in control", I had to know what was going to be MY next action, MY next step. My life was planned: go to college, be a lawyer, don't have kids, maybe get married, make sure I succeed in life (a.k.a have money) and that's it. I never even thought "maybe God has something different in mind", no, God was there but I never included him in my life. And now it's different, now I REFUSE to conform to this world, to the idea that humans have control of what can happen next, to the idea that my life will go exactly the way I want it to go because I planned it. Heck, to the idea that I can plan my life!! No way.

Now I live my life the way Christ wants me to live it, I make plans but I always pray it's in God's will, when I talk to him I tell him "if it's not in your will, give me the strength to do what YOU want me to do, I want to follow you and you only". I will forever remember her words, remember the look I saw in her eyes, she was full of love and pain, the thought that in a few years these four girls won't be the godly women she sees today was causing her pain but the love she feels for us was overtaking that. Don't EVER conform to this world, God is so much greater than that, follow him and love him no matter what people say, because when you look up you want to make sure God looks down and smiles. We care about making people proud of us, we like it when people are proud of us, then make the God of EVERYTHING proud! Make the person who loves you the most proud and conform to Him and to His will ONLY!!!!!

I live in a family, in an environment, that begs me to conform, that temps me to stop being on fire for God, to stop being a "church girl" or a "Jesus freak" and trust me, it's really hard, but I'm NEVER going to conform, I know God is with me and I know he can help me be strong. I will never give in to their words, I ignored God's will for 16 years of my life, never again will I give that much of my life to this world. I want to make God happy and I also want to erase that pain from this woman's eyes and show her that these four girls are just getting started, that we will keep each other accountable and that we are willing to let God use us in whichever way he wants.

Thank you God for using such an amazing woman to impact my life the way she has. You have blessed me so much and her love for me is one of those huge blessings you've given me. I love you so much!!!


"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile" Romans 1:16

The Little Things: Part 2!

Well when I first wrote The Little Things I didn't mean to make it a two part thing or a three part thing but God keeps spoiling me with blessings so I just have to blog about this. I LOVE the little things!! I love love love the little blessings because I am a little person, I'm a short girl and because of my height I've had people underestimate my abilities a lot of times, I think some people underestimate the power of the little things and my purpose with this post is to help people appreciate those things.
Ok so here are some of my little blessings. There's a mom from my church that I'm really close to and I'm super close to her kids, this woman is such a godly woman and such a great influence in my life! She does so many little things for me, she has me over at her house almost every week and she gives me amazing advice on relationships, motherhood and marriage. Talking about boys with her is so much fun! :) She'll text me to make sure I'm ok and prays for me a lot. I love this lady so much!! She treats me like a daughter and I call her "mom" a lot. Today I wasn't feeling my best, I just felt overwhelmed and down for no reason but God knew exactly what I needed. I was watching the Olympics (go figure) when I got a call from this lady, her 3 year old called me just to say hi to me. I LOVE that little girl so much!!! She is seriously my little sister. Wow, I teared up while I was talking to her. This meant soooooo much to me! The joy that a child can bring to someone is absolutely incredible. That moment made my entire day, and it was like a 30 second call!! Thanks God, you keep amazing me more and more.
There's another mom that I'm also close to, she is one of my small group leaders in my youth group and has become one of my best friends. Now the Olympics are going on and I am OBSESSED! I didn't know she was a fan too. Everyday she'll text me and we'll be texting in the middle of screaming and dying with these matches (seriously, these athletes KILL MY NERVES!!!) and it is so much fun for me to have someone there to share this excitement with me because my siblings don't get into it like I do. Two days ago it was already midnight and I got a text from her saying the sweetest thing in the world! She just wanted to let me know how much joy I bring to her heart. See that little text was a full demonstration of God's HUGE love for me. It was so great to read that! Such a little thing meant the world to me. I tried to tell her how much I loved that text but I don't think words could describe what that meant to me.
Another leader from another small group that I go to also did something super cool for me. I was supposed to go on a trip that didn't work out in the end (remember the big prayer I talked about in 'Say what God'? TA DA!!) and this was a trip that she had gone to in her high school years, in fact she did the job that I was supposed to do so she's very familiar with the type of work that goes into it. So for everyday I was supposed to serve she made me a card with a verse or a good quote from a song or anything encouraging just to give me strength to keep it going and to focus on God and on my work for his glory. Now everyday I open a new card and everyday God keeps speaking to me and they've all managed to put a smile on my face. She keeps reminding me that she loves me and that God loves me. It's so cool!!! Maybe I didn't go on the trip but this is something I can apply to my everyday ministry that I have with my family, they need me more than they know. See it's those little acts of kindness that just blow my mind! It's those little things that remind me that God is great :) That God is extremely loving and caring!! :)
Ever hear that saying "less is more"?? Well in this case it's so true!!! Sometimes little things do more than great things could ever do, they could impact someone way more than the great things we like to do for people.
I love receiving little things but I also LOVE giving little things :) It shows God's love! It shows Christ's greatness. Maybe it's hard and maybe for you it's not easy but it's not about easy or hard or impossible, it's about love, it's about shining God's light, it's about being who we were made to be.....a light. Showing love is showing glory, God's glory.

THE FAB FIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday we saw these 5 girls do something that hasn't been done since 1996. We watched as they won a gold medal for the United States. In 1996, a team composed of Shannonn Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Dominique Dawes, Kerri Strug, Amy Chow, Amanda Borden, and Jaycie Phelps was named the Magnificent Seven as they won the gold medal for the United States smashing the Russians who had won gold in the team finals ever since the 1950s. Yesterday McKayla Marroney, Kyla Ross, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and Jordyn Weiber repeated history as they won the gold over the Russians and the Romanians. I have so much admiration for these girls, they made me tear up as I watched them celebrate after Aly finished her floor routine. Wow, congratulations Fab Five, you are AMAZING!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR WINNING GOLD!!! THESE GIRLS ROCK!!!!!