I always tell myself that my blog is way to serious... I am not that serious of a person, I like to think but by the looks of my blog i never have fun. I told myself after camp was over and I stopped having such a serious life in general I would have stuff to talk about.
Well that is true. i walked into Panera bread today and I needed to use the restroom and I was on my way and walked in the restroom and there was a boy in there. Obviously old enough to use the restroom on his own and to know that I am a girl and he is a boy and I was so sure that I walked in the wrong room! So I, with the little pride that I had left slowly backed out of the room to take a peek at the sign... IT SAID WOMEN. lol I am just glad it was not an old man, because what exactly are you suppose to do when something like that happens? Do you walk out and wait for them to finished... go in the mens to balance things out or what?!! haha
I am off of camp on my last day off ever from camp! I will be headed home in just a few short work days!! I am so happy! I have been driving around..getting lost! I finally stopped and asked for directions and I was going in the totally wrong way! The lady looked at me and said.."Awe your not from around here are you?"...In my head I was wondering what gave it away..the fact i was asking for directions, my lincense plate says Ohio or because I don't talk like I grow up on the back side of a farm!! haha! But she was really nice and pregnant which is always cute!! People like her make me want to move to a small town..but the size of the mall changes my mind!!! haha
Just a good day!Hope you enjooyed my pointless laid back blog!=)
Chaarity
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Conviction
The other day I was reading this book called Scared Echo and I was convicted on something that is really dear to my heart.
So I am really into Missions. Like I love mission based organizations. I love people do are in missions everything to do with the poor, abused,enslaved and on and on and on. I am all for it. People know it, its really all that I talk about.Love fighting for people, it's a great way to live!
Well I support a lot of organizations....in many different ways. I tell people about them, I hold events and I show up to events. usually however I do not buy the merchandise... Why do you ask? Because I can never afford to. But I told myself that when I got a job I would spend in a way that I would give to a non-profit every month. I believe that if i have money to go thrift-ing, I should have money to give to the needy.
That we my plan and here I am at a job in the second month and I haven't bought anything for the needy. I have not donated any money...NOTHING. I didn't forget just my budget became more important than taking care of people who do not even have the chance to have a budget!
Well honestly I did not think much about it. I have not idea what is coming next for me and I know I need to save for the unknown... that is what is smart and responsible and I am out of school at the moment and about to the step into the real...real world with no dorms and no food plan. (now i might be living with my parents..which is not the "real world", but that is not my hope or desire, but if God wills I will deal!!! lol). Then one day I was reading the book I mention earlier and this line really got my attention. "The poor were given the right to glean -to take produce from the unharvested edges of the fields, a portion of the tithes and daily wages." This was paraphrased in the book but I know that comes from scripture...
9(A) "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God." Lev 19:9-10
The money that we make is not our own! By giving to the poor you show who is really in control of your money... the "real world" (school, apartment, the food you want (not need but want) ect, ect) No I am not saying you cannot have what you want, when you depend on the Lord and really follow His commands He will give you the desires of your heart.
I WAS NOT DOING THIS. When I read this I simply wrote right next the words ,that I also underlined, and said..." I am not doing my job".. not just my job but my passion the one thing that God has put in my heart to take care of my people in need and the idea of having what I wanted was getting in the way of doing what I am called to do.
How often do we do that? How often do we hold on to something we think we need and want and miss what the Lord has for us? For me it was boyfriends, friends, habits, money and ideas even that I hold on to so long that I miss out on the bigger dream that God has for me.
So to break this very bad cycle I did something I have been saying I was going to do for years.....I bought a pair of TOMSshoes!!!! TOMS is an organization that when you buy a pair you give a pair to another person in the world that doesn't have a pair of shoes. They maybe have never had a pair of shoes in their life. I love TOMS and the starter..but all these years I have never owned a pair because of expense and I did it!
Yes.. a small step for mankind but a milestone in the surrender of my finances to the Lord!
Be blessed to be a blessing!!
In christ
So I am really into Missions. Like I love mission based organizations. I love people do are in missions everything to do with the poor, abused,enslaved and on and on and on. I am all for it. People know it, its really all that I talk about.Love fighting for people, it's a great way to live!
Well I support a lot of organizations....in many different ways. I tell people about them, I hold events and I show up to events. usually however I do not buy the merchandise... Why do you ask? Because I can never afford to. But I told myself that when I got a job I would spend in a way that I would give to a non-profit every month. I believe that if i have money to go thrift-ing, I should have money to give to the needy.
That we my plan and here I am at a job in the second month and I haven't bought anything for the needy. I have not donated any money...NOTHING. I didn't forget just my budget became more important than taking care of people who do not even have the chance to have a budget!
Well honestly I did not think much about it. I have not idea what is coming next for me and I know I need to save for the unknown... that is what is smart and responsible and I am out of school at the moment and about to the step into the real...real world with no dorms and no food plan. (now i might be living with my parents..which is not the "real world", but that is not my hope or desire, but if God wills I will deal!!! lol). Then one day I was reading the book I mention earlier and this line really got my attention. "The poor were given the right to glean -to take produce from the unharvested edges of the fields, a portion of the tithes and daily wages." This was paraphrased in the book but I know that comes from scripture...
9(A) "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God." Lev 19:9-10
The money that we make is not our own! By giving to the poor you show who is really in control of your money... the "real world" (school, apartment, the food you want (not need but want) ect, ect) No I am not saying you cannot have what you want, when you depend on the Lord and really follow His commands He will give you the desires of your heart.
I WAS NOT DOING THIS. When I read this I simply wrote right next the words ,that I also underlined, and said..." I am not doing my job".. not just my job but my passion the one thing that God has put in my heart to take care of my people in need and the idea of having what I wanted was getting in the way of doing what I am called to do.
How often do we do that? How often do we hold on to something we think we need and want and miss what the Lord has for us? For me it was boyfriends, friends, habits, money and ideas even that I hold on to so long that I miss out on the bigger dream that God has for me.
So to break this very bad cycle I did something I have been saying I was going to do for years.....I bought a pair of TOMSshoes!!!! TOMS is an organization that when you buy a pair you give a pair to another person in the world that doesn't have a pair of shoes. They maybe have never had a pair of shoes in their life. I love TOMS and the starter..but all these years I have never owned a pair because of expense and I did it!
Yes.. a small step for mankind but a milestone in the surrender of my finances to the Lord!
Be blessed to be a blessing!!
In christ
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Time to Spare
I am not shy to admit that there is so much in life that I need to learn....SO MUCH. Truth is for everyone there is so much that we need to learn. We will never know it all...although there have been campers of mine who have thought so and there will always be something thing we just do not know...
Okay I am sure you get the point. Even though I know I do not know everything and even though I ask for advice, there are so many times that I do not here the things that I want to here. Things that I want to be able to react a certain, but when I hear another view that is not wrong...but not what I want to hear.
Well if you have never been in that situation then I will gladly tell you a story of mine. I am working at a camp this summer that is a great camp for many different reasons. There are somethings that I wish would change and one of those things is how they incorporate God into the different stuff that go on here at camp. The first couple of weeks I just wasn't seeing it... I was missing the reason that we say we are at camp. After people started to get into the swing things I noticed some things were changing and I was able to incorporate the Message of Jesus into more things and it was just great!! Then we have a more serious night were we get to talk to our campers about Salvation and their relationship with God. Literally this is a day that I wait for!! I just cannot wait for this moment when I get to have a serious conversation with my girls about out Father.
Sometimes the conversation can last a little long, which is a good thing. A very good thing, except some of the girls do not get a chance to have this conversation on this night. Usually it is the next day, but not that night. Well that night our leader came to us and told us from now on we were going to have 15 minutes with each girl so that every girl would have a chance to talk.
When I heard this I was furious. Like beyond words...the only night that I look for you telling me I am limited on the amount of time that I can spend with them... GET OVER IT. So I ended up talking to my pastor and I told him how angry that made me and how when I was finally finding purpose in my job it was being limited, like they were really showing what was important to them. He told me that it may seem that way, but I needed to do what the camp said. That I was trying so hard to make this job work and when I finally found something to be excited about it it was stripped away. He then told me to remember the one who died for our Salvation, the one that I want to talk to the girls about so badly created time. That time is really in His hands. If I really hand that time over to Him and trust Him with it He can do far more than I could imagine.
When I heard this information I can guarantee you that I was not happy. That was not that thing that I wanted to hear at that moment. He could have told me to quite my job and I would have been okay with that. To talk to my leader and tell her that I did not agree with her or to bluntly just not listen to her and just do what I think is best. But no, he told me exactly what I didn't want to hear. After that conversation I had a lot to think about, even though that was not what I wanted to hear...it was true. God is that Author of time...like i sing about that All the time and now I could go in believing I only had 15 minutes or I could go in believing God had a whole 15 minutes....
So the Day has come and it is up to me what to do with it. I had been praying for this day since I had that conversation with my pastor...
There was one girl in my room who really didn't want to talk to me,like she really really didn't want to. And after we got back from the Message that I didn't even hear I was praying so hard she wanted to go first! Like she didn't even think twice about it. She came in talked...left..second girl...third girl...fourth...then fifth. This was the most powerful session that I ever had.. The girls spilled out their hearts and the Lord gave me all the right things to say and none of them went over 15 minutes. NONE...and I didn't look at my watch not one time during any of there conversations, when it was over.. All I could do was enter into a time of praise for how awesome my Father is...
When you give Him the time, the problem, the whatever its amazing to watch Him work
Okay I am sure you get the point. Even though I know I do not know everything and even though I ask for advice, there are so many times that I do not here the things that I want to here. Things that I want to be able to react a certain, but when I hear another view that is not wrong...but not what I want to hear.
Well if you have never been in that situation then I will gladly tell you a story of mine. I am working at a camp this summer that is a great camp for many different reasons. There are somethings that I wish would change and one of those things is how they incorporate God into the different stuff that go on here at camp. The first couple of weeks I just wasn't seeing it... I was missing the reason that we say we are at camp. After people started to get into the swing things I noticed some things were changing and I was able to incorporate the Message of Jesus into more things and it was just great!! Then we have a more serious night were we get to talk to our campers about Salvation and their relationship with God. Literally this is a day that I wait for!! I just cannot wait for this moment when I get to have a serious conversation with my girls about out Father.
Sometimes the conversation can last a little long, which is a good thing. A very good thing, except some of the girls do not get a chance to have this conversation on this night. Usually it is the next day, but not that night. Well that night our leader came to us and told us from now on we were going to have 15 minutes with each girl so that every girl would have a chance to talk.
When I heard this I was furious. Like beyond words...the only night that I look for you telling me I am limited on the amount of time that I can spend with them... GET OVER IT. So I ended up talking to my pastor and I told him how angry that made me and how when I was finally finding purpose in my job it was being limited, like they were really showing what was important to them. He told me that it may seem that way, but I needed to do what the camp said. That I was trying so hard to make this job work and when I finally found something to be excited about it it was stripped away. He then told me to remember the one who died for our Salvation, the one that I want to talk to the girls about so badly created time. That time is really in His hands. If I really hand that time over to Him and trust Him with it He can do far more than I could imagine.
When I heard this information I can guarantee you that I was not happy. That was not that thing that I wanted to hear at that moment. He could have told me to quite my job and I would have been okay with that. To talk to my leader and tell her that I did not agree with her or to bluntly just not listen to her and just do what I think is best. But no, he told me exactly what I didn't want to hear. After that conversation I had a lot to think about, even though that was not what I wanted to hear...it was true. God is that Author of time...like i sing about that All the time and now I could go in believing I only had 15 minutes or I could go in believing God had a whole 15 minutes....
So the Day has come and it is up to me what to do with it. I had been praying for this day since I had that conversation with my pastor...
There was one girl in my room who really didn't want to talk to me,like she really really didn't want to. And after we got back from the Message that I didn't even hear I was praying so hard she wanted to go first! Like she didn't even think twice about it. She came in talked...left..second girl...third girl...fourth...then fifth. This was the most powerful session that I ever had.. The girls spilled out their hearts and the Lord gave me all the right things to say and none of them went over 15 minutes. NONE...and I didn't look at my watch not one time during any of there conversations, when it was over.. All I could do was enter into a time of praise for how awesome my Father is...
When you give Him the time, the problem, the whatever its amazing to watch Him work
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Family
I hope that you (whoever i am talking to right now) understand how important it is to appreciate your family. Even if you only see them and talk to them on the weekends or if you cannot stand to stay at family events over an hour. In that one hour know that you should be thankful for what you have.
Since i have been working at this camp I am at i have had two foster girls in my "cabin" and they both have stories. One girl would literally not talk to me... like she didn't speak unless spoken too... I dont know why, that is just how she was. The other girl talked, talked, talked all the time! She was great! She told me her story one day and I was just overwhelmed with information and the things that she had to go through.
One night she was acting a little strange and I called her out into the hall and asked her what was wrong. She told me nothing...and I knew that wasn't the truth.
Well as we started talking I came to find out all the girls in the cabin were hanging out during "free time" and they left before she got there. So she felt really left out and like they didn't like her. Then she said the words you never want to here any child say..." No one wants me".... When those words came out of her mouth I think I died a little inside.I was speechless, just trying to hold back the tears.
We sat there and i watched her cry for a moment and all I wanted to say is that I wanted her, I would always be there for her... but that is not true. In two weeks at the time I would have to let her go back to her foster home and I would probably never see her again.
That is when I was reminded that how hard it is to point people to God. It's easy for me... I believe in Him and I know He is here..but what about people who have never heard to the story of Jesus before. That there is an Almighty Power that created EVERYTHING yet He still cares about me and them. Then how can I explain that to her? Will it make sense and how much of what I say will stick with her?
But I told her what I thought God had laid on my heart. How even though it looks like He is not right here He is. Although things happen and we sometimes never know why, there is a reason. That the Almighty Power who created EVERYTHING is watching over her and is going to use her life to change others.
She went into the room, I put them all to sleep and wept. All I could do was weep. Sometime later in the week her and I got a chance to have a one on one conversation again. I asked her how she was doing and what she thought about our last conversation and she told me the next day during her personal devotion time she found a verse..."And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of."(Gen 28:15) She said she read it everyday. By the grace of God He met her in scripture. He sent the Holy Spirit to speak through me and to lead her to that verse told(And showed) that He is always here and He will use her life for great things. He reminded me just how Powerful and Almighty He really is and gave her a message that will carry her through the rest of her life....and He used me.
Though there are times we cannot stand out family and friends...be thankful and know when they fall short(and even if they dont) God will always be there...
Since i have been working at this camp I am at i have had two foster girls in my "cabin" and they both have stories. One girl would literally not talk to me... like she didn't speak unless spoken too... I dont know why, that is just how she was. The other girl talked, talked, talked all the time! She was great! She told me her story one day and I was just overwhelmed with information and the things that she had to go through.
One night she was acting a little strange and I called her out into the hall and asked her what was wrong. She told me nothing...and I knew that wasn't the truth.
Well as we started talking I came to find out all the girls in the cabin were hanging out during "free time" and they left before she got there. So she felt really left out and like they didn't like her. Then she said the words you never want to here any child say..." No one wants me".... When those words came out of her mouth I think I died a little inside.I was speechless, just trying to hold back the tears.
We sat there and i watched her cry for a moment and all I wanted to say is that I wanted her, I would always be there for her... but that is not true. In two weeks at the time I would have to let her go back to her foster home and I would probably never see her again.
That is when I was reminded that how hard it is to point people to God. It's easy for me... I believe in Him and I know He is here..but what about people who have never heard to the story of Jesus before. That there is an Almighty Power that created EVERYTHING yet He still cares about me and them. Then how can I explain that to her? Will it make sense and how much of what I say will stick with her?
But I told her what I thought God had laid on my heart. How even though it looks like He is not right here He is. Although things happen and we sometimes never know why, there is a reason. That the Almighty Power who created EVERYTHING is watching over her and is going to use her life to change others.
She went into the room, I put them all to sleep and wept. All I could do was weep. Sometime later in the week her and I got a chance to have a one on one conversation again. I asked her how she was doing and what she thought about our last conversation and she told me the next day during her personal devotion time she found a verse..."And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of."(Gen 28:15) She said she read it everyday. By the grace of God He met her in scripture. He sent the Holy Spirit to speak through me and to lead her to that verse told(And showed) that He is always here and He will use her life for great things. He reminded me just how Powerful and Almighty He really is and gave her a message that will carry her through the rest of her life....and He used me.
Though there are times we cannot stand out family and friends...be thankful and know when they fall short(and even if they dont) God will always be there...
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