I'm a Christian first and foremost. I enjoy playing the piano, laughing, Relient K, Harry Potter, photography, reading, Coldplay, Italian food, foreign accents, the sunshine, and life. The simple things in life fascinate me.
So you guys know in the Bible when God tells Abraham that his offspring will be as numerous as the stars in the sky?
Human birth rate: 4 per second
Human death rate: 2 per second
Star birth rate: 4 per second
Star death rate: 2 per second
woah
(via thisisyourmaverick)
John Piper (via pureblyss)
(Source: kidwiththebulletsoul, via pureblyss)
Sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God. No one sins out of duty. We sin because it holds out some promise of happiness. That promise enslaves us until we believe God is more to be desired than life itself.
Just a Little Life Update
So I realize that I haven’t posted anything very meaningful in quite some time. I wish I had more time to do so! But as I do have a small amount of time in the present I figured I would just tune you all in to what’s been going on in my life right now.
Let’s just start at my one year anniversary with my dear, sweet boyfriend Brett. I’m pretty sure I posted something about it but I can’t remember. That day was kind of a blissful blur to be honest! I loved every minute of our celebration, even when at the end of the day he ended up getting sick. I’m just glad he felt good most of the day. We went antiquing and bought matching keys, beginning a tradition for each year we are together. I’m excited to see how many keys we’ll end up with! He is such a big part of my life and I couldn’t imagine him not being an integral part of it.
Aside from that I’ve mainly been preparing for Choir/Piano districts that was last Friday. I’m very excited to say that I’m triple entered for state contest with 2 ensembles and my piano solo! I’ve been working on my piano solo since about October. I just really felt it this year, and I’m so glad my hard work has paid off! I get to go play a Steinway piano too at state! I am incredibly stoked for that, let me tell you! My ensembles have worked hard too and I’m so glad to have a good group of girls and guys to sing with (my boyfriend and sister included!)
Another thing that is exciting is my church’s revival week this week. Our guest speaker is so awesome and I’m glad he could come to share with us what God has been revealing to him! I’ve heard him speak before and he is so insightful and so full of God. I’m so ready for God to work in my heart through the messages he brings; I know I need it. It’s always nice to hear other people speak sometimes. I always get great things out of their sermons and I’m so thankful that God gives me the opportunity to listen and learn more about Him and His word! God is good!
So that about wraps it up I guess…school is getting closer to being done for summer break and I am READY. Until then, my life is busy! I just hope and pray I can stay in step with time!
It’s starting to slowly sink in.
I’ve just realized that at this time next week I’ll be preparing for just about the biggest concert/event of my life so far. I’m going to be in a room with the state’s top 200 students singing and perfecting amazing music for my dream concert the next day. I am so overly excited I don’t even know how to describe it. Being a part of the prestigious all-state choir has been one of my biggest goals since I was little. It sounds dumb to myriads of people, singing classical choral music, and I understand that. But what they don’t get that I do is the fact that the sheer power and the perfection and intricacy and depth of the music is enough to move your soul and make you feel something. This isn’t just a normal hodge-podge concert. This is big. Only a fraction of people get to experience being in a choir like this. It’s probably the closest thing to a professional chorus that I’ll ever be a part of, and I am so thankful that I get to be a part of it. I’m getting the chance to work with a professional conductor and learn new things and meet new people and perfect the craft of song that I love so much.
I just… I can’t even begin to thank God enough that He has given me this talent and this drive to do better and to be better. I am a goal setter and a dream chaser, and I’ve chased one of my dreams down, and I can only give the glory to God for catching it. When I sing with all those talented, amazing, beautiful people I will be giving it all to Christ, because without Him, I wouldn’t have gotten there in the first place. It is a monumental blessing that has fallen from His hand and into mine.
This time next week I will be experiencing a dream. I will have already worked 3 endlessly tiring days with just the performance in my sight, and all that time and all that energy will be worth it. Oh so worth it. And for that I cannot wait. I am so ready.
Thoughts of an awestruck girl
Sometimes I believe that we as humans take our lives entirely too lightly. What I mean by that is this: we are this incredible cluster of cells and tissues and bones and muscle and emotion, but we never stop to really think about what gift God has given us by just simply giving us life! We are not just some random little piece of life. Our genetic makeup is different from every single person in the world! Does that not blow your mind?!
Our lives were not put together by just some random happening. No way. It just doesn’t make sense! Think about it! How could the universe just randomly put together a creature so unique and so intricate that every system is connected to help the others and alerts our brain, which is a miracle in and of itself, if something is wrong or odd. We are so, so magnificent compared to every other living thing on this Earth. That is not something to take lightly. That is something to praise God for! He loved us enough to make us so awesome and so unique!
Now you’re probably thinking that the point of this is to rebuke tattoos or piercings or whatever, but its not at all. I’ve just been so in awe of God’s extreme eye for creation and his great love for us in making us in such a distinct and purposeful way. I just can’t keep it to myself! We have been given this gift of life and this body to use for His will and His purpose. We are not here to party and to live life by yolo. Take your life seriously and make it meaningful. Even if you don’t think you have meaning or a purpose you do. You have been created for something wonderful. The mix of cells and DNA that you call you is not just here. You may just not know what your life is for just yet. Be patient, and in the meantime, thank God for making you so intricate and awesome and unique and precious and special and whatever other word you can think of. Blessings.
Matt chandler (via tides-of-grace)
(via brokenpenmanship-deactivated201)
He created the flavors! He created the colors. He created it all, and he did it all out of the overflow of his perfections. It’s not like he was thinking, ‘Oh, I’ve got some fajita flavoring over here. I know: let’s put it on the cow and the chicken.’ He created the avocado to have a certain flavor; he created the skirt steak, the fillet, and the tenderloin to have certain flavors. That was God’s doing. So every aspect of creation, from the largest galaxy to the tiniest burst of flavor in food or drink or seasoning, radiates the goodness of God.
Oh Lord, You know me in and out and lovely are your thoughts about me. How great Your mercy is for me. I am thankful that You chose me, though I am so deeply unworthy; And so, with all that is within me - I will say ‘Abba Father, have Your way’. And Even when I’m walking through the valley of death, and I’m broken and nothing is left - Still, You lead me on. I am so thankful to You - In your love for me. You’re worthy Lord, and so I’ll pour my tears in the ocean, and I’ll leave my pain by the shore. And know that I can be thankful that Your mighty wave will sweep them away, until they are no more. I am thankful that when I am in fear, Lord - You hide me, You bury me deep within your wings and carry all my fears and worries, and You lift me when I am lowly. Father I am thankful, that You wrap me in your arms of safety when the battle’s raging, and with me sheltered below your wings - You’re fighting for me. Greater than all things that I could ever thank You for Lord, I am thankful that there’s freedom from my past, and there’s hope in my future. I am thankful that You are my today, You are my tomorrow, and You are my forever. Saviour, I am forever thankful, forever in love, forever Yours.
(via godmoves)
God's pharmacy
| Lemon: | The juice of a lemon is natural bleach and helps in lightening the scars and blemishes of the skin. Lemons help cleanse the digestive track and allow food to digest properly. Lemons aid in the production of antibodies in the blood that attack invading microorganisms and prevent infection. Lemon is found to be anticarcinogenic, which can lower the rates of colon, prostate, and breast cancer. A cup of warm water with lemon and a pinch of salt can help with weight loss and lower cholesterol. |
| Carrot: | A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes. |
| Tomato: | A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopene and are indeed pure heart and blood food. |
| Grapes: | Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food. |
| Walnut: | A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function. |
| Kidney beans: | Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys. |
| Avacado, pears and eggplant: | Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them). |
| Celery, bok choy, rhubarb: | Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body. |
| Figs: | Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility. |
| Sweet potatoes: | Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics. |
| Olives: | Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries. |
| Citrus fruits: | Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts. Oranges help maintain vision and great clear skin. |
| Onions and garlic: | Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body. |
| Strawberries: | Can potentially fight against cancer and ageing. |
| Bananas: | Yes, the stories are true, they give you energy! |
| Cherries: | Calm your nervous system down. |
| Pineapples: | Pineapples help fight arthritis. |
| Blueberries: | Also protect your heart. |
| Peaches: | Peaches are rich in potassium, fluoride and iron. |
| Kiwifruit: | Increases bone mass. |
| Mangoes: | Protect you from several kinds of cancers. |
| Watermelon: | Helps control your heart rate. |
There are so many things I could say right now to be just as spiteful but I won’t, because Jesus loves you just as much as he loves me.
I have such a weird fascination with eyes. Like, God seriously did a legit stinkin awesome job thinking up those little light catching balls in our faces. It blows my mind. I love it.
Also, see how pretty?!? It looks like a landscape
(via whoishannahh-deactivated2013011)
I love that I can have deep conversations with my boyfriend about Christ. I am so thankful for a grounded and enthusiastic man of God.
It’s just one of the many things I love about him :)
Never Have I Ever…
I’ve been thinking about that game and how I honestly hate it. I never thought much about it until recently, but I’ve just heard an incredibly heart breaking life story and it got my wheels turning. You never know what people have done or have gone through: why would they share their life through a petty game?
You know, I think people often think of me as a very serious person all the time. I used to think of that as such an awful trait about me, but that may be why people come to me and tell me serious things. And more often than not, they tell me things that are so devastating and so scary to me. It’s hard for me to try and help them or just say anything to them. My heart just breaks for these people. Into a million pieces. I have so much love and so much care in my life, and here are these people all around me who have never genuinely felt that. It makes me so very thankful yet feel so selfish at the same time. Never have I ever had to go through abuse, or the breaking in half of families, or fear/dread of being at home. Never have I ever…
Like I said, when people come to me with these things, I often don’t know what to say. I’ve never gone through difficulties like that, but God always seems shows me a way to go with the conversation. I am so thankful that God has given me the eye for optimism; I can almost always find good things among the rubble and ashes. Maybe that’s why God sends me these broken hearted people. Maybe they just need someone who can see the good and help them see it in their lives as well. No matter how awful their lives have been or how awful they have become, God uses me as a way to bring them new perspective. And I’m not writing this in a boastful manner at all; all glory be to God! He’s just opened my eyes to a part of my life that I didn’t even realize he was working in! I just thought that people were trusting enough of me to talk and spill things. I haven’t thought about the amazing opportunities that God has presented for me right in front of my eyes! I pray every day that He would give me an opportunity to show His love and His light, and He has! Thank you, sovereign Lord!!
I just told a struggling person very recently that their life story truly makes an impact on people. Every story of every struggle I hear about changes me, and I’m one who is rooted in my faith. Just imagine what God could do with their stories for the lost and unsaved! Even if life seems to weigh down on every bone in your body and almost crush you beneath it all, just remember that God holds you in His hand. He’s got you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He has given you that life to get through and to use in the future to make a difference. Think about it like that next time you feel the weight or the struggle coming upon you. You never know who’s life you could touch. Stay strong, be steadfast in the Lord, and never ever give up.
Psalm 37:23-24
The Lord directs the steps of the Godly.
He delights in every detail of their lives.
Though they stumble, they will never fall,
for the Lord holds them by the hand.
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky