Restored

About a minute ago, I put my I-Pod on shuffle. I really like shuffle because it gives a nice variety to life when I don't know what I want to listen to. My song ended and the next one came on. It is called "Restored" by Jeremy Camp. At first I nexted the song but went back.
I think that some of God's biggest signs are subtle ones, like license tags and songs on shuffle. I think that God put that song on at the exact right time so that I could hear it and remember that every day brings a new, clean slate from the last. I love that. I love that I am restored no matter what I do. I sometimes wish life were as forgiving as God Himself. But that is why He is so great. He is the only one like Him. Even though everyday life will not be as forgiving as we would like it, it is important to remember that asking for forgiveness is so crucial! If you don't ask, how can you receive? Even if the person turns you down, you won't have to look back and regret no asking.
This was a really random post, I'm sorry, but it has been on my heart as there have been some issues on our hall. I think this was a good way to get out what I needed to say =)

Moral: We are restored with the Highest of High every single day, even if we aren't with the people of His Kingdom.

PS 27 MORE DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS!!!! =D

Changeis inevitable...except from a vending machine

Hello all! I thought the title was perfect for this week because not only did I have a life altering lesson about change, but last night, Chelsea informed me that a vending machine ate her money.
Anyway, for my college writing class, we had to write about our "spiritual geography". The thing is, we were not allowed to use Christian cliches or any type of Christian wording. This was such a struggle for me because I have always just believed in God. There was no point in my life where I thought there was no higher power who made good and bad things happen in our lives.
So I wrote my first draft and it was LITTERED with everything my professor told me not to add. I was not settled with what I wrote. It seemed choppy to me and just all over the place with my thoughts and ideas. It is not that I did not want to revise, it was that I did not know how or what to revise! When I realised that I could not put off the revision any longer, I sat down not realizing the major changes that were about to take place.
It started off by changing all the God's to He's. I added a few things and suddenly had a change in heart. I was getting words from unknown source-perhaps my heart? It was all pouring out. The essay transformed into something about my resentment towards change, something that I have been struggling with recently. When I finished my revision, I sent it to my professor and she loved the new version! I continued to work on it and I am very proud of this essay because of the initial unwanted change that made it better in the end.
This essay is a lot like life. We do not always want change because we are comfortable, but sometimes (well, most times) change is for the better.

Moral: Embrace change even if it means an uncomfortable situation. It just may make your life better.

39 Days until Christmas

So there is a new fever sweeping through the halls of Guffin 2nd...IT ALMOST CHRISTMAS TIME! We have been gearing up for the holiday season since we got here! Now, it is finally time to show our holiday spirit! We went to Walmart and bought a few things for our rooms each individually, and last night, we started decorating Guffin. We went around to most widows and sprayed a little faux snow and wrote positive Holiday safe messages in them. It was so much fun! Then we made paper chains for the ceiling (which we still have to finish). We all love the holiday spirit so much!

But there are people who do not appreciate our efforts! They are ba-humbugging because it's "too early". Well, it is never too early for this kind of spirit! Whenever one thinks about the holiday season, they have the power to make it a good one or a bad one, and for some reason, people always make it bad which essentially brings down the morale of the entire population. As my one hall mate Chelsea pointed out, "It's Jesus' birthday, you should be so excited right now!" And she is so right! We should all be getting excited about this wonderful season that is coming our way whether you like it or not. So choose to have a good attitude about Christmas...please? =)

Moral: ENJOY THIS TIME OF FESTIVE SPIRITS BECAUSE IT PASSES WAY TOO FAST!

Christian College Child Confessions

So, lately I have been thinking about a certain question that still makes no sense in my own mind, and I wanted to blog a little about it to help cope with the question. My question is: if God loves us so much then why does He put people or things in our life that hurt us?

Now there are many ways to respond to this question and also to prove it wrong. Some may say that it is to make us stronger, it is a trial that we have to overcome in order to become stronger for God. But, what happens once you have overcome this obstacle? Why does it still hurt afterwords? Shouldn't there be at least a brief period of reprieve? Some kind of temporary reward for the victory? Or what if I never win? What if I stay on the side of the road of life, never advancing forward?

Another way to respond to the question is by saying that everything happens for a reason. I am very much a believer in this statement, but when this thing is taking over your life, where is the relief? Where is God coming to the rescue at the exact time when you think you cannot hold on a second longer? If He doesn't come at this point when I feel hopeless, does it mean that the problem only gets worse, going deeper and deeper until you are drowning in a sea of despair?

Being spiritually stagnate is not a fun time in life. It's almost  inevitable especially at the college level because it is the responsibility of the student to take ownership of their own faith. It is no longer being forced to go to church on Sunday morning or CCD class, it all of a sudden becomes real and a seeming battle field in which is a fight from the second you wake up every morning to the moment you fall asleep, escaping the world's cruel purposes. It's scary...especially when you feel like you're losing God. It's even more scary when you feel like you are losing it because of something God made and put in your life for a reason. But why would God do that? Why would He create someone or something that would separate Him from me? Is it because "absence makes the heart grow fonder?" But what about "out of sight out of mind?" What if I never find my way back?

Moral: I don't have a moral this week, this was a way to write down my own thoughts and try to understand myself.

Learn Not To Lead

Happy Belated Halloween! It has been a crazy weekend here on G2nd to say the least. It was a busy weekend with various activities going. On Saturday, the Swing Dancing Club here at EU went to a Swing Club called SwingKat Ballroom on High. The experience was phenomenal! It was a costume party in honor of Halloween and there was a live band. The atmosphere was hopping as soon as people arrived and it was just an amazing feeling to be around so many people.
If you have ever done swing dance before, you know that there is a lead and a follow. Usually the female is the follow. This requires complete submission to the male when dancing which I will admit, is difficult. There are so many things to worry about when dancing including the placement of hands, the tension in between forearms, and also the safety of the girl when dipping. I dislike dipping strongly. I do not trust that anyone would be able to support my weight! But this past week, I just let myself free. I let the guy lead me, dip me, spin me, do whatever he wanted to do. This turned out to be one of the best nights since I have been at EU.
I guess I am tying all the lessons together here. Enjoy life's surprises and trust that in the end everything will work out. Enjoy life to the maximum and take risks. Life is too short to waste.

PS. 54 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!! =)

Getting Lost

Hello! It is a beautiful day here in Wayne and the colors of fall are being painted all around us! I absolutely love it!!! This past weekend was a pretty lazy. We watched "Paranormal Activity" and Ghost Adventures, watched the men's soccer game, and spent loving with each other! I had my friend Max over on Saturday to watch the soccer game and then after, we were supposed to go to Thornbury Township park, close to where I live. I was looking forward to this because it was a chance to get away from reality and college and just be 10 years old again. But after the soccer game, we didn't end up going to the park. Our hall was having a little bit of a dispute (as all halls do) and so I decided to stay put. After about an hour of argument, we finally decided that we were going to go out to dinner (to Peace a Pizza) to use our FREE PIZZA COUPONS!!!!! After about another half an hour (sorry Amanda) of getting ready, we were ready to hit the road.
So, on the way to the car, someone brought up the fact that no one knew how to get there, but Megan insisted that she knew the way. We took a right, then another right, then went straight, and as per Megan's instructions continued straight. It took us about 5 minutes to realize that Megan HAD NO IDEA WHERE SHE WAS GOING!! Now in her defense, we all contributed by saying "Oh yeah she's right keep on straight", but the problem is that there is 2 Peace a Pizza's around where we are and we were all navigating to different ones! So finally, Sammie whipped out her Iphone and it told us that we were navigating away from Peace a Pizza. While all this getting lost is going on, we're all screaming, laughing, and just being loud in general. We did eventually get there after passing it twice, but it will be something that I will never forget!
This is kind of a piggy back on last weeks lesson. A surprise (well, sort of we all knew that Megan's not good with directions =b shout out to Megan LOVE YOU!) was thrown at us and it was the way that we responded that made it fun. At first, there was tension and up tightness but soon, everyone was laughing along because we trusted that the GPS would get us there. We weren't literally blinded, but we didn't know where we were going and that was what made it memorable. It was our own mini adventure and it's something that we can all look back on.

Moral: Take Life's surprises with fun and trust that you will get where you need to be =)

Life's Surprises

This past weekend was fall free days and no one was on the floor, so it gave me a lot of time to reflect on life and this past year on a whole. As I was soul searching and such, I realized something very important. I was happiest most when I had random surprises (good and bad) thrown in my direction. I am a control freak, I need to know what's going on at all times and when it is going to happen and all the little details because I want to be in control no matter what. When life throws surprises at me, it is so unexpected and it's when I can't see, I can see God and His plan for me, which is a beautiful thing. I have made the most beautiful and unforgettable memories in these times and now as I am back in control again, I long for that blind bliss. This summer I was so blind to my future and I was completely okay with it. It didn't scare me like it usually does, and now as I am looking back, I wish that I had done things differently because if I had, I bet that I would be a lot more happy than I am right now (this is not to say that I am not happy right now).

More recently, I was given the opportunity to an event that could potentially enhance my career but I had cheerleading at the same time. I had missed the week before and this weekend was horrible because I had both sides tearing at me with the pros and cons of the situation and in this time of conflict, I didn't see God like I expected. I think He probably wanted to show me that I really do need Him and that I cannot always be the one in charge (--actually I should never be in charge). In the end I decided to go to the job event but I still felt horrible for letting my squad down for the second time in a row. But this was one of those last minute surprises and as a friend put it "You gotta do what you gotta do". I am very grateful for these random surprises and I cannot wait for the next one thrown my way!

Moral: Embrace life''s surprises with blindness and trust that everything will turn out the way it's supposed to.