Drive and Ponder. Ponder and drive

So this morning as I was driving on the highway to school, a couple minutes fashionably late as usual, I began to think about driving..it was kind of funny because God was showing me something.
When you're in the car, and look to the side of you, you notice your surroundings, other cars, how fast things are passing, or how slow you're going. If you look for too long, you begin to drift from the correct lane you're in.
But if you keep your eyes on the road in front of you, you don't drift. You stay in the right lane you're suppose to be in. And I also noticed that you don't notice the speed as much. Yes, of course you can tell if you are going fast or slow, but you dont recognize it as much as if you were to look away.
This is a metaphor for life.
Our life with God. If I just keep my eyes on Him, on the path that he's set before me to run, I won't stray. I won't run into other things, and my life is to the fullest when my focus is on Him. The speed of life becomes less of a worry when my perspective is on my Jesus...
just a thought.

Another thought He brought to me... this always happens when I'm driving.
I guess that's the best time for Him to show me things to ponder on.
A love song came on my Ipod and I began to think about people, love, and God.
We, as people, long for someone to love us. IT's just how we were created.
God's put that desire inside of our very beings.
And I was thinking how we long for that one person to love us, think the world of us. That one being to fill us with that love.
And when we find them, it's like we have to share it with everyone. We think it's the most amazing thing, that we've found this one person that finds us so incredible and special.
One person for you, and you for that one person.
We find it amazing.
But then I began to think of God and how he loves us this way. And how His love is undconditional.
It's always there to be poured out on us.
Yet, we don't find this as amazing as the one for one person love. How silly this world is!
How much more incredible should we find that God's love is unconditional, always faithful and true, and never ending!
This love is One for all. God loves everyone with a passion.
His love is for the multiples, yet not necessarily the multiples for Him..
I think we take His love for granted because it's always readily there. We can walk away, not think about Him, and He's still there. Where as a one person's love might not always be there.
We cherish the temporary more than the eternal.
I want to start treating God's love as if He were the only being that could ever love me, and I'm the only one that could love Him.
In a way, He is the only one that truly can.
Just something to think about...

"Your love has no limit at all
Your love has no limit at all
It has no limit, at all

You don't treat me like I deserve
You don't crush me with a heavy hand
You don't leave me alone in this world

And you know how I was formed
When the wind blows I'll be gone
Like a flower after winter storm

Your love has no limit at all
Your love has no limit at all"

-Enter the Worship Circle

(they're amazing bee tea double you)

Road Trip.

That's the brilliant thing about private schools. You get the whole school cancelled when your basketball team makes it to state.
Lucky I know.
Therefore, it was time for my dear best friend and I to head out on our first official road trip together, on our own this time.
Full tank of gas- check.
Snacks- check.
GPS (aka sally)-check.
sunglasses-check.
two super stoked girls to get on the road?
check and check.

And so we were Off to Spokane to see our team's play some basketball...(Insert song "we're playing BA. SKET. Baall.." here.)
Sally helped guide us along the way, though at times we unplugged her..
But nonetheless we made it!
Saw first girls' game, then had tons of time to kill, since the boys' game was at NINE at night...
SO. What to do, what to do. What a silly question to ask.
Shopping was in order. We hunted good finds at Nordstrom rack, then relaxed our exhausted feet by sitting in Barnes and Nobles. Who would've thought that hours upon hours of shopping could be exhausting?
We then head out in search for a lovely church service to wake us up before the game later.
Coffee helped, yes, but some worship and preaching most definitely topped it off.
Boys won. YES.
made spiffy spirit tees at 2 in the morning.
goodnight world.

Thursday morning. Got ready, went to the arena to cheer our girls on; sadly they lost their 2nd game, but they are still such great players. They have more heart and spirit than most. Then we drove around spokane, looking for a park..which didn't exactly happen, but we DID find a Forever 21.
and let me tell you, if you're the kind of person who is overwhelmed easily, please bring a guide and paper bag with you while entering Forever.
So many options, it's like where do I start?
Successful shopping-check.
Abigail had never eaten at Pita Pit before, and that's like saying Michael phelps had never been in a pool before.
She's a healthy eater, so Pita was right up her alley. Suffice to say, she loved it.
Successful luncheon-check.
More time to kill, so we took out our guns, and shot it down by going to World's market, this cute store with items from INdia, to foods from Korea, with cute little trinkets gallore.
TIM TAMS. the best invention of a cookie. This Australian chocolate cookie, that you take a bite out of from both ends, then sip hot chocolate into it. It then melts the entire cookie right into your mouth. Heaven will have these.
Then abby and I slowly made our way to Barnes and Noble. where we...read. sat. giggled. drank hot cocoa and tim tams. Then fell asleep on the couches.
We then tried slapping ourselves to wake us up for the game that was ALSO at nine. Ridiculous.
But we finally made it.
I made a new friend that continued to take pictures of me with his fake camera, then persistently turned around to stare at me.
(he was a 5 year old little boy)
He'll make a great paparazzi someday.

Then we made our way back home today.
Lovely Fun filled weekend.
Good Friends are the sun to my shine.

Next on my list, Seattle.

Indifferent.

In the impossible times of life, how often We forget.
How often we focus on the minor details of the day that seem so GREAT and unconquerable.
Our focal points zone in on the things that are lacking, the things that are wrong.
The things that are out of control. Those tiny details that mislead us to thinking "God, Where did you go exactly..?"
One of my good friends said,
"Even in your darkest times, when you don't even remember what His voice sounds like.
He is there."

HE ISSSSS.
He simply is. Even if He wanted to leave, He couldn't. That's how strong of an impression we have on His great big heart that never ceases to stop pounding with affection for us.
His love not only compels him to care for us, but it's in his very being, his very breath of life to protect, and simply love on us.

I'm indifferent.
I've learned to accept my flaws. These tiny mishaps of the stumbling blocks in the past.
I've tripped, yes.
Fallen? sure.
But I've also gotten up.
MY JESUS reached out and picked me up, right off my face.
He's brushed this insecurity, condemnation dirt right off of my pant leg.
It flew away like chaff in the wind.
I've become immune to the enemy's arrows.
Immune to useless pain.
But have embraced the suffering that was good for me.
The suffering that birthed growth.
A New Perspective.
Jesus my Jesus, whatever would I be without you?
nothing. Thats just it. nothing at all.
I live life as if you really are the Jesus, we all say you are.

haha. God is so good you guys. I asked Him to give me a verse, opened my bible, and this is what the page said:
Zechariah 13:9-
I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure.
I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them.
I will say, "These are my people, and they will say, "The Lord is our God."

Hello adulthood.

Yesterday was nothing like I expected...it was better.
and nothing went according to plan, but made it that much sweeter.

I received two free starbucks, without asking. Thank you Chris Yourdan.

Flowers and a card from Elisa, who is like my big sister, they were gorgeous!

and the Sun was shining. All day.

The plan for the night was to go to olive garden, ice skate, then manhunt.
but none of those things went the way I thought they might...
It was an HOUR wait at every single restaurant we went to, amidst the little options we have in tri-town.
So we ended up going to Mongolian, which was just as wonderful!
An ethnic birthday.
And it was so simple, yet so lovely. Just the people who I care about so much, surrounding a small table in a quaint little mongolian restaurant. That's how birthday's should be.
My dad got me this BEAUTIFUL gold, sapphire ring. It's, one of the best gifts I've ever receiven.
And my dear abigail got me canvasses and paint. The gifts I really wanted in my heart, yet didn't tell anyone about.
She's a keeper.
We then we're about to go ice skating, only to find out that the next session started a half an hour before manhunt was suppose to go on.
So, we decided to skip ice skating, and chill at my house before the hunt.
Which was just as fun. We ate cake, talked, and laughed.
oh and I can't forget birthday cake ice cream. THE best.
Then manhunt was INSANE.
Behind clearwater to Lawrence Scott Park.
Jumping into bushes, running, hiding behind buildings, I felt like a true fugitive.
Which was exhilarating.
I ALMOST got caught when I slipped on an icy driveway hill, and tumbled down.
And I received lovely bruises and scratches, the road's birthday present to me.
But I ran free and made it there in one piece
=)
Suffice to say, this 18th birthday was a success.

How lovely are the friends that surround me, who make my days a joy to live.
Along with My Jesus.
Thank you Lord for the blessings you place on my life, how dear they are to me.

Make what you want out of it.

So I've decided, that every single day is what You make out of it.
It's your decision, to be sad, or depressed,
or be happy, and choose to laugh.
Choose to smile, even when you don't feel like it.
Choose to be the the better self that you can be.
That God wants you to be.
It really changes the outcome of your day.

haha, like Joel Olsteen says, "Be a better You."

I was listening to a podcast by Pastor Judah Smith, (the pastor at generation church in seattle, my future internship)
in the car, and man, it was SO GOOD.

When God crosses His arms.

He talked about Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. And when Joseph blessed them, he gave the blessing to Ephraim, the younger son who didn't deserve it, while Manasseh, the first born, received nothing.
Manasseh should've received the blessing, but he didn't.
Joseph crossed his arms, with the left on Manasseh, and right on Ephraim.
It's funny when you learn the meanings of their names and apply it.
Ephraim means "Fruitful, or Favored"
Manasseh means "Forgetful"

and Judah was saying how Jesus CHOSE to be Manasseh. He chose to be forgetful of our sins. He always has been.
and if He is Manasseh, then there's only one option left. We are Ephraim. We are blessed and favored in Christ!
We didn't deserve ANYTHING from God.
Not even a glance from His holy precious eyes, yet He looks upon us with tender mercy, and lavishes his unfailing love on us.
Over and Over again.
In Jeremiah it says that His thoughts about us, are Inumerable.
Unmeasurable.
Like the sand on the seashore.
and when we put our confidence and faith in Him, each single thought about us, is Wonderful.
Every detail of His thoughts about us are only filled with goodness, favor, and love.
How wild is that?
Just thinking about God forgetting my wrong, and only wanting goodness and blessings to fall on my life and be produced is so ridiculous to think about..

So all that to say, Live life as if God is who He really says He is!
Live with a mindset of knowing that your Jesus only wants the very best for you, in every situation, of every single day.

and my painting is done!
I'm thinking of writing a quote, or a scripture next to it above the roots...but the painting job of it is finished.

Here's the verse that inspired me-
Jeremiah 17:7
"But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
They are like trees planted along a Riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water, such trees
are not bothered by the heat, or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit."