I Found This

I went to a conference in Atlanta this past year. They gave us a notebook with various quotes in it. Or pages of excerpts of other books by great speakers and communicators. I found it the other day and I want to share one of the pages out of this small tiny journal they gave us.

This is from Soulprint by Mark Batterson.

"There has never been and never will be anyone else like you. But that isn't a testament to you. It's a testament to the God who created you. You are unlike anyone who has ever lived. But that uniqueness isn't a virtue. It's a responsibility. Uniqueness is God's gift to you, and uniqueness is your gift to God. You owe it to yourself to be yourself. But more important, you owe it to the One who designed you and destined you. Make no mistake, this is no self-help book. Self-help is nothing more than idolatry dressed up in a rented tuxedo. So let me be blunt: you aren't good enough or gifted enough to get where God wants you to go. Not without His help. But here's the good news: there is nothing God cannot do in you and through you if you simply yield your life to Him. All of it. All of you. This book is all about you, but it's not about you at all. The fact that there never has been and never will be anyone like you simply means that no one can worship God like you or for you. You were created to worship God in a way that n o one else can. How? By living a life no one else can-- your life. You have a unique destiny to fulfill, and n o one else can take your place. You play an irreplaceable role in God's grand narrative. But fulfilling your true destiny starts with discovering your true identity. And therein lies the challenge."

It's the First of the Beginning

So I'm moving... I've been living in a blessing for the past two years. It's a great story but it's not this story. This condo has at one point had five girls living in it, it was awesome but crazy. I was the first to arrive here and I'm the last to leave. It's a little stressful but it's been nice reflecting. Lizzie left yesterday and I'm doing some major getting rid of things. I don't have any boxes to pack up everything and the most I can do is put everything into piles. I have a throw away pile, a keep pile, and a give away pile. Putting all of my stuff into a pile is kind of stressing me out, just looking at it it looks overwhelming. If I just had the boxes to put them all into. Then I said this statement outloud, "I guess when you first start organizing it appears to look a little messy." Isn't that true about life? When we try to organize our life things pile up. Everything comes at once. It seems overwhelming but it's just the beginning of order. God is a God of order and what comes acrossed to us as messy and disorganized is really just the beginning of something beautiful.

eary ewn

So 2011 is coming to a close. A lot has happened that when thinking about it day to day doesn't seem like a whole lot but sitting down coming up with words turns into a whole year. I don't want to take advantage of my experiences. I learned a lot and a lot of new opportunities have been presented to me this past year. In 2012 a lot will change from this past year. I got to go home twice, I got a new car, I went to North Carolina, Tampa, Indiana, Chicago (which doesn't follow the pattern of stating states) Atlanta (this doesn't either) Michigan, Louisana, and Alabama. My sister came to visit and go to Shine. I was at the church more than I wansn't. I found a better sense of my calling. I went to a lot of five dollar movie days in the Summer. I met a lot of new people. People who knew my face know my name now. I found out that O+. I baked a lot this year as well as home made a lot of my meals. I got three dreads. I still work at Panera but picked up a second job at a local coffee shop by my house. I paid off my first credit card. I became addicted to word games and pumpkin spiced chai's. I joined a spin class for the summer. I got a twitter account in hopes to contact Conan O'brien but I couldn't keep up with updating twitter. I got to see Tom after two years of snail mailing. I got to see Casey one of my room friends leave for Ireland. I was able to couchsurf :) I cried a lot. and I laughed a whole lot. Here's some pictures from 2011 :) My Room Friends.. They're awesome

My mommy :) I luvz her Fleet Foxes live for the first time

I made my own toothpaste.
Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. I learned a lot.

I was a dinosaur for Halloween

We had many Brinner nights.

I met Jared and he took me on a lot of adventures.

I got to see Tom after two years of writing eachother back in forth from Indiana, Florida, California, South Korea, and Africa.

I finally got my face painted.

I saw Sarena and we ran through fountains.

I got a combover during the summer.

Ah Listen and I drove to Tampa but unplanned to camp out along the way.

I went and served at ARC in Baton Rouge and became a twinsie

I got a really old film camera and this is a shot from it.

I skyped with Sarena lots while she was finishing school :)

I went to the Seer's tower and stood above the Earth.

I got to see Chloe and eat Noodles and get threatened to get kicked out of a bar with her. I'm hardcore.

I built a sandcastle and some random guy stopped by asked us if we needed a shovel and I thought he was joking but he pulled a shovel out of his backpack and helped us build it.

Don't Tell My Mom

I'll update this blog in a day and tell the story behind it...

Awake My Soul

Medium, On Cold, Gentle Cycle

From Psalm 51

Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean

Is My Life About to Change

There's this song I listen to sometimes and more than sometimes I sing loudly along with it. There's a line in the song and the guy sings, "Is my life about to change?" And I've been thinking about it for awhile and consider that my life is getting ready to change. I've decided there are certain things in my life that make me a little too comfortable. Even though I can get discouraged I still have a lot of materialistic things to rely on. I'm getting ready to step into some change. I'm getting ready to move into some areas where I can position myself to totally rely on Jesus. I want to get into being uncomfortable again. I want to be in the unknown now matter how much it might make me cry. I want to be able to look to Jesus for comfort FIRST not third or fifth. So be prepared for some more sappy blog entries. :)