Creative Container

God made the universe. He made the animals, the people, the plants, feelings, the landscapes that we see every day, the plants that we walk on every morning on our way to school, every planet: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, the Milky Way...so...He's obviously bigger than everything that He's created. He's bigger than any human could ever comprehend. To Him, we're just miniscule little ants on a tiny ball that he created. But yet, He cares for us?
My dad said something about a week ago and I decided to write a blog about it. "They're trying to fit God into a box, and it's not working." Well, first of all, if anyone were to 'fit God inside of a box,' it would have to be a huge box, and seeing as we don't really have a box that big, it shouldn't be possible. Yet, people try to store God away inside of their little 'box' all the time; keeping Him for themselves, or their family, just in storage long enough to pull Him out on Sunday and praise Him a little bit, and then put Him away again. I have to ask, though...what is the point of that? God is there, because He wants you to live your life daily with Him, and through Him. He doesn't want to be stored away, put on a dusty shelf, in a cramped little container, just to be pulled out for your convenience. No. God needs to live by your side, not stored away somewhere for safe-keeping. He needs to be shown to the world, so that people can know the miracles that God works. This whole 'Christianity' thing, isn't supposed to be comfortable for you. This whole process is supposed to take you beyond your limits, to experience new things, to go new places, meet new people, and spread that love that God so freely gives. But that obviously can't be done, if he's stored up somewhere. Nothing can be accomplished if you keep to your comfort zone, and hide yourself from the things that God is pushing you to do. The same things can't be done to achieve anything...we have to reach out and make those things happen. They don't just 'magically' happen. We have to enforce it, and we can't do it without God's help. We can't comfortably place Him away for our conveniences when there are people out there who have never experienced God's unconditional love before. We can't comfortably place Him away for our conveniences when people need to hear about, and witness, the fantastic, unexplainable things that God can do for people...it's not right to hog God, and place Him where we know other's can't find Him from us...
I was reading the chapter of Mark in the Bible this morning...and these verses stuck out to me...
Mark 1:40-41 A man with a skin disease apprached Jesus, fell to his knees and begged, "If you want, you can make me clean."
Incensed (filled with compassion), Jesus reached out his hand, touched him, and said, "I do want to. Be clean."
God wants to heal people, He wants people to get better. And the only way of that happening...is for us to work through God's will, and have it be done, to heal those who are hurting, or sick.

Mark 2:16-17 When some of the legal experts from among the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collecters, they asked his disciples, "Why is he eating with sinners and tax collecters?"
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn't come to call righteous people, but sinners."
Mark 3:23-29 When Jesus called them together he spoke to them in a parable: "How can Satan throw Satan out? A kingdom involved in civil war will collapse. And a house torn apart by divisions will collapse. If Satan rebels against himself and is divided, then he can't endure. He's done for. No one gets into the house of a strong person and steals anything without first tying up the strong person. Only then can the house be burglarized. I assure you that human beings will be forgiven for everything, for all sins and insults of every kind...

Lost Cause

Apparently these were ideas that I had and ended up not finishing them...or even starting them for that matter.

YOU
Father The God of Israel
Heaven
Power
Lord God of Israel
Lord God
The God of Glory
The God of Our Fathers
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
The Divine Nature
The Creator
Father of Mercies
God of all Comfort
The Living God
Lord Almighty
The Father of Glory
Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah
The Eternal Immortal Invisible King
Sovereign
God the Father
The Majesty
The Most High God
The Father of Spirits
A Consuming Fire
God of Peace
The Father of Lights
The Lawgiver and Judge
Lord of Armies
The Majestic Glory
The Almighty
The King of the Nations

WHAT WOULD YOU DO...
if God had a call for your life that seemed to be totally outrageous to you? If it was what YOU were meant to do...would you do it? Would you do it because you know it's what God would want you to do, or would you do it because you knew you couldn't do it alone; that you would need God to help you?
How would you pull yourself to do it? Would you just do it because you know it's right, or would you have to take a giant leap of faith to get there?
Maybe you've already been through this. Maybe you've already had to make the choice between something YOU thought was right and something that GOD thought was right...well, what did you choose? Did you choose what YOU wanted to do because it was the 'easy' choice, or did you choose what GOD wanted you to do because it was the 'hard' choice?

LET'S HOPE WE NEVER HAVE TO SAY GOODBYE, SAY GOODBYE
Let me just start off by apologizing for the fact that I haven't blogged since Mother's Day. Summer came and I got a little...distracted. I've been finding time for myself to just, relax, and enjoy my summer. And I've also been vacationing here and there, so, I've been a little busy. But not to worry, I have a blog. :)


Seeing as no inspiration has really sprung on me for awhile, my sister suggested that I write an entry about her, and I thought, why not just write an entry about my whole family? So I suppose that's what I'll do.
Let me just start by saying that I really do feel bad for people who claim to hate their family. To me, my family is my whole world. I mean, they know what I love, they know what I hate, I can trust them with anyting I confess to them, and they can trust me in return. My family is very dear to my heart and I really wish that other people could experience the same things that I experience with my family, because sometimes they're the best friends that I have.

MYSTERIOUS FUTURE
Jeremiah 29:11~ "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

I have struggled (and mind you, I'm still struggling) for a ridiculous amount of time in figuring out what I want to do with my life. This verse always comforts me. To know that He has my life planned out for me already. That He knows what I'm going to do, what He wants me to do...the hard part is just figuring it out...
I keep switching between plenty of different ideas, but none of them seem to stick. How do I know which one is the RIGHT one? How do I know it's the thing that I'm meant to do for the rest of my life? I don't. In order to figure that out, I need to talk to God, and figure out what He wants for me.
For me, that's really challenging. I've always had most everything planned out for myself, and to just give myself up to God, and have Him lead me in the right direction is really something that is hard to do.

STARGAZING
When I look up at the night sky that surrounds me on a clear, winter night, it's as if nothing around me exists. The beauty that God created spreads across the sky, dazzling on-lookers with complete amazement and wonder. It's amazing that God could do so much for us. With a wave of his hand, billions and billions, and billions of stars and planets and constellations were made. They're there to gaze upon, to explore, to wonder about...

This was just for funzies. I'm probably not going to expand on these ideas anymore because for half of them...I don't even know where they were headed.
But maybe...I can get some inspiration or something. I'm really hoping that it'll kick into gear once school starts and my mind starts working again...but until then, enjoy!

And Something Clicked in My Mind.

I CAN'T BLAME MYSELF FOR SOMEONE ELSE'S SINS.
Thank you Sterling, for making my mind click when you said this.

I realize it's what I've been facing for months. And I know I'd been told by other people, what he does isn't my problem, because I'm not the one doing it, and I can't control what he does...but he was still doing it...and I continued to blame myself, because I was supposed to be his friend...I was supposed to protect him from things like that...

But I know it's in the past now, and I've given it up. I can't linger on what's been done, but what can or will be done. Maybe I couldn't stop him from making those decisions for himself, but I can pray for him. I tried to tell him about Christ, and he wouldn't go for it. But I can still pray for him. And right now, I think that's all I can do. Because he's the one that makes the decisions in his life. He's the one controlling it, not me. And it's for him to decide what he thinks is best for himself. Not me. I can't change what he's done, or doing. But I can hope. And I can hope for the best. Because through God, anything is possible.

Effort

So, I'm in Marching Band. (Marching BAYund!) And we are currently working our butts off at Band Camp, like we do every summer before school starts, and it's a lot of hard work. We go through the same process every day from 8AM-4PM (with an hour for lunch): Stretch, Basics Block, learning/reviewing drill, lunch, music sectionals, and then putting everything together on the field. It's a routine system. And it takes effort. Lots and lots of effort. Effort and determination. I mean really, about everyone there wakes up around 6:30 in the morning, to march on the hard hot black-top that's our marching field. We wake up early, to start early; to march on the hard ground for about six hours a day, getting sunburned from standing outside (I could literally feel the heat coming off the blacktop through my shoes), becoming exhausted from working so hard, possibly getting stung by bees buzzing around, gaining hard-earned muscles from so much marching, and being pushed by everyone to give it our all.

All of it takes effort. Lots and lots of effort. The only way to make progress is if you WANT to make progress, which, most of us do, so we put in the effort and hard work to make that progress.

I got to thinking about that kind of thing today, and how it matches up with the way things should be with God. I mean, if you want to build a relationship with Him, it takes effort. Hard-earned work. God reaches out to us, but we're the only ones that can make the connection with Him by reaching out to Him, too. He's always there for us, and we have to be there for Him too. It's a two-way relationship. Otherwise, it would be like talking to someone's back. Like God is reaching out for us, but we aren't making the effort to reach back to Him. In order to connect with Him, we need that effort in there. Time has to be put in to talk to God, to learn from God, to be with God. He can't do all the work for you; that doesn't benefit you.

And sure, it takes a lot of hard work to reach Him sometimes, but you have to remember that He's always reaching out for you in return. He has the effort to call on you; all you have to do is answer.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
Psalm 139

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you.
Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord .
They rejoice in your name all day long;
they exult in your righteousness.
Psalm 89:14-16

MORE THAN

Recently, I just got back from a United Methodist Conference called Youth 2011, and I've gotta say, it was pretty awesome. :) I mean, I've been to conferences and such before like Planet Wisdom and Revolve Tour, but I'd never been to a gathering with other Methodists. The theme of the event was that God is More Than anything and everything.
He is More Than This:
Matthew 28:18-20 says: Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age." (The Message)
He is More Than Me:
1John 4:4-6 says: My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world's language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception. (The Message)
He is More Than We Know:
Ephesians 3:20 says: God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. (The Message)

Those are just a few of the things that were touched upon at the conference in California. We had spectacular speakers telling us things like: No matter what we do, what has been done, what we're feeling, or what WILL be done, God is always there for us, we just need to go to Him.
And another thing, that I really think hit home with a lot of kids there was: Scars shouldn't be a sign of a past, but proof that you've been healed.
I really think, in our day and age, a lot of people have a hard time understanding that concept. And what I'm really wondering, is how many kids really took the conference to heart. The speakers there were talking about how they shouldn't just go back home from the conference and not learn anything from it, or not take action from it, but I'm wondering just how many people WILL do stuff. And I'm not saying  that everyone was completely changed by this experience, because maybe they weren't. But there certainly was a lot of valuable stuff to be learned there, and taken into practice for people's everyday lives. And what sickens me, is when 2000+ people can go to a conference like that and learn so many things, and 'play the part' there, but then when they return home, it fades away into nothing. Like it was just another past event. I'm not saying everyone acts this way either, but maybe a lot of them do. I mean, I'll see people who just go to church for instance, and they'll act in their Faith and live for God, but when it comes to going back to school, or some other 'outside event,' they won't act anything like who I thought they were.
Maybe it's tough for people because of what is going on in their lives...maybe they've had a life-changing experience that didn't have to do with Christ. That led them to some addiction, or depression, or some mistake that they feel they'll regret for the rest of their lives...but God will always be there for people, whether they want Him to be or not, and He'll continue to push toward those people, but it will ultimately be that person's choice of what to do.
I'm also not saying that I'm going to be perfect in every choice that I make, because I know I'm not. I make mistakes, I falter and fall away from God. And yeah, those times are hard. And it's hard to get back on track, but it's so frustrating to see people call themselves 'Christians,' and then turn right around and act like something completely different.
I'm also not saying that everyone that went to that conference didn't learn something, and won't act in their Faith. Because I truely believe that a good majority of them will. I just hope that everyone at least learned something from it, like I did.

Negative Thoughts

I'm not entirely sure waht has been happening to me lately; maybe it's my lack of social skills that have me confounded, but I'm always thinking negative things. My friends would even tell me that they wish the ycould feel as positively about things that I can, but I feel like I no longer posess that quality anymore. I'm always brooding about how things are sucking or falling apart, or that things won't get better, even though I know things pass and people move forward in life.

I'm always wishing things could be better but I'm never celebrating current situations. And I always doubt that there's something out there for me but I know there is because God holds a plan for everyone. I guess I'm just becoming impatient trying to decipher what God's call for me is. I mean, I feel like He'll call, I'll pick up the phone, and then all I will hear is the steady hum of the disconnected line on the other side. Maybe I'm not supposed to know what my call is yet? But that doesn't entirely make sense since I'm going to be a Senior? It would just be nice to know what direction I should go in, at least. I don't want to be left behind. And maybe it's just something I need to meditate on for a few hours; I just don't want to make a mistake...

Proverbs 19:20-21 says: Listen to instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

I'm also continually getting mixed signs. One day I'll be certain that I want to do Journalism, and then I'll hear somewhere that a college completely got rid of that major because it's a dying career, but then the next day I'll receive college information about an extraordinary media college that specializes in Journalism and such, but then I'll find out that it's a private school that will probably cost a ridiculous amount of money because it's also out of state. Other days I'll be set on being an artist, because there are fantastic in-state schools that I could apply for, and start building a portfolio. But then I get freaked out when I see the reactions on some people's faces when I tell them it might be what I want to do and I become worried because I don't really know what I could do with an art major. So then I worry about after college and wonder where the heck I would get started, and wonder whether or not I could actually support myself out there. So then I wonder if God has something else intended for me after all, because I keep getting mixed signs. And if that's the case, then I hae no idea what He has planned for me after all.

Maybe I'm just thinking on this too much. No, I am thinking on this too much. But it's consuming my everyday thoughts and it seems to be dragging me down because I get worried and confused and disapointed when I don't know what is meant for me, and it's frustrating because it's like a never-ending cycle that keeps stressing me out.

Maybe I have negative thoughts because I can see plainly what other people are capable of, but I can't see what I'm capable of...