Love

Love is not an emotion. Love is not a feeling. Love is not short-lived.

Infatuation is an emotion and a feeling. Infatuation is short-lived.

Love is a choice. Love is everlasting. Love is sincere. Love has no borders.

Love is dying to yourself and putting others before you, suffering for the sake of someone else.

You must CHOOSE to love someone.

Showing someone patience and kindness is love. Love is not easily angered. Love is not prideful.

Love always protects, trusts, HOPES, and always perseveres.

Perseverance - steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty and delay in achieving success.

"Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." - Romans 12:10

A New Year

My new years resolutions are more lifelong goals. I will strive to reach them all my life - to fall deeper and deeper in love with God and to inspire others to do the same. There's an infinite amount of love to be reached and an abundant amount of people who need Jesus. I only hope that I have impacted at least one person before I die.

"Enjoy the adventure of finding yourself through losing yourself in the Lord" - Jesus Calling

I want to let God mold and shape me into the person He created and designed me to be. We are the clay and He is the potter. Take me, mold me, and use me.
"Lord, you are our father. We are like clay, and you are the potter; your hands made us." - Isaiah 64:8

I want to follow the will of God for my life instead of making my own plans.

Life in Jesus is a rebirth experience with opportunities to start fresh. Not only is each new year a fresh start but so is each day.

Disney Vacation

I had an amazing time with some amazing people at Disney World! I thank God so much for this opportunity and fun time! It was the right mixture of relaxation and fun! I had so much fun making this video and worked very hard on it! This is just a peek into all of the things we did! I hope you enjoy, and I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

I also got the privilege to take pictures of the newly engaged couple, my sister and soon-to-be bro-in-law! 

Be Someone's Blessing

Sometimes we need to stop waiting and looking for our own blessings, and instead, be a blessing to someone else. We must die to ourselves and put others before us. God can take your feelings of tiredness, emptiness, confusion, or hopelessness and turn them into hope, joy, and comfort so that you may overflow into others lives. Don't wait for someone to overflow into you. Call out to God. Don't hog all comfort to yourself; share it. 

"Praise be to the God our Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Some dear friends of mine are in the process of adopting their second child. Adoption is expensive, but with the blessings and prayers of others, it is possible. I'd like you to pray and consider blessing my friends Shane and Jennie by donating to their adoption fund:

"Hello friends,

Jennie and I have officially begun the process to find and adopt our second child!  More accurately, we’ve completed everything to put ourselves back on the market, so to speak.  It’s up to the right birth mother to find and choose us.  The most important thing we can ask is that you keep us in prayer.  There’s another boy or girl out there who needs to make their way to us. God can orchestrate all things to bring that about!

It can be a long process, and it’s definitely expensive.  We’re cutting corners wherever we can to make this journey possible.  We wondered if any of our friends would have room in their hearts (and their wallets) to help us with the expense!

Donating is easy.  Just use the link below.  Contributions of any size will help.  Not everyone will be able to give, and we understand.  If you have friends you can share our story with, please consider passing it along.  If anyone has a website, blog, Facebook account, or skywriting business, please consider sharing the link that way." 

https://www.gofundme.com/secondadoption

Our first adopted son, Jonah, has been a tremendous blessing to us. He’s our family!  And we can’t wait to share that family with another baby in need of a home.  No matter how you help, thank you for being a part of the journey with us!"

Love always,

Shane & Jennie

Thanksgiving Break 2015

I am so unbelievably thankful for everything God has blessed me with. My family is such a huge part of my life, and I am so thankful I was able to spend thanksgiving break with them. Check out this video to see a peek of all the stuff I did with my family over thanksgiving break! I had a lot of fun filming my time back home and worked really hard to make this video! I hope you enjoy!

  

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" - 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Thank God for every and any of your circumstances. Thank God for your suffering, joy, hardships, health, sickness, prosperity, failures... In every season thank God. It is through thankfulness in every situation that God will give you true joy.

"A thankful mind-set does not entail a denial of reality with its plethora of problems. Instead, it rejoices in Me, your Savior, in the midst of trials and tribulations.
Thanksgiving and praise put you in proper relationship with Me, opening the way for My riches to flow into you." - Jesus Calling
"As you walk with Me through this day, practice trusting and thanking Me all along the way. Thankfulness lifts you up above your circumstances. As you bring Me the sacrifice of thanksgiving, regardless of your feelings, My Spirit is able to work more freely within you. When your mind in stuck on a negative focus, you see neither Me nor the My gifts. In faith, thank Me for whatever is preoccupying your mind." - Jesus Calling 

My high school teacher once told me, "What if you woke up the next morning with only the things you thanks God for in the past week."

In addition, I am so thankful for this incredible college journey God has blessed me with! I couldn't have asked for a better roommate and overall experience!

"Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, ALWAYS giving thanks" - Philippians 4:6 

Sleep Walking

 

My prayer recently has been, "Lord, please take away my oblivion. Help me to see the opportunities you place in front of me."

(listen to Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath while watching) 

"All those people going somewhere, why have I never cared?"
"Give me your eyes so I can see everything that I keep missing."
"Give me your arms for the broken hearted; give me your heart for the ones forgotten."
"Couple of million eyes just move and pass me by; I want a second glance to see the way You've seen the people all along." - Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes

I live in the midst of a battlefield (college campus). There's thousands of people surrounding me who have never experienced the love of God. They're confused, hurting, searching, lost people.  Walking to class, passing people by, I don't want to miss the opportunity to share God's love. They need to know.

I feel partially responsible. Like, I have this wonderful knowledge that saves lives, but I'm too selfish to share it. It does no good if I keep it to myself. It's not fair to keep this unconditional, everlasting love to myself.

"I don't want to go through the motions. I don't want to go one more day without You're all consuming compassion. I don't want to spend my whole life asking what if I had given everything instead of going through the motions?" - Mathew West - Motions

I don't want to sleep walk around campus, too caught up in my own busyness to miss all the strife surrounding me.

"When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need - words that will help others become stronger. Then what you say will do good to those who listen to you." - Ephesians 4:29

"So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature person in Christ." - Colossians 1:28

These next verses are exactly what I've been feeling/thinking! I thank God for revealing these verses to me, because I was searching for some that related to this subject! He's incredible!

"Continue praying, keeping alert, and always thanking God. Also pray for us that God will give us an OPPORTUNITY to tell people his message. Pray that we can preach the secret that God has made known about Christ. Pray that I can speak in a way that will make it clear. " Colossians 4:2-4

"Be wise in the way you act with people who are not believers, making the most of every OPPORTUNITY. When you talk, you should always be kind and pleasant so you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should." - Colossians 4:5-6

Fix Your Focus

One rainy Monday morning I drove back to college, trying to make it back in time for my class. I pulled in to find no available parking spaces where I usually park. I resulted to parking in the adjacent parking lot, quickly unpacked, and made it to class.