A Perfect Gift

Every good thing and every perfect gift 
comes from the mercy of the Father. - James 1:17

I don't think I've ever written a full out blog about this kid,[partially because I've been scared to, not gna lie.] so I figured today of all days would be extremely appropriate since it's pretty special and he is too.
This summer I was in a Bible study that discussed the topic of dating and something that I stuck out to me, even to this day was that God doesn't create perfect people, but he does create and give you perfect gifts.
Meet Ben,.You've probably heard of him by now ..
I've pretty much known him the majority of my life as I have with quite a few kids I've grown up in church with. I never really thought much of it.     -until last year.
We started hanging out more and then bam . Sort of out of nowhere after a night of playing lazer tag and other fun games with our friend Austin Law we discovered our like for one another. The rest is history. It wasn't long before he became my best friend. I mean, the kid was just as weird as I was .. it was bound to happen. We texted eachother from the time we woke up until the time we went to bed, every day [We still do some days.. we never run out of things to talk about. It's kind of ridiculous.] and we basically  hung out every weekend from then on.

Then there was the semi-awkward Prom stage. We  had just recently started dating and were still trying to figure the other one out. The night ended up being pretty fun though. Definitely a significant and memorable night, really glad we decided to go :)

Now back to the topic of discussion. Ben himself is not perfect, neither am I .. or ANYONE on this earth by any means.. but after about 3 months of dating he became that "perfect gift"  that is mentioned in James. When my mom was diagnosed with cancer, God couldn't have put a better person in my life than this kid and his family. His family had also gone through the battle of cancer, coincidence? I don't think so. That was totally God's doing. When people say that God is always on time, they aren't kidding. He had been in the same situation as me at one point, which not a lot of people can say they have been.   Even when he didn't know what to say, he knew what to say. I am extremely blessed that my best friend was such an encouragement to me during that time.

As if that alone was not a blessing, it's great having someone who shares your faith. It's a lot harder finding people who share your morals and follow through with them in public school than you would think. I even had friends who I went to church with, but when we were at school they were completely different people. It was extremely frustrating, but having someone I could talk to, like Ben, about stuff was something I really enjoyed. Someone who loves Jesus takes on a whole new meaning to the word friend.

I have so much fun with this kid, I can't even tell you. We have got to be the weirdest people ever, it's great. I enjoy every minute of it.  There's so much more I wish I could say, but even then it wouldn't do this kid justice..

"Dear Jesus, thank you for ducks Ben."

Love you.

JOIN MY FAMILY IN RACING FOR A CURE!

JOIN ME FOR THE 14th ANNUAL SAN ANTONIO RACE FOR THE CURE ~ APRIL 30th, 2011 at the Alamodome. PLEASE - Check Out My Mom's Race For The Cure Personal Page and Sign Up For Our PINK Hope & Love Team!! This Is Going To Be A Victorious Day...I Hope You Can Join Me & My Family!!

http://www.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/General?px=8985467&pg=personal&fr_id=2149

In honor of the fight my mother continues to fight everyday, LOVE YOU.

So wonderful in all You do.

In June of 1996 my baby sister was born. The Doctor's thought she had Polio, and told us she would probably never be able to walk. Along with those complications she had muscle issues elsewhere and had to receive eye surgery at a very young age. The little girl who was expected to never take a step competed with a dance solo at Texas State for a Showmaker's Of America competition this weekend.

Just goes to show that God has bigger plans for us than we could ever imagine. She even used a song, which she stumbled upon by listening to her older sister's ipod *cough cough* You Are For Me- Kari Jobe. She got to minister to people through her God given talent. She did so well, and I'm a proud big sister. Dance is a big thing in our family, all of the girls in our family are dancers so we mean business.

Her team, Churchill Pep-Squad ended up winning the state championship :) 

What a great feeling knowing all that hard work payed off! 

Joy comes from the Lord.

Alrighttttt. Well it's been almost a week since I posted last. I am slowly easing out of my little emo teenager stage. That night and days that have followed are helping me and I am slowly returning to a better place.

Last Tuesday in week three of the Joy To The Girls Bible study, we talked about how we can't put our joy in other people. - ummm I love when God puts things in front of my face that are EXACTLY what I need in that point in time. It was seriously just what I needed to hear.

There are times when we get things that we want and sometimes we tend to focus more on those "things" than the person who blessed us,God. Blessings should symbolize our relationship with God. They should not replace God, but remind us of Him.  "Appreciate the gift, worship The Giver." -Bre'anna Emmitt

We read Hebrews 13:5 which says, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
- Don't dwell on the things of this world, they're not going to be going with you anywhere once you're dead. Instead, focus on The Maker of all good things who will be with you until the end of time.   We absolutely cannot let ourselves rely on others to be our joy. Joy comes from the LORD. If we entrust those around us with such a big task, we have set ourselves up for dissapointment.

I'm trying to focus on that concept, and keep telling myself that there's a light at the end of this tunnel..

Don't worry about anything - instead pray about everything.

This verse has followed me like none other. [Philippians 4:6]         Little did I know, all the times I heard that verse in the back of my head could easily come down to this very position I'm at in my life right now.
 A friend of mine is going through a rough spot with another friend. I wasn't aware that me trying to help her out with her situation would days later be helping me face my own.

 This morning at about 2:00am I pulled out my Bible and my ipod in a state of helplessness. I had been uncontrollably shaking for about an hour yesterday in result of emotions I was feeling.  I found some amazing scripture, but something that popped out at me was something I had previously highlighted [in the photo above] "God loves you."  - in my state of being totally broken I had heard people tell me they loved me, but my heart felt void other than the love of my Savior. I was just in that kind of place.
 A lot of experiences in my life have lead me to be slow to trust. There are few who I felt honored me,and it took a lot for me to get to that point. It has proven to be no different than the other times I have let other people make me feel good and have been disappointed. And that's going to continue to happen, nobody can satisfy me like my God. It's just a hard concept for me to grasp.
 I flipped through my Bible, then turned off the lights, put in my headphones, listened to songs about God's love for me, and just let it out. That was my ending to a miserable day.

SNOW DAY 2011 !

 The night before last they had said school was cancelled for the next day because of the weather [SO EXCITING]. Then I woke up and there was snow on the ground.I've seen snow plenty before so I didn't freak out too much,but it was still cool to have in my part of Texas cause that never happens. So I went outside and wrote a little in the snow then ran right back inside to the comfort of my warm bed haha!

Then I chilled for a while, I feel like I'm always going going going so the rest time was much needed. After a while of relaxation I got ready for the day. I ended up going to see True Grit with a really cool family :)  then I headed to a party at a friends which was fun.

After the party I hung out with one of my friends who lives in Austin. We somehow always end up at super target whenever she's in town .. so we did a little shopping at super target and then watched Ever After.[ I looooove that movie.]  - ended up getting home around 1:00am . I'd say I crammed a good amount of fun into my snow day :)

Worthy Enough To Suffer

Today in the "Joy To The Girls" Bible study Bre'anna opened up telling us how we go through seasons of our life. Today we talked about winter, which can be cold and harsh. She told us the story of Job. How even when he was literally on the ground and couldn't get any lower, he WORSHIPED.

Job 1:20-21 When Job heard this, he tore his clothes and shaved his head because of his great sorrow. He knelt on the ground, then worshiped God and said:"We bring nothing at birth; we take nothing with us at death.The LORD alone gives and takes.Praise the name of the LORD!"

I don't know about everyone else, but when I have things taken from me I don't exactly give thanks for it right away. What an AWESOME example Job is!

"What matters is what you do when you're on the ground."-Bre'anna Emmitt

Nehemiah 8:10 says that the JOY of the Lord will be our strength.

-I read this Bible verse over and over again while my mom was going through chemo. While I felt physically weak,God's joy kept me strong.

In Acts we talked about how the apostles were flogged 
[whipped on the back until flesh was torn] for Jesus. 

Acts 5:41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

Another instance .. if I was flogged ... I have no idea how I would react, but I would LOVE to be able to say that I left rejoicing.  God hands us sucky situations sometimes to see how we'll handle them. He lets us experience them because He thinks we're WORTHY enough. Yeah,you heard me. It's an honor and a privilege to experience hardship because God wants you to use your situations for His glory.

After Bible study I went to starbucks with one of my girlfriends. She and her boyfriend just broke up, for those of you who are older bear with me. Teenage love may not seem like the end of the world to you, but it sure does feel like it to the person it's happening to. It hurts no matter your age. I was able to share some of this with her which was something really cool, God gave Bre'anna the perfect message for today. 

I am so thankful for Jesus , and the way He is always on time.

Now, I am going to finish reviewing some biology notes and try to go to bed before 3:00am.. let's see how this turns out. 

Blessings xox