The Call - Drop It All

"If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.  If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.  But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.  And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but loose your soul?  Is there anything worth more than your soul?" 
Matthew 16:24-26

This passage is hard to swallow, but it is what God has called us to do.  I am so thankful that the Lord revealed this truth to me.  If you have never heard this before, I hope it opens your eyes like it did mine.  Or if you have heard it before, and kind of forgot about it, like I do so often, I hope that this is a fresh reminder.

The Lord has really blessed Luke and I with a small group.  They are a fun and loving group of people that I have grown to appreciate so much.  I really enjoy meeting with them every week and discussing God's Word.  We are reading a book called "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan.  It has opened my eyes to so many things, including the above passage.  The book has also pushed me to read the Bible for myself to see if what I have been fed all my life is the truth.  And so far, I am not surprised to report that all I have learned from the teachers and preachers in my life, including my Dad, is spot on.  I am kind of embarrassed that I haven't done this earlier, but I am glad that I am finally doing it now.  In the past I have found reading the bible to be so hard, but I have started in the New Testament, and it has been so great.  I am learning what kind of Christian the Lord wants me to be, which is the most important thing I could ever do.  I will share more scriptures that the Lord has revealed to me with you soon.

Love always,
Gracie

Love

This Sunday's past sermon made me realize that I need to Re-connect with people this Christmas season.  Jesus loved us so much that He died for us, and He commanded us to love each other like we love ourselves.

"Love each other like brothers and sisters.  Excel in showing respect for each other."
Romans 12:10

"Always be humble and gentle.  Be patient with each other, making allowance for each others faults because of your love."
Ephesians 4:2

Spread the love of Jesus this Christmas!

What a Wonderful World

Ok.  First of all, it has been half a year since I last blogged, and to be honest it will probably be another half a year before I do it again.  I just really had the urge to take a break from studying and post something.

It is almost 6:30 on a Friday night and I am doing something I normally would not be doing; I am studying.  And I can honestly say that this is the first time I have ever enjoyed it..

I just finished my first week of school of my final year of college, and it is definitely a bitter sweet feeling.  I want to enjoy this last year of school as much as I can because I know I will never get this experience again.  On the other hand, school can get old.  I will just leave it at that.

Fall semester is my favorite semester.  It makes me feel studious.  All the trees on campus start to change colors, the sun starts to set a little earlier each day, I go to the library to study, and I ride my bike to school with my jacket on.  It gives me that warm fuzzy feeling.

But here is the reason why I had the urge to blog.  Earlier this week I was not feeling good about my classes.  I guess it was a mixture of bad teachers and laziness, but I was not thrilled about the next 3 and a half months.  Thankfully, my attitude has changed.  I had just finished reading the second chapter of my Finance textbook (probably going to be the worse class this semester), and then I started reading the second chapter of my International Business textbook, and I was loving it.  It broke down all of the regions of the world and explained what countries were in each of them.  I am embarrassed to say I did not know much of anything about these places before I started reading.  Maybe I learned about them a while ago and then forgot like I usually do.  But it is so fun to learn where places are and what life is like in them.  I hope this info sticks with me this time.

The other reason why I love reading about it so much is because of the people I worked with at the Hyatt this summer.  Knowing them made the world seem more real to me.  This summer was the most contact I have had with other people besides Americans in my whole life.  They were from places like Moldova, Slovenia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Serbia.  And I will probably regret posting this on the Internet, but now I know that these are all places in Western Europe (I am just trying to be real with y'all).  And my Business and Ethics class will tie nicely into what I am learning about in International Business because we will be learning about different types of governments.  So I will get an even closer glimpse of what life is like for these people that are my age that live across the world from me.

I am so glad that at least two of my classes are going to be interesting this semester.  I was kind of regretting my decision to be a Business major because I don't really see myself as a business person, but I think it was a smart decision.  Even though I feel like I have forgotten a lot, I think the information will come back to me when I need it when I have a real job.  And I feel like the stuff I am learning is important for anyone to know.  Anyway, for now I am going to enjoy being a student for one more year, and then I will have the rest of my life to be a grown-up.

Mood ring, Oh mood ring, Oh tell me, Will you bring the key, To unlock this mystery?

This week has been a rollercoaster ride for my emotions.  My life went from 0 to 60 in one day.  I went from sleeping in and doing whatever I wanted for a whole month, to waking up at 7 a.m. every morning, and having something to do every minute.  The first week of school is always crazy for me.  Part of me is excited to come back and actually do something with my life again.  But then the other part dreads sitting in boring classes, writing papers, and working my butt off all the time.  I get so stressed out trying to get back into the swing of things.  Not to mention, I don't get to see the people I love the most every day.  That right there is enough to make me sad.  I feel like I don't have any control over my emotions either.  Sometimes I will wake up excited about the day, and then other days I wake up and I just don't want to do anything.  I just want to be happy all the time!

Today after I got back from class, I ate my lunch, and then layed down to watch tv for a little while.  Yes Man was on.  It's about this guy that had a boring life and he wasn't happy about it, so his friend suggested this seminar to give him a fresh perspective.  The seminar told him to say Yes to everything.  Long story short, he tried new things, he became spontaneous and free-spirited, and his life turned out to be a blast.  It cheered me up.  I love that about movies.  They can turn your mood completely around.

I'm sure my mood will even out after I get comfortable with my new schedule.  For now I am just going to do my best to be optimistic, and try not to think so much.  I analyze things way too much.  I know one thing that always make me feel better is doing my bible study, so that is what I am going to do right now.

Oh How He Loves Me

I woke up overwhelmed this morning. I have been stressed out because I have a lot to do before I have to go back to school, and I have been putting it all off, which makes it ten times worse. I only have two weeks to get it all done, and I have been dreading the day that I have to start classes again.

I feel like the devil is doing everything he can to keep me away from God's Word. He makes me feel like I have so many things to do that I don't have time for my bible study, when in reality that is the thing that I need the most. If I hadn't sat down to do my bible study today, I would have been stressed out, anxious, and probably unhappy all day. But God changed my heart this morning. He made me realize that I need to be joyful in all that I do. Instead of being annoyed that I have to package up two more textbooks and take them to the post office, I should be happy that they were sold. Instead of dreading filling out scholarships, I should be thankful that I have a chance at free money! Instead of agonizing about going back to school, I need to be thankful that I have a school to go to, a really nice apartment to live in, a goal to work towards, friends to be around, a life!

He showed me two verses that gave me comfort, peace, and joy today. These two verses are life changing:

Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.
Philippians 4:6-7

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
Matthew 6:33

I am so thankful for a God that loves me like He does. He sent His Son to die on the cross, so that I don't have to live in constant guilt and shame. He gave me His Word so that I can grow closer to Him, and become a better person. He enriches my life and gives me a reason to live.

Collage

Here are some pictures that will be in my collage. I'm going with a nature theme. I took every picture except one at Blackwater.  The other pictures are pressed flower designs that I made with my grandmother.  I will post a picture of the finished product whenever I get it done.

Early Bird

I am getting up early every morning from now on!  It is so great.  I feel like I am getting so much more done, and I want to make the most out of my last couple weeks of freedom.  I need to get used to it anyway because school will be starting soon and I have 9:00 and 9:30 classes every day except on Friday - (No class on Friday's!!)  This break has flown by so fast.  I still have so much to do.  Here is the list that I made yesterday:

Balance checkbook

Switch banks

Finish picture frame collage (going on my wall)

Do some scholarships

Buy textbooks for spring semester

Organize bible study notes

Paint and design bathroom

Look for an internship for the summer

Fill out FASFA

I really doubt I am going to get all of that done, but it's ok.  I will just do the important stuff now and then do the fun stuff in the summer, like designing my bathroom and putting up my picture frame collage.  This break has been so nice.  School stresses me out so much, but I have a feeling that the spring semester is going to be a lot better.  I am taking easier classes and only 16 credits.  I hope I get to do more fun stuff.

Brooke and I had a fun time last night.  It was nice to catch up with her.  Hopefully we will get to hang out a little more before school starts.  She might be going to Florida, so that might only give us a week.. we'll see.  Luke and I have been obsessed with Super Mario.  We bought it on Monday and have played it pretty much every night, for multiple hours.  It's so much fun.  It's been nice hanging out with him so much.  I miss that when I am at school.  And Katie and I had a blast on the way to North Carolina.  She is hilarious.  I want to go over to her apartment and hang out before this break is over.  It's been so long since I have been there.  Well, I better get started on that list.  Bye blog.

Hello World!

I finally created a blog!  I have wanted to do this for such a long time, but I never could find the right time to do it.  When I am in school I am just too busy, and when I was out of school I just couldn't get motivated to do it.  Right now I am on my winter break, and I was in the mood to make one, so today was the perfect day for the birth of my blog!

 

When I woke up this morning at 7:15 (very early for me) I was in such a productive mood.  I made a list of all the things that I need to accomplish before this break is over.  I was getting ready to tackle the list, but before I knew it, I got sucked into making this blog.  It has taken me all day to make it, but I have loved doing it!  Designing it has been so much fun.  I love the idea of blogging.  It's like a diary, but way trendier.  I can make it any color that I want, I can type in any font that I want, and I can add any photos that I want.  I also love that I can look back at it years from now to see what I was up to and what I was thinking!  Now, I don't know how faithful I will be when it comes to posting on this blog, but I will do my best.

I have more stuff that I want to write about, but I really need to go.  I told Brooke that I would be ready to go to Wal-Mart in an hour, an hour ago, and I still need to find my books online for next semester.  I guess I can just do that tomorrow.  This is the first time I have seen her all break.  Exciting!