did someone say go flames?

Here is a post that has been in the making for the last month or so. But first let me tell you the backstory. (it won't take long I promise.) 

So about a month ago March 8th, to be exact I applied for Liberty University Online. I really thought nothing of it at the time, I just wanted to get some information about their Elementary Education program. So within a couple of minutes, a lady called me and told me all about Liberty, what they are about and etc. So I thought nothing about it at the time but then I really started praying and asking the Lord about it. Should I attend LUO? It would mean I could stay close to home, I could keep my job at Ryske's and I could go to school and get my degree and still help out with my grandparents? So I then began praying about it and I remember specifically one day I had my journal out and I remember telling God, if this is where you want me to go I will go. I remember from that moment, I told myself, if you get accepted, Liberty is going to be where I am going to get my degree. 

You may think oh this was an easy decision but this wasn't at all, it took time, thought, discussion with my mom and dad and prayer and countless times with God in worship.

So fast forward a month, countless emails, phone calls and this past Friday I got a letter and on the front it said admissions decision enclosed. With my heart beating and that week had been really rough for me, I open it and I scream (sorry dad, didn't mean to scare you!). I got in, I got accepted, I am an official Liberty University Online student. I get to register for classes soon. I am so excited for the classes I get to take in my degree, but I am really excited for the Bible classes that I get to take as well! 

Now if some of you are like how can you attend a school but not live on campus? Well with LUO it is possible to obtain your degree in the comfort of your own home. I would love to study at Liberty in Virginia but I chose that it would be better for me to obtain it through Liberty University Online right here in Michigan.

So this fall I begin my journey as a Liberty Flame. I start my journey in getting my bachelors of science in elementary education in interdisciplinary studies. here i come LUO! I'm comin' for ya! 

Eyes.

   There is just something about eyes, that I love it might be the color or just how beautiful they are. If you are looking for a simple of definition of eye here is what I found on Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Simple definition of eyes “the part of the body that you see with, an ability to understand and appreciate something seen, used to describe the way something looks to you.”.

    Now if you want a full definition here is the fuller version of what I found on Merriam-Webster, “a :  a specialized light-sensitive sensory structure of animals that in nearly all vertebrates, most arthropods, and some mollusks is the image-forming organ of sight; especially :  the nearly spherical usually paired hollow organ of sight in vertebrates that is filled with a jellylike material, is lined with a photosensitive retina, and is lodged in a bony orbit in the skullb :  all the visible structures within and surrounding the orbit and including eyelids, eyelashes, and eyebrowsc (1) :  the faculty of seeing with eyes (2) :  the faculty of intellectual or aesthetic perception or appreciation <an eye for beauty> (3) :  skill or ability dependent upon eyesight <a batter with a good eye>”.

    If you ask me I think that is the neatest thing in the world, even though I am not really huge in science but I love how they tell you every little detail. One question I’ve always wanted to ask someone is, what is it like to see with both of your eyes? You may be sitting here reading this and be like, why would you want to know that, can’t you see with both your eyes? And I would have to answer that no I can’t see with both of my eyes, I am blind in my right eye, I was born premature so that eye didn’t have time to develop and so I will never know what it is like to see out of my eye until I am in Heaven. Now you are probably really asking then why do you like eyes so much? Well I love the colors that they have and I just think it is so cool that God made my eyes. That everything to do with the eyeball and behind the eyeball is all God breathed, like seriously y’all God made you and me out of the dust, like just let that sink in for a minute. That just gets me all giddy just thinking about it.

   There are so many different colors, different shades of the colors, there is blue eyes, baby blue eyes, hazel, green, brown, grey. It is so awesome to see the different colors of people’s eyes.Personally my favorite eye color would have to be light blue like the ocean. Now I was really curious how many Bible verses are there about eyes, well 270 to be exact.  The ones I was looking at in Psalms are about looking our eyes to God. Psalm 121:1-2 “I lift up my eyes to the mountains, - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth”. If you want to find more verses just search eyes on Bible Gateway.  Eyes they are SO neat. Personally I will always love the eyes it all started when I read the book Perfectly Unique by Annie F Downs, great book I highly recommend it. There was a chapter on Eyes and how we can glorify God with our eyes, seriously y’all should go check it out! I love eyes and am so thankful for God, his love for me, his love for our eyes. 

have a great weekend loves! xo 

Costa Rica here I come.

  As some of you may know, I get the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Costa Rica for one week to show the love of Jesus to others and to share the gospel. I leave in July and as I am preparing for this trip, I had to get my passport which came in the mail today and now that it is here, I am even more excited for this mission trip!

I remember when I was praying about going on this mission trip I remember searching the Word and hoping that God would give me the answers that I needed. And I came across the scripture 

Isaiah 6:8-10 "Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying," Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, " Here am I. Send me!"  He said, Go and tell this people: Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand.' Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and return and be healed." 

I remember sitting on the kitchen floor listening to Christian Faith Centers Album particularly Come and Abide, I was reading this scripture and I told God, here I am send me to Costa Rica for a week this summer. I prayed about it and I get to go on an amazing mission trip to share Jesus' love with children! I couldn't be more excited and more expectant to see what God does in my life. Getting my passport just means I am one step closer to being there, to one step closer to hugging these little girls and telling them how much Jesus loves them! 

So far I have my passport, first part of the mission paid for because all the fundraising paid for all of our first payment, we have our airline tickets. Thank you so much for your prayers and all of you support! More updates to come. So thankful for this opportunity! 

 

12 months = 365 days.

A lot can happen in a year whether it's good or bad. God has done a lot in my life this year and for the better. this idea came from my favorite author, I'm going to show you a picture of each month this past year.

In January 2015, I began preparing to graduate in May. It was a fun exciting time!

February,I walked my very last parents night. 4 years of parents nights. my parents have supported me in 

everything I do but especially cheer. 

March,I attended my first Focus conference with VOX youth, as well as participated in Peter Pan the Musical. It was a very busy month

In April, My Aunt Karen,Uncle Dave, cousins Patricia and Thomas came to visit us because they couldn't attend my grad party. It was so fun to have them in town!

May, I graduated after 12 years of hard work at Kalamazoo Christian! That month was a hard month because we found out my Grandpa has stage 4 bone cancer yet I radiated so much joy in the journey. Also a senior trip to Chicago, as well as EmPowered Conference were my life was changed and I gained so much more confidence. Also May was Senior Chapel, were I spoke and I told about confidence journey, so thankful that God gave me this opportunity. 

in June I was a very happy Indians fan because we beat them tigers. 

In July I got a job at Rykse's Restaurant and I absolutely love it! I work with amazing people, so thankful God placed these people in my life!

In August I got to hang out with my bestie Kendra, it included lunch, ice cream, talking about boys. 

In September I started College.

October came around and we found out some rad news that Grandpas cancer is going down! 

November, is Thanksgiving and I am very THANKFUL for my Grandma and my bond with her as well as my Grandpa. 

December, I finished my first semester at KVCC with a 4.0 GPA. My Dad literally had surgery 4 days ago on his shoulder. 

This year has been a lot of ups and downs. I've embraced this season I am in. I've embraced it with JOY and being Thankful! I am thankful for Jesus and for His love for me and his amazing grace and mercy for me. 2015 you've been good to me, but 2016 holds so much more for me!

The Countdown is on.

A week from Monday my Dad will be having complete shoulder reconstruction.

  Now I've been preparing for this for weeks, we found out in October that he'd finally be having surgery because it is really bad.

my perspective.

I've been trusting God and I know this will help Dad in the long run. I've been telling myself that I will be okay and I've got to be strong. After going to a few pre-surgical appointments with him. Today I wanted to go to his appointment with mom and him to hear more about what is going to happen on the day of surgery. Also if I had any questions I could ask them, I had none that I could think of because I was speechless. What happened at this appointment was they took x-rays and they wanted to see the flexibility he has. Now keep in mind, that I'd been telling myself I'm okay, God's got Him covered and He's going to be okay. But that's when I lost it, the Physician's Assistant asked me if I had any questions, I responded "no, I just want to cry and I proceeded to start to cry."
 As his daughter it is very hard for me to see him in pain and its very hard for me to hear about what they are going to do and to know he is going to be in pain for awhile and it will be painful for him to go through physical therapy. For the first six weeks he'll have some at home therapy to do.
   One thing I've really clung to during this whole process is the song Trust you by Lauren Daigle as well as Loyal by Lauren Daigle ( seriously, y'all should check those two songs out. they are ah-mazing!) I'm going to share the choruses of each of these songs. I've also really clung onto psalm 13:5 " But I trust in your unfailing love, I will rejoice because you have rescued me." I am so thankful for the peace that God has given me!

Loyal by Lauren Daigle

Your love is, Your love is
Your love is loyal
Your love is, Your love is
Your love is loyal
More faithful than the rising sun
This grace for me I can't outrun
Your love is, Your love is
Your love is loyal

Trust in You by Lauren Daigle
"When You don’t move the mountains I’m needing You to move
When You don’t part the waters I wish I could walk through
When You don’t give the answers as I cry out to You
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You!"

these have really helped me the last few weeks and I can tell you this these songs and verses are going to get me through the next few weeks and months. 

the countdown is on 9 days until Dad's surgery. 

xo my people. have a very Merry Christmas! 

Cancer you're going down!

 Over 6 months ago my Grandpa was diagnosed with stage 4 bone cancer. These last 6 months have not always been easy. You see, a few days after his treatment, he is tired, not really hungry but after those couple days it goes back to "normal" per se.
  You see for the first months of his diagnosis, I was really confused and really lived in doubt of what if he doesn't beat this and what if he dies? You see from that very moment I started praying Isaiah 53:5 over him.

Isaiah 53:5
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

Just last month we received great news that the Cancer was going down, and these past few days have been stressful because he's been in a lot of pain. So I began to worry about his appointment yesterday. BUT yesterday he got another great report the Cancer is still going DOWN! gosh I serve an amazing God!

I've learned a lot in these last 6 months..

• relying on God for everything not just when it's relevant for me
• standing on His promises for me 
• loving the time I get to still spend with my Grandpa
• starting each morning with God, searching His word 
• the power of prayer is so powerful and so active 
• being upset or mad about the problem isn't going to help anyone.
• I'm so thankful for my relationship with the Lord
• thankful for Jesus' unconditional love for me. 

Have a fabulous week! be thankful this week for what you have! Just because thanksgiving is over doesn't mean we stop being thankful! 

Xo 

speak love.

Man, I've definitely been challenged in my devotions lately especially with the one I read today. Today's was called Trash in. Trash out. Talking about what you put in you will come out like the music you're listening to, the tv you're watching. Just like Annie Downs, I've found myself influenced by especially the music I've been listening to. Today she encouraged us to take seven days to go on trash fast. Which means taking a step back and a break  from music and tv that is ungodly.
  So for the next seven days I will be filling my life with music that is honoring God. As I think of the amount of music I can listen to, it makes me so excited because I have so much music that I haven't listened to full length. I am so thankful for this challenge.
  Some of the music I am listening to is.

• Francesca Battistelli's albums- If We're Honest, My Paper Heart, Hundred More Years, Christmas
• Hillsong United albums- Empires.
• Natalie Grant- Be One Album
• Desperation Band- Banner Album
• CFC Worship- Break The Silence Album
• Kari Jobe- Majestic Album

Those are just some of my favorites to listen too!

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!
Xo