The Power of Blogs.

Blogs seem to be super popular at this moment in time. And I'm not sure if the fact that I have entered the blogging the community that it feels like everyone's blogging or if everyone actually blogging...either way, I love it and what is coming out of it. It gives me peace and accountability to write, but I also get a huge amount of inspiration and peace to read what other bloggers have to say. It seems like other people have the ability to write exactly what I need to read at any given moment. Blogs have so much power in today's technologically savvy world and it's so incredible to see how people are really embracing that power for the great purpose of encouragement. 

One of my current favorite blogs is that of this awesome girl named Dayna (check out her blog here!). Now I don't know much about Dayna, I've never met her and all I really know is that she's a high school senior like me that got denied from University of Florida (her dream school), just like me. She started following me on Twitter - how and why I have no clue - a week or two before UF decisions came out. I have to admit, I thought it was kind of weird at first but I'm pretty open to randomness like that because you never know what God intends it to turn into. After we were both denied from UF it became clear why this randomness occurred: we had the ability to find encouragement in how each other was dealing with this awful news. Of course I can only speak for myself, but being able to watch someone who was going through exactly what I was made it a little bit easier. I really suggest to check out her blog and the awesome things that she has to say about a relationship with the Lord and life in general, it's some pretty great stuff! 

I will forever respect the power that blogs have and the words that the Lord puts in me to type. It will forever amaze how much of an impact a few simple words on an internet page can have on me personally and others all around the world. Keep going bloggers - you are doing some really awesome things!

xoxo,

Abby just Abby

P.S. Dayna - thanks so much for the inspiration in today's post! I feel like if we ever met we could be really good friends. Haha hope that doesn't sound too weird...

I Love You, Tomorrow.

I LOVE having things to look forward to, and love counting down to those big days. Right now it's 10 hours till I leave for Florida, 36 hours until I get to tour my possible home for the next four years, 23 days until I hear whether or not I get to become a hokie, and 3.5 months till I graduate. Yeah...I like count downs. Having something to look forward to not only makes the time pass faster but it makes all the crap you have to deal with between now and then totally worth it. Everything I have to go through is leading up to one of those awesome moments I just can't wait to experience. I hope that you have things that you are able to look forward to today, tomorrow, and the next day to keep your spirits up and trekking forward (:

xoxo,

Abby just Abby

Life's 3 D's.

Deception. Discouragement. Disappointment. I know, I know there are a lot more than just those three D's, that's just what I'm going focus on today (:

When was the last time you lied? The last time you slashed someone down? The last time you let somebody down? I know for me the answer to all of those is sometime today, and probably is for you too. That's just life. Wrong, there's so much more to life than that! Unfortunately we are constantly causing and experiencing these three D's, every day of every year. That's kind of sad isn't it? We hate being deceived, discouraged, and disappointed but we have no problem turning around and doing those exact same things to other people. Isn't that sad? I think it is. We've all turned into a big bunch of hypocrites ): 

Thankfully, it's only partially our fault. Our hearts are vulnerable and that serves as a perfect way for the enemy to sneak his way into God's kingdom. BUT we have the power to defeat that!

"How can a young person stay on the path of purity?

By living according to your word.

I seek you with all my heart; 

do not let me stray away from your commands.

I have hidden your word in my heart 

that I may not sin against you."

Psalm 119:9-11

That's our defense mechanism to defeating the enemy and the three D's of life that he creates: hiding God's word in our hearts. This is something that I'm TERRIBLE at, but also something that I'm really trying to work on. It has recently become so clear to me of how important this is in my walk with the Lord. I HATE being deceived, discouraged, and disappointed and knowing that Christ is really awesome and so much bigger than anything the enemy can try to do in my life is amazing. Hiding away His word will allow me to fight off those D's, that's pretty rad (:

xoxo,

Abby just Abby

Pro-ductive.

If awards were handed out for procrastination I'd undoubtedly get the blue ribbon, first place. Usually painting my nails and watching shows on Hulu takes over my times and leaves my homework to be completed the class before its due. Definitely not something I'm proud of, but that's how I roll these days (mostly due to senioritis...).

Today was a little different though...I got a TON done today:

-made pancakes

-did the dishes

-cleaned my room

-blogged

-skyped with Alysa

-did laundry 

-did my homework

-color coded my closet

-organized my dresser

Gotta say, it was a very productive day which is unusual for me. And it made me think about something: lent. Typically I don't give things up for lent, I never really saw the purpose and could never come up with something that wasn't just to make me look like a good Christian. How about giving up procrastination? I KNOW that this is gonna be hard seeing as procrastination is practically my profession but think of how much more I can do to glorify the Lord if I manage my time better. That's what lent is all about: removing something from your life and filing the hole that it leaves with Christ. For me that means removing procrastination and using the extra time that gives me with Christ and sharing the joy that I find in Him. What will you give up for Christ this lent season? 

xoxo,

Abby just Abby

Max.

He's barely seven years old, in the first grade, and probably has a stronger relationship with the Lord than I do most of the time. Little Max has become one of my new favorite people in the world. His spiritual maturity and selflessness at such a young age is an incredible inspiration to me.This morning as we kicked off day two of the 30 Hour Famine, Max and I shared the story of the five dollars he gave me. The only five dollars that I rose this year (well, I had $10 by the end of the talk but I get into that later). 

Max's mom does bible study with my mom on Tuesdays and my mom is his sister Carly's preschool teacher on Thursday, but I'd never actually met Max until this morning, heard lots of stories about this awesome little guy, but never met him. My mom handed me a five dollar bill on Thursday night saying "Here, this is yours." I was stoked. Free cash?! yes please! But then she added the caviot: this was for the famine. This was Max's Valentine's Day money and after hearing about the famine he decided that feeding hungry kids is what he wanted to do with it. This wasn't just a small part of his money, it was ALL of his money. When I was seven, I looked forward to the random holidays where I received a small amount of cash in a themed card and stash it away in my piggy bank no matter how hard my mom tried to get me to do something nice for someone else with it. Even now a days I would probably keep it. One thing that Max said this morning that really stood out to me: "I figured that if Jesus could die on the cross I could give five dollars." WOW. The severity of those words are so heightened when coming from the mouth of a first grader. Towards the end of our talk sweet little Carly walked up to the stage and handed me the five dollars of one of the parents in the audience. It is such a blessing getting to tangibly see how the Lord worked through Max and I and touched those who heard what we were saying. Max is a real world example of the women and the two coins (Luke 21:1-4). He gave all that he had to help the Lord's kingdom and had no doubt that five dollars wasn't enough to make any real difference.

I had a bunch of people come up to me later that day and tell me little Max brought a tear to their eye, for good reason! I am so amazed by how this little guy has been touched by the Lord and is so willing to share his love for Christ with those around him. I aspire to have the same kind of admiration and confidence for the Lord that Max does. Thanks Max (:

xoxo,
Abby just Abby

P.S. I started this post yesterday and finished it today...and too lazy to change "this morning" to "yesterday morning" so sorry if thats confusing and doesn't make sense.

Celebratory Cupcakes.

Todays is a very special day! Why you might ask? It's my mom's birthday! Now I may not always be the first to admit it, but she's actually a pretty awesome mom. Today in celebration we chowed down on some cupcakes from our  favorite local cupcakery and laughed about the fact that we both had the same idea about buying some without even communicating it with each other! (Come to my house if you want some cupcakes...we've got a ton!) It was nice to just sit around with my mom for a few minutes and stop to celebrate her birthday in the midst of this crazy week/day. I encourage you to take a minute, wherever you are in your day, to just stop and share a laugh with someone you love. It might just make all the difference in your day! (:

Happy Birthday Mom!

xoxo,

Abby

It's Got the Power.

This weekend at CLW12 I got to learn all about the power of the gospel. I feel like the power it holds is something that we are all sort of aware of but we don't fully grasp the magnitude of it. One of the things that Casey Dunn stressed over and over again during his talks is that the gospel is UNIQUE. That concept also seemed to overlap with the other seminars I attended, so it kind of became the center of my weekend: the power and uniqueness of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Something that we've no doubt all heard at some point in our lives is that "all religions teach the same thing and lead to the same place." Well, I'm happy to inform you that that's a pretty big lie. In the words of Casey Dunn, "all other religions teach obey and therefore I am accepted, while the gospel teaches I am accepted therefore I obey." If you ask me, those are two pretty different things. While other religions tell you that the way to be a accepted by [insert a god/idol here] you have to follow and abide by a certain set of rules and regulations, the gospel tells us that God already loves us, he already accepts us, and the way we respond to that is to obey His commandment to bring others to Him.

Here's another myth I want to debunk: the gospel is NOT an owner's manual of how to live our lives, it's a proclamation of who God/Jesus are and the awesome things they've done for those they love (US!). A lot of the time we try and make the gospel (and all of the Bible for that matter) about us, when in all reality it's all about Christ. Pick a passage, read it, examine it, and I guarantee that you will find Christ in it one way or another. This is really something that stood out to me from the weekend. The fact that it's not about us it's about Christ is an awesome thing to realize, and pretty enlightening too. All too often in my life I strive to make things all about myself when it all reality only the things all do for Christ, and not for myself, will matter in the end.

The gospel, and only the gospel, truly has the power to save us from eternal death. If that doesn't resonate with you then I don't know what will. But I can honestly say that its immense power will forever amaze and convict me and I can't wait to start spending more time studying it and hiding it away in my heart (I'm always the best at  that...). I hope that you are able to find some awesomeness in it too!

xoxo,

Abby just Abby

P.S. As I was writing this tonight I found myself wishing I could write my research paper with as much ease as I blog, darn English papers! ): Good luck to all you out there procrastinating on those right along side of me! (:

From Awkward to Enlightened.

It's 9:45 on a Monday night, I'll be up in nearly seven hours to head off to school and as I dread that fact I get to remember something really awesome: God is chilling here with me ready to take on the challenge of tomorrow right along side of me. Don't you love coming to that realization? I sure do!

This weekend I got the chance to attend the Commonwealth Region Committee Leader Weekend (that's just a fancy way of saying I got to hang out with all the awesome Young Life leaders and staff in Virginia for 3 days). Let me tell you one thing: God was ALL over that hotel! Going to conferences like that and being surrounded my people who absolutely love the Lord with all of their soul is one of the most refreshing things I will ever experience. Young Life is an organization that I am head over heels for and getting to spend the weekend learning more about it and how I can be a better servant as a part of the Young Life team was incredible.

But this weekend wasn't all smiles and Kumbaya. I spent a lot of it feeling left out and awkward in this large group of people whom I only knew an extremely small percentage of, and those I knew seemed to know everyone else in the room as well. So I stood around a lot awkwardly on the side of conversations I didn't belong in or understand. At first I found it pretty discouraging, I just wanted to go up and sit in my room where I was more comfortable (I'm like that and totally okay with being anti-social a lot of the time). But I had the feeling that God had a lot more for me than to sit around and watch Manny Pacquio documentary. 

Once I got over feeling sorry for myself I began to listen. To listen to the awesome things Casey Dunn, the guest speaker, had to say, the awesome things that Young Life has done and is still doing, and how close God is all the time. This weekend made me realize a couple things:

First, God's everywhere, all the time (Jesus is even on every page of the Bible! Probably one of the coolest things I learned from Casey) and He's waiting for us to stumble upon Him there and do awesome work.

Second, He likes to put us in situations that are uncomfortable. God is awesome, but life with Him isn't always easy. He knows our limits and He knows exactly where to put us in order for us to prosper and do His work. I ran the risk of getting absolutely nothing out of the weekend by letting the awkwardness of my relationships there get to me, but He revealed how terrible and useless that would have been in the long run.

And third, I'm crazy about Young Life. I've been searching forever for what to do with the rest of my life and I think this weekend I may have found the answer: Young Life Staff. Obviously it will take some more praying and listening but I really feel called after this weekend to continue my mission with Young Life by working for them. But of course only God knows where I'll end up so we'll have to wait and see!

There is so much more I have to share about this awesome conference and so little space on one post! Look out for more in the coming days! 

xoxo,

Abby just Abby

Insanity.

So sorry if you're upset about the fact that I haven't posted in FOREVER! ): I spent the weekend at a Young Life conference and can't wait to share all the awesome things I learned when I get a chance! (:

xoxo,

Abby

Imperfect without Regrets.

I have my flaws. I am human after all.

Trying to stay positive is probably one of the hardest things I will ever try and do. Like everything else is my life the enemy hates what I'm doing here and will stop at nothing to bring me down. Today I received some opposition about one of my previous posts and it killed me. Literally. A wave of heat washed over me and my heart nearly stopped. However this is a good wake up call for me! This experience is not going to be easy. I've been kind of waking on a cloud with all the positive feed back I'm getting about this little project that hearing something negative really grounded me again. Not everyone is going to agree with what I have to say, some may even be severely offended, but thanks to my friend Morgan I was reminded that there is at least one person out there that will be blessed and changed because of my writing this. I don't regret anything I have to say on here; this is a forum for my realest, most honest and most vulnerable thoughts. If you disagree with I have two requests:

1. Stop reading. You have a choice and if all you're getting out of this is something to talk crap about I'd appreciate it if you just stopped.

2. Talk to me. If you have a problem with something I say, voice it. I promise that it will hurt my feelings more if you talk bad behind my back instead of flat out criticizing me to my face.

Sorry for this rather rant-y post. I just want to make it clear that this is me. Your words cannot hurt me. I acknowledge that I am far from perfect and not everyone is going to like what I have to say. I thank all of you who have been supportive thus far and thank you in advance for your continued encouragement (and heck even you criticism, all it can do is make me stronger!). 

I have no regrets.

xoxo,

Abby just Abby

Words.

My mom and I discovered early on in my preteen years that my "love language" (I think she was doing a study on those at the time...) was words of encouragement and if you've ever been in a conversation with me you know that's totally true. I can't go two minutes with out telling someone how awesome they are or how much I love them. This also means that I'm a total sucker for encouragement; I literally thrive on it. Today I ran into Scott Hamilton today, he's our regional YL director, and got to chat about my club talk from last night. Hearing the encouraging things that someone has been doing this for so long feels so awesome! It's amazing the confidence that you find in yourself when someone praises you in some way.

I think that encouragement is a lost art now a days. We get so preoccupied with what's going wrong in our own lives and feel the need to share it with the world that we forget others are hurting just as bad as we are. I'm really into the Golden Rule right now (do onto others as you would have them do unto you) so I try to imagine how I would want someone to treat me in a situation and try and act like that when I'm on the opposite end. James 3:6 tells us that "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." In my opinion this is an EXTREMELY powerful and convicting verse. Our tongues, what we say, has the ability to shape the entire course of our lives. We can choose to speak slander and constantly cut people down with our words, OR we can choose encouragement. Personally, I just encouragement. Not only because I love being encouraged, but also because it's so rewarding to encourage and build others up. Another convicting verse from James is found in chapter one verse twenty-two "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." The bible commands us to "love our neighbor as ourselves" and "keep a tight leash on our tongues." 

Today's challenge: encourage! No matter how tough your skin is I know that deep down you love encouragement just as much as I do. So pass it on.

xoxo,

Abby just Abby

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you have an awesome mom like mine that makes red velvet Valentine themed waffles like mine! <3  

Be My Valentine?

Ever since my freshman year of high school I've had a "valentine" on Valentine's Day. I put that in quotations because I've never truly had a valentine. It seems like all the boys the end up sticking around til this time of the year aren't big fans of the whole buy-your-girl-chocolates on February 14th thing...and let me just say that is one thing I will forever be bitter about. I'm happy to say that this year my only valentine is my BFF Shan (so much more fun and less complicated when you leave the boys out!) and our yearly tradition of exchanging cute, little, hand-made notes covered in pink is red is always a blast. I'll keep her valentines forever, the ones boys would/could have given be...burned with the other things that reminded me of them.

Tonight I get the awesome opportunity to give the club talk at Young Life club, and its ALL about love (: While preparing this talk I realized that all the love we try and experience in this life, and especially high school, is conditional and mortal just like us. We do one little thing wrong and the love will crack and fade away. But what's really awesome about God's love for us? It's 230% unconditional. There is nothing that we have ever done or will ever do that will make Him love us any less. So if you're feeling a little lonely and unloved this Valentine's Day, buy yourself a book of chocolates and thank God for the fact that He loves you more than you could every imagine, and He'll keep on loving you for all of eternity...NO MATTER WHAT. Celebrate that love this Valentine's Day.

xoxo,

Abby just Abby

P.S. Boys, buy your girl a box of chocolates and remind her how much you love her too (:

Addicted.

I think that my relationship with coffee is a lot like my relationship with the gospel. For the longest time I hated coffee, I'd had one tiny sip when I was a kid and decided that the "gross" taste wasn't for me. Then I went to high school and started spending 75% of my life inside of a Starbucks, and even though Starbucks sells a lot more than coffee it's really hard to be in there and not drink coffee. So I decided to try it again, then I broke out our dusty family coffee pot and started brewing my own. It's safe to say that I am now addicted to a drink that I thought I was going to hate for life. 

Crazy how that works, isn't it? In life we get one small taste of something and decide it isn't for us. We go on living our lives in ignorance of the awesomeness we are missing with certain things. One of the biggest things, I feel, is the gospel. We're all exposed to it at one point in time and probably do what I did with coffee at first, leave it out of our life. I know that was the case for me. I grew up with a HUGE taste of the gospel, but decided that it wasn't really my thing. But for some reason I was in a situation where I was force to taste it again, and man had my taste changed. Realizing that we love something you once hated changes everything. One you get that first bit after all those years of distaste addiction sets in. I can't go a morning with out a cup of fresh brewed coffee and I can't get through life at all with out the good news of the gospel.

I'm sure you can think of at least one thing in your life that you're addicted to and can't live with out. Chances are you didn't always feel that way about whatever it is. The gospel has the same pick-me-up power that coffee, or whatever you're addicted to has. With out it life is dreary, scary, and sad. With it life is exciting and has a purpose. I challenge you to examine what you're addicted to in life...does the gospel any place in those addictions? If not, do you want it to be? (If I had to answer that for you it'd totally be yes...)

Live this week, and every week, addicted to the awesome lives that Christ provided for us through his death.

xoxo,

Abby just Abby

Jeremiah 29:11.

As of 5:34 last night I am not, and will not be a Florida Gator. Yeah, that's a huge bummer, but I had a feeling way deep down in my gut that getting accepted there would be too good to be true. At Florida I had a major all picked out, a job lined up, a church to attend and even a set of stand in parents, as well as family close by. I kind of knew that for some reason God wasn't going to make things that easy for me, so I got denied admission to the University of Florida (and thankfully it was a straight no and not the agony of being wait listed!)

My favorite Bible verse is and always will be 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.'" How encouraging is that to remember in a situation like this?! There's an acceptance to what happened that this verse brings about for me, Florida was not where I was meant to be, and God made that extremely clear. As my mother put it, "The guy [you're] supposed to meet isn't there." Thanks mom. 

Rejection is always hard, always. I don't care who you are getting rejected, denied, etc feels terrible, but remembering that it all happens for a reason and in accordance with God's plan for your life makes it suck just a little bit less. I'm happy to say that I will hopefully remain in the state closer to all my friends and "family" here whom I love and adore and was dreading having to leave. Getting help in making the stressful decision between Florida and another school is more than I could have ever hoped for. I trust that whatever happens, wherever I end up, God will have amazing people there to greet me and incredible opportunities for me to indulge in.

xoxo,

Abby just Abby

P.S. Remember, God only closes doors for reasons. Rejoice in Jeremiah 29:11 and the fact that He knows exactly how things are supposed to play out, even if we're blind to it at first. 

Grocery Stores.

Today I took a little trip to the Commissary with my mom after school, which inspired me to do a little bit of a different post today. As an artist - or rather a wanna be artist - I am obsessed with color and order, especially when it's organic. In the produce section of the grocery store my brain was being overloaded by inspiration so I whipped out my camera phone and started snapping away at all the things I found really awesome. So...here's some of my pictures and a little bit on why I love what's in them.

First of all I love brussell sprouts, and I also love the bright pop of the bell peppers on this aisle. Green against yellow and orange is possibly one of my favorite combinations of color out there.  I'm also in love with the circular shelves that all the vegetables are displayed on.

Alright, I really dislike onions sometimes...but here they are really awesome.  Squares and lines the way that these are set up really fascinate me; so simple, yet so complex and interesting all at the same time.

No clue at all what these are, but I really loved the beauty and richness of the colors on top paired with the ugly and drab on the bottom. Its a real testiment to how something beautiful can come out of something so unattractive (:

Yes, I know that laundry detergent isn't organic, in fact it's pretty much as far as you can get from natural. However I love how all the blue bottles stand out on this aisles. I couldn't get all of the aisle but I love all the bright colors that companies us to advertise there own specific bottle.

For some reason I am totally in love with the labeling that Bob's Red Mill uses on their products; maybe it's cause I'm a total quinoua addict, but I'm no entirely sure. There is something so homely an awesome about it...

"Beans beans the magically fruit, the more you eat the more you toot" Wow, that is extremely childish.. But seriously, there's little in this world that is more magically than color and these beans have definitely got the color thing down.

Alright, well that's how I look at the grocery store...I admitt that it's a touch weird but that's just me. I search for beauty around me wherever I am - even if that includes finding it in onions and beans. What kind of beauty do you see around yourself on a daily basis? I would love to know!

xoxo,

Abby the Gator

Brat = Blessed.

For all 18 years of my life I've been filtered into the classification of a navy brat. People are never really sure how to look at that category of kids; were they blessed or cursed? For a long time I wasn't even really sure if my predicament was a blessing or a curse. I got to travel around the world for dirt cheap but I didn't have a place that I really could call home. I had so many friends all over the world, but the connections we made were short shallow. I tended to view being a navy brat as a curse, I hated constantly being uprooted from my friends and family so soon after our arrival. It seemed like little to no time passed between when we moved, and if I wasn't moving one of my close friends was. It's a devilish, double edged sword that I'm only now starting to realize is actually full of awesomeness.

Everyday it seems like another piece of the puzzle is revealed to me; another glimmer at how all of that moving around and making friends are truly blessed my life. I just recently found out that my committee co-chair in NHS lived in Japan the same time I did and we attended the same middle school for sixth grade. It then occurred to me to ask her if she knew my best friend from Japan who moved back there during high school. Not only did she know Caroline, but she and Caroline were also best friends while they were there! We talked all the way to school this morning about all the different mutual friends we had with out even being aware of it. It's crazy to think that a girl that I thought I had nothing in common with at the end of last year could have more in common with me than many of my friends now.

Stories like this have been popping up in my life all over the place these days. My description as a "navy brat" which I always thought of to be a curse is now turning out to be a blessing in disguise. People materialize out of no where and we end up having so many connections my brain can't even begin to comprehend.

I know a lot of you aren't navy brats so you don't really get this post at all. But for those of you who are I hope you can relate and view this as an encouragement the next time you face a move and remember that it's only an opportunity for hundreds of more doors to be opened and relationships to be formed.

xoxo,

Abby 

P.S. I love getting feedback from all of you who read my blog! Feel free to comment below and let me know your thoughts about what I'm saying because I love hearing what you have to say! (:

Love.

That's a hard concept. Now a days we love everything and everyone; nearly all the emotion has been stripped from the word the way that its used today. I think it's safe to say that many of us don't really know what love is anymore. We are able to assign that emotion to basically everything in our lives; we love our cats, our dogs, our dinner, our car, the funny boy in class, our boyfriends, I could literally go on for hours...The truth us that love is a really strong emotion (the exact opposite of hate, and none of us are unaware that hate is a really strong emotion, so therefore love must be pretty strong too...). I've done it myself, said I've loved something that I really just like a lot or even just felt lust toward; there is a HUGE difference between this and love. So what exactly is love then?

My Young Life leaders and youth pastors have always said this about love: Can what you love, love you back? I think that this is a really key thing to understanding love. Humans can love us back, heck animals can even love us back, but other things like money and possession can't do that. There is no way that material things can return the love that we give to them, no matter how hard we try. God is the ultimate example of love; we know from John 3:16  that "God so loved the world He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall never perish but have eternal life." Think about that for a second...God sent the only true son that He was ever going to have to earth to DIE for our sins. He loves us that much. Wow. I don't know about you, but that totally baffles me. I don't of anyone on this earth that loves someone so much that they would send their only son to live for the sole purpose of dying for the one he loves. It's total crazy talk! And yet God did that, for us.

In Matthew 22 we are commanded to "Love others as well as you love yourself" and earlier in Matthew Jesus tells to "love your enemy." Sometimes as a Christian we are forced to love people that we don't want to, like I don't want to love Mr. February, but it's this love for all people that sets us apart from the rest of the world ("By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" John 3:15). Love is a powerful emotion, and we can put it to use in ways that are unexpected to the world and share Christ with others through  our love.

I challenge you this week to learn to love someone that you have a severe dislike for. It's a hard thing to do, but it's also what you're commanded to do by God. Start from a far, even go against how your friends act if you must, but start learning to love everyone in your life and sharing you love for Christ as you do so.

xoxo,

Abby the Gator

My Father Is...

A little while ago when I was addicted to Pinterest I found this really awesome picture. It was a piece of notebook paper that someone had written down a whole bunch of attributes of God and a Bible verse that proved it. I thought this was so cool and wanted something to use that for, but I never could think of what exactly to do with it. I recently rediscovered it on a Pinterest and decided to share it here, so here it is:

MY FATHER IS...

Loving

"For God so loved the world he was is one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16

Caring

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Matthew 6:26

Forgiving

"As far as the east is from the west, so far as He has removed of transgressions from us." Psalm 103:12

Compassionate

"Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." Psalm 103:4-5

Giving

"Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to son ship, the redemption of our bodies." Romans 8:23

Understanding

"You have searched me Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from a far." Psalm 139:1-2

Accepting

"You have searched me Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from a far.You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain." Psalm 139:1-6

Satisfying

"For he satisfies the hungry and fills the thirsty with good things." Psalm 107:9

Persistently Pursuing

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Luke 19:10

Reasonable

"'Come now, let us settle the matter,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as crimson snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." Isaiah 1:18

Pardoning

"Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases." Psalm 103:3

Healing 

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

Redeeming

"I know the my redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth." Job 19:25

Loving-kindness

"But you. Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." Psalm 86:15

Renewing

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31

Righteous

"This is what the Lord says: 'Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that theu have the inderstanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord." Jeremiah 9:23-24

Gracious

"In Him we have redemption through is blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us." Psalm 103:19

I wasn't originally planning on doing this, but I think for the next few weeks I'm going to take a deeper look at each of these attributes and how they play out in my life. I encourage you to mull over these verses and characteristics and see how they appear in your daily walk with the Lord.

xoxo, 

Abby the Gator

Girl Time.

Some nights I come home and just want to fall asleep, forget the blogging. I'm tired and sleep is way more appealing. Well, this is definitely one of those nights! Being up at 5 am for school and staying out til 10:30 at a fire with friends makes for a long, long day. Today was a little different though...Usually I come home, eat, watch some TV, check Facebook, and head off for the night with my friends. With there being to swim meet tonight I had a ton of extra time on my hands, so I got to spend it getting my nails done with my mom. Due to our insanely busy schedules we don't get to spend a lot of time together so this was a nice change. There's nothing better than an afternoon out with your mom (:

xoxo,

Abby the Gator

P.S. exactly one week until that name sticks or hits the dust!

Mr. February.

I've been pretty much dreading February since a couple weeks before Christmas. My aunt makes this calendar every year for the whole family and fills it with pictures of all the fun things we did the year before. Naturally, February was plastered with pictures of my junior prom (ring dance as we call it here at the beach), so the biggest picture is one of me and my date. A date whom I no longer talk to...so let's just say staring at his face for 29 whole days was not my idea of fun. The awkwardness of my current relationship with Mr. February and the mistakes of my ex relationship with him were not things that I wanted to be reminded of on a daily basis.

Today's the first day of February, and the day the calendar changed. As much as I've been dreading this I really a few awesome things:

1. February is actually an awesome month! It's short and it's the month that I hear back from U of FL...can't get better than that!

2. As much as Mr. February and my relationship hurt and sucked in the end, I learned a lot from it. Some how we had built up a huge amount of hatred for each other and decided to let it all out at the same time, not a fun idea. He kind of broke my heart, no, he did break my heart. He was the first guy that liked me and I actually liked back; however our differing morals posed a difficult scenario. For the longest time I felt so guilty about it all, but then I realized that this was a really awesome learning experience. I now know what I want in a guy, and I know that I want him to like me for me and respect the way that I live  my life - don't think that's too much to ask.

So to some of you who know me well this may sound really surprising but there's one last thing I have to say: Thanks Mr. February. Thank you for teaching me that stooping to someone else's level and abandoning my beliefs doesn't bring anyone happiness (:

xoxo,

Abby the Gator

P.S. His real name isn't actually Mr. February...that's just his new nickname in our house. Clever, huh?!