I can't think of a non-cheesy title...

Well, my first year of college is officially over.
Crazy!
It went by really fast in some ways and really slow in others.
I had a completely different experience last semester that I did this semester... a lot of different friends, a different mindset.
I feel like I have grown a lot this year, both in my walk with God and the way that I interact with other people. I have screwed up so many times, and acted out of my selfishness, instead of looking to the needs of others. But God has taught me so much this year about love, about forgiveness, and about being steadfast.
Steadfast.
I think if I had to sum up what God's taught me this year, it would be lesson upon lesson about that word.
Learning to desire God above all else.
Learning what steadfast love means.
Learning to be faithful in ALL things -- even when it's hard or I'm lazy.
Learning to do HIS will -- even if it means it goes against my grain.

I could learn so much more about each of those plus a million other things and I'm excited to keep learning. He's given me some painful lessons, and they're not fun, but in the end, they're worth it.

Rest

This has probably been by far the most stressful week of my college career because of school and other shtuff. This is really my first time all week to sit down and process through everything. But weeks like this continue to increase my trust in Jesus -- He is ALWAYS faithful. When I think that everything is crashing down around me and when I just want to give up, He meets me. Whether that comes in the form of Scriputre, a song, or another person, every single time, He saves me.
I'm reading John, right now, and I think that it might be really high on the list of favorite books of the Bible (Is it even right to have favorites, though? haha). John chapter 4:1-45 is incredible. It's the story of the Samaritan woman at the well... I would summarize it, but it would literally take 5 minutes for you to read and would be wayyyy better than my summarization, so please go read it. :) Anyway, verse 42 just struck me, "They said to the woman, 'It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard ourselves, and we no that indeed this is the Savior of the world.'" Now, I'm not a person to get goosebumps very often, but this verse gave them to me! It's incredible. We can't take any credit. Jesus tells us to share the Gospel, so we do, but it is only He that can make them truly believe. I don't know... does this hit anyone else like it's hitting me? I feel like I can't even begin to descibe it.

Moral of the story: Read John. :)

The Game

Here are the rules:


1. the rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. each player answers the questions about himself or herself.
3. at the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. ten years ago I was doing...
Hmm, I was 9... Living in West Linn, OR in the best neighborhood of all times, so I was probably playing outside for the most part and then some inside playing too, and a little bit of school here and there

2. Five Things on Today's To Do List:
1. Write Sociology Paper
2. Human Development Notes
3. Sleep at some point
4. Read mi biblia
5. Don't die

3. Things I'd do if I were a billionaire...
I don't want to be a billionaire... seriously. I don't think I would like it at all... but if I HAD to be one, I would buy my parents and brothers houses, pay for my sister's and soon to be nephews colleges (like a trust fund, I guess), pay off my college expenses, spend a little money for travelling (that's really the one reason I would ever want money), buy a decent car, and give the rest to churches and charities.

4. Three Bad Habits...
1. I'm messy... my room is almost always a disaster
2. I procrastinate
3. I think I'm right most of the time

5. 5 Places you've lived:
1. West Linn, OR
2. Overland Park, KS
3. Manhattan, KS
that's all....

6. 5 jobs I've had in life:
1. Babysitter for various families
2. Dog-walker (when I was little and I did it for free! haha!)
3. Nanny (babysitter and nanny are different, let me tell you!)
4. Cafeteria Lady (heck yes!)
5. EBC intern!! (this summer)

I'm not tagging people on here because it's too hard for me... i know that sounds pathetic but i don't feel like explaining! haha!

A Saint and a Sinner is what I am

Romans 7:13-8:11



13Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Crooked Deep Down - Derek Webb

My life looks good i do confess, you can ask anyone
Just don't ask my real good friends
Because they will lie to you
Or worse, they'll tell the truth

Because there are things you would not believe
That travel into my mind
I swear i try and capture them
But always set 'em free
It seems bad things comfort me

Good Lord I am crooked deep down
Everyone is crooked deep down
But good Lord I am crooked deep down
Everyone is crooked deep down
Everyone is crooked deep down

Sometimes other people can say it better than I can.