I gotch yo back!

So God has really been speaking to me lately about worry. I just started
school, and I take a "Colledge Career Planning" class. BUT, I go to a Christian
school, so in this class, the teacher opened up by reading this scripture:

"There for I tell you, do not worry about your life-what you will eat or drink;or about your body or about what you wear. Is life not more important than food,and the body more important than clothes? 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 much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the feilds grow? They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the feild-which is here today and tomorrow thrown into the fire-will he not much more clothe you, Oh you of little faith? So do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat or drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows you need them. But seek first his Kingdom and Righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well. Therefor, do not worry about tommorow, for tommorow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
(Matthew 6:25-34)





So I thought about it and was like "Well...that's a good verse...okay." And left the class and didn't think much about it. So this morning, I thought, "Man-I really need to start reading my Bible again. I've slacked alot." So I searched and searched for my Bible...and could'nt find it. (Turns out, it was in my locker...ANYways...) So I was like "Bible...Bible...Ah HA!" I found a devotional book that my friend had given me for my thirteenth birthday (which was awhile back). I had only used it like maybe 6 times. So I opened it up to the next devotion, and guess what the verse was? "Look at the birds of the air. They don't sow or reap or store away in barns, but your heavenly father feeds them." So I was like "Wow, God, you must really be wanting me to not worry."
I'm kinda the weird kid at my school, and so sometimes I say th is little phrase I made up. People will say "Ar eyou SURE about this?" And I smile and say "Hey! I gotch you back!" now...remember that,because I'll use it...
So between school, friends, family, relationships, sports, and whatever else you do in your life, it can get kinda stressful. But God just says "Hey-I gotch yo back!" People will let you down. Friends will let you down. Family will let you down. Hey, even Batman let down his true love! (Remember that?! In the Dark Knight?! I really like Batman, so if I make random comments about it...well...it's just how i roll. Okay....anyways...) Everybody has faults, and will mess up. But God has GOTCH YO BACK! Tthink about the verse i used earlier. Iit's true. Birds never die of starvation, and the flowers are never naked! So if God takes care of such small things, then of COURSE he'll take care of you! He loves you SO much more than birds and flowers!
My grandpa has this toy fish thing, and if you push the button, it sings this little song. It goes "Don't worry (doo-doo! Doo-doo!) Be happy! (Doo-doo! Doo-doo!) Don't worry be happy..." And I think that's how our life rolls when we give it up to God. And no-giving your life up to God isn't a bad thing. It's actually kinda relaxing, thinking "Hey...i don't have to worry about this. God has it under control." And he won't fail you. Like Batman. An dyou wan tproof? Have YOU ever seen a naked flower?!

I got the Joy joy joy joy Down in my heart!

Did you ever sing that song as a kids? You know "I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart! Down in my heart! Down in my heart! I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart! Down in my heart to stay!" I know I did. But I just got back from church camp, so I wanna tell you guys what happened. If you wanna deny it...well that's okay, cause I know this is real and of God-if you don't, then that's fine.
So at this camp, I got filled with a supernatural joy of God. I know I have mentioned my testimony before, and I think one of these days, I'll make a blog of all the details..but ANYWAYS...I've been depressed before, and so joy holds kinda a special place in my heart. While I was at camp, God filled me up with a joy and laughter-it was amazing. So what I want to say is that no matter what point in your life that your in, God will always fill you with joy. Even when you think that you have ALL the joy and happiness you can handle, God always has MORE in-store for you! Job 8:21 says "HE (God) will FILL your nouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of JOY!"
So wherever you are in your life-depressed, happy, or doin just fine-just ask God for more, cause he'll always give it to you! :)

Backsliding really hurts your butt...

So if you've noticed, the title of this blog is "Backslidin really hurts your butt". I've been thinking about backsliding lately. Okay, I'll be honest with you guys. I've felt that I've been a little backsliding lately. Don't worry-I didn't run away from home, or do drugs, or lose my virginity. ;) I've just felt a bit...well let me explain it to you this way:

You remember the old cartoons of "Batman"? Not these new movies. I mean the old cartoons. I grew up watching those. And even now, old enough to drive a car, I occasionally pull out those old cartoons and sit down with some popcorn and watch them. :) Anyways-you remember Bruce Wayne's real-good friend, Harvey Dent, the D.A.? Remember what happened to him? In case you don't, he became known as "Two-Face". So here's what I'm getting at. Two-Face had this one woman that he loved. In fact, when he was still Harvey Dent, he was engaged to her. So anyways, Two-Face would be angry and raging, but he'd pull out that picture of his true love, and regret all the terrible things he'd done. And you remember how Two-Face looked? With one angry side of a face and one "Harvey-Dent" side of a face? When Harvey looked at his picture of his true love, his "Harvey-face" would soften, but his angry face would still be angry. So what I mean when I say "I feel like Two-Face"is this: yes-I am referring to "Batman", and that I feel like Two-Face in the way that when I do something I regret, I start thinking about my frist love (God) and my "Harvey-Dent" side of me starts to soften.

So are you still wondering, "What does Batman and Harvey Dent have to do with 'Backsliding really hurts your butt'?" I have another story for this one:

This weekend, I was with some friends. One of my friends was driving, so she was in the drivers seat. Let's do some roll-play. So to "protect the names of the innocent", let's call her Jane. So Jane was in the drivers seat. So my other friend (we'll call her Lucy), was trying to get in the passenger's seat. But my other friends (let's say they're named Jim and Tom), decided to jump on the side of the car. So while Lucy is holding on to the door-handle, and Jim and Tom are securely fastened to the side of the car, Jane-the-driver takes off! Suddenly, Lucy looses her grip and falls on the ground, rolling around, and loosing some skin in the process. She didn't get hurt that bad, but she had some bad road-rash. So I linked that in my mind to backsliding. Lucy thought she had a strong grip on the car, but she didn't. Don't we think like that? We think we have a good grip on our sin, but it eventually starts speeding away and we end up falling and sliding on our bee-hinds. And we usually lose some skin in the process. It hurts usually. Just today, I saw "Lucy", and she told me "I'm okay, but I'm really sore." We get a bit scraped up, but we always end up okay and just a little sore. But there's this miraculous thing called "Neosporin". Have you ever used Neosporin? It works wonders. It kind of stings when you put it on, but it works for our good. Isn't that kind of like God's discipline? It always kind of stings a little bit, but it always helps us out. It cleans out our wounds. But that's not all! Then we've got these things called "Band-aids". Band-aids cover that wound, until it's healed all the way. Isn't that how God's love works? After we get a little discipline, we then get some "TLC", or "Tender loving care", and it covers our fault and protects the little damage we have, until we're healed.

My favorite band, Relient K, wrote a song once called "I so hate consequences", and the bridge goes like this:

"When I got tired of running from you, I stopped right there to catch my breath

Then your words they caught my ears-

You said 'I miss you son, come home!'

And my sins, the watched me leave

And in my heart I so believe

The love you felt for me was mine

A love I wished for all this time.

And when the doors were closed, I heard no 'I-told-you-so'-

You said the words I knew you knew.

God-oh God I needed you!

God all this time I needed you! I needed you!

And I so hate consequences-running from you is what my best defense is.

I hate these consequences!

Cause I know that I let you down.

And i don't wanna deal with that."

(Quote from "I so hate consequences" by Relient K)

I'm pretty sure that says it all. God doesn't shove it in your face that you messed up. He just brings you back, just like the prodigal son. If you really wanna hear a good story about a guy who backslid, read about Peter. He denied Jesus 3 times. But he was still one of the people who kicked off Christianity. And we can't forget the prodigal son. He ran from his dad, disrespected him, and spent all his money. But his dad welcomed him with open arms. That's how God is. No matter what you do, he loves you. He always uses a little "Neosporin-discipline", and it stings, but he'll cover it up with his "Band-aid-love", until it's completly healed, and you'll have no scars to show.

The four most under-estimated, over-used, usually-abused letters! (L-O-V-E)

Hey guys, I know I haven't been blogging lately. Been a little behind. ;) Lol. Well, as I type this, I am in a car, on my way home from a vacation. By the time this makes it up to the web, I'll have been home. :) But anyways, I've been thinking this past hour about love. Yep-that 4-letter word that we so often take advantage of. I've blogged once about girl-guy love, and touched a little bit on friend love and even family love, but I want to talk about the BEST love. God's love. I've thought about it some, and remembered this:

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a woman about my algerbra class. I told her "I don't even know why we learn this. It's not like we'll ever need this when we get out of high school!" She looked at me and said these 4 words: "You just never know." I looked at her, puzzled at why she should say this. The wonder must have showed on my face, because she then put this scenario before me. She said, "Let's pretend you're going somewhere. And as you're preparing to go on this trip, there's a big pile of money in front of you-more that a million dollars. You can take as much or as little as you want, but here's the catch-you might not need money where you're going. For all you know, they might use money as toilet paper! You just don't know! With that in mind, how much would you take?" I laughed a little and said, "I'd take a bunch of money!" "Why?" she asked. I thought for a second, and said "Well, the money is free, so why NOT take it? And I don't know for sure if I'll need it or not. I would take it because when I got there, and they used money, I'd be good. If they didn't-oh well. Better safe than sorry." She smiled at me, and by the look on her face, I realized I'd supported her argument. "EXACTLY," she said. "You don't know if you need it or not. If you don't-oh well. It's all free, so why NOT take it? That's how it is with education. You learn things that seem pointless, but it's all free, so why NOT take all you can? And you don't know if you'll need it or not. You just never know."

Now, she was relating that to education, but sitting here, in this car for hours, and thinking about that, I realized you can compare it to God's love. It's all free for us to take. It's right there. So why NOT take it? Why do we chase after these false loves-relationships, friends, even family-these loves we have to work hard for and earn-when God's love is free? And while we don't know if we'll need education later on, I can guarantee this-we WILL need God's love later on. So why don't we just take it? Why do we run FROM God's love, when we should run TO it? This makes me think of a song I like alot. The song starts out written from God's point of veiw, and it says this:

"Where do you hide? Where do you go? Why are you running from me?

Why do you fear, when you know I am near to thee?"

("The Great Love Story" by Jimmy Needham)

When I hear this song, I get chills. It's like I can hear God saying "Why are you running from me?" Another song talks about God's love. The entire song is written from God's point of veiw. It's lyrics go like this:

"Despite the lies that you're making, your love is mine for the taking.

My love is just waiting to turn your tears to roses. I will be the one that's gonna hold you.

I will be the one that you run to. My love is a burding consuming in fire.

No-you'll never be alone. When darkness comes I'll light the night with stars.

Hear my whispers in the dark. No-you'll never be alone.

When darkness comes you know I'll never fall.

Hear my whispers in the dark. You feel so lonely and ragged. You lay here broken and naked.

My Love is just waiting to clothe you in crimson roses.

I will be the one that's gonna find you. I will be the one who's gonna guide you.

My Love is a burning consuming fire..."

("Whispers in the Dark" by Skillet)

Can't you just feel love? Don't you understand? God won't force his love on you. His love is there for you when you're willing to accept it. And God's not some big man in the sky, watching you, waiting for you to make the next mistake so he can tsk-tsk at you, scold you, punish you, and then hold it over your head forever? In my literature class, we recently read some Greek mythology. And reading about those gods made me think "Wow...I'm glad MY God isn't like that!" The Greek gods would all sit up on Olympus, watching the humans at war like it was some sort of game. They took sides, manipulated humans, and treated them like bugs, ready to squash them whenever they so pleased. But the one TRUE God doesn't roll like that. I like the picture these songs paint of God.

"The very same God that spins things in orbit,

Runs to the weary, worn, and the weak.

And the same, gentle hands that hold me when I'm broken,

They conquer death and bring me victory!"

("Redeemer" by Nicole C. Mullen)

"You look down on me, but you don't look down on me at all.

You smile and laugh and I feel the love you have for me.

Yeah I think we're going somewhere.

We're on to something good here.

We're gonna make it after all."

("Pressin' on" by Relient K)

These two quotes say the same thing. While God is so powerful and big, he steps down to our level and holds and comforts us when we need him. I wrote a speech once, and in decribing God and man's relationship, I used the words "Intimacy, like a mother cradling her child". God-this big, all powerful being-comes near to us, and comforts us, holds us, and nurtures us-as if we are his own children from his own flesh and blood. And like I said, it's all free. We don't have to try and earn it. It will never leave us or forsake us. It's perfect love. The BEST love. So why NOT take it? Why run? I close this with this last quote.

"Jesus loves the outcast. He loves the ones the world just loves to hate.

And as long as there's a heaven,

There'll be a failure to excommunicate."

("Failure to Excommunicate" by Relient K)

.....Food for thought.....

This is for the ladies...

This is for all that teenage girls out there. I wanna talk to you, ladies. So get your chocolate, cup of coffee, and pull up a chair. You don't have to dress up to read this or put on your makeup. A jogging suit, ponytail, and no makeup will do. Now, are you comftorable? Okay, ladies and no gentlemen-lets talk.
A few days ago, I was in the car on my way to school, watching my sister put her makeup on. Now, I'm the oldest in my family, so to see my little sister putting on makeup is strange for me to see. So I watched her, thinking "Why does she do this now?" Then I listened to a young girl talk to me about boys. Oh girls, remember those days? The juniour high crushes days? Then the same day, I hear another young girl in 7th grade say "I am so fat!" or "I am so ugly!" And I thought "How sad! These young girls are so worried about their bodies, and they are only in 6th and 7th grade!" But I realized it's not only juniour high girls that are insecure about themselves. I hear my own mom say "Man! I need to lose weight!" And if you saw my mother, you would say to her "WHAT are you thinking?!" But women and young girls feel this way about themselves because we see these super skinny, long-legged, pimple free, perfectly airbrushed women on the magazines and TV. The world has really affected the way people look at women now. Sure-we live in America-"Land of the free, home of the brave"-and yeah-women have rights. But in a way, we don't. We're not really free when we have teenage girls who are bulimic or anorexic or cutting themselves or insecure. We as women have our legal rights, but we don't have the right to be who we are. We are told we should look like this or dress like that or be like so-and-so, when it's really not who we are. You understand? I understand it's not all the media's fault, but it DOES play a large roll in this.
Another thing I want to talk to you lovely girls about is not just our self esteem, but where we are searching for love and value in. There's lots of different ways to find and search for it, but I find many women search for it in men. I think it's because so many girls don't have the fathering figure they need in their lives. For example, I have two friends who are very common. They are both girls of about the age of 15 or 16. They're both a bit rebellious towards authority. And they both change boyfriends as often as they change their underwear. One week it's this boy, the next day its another, and it goes on and on. But I noticed one more common thing-both of their dads aren't around for them. Now I'm not saying if your dad isn't around for you, you'll end up like that, but I've seen alot of girls who go from guy to guy, and most of them don't have a good relationship with their fathers. But if you're like that, let me tell you-you don't have to find your "father-filler" in a boyfriend. Cause no matter how good the guy is, he can't fill up that hole. He could be perfect and tell you a million times a day for the rest of your life that you are beautiful and he loves you, but you'd still feel like you're missing something. Guys can't be "father-fillers"-only fathers can.
So ladies, we've talked about the problems. But let me tell you a secret-You don't have to look for acceptance in the world, approval from the media, or love in guys. You can find all of the above in God. Seriously! You think I'm crazy! Look at this:
"How BEAUTIFUL you ar emy darling! Your eyes are like those of doves!" (Song of Solomon 1:15)
"He makes everything BEAUTIFUL..." (Eccleseasties 3:11)
"All BEAUTIFUL you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you." (Song of Solomon 4:7)
"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is vain, but a woman who FEARS the LORD is to be PRAISED!" (Proverbs 31:30)
"Many women do noble things, but you SURPASS them all." (Proverbs 31:29)
"[You are] FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY made..." (Psalms 139:14)
"Your voice is sweet, an dyour face is LOVELY." (Song of Solomon 2:14)

These are only a few of SO MANY verses in the Bible where God tells you you are beautiful to him. God is the perfect father. God is the perfect friend. God is the wonderful lover. God can fullfill any desire or need you have. If you have doubts about who you are or who you should be, pick up that 66-book-love-letter God wrote you called the Bible, and flip through it. Look in your concordance verses that say "beautiful" or "lovely", and see what God says about you. Read Song of Solomon. Though it talks about love between a man and a woman, it is also a beautiful story of God's love for you.
So ladies, that's the end of our talk. I hope your coffee cup is empty and your mind full of good thoughts. You are beautiful, inside and out.
-Love,
A Christian Teenage Girl

Sin

Today I went to a restraunt with some friends of mine I hadn't seen in a long time. It was one of those restraunts with a BYOB polocy (bring your own beer). We were sitting there, and a man walked in carrying two six-packs of beer, and two little girls probably the age of 4 or 5. We ate our food, and he ate his. No one joined him except the two little girls. We finished, got up, and went outside. As we stood outside, chatting and catching up, we saw the same man walk out. He was holding the two little girls' hands, but had no beer with him this time. The two girls skipped and chirped happily to him-"Daddy, Daddy"-rambling like little children do. But what the young girls were completely unaware of was the fact that the man was so drunk, he could barely keep his eyes open. As my friends and I watched him, I wondered where his beer was. Then it hit me-he probably drank them all. And now he was getting in a car with those tiny girls? He was drunk, yet he was going to risk his daughters' lives behind that wheel? It made no sense to me. My Dad followed the man to his car, got his liscence plate enumber, and called 911 as the man was getting in his car. Meanwhile, the man turned around and took the girls into a Blockbuster down the street. Within minutes, police were there and talked to the man. As my friends and I wrapped up our evening together, said goodbye, and got in our car, my sister asked my mom. "Mom, why do people drink so much? Don't they know that if they drink so much, they'll be drunk?" My mom explained, saying "You see, that man was probably an alchoholic, and his mind is so messed up, that he's brainwashed himself into thinking he can 'hold his liquor'." I began thinking about those words. That man had convinced himself that he could drink 12 beers and not be affected by them. But he is effected by them. Not only is he affected by them, but he affects those little girls' lives too. I got to thinking about that. Isn't that how we are with sin? We think sin doesn't affect us, but it affects us and others around us. We think we can "hold our sin"-like that man thought he could "hold his liquor"-but we can't "hold our sin". It only turns around and hurts us. We think we can control it. But we can't. I know that, because I've been there. A while back, I had some hard times. And I turned to self-mutilation. I began cutting myself. I thought for awhile that I could control it. It started out as just something small. I would just cut myself a little bit, just when something big happened. Just a small cut to make myself feel better. I could control it-for a little while. Then it got to where I was not only doing it when I had a big problem, but I was doing it everyday. It got to where I felt like I had to do it. It became an addiction. And I thought it only affected me. But alot of people worried about me. My friends, my family-I made alot of people suffer because of what I chose to do to myself. We think like that alchoholic man did-we think we can "hold our sin" and control it. But we can't. It only comes back to shoot us in the foot. What if that guy had gotten in his car? What if the cops hadn't stopped him? You know what had probably happened-he would have probably gotten in that car, drove off, and gotten hurt. All because he thought he could "hold his liquor". He thought those 12 beers wouldn't affect him. But had he gotten in that car, they would've affected him and those two little girls. Those girls were innocent, but because of that man's sin, they could've died tonight. Their lives could've ended-all because that man thought he could control his beer. But he couldn't. Can't. Nobody can. We all think that we can let Sin slide into the backseat and we can still drive. But Sin always wants to become a backseat driver, and once it can be a backseat driver, it slides into the driver's seat and slowly takes control.

Music...

So guys. Music. Lets talk about it. I love music. I mean, what teenager doesn't? I fyou know me, you never see me without my Ipod blaring. I wake up to music, hang out with music playing, sleep to music...I pretty much do everything with music. I love all types of music. Rock, rap, techno, regae, pop, country, screamo...as long as it has words, I'll have some apreciation of it. I know for a fact that when we get to heaven, there will be music playing. In heaven, there will be an abundance of 3 things: music, books, and peanut butter. :) God created music as a gift to man kind. But one thing I don't like is the fact that Satan took it and perverted it. I mean, seriously. All you have to do is go to a store and listen to the music, and you hear about everything from sex to fireflies. :) You know, like look at these lyrics:
"I'll take you home if you don't leave me at the front door. Your body's cold, but girl we're getting so warm...She touches like this when you touch her like that, she moves like this when you move her like that, she does like this when you do he rlike that. Shake shake shake shake shake it." (Quote taken from Metrostation's song, Shake it)
"I'm taking a moment just imaginin' that I'm dancin' with you-I'm your pole and all you're wearing is your shoes. You got soul, you know what to do to turn me on until I write a song about you and you have your own engaging style and you've got the knack to vivify and you make my slacks a little tight, you may unfasten them if you like.That's if you crash and spend the night." (Quote taken form Jason Mraz's song, Butterfly)

So if we were to analys those songs, they both have the same message. "Let's have sex." Great song, right? You know, in my peronal opinion, those are good songs-music wise. They have good music to them, but you won't find those song son my Ipod. I mean, I have my standards, and they might be different from your standards or your friend's. But I don't chose to put music in me that says things like that. I don't listen to music that has lot's of cussing or talks about sex all the time. Sure, I have some songs that say d*mn once, but I don't continuosly fill up my mind with music like that. Think about it this way. Your spirit is part of you, and you feed it, just like your physical body. So lets say music is a food for your spirit. Lets compare music with lots of cussing or music that talks about sex to dirt. And lets compare good music (maybe not nessicarily Christian music-but just normal music without a ton of cuss words or sex-talk) to vegetables. Yeah, if you eat some dirt, it won't kill you, and maybe it might taste good for a second, but it's bad for you. But you can eat vegetables all you want, but it won't hurt you one bit. And don't say "Well I'll get bored of the same type of music all the time." Cause there are lots of vegetables out there. But only one type of dirt-dirty dirt. You understand? And if you look on my Ipod, you won't only find "Amazing Grace" and "how great thou art" on it. I listen to all types of music-christian, secular, rap, rock, pop, techno, country, screamo-all of it. But I can garuntee you this-all of my songs are vegetables. :)