Stress

Hey guys! I have been really stressed lately, but I really shouldn't be this stressed. 

I've gotten so caught up with my life's worries that I forget that God is in control. 

I'm here worrying and struggling day to day and I forgot Who is holding me in His arms. 

God is. 

Yeah school is very stressful, 

and so is getting prepared for piano recitals. 

...and so is trying to pick a college and career in the meantime. 


BUT instead of worrying about it, I should just take it step by step and day by day. 

When I was little, there was a little song that I would sing in school every morning. 
Here's a part of it:

"Day by day I'm growing stronger...when I put my hope in Jesus, whoa, oh, ohh, day by day I overcome."

I know it's hard to picture haha but the lyrics are really encouraging, 

(Right now, I have a literature assignment that is due at midnight, but I figured that writing might take a little stress away.)

PLUS
sharing this Bible verse might encourage me and whoever is reading this:

Matthew 6:34
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
AND 
if you read my post about PERFECT LOVE, that will definitely encourage you to keep going. 

SO moral of the story...

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. 

YOU ARE GREAT. 

JESUS LOVES YOU. 

YOU CAN DO IT. 

BECAUSE:
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. <3 Philippians 4:13

A Little Pep Talk

Hey guys! Long time, no talk. 

I'm supposed to be writing an essay right now, 
but writing this is more fun. 

I'm going out of town this weekend with my singing group to perform! SO

At first, 
I was thinking, "Woohoo! This is gonna be so much fun!"

I got my outfit all ready for the party that's afterward. 

But today, 
I started feeling insecure..

BECAUSE
Most of the girls there are going to be wearing pretty short dresses. 

I try to be modest though.
I bought this lace skirt that's right below the knee. 


Anyway,
Society tells us that the more skin you show, 
the more attractive you are to guys. 

But that's not true. 

Yes, you will get attention if you show more skin, but not the right kind of attention.

But we girls want to look attractive, right?

SO
what should we do?

Modest is hottest, girls. ;)

But really! Why would you want a guy that only likes you because of your body?

Let's stay classy, girls!
And hey!

Let's look on the bright side. 

One day, some great guy is going to come along and respect us so much more because of our modesty. 

So perk up!

Let's have fun and enjoy ourselves and not worry about guys,
because God's timing is perfect. He'll come around when we're ready. 

YOU CAN DO THIS. STAY CLASSY. 

Perfect Love...

"Perfect love casteth out fear..." 1 John 4:18
"God is love..." 1 John 4:8

Therefore, 
God, being love, casteth out all of our fears.
God destroys fear through His love.

I'm a fearful person.
I want to change that though.

I find myself being afraid of pure nonsense and not letting go of things in the past that made me afraid.


But the thing is, is that I don't even have to be a afraid in the first place, because as Joshua 1:9 says,
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, and do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." 

Jesus Christ said, "Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world." Matthew 28:20

Also, in Isaiah, it is written, "So do not be afraid, for I am with you." (Isaiah 41:10) 

God tells us multiple times not to be afraid, because He is always with us. Always. 

Why worry? Matthew 6:25- says: 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more 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 not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. 

Psalm 118:6 says, " The Lord is on my side, I will not be afraid. What can man do unto me?

Even Psalm 27:1 says the same: "The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?"

Lord Jesus Christ is love.

Lord Jesus Christ is light. 

Lord Jesus Christ is our shield. 

What is there to even fear when we call upon the God of love who even knows how many hairs we have on our head? That's how much he loves us and wants us to trust in Him. 

Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us and help us to trust you and to love you with our whole hearts, because since You are always with us, fear has no power at all.

Thank You. 

I Just Realized

It's 1:29 AM,

I know. 

You must be thinking, "Why am I blogging right now?"

Well, 

it is because I suddenly had this realization about something and wanted to share it with you all!

So let's get to it. 

First of all:

- I have to remember that everybody has problems and situations in their lives that they don't like (I'm not the only one with problems) 

Second of all:

- Just because we have problems doesn't mean that we should just give up!

Now let's mix the first and second reasons together to get down to my realization:

God knows that we have problems, but he uses these problems as chances to get stronger in our lives. 

Now I know that isn't a realization exactly, but the realization is that God gives us little hints of encouraging examples in our lives everyday. 

Say there's a huge storm, and it rains. 

The rain can represent our own storms and struggles in our lives. 

But after the rain, the plants and trees are replenished and the flowers bloom. 

Without the rain, they would have all died.

Without us dealing with our struggles, we won't grow.

But when the rain comes and we conquer our struggles with God's help, we eventually bloom.

So perk up, and remember that, without a rain storm, there's no growth.

And remember the goal: to become a blooming flower

Brave

Hi ya'll!

I never say "ya'll"... but today is a new day!

Anyway, I wanted to talk about being brave.
Personally, I can be a big chicken sometimes. 

BUT, 
I'm sick of being a wimp. 

I want to be brave. 
And we all can, if we really want to. 

Something that reminded me of being brave is the story of Esther. 
She was an orphaned Jew that was chosen to be queen of Persia. 

At first, she didn't know why she was chosen,
but she trusted in God nevertheless.

Later, it was shown that she could be used to be the voice of the Jews and save them all,

if she was brave enough, and if she trusted in God.

And she did.
God used her to accomplish his plans. 

It's amazing, really. 

I hope that one day, I will be as brave and courageous as Esther,
AND be used as God's helper in whatever I do. 


You can read the book of Esther here if you'd like: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther+1&version=KJV

OR if you prefer movies, I love this version of the story of Esther (I watched it today actually :P)
One Night With the King (2006) directed by  Michael O. Sajbel

Maybe it'll inspire you too :)

Blessings

Sometimes, I get discouraged. 

And when I get discouraged about one thing, 

it's kind of a domino effect with the rest of my insecurites. 

I've been trying to look past my little trifles and persevere with God's help. 

I have to remember how much Jesus Christ loves us all.
He loves us so much that He died for each of us. 
He knows all of our names.
He even knows how many hairs we have on each of our little heads.
(Matthew 10:30)


I have to remember that he knows what He's doing. 

With that in mind,
Maybe our trials and struggles are meant for our own benefit in order to get stronger. 
Let's think of them as opportunities for growth. 
When it seems like your struggles are making you overwhelmed,

have more faith in God, and keep moving forward. 

It's funny, 
I feel like when I get discouraged, 
God gives me a nudge of encouragement to keep going. 
Like today, actually. 
I've been feeling down so I decided to turn on the radio on Pandora. 
The first song was "Blessings" by Laura Story. It was a perfect reminder of how our struggles can actually be blessings. 

We all sin.
I have to remind myself that it's okay not to be perfect. 

We're not alone, though.
God is always there,
like a loving father, 
encouraging us always.

We just have to listen. 

God Made Butterflies

I believe that God made butterflies in order for us to understand life in a deeper way. 

Now you might be thinking, 

how in the world can I learn something deep from a butterfly?

Well folks, you can, indeed. 

I heard a story recently and would like to share it with you all:
Once, there was a farmer.
The farmer noticed a butterfly trying to free itself from its cocoon.
For hours the butterfly tried and still could not get out. 
The farmer felt bad for the butterfly so he opened up the cocoon to help,
But once the butterfly got out, it fell and died because it wasn't strong enough to fly yet.

The struggle to get out of the cocoon strengthens butterflies order to fly. 

If the farmer let the butterfly struggle a little bit longer, 
it could have flied on its own...



I am a lazy person. 
I don't like to struggle.

But I have to remind myself that with no struggle,
there's no reward. 

So cheer up, my friends. 
And keep struggling, 
Because if we all keep trying, one day we'll all be free from our cocoons, become butterflies and fly.

 

Cinnamon Roll

Well folks, sorry about not posting in a while, 

but have no fear!

Observant Girl is here!

...that sounded better in my head, but let's focus!


My loverly sister made some cinnamon rolls the other day (I had five in three days). 

They were DEE-licious. 


Now when I eat cinnamon rolls, I love to unwrap it and eventually get to the middle (the best part in my opinion). 

But my brother just likes to eat it by biting into it. 

Now stay with me, there's a point to this. 


I realized that much like having different ways of eating a cinnamon roll, there are different solutions to problems in life. 

Sometimes in frustrates me when people won't do something my way, but in the end, the job gets done anyway.

So what I've realized is that you can't get frustrated when someone does things different than you.

It's just their way of doing it. 

And that's what I learned from a cinnamon roll.

Dessert is deeper than you think.