"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." ~Luke 9:23

"Lately, I've been struggling with sloth, laziness. I know it's sometimes cool be like, "Oh, I would do it but I'm too lazy to get up." and people laugh or whatever, but honestly I think it's my biggest struggle. I really have a hard time getting myself motivated to do anything. It's terrible. We were learning in Spiritual Formation that when you make an application statement it should start with "I will" so that it's personal...I will spend one hour everyday doing something productive without stopping. Maybe that will begin to break the laziness. I also will be in bed everynight by 11:00."

... No matter how much I hate the hard times.....I'm glad they come.  They teach me so much,  and most importantly they give me more of a dependence on my relationship with Christ. Something I need more of every day.

Praise God for laughter!!  Serious healing power right there.  I've seen it, especially today in clinical.  The Bible tells us that a cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit drys up the bones.  is there proof of this?  absolutely!!  There have been studies to support this.   God made us, he knows how we operate.  For that reason, you'l find that the Bible is very pratical and is seen in our every day lives.  When I see a patient laugh or have a big smile across the face, I know that there is an element of healing there.  I think it's an honor to be in that situation to help. 
 
"Lord, You know how much, I wanna know so much in the way of answers and explanations, I have cried and prayed but still I seem to stay in the middle of life's complications...all this pursuing leaves me feeling like I'm chasing down the wind, but now it's brought me back to You and I can see again. This is everything I want, this is everything I need, I want this to be my one consuming passion. Everything my heart desires, Lord, I want it all to be for you Jesus, be my magnificent obsession."

In these moments of worship i realize that God knew me before i was even thought about here on earth.  He put me here for a reason.  I also realize how REAL God is.  I'm not putting my faith into thin air, but faith in the Creator of life (physical and spiritual) that is living and active every moment of every day.  Like the wind, He may not be physically visible, but the effects are felt.  When the unseen wind blows, the tree branches will sway.  When God speaks, his life is breathed into each and every one of us.  But it's our decision to listen to that voice.  So we can either ignore his voice, or we can listen and be impacted in life changing ways.

The most important thing in my life is my relationship with Christ.  There are many people out there that tell you what to do or what not to do, but a relationship with Christ is not like that.  Let me just tell you my story, I have had a serious relationship with Christ for over 3 years now.  A relationship is different then the religion that most people say they subscribe to.  If I can say one thing with this web site it is:  when everyone and everything in this world has let you down, ask Jesus Christ to forgive you of your screw-ups and ask for his help.  If you really mean it, I guarantee he will never let you down.  Jesus took the bullet for me.
There is more to life than finding pleasure in sex, drugs, alcohol, fame, acceptance...but life is more about making the triune God (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) your treasure.  More than just making Him my Lord and Savior, I will pursue my pleasure in the only one worthy of such affections, in order to gain the deepest satisfaction, and to more fully glorify HIM!
 
It amazes me the things that God brings us through to let us grow from.  He separates us from people we are close to, to bring us closer to Him.  He lets us get a bad grade on a test every now and then to remind us that we are rewarded by working hard, not by being lazy.  He puts us in different places than people imagined just so we know that we cant get too settled in one place and that He is still in control.  He shows us flaws of people we have been taught to look up to, just to show us that nobody is perfect and that He is the one we should be looking to for an example.  He takes us to mountain tops and valleys to remind us that people and things will come and go but He will always be there and that will never change.  He lets issues that shouldn’t be issues be discussed in the government to show us how soon His coming will be and that we need to than ours. "

I feel like God has created me to be someone great, to accomplish great things and to become very successful. I've got a passion in my heart to be the best I can be everyday and I believe it is from God.

There are so many comparisons to what life is like. Life is like walking down a road. Life is like climbing a mountain. Life is like a box of chocolates. All of that doesn’t matter, but we all figure out life differently. And that is ok. God will be with us if we let him. That is our decision. He’s always there ready to be there. But if we want to push him away he will let us. He doesn’t push, it is our choice.

It's funny how people enter your life and there is something about them that you keep with you. I think these are people that God uses to help shape us.  He's the potter and we're the clay.  And i think awesome friends are chisels. haha Not ones that break you down, but ones that help shape you.  It's weird, I hold onto like a friend's laugh, or cheesy jokes, and advice in the hard times.  God rocks that He uses people the way He does.  He's a romantic God, and He knows that we need others in a big way