Hot Button Convitions

I am friends with a lot of conservative Christians (mainly because I am one myself), and there is one thing that never fails to start an argument. It's one tiny little word, but if you drop it in the right circle, you could be looking at hours of debating. What's the word? Courtship.

This debate has been around longer then I have been alive. Christians everywhere have super strong opinions about courtship vs dating.

People fight about what is right until they're blue in the face. But you know what most of it boils down to? Trying to make everyone else believe what they believe.

We have this belief that we need people to agree with us. Some of that is out of concern for their future choices, but most of it is because we just can't believe we would be wrong.

You want to hear something comforting? You're not wrong. Whether you believe in courtship or dating you. are. not. wrong. If you have made your decision out of conviction of the Holy Spirit, then you're not wrong. Of course, I can't say that it will for sure be a good experience, but all it boils down to is what you feel convicted of.

I chose courtship, my best friend chose to date, both because we felt led by the Holy Spirit. (Though neither of us has yet to actually use our choice).

So courtship is a hot-button word right now. But why are we worried about other peoples convictions when we should be focusing on our own hearts?

I do not always agree with my friend's choices. I wouldn't make them myself. But I am praying God would give me grace that I might accept that He doesn't always call us to the same things.

Undeserved Blessing

Me and Sarah at the zoo

Sarah holding a friends baby

Rebekkah, Sarah and I with squirl monkeys at the zoo

Sarah and I 

If I was forced to describe Sarah in one sentence I would be hard pressed to find the right words to encompass her personality. She's a giver: always giving her all to God, her family, and her passions.

Sometimes I am just struck by how amazingly blessed I am to have Sarah as my sister. We all need someone who will be by our side like her, unafraid to correct, but always ready to applaud. 

God could have given me any kind of sister, but He chose to give me one who stays up till midnight talking with me, who makes time for me when she really doesn't have it. Who will share her life with me, and listen to me ramble for hours. 

Recently Sarah took me to the zoo, and we had a blast, enjoying the two-hour trip there, the animals, and just hanging together. It wasn't a day that will go down in history as the best zoo visit ever, but it was amazing to me. And its a treasured memory of time I got to spend with my sister. 

Look for people in your life who will give up what they want for you. 

Somehow I just felt the need to share this with y'all. Drop me a note below about someone special in your life, and how they've blessed you! 

Today was supposed to be my October and September Highlights, but due to NaNo, you get this until next week.

Also, I have been asked repeatedly while wearing these shirts if I have been to NASA. The answer is no, I just am a big NASA fan, and so I got the t-shirt. ;D

It Feels Like You Have Forever

I said goodbye to some friends recently that I knew I might not see again.

It feels like you have forever 

Until you don't 

It feels like they will always be there 

Until they're not 

Trying to cram a lifetime of memories 

Into one week 

Trying to get hours of conversations 

In one visit 

Pretending you're heart isn't breaking 

When it is 

Pretending you'll see each other soon 

When you won't 

Pushing away the tears that threaten 

Until you're alone 

Pushing away the thought of tomorrow 

Until it's here 

Attempting to smile through the pain 

Striving for hope 

Attempting to say a goodbye that lasts 

Striving for a memory

Hoping you are remembered 

After they leave 

Hoping you get to see them again 

After they're gone 

Fall, Pumpkins, and Voting

Yes, I know I'm missing a comma. I'm too lazy to fix it. ;)

Sarah, Rebekkah, and me!

Me at the pumkin patch

Fun events of late:

On Friday I got to vote for the first time. The lady's at the polling place were so excited to have a first-time voter. They had the whole place clap for me. ;D It was kind of funny having someone spend five minutes explaining how the machine worked and only spending a minute voting. ;D It was surprisingly underwhelming, but I enjoyed getting to do it. 

Afterward, my sister took me to a pumpkin patch and we just spent a lot of time taking pictures and picking out the perfect pumpkin. Actually, the one I have in the picture above is not the one I ended up buying because I wanted a smaller one for my desk. It was so fun to go around the churchyard in the evening light, trying to find the most perfect pumpkin. 

That night, when my sister and I were leaving our Bible study, we came over a hill and the moon was rising the biggest I've ever seen it. It looked GINORMOUS. Talking all the way home in the moonlite car was amazing. 

Sometimes, God just sends you reasons to smile. =) 

What has your week been like so far? 

My Life Doesn't Go Like I Want

My life rarely works the way I want it to. I've got some magical idea on how I want my life to go, and only once in a blue moon does it actually go that way. 

This post was going to be excerpts from my book, but Word won't let me into my documents because I need to buy the full version of the product to even copy things out of it. 

Today my phone froze three times while I was trying to work on it. Any time I get on the WiFi it freezes, so I know I shouldn't get on the WiFi on it, but I do anyway. 

My sister and I did clay masks together for fun and both ended up with our faces red from a bad reaction to it. 

None of these things went how I planned them. But God's been showing me things, sometimes after things happen. 

My frustration with Word keeps reminding me that good things are not always free, and I can't just expect life to be handed to me on a silver platter. 

My phone freezing it reminding me to put it down and be where I am. I am so prone to ignore this lesson though, and just keep getting frustrated. 

The clay masks, well that just gave my sister and me a good chance to laugh as our cheeks very quickly returned to their normal color. It was good to laugh at myself like that. 

So yeah, my life doesn't go the way I plan, and I am grateful for it. Everything I come to is a chance to grow. While I know I have passed up countless opportunities to grown (with the phone, mainly), I'm grateful God gives me so many chances to grown in Him.