I'M BUSY!!

As some of you may have noticed, I haven't blogged in a while. That's because I've been pretty occupied with other things... between guitar, piano, voice, Bible quizzing, church, and going different places, I haven't had very much extra time on my hands. Which makes a perfect topic to blog about! :)

It's here. Time for everybody to go back to school. Now is when things start to get crazy... massive amounts of homework (not for me! :) ), trying to keep tack of everything that goes on, traveling here and there, doing this and doing that. Lots of stress and trying to keep a good attitude. Do you ever think your life is moving too fast? Does it feel like you don't have time to breathe anymore? How much time have you spent with your family lately?  On Wednesday, a girl in our youth group shared a very touching poem, written by a girl who was dying if cancer. It's called "slow dance". I wanted to share it, but I don't know where to find it. But what really hit me when I heard it was... Life is short. Why is everyone rushing through it? Why am I rushing through it? It really made me stop and think about how I spend my precious time. I'm not dying from an illness, I'd say my life is pretty easy right now. And I have God to thank for it. :) But what if I was? I would definitely slow things down... So why not live like there's no tomorrow? Each day is a gift from God, but we don't know when we're gonna run out of them. I have two songs that come to mind when I think of slowing life down. Here they are! :)

Youth group. :)

Today, was an awesome day. I had a great time hanging out with my friends and my lovely boyfriend. :) Youth was really good tonight, and I'm pretty proud of our band. We learned a new song, in 20 minutes, and sang it for worship. Now this isn't your typical worship song with 3 chords and repeats itself.. This was legit. It was the song "Manifesto" by The City Harmonic, if you haven't heard that song I'll have a video at the end you can watch. Everybody put in a lot of effort, and it sounded awesome if I do say so myself. ;) I am also very excited for the 28th, we have a new youth pastor coming!! I am so ready to meet them and get to know them. When I think of a youth pastor, I think of the first one I had. I don't know if I'll ever find a better youth pastor. His name was Jon, and now him and his wife Emily are in Rwanda. I am so excited to see what God is doing through them. :) I'm so glad we crossed paths, because they are two people I will never forget. Love you guys!!
Here's the song we learned. :)

Happy listening! :)

OOOOOOklahoma!

I hardly ever just wake up with a song in my head, but this morning I did. The first line that popped into my head was "Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day! I've got a beautiful feeling, everything's going my way!" I just want to say, Oklahoma is absolutely my favorite musical. And it's not just because I'm from Oklahoma. :)  Enjoy!

Stayin' strong, with some help.

Today was a great day. I sang one of the songs I wrote in church and played my guitar with the worship band. God used me once again through music. :) It's such an amazing feeling to know I did something for God.
This morning was actually not that great.. I got up early (earlier than I wanted to anyway), I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. I figured out what dress to wear without much trouble ( which is very rare). But the bigger problem was.. I've lost all of the jewelry I like to wear. It might not seem like that big of a deal, but I am my mother's daughter. lol. I packed all of my favorite jewelry to take on vacay with me, all in one little zipper bag. But I've lost it, which is very agitating.
 I left the house in wild frustration, tears streaming down my face from a crazy morning, going through the list in my head to make sure I didn't forget anything...
I feel like the Devil was trying to stop me from singing. It wasn't until later that I realized this, and the minute I did, I prayed. My mother must of read my mind, she turned the radio off and said " I think we should pray". Right there in the car, the devil left us alone, and the rest of my day turned out amazing. :)
After church was dismissed, there must have been 30 people that complimented me. But the thing that made it the most rewarding, was the few people that said "I really love the meaning of your song" and "Your song really touched me" and don't forget, "You're not alone, a lot of people feel that way". Not only that, but it makes me feel like I must be doing something right. All I did was let God take over one time and I'm touching peoples lives with one song. Imagine how much all of us could do if we let God take over all the time? After all, He is ultimately in control. I think we should all be more flexible to what God wants to do with our gifts and talents. I'm only 15 (almost 16 :) ) but that doesn't mean I can't do everything God wants me to do with my gifts. All I did was let the words come through me in the darkest time of my life and it turned into a song. Now I have the amazing opportunity to share it with everyone else who might be dealing with pain. It's the best feeling in the world and I want to go further. I'm never gonna back down, even when the Devil tries to attack me.

Read it, AGAIN.

You can read the same thing five or six times, but still get something new out of it everytime. I figured this out once again this morning. Last year I did Bible quizzing and we studied 1&2 Corithians. I read 1 Cor. 1 several times and even memorized a few verses from it. This morning I decided to read it again for my devotions, I got something new from it this time. 1 Corinthians 1:31- That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."
I take this as, if you're gonna make noise, make noise for God. I had never thought about it like that before, but it makes perfect sense. There is so much noise in this world, almost all of it is negative. It's up to us Christians to make a positive sound in the midst of all the negative noise in this world. Be positive!! :)

AHH, rain.

Good things about the rain:
1. IT ACTUALLY RAINED AT MY HOUSE!!
2. The ground was thirsty, now it's satisfied. :)
3. My yard won't feel like a desert anymore.
4. The smell that comes after rain. :)
5. Maybe, just maybe our grass can be green again!!


Not so good things about the rain: 
1. After rain, there will be red mud.. ':/
2. My dogs will be covered in that red mud, then they'll think it's a good idea to jump on me when I'm wearing white(Yes, this did happen. Sad day).
3. It stopped too soon! :(
4. It's gonna be muggy..
5. Uhh, I got nothing else. THE RAIN WAS GOOD.
Thankful for the rain. :)

Sooo apparently...

Apparently, my internet is broken, I'm using my mom's office computer.
Apparently, having a gallbladder attack hurts so bad you can't get off the floor.
Apparently, I won't know anything until Monday.
For those of you who don't know, about 3 years ago I had my appendix taken out (not from a book unfortuanely). It would have been quick and easy.. but it ruptured. Therefore it turned into this 17 day painful process in the hospital that almost took my life. I am very thankful it didn't, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this. :) God deserves on the credit, prayer works by the way.
Now, I'm starting to have problems with my gallbladder... and let me tell you, it's WAY more painful. I went to the doctor yesterday, and he sent me to get an ultrasound. I went to the hospital today, and now I'm at work with my mom. Well apparently they need computers around here. Gotta go. :/

OHH Vacation....is over?!? :(

It's sad, but very true.. vacation is over. Time for reality. Reality sucks...

It really is good to be home though. I missed my granny and all my dogs, although I didn't miss my brothers rat.. haha

Oh it was so fun! We did so much, we need a vacation from vacation!

Fortunately, we stayed with friends so we saved a TON of money and didn't need a hotel. I can't wait to go back! That's right, I'm going again! I have an awesome opportunity to go back and make a CD! I'm so excited!! It's been a dream of mine for a LONG time to make a CD. And better yet, I'll get to record the two songs that I've written. Plus any more that I want up to 15!

Well I could talk about so many different highlights of my week, but I think I'll share the one most meaningful to me.

Saturday night, our friend says.. "Singer Girl (he used my real name if course) I need you to do me a favor." "Sure! What do you need?" I asked. "Well I'm the lead singer in our church worship band, but most all of our band is gone. We don't even have any instruments. Could you play the piano or guitar and help me lead worship tomorrow?" a little surprised, I said "Yeah, I can do that!" We started working on it right away. Eventually I decided that the guitar would be easier, which doesn't make much sense..I've been playing the piano since I was 8, and the guitar since Thanksgiving. We chose our songs, I actually ended up picking one out by ear, and then my nerves started setting in.. We sang 5 songs, including one that I wrote :). This was a small church, with mostly older people, but it was an amazing experience. I messed up a few times, although I was the only instrument, I think I covered it up pretty well ;) Did I mention I was singing at the same time? Well I was. It was awesome, God used me through music in a big way.

On Sunday night, I sang the other song I wrote for a smaller amount of people. By then I was used to the stares. But I think I gained a few fans :) including a nice old man, haha. It was a great experience to share some of my music and my talents with people who appreciate them. If it wasn't for my friend, I wouldn't have been up there. He considered me a life saver, I consider him a man who appreciates my music and talents. Any way you slice it, it was a great week.

Enjoy!:)