Be joyful always.

This semester, and I'm sure many of you can relate, has been stinking hard. There have been smiles, there have been tears (a lot of them, actually) and a whole lot of rushing around like a madman trying to get everything done. I have felt happy, stressed, sad, anxious, hopeful (gets out making peace emotions chart), insecure, stagnant, lonely, uptight... The list goes on. Basically, the last couple of months have been an emotional roller coaster in the midst of a very demanding school, work and ministry schedule.

As many emotions as I have experienced this semester, there has been a pretty vital one that I feel like I haven't truly experienced. That emotion is joy. I have completely neglected the opportunity to feel joyful. About anything! I have had positive emotions, sure. But mostly I have been consumed in my own selfishness and joy has been something I can honestly say I haven't been experiencing.

So, Sunday I was thinking about something Aimee said last year at one of our canvas group meetings. She said (this is paraphrased) that for her, joy is something she has to wake up every morning and choose to feel. I have no idea what made me think of this, but the Lord knew I needed to. God calls us to be joyful! He calls us to be free.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Side note: Galatians 5 is also awesome, you should read it. 

Yesterday, I woke up at 6:30am and went running with The Pace Makers & Heartbreakers, previously known as "The Rock Running Club." I don't like running. Like, I REALLY don't like running. But I went, and I found myself actually having a good time throughout it, all because of my mindset. I made the decision that I was going to choose joy.

It's not always that easy. I will probably forget by next week, honestly. With that being said, my intentions of this post are not to be prideful in the least. Life can be hard, but this week I have challenged myself, and I really want to challenge all of you. Choose joy.

Choose carrots, too. They're good for you.

If you want to read more on this topic, Aimee has wrote some posts on it as well, and she is awesome. You should take a look.


P.S. Heres some good music. Brand new, folks!
1. Austin Stone Worship
2. Avett Brothers (who I'm officially seeing on February 14, 2014, thanks to one stinking awesome boyfriend)

Well this is just cute.

Some of you have probably seen this, but if you haven't, you need to. So awesome.

The kid in the video has a website, which his brother-in-law wrote the "Who We Are!" section on his website. Heres a little tidbit of what he wrote, just to give you an idea of just how awesome this kid is:

Robby, age 9, is my little brother-in-law. He's full of life and ideas. Robby has Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) a brittle bone condition which has resulted in him having over 70 breaks since birth. What's inspiring about Robby isn't his condition, but the fact that his condition doesn't define who he is. In spite of all he's been through he not only keeps going - he dances.

Now, if that doesn't make you smile, you should probably go to a doctor and have them check for a heart.

Happy Tuesday :)

Back in Action.

It has been so long, and so much has happened. There are a million things I could talk about, but I'm going to choose one good thing. Then, at the end, I will probably add one more thing. You're confused by everything I just said, so just keep scrolling.

I don't want this to sound all "feel bad for me" and angsty, but life has been busy lately. I like busy-ness, but the last thing I want is to feel like I'm not taking time to truly enjoy the things that are happening around me. Lately, it has felt like that.

I have had a lot of conversations with friends centered around this idea: Why are we even going to school? And really, why are we getting these college degrees that we may or may not even use? That's a tough one for me to wrap my mind around.

Every Tuesday, I take time out of my busy schedule and I get the honor of visiting... Wait for it... The one and only, West Middle School. I'm just kidding about "the one and only" part... What a generic name right? Whatever, it makes sense if you look at a map.

Anyway, every Tuesday I get to go help in a 6th grade social studies classroom filled with lots of little 11 and 12 year olds. Then I remember. THIS, my friends, is why I am shortening the length of my life and turning my hair gray. I am doing these things to get my degree so I can spend more than just an afternoon every Tuesday with some hormonal pre-teens. Ten years from now I will probably be complaining that these students are the ones turning my hair gray... Funny how that works right?

So that's my good thing. That's just one thing I wanted to share that has been really awesome in the last month and a half. Speaking of the last month and a half, my social media fast in September was awesome. I won't get into it too much, but it was really good to take that break.

ONE MORE GOOD THING. Kind of.

We had the fall retreat last weekend. What a good time to get away and spend with God and my awesome community. I was sick, which is why it was only kind of awesome. I came home with a fever and I'm still recovering, but regardless, it was awesome. Plus, Tyler brought me soup and put up with all of my coughing and sneezing. What a good guy right? To show off how good of a weekend it was, here are some pictures. Credit to Casey Batezel, Margaret Bedwell, and Sarah Bell. I'm not really sure who took which pictures.