"And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God." - Luke 24:53 NLT


And we only spend 13% of our time with God...if that.


Why is it that we put so many other things before God?  He is the first thing we cut out when our lives start to get busy.  But He is what we need the most.


All of us can't go to church all day long and just pray and worship, but we can talk to God throughout the day.


"...pray continually..." - 1 Thessalonians 5:17


Often times, I forget to pray during the day.  I get too caught up in my activities (school, work...) that I forget to talk to the One who created me and loves me more then I could ever imagine.


God wants all of us, our whole hearts.  He may call some of us to become nuns or monks and literally spend 'all [our] time in the Temple praising God.'  But not everyone is called to that kind of life.  


But we can spend all our time with God.  We can spend specific amounts of time studying the Bible, we can pray throughout the day, we can reflect, we can serve, we can repeat memorized verses, we can thanks God for His beautiful creation, we can be Jesus to those around us, we can dedicate whatever we do to God, the list goes on and on.


In the car is the perfect time to God.  Alone and stuck with nothing to do for minutes on end, this is a great opportunity to talk to God.  I've had some great conversations with God when I was driving.  So turn off the music and talk to God.  Or listen and let Him talk to you.

Math=Fail

Blood and ashes! I am terrible at math! I'm trying to prepare to take the SAT in January and I've been going over the math sections in SAT prep book. Ugh! I'm just horrible at it! My mind was not made to understand math, it just does not stick. And then I'm doing statistics and man! there are some complicated equations in there! I don't know how I'm ever going to get through the book. God certainly did not make me a math whiz. That means that to get better scores on the SAT math section or to pass the stat exam, I'm going to have to reply on Him and that if He wants me to get good scores, He'll help me recall what I've learned and give me the strength to get through this studying!

Rain Down

Darn, I had like a whole post typed out and my computer just lost it all. Let me try again.

It's raining. It's been raining all day; pouring, sprinkling and just plain old raining. I'm glad. I'm going in to work tonight after not working for a few days and it will be nice to have a slower night. Not many people come to a drive in restaurant in the rain.

I really should be doing school work instead of blogging about the rain. I have SAT stuff to study and college applications essays to write.

Does anyone here ever get really stressed out about school work? I usually do sometime during the school year and I feel like I'm on the brink of it now. There's one verse that's been really helpful to me, "I can do all thinkgs through Christ who gives me strength." This year I feel like God is more present in my life. Whenever I feel down or overwhelmed, He's the first one I go to for comfort. When I feel lonely, I cling to HIs promise that He'll never leave me. When I'm afraid, I remember that He is holding me up and protecting me. Life is so much better if you live it with God.

Well, that's all I've got for now. I'm off to do my school work.

Fear and Doubt

I did it again. Tonight I went into work and was scheduled to close with another girl. I was so scared. I didn't think I knew what to do. I was thinking about this before I went into work, and God just said to me, "I've gotten you through other things; don't you trust me with this too?" This was really meaningful to me. But why was I still scared? Everything went fine. It was great, me and the other girl had great team work. There was nothing to worry about. I was thinking about it as I drove home and didn't understand why, if every time I'm afraid God holds me up, I still get scared. Why am I so frightened of new situations? God is taking care for me, He's showed that to me. It seems like I'm not learning anything. Or do I not trust God as much as I think I do. I'm not sure.

And then right as I was coming up the hill to my house, the song "By Your Side" by Tenth Avenue North began playiing on the radio. It was a great reminder that God was with me, holding onto me, and that He'll never ever ever leave me and I can cry out to Him any time and He will be there to help me.

Ok, one more thing. Anyone else have trouble with doubt? Well, I do. Let me give you an example. I'm pretty certain I want to go to DeSales University for college next year. Actually, I'm very certain. I just feel a pull towards DeSales that I didn't feel for any of the other colleges I visited. I think that that's God's way of telling me that DeSales is where He wants me. At least that's what I thought. I guess I still think it, but now as I fill out an application for DeSales, I'm maybe wondering if I should also consider other colleges in case I don't get accepted or if DeSales isn't where God wants me. See, when I made up my mind that I wanted to go to DeSales, I pretty much ruled out all other schools. My mom asked me if I wasnted to visit Messiah and I said no. I don't know if I'm even going to apply to other schools. What if I'm making a mistake? Last night was really bad. Lying in bed, I just doubted my decision; I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing. I've prayed about where I should go, but never got a really clear answer. But maybe the tug I felt towards DeSales is my answer. I feel so drawn to DeSales and sorta repulsed my all the other colleges. It's another trust issue. I need to surrender decision about where I go to college to God and trust that He'll take me to the right school and enable me to get in. But I'm afraid. Next year isn't too far away and I want to know where I'll be. I want to be certain. I want it all planned out. But maybe God doesn't; can I trust Him with that?

Alright, I'm through. I'm going to stop listening to "City On Our Knees" over and over and go to bed now. Thanks for listening.

No Place Like Home

I just got back from vacation yesterday. It took us 12 hours to drive from Oak Island North Carolina, to Montandon/Milton Pennsylvania. Being stuck a car with your parents, brother, ten year old sister and two other sisters (one younger and one older) isn't the most fun thing in the world. My sister and I (the younger but not the ten year old) did have some good times. We played chess and were goofy and looked at license plates (we saw Alaska!!). But there were times of fighting and boredom and times of extreme sleepiness. We made it through though. Now I'm back in the real world. I'll probably have to work tomorrow or the next day, I've decided to start my school work on Monday and my sister goes back to college on Saturday. No more sitting around and reading, no more swimming in the ocean, no more taking walks on the beach, no more endless oreos in the car, no more funny cousins (for a little while at least) and it feels like no more freedom. Laying in bed this morning I felt completely overwhelmed. I just felt like I couldn't handle it. I felt stressed. I felt completely miserable. And I prayed. I told God all of this; I told Him I needed His strength, that I couldn't do it on my own. I told Him that without Him I just couldn't do it. I asked Him, begged Him, to be with my and to hold me up and take away my painful feelings. And then I fell half asleep and all my fears and stress seemed to vanish. I felt peace. It was wonderful. And now I know that even though life may be stressful, chaotic, full of unwanted change, complicated and completely beyond my control, I can have peace in my Lord. My Lord who never takes His eyes off of me. Who watches my every move. Who holds me up because I can't stand on my own. Who loves me more than I could ever dream or imagine. Who is always there to comfort and guide me. Who I only need to cry out to and He'll save me. That is my hope. Without my Lord, I would be so lost and to hopeless. I could not live. I would be nothing.