Just Simply Amazing

Wow, it has been a long time since we have written on our blog that I don’t know where to begin.  I guess I’ll start where I left off.

“To laugh is to risk appearing the fool, to weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out to another is to risk involvement, to expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return, to live is to risk dying, to hope is to risk despair, to try is to risk failure. But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing at all. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he cannot learn, feel, change, grow, or live. Chained by his servitude he is a slave who has forfeited all freedom. Only a person who risks is truly free. The pessimist complains about the wind; the optomist expects it to change; and the realist ajusts the sails.

“To Risk” by William Arthur Ward

chris-tomlin-his-love-endures-forever1…………………His love endures FOREVER! Even when it seems like He’s gone and He’d left us, He NEVER leaves…although when it seems that way don’t forget He didn’t leave us, We left Him, He’s just waiting for ust to come back to Him.

LOVE In Christ,

Josie

Wow. Looking back at last year, I can honestly say that it went NOTHING like I expected or planned. In some good ways and in some not so good ways. I learned lessons and forget them, laughed, cried, experienced victory and failure. God saw fit to allow me to explore new worlds and soar higher than ever. But I also got knocked around a bit by the hard winds of reality and heartache.

This past year I went on a field trip, taught thousands of kids, graduated from highschool, finally got my license, went to photography school, I drank over 250 Dr Peppers (in an assortment of sizes) :P, went with Camille to a summer camp, pulled 27 all-nighters, learned the Justin Beiber dance, watched The Patriot for the first time ever, learned to love Starbucks coffee, laughed and cried harder then EVER. I saw purple mountain majesties, brilliant golden sunrises, deep green forests, and eternal blue skies. I got to spend the most amazing two weeks with my Bestie, I got to know my second family. I climbed high and fell hard, made some new friends and… lost a few good ones, I learned priceless lessons and lost things that can never be bought back.

Here are a few of the lessons I learned…

• There’s always a silver lining…you just have to be willing to look for it.
• Trust is not “buy one, get one free”.
• Every one is going to hurt you, you just have to decide who’s worth being hurt over.
• Never assume.
• Your family will always be your family.
• Tan lines, mascara, and zits don’t define beauty.
• Virtue is a virtue.
• A big vocabulary doesn’t solve problems.
• Love is patient.
• Failure does not define you, but what you do about it afterwards does.
• I can’t live without jeans, jewelry, Dr Pepper, hugs, best friends, laughter, or a girly movie every once in awhile.
• Men are complicated, fragile, and a little over-rated. (no offense to anyone) 😛
• If people talk behind your back, you’re way ahead of them.
• Honesty is the best policy.
• Lessons learned the hard way are not easily forgotten.
• Its okay to cry (and always thank God when He sends you a shoulder to cry on)

Three words can describe my year perfectly… Stretching. Life-changing. Interesting.

2011…May it be the year that I grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.

~Bri

Kassie and Bridget at the house

My cousin Vanessa in the car on the way to the mall!!!

Me waiting in the dressing room…ready to go home

Kassie, Bri, and Me sitting in the ski lodge chilln’

Courtney and my Mom sitting in the ski lodge staying out of the cold…:)

My Grandpa and Dad waiting to eat….their guys, what do you excpect?

Camille on her laptop

My cousin Marissa with her new Wii game on Christmas morning!

My Grandma

Me with my new hat! =D

Me and my cousin Kassie just hanging out

“…My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diver’s temptations; knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed… Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall recieve the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man: but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straight way forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word, this man shall be blessed in his deed…”

“…is not a sense, nor sight, nor reason, but a taking God at His word.”     ~Evans

“The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.”     ~George Mueller

I’m in the middle of a huge lesson on…faith. God is teaching me that faith is a lot bigger than I ever imagined. I decided that faith in and of itself can’t truly be learned in comfortable, easy surroundings. I mean, who needs to ask God for help when everything is going perfect, right? God gives us promises in the quiet hour and He seals our covenants when everything is going great and it is easy for us to stop and listen to what He is saying. It’s kind of like your relationship with your parents. *grin*. When thing are going good between you its a little easier to listen to them and their advice. You don’t mind being around them and can even carry on a good, intelligent, intellectual conversation. In short… you are friends.

But then, something happens. Maybe its a disagreement on rules or someone just has a bad day(…week…month… whatever.) or one of you (or all of you) gets their feelings hurt or someone feels bossed/disrespected, so everyone gets officially bent out of shape. Its not to easy to get along and be chummy right then, is it? You don’t want to listen to what they have to say and you don’t really want to stick around long around enough to get the lecture you know that’s coming. Now, back to God, when life is going good it’s easy to seek Him, honor Him, and “be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances…”. But then God decides to test you and all of a sudden it’s hard not to blame Him for what’s going on. At times its hard to then go and read His word, believe the promises of God, and have the motivation to do right because “it just doesn’t matter anymore.”

How many of you have ever had a mountaintop experience where God is so real and so close and you are sure that He loves you and is “on your side”? Yeah. But what usually comes after that? Somethine hard, right? Well, it is in those times that God steps back to see how much we believe; to measure our faith. It is easy to have faith when things are going well, but when its hard… God showed me that when He steps back and allows difficult circumstances; when He lets the tempter come; and the tests seem to contradict all that He has spoken to me and promised, it is then that faith wins its crown. That is the time to look up through the storm and choose to pick yourself up again and again and again to stand firm against the winds and the waves. Thats is the time to shout out over the thunder and lightning and cry, “I believe God! I have faith that all will turn out for good! In this I can have peace…”

~Brianna

“When nothing whereon to lean remains,

When strongholds crumble to dust;

When nothing is sure but that God still reigns,

That is the time to trust.

‘Tis better to walk by faith than sight,

In this path of yours and mine;

And the pitch-black night, when there’s no outer light

Is the time for faith to shine.”

                                    ~ Joseph Parker

My uncle sent me this story, I decided to pass it on… here it is:

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rood, and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion’s guest room. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement. As they made teir bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a  hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked “why?” the older angel replied: “Things aren’t always what they seem” the next night the two angels came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife…  After sharing what little food they had, the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they angels could get a good night’s rest. When the the sun rose the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field. The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel: “how could you have let this happen?”  The farmers wife said, “You helped the first man you went  to and he was rich, he had everything! We don’t have anything and you don’t help us!”  The older angel replied. “Things aren’t as they always seem. When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his food fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn’t find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife, I gave him the cow instead. Things aren’t always what they seem.” 

Sometimes that is exactly what happens when things don’t turn out the way they should, if you have faith, you just need to trust that every out come is always to your advantage. You just might not know it until some time later… Yesterday is history, Tomorrow a mystery, Today is a gift. (that’s why it’s called the present)

I know some friends that are about to head out for Korea! With them going there it reminds me, that we need to follow God, even if it means going to Korea, or any other place far away.  In our eyes we see going out of state, is just crazy and there is no point in going if we  don’t even want to. Well in God’s eyes He see’s that going anywhere he leads you, even if it means going out of state, or in the state or city you live in,  He has a plan, and He has a purpose!  He knows what you are going to be doing in five years, He knows what you are going to be doing in the next couple of hours! Sometimes we say that we don’t want to go anywhere, we must want to stay home. Well I hate to break it to you, but if we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, then we aren’t home until we get to heaven. We’re just on a little vacation right now, and God can call us home anytime…! He just says the word and we are gone, in heaven. So right now while we are on our vacation we need to be going anywhere God calls us to go, even if it’s still in the same state you live in! We can be messengers for God, and telling everybody about what He has said in His TRUE Word!

So next time God calls you somewhere, or anywhere, be the best messenger you can be. Just think of it this way… We are very important and special messengers for the one who created everything, the one who is in charge of EVERYTHING, the one who is the Most High King, and Lord of  Lords! Maybe God calls you to do work in the state, or city which you live in, He’s just testing you to see if you can be responsible for the little things as well as the big things! If you fail the test, on the little things, then God knows that you can’t be responsible for the big things, He has in store for you! With everything you do, big or small, gigantic or tiny, give it your all!

Love in Christ,

Josie