The Test.

2 Corinthians 13:5

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you-unless, of course, you fail the test?"

This summer has been very busy and very eventful, and I have seen God work through so many ways. With my family, the church, and myself.
I haven't been able to post as much as I'd like, but I hope that it will change soon and I will be able to post more often. Thank you for your patience.

I think it's finally starting to kick in that this is my last year of high school. I'm so excited, but also wanting to make sure that I don't miss anything God is trying to teach me or tell me in the process. Sometimes I feel like I get so caught up and stressed about things that honestly don't matter, especially in God's eyes and that's something I've always struggled with.

With the verse for today, I want to test myself. I know that I cannot get through this year without God's help, and that's a fact, for several reasons. He's going to be the only strength I have to get through it. I want to test my ability to lean on God for every aspect of my life, because I don't know how I can do it on my own.
A goal this year for me is to read through the entire Bible before school gets out in May. I don't want God to not be able to use me to His full potential just because I don't know His Scripture, especially with the mission opportunities I have coming up. And one of those mission opportunities is school.

Please pray for me as I go through this next year. Pray that I will be a light for the students of Peaster High School, and that us as Christians will be able to make a difference and give fellow students hope. Pray that I will be ready and prepared for any way that God can use me.

Ephesians 5:15-17

"Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."

I've been so blessed with the people in my life to encourage me and keep me going, I'm so thankful for each and every one of you.
I know that this will definitely be a learning year for me, and I'm ready.

My hope:
Luke 18:27
"Jesus replied, 'What is impossible with men is possible with God.'"

Change in the Making-Addison Road

There’s a better version of me
That I can’t quite see
But things are gonna change
Right now I’m a total mess and
Right now I’m completely incomplete
But things are gonna change
Cause you’re not through with me yet

This is redemption’s story
With every step that I'm taking
Every day, you’re chipping away
What I don’t need
This is me under construction
This is my pride being broken
And every day I’m closer to who I’m meant to be
I'm a change in the making

Wish I could live more patiently
Wish I could give a little more of me
Without stopping to think twice
Wish I had faith like a little child
Wish I could walk a single mile
Without tripping on my own feet
But you’re not through with me yet

And this is redemption’s story
With every step that I'm taking
And every day, you’re chipping away
What I don’t need
This is me under construction
This is my pride being broken
Every day I’m closer to who I’m meant to be

From the dawn of history
You make new and you redeem
From a broken world to a broken heart
You finish what you start in everything
Like a river rolls into the sea
We’re not who we’re going to be
But things are going to change

I'm living redemption’s story
With every step that I'm taking
And every day, you’re chipping away
What I don’t need
And this is me under construction
This is my pride being broken
And every day I’m closer to who I’m meant to be
I'm a change in the making

I'm not who I'm gonna be
Moving closer to your glory.

His Hands.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'"

These verses have become more real to me now than ever before.

I've grown up with these verses but never really grasped what they truly mean. Now, as I'm in the summer before my senior year, my life is beginning to change. I'm not the little girl I once was, and I used to think I would be scared of leaving high school, growing up, and moving on with life but I am so unbelievably excited I can't contain it.

I am starting to plan for my future, but realizing that God already has my future planned for me. I have hope that wherever He will lead me in life that it will be for His will and that I will be the happiest I've ever been, even when life does throw me curve balls.

Isaiah 42:16

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them."

When I think back to before everything really changed, and I handed my life over to God; I wasn't happy. At all, compared to now. He has blessed me with so much, and has me in a place I never thought I'd be, but it's absolutely perfect and I'm the happiest I've ever been. My hope is that it will be my drive.

I want others to be able to feel the same happiness, build relationships, and know that when life is in God's hands, there will still be problems, but no longer any worry because you know He has a plan and will give you the strength.

Romans 15:13

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

It is truly amazing to see how God's hands are in every little detail of my life and it has become more real to me now than ever before.
Words can't express how important total submission to God has been in my life.
I struggle everyday, because yes, I am human, but at the end of the day I have a God who is merciful and I have learned that if I trust in Him, I become happier than I would have ever been if I had just done what was easiest.

Isaiah 41:10

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

My prayer today is that in everything I do, God will be put first and that He will use me.

And I pray it will be the same for you.
I pray that you have hope, and know that God has a future for each and every one of us, and is just waiting for us to submit ourselves; give ourselves up and let it no longer be us in the driver's seat.

Isaiah 41:17-20

"The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it."