God is faithful

ok. that last post was a bit depressing. sorry about that.

i think now i'll post about God's faithfulness to me in 2009.

For one, God broke my fear of man. one year ago i would never dream of talking to anyone except my closest friends, i would only talk to someone else if they talked to me first, and i would hardly ever ask anyone any questions. God showed me that i was treasuring man's opinion of me more than God's opinion of me. then he gave me grace to change.
Today i don't mind talking to complete strangers, and i love asking people questions. i don't care if others think i'm weird in what i say, as long as i'm pleasing God in my speech. true, i do prefer listening over talking, but i'm much more willing to contribute to a conversation than i was a year ago.

Another thing God showed me was how to be a better friend. God convicted me of being selfish in my friendships. i wanted people to pay attention to me and invite me to hang out and ask me questions. it was all about me, and i felt like i didn't have any friends.
God showed me i needed to reverse my thinking. i am supposed to benefit my friends, not the opposite. i'm supposed to reach out to my friends and ask them questions and invite them to hang out, make an effort to get to know them better. if i do that consistently, then i will be a true friend, and others will start to benefit me.
i still have a long way to go in being a better friend, but God will help me grow. at least my thinking is correct now.

The most wonderful thing God did for me in 2009 was open up His Word to me in a new way. i used to hardly ever get truths out of my devotions. but now i almost always learn something from reading my Bible. it's definitely the work of the Holy Spirit revealing truths of Scripture to me. And now i love, love, love reading my Bible and theology books. there's nothing i would rather do than study God's Word. i couldn't say that a year ago, but i'm so glad i can today! :)

Wow, God really did some amazing things in my life last year!

life's moving slow

This song by FM Static kind of describes my life right now.

It we take our time
I bet we can all find
The things in life worth living for

One thing I know is that when life's moving slow
I'm not out here on my own
I've got You to get me through this


My life seems to be moving very slow. I'm not in school, and I'm not content with my job any more. I used to love my job, but now it feels a little burdensome. Maybe that's because all my leaders at work say I'm one of their best employees, so I feel like I have to live up to their expectations of me. I'm so tired of trying to do my best, I just want to give up.

I know that God's grace is sufficient for me, but that truth isn't really helping me right now.

Sorry you have to read all this complaining. =( I hope I didn't discourage you, and I'll try not to post this kind of stuff too much....


On a happier note, this Thursday the M28 Big meetings start again. =) And REKINDLE is just 2 months away! It's going to be so much fun this year!

"I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2:10-11

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!

Anna making cinnamon raisin buns

yum!

Christianne got a Duke T-shirt

Wes and his new keyboard

Ben's new pocket knives

Mom got a new apron

my presents. my favorite is my ESV study Bible :)

tomorrow is Christmas! :)

Just a short update. My voice is just now starting to sound a little better. Maybe it'll be back to normal for Christmas. I sure hope so!

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I think I overdid it yesterday. I had a cold and my throat was extremely sore, yet I still went to work and talked for 9 hours on headset for drive-thru. By the end I could barely talk.
My voice isn't any better today, so all I can do is whisper. Oh well, at least I'm not working today. Later I'm planning to go shopping and pretend I'm Deaf (since I can't talk). That should be fun. :)

I decided I'm not going to school next semester. There's nothing I really want to study for, so I figured it would be better to not spend money on taking classes I don't need. The only problem is, I don't want to stay at Chick-fil-A forever. I want to do something different, but there's nothing else I want to do. Hmm.....

Oh, I recently bought all 6 Harry Potter movies on DVD. I'm happy we have them now, 'cause we can watch them whenever we want. I just love those movies!

I know I stole this from my sister's blog, but I thought it was great so I'm posting it. :)


You Know You're From Charlotte When...

1. You can't drive a mile in any direction without seeing yet another Harris Teeter

2. You know someone who has hit a deer while driving

3. You understand that Charlotte has four seasons: Humid, Very Humid, Insanely Humid, and Christmas

4. You thought Discovery Place was the best thing ever when you were a kid

5. People clean out the grocery stores whenever snow is forecast, and then it snows a quarter of an inch (or not at all)

6. You remember when Charlotte had a real basketball team

7. Everyone wears flip-flops in January...and can get away with it

8. No matter what you do or where you go, some crazy SUV driver will cut you off

9. You know that barbecue is a noun, not a verb

10. There is a Starbucks in every single shopping center

11. You know the Charlotte Knights are not even in North Carolina, let alone Charlotte

12. You know someone who works for BofA or Wachovia

13. You know to give directions that bypass that infamous intersection: Queens Road and Queens Road

14. You are scared to leave home for more than three months for fear that new development will cause you to get lost on the return trip

15. You know to never, EVER drive from Matthews to Waxhaw on Providence Road at 5:00. Under ANY circumstances

16. You've been to Kate's Skates with your youth group on a Monday night

17. You can drive through previously rural areas around the city, naming which neighborhoods, apartment complexes and schools used to be cow pastures and peach fields

18. You question the "photo enforced" speed limit signs along Pineville-Matthews Road; are they real? Let me drive a little faster and find out...

19. You sometimes wonder if the city motto is "We're better than Raleigh"

20. You know that the Arboretum isn't a place where they grow trees

21. You are already driving 10mph over the speed limit and a police car passes you because you are driving too slow

22. You drive straight on one road for 5 miles and it has already changed names 4 times

23. Every summer you got season tickets to Carowinds, and used them only twice

24. Cars' turn signal bulbs never burn out (from inactivity)

25. Red means "stop", green means "go", and yellow means "floor it!"

random

I'm done with school for this semester! Yay! :)
I still have yet to decide if I want to go on to the next level of sign language next semester. See, the next level is a second short session, and I don't really want to do a short session. But I kinda want to learn more ASL. And I like the fact that I don't work the days that I have class. I'd better decide soon, 'cause the class is almost full. Hmm.....

So, I turned 20 on Sunday. Wow. God had been so good!

Oh, and I'm going to attempt to learn how to play guitar soon. I figured it's time I learn how to play an instrument. =P

=)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

fun weekend!

I'm really sore right now. Considering what I did this weekend, I'm not surprised.

Saturday evening, I went to a swing dance. That was my first time dancing, and it was fun! :) We danced for nearly 4 hours. We did swing dance, waltz, and line dance. I didn't really enjoy the waltz, but the other two were great.

Then Sunday afternoon, I went 4-wheeling. I got so muddy, but I didn't care 'cause it was so much fun! I've never done anything like that before, but I'm glad I did. Wow, a year ago I would have been way too scared to do that. I'm definitely breaking out of my comfort zone a lot more than I used to, thanks to the grace of God in my life. I love new adventures! :)

Here are a few pictures from the swing dance.

the Virginia Reel