Silence

You may have known this, depending on if you are pro-life or not, (hopefully you are) but yesterday October 19, 2010, was the 2010 Pro-Life Day of Silence and Solidarity. It's pretty much saying this:

babies are silenced forever without a voice

they dont have a say in their mother's "choice" to end their life or not

they dont have a choice or a voice

can you give up your voice for one day for those who will never have one?

I cheated a bit. I talked at home when i was only with my mom and dad, because they get the point and they are very strongly pro-life too, but at school i stayed silent the whole day. I think i slipped up a total of 3 times? But i immediately caught myself, put my hand over my mouth, and stayed silent.

If you know me, you know that silence is a difficult goal for me. Nobody thought I could do it. Or they didnt think I'd be able to make it past first period. But i did it. Not only was it a HUGE accomplishment for me, and it came with a good feeling that I cant even explain, but it got a lot of people to ask me about it and to read the abortion papers. They wouldnt have read them if i had just came up to their lunch table and said "HEY! You should totally read this, it's what I believe in and I support it with all of my heart."

That's. Just. Words.

You have to show them that you mean it, that this is what you feel & you will do anything to support it. That's what everyone participating in this did. You either had duct tape on your mouth or shoulder or even shirt (mine was on my shirt), preferably red (mine was gray, :/ had no red), with the word LIFE on it. When people do this, especially very talkative ones, it causes you to thing- why aren't they talking. especially if they ask you a question, and you respond by nodding your head or motioning your hands. They know somethings up. I just love this cause, my favorite one that I've ever done. I'm willing to do it again, whenever. All of my teachers agreed that it was okay before the date and didn't ask me to do anything that required talking, i actually got to sit out of a debate in class because it would involve talking. If my teachers read this for some reason, thank you.

I didn't want to post this last night, on the actual day, because I figured- this is my voice. This is how i spread His good news, and how i talk about all my encounters with Christ. If i'm not supposed to have my voice for one day, blogging doesn't support that.

I'm in the middle of a miracle. Being involved in this subject has been just that. I'm looking forward to March For Life in the upcoming year, and growing even stronger with my beliefs against abortion. To learn more, just chat me- you know where to find me. Or comment! :)

OH, and to James (jinglydoodle) and Katrina, Amanda, Claire, and anyone else who participated in this, I am so proud of you:) you did a great thing and keep it up guys. Love always.

But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear ; do not be frightened."
Take Courage
1 Peter 3:14

New Perspective

It hit me like a truck.

I've worn this ring almost everyday since mission trip 2010 and I always knew what it meant, but it finally hit me exactly why it applied to me. I'm so glad it did, but boy did it hurt. I'm selfish, and don't realize what I have until it's gone, or meets a risk factor. I realized this just randomly, when I noticed that i complain at as simple things as having to walk up my drive way when there is the option to be driven, or having to bring up the garbage when I'm tired in the car. There is no excuse to complain for any of these things. These things are so easy and painless i should JUMP at the chance to do them. But I dont. Truth is, I probably never will be excited to do chores, but still- my ring says Undeserved 2010. And that always strikes me as 2 things

1. undeserved- i dont deserve anything i have. i'm not going to pray to God and ask Him to take it all away, but i'm sure not grateful enough for it, or at least, i dont show it.

2. underserved- sometimes i add that one extra letter so i can think about this- how often do i serve Him? I mean, Jesus died on the cross for me, and I cant serve him with all of my heart, soul, and will? False. I need to start.

Now i'm sorry this has been really deep, i do actually have some really positive points for this, but I just needed to get that out because it's really been building up. And i am so grateful for that. Sometimes a pain as minor as knowing that you're not appreciating his love as much as you need to helps all the more. My friend Hannah told me something back in the tennis season, it's kinda her motto, I guess. She always smiles. I mean always. This girl was being crushed in tennis only because the girl serving was calling the points wrong, and she smiled away, and kept playing. She played great. She was working on a project for a very challenging class, and she was still smiling. I've never seen her not smile, to make it better- she has dimples :). I'm trying to use that outlook on life, because the more i think about it the more it makes sense.

Everything is His own, and is definitely worth smiling over.

Be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead!

- I Peter 1:6

Today in Faith Development classes ( i teach 1st grade) we were teaching them a very small scale version of an important thing to know- everything happens for a reason; dont lose hope or faith if your prayers dont always come just as you ask them. If you've ever seen Bruce Almighty, this will be a very easy comparison- if all prayers were answered "yes" there would be some counter-prayers and everything would just blow up in your face. I mean, if you pray that the Vikings win tonight (please....) and another person prays that they lose horribly, both won't be answered. Even though its a silly prayer anyways judging by how much else there is in this world to pray for. But the point is, it comes out not in our favor, but in our intent. We will not always get what we ask for, because of the fact that His plan is greater and comes out just the way he wants it too. He knows whats best, dont get upset, just go with it. He is amazing, and I will never stop praying, and having faith in Him, because He never has and never will in me.

Be content with what you have, for God has said, "Never

will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So say with

confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid."

- Hebrews 13:5,6

Back

This is overdue.

It's been exactly a month since I've blogged, I'll apologize and move on right away because why waste all of my blogs apologizing? There less often now, let's take advantage of them:)

So yesterday this thing pretty much came to me when I was laying in bed getting ready to fall asleep. It was just this thought that hit me like a train. And it made me wonder why i had never thought of it before. It's pretty obvious, so I might sound dumb, but I'm talking about self esteem.

Yeah, go ahead. Make your judgements, but I'm serious here when I say it. We all suffer from self esteem.

It's either too low, or too high. Too low, and you don't see yourself as the beautiful perfect you that God created and wants you to be. Too high and you think you are above everyone, and/or your dont respect that you are merely human, which doesnt even compare to Jesus Christ. We need to find a common ground, a place where we can say- okay. I am not perfect, but i am beautiful, i am made in His image, and i am His own. Can we do that?

Most people have a problem with looks. I personally am fine with my looks, i dont think I'm gorgeous, but i know this is how God wants me to look. Don't get me wrong, i'm all for wanting to dye my hair. Seriously, I am, but I dont complain all day about how i have this flaw, and that flaw, and so on and so forth. Not. My. Thing. I do have a problem with venting though, and if you ask any of my very close friends they'll agree with that. I'm not going to say what i vent about, ask me & I'll tell you, but it's gotten to the point where the majority of my conversations with some friends are all about the latest news and how much i need to vent it. it helps me, but it kills that relationship. I need some common ground with that too. Just thought I'd put that point across.

So this month has so much going on.

Pro-Life stuff all around (JOIN IN!)

Standing up for gay teenagers (remembering those that committed suicide as a result of bullying)

Breast Cancer Awareness month

today was actually pink day at my school, everyone wore pink as a way to support awareness

In the hustle and bustle of all this, dont forget one important word:

PRAY!

I'll leave it at that, actually, because I HATE rambling, and once again, I'm sorry for the lack of posting.

James will be very pleased to see I posted this.

Goodnight all(:

and dont worry, I'm a little rusty, but theres a deep one coming- i can feel it :)

I'm in the middle of writing a blog. It's been a month, I'm also studying at the same time while talking to some friends and trying not to fall asleep in the midst of it. I missed blogging though. Every night almost i would think to myself, what should i be blogging about right now? It's good to be back.