Overthinking.

Most of the time this tends to get me into trouble more than anything.
Maybe you feel like you're in the same boat.
I've often been told that I like to overthink things. Well, that's the thing. I don't like to do it. I just do it. I can't help that that's the way my brain tends to function. Sometimes when I overthink things people call me stupid. I don't like that because nobody deserves to be called stupid in a rude kind of way. I can't help that when others go the easy way I have to learn things the hard way. I can't help that I naturally tend to learn things a different way than you do. When someone says something it can take me to an entire new level of thinking. Most of the time I like it quiet and I like to be alone because I can just think. I can think about life and what it means and what God does in life.
Some days thinking can get me into a lot of trouble. For instance what is happening now. I can wake up and do my usual routine and live out the Christian life that God has called me to live while overthinking things, but unless my thoughts are grounded by the word which I'm suppose to root myself in every single day, then they're useless. When my thoughts are transformed by the renewing of my mind in Christ then that's what my thoughts begin to glorify him and become useful. And when my thoughts are glorifying him, everything else will fall into place.

I play the piano and had a hard time reading because I would overthink the chord charts and would want to fit in whatever works just so that it would work and sound good. But the exact chords that are written on the page have to be played before you can add the creativity, because that's where the foundation lies. I look at this as a metaphor for how we have to stay founded on the word rather than just working in whatever works. We have to mediate on the word so much that it's rooted in us. If not, then how will we be able to live out in all of the other possibilities that he has called us to? How will things fall into place if we aren't rooted in God's living words?

To Truly share and show Love.

My family has come a lot closer this past week. This past Sunday night my sister Carrie had a stroke. This wasn't expected, but it wasn't completely out of nowhere. She's in a rehabilitation center right now regaining movement of the left side of her body.
You don't realize how often you use the left side of your body until it stops working.
You don't realize how much time is given to you before you use it up.
Lately I have been back into a season where I feel that God is teaching me about love, sacrifice, and time again. I have often found it difficult to show love to people through my actions and words some days. I've felt bad because of teenage junk and I've thrown myself pity parties. I've been selfish. I've taken the things I have for granted and I feel that God is revealing to me what it truly means to have those things.

I was listening to a friend talk a Slab the other day. She said that a lot of times we take people for granted, and so often we're quick to judge and ignore people that God put in our pathway for a reason. Those people could be annoying; we could think "Why the heck did God put me here with these people?" and we can spend time getting so impatient with people and annoyed by them and snap on them for no reason.
 This sounds cliche, but really think about it for a minute.
Really ponder these thoughts:
Do you even know what that person could be going through?
Did you ever stop to think that God has you sitting next to them for a reason?
 Maybe it's to help them with something big or maybe it's just to smile at them. Afterall, every action you make bears a consequence. However, this thought isn't to cause pressure because Lord knows how often we screw up and say things we don't mean. But it's to inspire a change in how we live on a daily basis.

Consider the people that surround you, and consider what you do. Because the time we have here on this earth is so short and so quickly spent. I don't want to live a life constrained by things that don't matter and things that waste my time. But I want to make sure that these moments are well-spent. I want to say kind words to people. I want to compliment them, even if it annoys the crap out of other people and they call me a suck-up. That's just a negative term for kindness, in my opinion, and there isn't anything wrong with kindness.  I want people to know their beauty and their highlights and I want to be sweet to them.


So guys, here's to a week of getting stronger and a time of loving more. Here's to a week of learning to dance in the rain.

You Satisfy my Soul with your Love

Hallelujah, you make all things beautiful.
Hallelujah, trials and testing prove there's gold.
Hallelujah,
you turn mourning into joy.




We can be having an awful day, a terrible week, the worst time of our lives; But at the end of the day, when everything is said and done, as long as we having the confidence that our God loves us unconditionally, and that he is eternally ours and that we are eternally his, that is the point when we realize that nothing can truly harm us. And we experience the most genuine liberation and freedom that can exist in the human state.

You'll never leave us.

When I'm weak I want to
crawl up on your lap and
listen to the
heartbeat of heaven
listen to your
gentle and everlasting
words
words that keep me going
words that hold me strong
and remind me where to go

When I feel like I've been
knocked down a thousand times
by everything around me
when I feel like I'm torn by all of these
harsh words
and by the
people that let me down,
sitting on the ground,
I open my eyes to see
your love, ever-present
neverending
and in this, I have confidence
the entire world is imperfect
and everyone will fail
we'll constantly let eachother down
but you'll never leave me
nor forsake me
even in the midst of strife.