A Noteworthy quote by C.S Lewis

Found this quote on a friends' page on facebook and had to share.

‘If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of Man was an accident too. If so, then all our present thoughts are mere accidents—the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else’s. But if their thoughts—i.e. of materialism and astronomy—are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all the other accidents. It’s like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milkjug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset.’

C.S. Lewis

20 years old...

yikes! I know I'm not old but I sure do feel different. It's hard to believe 20 years has come and gone already. It was a good day spent playing games with family and just relaxing! Well, here's to the next year!

Another prayer I need to remember everyday (posted it last new years as well):

"Deliver me Jesus
From the desire of being loved;
from the desire of being honored;
from the desire of being praised;
from the desire of being preferred to others;
from the desire of being consulted;
from the desire of being approved;
from the fear of being humiliated;
from the fear of being despised;
from the fear of suffering rebuke;
from the fear of being forgotten;
from the fear of being wrong;
from the fear of being suspected.
And Jesus, grant me the grace to desire that
others might be loved more than I;
That others might be esteemed more than I;
that in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I decrease;
that others may be praise and I unnoticed;
that others may be preferred to me in everything;
that others may become holier than I
provided I become as holy as I should."

A prayer we should all memorize, providing we truly mean what it says.

and of course, the Chuck Norris fact from my calendar. They combined both today and tomorrow.

January 2 & 3 - "One man's loss is another man's gain. Most of the time, that second man is Chuck Norris."

Update oh update!

Whew! Life has been pretty crazy lately! School has been crashing down on me with project after project due. It also doesn't help that I'm feeling like I'm missing a project all the time. Kind of makes things a little bit stressful! But I was lucky enough to have a week off last week to get caught up on everything I could. Still lots to do, but I got most of the other stuff out of the way!

Our family has been doing pretty good. Dad has been away on meetings a lot to Calgary. He took on a big project at work and is going to be having a lot of meetings for the next little while. We just pray he'll be safe on the roads and get to spend at least 3 days a week at home. Mom has been quilting up a storm...and has in fact piqued my interest in quilting. She's made a few baby blankets, a couple of quilts, placemats, and cushions for the couch! She's been busy! I've also taken on the quilting bug and began sewing my own quilt! I've finished all the blocks so far and just need to get all the big strips sewn on now! Half way there!

Marlys is 35 week pregnant and looking fantastic! We are so excited for the little bundle that could be coming any week now. She's really tired, but hanging on. We get to go see them this coming weekend and I'm really excited. It's only been two weeks since we last saw them, but she's grown quite a bit in those two weeks! It's an exciting time! I've also taken on another project for their baby room! I'll put pictures up at the end. I'm quite excited about the way they've turned out!

I've also been not doing well with this HELP challenge! I'm a little (make that a lot!) disappointed that I've only lost one pound in a month and a half! I just can't seem to lose the weight! Regardless of the outcome though, I am becoming more and more content with my body regardless of it's size. I do feel a lot healthier and I have been going swimming regularly so it's been really nice. I've also grown a lot spiritually especially this last week! It has been incredible. For awhile I've known that I am very judgemental, even though I don't want to be. Thoughts just pop up into my head about people and I scold myself for it immediately afterwards. The first time in a long time, I went to school seeing people the way God sees them. I didn't have one judgemental thought and it was so great!! The best thing from that day was this one lady on the bus (she's handicapped) gave me the biggest smile when she saw me and just said "HI!" It made me feel so good and I just had this huge grin and said "Hello!" back. It was a great day! I've been learning so much and growing so much. If I haven't been losing physically, I have been gaining spiritually! :D

Our family also had another gathering for the men this past weekend which proved to be excellent. My grandparents go to a church with a man who was heavily involved in the occult but was thankfully saved through Jesus Christ and now his ministry is to go around warning other believers of the danger of so many things such as tai chi, pokemon, dreamcatchers etc. He left some interesting pamphlets behind for everyone that were very interesting to read. A lot of things I didn't realize that were dangerous to a believer but when you read about it is very apparent why it is so detrimental. Anyways, the men were just blown away and I think a lot of progress was made. One verse I found in the pamphlet about tai chi was really interesting, and I think also applies to the HELP challenge (bodily excercise is indeed very good for you, but what is more important is spiritual growth)

The verse is 1 Timothy 4:7-8 (KJV) "But refuse profane and old wives fables, and excercise theyself rather unto godliness. For bodily excercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."

I'm not trying to justify not excercising because excercise is indeed necessary as our bodies are temples, but we really need to check whether that is our priority over our quiet time. Without our quiet time, physical excercise is useless.

That is the update of what has been happening in my life over the past few weeks! Now for some pictures!!

My beautiful sister with a sweet little bundle inside! 5 more weeks...maybe!

and I seem to be having issues uploading the pictures of the project for the baby room. I will save those for another day!

Something to Pray for in the New Year...

Deliver me Jesus
From the desire of being loved;
from the desire of being honored;
from the desire of being praised;
from the desire of being preferred to others;
from the desire of being consulted;
from the desire of being approved;
from the fear of being humiliated;
from the fear of being despised;
from the fear of suffering rebuke;
from the fear of being forgotten;
from the fear of being wrong;
from the fear of being suspected;

And Jesus, grant me the grace to desire that others might be loved more than I;
That others might be more esteemed than I;
that in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I decrease;
that others may be chosen, and I set aside;
that others may be praised and I unnoticed;
that others may be preferred to me in everything;
that others may become holier than I, provided that I become as holy as I should.


We received this one night at the bible study back in Sexsmith and I just found it again today. I hope it'll humble you as it has humbled me. Happy new years everyone!

I actually read a whole book...

That's right, from cover to cover. And It only took me about an hour yesterday morning...and three straight hours last night. What can I say? It was an absolutely incredible book and a very, very good read. It's challenged my faith in ways I don't think it's ever been challenged. And just to cure your curiosity, the book is called "Left to Tell" written by Immaculee Ilibagiza. It's her real life account of surviving the Rwandan genocide in early 1994. One million Rwandans perished at the hands of their own friends and neighbors because of tribal jealousy/hatred. I have never been able to read a book like that where it's kept my interest and focus on the story the whole time. What this woman goes through and all the stories of others she encounters is heart breaking. This woman suffered through 3 months in a tiny concealed bathroom with seven other women cramped in there. She heard exactly what happened to her brother when he was brutally murdered and saw the evil and hatred burning out of the murderer's own eyes. The most amazing part of this story is how her faith in God stays so unbelievably strong through this whole ordeal. I can only imagine what my own faith would be like after enduring all that. It was amazing to see all the ways God answered her prayers, how he blinded the enemy when she was right in front of them and all that happened. Incredible! I just wanted to cry with Joy and sorrow at the same time reading this book. There's one part in the book I'm going to type for all of you to read because it is so beautiful and amazing. It might be long, but bear with me, it's worth the read!!

"I arrived at the prison late in the afternoon and was greeted by Semana, the new burgomaster of Kibuye. Semana had been a teacher before the genocide, as well as a colleague and good friend of my dad's - he was like an uncle to me. Four of his six children had been killed in the slaughter, and I told him he must have faith that his little ones were with God.
'I can see how much the world has change; the children now comfort the parents,' he replied sadly.
As burgomaster, Semana was a powerful politician in charge of arresting and detaining the killers who had terrorized our area. He'd interrogated hundreds of Interahamwe [the organization of people killing the Rwandans] and knew better than anyone which killers had murdered whom and he knew why I'd come to see him.
'Do you want to meet the leader of the gang that killed your mother and Damascene?'
'Yes sir, I do.'
I watched through Semana's office window as he crossed the courtyard to the prison cell and then returned, shoving the disheveled, limping old man in front of him. I jumped up with a start as they approached, recognizing the man instantly. His name was Felicien, and he was a successful Hutu [the tribe that was killing the other tribe, the Tutsi's] businessman whose children I'd played with in primary school. He'd been a tall, handsome man who always wore expensive suits and had impeccable manners. I shivered, remembering that it had been his voice I'd heard calling out my name when the killers searched for me at the Pastor's. Felicien had hunted me.
Semana pushed Felicien into the office, and he stumbled onto his knees. When he looked up from the floor and saw that I was the one who was waiting for him, the color drained from his face. He quickly shifted his gaze and stared at the floor.
'Stand up Killer!' Semana shouted. 'Stand up and explain to this girl why her family is dead. Explain to her why you murdered her mother and butchered her brother. Get up, I said! Get up and tell her!'
Semana screamed even louder, but the battered man remained hunched and kneeling, too embarrassed to stand and face me.
His dirty clothing hung from his emaciated frame in tatters. His skin was sallow, bruised and broken; and his eyes were filmed and crusted. His once handsome face was hidden behind a filthy, matted beard; and his bare feet were covered in open, running sores.
I wept at the sight of his suffering. Felicien had let the devil enter his heard, and the evil had ruined his life like a cancer in his soul. He was now the victim of his victims, destined to live in torment and regret. I was overwhelmed with pity for the man.
'He looted your parent's home and robbed your family's plantation, Immaculee. We found your dad's farm machinery at his house, didn't we?' Semana yelled at Felicien. ' After he killed Rose and Damascene, he kept looking for you...he wanted you dead so he could take over your property. Didn't you pig?' Semana shouted again.
I flinched, letting out an involuntary gasp. Semana looked at me, stunned by my reaction and confused by the tears streaming down my face. He grabbed Felicien by the shirt collar and hauled him to his feet. 'What do you have to say to her? What do you have to say to Immaculee?'
Felicien was sobbing. I could feel his shame. He looked up at me for only a moment, but our eyes met. I reached out, touched his hands lightly, and quietly said what I'd come to say.
'I forgive you.'
My heart eased immediately, and I saw the tension release in Felicien's shoulders before Semana pushed him out the door and into the courtyard. Two soldiers yanked Felicien up by his armpits and dragged him back to his cell. When Semana returned he was furious.
'What was that all about Immaculee? That was the man who murdered your family. I brought him to you to question...to spit on if you wanted to. But you forgave him! How could you do that? Why did you forgive him?'
I answered him with the truth: 'Forgiveness is all I have to offer.' "

Those are the last two pages of the book, but how wonderful. What an incredible message and lesson to learn. I can't imagine what I would be like in this situation. But God completely sustained Immaculee and kept her faith strong through this whole ordeal. God is amazing! Praise God for who he is and his incredible love!

This day...

Beautiful song by Jadon Lavik. Wish I could have found the audio for you guys, so beautiful!

This day two lives become one
This day a new journey has begun
Our hearts full of lasting love
Brought together by the hand above

To share a life that draws us closer
To the one that we live for

And I will give you my heart
And all of who I am
And I will give more than vows
And words could ever say
Yes I’ll give you my all on this day
On this day

On the cross his love was shown
And this love will build our home
Standing now in front of you
We profess a love we know is true

To share a life that draws us closer
To the one that we live for

And I will give you my heart
And all of who I am
And I will give more than vows
And words could ever say
Yes I’ll give you my all on this day
And I’ll give you my all on this day

And I will give you my heart
And all of who I am
And I will give more than vows
And words could ever say
Yes I’ll give you my all (on this day)

And I will give you my heart
And all of who I am
And I will give more than vows
And words could ever say
Yes I’ll give you my all on this day
And I’ll give you my all on this day

On this day, on this day

Another Sunday, Another church!

This morning we decided to try out a baptist church in St. Albert. We weren't sure what it was going to be like from the internet, so we drove there and were a little disappointed to see how large the church was (not because all big churches are bad, but a lot of them tend to have the "big church" attitude) So we were on guard spiritually before walking in there. But what a pleasant surprise! We went in and sat down and really enjoyed the service. There wasn't a sermon this sunday because they were having a missions presentation. They recently had a missions team go to Honduras. So that was a really good presentation. We came out of there feeling a whole lot better (especially since all of us were in a foul mood this morning) The greatest part about it was that we just knew these people were genuine. That made the whole difference. The past churches we tried out, we just felt that the people weren't genuine about their faith or being welcoming, it was really depressing. But this church seemed promising. We're going to try it again next week, see if the preaching is biblically sound, and then we'll go from there! This week, I'm hopefully going to try one of their college and career bible studies and see how that is to! This is looking up!

In the Beginning...

God created the heavens and the earth. Wow! I had a wonderful evening tonight with my dad. He took me to the space and science center here in Edmonton and we went to a theatre type show about the beginning of the space age. This theatre is not a normal theatre. You walk into the room and it's completely round and there's a big projector in the middle of it facing the ceiling. when you sit down, your chair reclines and you look at the roof and the whole roof is a screen. It's absolutely amazing. During the movie, I forgot many times that I was just in a theatre and thought I was actually in space. It was incredible. It was about the race for space between the Soviet Union and the United States. The most amazing part of the movie was when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldred were orbiting around the moon, on the screen you see the moon on the left, the top of the earth, millions of stars and this space ship in Orbit, and all of a sudden you hear Neil Armstrong's voice (the real recording) from a Christmas eve broadcast reading Genesis. I almost started crying. The whole time I was watching this movie, I kept thinking "this is extraordinary, but I can't wait until I can see the real thing in heaven!" I was just awestruck at the beauty of God's creation and watched the whole thing in wonder! It was definitely beautiful and if you ever get a chance to see it, It's called the Dawn of the space age. Left me completely awestruck and speechless! And he saw that it was good :)

Church Hopping!

Wow! I never figured church hopping would be this hard! Since we've moved down here, my mom, dad and I have been trying to find a good, biblically sound church to go to. We have gone to three churches now and so far, we've been unsure about all of them. We all miss Webster so much and it's hard for us to not compare other churches to webster. BUT with that said, we still have open hearts to finding the right church for us to attend while we're down here. We've been praying for discerning hearts as well as churches now are usually pretty charismatic and unstable. The first church we went to was solid biblical teaching, but the people there were so cold and stand offish that we felt like we were a burden to have there. (the pastor excluded. He often calls my dad just to see how things are :) The next church we went to had very warm and friendly people, but the church itself seemed like it had a little bit of everything thrown in there. We got the impression that they were only worried about the numbers of the congregation (they kept telling us that there were usually more people who attended) and that they weren't really sure of their identity. There was a little bit of lutheran, catholic, baptist, etc influence in the service. The third church we went to was today's church, and it wasn't actually too bad. The message itself was really good and we quite enjoyed it, so that was great. We didn't stick around to long to see how the people were (The pastor is a very nice man and he is also a neighbor of ours) We'll just have to see. We're trying another church next week and we'll see how that turns out! SO we just keep praying that God will lead us to the right church where we can be challenged to grow!

Give Me Jesus

In the morning when i rise
in the morning when i rise
in the morning when i rise
Give me Jesus

Chorus:
      
Give me Jesus
give me Jesus
You can have all this world             
But give me Jesus

Verse 2:
    
And when i am alone
oh and when i am alone
and when i am alone
Give me Jesus

(chorus)

Verse 3:
 
And when i come to die
oh and when i come to die
and when i come to die
Give me Jesus

^(chorus)^

- Fernando Ortega

Oh This Crazy Life!

Sometimes it's really easy to forget how absolutely crazy life can be!! with so much going on it's really hard to try to find time to just relax and be calm and not have a headache from stress! School being almost done, tomorrow my last diploma exam. as well as being a maid of honor at my cousins wedding, so a lot of planning with that. Then youth group at my church and trying to figure out with college next year and interviewing and job shadowing and work. Sheesh! the list goes on!! With all my day to day stresses it's easy to forget to "Be Still and know that i am God." Be still, relaxed, at ease, unstressed and know and believe that he is who he says he is. He is in all control and he will be faithful. I heard a really neat saying once. The common phrase people say today is "Don't just stand there, Do something!" what we all really need to know is that sometimes we need to say " Don't just Do something, Stand there!" we tend to fill our time with useless stuff to just get our mind off the busy activites of our day to day lives. Sometimes, we just need to Be Still and wait for God's direction. We actually had a really neat sermon in church this morning about whether we just Cope, or whether we conquer (Based on Saul's reaction to strife in 1 Samuel 28 and then David's reaction to strife in 1 Samuel 30). In 1 Samuel 28 we saw how Saul Sought after God. There was no relationship involved. Saul just sought. When Saul believed that God hadn't told him the answer of what was needed to be done, he sought help outside of God, thus coping with the problem on his own Strength. What saul didn't recognize was how God already told him what needed to be done about 5 chapters earlier. Because of Saul relying on his own strength, he was defeated in battle and greatly distressed. That is an example of just Coping when things in life get distressful. Our speaker today then went to give the example of how David didn't cope, he conquered. David returned home from battle (1 sam. 30) to find that the Amalekites had raided their home and taken their wives and children and everything and also burned their houses to the ground. I can't imagine the feeling of desperation he felt then and how tempted i would be to rely on my own strength (foolishly). Instead David "found strength in the Lord"(vs. 6) and inquired of him asking whether or not God wanted him to pursue the Amalekites and overtake them. God told David to overtake the Amalekites and so David did and by God's strength the Amalekites were defeated and David and his tribe recieved back their women and their children and all the members of the tribe, even the livestock. Nothing was lacking from what was taken from them. God is faithful and he wants to be our strength. When we find strength in the Lord, what can conquer us? God is on our side! even when life gets so crazy and overwhelming that you just want to cry, God is our strength, and he always will be if we just find our strength in him! hurrah!

The Love of God

Tonight was a very interesting night at bible study. One of the things we were talking about was loving your neighbor as yourself, one of the two greatest commandments. One of the main things my youth pastor was talking about was getting past that initial first image of someone and really seeing them as a child of God and realizing that hey, God loves them just as much as he loves me, or Billy Graham, or even John the baptist. Why can't i do the same? Too often are we stuck on the initial appearance of someone whether you see their cocky attitude, their body size, their handicap whatever it is. It's so sad that appearance is what hinders us from truly loving and reaching out to the hurting around us. Not only their appearance, but too often we worry about our appearance. We take our sacrifices into consideration rather than the sacrifice the other person will have to make for not hearing the wonderful news of Jesus! We need to just break down those barriers and forget about what others will think about us if we show the love of God. Which brings me to another point. We are always so worried about what others will think if we help that handicapped person or really take time to listen to someone who's hurting. But really, if we do help that person, most likely the observer will be more likely to admire or be totally impacted by those actions than they would be to make fun or think any less of you. Just by showing the love of God to that one person you help, anyone who sees that action also gets a glimpse of how vast and incredible the love of God really is! We need to be forced out of our comfort zones and really reach out to those in need. Without being forced out of our comfort zones, we begin to wallow in the area of self. And personally, i do not want to be in my own little selfish world. I want life to be about God and spreading his amazing love! How deep, how wide, how vast and incredible is the love of God that he died for us all! Every single person out there. Unfathomable, unbelievable, but very true!! How Great is our God!