Follow You

At work, I listen to Pandora Radio all the time. I've heard this song before, being that Leeland is one of my favorite bands, but I just really listened to the words. I LOVE IT. Could probably be my life song;

"Follow You"

You lived among the least of these

The weary and the weak

And it would be a tragedy for me to turn away.

All my needs You have supplied.

When I was dead You gave me life.

How could I not give it away so freely?

And I`ll follow You into the homes that are broken.

Follow You into the world.

Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.

Follow You into the world.

Use my hands use my feet

To make Your kingdom come

Through the corners of the earth

Until Your work is done

`cause faith without works is dead

And on the cross Your blood was shed

So how could I not give it away so freely?

And I`ll follow You into the homes that are broken.

Follow You into the world.

Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.

Follow You into the world.

I give all myself.

I give all myself

I give all myself to You.

And I give all myself.

Yes I give all myself.

And I give all myself to You.

And I`ll follow You into the homes that are broken

Follow You into the world.

Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.

Follow You into the world.

Hand it All Over to Him

Like I said in my post on Sunday, I just started reading a book I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris. Well, it is AMAZING. I have only read Part One so far, but I really feel that God is speaking to me through the words on every page. Some quotes that I found really interesting in  Part One: Isn't There a Better Way?

• God not only wants me to act differently; He wants me to think differently--to view love, purity, and singleness from His perspective, to have a new lifestyle and a new attitude.
• True love isn't just expressed in passionately whispered words or an intimate kiss or an embrace; before two people are married, love is expressed in self-control, patience, even words left unsaid. 
• This is where it's so important for our love for others be shaped by God's love for us. This kind of love looks beyond personal desires and the gratification of the moment. It looks at the big picture: serving others and glorifying God.
• The joy of intimacy is the reward of commitment. (Harris' big point in this section)
• What is true joy? It's found in God's brand of love--love founded on faithfulness, love rooted in commitment.
• Dating in and itself isn't the cause of the problems we see in relationships. Sinful and selfish people are the cause of sinful and selfish relationships--its our own wrong attitudes and values that make for defective dating.

Harris is such a genius! Sure, maybe these are things that we all know, but is it things that we are all practicing?? In the last chapter of this part, he gives five new attitudes he thinks are awesome. I think they're awesome too. :)

1. Every relationship is an opportunity to model Christ's love: The world will know we follow Christ by the way we love others. For this reason, we must practice love as God defines it--sincere, servant-hearted, and selfless--not the world's brand of selfish and sensual love based on what feels good.   
2. My unmarried years are a gift from God: As a single you have the freedom now to explore, study, and tackle the world.
3. I don't need to pursue a romantic relationship before I'm ready for marriage: Recognize that if two people can't make a commitment to each other, they don't have any business pursuing a romance.
4. I cannot "own" someone outside of marriage: A claim on another person's time, affection, and future before marriage is unwarranted.
5. I will avoid situations that could compromise the purity of my body or mind

So with my eyes opened, my head bowed, and on my knees, I am trying to start a new life, with a new attitude, with everything in God's hands.

Different

I have soooo much I want to blog about, but when I go to type the words don't form in the right ways...Of course, the whole week went by again without a single blog from me, so a little recap is much needed.
Last night was our homecoming game and senior night, love the seniors, so everyone was hyped up for all the parties. I got invited to a few, but not really into that kinda thing, I skipped out. I went to a little get together for my friend Casey, that his parents threw, then to hang out with my girlies, Kaitlyn and Elizabeth (there's your shout out kaka). Love those girls... Then today I spent a wonderful Sunday riding bikes with my sister and Elizabeth. We had a great time. :)

So onto more serious things...I started reading a REALLY awesome book called I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris. I'm really stoked about it. Harris talks about how we cannot truly love someone else until we love ourselves fully and until our relationship with God is the most important one in our lives. Two things that I've been struggling with for quite some time. Evidently, one of the main objects of this book is to actually stop dating around...Something that I am praying seriously about. Because let's face it, the boys that I've been falling for, are not the man that I will be marrying...

So I'll probably be blogging more about the book and the experiences that I have with this new idea. Might even do another blog right after this one with some excerpts of the book.

Oh, and how could I forget to mention...Looks like I will be going back to Kenya this summer! If it is God's will and He provides the means, I will be going with New Directions International. More on that later :)

LOVE

"Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."
I Corinthians 1:4-8

So today is Valentine's Day....awwwwwh. LOL Some wonderful examples of love that I saw/received today...

Family Love: No matter what you do, parents who always love their children. You can be 19 years old and they will still get you the sweetest valentine. <3
A sister who will spend an hour making the sweetest valentine for you ever. "I'm not lion, you're my valentine" (on a lion) <3

Friend Love: A friend that prays for you all morning because she knows how nervous you are about something. <3
A friend that comes to see you talk for 5 seconds at church on Valentine's day with his girlfriend. Just because you talked about how nervous you were about it in class earlier that week. <3
Friends that follow you at 11:30 at night til you finally find an open gas station, and then pump your gas. <3

You see, I may not have a "boyfriend" or "Valentine" but I have an amazing love, my friends and family. And of course, the greatest love of all. God's love.

Gravity, Relase Me

So a week or two has gone, since my last post. A week I had for learning about my self and figuring out some things. A week for new starts and beginnings. Every day is a new start though, and I keep this in mind as lately, I've been waking up on the wrong side of the bed.

Back to a previous post, when God wants you, He will tear down your life to get you. He craves you and will do anything to bring you closer to him. Lately, I think He's been doing that to me. I always have held a small part of my life away from Him, I think everyone does, but I am learning that it's really not best to do that. I'm changing and trying to focus more on Him. Every action has a re-action and/or consequence and I am definitely learning this.

So anyway...an update of the past week or so...
A lot of basketball...of course :) There were Pacer games, Kendall games, Slayton games, and Kaitlyn games...lol I took Kaitlyn shopping for her homecoming and Elizabeth came and we went to see Dear John <3. A loooooot of school and then some family time. I also took some pictures for the South Aiken Basketball team and made a lil mulahhh :) Not a bad week, but could have been better too.