1,000

One thousand is a lot.  If I counted to one thousand I would proably 1, get bored, 2, get lost, or 3, go crazy.  It's a lot.  Wanna know why that number makes me smile?

It's the number of views this blog has had (as of April 26, 2011).

If you're a regular reader, thanks for the contribution!  If you just happened to come across this blog while attempting to look for cool stuff for your rifle, sorry for the misleading title. 

I have been praying for all of my readers, whether it was a mistake they came across my blog or not.  I hope and pray that God has worked and will continue to work through this crazy ol' blog.

Here's a small recap of what the last 1000 viewers of this blog have seen/been:

• I started this blog on August 24, 2010 with a post explaining the title of this blog, which has been viewed more than any of the others (38 times).
• When Friends Lead You Astray is the second most-viewed post at 27 pageviews and has been edited the most because I've had to keep adding on whenever something new happens in my life or I find another good verse.
• People from all over the world have come across my blog.  They've come from the United States, Russia, Canada, Denmark, United Kingdom, Singapore, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, and India.  How cool is that!
• My longest post was This Past Week, but (in my opinion) was by far the most exciting.
• This will be my 34th and definitely not last post.

I am praying for you and I hope that you have enjoyed my blog so far!

If you feel so led, leave a comment letting me know what you think of my blog, how I can improve, or if my blog has impacted you in any way.

God bless you!

<3 Warrior

(wo)Man With(out) A Plan

Yeah, that would be me.

Lately, God has really pressed something upon my heart and I feel the need to share it with you.  I don't know what I'm going to do, or if it's really in His plan for me to do something about it, but I can't help thinking about it constantly, and I know it must be from Him, because all good things are.

There are so many kids at my school who will graduate or leave the school without ever hearing about the amazing love of Christ.  They will never hear about His love for them and the amazing joy and hope that that knowledge brings.  I walk past them in the halls every day and feel despicable and utterly SELFISH for not sharing my faith with them.  My heart goes out to their souls and their futures.  My heart goes out to them when they think no one cares about them or they think that there's nothing for them in this world.  My heart bleeds for them when I think about the fact that they don't have Christ in their hearts and lives and that they don't know that He is beside them, caring for and loving them, every step they take in their life.  God has gifted me with a burning passion for Him and a desire to share that with the people closest to me.

... and yet I can't find the courage to share it with them.  My heart bleeds for them, but as I walk past them in the halls, I avert my eyes to their suffering and disappear into my bubble.  I like my bubble, even though I KNOW I can trust in my God to be with me and protect me every step of the way.  The Will of God will never take me where the Grace of God cannot protect me.  I know this, and yet it's very hard to live it.

While reading through the Psalms last night, I found myself replacing "Israel" with the name of my school.  Psalm 130:7-8 says, "O Israel Monacan, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.  He himself will redeem Israel Monacan from all their sins."

I know I can trust in Him to do great things through me and be with me every step of the way.  I know that with Him, I can never fail.  He is with me and always will be.  I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.

When I first felt led to minister to the kids at my school after I read the book Do Hard Things, I wrote my youth pastor Jon and his wife Mollie an email saying, "The stories that they shared were generally about teenagers who did something to impact their city, or state, or country, and sometimes world.  But for me, I don't feel a passion for that.  I hear about kids starving in Africa, and my heart doesn't go out to them like some of the kids they wrote about.  Now, don't go thinking I'm a starving-kid-in-Africa-hater.  I'm not.  I just don't feel that calling.  But I do feel the pain of the kids in my school.  So many of them will leave Monacan without ever hearing of the love and hope they can receive from Christ, and there are days when I feel despicable and SELFISH for not sharing my love for Christ with them... but I'm scared of taking the first step.  I don't know if that's what God wants for me, or if anyone will listen, or if anyone will stand up with me, or if I even can.  I know God can use me to do great and magnificent things, but I don't know what that is right now.  I don't want to make the mistake of thinking it's ministering to my fellow students at Monacan (Btw, is it even allowed?  Since God is outlawed in schools and all that garbage?) when it could actually be something else.  Sometimes (actually, a lot of the time) I wish God could just speak to me the way He spoke directly to Moses and David, etc.  I watched the movie Prince of Egypt last night and felt overwhelmed and in awe when you couldn't SEE God, but all of a sudden, His Spirit came down from the heavens and smited (sp?) the firstborns and without physically being there to see, saw the Egyptian soldiers racing towards the Hebrews and sent down a wall of fire to hold them back.  What a God we serve!  He has a plan.  I just don't know what it is yet."

Pray for me as I seek God's will for my life.  Pray that I follow Him in every way that He leads me.

<3 Warrior

Message from a friend

I received this text message from a friend of mine a couple months ago and I locked it so my phone wouldn't delete it.  Since then, it has brought me hope and joy every time I read it.  Not just because of the message, but because of the faith of the one who sent it to me.  I hope you feel the hope and joy that I feel when I read it, because it comes from Christ and it's for everyone who accepts it.

"I'm shaking again, except this time it's good... [Warrior], God loves you.  He loves me too... He cares about us.  He helps us.  And I want everyone to know that.  I want everyone to love Him like He loves us."

Tonight at the Maundy Thursday service, I realized that Christ's sacrifice wasn't just for me or for the people at my church taking communion alongside me.  It was for everyone.  I mean, I already knew that He had died for the sins of the world, but it really hit home as I watched the people at my table turn to each other and say "This is His body/blood, given for you."  He gave Himself for ALL of us.  Every single person with breath and life.  All people of every color, shape, and size.  One man died for the lives of all people.  For all have fallen short of the glory of God... but He offers us eternal life with Him with no pain, suffering, or worries.  All we have to do is accept it.  It's an offer open to everyone.

Are you going to accept it?

<3 Warrior

A Tidbit of Wisdom from Warrior

... or at least, I think it is.  I think this way when I'm feeling philosophical, and this time, I actually wrote it down before I forgot!  I don't know if it's wise or foolish on any terms, but it was God-inspired, so my vote's on the former.

It's one thing to say something and believe it, but it's a whole other thing to say something, believe it, and act on it or do it or show it.  I believe that no mortal man (or woman) could do that on his/her own.  We don't have the strength required to do so.  We need a little help (or a lot of help) from someone who has already walked the path placed before us and has walked it perfectly, without stumbling, or tripping, or falling, or turning back.  The walk isn't always the hardest part.  We've been taught how to walk and we can always learn more.  The hardest part is the following.  We want to walk our own way, but we've been promised that it leads to our destruction.  So now we choose.  We've said the words.  We've believed the Truth.  Now we have to live it out loud so everyone else can see and trust in the Light to hold us steady and high.  Are you in?

As you can see, my thoughts are rather scattered and all over the place.  I started thinking this after reading Galatians 1:10 (Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.) for the hundredth time.  Like I said, it's one thing to say it, and another thing to live it.

How are you living today?

<3 Warrior

This might just be the "Best Blog Ever"

momconformist.com

A couple reasons why it wins my "Best Blog Ever" award:

• Written by a friend of mine (I think I'm allowed to call her my friend... she's my youth pastor's wife and my small group leader.)
• She's funny.  And she can tell great stories about tragedies in the kitchen.
• She has two beautiful children, both under two years old, which are both her life and inspiration.
• She loves Jesus.  Like, a lot.
• She is an inspiration to so many people I know and probably a lot of people I don't know, too.
• Her posts challenge me to dig deeper into my faith.  And remind me of things that I already knew but really need to work on.
• We both have problems with being sarcastic.  Wait.  You shouldn't read her blog because of that.  It was just a side note.  My bad.
• shez an inglesh teecher so her postz dont l00k lyk this bullet.  u dont loose brane sells with every word u read, i promise.  2 legit 2 quit.  4 eva.  lol.  (Okay now I'm just trying to annoy you.)  :o)
• We both like thunderstorms.  Again, has nothing to do with her blog.
• She's an amazing friend.
• Her family is amazing.  Through and through.
• I want to be just like her when I grow up.
• She gets up early on Thursday mornings to come talk to me and four other high school girls about God.
• She is a great friend and ALWAYS knows what to say.
• She doesn't think she's perfect, although the rest of us do.
• She and her husband have helped me through the toughest times of my life.
• She's a great blogger and she always has something great to say.

Wow.  I think I could have just said the last bullet and then been done.

Thanks, Mollie, for always being there for me and for writing posts that inspire me to write posts about you!

And to everyone else:  Check out her blog!  It's awesome!  Follow her!  (but in the Blogger way, not the legitimate creeper way)

<3 Warrior

Beauty: Revisited

Let's face it.  We care about what we look like.  We constantly worry about what brand our clothes are, whether we have bad skin or bad hair, and what people think about our appearance.  We call ourselves ugly and fat.  We complain about the size of our noses, ears, eyes, etc. etc. etc...  It's hard to find someone who is content with their appearance all the time.  I know I'm not.  I've written a post about this before, but I think it's so important for everyone to understand that they are perfectly and wonderfully made by a Creator who is incapable of making something imperfect.

Since I have no words to say that any better, I shall tap on the shoulders of a couple of my favorite authors to give me a hand.  (:

1 Peter 3: 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

Matthew 6: 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

Proverbs 16: 31 Gray hair is a crown of splendor;  it is attained in the way of righteousness.

Proverbs 31: 30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;  but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Psalm 45: 11 Let the King be enthralled by your beauty;  honor Him, for He is your Lord.

Psalm 139: 13 For you created my inmost being;  you knit me together in my mother's womb.  14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;  your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;  all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Ezekiel 16: 9 "'I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you.10 I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments.11 I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck,12 and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.13 So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen.14 And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord.

15 "'But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his.16 You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. You went to him, and he possessed your beauty.t17 You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.18 And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense before them.19 Also the food I provided for you—the flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat—you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign Lord.  (beauty leads to sin!)

1 Timothy 2: 9 I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,10 but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

1 Samuel 16: 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

(courtesy of YouVersion.com)

GOD THINKS YOU'RE PRETTY!!  THE CREATOR OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE THINKS YOU ARE PERFECT!!  Whose other opinion do you need?  Galatians 1:10 says, "Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ."



I totally recommend putting one or more of the above verses on your mirror so you can be reminded everytime you look in the mirror that you are loved and created by the Creator and Savior of the world.  I have so much stuff on my mirror that it's barely visible.  That way, there's no way I can obsess over my appearance.  Having my mirror covered in verses and other things that mean a lot to me (yes those are Disney princesses), I can be more focused on things other than myself.  It's a great way to remind me that I'm not the reason I'm here.  He is.

A couple of my friends from church have gone "on mission" in their schools and have put post-its on the bathroom mirrors saying "you're beautiful," "you look great," "you're perfect," etc..  They have heard from other students who have been positively impacted by their actions, but have remained completely anonymous.  If you feel so led, try it in your school!  It's a great way to make a difference and spread the word that we are ALL pretty in God's eyes.

You are beautiful!  And don't let anyone ever tell you differently!!

<3 Warrior