New Project: 10,000 Reasons

Hi readers! M. here :D

I was going about my day today and decided I needed some encouragement or motivation (or something of that sort). I have a lovely little jar from my graduation last year containing notes of encouragement (AND PAPER CLIPS!!! --Ahem. Sorry.) from E. and L. (Aren't they just aa-mazing?? Yeah, I know.)

Anyway.

I pulled this one out today:

 

 

It was a very timely encouragement for me. I  recalled a project I'd dreamed of doing, but never made any progress on, that I like to call "10,000 Reasons." The idea is to write out literally 10,000 reasons that God is worthy to be praised.

So I took some time tonight to do that!! I got out some small canvases that I'd been saving for some art project that I'd never do and this resulted: 

This is only 50 different words/praises/reasons so I'm really looking forward to what this looks like at the end!! (To put it in perspective, I'm half of 1% of the way done with the project. I need to do this again 199 times before I reach 10,000 reasons...) I'm planning to keep you all updated every hundred words/praises/reasons.

 

This is my new project, guys! I don't know if it'll just take the summer or the whole school year or multiple school years!! I do know this, though: Christ is worthy to be praised over 10,000 times and I owe Him praise every day in every way!

What else should I add on to this project? Comment below and I'll write it in! :D

As always, thanks for reading!

-M.

Random Vent on Purpose

Hello, readers! M. here.

I was inspired the other day by this quote I saw on Pinterest:

(credit goes to the original author, it is not my property)

I wanted to love it so much. It sounds like the quaintest little description of people I've ever read. But at the same time; this view of us is really so wrong.

Why? I think that whoever wrote this missed an important part of the picture. Yes, humans are cute. We have our weird quirks and habits, we are living and loving under the countless stars. But we're not just animals, we don't just do this stuff for no reason. We're more than bodies, we are souls. And we were created by a loving God to have breakfast beneath billions of stars. And we were created to do that for His glory. 

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

I like thinking about the beauty of the story that God is writing into each life on earth.

If I rewrote this little passage, it would look like this:

"Humans are so cute; when we say goodbye we put our arms around each other and to show we love someone we bring them flowers. We say hello by holding each others hand, and sometimes tiny little dewdrops form in our eyes. But the simple things like that can't even begin to describe how much greater our purpose in life really is. We are God's precious creations, and he loves us so much he'd die to have time with us in eternity. And we bring God our tiny little efforts to be like him because it makes him smile when we want to please Him. We're just His children learning to fall in love with Him and having breakfast beneath billions of stars; stars that He made to give us just a glimpse of His magnificence." 

There's my random vent on purpose for you all today! Talk to you later!

Who I am

Hello dearest readers!

M. here. It really has been over a month since I last shared with you guys... and I have officially run out of excuses. Sorry. :/

I've been in my head too much lately, and I've been aware of it. So I started trying something new where I write out stuff that's going on, in my head and in the world.

"I need to get out of my head."

"It's too quick, too random, too MUCH in general. I just can't think a thought because all of the sub-thoughts that follow drown it out."

I made a list of the main thoughts and sub-thoughts (and random connections) that had been floating around that day and drew arrows that connected different points. Off to the side, I wrote, "But in the end, your grace covers it all?"

I ended that last sentence with a question mark, because sometimes I don't feel worthy of God's grace. Okay, I almost ALWAYS feel unworthy of God's grace. My levels of self-confidence and self-worth are fairly connected, so when I feel good, I get prideful (bad) but when I am humble, I'm also usually feeling worthless (also bad!). So I made three more lists...

List 1. I am:

• Busy
• Stressed
• Tired
• Sore
• Distracted
• Selfish
• Prideful
• Uncaring
• Alone

Without Christ

So this list was a description of how my day-to-day living feels when I don't let Christ in.

List 2. I am NOT:

• Worthless
• Hopeless
• Too far gone
• Identified by my past
• Broken beyond repair
• Defeated
• Ugly
• Stupid
• Who I make myself
• Just a story
• A failure
• A waste of God's time
• What others think of me
• My makeup, clothes, or hairstyle

Because Christ says these are lies.

This list was just a needed reminder of the countless things the devil is trying to get me to believe that simply aren't true.

And finally... List 3. CHRIST calls me:

• Redeemed
• Treasured
• Faithful
• Loving
• Caring (This and the last two are struggles for me; Christ's GRACE alone makes me able)
• To die for!
• A masterpiece
• Beautiful
• "The resurrection with skin" (We have the power that made Christ rise from the dead inside of us!!)
• Part of the best Story
• Victorious
• A child of His
• A co-heir with Christ
• Identified by His grace
• Selfless (along with faith, love, and caring)
• At peace (stress doesn't need to control me)
• Renewed
• His delight

And I am worth it ALL to Him!

So, yeah. Basically Christ's claims are more important to me than the craziness going on in my brain. I think I might do this writing thing more often... :D What would you add to these lists?

I'll close with a quote of L.'s from a recent Bible study: "It must be insane to be God!" :D
See you next time! (Hopefully it won't be another month... I'll try, friends! I'll try.)
-M.

I Miss Blogging!

[L. here]
I'm sorry!
 I haven't posted in like a month and I really wish I had! If I could think a post while in bed at night and have it post without using a computer or my hands I would have posted like 8 in this time but ya know that's not really possible and probably wouldn't go very well anyway. (M. would have to do a ton of editing!)
 I have really missed simplex over the past month + . I have even tried blogging as an attempt to help with inspiration for assignments.(more on that later)
 I have been thinking about this post for weeks (and by the time I post it I will have been writing for weeks).
So here is my explanation of why I have been gone, along with some other thoughts and stories from my non-posting days:
  I've been really busy...kind of; I had a partial spring break for two weeks, but I didn't want to spend it all on the computer, and I had a speech tournament during the second week.  I'll admit I have had some free time recently but it has been spent on other things I have missed like reading other blogs  and Christian books, strengthening relationships and praying about God's plans for me. (Okay, well the part I didn't waste thinking about guys, trying to figure out my ever evolving hair cut, and stressing out, etc.)
So that out of the way, something came full circle (as M. says) for me today (like a week ago now). I got an email from Spotify saying that a new Jonathan Thulin song was available. When I went to his page I  found a song I have been waiting for since I heard it at the concert I wrote about in Summer Testimony.
 It is called The Ruins and I put it on the Living Sacrifice playlist which you can find here.

Here's a sample of something I tried to write while preparing for a  speech tournament (with a few edits I couldn't resist).

"Hey People!
 I am trying something new because I can't figure out how to explain something in a speech, so I'm going to tell you about it and see if that helps.
Lets start at the beginning: I am an insecure extravert. When I feel lonely or left out my insecurity's and extravert needs go nuts and I usually get emotional.  I have started to realize that my reaction is the problem though. Not the fact that I get left out sometimes. In fact if I had gone to every coffee date, movie night, and birthday party I ever wanted to go to I would have missed out on some really important God time.
When plans fall through for a coffee with a friend, or I have to leave a party earlier than I wanted to, I often start out mad but now I realize my mistake of getting so caught up in people; and that God might have better plans for that time. I almost always spend the extra alone time thinking, reading, and praying way more productively than when I try to do those things at other times. I don't know why. Maybe God puts some kind of guard around those times from distraction. Or maybe being emotionally worn out helps somehow. IDK. It's pretty cool though. {Maybe it's just His timing.}

I love that for this blog post because on simplex we can ask questions without having the answers. Can I do that at a speech tournament? Maybe I am to tied to having all the answers. Maybe a little more honesty would be a good thing? Guess I should pray about it. I am supposed to be memorizing but actually after all the work I put in to writing them my first three paragraphs were practically memorized by the time I actually started trying to say them from memory so I guess I shouldn't worry too much. I don't want to stress my coaches though. Maybe it will be memorized by Monday anyway. Will see. Lets try again..."

That is when I went back to writing my speech which ended up including no such point but made it to finals at the tournament anyway. :) 

Well I am exhausted but I hope this all meant something to you.
L.


P.S. Want to see what I've been reading? Check out these blogs and the books they are connected to  Lies young women believe (and the truth that sets them free)  and
 Paula writes (Confessions of a boy crazy girl)

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” "

 (Lamentations 3:22-24 ESV [ bold added])