Good Thoughts

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. -Romans 8:28-9

My pastor was talking about starting off the new year and how much of a promise this verse is. The thing that struck me was what he was saying that good was. When I think of good I guess I think of happiness or comfort. I realized that it's one of those words that I can't really think of a solid meaning for. I looked it up on Dictionary.com and it had 58 definitions for it! I guess I'm not the only one who has this problem. Anyway, he was saying that good is actually defined there in verse 29.

To be conformed to the likeness of his Son

That actually makes sense because if good meant comfort the Bible would seem contradictory. Job had a ton of bad things happen to him that he never deserved. Paul served God wholeheartedly and ended up in a Roman prison and eventually dead.

It got me thinking about Jeremiah 29:11 as well.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

What if God's definition of prosperity isn't always what we think of as prosperity? I know God loves to bless his people, but maybe sometimes things happen so we can become more like Christ and won't feel or look good at all.

Christmas Greetings!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! It's kind of sad that it's almost over.

Last night my family went to church like we always do. We ended up getting there early because we didn't know how icy the roads would be so I got to greet people with my mom. I felt like I opened that door a million times, but it was fun. Something about church on Christmas Eve is just so beautiful.

We got the whitest Christmas you can imagine :D For someone who is used to it raining every Christmas it was a miracle.

Tidings of Comfort and Joy!

I'm sitting here hoping I can write this fast enough that I'll still have internet when I go to save it. The weather has been crazy. I can't remember ever having snow and ice for a whole week before. It usually snows one day and is gone the next. We've been home for an hour and we've got three inches of new snow. It's really blowing too. They said on the news to prepare to be without power for a week or more O.o I've been there, done that, and I didn't enjoy it!

We've got 15 inches of snow now. I'm amazed at the fact that they say every snowflake is unique and there must be a billion just in my yard alone. I think it's so cool that God didn't make them all fit the same mold. I love it when it's snowing and you can actually see the snowflake shape when they land on you. I used to think they were all just white blobs, and I'm glad they're not.

Our driveway is really steep and when we tried to go up it tonight we slid all over the place and started sliding backwards toward the road. The brakes were doing nothing and my dad kept saying "Pray" as we got rolling faster. We ended up getting turned enough that we got stuck on some new snow. God protected us and helped us get turned around. We did have to hike up a ways, but we were safe. It's funny, I keep being reminded of how God sends angels to protect his people. I actually have a cool story about them from Ethiopia that I'll have to post.

For now, Merry Christmas! Stay warm and safe wherever you are.

Christmas Quiz

You Are a Snowman

Friendly and fun, you enjoy bringing holiday cheer to everyone you know!

What Christmas Ornament Are You?

Haha,Interesting :)

Lessons from Ethiopia

I went to Ethiopia because I wanted to be able to be Christ to other people in a tangible way. I never thought that instead I would see Christ in them.

One young man worked all day at the clinic even though he also had to work and go to school at night. Another used all the money he had to buy stuff so he could make us popcorn. He just wanted to bless us.

The interpreters paid their own money to take several taxis to get to the clinic. I wish you could see them witness – They were so honest and you could tell they had a passion for God. The loved these people and when we would all pray together it didn’t matter that we were speaking English and they were speak Amharic because there such a spirit of unity.

I’ll never forget the girl who came up to me and gave me a hug and said “I love you” over and over again or the little boys who followed me around trying to get me to play with them.

One lady came in and wanted prayer for her muslim family. They had kicked her out of her house because she became a Christian and now she was living on the street. She didn’t complain about it – She just talked about how God had been so faithful in her life.

I met a few other Christians who were living on the street and what I saw amazed me. They were some of the most joyful people I’ve ever met. It made me realize that joy really isn’t based on things. It comes from knowing Christ and the freedom he brings.

I made it back!

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post. I made it home :) I had the most amazing time. I think I'm addicted now. I want to go on another missions trip!

I don't have enough time to write a decent post about it, but I'll be working on it. There are so many things that I'll never forget. People, words, images etched in my mind.

God did so many cool things. I liked how when I would pray sometimes I would see God answer it in front of my eyes.

My Wardrobe.

Well, here I am about to set out on my own adventure. The closer I get to my trip the more intimidating it is and also the more excited I get. I'm in awe of all that God has done for me and all that he is.

In a way, I think that next Friday, as I get on that plane I'll be walking through my own wardrobe into my own Narnia. I hope that I'll have Courage like Peter and faith like Lucy and That I'll experience God just like they got to see Aslan face to face.

Here are some things to pray for:

Please pray for me and for the whole team. It's kind of intimidating for me to be on a missions team with people who are twice my age at least. I'm not sure what to expect, but I know God is going to do some amazing things.

Pray that the people's hearts would be open. We're setting up a medical clinic where people can not only get medical care, but also hear the message of the gospel.

Pray for our host missionaries that the team being there would just really be encouraging to them.

Pray for Safety on the long plane ride and while we're there. Also that no one would get sick or have trouble with altitude sickness and that we would be able to operate in grace despite jet-lag and exhaustion.

Tag, you're it

Connie Tagged me. So here goes.

6 random things.

1. I named my cat Skippy when I was 10, but my brothers didn't like that name so they called him Snoops. The name stuck and to this day even I call him that.

2. I'm addicted to the music from "Les Miserables". I listen to it and play it on the piano all the time. I'm sure my family is fed up with it by now, but I still love it.

3. The first movie I ever saw in theaters was "Monster's Inc." I think I was 8. Wow.

4. I have a guitar. I was working learning to play it a few years ago, but stopped. I should get back into it, but I don't don't enjoy the my-fingers-are-on-fire sensation so I've been putting it off.

5. The last time I was on a plane I leaned back and spilled the guy behind me's beer all over his seat. Then we had to smell it for the next three hours. It wasn't pretty.

6. I've lived in the same house for my entire life. Remember snoops? Well, he just stepped on the keyboard and I had to backspace over a ton of text. I guess he had something he wanted to say to you all!

I do realize I didn't really follow the rules, but I don't feel like tagging anyone.

Layout

I changed the layout. What do you all think?

Oh, and it deleted all my widgets so here's another countdown.

Countdown Clock by Zoodu.com

My countdown and Shots.

I made a countdown until my trip. Isn't it pretty? :D I got my team member packet yesterday. Now that it's finally sinking in that I'm going it's kind of scary. It's crazy though because over and over things have been happening where I can see God's hand in it. I've never felt God in something like I do in this. I'm so unworthy.

Well, I don't have much to say. I got 5 shots this past week. I hadn't been to the doctor in a long time so I was over due for some of them. The crazy thing was I had to get MMR which is a live virus and then later I need to get Yellow fever which is live as well. My mom made the doctor's appointment for when I could get in and if it had been even a week later I wouldn't be able to go because you can't give someone two live viruses within 30 days of each other and it takes 30 days after getting yellow fever to be fully immune to it. So that was cool.

I also made beaded bookmarks on Wednesday. The lady I'm going with had millions of beads so I had a lot of fun. She also had gotten my passport back. My first visa :D It's pretty sweet looking.

At church my pastor preached about trusting God in the midst of the storm and one thing that really stuck out to me was that he said that you don't need to worry if God is in your boat. *Grins* He's in my boat :)

August 22, 2008

So first of all. God taught me something really cool a while ago. I'd been struggling with some stuff. Just really a lot of wondering where God was in the midst of life and if he really cared about the little things. I feel silly, even childish, admitting to it. I mean, come on, I've been a Christian for so long and yet I still have doubts like that. God in his grace showed me how much he cared. See, I was trying to fit him into my box. I'd assume he wasn't answering my prayers simply because it wasn't the answer I as looking for. I ask him to show me what he wants me to do and yet when he does and it's not what I had wnated to do I don't believe him. I tell him to show me a sign that he really meant what he said. And yet, I'm so blind I can't see that he already showed me what he wanted to do he just left the choice up to me.

I don't want to be one who takes the easy way out. God taught me that if I'm always afraid of being stretched I'll never grow. Asking God for a sign is fine at the right time, but when you already know he has called you to do something it's wrong. It's hiding. It's like a runner standing at the starting block waiting for a million guns to go off before he'll start running.

God also showed me that he didn't call me to operate in fear. Paul talks in 2nd Timothy about how God isn't give us a spirit of fear but of power love and a sound mind. I can't let fear dictate my life. If I think I've got it rough think about Paul. You know where he was when he penned those words? A Roman prison. He was there because he'd been preaching Christ. He had every right to be mad at God or to be afraid of what would happen to him, but no, he stopped and encouraged Timothy. Not only that but he wrote to Timothy about the faithfulness of God.

It's hard to believe I'm actually going to Ethiopia. Yesterday I mailed my application for the missions organization and my visa application. I should get my passport with the visa in it back sometime next week. The lady I'm going with told me a bunch of stories about how God put her in the right place at the right time and used her to answer someone's prayers. I'm going over to her house next week and we're going to make beaded bookmarks to give to the missionaries and interpreters and other people like that. So that should be fun.

Yesterday morning I went with my momma to the funeral for my step great uncle(I guess that's what he would be). I never knew him well and we mostly went to support my grandparents but it was hard nonetheless. It's awful to see other people so unhappy. I've never seen my grandma so upset. He wasn't a christian and so there's not that assurance that we'll see him again. That's what's the hardest part. It made me realize that every day people die without hope and that's so heartbreaking. We really prayed ahead of time that the pastor would do a good job. The family didn't have a church, but the funeral director knew of this one that would do funerals for people outside their church. Anyway, the pastor did a really good job. As he was talking with the person's wife so they could write the eulogy she said he liked walking a certain trail several times a week and the pastor was like "Wow, that's funny. I like walking that trail a few times a week too." Anyway it ended up that he had met him a few weeks ago on that trail. It was just so cool how God orchestrated that.

Oh, and today is my littlest brother's 9th birthday. We made him cherry pie :D It's so odd because I remember when he was born and now he's 9...I miss having really little siblings sometimes. It was so nice when he was little and I could hold him and play with him. Hehe, but he's great. I wouldn't wish him any different.

Kale is going to Ethiopia!

So, it's decided. I thought my mom would never let me go, but I'm going to Ethiopia on October 31 to November 9th. I'm going with a dear lady from our church who leads all kinds of medical missions trips all over the world.

She has wanted to take me with her on one for a long time, but my mom said not until I was 16. Anyway I get to go down there with a team of people who are all at least twice my age and do whatever needs done. I get to help the different doctors and see all that they do. I also get to learn to take blood pressure and give shots and stuff.

I'm so excited and scared. I got my passport last week and have been filling out my application for a visa.

I would appreciate your prayers. I'm very excited for what God is gonna do.

Hey!

I'd like to direct your attention to the upper right hand corner of the screen. *dramatic music* I added a banner for the Fantasy Fiction Tour. It's on the West coast this time so I'm pretty jazzed about the whole thing. Anyway, click it and look at their website when you get a chance. It's really a neat thing I think.

I had my last day of Driver's Ed class today! The teacher gave us candy *laughs* She said we'd been a great class. I just have two drives left, and then I'll be graduated. One of them is the mock drive test and I'm pretty nervous about that. You have to get over 80 to pass the class and you get two chances to take it.

Anyway, I went and applied for a passport yesterday at our courthouse. They said it should only take two or three weeks because they've been doing them really fast lately. I might be going on a mission's trip in October, but my mom thinks it's too dangerous an area. We have to decide this week. I'll post more about it if my parents decide to let me go.

What I've been up to.

Hey, Well I don't know if anyone still reads my blog. My posting has been a bit erratic.

I guess I should give y'all the lowdown on what I've been doing lately. I had a temporary job giving out ample in the end of June which was a lot of fun. I met a lady who taught NaNo, a pro paintball player, and a lot of other interesting people. The actual giving out samples is pretty boring after a while, but hey, it payed pretty well. My favorite part was getting to throw the ice in the sink in the back at the end of my shift. It's just something about the sound it makes when it hits the bottom of the sink. I know, as my oldest brother tells me, I am "easily amused." I made a lot of friends working at our grocery store. It's so different working because no one is really trying to impress anyone else and you all are there and have to do this job. There's no cliques or anything if you know what I mean.

I started Driver's Ed. a few weeks ago. *deep breath* I hate the drives. Really, I do everything I could possibly ever do wrong when I'm in that car. Well, not everything, butyou get the picture. I try really hard. The hour seems to go so slow. I get all nervous and sweaty too. *shivers* My teacher scares me. The class itself is all right. They're making me do a boatload more of work than my older brothers ever had to do. It's insane. My mom says my driving is better. I drove her to our dog training yesterday and she seemed impressed. I guess I just have to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. One day, I'll have my license and all this will seem worth it. Driving is so hard though. Driver's Ed is so annoying because I'm missing out on so much I wanted to do.

God has been doing something in my life. It's really incredible, but I'll save that for another post post as I think it deserves it's own :P

A Piece of White Chalk

I realize I'm due for a real post, but seeing as I've been busy this will have to suffice for now. I read a biography about C.S. Lewis recently and It made me want to read some of G.K Chesterton's work. I had a essay by him in my literature book and I enjoyed it so much I tohught I'd post it here.

It's a bit long so here's a link to it (you'll have to copy and paste it): http://www.chesterton.org/gkc/essayist/chalk.htm

Enjoy!

Walking sticks, Memorial Day, and school.

I thought I'd show you what our Australian walking sticks look like. They're considered a pest in Australia and I''m not even sure where the person we got them from got them. They eat sticker bushes which is nice because we have a lot of them ;)I keep threatening to get a lizard or snake and feed them to it.

I had a really good Memorial Day weekend. I babysat on Saturday night from four to midnight. It was fun :P We played foursquare and had a connect four tournament. I brought Mario Party for the wii so we did that and watched some movies. They fell asleep during the second one so when their parents got home they could barely wake them up.

On sunday after I got back from church my family went and saw "Horton Hears a Who." I had no idea that it was still in theatres, but I guess it was! It was actually pretty funny.

Monday, I was happy because I didn't have to do school because my dad had the day off! We went over and went mini golfing and then went out to lunch. Anyway, that was my weekend.

I've been working on a paper for History about the Manhattan Project. I'm afraid it's going to end up being way too long, but since I'm just turning it in to mom I don't think she will mind. It's really a neat topic.

One thing I found interesting was that Bohr had discovered how to make heavy water. Since he knew that if it got into the wrong hands it could help in the creation of an atomic bomb, when the Nazi's invaded he dumped the heavy water in a normal beer bottle and put it next to the beer in his fridge. He was hoping that if the Nazi's raided his lab the fridge would be the last place they would look. When he fled to England he grabbed the wrong beer bottle and didn't realize it until he got there.

Oh yeah, and I also joined the YCF or "Young Christian Force." It's a group of people who's goal is to glorify God through their blogs. Pretty cool, Eh?

Randomness

We had some Mexican friends over tonight and they made us dinner! We had soup with hominy and chicken in it topped with lettuce and radish. It was so good! We had Tostadas too :) Nothing beats good Mexican food!

I'm not sure what to post about so I keep looking around the computer room for inspiration. We have a little strip of paper tacked up in the hall that say "Have you hugged your engineer Today?" and I think that's pretty funny. My family is awesome!

I went and saw Prince Caspian last weekend. It feels like so long ago now. I really want to see it again. I enjoyed it a lot, but I don't think it had the power of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I did enjoy it tohugh. Edmund and Lucy were amazing and then there was Reepicheep "He is so cute! Who said that?" He was exactly how he should be. Perfectly dignified. When the credits were rolling my little brother, who saw it opening night, leans over and goes "I told you it got stupid at the end." Edmund is one of the most incredible characters ever written.


Okay, and it bugs me...for some reason I've ALWAYS spelled grey with an e and I don't know if it's my British roots or what, but that's the way it should be at least in my opinion.

Sixteen Candles

Okay so as some of you know I was at our regional competition for Bible Quiz during my birthday weekend. We didn’t do amazing, but we did put forth a lot of effort and have a lot of fun.

My mom came along and she kept doing things like on Thursday before we left she gave the barista a present for me at Starbucks and told her to put it up on the bar and announce that it was my birthday. She also left a present for me at the front desk of the hotel and kept leaving stuff under my pillow. It was really fun! One of my quiz coaches gave me button/ribbon that said “Birthday Girl” on it and another one bought me sixteen roses of all different colors (I still have them and it’s making me sad that they’re drying out ). We had to quiz all day Friday and it was such a long day. Quiz is really exhausting. It’s hard to explain if you haven’t done it.

On Friday night we went to an Italian restaurant. When we got there they said it was going to be an hour and a half wait, but my quiz coach was like “Well, I have this girl and it’s her Birthday” so they said they’d make it only 20 minutes! The place was really neat and all the servers had to wear funny hats so one guy had a stuffed pink bunny on his head . They brought me a gigantic candle made from a wine bottle and hot brownies with ice cream on them. It was great and we all shared the brownies and ice cream.

My friend and I had a lot of fun playing ninjas in the halls of the hotel. She’s pretty much the brown haired version of me and so we get pretty crazy when we’re together. Anyway, sadly we didn’t make very good ninjas because people could always hear us coming and like one guy hid until we came around the corner and jumped out at us. I actually screamed and fell down <_<

Anyway on Friday night we played phase 10 in the common area at the top of the stairs and then someone came and told us to go back to our room. When we got there my mom and some of my friends had made a little party for me and put up a bunch of Hawaiian themed decorations (I still have a bunch of those little drink umbrellas). They also had music playing and had made cake. We had eaten so much food at the Italian place that no one was hungry so we got one of the other teams to come eat it with us :P

One of the coolest things was that before my birthday my mom had gotten letters and pictures from my friends and made a scrapbook out of it. It’s amazing. I almost started crying when I was looking at it. Everyone had put in something that was so unique to who they are.

Anyway, I had a great birthday. Sixteen still sounds really old. I suppose I’ll get used to it…or not.

Oh, When I got back one of my youth leaders/neighbors had put a bag of chocolate in our mailbox! Mint Truffle Hershey’s Kisses are amazing. Really, Try them.

EDIT: What look like bold faced I's were smiley faces, but they didn't transfer over when I put this in blogger from word. I like using word because otherwise blogger constantly saves it when I'm not done.

Lord of the Rings horse quiz

Okay,  I couldn't resist.  :)

What Lord of the Rings horse are you?

You are Arod!You are riden by the elf Legolas.You can be a little high strung at times, but you are very loyal to your friends and those you trust.
Take this quiz!

I'm curious to see what y'all get.  

Psalm 51

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
      ~Psalm 51:6-12 (NIV)


I've been living off the psalms a lot lately and that particular passage has become one of my favorites.  The heart of the psalmist is just amazing.  He knows that he has done wrong and only God can make him pure again.  

The thing I like about it is the whole thing of God restoring joy.    I've been unhappy a lot lately and this past year has probably been the hardest in a long time,  but recently I've realized how time and time again God has showed me his faithfulness and he never ceases to restore his joy in my life.  It's such a wonderful gift :D

Anyway,  I've got to wrap up this post because it's almost dinner time (we're have Burrito/Enchilada things - They're called Enchuritos :P) and I have studying to do.  One of my brothers is in Utah right now so it's been quiet around here ( except when my older brothers have a bunch of friends over then it gets insane).  

Gotta go! -Kale

Bible Quiz

   For those of you who don't know I'm in Bible Quiz.  We memorize books of the Bible and compete at answering questions from them.  This year's material is Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians,
Colossians, and Philemon. I've really enjoyed it.  Those books are so 
deep and I wish I could tell you all the things I've learned from them.  They're also very repetative and confusing :P 

    I'm so jazzed right now.  I quoted my last chapter for the memorization award tonight.    It's a good feeling to finish something you've been working on all year.  My mom pointed out that it's funny because my last chapter 
happened to be Galatians four and so the last words I said quoting were 
"Free woman."  *Grins* I think It was appropriate.  Anyway,  all the signatures in the back of my book are just so beautiful.  
   
   I've been studying like crazy to get ready for regionals and I've only got about two weeks left.  It's going to be an interesting trip,  that much I can say for sure.   

So,  That's what I've been doing lately.  That and school.  Oh!!! I got to draw shapes in Geometery today! It was awesome.  

KALE CHARIS

Strivin' tagged me so here's my list of things about me for each letter of my user name.  

K-I still have the Kaleidescope I got when I was eight and I can 
still stare into it for a very long time.  
A- My Anscestors are mostly from Austria, France and Germany.
L- I'm Loved by God.
E- I get Excited a lot. On im I have a smiley that's "mine." It's a blue guy jumping up and down.  I call it my "Yay" smiley.  

(And since Kale is short...)

C- My family has a blue Calico named Gracie and she has the softest fur in the world.  
H- I've never celebrated Halloween.  We always make doughnuts instead.
A- Right now I'm doing Anylitical Geometry. I like except for the graphing part.
R - Romans is my favorite book of the Bible. 
I - I feel like I is a very self absorded letter.  
S - My Sanity is safe in the sanity box.  

I didn't do it exactly how I was supposed to,  but oh well. Anyone want to guess what Kale Charis means?  I'll give you some brownie points if you get them right.   I'm still looking for the place where you can exchange brownie points for brownies though.  

Picture

We had snow a few weeks ago and I took this picture.


I'm sorry it has been so long. I've had some hard things happen lately, but anyway I'll try and make a real post soon.

Heh, you all should see how hard it is raining. We have a miniature river flowing down our driveway.

My Bucket List

I'm really tired right now. I just got home from a celebration of the things God has done in my church this year. It's amazing how he does the impossible every time. I'll stop now, because otherwise I would be tempted to ramble about it all.

We had a speaker on Friday night who was encouraging us to write out a "Bucket List" (There's a movie by the same name that has this in it) of things we want to do before we, well, "Kick the Bucket." Things that include God and things that we just want to do. So anyway, I thought I would share some of mine with y'all.

(Note that I'm not putting them in order of importance :P)
1. Be part of at least 100 people coming to Christ.
2. Live in a foreign country for at least a year.
3. Write some kind of book.
4. Visit every continent (with the possible exception of Antarctica).
5. Change the world.
6. Hang glide.
7. Drive through the Chunnel.
8. Graduate from college.

What's on your bucket list?

Red Scarf Girl-Ji li Jiang

I just finished reading this book and I was really shocked. It was about a girl during the cultural revolution in China ( I believe it was circa 66). It was interesting because I had never really learned much about the cultural revolution and I was shocked.

Throughout the whole book awful things were happening to Ji li and her family, but she never realized that they were wrong. The people had been so brainwashed by the communists that they thought it was fair for them to suffer even when they hadn't done anything wrong. The devil really had a hay day. I thought it was interesting how she eventually was forced to choose between the communists (which she had been taught all her life were good) and her family and how hard that choice was.

Reading this book made me even more grateful for the privilege of living in a country where there are those checks and balances so one person can't ruin life for everyone else. It really opened my eyes to what those people had to go through and caused me to realize how much I should be praying for the people of China.

ArT

I went with my mom to the art museum today. My dad had cheerfully volunteered to stay home and install a new faucet on the sink :) I had never actually been to an "Art Museum" before, or at least not that I remember. Heh, I guess I didn't really believe the things people say about modern art. Some of the artwork I did when I was 5 was better than that stuff.

I did really enjoy the Roman exhibit. It was fascinating to see what the people from my history book and even the bible had really looked like. By the end I was done looking at statues And busts. I can only take so many lifeless eyes glaring at me. I do wonder what it was like for them to have someone make a statue of them. I bet they never imagined it would be in an art museum thousands of years later with so many people shuffling past it. Seriously...an art museum would be the perfect setting for some kind of horror story. It all made me think of Night at the Museum. I would not want to be there when some of that stuff came alive. I can imagine the sheer terror that would ensue.

I was really there to look at the Renaissance art and was disappointed that they only had about 10 or 15 paintings from that time period, but they were interesting nonetheless. It was cool how the paintings varied by what country they were from.

I'm back at long last.

Well, I seem to have neglected posting on here for quite some time, but I won't lie and say it was an accident. I've been busy and I think I've grown up a little bit.

I went to camp last weekend and God really met me there in a new way. Something I thought was cool was that I'd been struggling with things and every time one of the leaders would pray for me they would pray and it would be for the exact thing I need. There was no way they could have known and it just seemed like it was God's way of saying he loves me. He really gave me a faith that's mine...it's not my family's faith or my parent's, but it's really mine and I've never really had that before. It's so weird now because I feel so confident in him. I'm not so shy about things anymore and I really feel like he has given me a new sense of freedom.

Oh, and Y'all wanna know the coolest thing? God dances! He does! He picks me up and spins me around!