New Location, Same Me!

I've made the decision to switch from Blogger to Wordpress! My new web address is meetthequote.wordpress.com

If you are looking for new post be sure to direct your attention there! 

100 Days to Happiness: A Lifestyle

     Although my posts seemed to have disappeared, have no fear! My life didn't become less joyful, it's been quite the opposite. I learned more about true happiness, friendship, distance, and living altogether. This past month has really allowed me to, dare I say, grow up. Through trials of the heart and challenges of the flesh I was still able to find happiness, because the reality of it is that happiness is a choice, happiness is a lifestyle. 

       

"Happiness is not in our
circumstance, but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or
feel like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are."



- John B. Sheerin









    At the beginning of
the month I had the pleasure of traveling to Missouri with friends for four days. I was
already expecting the experience to be encouraging but I hadn't yet made the
conscious decision to enjoy myself. Before our 15 hour long journey had even
begun my heart ,which started out as an excited flame was already cooling to just
embers. Nothing was going the way that I'd hoped. Every part of me wanted to
pout and be a grouch. (My natural response since I can remember.) The plan I
had in my head wasn't happening so obviously our lives were completely over.
Not even slightly the case. Once our few hiccups subsided I realized just how
much energy it takes to be unhappy when there are so many things to be happy
about.






“Someone just tell me

That it’s ok now

What are you worrying about



Got my dreams, got my life, got my love

Got my friends, got the sunshine above

Why am I making this hard on myself

When there’s so many beautiful reasons I have to be happy”





    

   
I am such a huge fan of this song by Natasha Bedingfield. She hits it
right on the head! Throughout the song she lists all the everyday complications
of an everyday life. Rent and crazy landlords. Minimum wage and getting laid
off. However real those struggles may be, and no matter how justifiable they may make
anger seem, the number of reasons to remain happy are so much greater! 



 
 In our lesson Sunday morning, we
heard about anger and its crippling properties on the soul. We have plenty of
reasons to become angry, but what good is that? Anger destroys. Specifically, anger destroys happiness.






 "Then the Lord said to Cain,
'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?'... 'sin is crouching at your
door, it desires to have you but must rule over it."

- Genesis 4:6-7









  When things go awry or tragedy
strikes, sin is knocking at your door. Anger lets that sin in and it takes over
in the form of rage. Like opening any door, the choice is yours. If you are the
person who is easily angered, shut the door. As it has been said, you are what
you take in. 








"Any day I'll go bad thinking bad





Everyone is against me and the world wants to fight me





Preparing to battle an enemy unseen





During my stressing I’m blinded to the lessons 





That could be a blessing if Id be confessing that the enemy



I’m trying to beat is hiding inside of me"






  Though our circumstances weren't
all sunshine and lollipops, the three of us were happy on our trip. We
allowed our minds to become happiness. Through that we met a lot of great
people and were able to just enjoy each others company. 


































I'm also doing this on my Instagram. (I've actually been able to keep up with that) Here is proof that I'm having a happy summer! Also feel free to follow me @emary_alicea to keep up with all the awesomeness that is my life!












 

100 Days to Happy: Harder Than It Looks

   So I haven't posted all week... It's a lot harder than it looks. Not because I haven't been having bad days but rather my days have been filled with with much good. From the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep I'm surrounded by amazing people that I am able to learn from or just have fun with. To me that excuse enough for not writing everyday this week. However I will try and be more disciplined and keep up with each day. It will be much easier next week because I have so many amazing things planned!

   June is almost over and it is time to travel! When it comes to traveling my motto is "Just Go." I wouldn't say to go an never look back. Going to a new place doesn't have to be due to some fatal flaw of the place you are leaving. There are many other reasons to visit a new place.

1.) New Adventure 

2.) New Experiences 

3.) New Local Culture

 
   Picture this. 11 year old is at home, getting ready for her first middle school dance, staring two pairs of shoes down. One pair, a reliable flat that's been on her side for a solid year. The other, a slightly elevated heal, never been worn. The purpose of one is extremely practical and safe. The other is a tad bit risky and a little more fun with a side of possible danger. She goes with the more exciting pair. Through the night she pseudo trips twice and falls into a chair once. Nothing earth shattering. She took a chance because why not! She ventured into new depths, or rather new heights! She didn't shy away from something new. Six years later and she goes to senior prom. The question isn't flats or heels, it's which pair of heels looks better with my dress. Not a hint of doubt that bigger is always better.
 

   “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt 

Take a chance, go for it. Pick a place and go for it.


 

100 Days to Happiness: Just Good

Have you ever had a day where nothing went terribly wrong and you were just happy? Yeah remember those days when you're having a not-so-awesome-day. 

100 Days to Happiness: A Plate Full of Thanks

   Steak. I love steak. I love food! So often I take for granted the overflowing abundance of food that I have to indulge in daily, much like many other first world delicacies.

   My older sister is going to Africa this summer to work in the slums with a group known as HOPE World Wide. The work that they will be doing will greatly impact many of the residents' lives, including many children whose circumstance is widely different from my own. They don't have the luxury of opening a fridge to see it's been heavily stocked. Yet when I open mine, I complain that there is "nothing to eat." 

   I came home from work  today with the fully cooked meal (seen in the picture above) waiting for me. After misusing the term "starving" I scarfed down the food without a second thought. The joy that it brought me made me wonder what it might be like to be in the shoes of the African children. 

"Gratitude turns 

what 

we have into enough."

   Even without a plate of food, they still find joy. They are able to look into a half empty fridge and see it as full. Not trying to get all corny on you but you can see where this is going. Life is that fridge. No matter how many opportunities are missed or how many challenges may arise, you're still alive and you still have purpose.

I know that even though I'm not fine dining on steak every night, I know that I am loved and taken care of.

   

100 Days of Happiness: 15 minutes of meditation

   Take some time to yourself. Time to just sit and be still. On this busy journey we call life, those 15 minutes can make all the difference in our moods. 

   Today I sat and thought about where I am and where I want to be. From there my thought train ran wild. I had to be sure that I didn't allow self doubt to creep in. Even in such a short period of time I let my busy life take control of my thoughts, the exact opposite reason for my brief moment of solitude. 

   It's only natural that we think about the future, it is an important thing to keep in mind. However it's not the not important. All we are promised is now so in my little experience on this Earth, don't waste now. Take advantage of "now". Not in the sense of using "now" to get ahead, at least not all of the time. Take advantage of "now" before "now" has passed by. 

100 Days To Happiness: One Good Book

   It has come to my attention that I really enjoy reading. It's like I was put on a default setting to involuntarily respond to any literary recommendation, "Oh, I don't read," and move on with my life. I didn't spend an abundance of time  reading, true, but I have always enjoyed books. I just didn't want to take the time to read them. Now that I have all this free time to anything, and a spirit of adventure, I've picked up my old habit of indulging in great literature. I think I have one man to thank for that. John. Green.
   When I got to middle school and teachers started assigning me books to read I lost interest in the magic of a great novel. Reading wasn't cool anymore and neither was writing papers. The whole meaning and purpose of books was forever lost, or so I thought. Have you ever just read a book and when you finished put it down and then picked it up to read it again? Have you read something that beautiful? If not, you're not reading the right books. Additionally, you will lose hope in the writers as a whole.
   Until you read a book that restores your faith in humanity, and literature. John Green. He is a literary genius. I've made it my summer mission to read every single book that he has written. First, The Fault In Our Stars. From the moment I opened it and read the first line of that very first page, I was hooked. He is able to say something so profound that is followed by a subtle, hilarious truth. The only way I have been able to describe that specific novel is as heartwarmingly heartbreaking.

    Second, Paper Towns. Although this novel is widely different from TFIOS, I am still amazed at how well this man writes. His characters are given so much life that I can't choose a face I have seen in real life, my brain is forced to create an entirely new, just as real image. As I read and enjoy the story, I am witnessing each characters life with a front row seat. Not only does John Green captivate you with his language. He is able to incorporate such beautifully profound truths that most people are thinking but can't find the words to say out loud. For example, it's easy to get caught up in being prudent and making sure your prudence has prudence. This is what John Green has to say about living for the future.

   "Did you know that for pretty much the entire history of the human species, the average life span was less than thirty years? You could count on ten years or so of real adulthood, right? There was no planning for retirement. There was no planning for a career. There was no planning. No time for planning. No time for a future. But then the life spans started getting longer, and people started having more and more future, and so they spent more time thinking about the future. Every moment of your life is lived for the future-you go to high school so you can go to college so you can get a good job so you can get a nice house so you can afford to send your kids to college so they can get a job so they can get nice house so they can afford to send their kids to college."

   What he is basically saying is that the future is already here although it hasn't happened. It is already controlling our actions. Not necessarily a bad or good thing, just a truth about what going on in the world. I sometimes forget that in the midst of the fiction there is a man, and that man probably believes at a percentage of what he is writing. That man actually thinks such profound thoughts and that man wrote them down for the world to see and that just warms my heart.
   Thank you, John Green, for writing good books and having deeply profound thoughts. But most of all thank you for restoring my love for reading, my faith in humanity, and for making me just all out happy! I know this won't be the last time I enjoy your books. Third, Looking For Alaska.

The Party's Just Begun

  Over the last few months I have started at least five posts for this blog. Obviously all five have been a complete bust because I didn't publish a single one. I couldn't get the words right. I didn't want to publish just for the sake of publishing; I wanted my words to matter; if not to anyone else, to me. I found a few quotes here and there each day but nothing that resulted in an awe-inspired piece of writing. Until last night.

   Recently my class of seniors entered the "real world." Naturally, the week prior to the ceremony we were all buzzing with excitement. It may have been the fact that, finally, we were going to be finished with public school. There is a distinct moment that someone becomes very aware what graduating actually means. Freedom, yes but I think this change is more about being free to live your life. It's about what comes next and what you choose to do with that newfound freedom.

   At the end of the graduation they played a slideshow from the year. Along with a stream of pictures of every senior, Phillip Phillips' Home played along to epitomize the years that will follow such a life-changing event:

"Hold on, to me as we go


As we roll down this unfamiliar road


And although this wave (wave) is stringing us along


Just know you're not alone
Cause I'm gonna make this place your home

Settle down, it'll all be clear


Don't pay no mind to the demons


They fill you with fear


The trouble it might drag you down


You get lost, you can always be found



Just know you're not alone


Cause I'm gonna make this place your home"


   It's a very appropriate song for a room full of students preparing to embark on a new and excitingly terrifying journey. But it goes beyond graduations I think. Every day we are given a chance of a new adventure. And with that adventure there are going to be risks. That’s the beauty of living, and of adventure.

   Although there is a nothing new under the sun, each day brings about a new set of wonders and a new set of challenges that may be new to your eyes. With each amazing new discovery be sure to have something to hold onto. Whether it is a conviction or a person -anything that will help you become unshakeable. Like it says in this song, this road is unfamiliar, the song does not say that it impossible.  

   Throughout life, decisions will need to be made. Actions will need to be taken. If you’re anything like me, those two things are undeniably and unavoidably terrifying. For instance, I have to pick where I want to live. Stay here in Austin or go to away to Lubbock. One option is a better financial option and the other is what I want. Whatever I choose, I know I won’t be there on my own. I have a family of friends here and a family of friends waiting for me there. The same is true wherever life takes you. As long as you remember you’re not alone, any city in the world can become your home.

   So the next time you’re thinking about being afraid to live your life because of the mundane fears of everyday life, don’t. Risk is out there. That’s the beauty of living, and of adventure.

 

   There is a beautiful quote from the movie Steel Magnolias that says “I would rather have 30 minutes of something wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.” Though it’s true, you only live once; the screaming of “YOLO” ad nauseam gets old extremely fast. I love this because the message of carpe diem and YOLO derived from good intentions. The intention that life is meant to be lived without fear and without regrets. Each day is a gift, and every gift must be opened in order to be find something wonderful.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoy what you read please leave a comment below, thank you!

If you keep up with my sporadic posting I can't say how much I appreciate you. I wanted to let you know that This summer I will be challenging myself on posting a little something everyday. There is a trending hashtag, #100happydays. I will be doing my own variation titled 100 Days To Happy, where I share something that either made me happy that day along with a quote that has to do with happiness. So stay tuned for more exiting posts. Have a joy filled summer!

"Cinderella, Prince Charming and Other Myths"

   For the past couple weeks and in weeks to follow my church is going through a sermon series titled: The New Rules About Love, Sex and Relationships. When I heard we were doing this I thought it to be a little off putting. Love and sex were things to be talked about in private with your parents or someone you really looked up to. It was a line I wasn't looking to cross with the entire church sitting at my backside. Surprisingly enough, I find myself rather enjoying these lessons and feel that everyone should take part in open discussion about how God views love, sex, and relationships.

   The first week was incredibly eye opening. It was titled Cinderella, Prince Charming and Other Myths. Now don't get me wrong, I love me a good Disney princess movie as much as the next girl. But let's face it, every single one of those movies are complete fairytales that rarely every come close to true. Finding a lasting relationship isn't that easy.

THE "RIGHT PERSON" MYTH
   One of the points made revolved around what he called the "right person" myth. In movies we see a boy and a girl that just so happen to stumble into each others lives and are immediately "head over heels" for one another. They talk for hours and realize that they have so much in common. Then they each go back and tell their friends how great the other is and how perfect they are together. Not going to lie, all of this sounds extremely appealing but it's obvious that something is missing. We must ask ourselves, how much of this is really true?

    What I described is chemistry, which is very much true, but sadly it isn't the foundation of a good relationship. Chemistry doesn't last forever and eventually you'll run out of things to talk about and those connections you made will fizzle out and you'll end up feeling disconnected. It's completely natural to desire a relationship that has chemistry. It's something that is very important to keep the relationship from being completely plutonic. However, it is not the most important.

   The problem with the "right person" myth isn't that the "right" person doesn't exist somewhere out there, but rather that the "right" person isn't perfect. The first person you have chemistry with doesn't always turn out to be your Prince Charming. It takes time to find the "right" person. And that person will still have flaws of their own. Even Prince Charming had flaws. He danced with Cinderella all night and didn't ask her name once. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?! He wasn't perfect and neither is your "right" person.

   Needless to say, everyone could stand to change one or two things in their own character. So let me ask you this, are you the person the person you are looking for is looking for? Go ahead, read it out loud and let that sink in. Are you the person the person you are looking for is looking for? Because if you're not, what good is finding Mr. or Ms. Right? You're stuck in a fairytale if you think love just happens. This verse was read to us:

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me." [1 Corinthians 13:11]

    After reading this he talked a lot about the nature of change. It happens to all of us whether we like it or not. Maturing is a natural part of life. You may not be the person the person you are looking for is looking for but there is always room for improvement. The question is, how do you become that person?
 

   They handed out these cool cards that have a list of, for lack of a better word, criteria. It's called "The Love Test." This list is compiled of selfless things that are somewhat natural when you love someone. Some things are not so natural and those are the areas that need to be worked on within your own heart; the things that will separate the children from the men.

A lot my wisdom and awesomeness in this post is credited to the all too fabulous John Glinski at Austin Chistian. If want to come join us in our group awesomeness we are at 15501 N. FM Hwy 620 Austin Texas 78717. Located just north of the intersection of FM 620 and Tollway 45.


 STOP!! Before you go downstairs and burn all of your Disney movies for filling your head with lies for decades now, there are many truthful things that can be taken away from Disney and other movies as a whole. For one, the characters are of moral character. The wedding is usually at the end and that is when they share their first kiss. Though the steps to getting there may entail some unrealistic behavior, the "Disney" message of love is not completely jaded.

Break My Heart

I've been trying to get the courage to share this on here for anyone to see, it's not any less nerve racking but I'm doing it in spite of my fear. Here is one of my original songs that I wrote when I was feeling far from God and needed to get back to Him. I'm not a song writer or anywhere close but this was in my heart so I wrote it out and then I felt the desire to share it. If anyone can relate or just want to give me some feedback please feel free to leave a comment!

For What Breaks Yours

It's not in my nature to surrender

But I must give it all

It's not in my nature to be selfless

But I must learn to fall

You know my weakness, you know my heart

Can't you feel me falling apart?

I need you love know more than I know

So help me, Lord

Break this heart of stone

Break my heart, Lord

Break my heart, Lord

Break my heart for what breaks yours

All my pain you have endured

So break my heart for what breaks yours

Sometimes I think that I'm my own boss

But you teach me daily to take up my cross

Sometimes I feel like I can't go on

It's true I'm weak but your grace is strong

I want to change

I want to grow

So help me Lord, break this heart of stone

Break my heart, Lord

Break my heart, Lord

Break my heart for what breaks yours

All my sins you have endured

So break my heart for what breaks yours

Is my heart where it needs to be?

Is it true,

Is forgiveness the key?

Your love so near lord

Your word so clear

But in my mind they disappear

Show me the truth oh

I need to know

I ask you again to break this heart of stone

Break my heart, Lord

Break my heart, Lord

Break my heart for what breaks yours

(Repeat)

All my sins you have endured

So break my heart for what breaks yours

   To say these last few weeks have been INSANE would be a huge understatement. I have reached mental, physical and emotional exhaustions on multiple occasions doing a bunch of things I don't particularly like. At the same time I had no time to do the things I actually like to do, like writing, because believe it or not I am a fan of sleeping. Today I even had the urge to read a book! I never want to read for fun but i haven't had the option in so long that the thought of diving into a great novel seemed to good to be true.

   This huge long rant to apologize and say I'M BACK! I have so many experiences I have to share from my past month but I have to pick only one. Music has been one of my many forms of escapes. I spent a good amount of time listening to the lyrics. Some of the bands I tend to listen to, I listen to because the music is good or a friend recommend them to me. Recently I've come to realize how much incite as well as emotion there is within each carefully selected word. For instance, I really like the band Mumford and Sons. I use to think that they just had a really cool sound and unique style. However, one of their songs titled I Will Wait in particular caught my attention. One verse goes as follows:

Now I'll be bold

As well as strong

And use my head alongside my heart

So tame my flesh

And fix my eyes

A tethered mind freed from the lies

    There is so much said in just a few lines. Mumford and Sons is nowhere near a christian band, but I like to read these verses as if it were a prayer to God. One similar to the one I have often found myself praying in difficult times. I have learned that through any hard time boldness as well as strength are crucial. You must be bold enough to admit when you are weak, you  must be strong enough to persevere, and you must be wise enough to listen to not only your head but also your heart. It isn't always logic that'll fix your brokenness.

  Though acknowledging these things are a key step in getting to the greener grass, they do not always calm so naturally and without tears. It takes determination as well as a deep faith that you will make it through. This determination will entail a lot of focus which most definitely does not come naturally. When I find it hard to focus or have faith I pray that God will help me fix my eyes on Him because it is He who broke my chains and freed me. And I know logically that he is my refuge, however, in the midst of suffering, it isn't always clear to my heart. And  ultimately the heart is what matters most.

   The next lines of the song resemble prayer blatantly. Though it may not be what the band intended, it's what my heart heard.

And I'll kneel down,Wait for nowI'll kneel down,Know my ground

   The act of kneeling embodies a person in absolute resolve to the fact that their situation is not within their control. They have reached the end of their rope and are surrendering to something greater than themselves. For me that something greater is my Lord and Savior. When it becomes to hard to stand, I kneel to the one who made it all. I cry out to Him because I know he will hear me. He is my rock and my foundation. Even through hard times I know that, "with him at my right hand, I will never be shaken." [Psalm 16:8] I pray to Him and wait for an answer.

   The last part of the song that i would like to share is quite similar in message to the previous verse. It instills the idea that peace will not be found if there is no surrender first. 

Raise my hands

Paint my spirit gold

And bow my head

Keep my heart slow

    I don't have too much more to say but this. Hard times are going to happen. That is how we grow. The thing to remember is that when hard things come along it doesn't help to wait around for the bad thing to end on it's own. Allow the emotions and sadness and suffering to fill you up and make you into a different person. Be joyful that you're given another battle that make you that much tougher and that much stronger as a person. I would like to close with this:

"And we[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;4 perseverance, character; and character, hope."

- Romans 5:2-4

Random Poem

I wasn't planning on writing tonight but I came across this poem and find it to be quite touching in a sad yet lovely kind of way.

He wanted to say I love you

but keeps it to goodnight

because love means some falling

and she's afraid of heights.

-r.i.d                                         

My New found Worry Free Philosphy

"25Then Jesus said to His disciples: 'Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you eat or what you drink; or about you body, what you will wear. 26Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" 

Matthew 6:25-27 

   I've already posted a quote about how worrying is futile but I still feel compelled to write further on the subject since it is recurrent in my own life. In the times I feel most out of control it seems like my go to reaction these days is to worry and/or to break down in tears. I don't always realize I'm worrying. However, in actuality, the moment I distrust that God has everything under control and I stray from His path, I am worrying. When I make the decision to try and take control of my life I begin to worry. I desire to trust God's plan for me, it's just become a part of my nature to worry about the things I cannot control.
   It's an odd sensation, worrying. I often use it as a substitution for the control I lack in my life. It's as if worrying will fix the problem when it does the exact opposite. Worrying is the very thing that removes control from my life. When I worry instead of trusting God, I virtually eliminate Him as a solution to my problem. Seeing that God is the one who can fix all of my problems, worrying in turn makes my life infinitely harder to live. Even though I want to be in control and I want to be able to fix my own problems; it just simply is not within my power to do so. SO WHY WORRY ABOUT IT!

   I had a dream the other night. One of those dreams that are so vivid that they feel real. I woke up the next morning to be hit by reality that my perfect dream was nothing but a fantasy. I spent that whole day worrying about what had happened in the dream that I could barely live my life. I was confused and out of it. I didn't want to accept what the dream really meant, so naturally I worried about it. Before that night I was doing so well controlling that area of my life, it bothered me to no end that I could not control it in my subconscious. However, deep in my heart I knew that I wouldn't be able to get rid of the gnawing thought that had me worrying in the first place; I had to seek advice.

   My friends are so very helpful in this way. They were able to tell me not to worry. They told me that even though the dream felt incredibly real that I was nothing but a dream. It didn't have to mean anything. I just simply needed to not let it bug me. We were also able to talk some other things out but the bottom line is, that I made a mountain of a mole hill. I brought my dream life into reality and began to worry about it. It took a little perspective and a little reflection to realize that worrying about the dream is a fruitless endeavor.

    Just moments after getting off of the phone, my best friend texted me to listen to a song, Just A Friend by Jamie Grace, that was basically the anthem of my life. The last two verses are what really helped me to surrender and give all my worries over to God. It reads:

So Father, I will place this in your hands, 

You Know me and all my crazy plans,

Humbly I surrender this to you, 

So I'll keep dreaming 

And you'll keep coming through

I know you see what I don't see

So I'll be just a friend

I'll be just a friend

I know that I will be happy 

Even if I'm just a friend

I'll be just a friend

So yeah, that's that

Oh that's that

I'll be that

I'm telling you, I'm gonna be just that

The next time your thinking about worrying about anything, rethink. Don't let the things you can't control take control of you. Be free and happy in the life that you are living and enjoy the things that are in your control and make you happy.

The Christian life has not been tried and left wanting but has been found difficult and left untried."

- GK Chesterton

Have you tried it yet?

No?
  Well I encourage you to do so. I especially encourage those of you who feel the yearning to be a part of something bigger than yourself, or those of you who desire more than anything to be loved unconditionally, or those of you who have nowhere else to turn and no one left to turn to. I encourage to give the Christian life a try. I did and it was the best decision of my life. 
  I made the decision to follow Christ almost two years ago at the age of 15. That may seem like a young age to feel like my life had fallen apart, but the truth is my life had not yet fallen completely apart. I had tried a life away from God and I knew in my heart that if I continued on the path I was on, my life today would have been completely different. 

"MAY YOUR CHOICES

 REFLECT YOUR HOPES,

     NOT YOUR FEARS."

 -Nelson Mandela

  I gave Christ a try, and just like a child having a taste of ice cream, I fell in love. Because I gave Christianity a try I became a part of something bigger than myself, I no longer have to desire for an unconditional love, and I always have somewhere and someone to turn to whenever the everyday stresses of life become to much to bear. 
  I can't write all this and not say that it won't be difficult, but in hindsight, anything that is challenging is worth something. So again I encourage you to give the Christian life a try. "[It] has not been tried and left wanting, but has been found difficult and left untried." 

Acts 17:27-28 (NIV) "[27] God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from anyone of us. [28] For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'"

It's been a while

   Sooo... it's been a while since I've taken the time to actually sit down and write. I haven't been busy. Truthfully I've been quite the opposite. But "it's a new year, new me." Cliches aside I would like to put my thoughts into writing once more. I don't want to say that utilizing this blog is my New Years Resolution because it's not a goal that I'm setting for myself to write everyday or anything, but I definitely feel that being an active writer again will help me become the person that I would like to be by the time I graduate, turn 18, and eventually head off to college.
   Fact of the matter, I was lost in my thoughts come the end of last year and I need this as an outlet to be the kind of person I wish to become. I used a quote in one of my earlier post about changing yourself; "If you don't like where you are, move. You're not a tree." That is what I'm taking my own advice and moving. I want to grow in my character and growing means that I can't stay the same or even do the same things. I will continue to use quotes that inspire me. However my faith will be even more influential to the things that I write about. Instead of hypothetical scenarios and what if statements, this will become a forum for me to share of my own experiences: after all my the mistakes and success of my everyday life are what I know best.

"I'm better than this, I like to tell myself. 

Time is the medicine that'll fix my sins so please forgive me for the things that I've said. 

I may regret it now but I wanted it back then."

    - Caroline Pennell

 
 Last year I would write about a quote that I just happened to stumble upon. This year rather, I will use quotes things that I have heard in my previous years that are finally applicable to what is going on in my life. I hope to continue to inspire you with my story.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.