Leaps of Faith

A week ago, my family lost our obese chocolate lab that tested us to no end but would be waiting for me at the door whether it be three in the afternoon or twelve at night. Almost ten years ago my parents took my sister and I on what seemed like a really long drive at the time (however it was actually only five miles out of town). We picked out a little chocolate lab and brought her to what would be her forever home. My sister would still tell you to this day that I picked out the dog that would end up being our weirdest dog ever. If you've spent even ten minutes inside of our house, you know exactly what I'm talking about. When we got Macey we were in the process of flipping our house, as my parents had bought a fixer upper house that they've completely made to be our perfect home. My parents decided to rip out the old, worn, blue carpet in the dining room (carpet in a dining room is such a bad idea) and replace it with hardwood floors. This would be the first ...

Four (what seems like short, but also long at the same time) years ago, I met this vibrant, encouraging, loving girl. Little did I know how close the organization that we both were so passion about would bring us. We experienced spending a miserable amount of hours in our blue corduroy jackets. We experienced being taught at LTS. We experienced being in charge of LTS. We experienced high school issues. We experienced meeting new people and each other's friends for the first time. However, it was all tolerable because we experienced it together and we've made the best memories throughout the past four years together. From being scared of everyone and not having each other's numbers as little freshmen to now being in charge of different FFA events and texting each other almost daily as seniors, I have loved every minute of being Nikayla's friend. I remember being a freshman and being so very excited when I saw Nikayla at an FFA event as she was a...

This is probably the most open and vulnerable post I've made on this blog, but it's on my heart and I've been so blessed these past few weeks that I need to share! A few months ago I brought my sister with me to our youth group, Legacy. I had felt God really pushing me to encourage her to come and to do anything I could to get her there. If you know my sister, you know that we are extremely different. I am outgoing, she is not. I am one of the clumsiest people alive and she is the athletic star of our family. Although we are different, we share a love for many things as well, one of them now being Jesus. After attending Legacy, she expressed an interest in being saved and God gave me the life changing and eye opening experience to lead my sister to Christ. I will never forget that day as we were sitting in my car and there are very few times where I have felt the presence of God more than that day. I was shocked. Why did God chose me? Although I'm still not sure, I'...

So a lot of you have probably seen the pictures of artsy pages of my journaling Bible that I've posted on my social media accounts, however mostly on my Facebook album. I have gotten a lot of questions about it, as although it's been out for a few years, it's still becoming more and more popular. A lot of times I get asked, "well what are the rules?" There aren't any! This is why I love it so much, but also why sometimes it frustrates me. It's frustrating because I'm a very structured person and am quite the control freak most of the time (which I'm trying to work on that). However, I also love that it has no rules because I can do whatever I want and I don't have to meet any certain expectations, except my own. Every page is different and every page has a different meaning, however every page does emphasize something from God. Whether that be a song, a verse, a command, or an answer to a prayer, it's something from Him. Another question I ...

As I am preparing for the weekend as I plan to be gone most of it, cheering on my best friend at the state cheer competition, it has been brought to my attention that the first month of 2017 flew by. It feels like I blinked and January was gone. Throughout January, I made some important decisions, spent countless hours with my best friends, accepted some challenges and worked at bettering myself in a few different aspects. I felt pretty bad sometimes as I got sick for a few days, didn't really devote a lot of time to my blog, and spent a lot of time confused as to what God has in store for me right now. However I know He's got this, I'm such a worrier. Which is why my favorite Bible verse is 1 Peter 5:7. I celebrated a lot of awesome moments as I babysat a little bit, started a college speech class, went on a youth retreat for a weekend, and celebrated my one year anniversary of baptism. I helped one of my friends pick out her prom and MayFete dre...

This week has been nothing short of an interesting one. I've been planning for an FCA event this weekend, filling out scholarships, babysitting some hilarious kiddos, making some important decisions, and my car was pranked by some of my youth group friends and so much more. I feel like so much has happened this week alone, that it feels like it has been a month. Sometimes I am simply amazed by how much can really happen over a span of seven days. I've found myself in tears every single day this week. Although I am an emotional person, this extremity isn't quite normal for me. Some days it's been out of pure joy, but honestly most days it's been out of frustration, brokenness, or impatience. Although it's been a rough week, I've been constantly reminded of the many blessings that I am surrounded by. I've been reading the book of Proverbs this month, however over the weekend I was encouraged to start the 1-1-1 challenge. It is memorizing...

Six tubing lanes, five kicks to the ankle during broomball, four worship sessions, three unforgettable days, two crying sessions, and one amazing God later, SpringHill has kicked our butts. This weekend Legacy has acquired several bruises, a broken pair of glasses, some lost but then found gloves, and so many memories. From hitting and tackling each other with snowballs, to listening to one of our members rap Dirty Water in a room full of random teenagers, to the hours that were spent in the gym by some, to the average cafeteria food, to the prayer circle times in our cabin, there isn't one thing that I won't remember about this life changing weekend. Although the van definitely isn't as excited and loud as it was on the way there, it doesn't mean that we didn't have the best weekend full of tubing, singing our hearts out, and challenging each other in ping pong. Not only has our volume level on the way back changed, so has our love for Jesus. Important decisions an...