sisters by chance, friends by choice

Morgan Joy Wotring is my very best friend. My almost 16-year-old little sister is the light of my life. She's absolutely hilarious and can put a smile on my face just about any time! I love spending time with her anywhere, any time. Mostly we like to reminisce about old memories, make home videos, we're known for taking lots of pictures, ya know...the usual. But with her, it's anything but usual...we could just sit and laugh for hours about something so ridiculous, and some things just never get old.

One year for my birthday, she gave me a locket with a picture of us on one side and this little saying on the other, "sisters by chance, friends by choice." I call her my best friend because I know that she would do anything for me, and I know she'll always be there for me whether I need her or not, and I feel the same way about her. We're friends who just so happen to be sisters. Of course we fight, we're siblings, but we usually end up laughing it off within minutes.

Sometimes it makes me sad to see how fast my baby sister is growing up! But, I am so proud of her, and I'm proud to call her my sister. I thank God every day for blessing me with someone to love so much it literally hurts sometimes, and I pray that God strengthens our relationship with every passing day.

I love you Morg =)

my deepest stains now clean

I find that I use my eraser a lot, more often than the other end of my pencil (especially in calculus, but that's a different story). What can I say, I make a lot of mistakes. Something that has become clear to me very recently is the fact that I'm not perfect, and I will continue to make a lot of mistakes in the future. The amazing thing is that God is extremely forgiving, no matter what I do wrong, and He loves me with an undying love. A lot of times I find myself trying to erase my own mistakes, and sometimes I succeed, but more often than not, there's a smudge I've left behind; a dark gray smudge that sticks out on a white surface. And when I think the smudge is all people see, someone comes and washes it away. It's like God is my very own Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. And the most wonderful part is, He does it out of love. Even though we humans are full of sin, God wipes our deepest stains clean. See, God doesn't love us because we're lovable...He loves us because He is love.

becoming a generous giver

So, I've recently started the generosity devotional that Mark Beeson was talking about a few weeks ago. It's called Generosity: Moving Toward Life That is Truly Life...here's the link http://www.generositybook.com/pages/about_the_book. I'm only in the first few pages of it, and already this devotional is becoming life-changing. Day 1 is all about Jesus, being the first and most generous gift of all. It really is amazing to me and always will be to know how much He loves us. I mean, to send Your son to die for you and me...there's nothing more generous than that. And God won't ask you and I to do something that He hasn't already done...He just asks us to follow in His footsteps...to look more like Him everyday. How hard can that be, right? Look, He never said it was going to be easy, but the reward in the end is deliverance that no one other than the Lord of All can give to you. Rich Mullins said it like this, "If you've ever known the love of God, you know it's nothing but reckless and it's nothing but raging. Sometimes it hurts to be loved, and if it doesn't hurt it's probably not love, maybe infatuation...being loved by God is one of the most painful things in the world, it's also the only thing that can bring us salvation, and it's like everything else that is really wonderful, there's a little bit of pain in it, little bit of hurt."



One of God's generous gifts to me has been my friends. He has blessed me with some of the greatest people who continue to help me grow deeper in Christ. I am so thankful for what He has given me thus far...and He never stops giving. God has also placed in my life some friends that really need me. They need me to show them love and generosity where no one else can. I feel that God has placed these friends in my life so that I can "give that which makes it possible for them to find eternal life" in Jesus Christ. In this way, God has challenged me with the gift of generosity so that I might share His love and Grace with people who mean the world to me.



My prayer:

God, thank You for Your first and most generous gift of Your son, Jesus. Nothing is more sacrificial than this. Please walk with me in my transformation to become a generous giver of love, compassion, and care. Help me to give sacrificially so that I may look more like You every day. And as You transform me, I ask that I might deepen my relationship with You. Thank You for Your never-ending generous gifts.



What are some ways God has been extravagantly generous to you? What impact have these gifts had on your life?

my first blog!

Welcome to my blog! I'm super excited about getting started. It's something I've been wanting to do for a while now, but just never got around to actually starting a blog. I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts in the very near future, and I can't wait to hear your feedback as well. Thanks for visiting! I can't wait to see what God has in store for me here!