New Year's Resolution

I was inspired by Papa B's message this weekend as he was talking about how you "cannot teach someone who already knows."  He said that sometimes, you have to unlearn what you think you already know in order to learn what you don't know.  

One thing I do know: I never want my life to become so habitual, where I think I know everything there is to know.  I want to grow every single day, and not think for one second that there is nothing more for me to learn.  

So, here's what I've decided to do.  For my New Year's resolution, I'm going to journal every day about one new thing I've learned that day.  This will do a few things for me:

1. I'll be forcing myself to open my eyes, ears, and heart to learning something new every day. 

2. This challenge will hold me accountable to a commitment I'm making.

3. I'll be growing deeper by gaining wisdom and knowledge daily!

How cool will it be if a year from now, I can look back and see 365 new things (among many others) that I learned?!  I'm going to start today, because....well, why not?!  I'm excited about this challenge, and if you want to join me, the more the merrier :)

"I Never Knew You"

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'  Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!'"

-Matthew 7:21-23

I never want God to say that about me!!!!!!! 

Fishy Faces and Giggles

Couldn't help but share this video!!! LOVE this girl!!!! She makes me laugh :)

a thousand times I've failed, still Your mercy remains

I can't tell you how many times I've failed, but I can tell you something I DO know.  God's grace is enough for me.  When you know the love of God, it changes everything.  We can live in His grace, and know that it is sufficient for everything we've done, everything we're doing, and everything we will do.  This is good news for me, and for you, too.  


Thank You, Jesus, for Your grace. 


But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

My lil' Graduate

Can't believe my little sister graduated on Friday.  I'm SO proud of her, and grateful for an amazing sister that I can call my best friend.  


Joy, you're beautiful inside and out, and you make me laugh more than anyone else!  I love you to pieces and I pray you always feel loved!  God blessed my life with you, and I know you're such a blessing to others.  Love you forever, Joy!

Undivided Heart

I thought I would share with you a beautiful song, by Vicky Beeching.  The lyrics speak the words of my heart, what I so desire and reflect the "me I want to be."  I hope these lyrics bring you as much hope as they bring me!

Undivided Heart, by Vicky Beeching

Brokenness has brought me to my knees
Face to face with all that's dark in me
I can barely see You through my shame
Jesus come and wash me white again

Flood me with Your healing light
Help me choose what's true and right

Give me an undivided heart
I want to love you with every part
Give me an undivided soul
I want to be Yours alone, Yours alone

At the cross I find Your open arms
Reminding me there's grace for all I've done
With Your blood You wipe away my past
Taking on Yourself my sin and scars

By Your power help me change
Break off every single chain

You make all things new
So take my ashes and make them something beautiful
Do what only You can do
Take my ashes and make them something beautiful

Blessed

This is one of my favorite pictures of us :)

(Shaina, Megan, Kelcy, Jill)

God has blessed me with the most amazing roommates that have become some of my very best friends!  I'm so grateful for their friendship and guidance and encouragement.  They make me want to be a better person, they make me laugh more than any other, and they are truly the greatest friends I could ever ask for!  Each one has blessed my life in so many ways, and continues to do so.  God created magnificent work when He created my best friends. 

To my roomies: I love you so much and I'm so glad to call you friends :)

JOY



Joy and I at Notre Dame, Picture taken by DC Curry for mom's birthday. 



If you know nothing else about me, you should know that I love this girl with all my heart!!  My little sister is my bestest friend, and I'm so grateful for her.  She's absolutely hilarious, and can make me laugh anywhere, anytime.  I call her Joy, because she brings great JOY to my life, and if you don't know her, you should, because she'll bring JOY to your life too!!

Love you, Joy :)

Abundant Giver

One thing I LOVE about scripture is that I can read the same passage over and over again and get something new out of it everytime. I've read the following passage multiple times, and have skipped over another awesome quality of God a number of times...until recently. In Matthew 14, Jesus' disciples came to him, weary, because they didn't have enough food to feed the crowd of 5,000. All they had were 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, but Jesus took the bread and broke it and provided enough food for all the people.

They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfulls of broken pieces that were left over." -Matthew 14:20

Wait! Did you catch that?! Not only did Jesus provide them with enough food to satisfy them, but there were LEFT OVERS! Amazing! God will always provide, and He won't just provide, but He will provide in ABUNDANCE! God is good!!

1 Corinthians 1:25

I LOVE this verse!!!!

For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the WEAKNESS of God is STRONGER than man's strength. 1 Corinthians 1:25

Suffering Happens, But God Knows Best

I just found the coolest poem I've read in a long time...I wanted to share it with you!

Our Father knows what's best for us, so why should we complain?
We always want the sunshine, but he knows there must be rain.
We love the sound of laughter and the merriment of cheer,
But our hearts would lose their tenderness if we never shed a tear.
For growing trees are strengthened when they withstand the storm,
And the sharp cut of the chisel gives the diamond grace and form.
God never hurts us needlessly, and he never wastes our pain,
For every loss he sends to us is followed by rich gain.
And when we count the blessings that God so freely sent,
We'll find no cause for murmuring, and no time to lament.
For our Father loves his children, and to him all things are plain,
So he never sends us pleasure when the soul's deep need is pain.
So whenever we are troubled, and when everything goes wrong,
We know God's working in our hearts, to make our spirit strong.

-Amy Carmichael

Sometimes bad things happen to good people so that God's work would be known in our lives. In times of suffering, we often want to turn away from God or blame Him for our suffering. But God has bigger plans. I speak from experience when I say that, and things have always turned out better on the other side. I'm so grateful for my times of suffering, because God uses that time to make my heart stronger, to yearn for Him even more, and so that His work might be done in my life.

As he went along, he saw a blind man from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." -John 9:1-3

Sweet, Sweet Girl

Jada Marie Curry just might be the cutest little bundle of joy that ever walked the planet! Okay...so she doesn't quite walk yet, but she's still the sweetest! :) I love spending time with her, she's such a happy little girl, beautiful inside and out! Jada is so blessed to have DC and Brooke as parents - they are AMAZING, and I have nothing but wonderful things to say about them! What a beautiful family! I'm SO blessed to call them friends :)

Flashback to Mexico: Eager to Learn

I was just reading Mark 2:2, which says, "So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them." This gave me a flashback of our trip to Mexico in the summer of 2009 with the youth group. On Sunday morning, we went to gather with a crowd of people at a small church in Monterrey. There were literally SO MANY people there, gathered all around the inside (some of us even sitting on the floor), yet there were even more people outside the church, peering in through every window just to hear the good news! Instant chills!

Can you imagine what it would be like, if the next time you went to church, and there were so many people there that you had to sit on the floor, or stand outside and listen in through the windows? What would that be like? What would it take for that many people to gather from all around just to hear the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ?!

"Get Behind Me, Satan!"

Tonight, as I'm reading in the book of Matthew, I'm reminded how awesome God is and how powerful He is!

Jesus said, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man." Matthew 16:23.

I LOVE that!!! Jesus just told it like it is! Next time you're feeling tempted, I encourage you to tell Satan like it is and be reminded that God is ALL-POWERFUL!

Inspiration for the day

Knowing that you are loved makes it so much easier to love others, doesn't it? I think that I sometimes forget that I am loved by the greatest lover OF ALL!

"We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19

"Do everything in love." 1 Corinthians 16:14

I choose to love because He first loved me. I want to love others unconditionally out of His unconditional love for me.

What's your motivation to love?

Hand-Crafted and "Whole-made"

When my sister was little, she thought that everything was "whole-made," not homemade, but "whole-made." Well, she was right about one thing...each and every one of us were whole-made by our Creator. He crafted us with His very own hands, making each and every one of us something so special. When I think about God creating us and making us whole and in His image, I imagine it was pretty similar to the Build-A-Bear process. If you've ever had any kind of relationship with any ten-year-old or younger, you've probably been to Build-A-Bear, and experienced the wonder and awe of every child's excitement as they put together their furry friends! I can't help but think that God was just as excited, probably even more so, as He hand-crafted us together!


If you're not already familiar with how to put together a Build-A-Bear, it goes something like this: choose me, hear me, stuff me, stitch me, fluff me, name me, dress me, take me home.

Choose me: God chose each of us for His Kingdom. He picked you and me.
"As you come to him, the living Stone - rejected by men but chosen by God and
precious to him" 1 Peter 2:4


"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of
darkness into his wonderful light." 1 Peter 2:9

Hear me: God Himself spoke life into us when He created us, in His image so that His Holy Spirit would live inside of us.
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created
him; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27

Stuff me: Here, we were filled with everything we would ever need. When you make a Build-A-Bear, at this stage, you're asked to pick out a heart and kiss it before you put it in your bear. Can you imagine how many times Our Father kissed our hearts as He created them, and all the love He poured out on us?!! God filled us with Himself; He is our bread of life; everything we will ever need.
"Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.'" John 6:35

Stitch me: God stitched each and every one of us together.
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13

Fluff me: God gives us the "spa treatment" and treats us like righteousness, because that is what He created us to be.
"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." Romans 3:22

Name me: He calls us by name.
"But now, this is what the LORD says - he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed
you, O Israel: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you
are mine.'" Isaiah 43:1

Dress me: He clothed us with deliverance, love, and His goodness.
"I delight greatly in the LORD...For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and
arrayed me in a robe of righteousness." Isaiah 61:10

Take me home: He is our everlasting and He will forever be our everything. He will carry us home.
"Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have
made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Isaiah 46:4

So here we are, hand-crafted and whole-made by the Lord of All. God's own masterpiece.

Smile, Jesus loves you!

"Smile, Jesus loves you!" That's what Grandma always says. Ever since I can remember, this short and compelling saying has been a phrase that I've heard my grandma say over and over again. Growing up, my cousins, my sister, and I got to spend a lot of time with Grandma. She used to watch all of us while our parents were at work. My grandma is the most faithful and loving woman I have ever known. She continually pursues her family and cares so much about the people she loves. Boy, are we lucky, getting to share life with Grandma!

Every holiday or family time we share with each other, Grandma and her mannerisms always come into discussion :) "Smile, Jesus loves you" is always at the top of the list! I am so grateful for my grandma and the love that she shares with me. Even if as a child I didn't fully comprehend how much Jesus loves me, at least I heard it every single day, from someone who meant the world to me.

Grandma is one of my biggest role models. A child after God's own heart, and an amazing woman who continues to seek Him in everything she says and does. Her faithfulness is incredible, and her love is never ending. Grandma looks more and more like Jesus everyday, and I only hope to be even a small part of the woman she is today. She gives me something to smile about :)

Smile, Jesus loves YOU!

Give until there's nothing left, and then give some more

So I just spent a week in Mexico where my team and I had the opportunity and privilege of loving on the people of Monterrey the way that Jesus loves on us. We got to be the hands and feet of Jesus and pour our hearts out onto God's children. God showed up big time down in Mexico and changed my heart forever. I've learned so much from this trip and grown even deeper on my journey with Christ. I'd like to share just a part of what I learned from a very special friend I made in Monterrey.

On Thursday, we got to take some kids from a couple different children's homes on a field trip to Kidzania, which is basically an indoor amusement park. Each of us were given a check to be cashed, and then we could either spend the money, work for more money, or both. I got to be paired up with the most adorable kid ever, his name was Joel. He was so excited to go have a fun day with all of his buddies and the rest of the team, as was I! Joel had the most heart-melting smile I'd ever seen, and this child was filled with Jesus, I could see it in his eyes. As we were waiting in line for one of the activities, Joel noticed that one of my twenty dollar bills was ripped from earlier in the day. He immediately started searching through his money, looking for another twenty dollar bill. As soon as he found one in his stack, he picked it out and handed it to me, offereing me his because mine had ripped. In that very moment, God broke my heart for what breaks His. My heart broke for Joel as I thought about his life and realized he had nothing, he had grown up with no money of his own, no family to take care of him. This little boy had nothing, but this beautiful little child of God had everything, and all he wanted to do was keep on giving, just like his Heavenly Father.

Joel has been a huge inspiration to me and I am so grateful for his friendship. Joel has a huge heart and God's love just pours from his big eyes. He has given me strength to move forward and keep doing the next right thing. I know his story isn't over yet, and neither is mine.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9

Worship

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to worship with GCC-Elkhart. Let me just start off by telling you about the amazing crowd at the Elkhart Campus. All of the volunteers and staff work extremely hard to make each and every weekend an experience you won't forget. So much work and time is put into preparing for service each weekend, and let me tell you, the volunteers could not be more thrilled to welcome you there! God is doing amazing things at the Elkhart Campus!

It really was a great privilege to be able to worship with everyone there. Don Reynolds led us in worship, with Gary Jenswold on the base, and Rory Leitch rockin' out on the drums. Such an amazing group of people! My favorite part about the whole weekend was watching the crowd, arms lifted high, eyes looking up to Jesus, spirits moving...it gives me chills every time! God's never-ending love was in that room, no doubt. I'm so glad I got to be a part of such an amazing weekend, it's one I'll never forget!

God, all glory and honor and praise is Yours. May we do whatever it takes to advance Your Kingdom. Let us not forget that it's all for You, my King.

P.S. This post is in orange especially for my very good friend Tia Morgan Brown because she's totally awesome and I love her lots! I'll tell you why she's so awesome in an upcoming post :)

Passion

Tonight in our leader's meeting at GSM, DC was talking about being a passionate ministry, building a relationship not only with the students, but also with their families. We want to be a ministry that says, "Hey, you know what? I can take a couple hours out of my day to pour life into this student and cheer them on at a football game!" We want to spread God's love to show our students how much they truly matter, and ultimately, we want to connect with our students for a lifetime commitment. Why do we care so much? Because God has shown us a love greater than any love we could experience elsewhere. We strive to look more like Jesus every day, so we follow in His footsteps, trying to let His never-ending love shine through us into every heart we can possibly love on. It's all about Jesus, and as Christ Followers, it's our job to make known to the world His love and mercy, and to let the world know that they are completely saved by the Grace of God. And yes, His Grace is enough. It's more than enough.
In our tough economy today, sometimes it is hard to reach people in need because we don't have available resources or transportation. It absolutely amazed me when DC mentioned that money issues are not stopping our ministry from reaching people across the world, and even in our own back yard. I seriously get chills when I hear this, because if this doesn't spell out passion, then I don't know what does! Of all movies, I was watching Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and a quote from the movie really stuck with me. One of the characters said, "Our world is broken into a bunch of puzzle pieces, and it's our job to find the pieces and put them back together." Another character replied, "Maybe we are the pieces." Maybe we are the pieces. I believe with all my heart that we are the pieces and that each one of us is made in the image of God, and that when we are all put together, God's beautiful and glorious face is the image of our world, the world that He created for us. We matter, other people matter, and we're not about to let anything stop us from making known His truth, because we worship a very BIG God, and with Him, all things are possible. I choose to make His love known, because I want my heart to beat in sync with His.