|
| Wow it's been awhile for xanga.... Life... is great. I could not ask for a better senior year! I LOVE my class, I love my youth group, I love cheer, and I love my God! A lot has changed in way of the future for me... well, it hasn't changed in the fact that I'm still not exactly sure where I'm going to college... but it has changed in the fact that I'm ok with that for now. I may not know exactly what I want to do... but I know that as long as God is #1 in my life, I'll still be in the center of His will. School.... was crazy the last couple weeks. Didn't get much sleep, but it was ok because I was actually enjoying most of it! (Enjoying school? Who does that?! lol) Working at Regal... is great. I like having a job, and I like the people I work with. Plus, it keeps me from getting super bored on breaks. lol Speaking of break... it's been awesome so far! (All 2 days of it...) We had the 5th Quarter at my church... which is basically a glorified hang out time for whoever wants to come... and it was great fun! Some Regal friends even showed up! (The ones who don't go to my church... lol there's 6 of us now.) J-term... will be great! In the morning I get to hang out at my church and do music stuff with Mrs. Stock and Mr. Mohler... and in the afternoon I get to sing for 3 hours! It will be very relaxed... and then there's the last crazy semester of my high school career! And then... who knows! Love you all! Hope you have a great break and a Merry Christmas! | | |
| Now's about that time when you start missing summer really bad... Or maybe I've finally had a moment to breath and allow myself to think about it... Either way, I'm missing Croatia and Czech right now. So here are some (more) pictures... probably more for me to remember than for you to know... but maybe you'll enjoy them anyways! 
Team-building in Atlanta.... hahaha. Ice cream social with disabilities... Jessica and Julie had no arms...
the staff's elite pyramid... haha
me, hailey, and grace at a restaurant in Prague.
The Noveechian girls. (Just don't try to pronounce that... it won't work.)
Natali, Me, and Misa. And yes, we had cheer camp on a track. (My kaepas are still pink too.)
proof: I did in fact stunt in downtown Prague! (barefoot and in jeans)
That's all.... there may be a few cheerleader-ish terms in there that some of you may not understand... but I figure if you care, you'll ask
Ahh... feels good to remember... I don't think I ever really got to sit down with anyone and just tell them everything I wanted to tell them about this trip! But all the same, sometimes it's cool that just me and God know about those things! He's pretty cool, ya know... And as long as I can keep talking about Him, it'll be ok that I never got to share all those funny stories! Love you, bye. <= that's for you,Yockey
Valerie | | |
| Mm... God is good. That's a phrase I always used to employ when I was overwhelmed, but still making it... Now I really mean it. I mean that His goodness is far more overwhelming than everything going on and that it calls me to action. That in the midst of a time when I would typically feel spiritually suffocated, I feel more alive in the Spirit than ever! As my dad pointed out to me the other day, now that I'm truly a Spirit-filled believer, everything I do is spiritual! And that finally makes sense. Not just in my head, in my heart. And that's the difference in my faith these days... I don't just know stuff, and it doesn't just make sense in my head... I feel it deep down. I'm not saying the Christian life is all about emotion and we can forget logic. That'd be absurd, quite honestly--none of us would be able to defend our faith. I absolutely love God's Word and wish I could just study it instead of all the other school stuff... (That's part of why God called me to ministry.) But the Christian life devoid of feeling is the absence of the very heart of God! This emotion isn't fake... if you've felt it, you know it derives from the Spirit of God. It's a deep passion and longing for Christ and Christ alone. And that passion brings understanding. This is the great mystery: Christ in you, the hope of glory! Think about that incomparably great power for us who believe! That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead! (And no, I didn't make that up... see Eph. 1-- which just happened to be my favorite chapter of Scripture even before we decided to read an entire book about it in youth group.) Anyways... I digress. Or at least I'd better before I forget about all the other things that demand attention right now! Can't wait to go to college... no, it won't be any easier or any less busy... But it will be more of what I'm called to do with the rest of my life. Right now I'm called to be a good student, so that's what I'll (try to) be. It's just cool that I'm always called to be like Jesus... because I like that calling a whole lot more than the student one! (Still) Learning to Love Like Him,
Valerie | | |
| Life.... where to start?? Well obviously, time is flying--I can't believe it's been a week since I've contemplated updating this thing.... (Not that time is measured in the number of days between xanga entries.... lol) A significant chunk of my senior year is over, and we're already ordering caps and gowns, correcting names for diplomas, talking about senior trip, not to mention thinking about colleges. It's kind of sad.... I feel like our attention is constantly being directed toward the future and there's no time for now... But whether or not everyone realizes it, there is a now.... and it's a very important now. It's a now that cries out on behalf of our God. It calls us to radical, unashamed, uncivilized faith. It calls the church to see the urgency of the gospel we claim to understand and to do something about it.... in fact, it calls us to do everything within our power about it. And last I checked, every true follower of Christ had the same power within them that raised our Savior from the dead!!! I'd say we don't really have an excuse any more..... And yet... we fail. Sin. It blinds, frustrates, misdirects, raises up walls, and tears us down inside. Worst of all, it hurts our God and sometimes, we don't even realize it! And in the moments when we're blinded by it, we forget the urgency of the matter, and lose sight of the prize. And when God finally draws us back in.... we ask why. Why do we have to sin? Why does He allow us to do something that hurts his heart when He holds us in the palm of His hand?? And for a second, I'm truly humble. No, not at this moment.... but in that one moment when the immensity of my sins overwhelms me. "His ways are higher than my ways; His thoughts are higher than my thoughts." Amen. That's all I have to say! Resting in Truth,
Valerie | | |
| God encouraged me in so many ways today.... mostly through other people. It has challenged me to never miss an opportunity to be used of God in shining His love! I firmly believe that He uses nonbelievers as well as His children to build us up... but there is no comparison to Christ-like love! I'm reminded of a song... If we are the body, why aren't his arms reaching? I honestly don't know the rest of the song or else I'd write some more.... but the main idea is that we are the body of Christ because of love. Why doesn't that love flow out of us, at least to those with whom we share everything in common? (And I truly believe that if we are the passionate pursuers of Christ that we were designed to be, that we share everything in common, because Jesus is our everything.... maybe that's cliche or Sunday school-sounding, but I've found it to be so true. Ask Holly Grady about that one...) Notice that the apostle Paul only told people to love the body of Christ when he was really ticked off at them.... We have an even higher calling: we're called to love the people who by nature won't love us back. But we can't even love those whose life calling is to be like the One who loves unconditionally! And then you ask, 'what is love?' Well..... Josh McDowell has me all confused on that one, but I'm pretty sure that it's not what the church is doing right now.... I mean, sure: we have moments of spontaneous affection and care for our brothers and sisters.... maybe even a day. But what happened to the love that simply overflows from a heart that is full of the love of our Savior?! The early church fascinates me!!! I just love reading about the ways Christ's love abounded from their every word and action! They could not contain it! I think the amount of love in the church is an accurate reflection of the preeminence of Christ in our lives. If we knew our God and meditated on Him often, it would just come out. And for some people... it does. But that's a really small body.... My conclusion: know God. Meditate on His love. Then be sensitive... to others, but especially to the Spirit. Don't forget that the same power that raised our Savior from the dead dwells within us who have faith! He will change you. He will be found by you. Let's keep chasing after Him! Learning to love,
Valerie | | |
|
