Passion Video Blog 2

Here's part 2 of my update about Passion!

Passion Video Blog 1

Check out my video blog update about Passion. I learned so much and had so much to say that I had to cut it into two parts. This is part one :)

Passion 2011: Jesus

I went to Passion 2011. Jesus. He. Blew. My. Mind.

Today was my first day back to normal life. And my mind is still blown. I know that everyone probably has a slight skepticism about all my talk about Passion, that I'm just on a high from a conference or that I'm being showy. But I swear to you that for the first time in my life I get it. I get that the only thing that matters in life in Jesus and carrying His name. Nothing else matters. Like...nothing. And I get that it's not about me searching for Joy and then finding it in Jesus Christ. It's definitely unspeakable joy, but that's not what it's about. It's about Jesus. It's about God and how freakin amazing He is. Period.

I feel overwhelmed. Like I have all these thoughts, ideas, feelings, that my mind is still spinning. There are so many things I have on a to do list in my head right now about what I need to do, make, start, say, people I need to talk to, friends I need to share Christ with, etc. I don't even know where to begin. I've been at a loss recently about my "famous" (haha) video blogs. I started them when I was going to be doing the Disney College Program in order to chronicle my experiences. But now that it has ended I didn't know what to blog about anymore. Before the theme was Disney. I think now the blog should just be about Jesus. Period. I'm not exactly sure what that will look like but the wheels in my head are spinning. I enjoy making the blogs, though they are usually ridiculous, but I wonder what amount of good I could do if they were all about praising God. Maybe just about things I discover in my walk with God that I feel I need to share with the world (or at least the handful of people who may happen to find them on youtube).

I have all these ideas and I have a tendency to get over-excited when I get hair-brained schemes like this one and all the others that have come to me in the past few days, but God brought something to my mind the other night. I wrote this in my journal, "Don't give me an idea that becomes so "good" that it dethrones you" In other words I don't want my foundation/motivation to just be a great idea to occupy my time, I want the foundation to be Jesus and have all my ideas spring from that FOR HIM. I don't want to lose sight of the point and forget to renew my mind so that I can keep my heart, mind, and soul in the right place because I could definitely see that happening. So please pray for me in that. If I don't make a conscious effort to keep my mind in the right place then my heart will be turned and my actions will not be God centered. I've got to keep my thoughts under control and replace my natural thoughts that take me down harmful paths with Holy thoughts that come from God's word. And I can't just stop there. I have to keep the air ways of communication open between me and God. This has always been something I struggle with. Forgetting to pray. So pray that I will be able to "pray without ceasing".

I am just blown away knowing (and being the only one who really truly knows) how incredibly low I was going into Passion and just for the longest time and in contrast now knowing the incredible way I've been feeling ever since January 1, 2011, 1-1-11 really was the "night of new beginnings" I keep seeing God do amazing things in me and around me and I know it could not be on my own strength, it is so totally Jesus inside of me transforming my heart. It's just like, The. Best. Feeling. Ever. Ahh I could keep talking but I think you get the point. If you get a chance check out a song called "Beautiful Things" by a band called Gungor. It's stuck in my head. It says, "you make beautiful things out of the dirt." What a beautiful thought. And it's true. I feel like that one thought inspires like about a million ideas for art projects and collages...so expect a new video blog and a new collage on the way soon. :)

Jesus. Because nothing else matters.

Things

Things and people to be thankful for from 2010:

• Amber Fu
• Megan Anderson
• Sara Bryant
• Alec Frey
• Mike Cook
• J.A.M.A.L.
• Autopians such as Lauren, Alyssa, Rachel, Nykole, Gabe, Ryan, Martha, Randy, Jerome, Handy Manny, etc.
• Sovereign Grace Church for being so great to me in California
• Pomegranate Pick Me Up at Jamba Juice in CA.
• Dudley Baptist Church
• Cassi Bush
• The entire West Family!
• DBC Kids!...Every last one of them!!!
• Getting to be a PK (Pastor’s Kid) again!
• Jeannie Haag
• Encouraging songs such as Haven’t Met You Yet – Michael Buble, Count on Me by Bruno Mars, and Meant to Be by Steven Curtis Chapman.
• Gaining a nephew-Hudson!
• Gaining a sister in law-Mallory!
• Great Family and my dad is healthy!
• My dog-Molly!!!!
• Blackbird Coffee
• Comforts of HOME
• I’m home for Christmas!! Last year almost killed me being away!!
• Special friends such as Danielle Kidwell, David Bass-Clark, Amanda Lewan, Misako Harada, Carter Lewellyn, Blaine Ellis, Macey Reynolds, Lexi Selleck, Kristina Donohue, Brittany Findley, Kirsten Quatela Kristin Wood, etc. (I’ll try to keep in touch better next year…I do think of you often even if it doesn’t seem like it sometimes)
• This year is finally ending…haha…I’m ready for a fresh start.

Things to look forward to in 2011:

• New beginnings.
• Passion ‘11
• The lessons I’m bound to learn
• The plans God will reveal
• Quality time with Mom and Dad
• Being settled into a great church
• Possibly going on a mission trip to Uganda
• Possibly going to kids camp with the DBC kids
• Possibly getting a teaching job or at least subbing

Things I’d like to do at some point:

• Live in Mars Hill, North Carolina again one day.
• Be a Disney Cast Member again one day
• Get married!
• Have at least one boy and one girl
• Own a sheepdog
• Go to Egypt
• Regularly go dancing
• Go to CHINA to visit Amber Fu!!
• Learn to cook
• Finally master the art of maintaining a consistent spiritual life
• Learn how to control my emotions
• Go on another mission trip to NYC!
• Regularly go horseback riding
• Regularly go roller skating
• Regularly go rock climbing
• Watch every movie featured at the end of The Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

And there are many more…but my computer is dying. I may add more later ☺

The end of 2010.

The following blog post is full of honesty. I have no secrets. Maybe I should, but I’m not very good at keeping them for long, so why bother.

In some ways it seems like this year flew right by and in others ways it seemed like it would never come to an end.

This year has been full of ups and downs for me. Perhaps it could be labeled the most emotional year of my life thus far. My apologies to anyone caught in the crossfire. Somehow or another this year seems to have slipped by me without my consent. Though, I guess they all do that.

I haven’t written in here much. I have to confess it’s mostly because I haven’t been living up to my title of “eternal optimist” I’ve been more of an “eternal pessimist” this year. Which also explains why I’ve been somewhat distant with pretty much all of my friends in the past few months. My apologies for that, as well. I know it’s selfish. Though I may not have been in tip-top shape, perhaps my friends needed me, and yet I stayed distant worried about my own problems. Next year I want to be a more of a whole and stable person so that I will be able to be a better friend to others.

Honestly I sometimes feel so overwhelmed by all the “catching” up I feel I should be doing with all my friends who live in a wide variety of places. I guess it’s a good problem to have. I have so many friends that I find it hard to manage them all! ☺ I consider nearly 10 different girls “best friends” with special significance in my life. Definitely future bridesmaids material! That’s definitely a blessing.

To be honest, a lot of my bad attitude lately comes from my insecurities about my situation in life right now. I just feel kind of out of place. I don’t have a real concrete path that I’m following. Twenty-three is an odd age. I’m not a college student anymore, but I don’t really consider myself a full-fledged adult either. As much as I have great friends around the world, I don’t have many in my current situation. I want buddies to go do stuff with. I’m still somewhat new here and I’m not really plugged in yet with people my age. I live at home with my parents, which is fun, and I feel like it’s the place for me right now and I’m very thankful for it. But I tend to feel somewhat embarrassed by my over-all situation. I really hate the question, “what do you do?” Because I don’t really know how to answer it right now.

Frustrating Things I’ve Learned or Realized This Year:

• I’m SO not in control of …well…anything.
• Life is hard and confusing when you grow up.
• Things definitely don’t EVER turn how I plan; yet somehow I still keep on trying to plan.
• As much of a people person as I am, when I have issues, I usually keep to myself. . I feel it’s best to keep myself hidden away when I’m not at my best. Which is silly since that is when I should call on my friends for encouragement I suppose.
• I seem to be completely unable to control my emotions. When I’m sad it shows, when I’m happy it shows. It’s a curse. Seems that most other people are able to hide when they need to, not me.
• I have trouble with communication when it comes to important serious conversations. I tend to avoid them…because I can’t help but wear my heart on my sleeve and I don’t want to cry.
• I’ve become an expert at beating myself up. I’m trying fix this I think this is somehow related to my newfound pessimism.

Things I need to pray for:

• PATIENCE! I have like…zero.
• The ability to find joy in seemingly negative situations.
• Giving up control.
• Direction. I really have no idea where I’m headed.
• That God would grant me the desire of my heart. (I tend to worry about it instead of praying about it)
• That I would recognize God’s love for me even when I fail instead of beating myself up.

I know I just need to trust God and be patient. Everything in my life right now is happening for a reason and I know God has SOMETHING brewing for me. I just have no idea what it is. But I definitely felt the need to COME HOME after the Disney College Program. I just got caught up in “having fun” in California (and also in Florida) that I got off the right path. Any negative feelings towards that time in my life have nothing to do with anyone besides myself. I just needed to regroup and I needed to be in a good environment right now. I’m glad I can live with my parents and go to Dudley Baptist Church while I wait for God to show me what I’m meant to be doing or where I’m meant to go. My most favorite thing about my life right now is my church.

I’ve felt strongly about possibly becoming an elementary school teacher in the past few months after working a lot with the great kids at church. In the New Year I will start off by exploring my options in that area.

Today I was thinking about the great experience I had at the Passion ’06 Christian conference 5 years ago right before I went away to college. I checked into signing up for Passion ’11 and come to find out my church already has a group going! So I signed up! I’m excited!! What a great way to start out the New Year!

Global Perspective.

I received news today that one of the young girls, Williette Henries, that I met in Liberia in 2008 passed away due to illness on Wednesday. So sad. Definitely puts things into perspective...


Williette and me.

This song shuffled on my ipod today:

Do They Know It's Christmas Time -

"There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dreaded fear.
Where the only water flowing is a bitter sting of tears
And there won't be snow in Africa this christmas time
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
Where nothing ever grows
No rain or rivers flow
Do they know it's christmas time at all?"


I went back and looked through my photos from my mission trip to Africa. I found a video of her. So depressing. People go on mission trips, encourage the people for a few short days, and then in most cases never see them again or have really even much opportunity to keep in touch or help them from so far away! It's so easy to slip back into our daily American lives and forget what we saw and experienced in other countries. I'm not sure how to combat this. How can you keep a constant global perspective and prevent yourself from becoming self-centered on your own life and country?

The more I live my life and go on my adventures the more contact I make with people from other countries. I love that. I hope that it is helping me have a wider world view. In the past year I've kinda fallen in love with the chinese. Literally ha. :P I lived with Amber Fu from January until August. I've also had the pleasure of hanging out with a few other chinese people that I met from the Disney College Program. Most of them are back in China now. I still get to skype with Amber. I love her so much. I refuse to lose touch with her. Beyond that my best friend Megan Anderson is living in South Korea teaching English. I like having friends in/from other countries. I'm enjoying learning all about chinese culture from Junchen.


Amber Fu!!


Megan Anderson


Skyping with Junchen

Disney Parks -- Disney Vacation Memories

The newest Disney Parks campaign is such a great idea. Watch this video. It made me cry :P