A Christmas Ornament

It's hard to believe today was my last time working in Discovery Land.

Almost thirteen years spent learning, teaching, and growing all coming to an end.

I never told the class I teach I was leaving, which made it all the more hard to tell them I wasn't coming back.

With Christmas just four days away, this Sunday was spent celebrating the birth of our Savior. We traveled to three different stations each focusing on the true meaning of Christmas.

One of the stations was to make a wordless book ornament. Pipe cleaners, pony beads and a tag with the references which correlate to the meaning of the wordless book.

Once back in the classroom, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and enjoy birthday cake. While the kids ate their cake we talked through each of the stations we had visited today. While talking about the wordless book, I had each of the kids close their eyes and think of someone they know who doesn't know Jesus. The person at school? Family member? Basketball team mate? Dance friend? Cashier at a store? I challenged each of them to share their ornament with the person who came to their mind and share the wordless book with them.

Right before the parents came, I announced today was my last class teaching them. The "What?!" "Are you serious?" "Noooooooo" all began as expected. But rest assured they told me that I can still tell people about Jesus while I'm at school.

At the end of class I meet the parents and make sure their child gets connected with their parent. While one kid was leaving, he handed me his ornament and said, "The people at your school need Jesus."

Talk about a way to be sent off for the next semester.

So although I don't know the last time I will see my students again, I can rest in the fact they've entrusted me to tell people about Jesus.

And I accept the challenge.



Merry Christmas,

Carrie

Thoughts on thoughts

I can remember for the longest time thinking that as long as I did good, that I didn't sin. I remember one night lying in bed telling God that I had not sinned that day because I did good and I didn't say anything that was bad or mean to anyone that day.

I can't even begin to tell you how long I believed that as long as I didn't say or do anything "bad," God and I were on good terms. And I bet you can imagine the surprise when I found out that God knows our thoughts and that our thoughts can cause sin in our lives.

A few years back I began running and through the running program we have at our church (Run For God). One of the biggest things the leader of the group, Aimee, challenged us to do was to memorize scripture.

I don't know about you but that is one of the hardest things for me to do. I was always the last kid in Awana to finish her book and would struggle to memorize my verses each week. So, to say the least, it was a challenge I didn't think I would be up for, and of course, God had other plans.

I'll never forget one of the verses we memorized that season, Philippians 4:8, which brought me full circle with understanding that my thoughts are susceptible to sin as my actions were.

"Whatever is true, whatever is right, whatever is nobel, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things."

It's the verse I constantly have to meditate on.

Are my thoughts true?
Are they right?
Are they nobel?
Are they pure?
Are they lovely?
Are they admirable?
Are they excellent or praiseworthy?

If my thoughts are not in line with what the scripture says, I pray this verse over and over and over again.

Our thoughts have the ability to cause us to sin, but are we going to allow the enemy to destroy us with our thoughts or allow the Almighty God to help us.

The Purpose of Dating (it's not marriage)

I've been putting off writing this article because quite honestly, I never wanted to believe it was true. I never wanted to believe that there actually could be another goal of a dating relationship or courtship rather than marriage.

After recently calling off a relationship with the man I truly believed that God wanted me to marry, I had to think deeper about what the purpose of this relationship had been.

I've been taught that the ultimate goal in a relationship is marriage. Don't misunderstand me I believe it is completely true, but I think we need to look a little deeper than that. Not all God centered relationships end in marriage. So that's where the question begins to be raised,

what's the purpose?

I'm convinced that beyond marriage as being the purpose of dating, it's learning how to love someone the same way that Christ loves us. In this previous relationship, it was not always easy to love him, it was not always easy to serve him, it was not always easy to submit to him. But, I learned how to love someone no matter how difficult it was at times.

Please understand me, I'm not saying that because I believe learning to love is one of the purposes of dating does not mean that dating becomes a way for you to learn how to love someone. Before we even started dating, we had the vision of marriage. Even though God decided it was not his plan for us to be together, I truly believe that I learned how to love and care for someone unconditionally.

So even if God decides to close a door on a relationship, it does not mean that you are a failure, or that your relationship is a failure (it's a lie from the enemy, don't believe it), but thinks about how your learned to love, cherish and serve another brother in Christ.


Sister in Christ,

Carrie

How Pageants Changed My Life

"Wait, so were you like one of those Toddlers and Tiaras type of girls?"
"What was your talent?"
"Did you win any titles?"
"How much money did you spend on that?"
"You have how many dress?!"

I've heard them all and every single one leaves me questioning why I even bother to bring up to topic sometimes. But honestly, I wouldn't be there person that I am today without competing in pageants.

To be completely honest, I would have asked the same questions too five years ago before I started competing. Until I got the letter in the mail one day asking if I would want to compete.

I've always been the quiet one in the family. Always. I never liked to be the center of attention, would get good grades in school and try to stay under the radar as much as possible. So for my family, the thought that I was the one who was asked to compete in the pageant seemed completely wrong.

But my parents thought it would be a way to get me out of my shell, to push me outside my comfort zone. So, we signed up. Six months later I competed and it was after the first one that I competed in that I caught the bug. It's the pageant bug, the feeling of needing to compete and be on the stage. I researched, practiced walking, talking, interview questions, looked mindlessly for the "perfect gown."   The next one came, then the next one, and the one after that. I loved it. I loved being on stage, I loved talking in front of people, I loved meeting different girls who had the same goals as I did. I would not want to trade the three years of my life that I devoted to pageants.

I'm confident in myself,
I'm not afraid to voice my opinion,
to stand up for what I believe in,
the relationship between my mom and I grew immensely,
I'm passionate about giving back to my community,
I know how to think on my feet,
I know what it takes to work hard for what you want,
and above everything else,
I was continued to be shaped into the person that God has designed me to be.

Now to answer the questions above, no it's nothing like Toddlers and Tiaras, I did not have a talent, yes I won titles with various organizations, yes its expensive, and I probably own more dresses than I really need, but I wouldn't change any of the experiences for anything.

Sister in Christ,
Carrie

namiss.com
missroyaltyinternational.com
macpageants.com

The ONE WORD Project

I'm extremely excited to announce the beginning of a new project title: The ONE WORD Project.



The project will consist of series of videos with stories of how God has been at work in a person's life and it's summarized in one word.



One of the reason's why God has placed this on my heart is because I know how scared some people get to share their story, but the best part is, it's not our story. It's God's story of a life changed through the blood of Jesus Christ.



Will you have the courage to share God's story in your life?



If so, share your word and your story today.









To get involved with this project, comment below.









Carrie

Depending and Waiting on God

It's hard. Extremely, extremely hard to depend and wait on God. I didn't think it was going to be this difficult. 

The lesson I taught today was on Abram and Sarai, how they didn't depend on God and weren't patient with the plans the He had for them (Gen 16). They took matters into their own hands and decided not to wait on Gods timing. Sarai's idea for Abram to take Hagar as his wife and conceive a child with her made sense in order to fulfill Gods promise (Gen 15).  But it's not what God's plan was. Abram and Hagar's son, Ishmael, would not recieve the special blessing that God promised Abram's decendents. A consequence for Abram not trusting in God's sovereign plan. 

That's where I'm at. I'm looking back on these last few months and realizing that I wasn't waiting on Gods plan for my life, I did things my way and now I'm suffering the consequences of it. And let me tell you, it's not easy. 

But the good thing is, that's not the end of the story, for Abram or me. 

We see in Gen 17 and then in 18 also that God promises to give a child to Abraham and Sarah (yes God did change their names) a son. They were disobedient, deceitful, and they were old in age, but God still blessed them. Despite all the wrong they had done, God still used them. 

Same thing for me. 

I've disobeyed God, I've been inpatient, I've lied, been deceitful, but God still wants to use me. Why? I don't know if I'll even understand. But I'm trusting that God's ways and higher, bigger and better than anything I could imagine. 

Psalm 46:10- Cease striving, and know that I am God. 

Sister in Christ, 

Carrie 

When life seems a little cracked

It's only Thursday and I feel like the days keep being longer and longer with more things pilling up. To say the least, this week has been so incredibly challenging. Actually, this entire month and a half has been probably the most difficult time of my life thus far. I didn't really think that it would be so difficult staying home from college with my family where everything seemed so comfortable. Comfort is by far what I got. It's been a challenge, a struggle, a low period. Days where I cannot wait until I am able to put on sweatpants and crawl up under my Frozen blanket and just fall asleep. Days when I just want to forget the world and days where I just want to buy a plane ticket and leave the country. 

But more than anything, this transition period has taught me more than I could have ever imagined.

It's all perspective. 

I can look at the fact that I have to sacrifice my weekends at camp for teaching Sunday school as an awful decision or I can be grateful for the 25 kids in my class each week that are able to hear the gospel and grow more in their faith. 

I can look at the fact I have to give up my Thursday morning bible study with women that I can learn from and look up to for the precious nine month old I get to nanny as a dissatisfaction or I can be thankful for the four weeks that I got to spend with these women. 

I can look at my entire front screen of my iPhone cracking while walking out of Pet Supplies Plus after a long night of Awana as an awful situation or I can see how God has been taking my love for material things and shaping it into a virtue of not being materialistic. 

No matter what is it (and oh yes there's more) I know that I have the choice to look at my situation as a way for God's glory to be revealed and to trust that He will use it for me good. 

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." Philippians 4:11

In Christ,

Carrie

A camp classic

This past summer I worked at the bible camp that I have been going to since I was seven years old. One of my absolutely favorite things about camp is the food. My favorite dessert at camp is called Revel Bars. 

I  remember one time my friends and I decided to go the whole week without eating dessert. Of course that was the week that we were having revel bars as one of the desserts. I was dying on the inside because I knew that I couldn't have my favorite dessert. It ended up being so bad that one of my friends had saved one and I took it from her and ate it, therefore disqualifying myself from the competition. Needless to say, my love for them has not changed. 

So today, I decided to make them at home for the very first time. 

Here's the recipe: 

Base and Crumbs: 

1 cup butter (I soften the butter before)

2 cups brown sugar (I always add a tad more, just for sweetness)

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of salt

3 cups of quick oats 

Mix the butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla together. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Spread 2/3 of the mixture in a greased pan (11 x 17) with edges. Pat flat. *I made mine in a 9 x 11 pan to have thicker bars 

Filling: 

1 (12-oz) package of chocolate chips (for this batch I didn't have a full 12 oz bag so I added in some mini semi sweet chocolate chips also)

2 tablespoons butter

1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk

2 teaspoons of vanilla 

Melt the butter, chocolate chips, milk and vanilla into a pan. Melt all the ingredients together. Spread over the crust. Sprinkle small chunks of the remaining 1/3 crust over the top of the filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes (I did 22 minutes) or until golden brown. Cut when cooled and enjoy! 

In Christ, 

Carrie

The cost of victory

Honestly, if you would have asked me about a year ago that I would run a half marathon in a year, I'd think you are completely out of your mind and crazy. But, it's happening. With God's strength and my legs I will be running a half marathon in May.

My mom and I have been running for a little over a year with the Run For God program through my church. My mom and I ran a 5K last May, a 10 K in October and now she signed us up for a Half.

Training began and running was the last thing I wanted to do. The weeks passed and the miles kept getting longer and I kept pushing through. Last week was the run I was dreading for so long, the seven mile. The longest I have ever run. It came with ease, so much ease that I ended that morning having complete eight miles and felt amazing after.

Having felt like a million bucks for running an extra mile than on my training plan, the pride came too. I wanted everyone to know about how long I ran. I wanted people to commend me for the run and the ability I was able to do. And that was just the beginning...

Tuesday's are the long run days and when the day came to lace up my shoes I was ready...for nine miles. I wanted to show everyone - my mom especially - that I was able to run far distances. The run felt great and I PRed my time. But soon the runners high would fade and the pain would come.

My feat ached, my muscles were sore, my head pounded and I felt sick to my stomach.

I suffered because of my pride.

It's funny. I have the exact plan for my training, yet I thought I was better than the plan and decided to do things my own way.

It's like the bible. We have an exact plan on what God calls us to do and that it is the best plan for a good life. Yet, we choose our own way. We decide we can live life on our own and reject the plan. But how far is that from what God intended.

Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. - John 14:21 

A Video Craze

Earlier this week I had a friend show me this video that she loved so much and she could not wait to show me. The video was a group of girls in track and some of them were falling over hurdles. I thought it was one of the funniest videos I have seen in a long time. After my friend showed me, I was driving a friend to work and I had her watch it in the car too because it was just so funny that I wanted it to brighten her day too.

It got me thinking, I wonder (and I'm guilty of it too) how excited we can be about a video, yet we are in fear over proclaiming the Gospel.

It's just a video that means nothing in eternity. But the Good News of Jesus is better than any other story or video this world can bring. It's the ultimate story about how a King leaves his palace to save the ones He loves.

It's just a thought on what our lives would look like if we lived in the reality that the Gospel is better than any video in the world and that it has the ability to save.

Our Jerusalem

I remember over two years ago at camp, my LDC leader talked about how at the high school he taught at their bible study made valentines for everyone in their school. A school of over 2000 students all received homemade valentines with bible verses on them.It took over two months of preparation and a team of over thirty people. I was amazed. Here was a group of high school students who wanted to share the love of Christ within their own schools. 

Years later I sat in a coffee shop with the two other leaders of my schools bible and we read through all the comment cards from our members about what they wanted to change about the bible study, it was rough. There was a lot of things people wanted to change, which for us was disheartening. We were lost, confused, and we lacked a clear direction from God. At just the perfect time on of the guys I was with say one of his friends who was an old youth pastor in the Midwest. We told him our situation and he gave us advice on unifying our group and have them strive towards one goal. While he was talking the idea sparked in my head which hadn't been ignited since camp years ago, the valentines. After the man left our booth, I asked the guys what they thought of the idea, they loved it. We were all passionate about the idea and knew nothing would stand in our way, or so we thought. 

A few days later, we proposed the idea to our principle, he was on board. When asked about what was going to be on the cards, we didn't entirely say we were doing bible verses. We figured it wouldn't be a big deal and if we got in trouble, well it was for the sake of the Gospel which made it okay. With everything seeming to be set, we told everyone else in the bible study the news and they were all on board for helping us in every way possible. We had a lot to do in a week, over 1600 valentines had to be made. Everything was going great, we were half way done with everything when one of the guys in leadership went to show our principle one of the finished cards, he said we couldn't have bible verses on them...separation of church and state. We had five days left until Valentine's day and out of ideas on how to save this project. We had to rip off all of the bible verses and come up with a new plan. We decided to do a label with the saying "you are loved the same yesterday, today and forever" to express God's unending love for us (Romans 8:38-39) without actually saying it. The labels were donated by my church and they were all placed on the valentines over the ripped of pieces of leftover paper from the verses. We finished them, in two weeks. Truly a miracle, in all honesty. 

Thursday night we went a hung them all up, anxiety burned inside of me for the uncertainty of how many cards we actually had. We had leftovers. We stood in awe of our God. Leftovers?  God you are amazing. It was only through Him that any of this was even possible, and it was all to see His glory be magnified within our Jerusalem.

And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. -Acts 1:8

On Valentines day morning the bible study celebrated with pancakes and prayer for the school.

 

The Little Things

It's when we appreciate God in the little things, that we see Him at work in the big.

A few weeks ago our children's programming was talking about how Jesus's first miracle was turning water into wine. Basically the one that all kids know. Of course the kids we're completely astonished as they may have been the first time they heard the greatness of our God, but what really got them excited were the stories of the modern day miracles. One like how God was able to heal a pastor who had over 900 pounds of equipment land on his neck, or how a hungry orphan asks for steak after hearing the orphanage was out of food and then amazingly received some of the best steak. That's the God we serve!

After that Sunday morning service I was awaken by the greatness of our God.

It's trust in Him that allows these incredible things to happen. If I trust and know for certain that my God is able to turn water into wine, make the blind see, calm storms, and raise people from the dead. Then shouldn't I trust that he is able to that he can bring me through a hard test or a night of babysitting with tyrant children? We don't sometimes.

I challenge you to look through the gospels and see the miracles Jesus was able to perform and think about the little things in your life where you don't believe God could be at work. Have the reading change your perspective on how indescribable and big our God is.

Do You Trust Me?

Four simple words,
Do You Trust ME? 
Four simple words,
But some of the four hardest words to actually believe.

Life isn't always easy, and for the past few weeks it's definitely been nothing but easy. But the words, Do you trust me? keeps flowing through my head.

This Sunday during our kids programming, we talked about when Jesus calls the first four of the disciples.

For me this story is just mind boggling. Here are four professional fishermen who clean their nets after a day of not catching anything and find Jesus preaching on the seashore. Jesus gets into Simon-Peter's boat and tells him to take the boat out a little from the shore. Jesus then tells Simon-Peter to move the boat the deeper water (also mind boggling because the prime fishing spot was near the shore) and let your nets down. I love Simon's answer though, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets"  (Luke 5:5 NIV). First came his doubt, but then he trusted. Then because of his faith, he catches literally a boat ton of fish. After seeing this Jesus says,

"Don't be afraid; from now on you will fish for people" (Luke 5:10). 

And they followed.

Just like that. Simon-Peter, Andrew, James and John, the first four disciples drop everything to follow Jesus. They lose the security of a paying job, the comfort of a place to stay each night, the love of their families all behind.

So why is it so often we don't want to give it all over to God? What aren't we trusting God with?

Do we trust the Creator of the world, the perfect Son of God, and the one who is sovereign over all enough to leave everything behind and follow Him?