What I'm thankful for...

I know I'm a day late on my thankful post, but who says you can't be thankful everyday of the year? :)
About 2 weeks ago at school, we were asked to write down what we were thankful for in these paws (we are the tigers, get it?) and they would tape it up on this big wall in our cafeteria. As I was looking around to see that everyone else was writing, I noticed people saying: Jesus, God, family, friends, jobs, CU, etc. Even though I am very thankful for all of those things, I felt it in my heart to write down "Grace." I might've gotten a few looks from people when I wrote that down and taped it on the wall, but it really got me thinking. If I had to describe this past year in one word it would be: grace. I've had a serious relationship with Christ for almost 2 years now, and I had heard the word grace being used by all my mentors, pastors, friends, etc., but I never really knew what it meant. Why was everyone talking about it? What was the big deal? And it wasn't until I decided to ask God what grace was, that I figured out why it was such a big deal. Now you might be thinking that I'm weird for not knowing what it was but hey, I have no shame in asking God to explain stuff to me lol. He wants to hear from us anyway.

When I asked God to show me what grace was, it was like I couldn't avoid the term. Any sermon, any verse, a lot of conversations, were about grace. Simply put, Grace is God's unmerited favor, or an undeserved gift. Grace is getting what you don't deserve, and not getting what you do deserve.  Grace is the opposite of karma. Grace is unconditional love towards a person who does not deserve it. A great thing about grace is that we live in a world that's about earning and deserving which results in judgement, which is why everyone needs grace. As one quote states, "judgement kills, only grace makes you alive." It was like all this information hit me at once, right when I asked God what grace was. And it was then that I finally knew what Jesus really did on the cross for me. He took all my ugly sin and hung shamefully on the cross as I killed Him, just so I would never have to be ashamed of the things I've done, because He loved me so much. It makes me emotional just thinking about it. When I finally had this realization, all the hurt and anger I had inside of me was easy to let go of. And anytime the devil tried to bring adversity in my life with people, I knew how to handle it, because grace had been poured on me. Now that's not saying that I always handle things the right way, because I don't, but I know how not to let hurt and anger harbor inside of me, because I remember His grace. Honestly friends, knowing His grace is such a relief. Whatever you think you've done that is so horrible, it's not. His grace is sufficient. And in the words of Andy Mineo, you're never too far to be made new. And for that, I am thankful.

On another note, I am thankful for Michael. We met this man 2 days ago at the salvation army. He was covered in tattoos and looked like a tough guy. One of my friends felt God telling him to go talk to Michael. As he did, Michael started to open up to him and telling him about the hard life he has had. We found out that the next day, (thanksgiving) was his birthday. My friend promised Michael that he would come back the next day and see him. So we came back the next day with some World Rebels gear for Michael. He was very thankful and said he didn't know how to react because he hadn't received a birthday gift in 16 years. After talking with him for awhile, he opened up to all of us and my friends spoke truth to him and after some emotional moments, Michael received the best gift last night...the gift of salvation! I am so thankful for bold friends and people like Michael who are going to impact the world for Jesus through his amazing testimony. He already impacted me more than he will ever know. Pray that Michael sees God's grace in his life and that he knows he can impact so many people with his story. Last night blessed me.

The Hair Bow tutorial in 5 easy steps!

This is the look we are trying to recreate! I found this on pinterest which lead me to an awesome hair and make up blog!

Step 1: Grab a section of hair from each side of your head. Depending on how much hair you grab will depend on how big the bow is. Kelsee (the hair model :) ) didn't want a huge bow so we grabbed enough hair for a medium bow.

                               

Step 2: Get a little elastic rubber band pony tail and tie it around the 2 sections but don't pull the ends all the way through, just make a half pony tail like in the pictures.

Step 3: Next, you want to split your half pony tail into 2 sections and clip down one loop while you pin down the other loop.

                         

Step 4: Flatten the loops against your head and pin it with a bobby pin going from bottom to top as seen in the picture on the left. Then do the same thing with the other side as seen in the picture on the right. Don't worry about the bobby pins showing, those can be hidden, or you can get bobby pins that match your hair color.

Step 5: Take the tail of your half pony tail and loop it around the elastic rubber band and pull it through to the other side. You can leave it like that and bobby pin it so it will stay, or you can keep looping it around the elastic until the tail is gone. We kept it like this since it blended in with her hair anyway.

And this is the final product! This is a cute and easy hairstyle for days when you want to give your hair a break from the heat (curling iron, straightener, blow dryer, etc). Hope this was helpful!

And since we are talking about hair bows, if you don't want to use your own hair for a bow, you can always buy a cute bow to pin in your hair. I recently bought this bow at Awaken in Campbellsville! 

 

My experience in Honduras

Some of you all might not know, but I went on a mission trip this summer to Honduras. I LOVE mission trips, this was my third one. My first one was to Africa last year, and that completely turned my world upside down. I knew God gave me a heart for missions and serving and once I had a taste of missions, I wanted more! So this summer, a couple students from my school, and a couple students from Lindsey Wilson made the Honduras team. The other day, my very talented friend, Ronnie Freeman, (S/O to World Rebels!) finally made the video from our trip and it made me very sad and happy at the same time. Here are some of the things I learned...

• People with nothing are sometimes the happiest.  We worked on a house while we were there, and all these little kids would find us and play with us. One of my favorite kids was Mario. He was so bad but so funny. I remember talking to him one day about his family and school and I asked him if he liked school and he said yes. Then he told me that school starts at 8 am but he gets up at 5 am every morning. I was confused by this because I knew he didn't get up early to primp before school...but he proceeded to tell me that he has to do chores and help his mom because she is sick...she has cancer. He also said he had to walk an hour to school. At that point, my heart broke. This little boy was 10 years old and had a younger sister and they had to be the parents of the house by selling things to get money for the family and doing all the chores, because his poor mother was sick and dying. It hurts to know this and know you can't really do anything for him.  Even though all of this was going on, Mario and his little sister never let it show. They were the happiest and most loving kids. His little sister was always hugging somebody! This is a great example of rejoicing in your trials. I know they are just kids and maybe they don't understand fully, but these kids aren't your average 10 year olds, they had to grow up fast and are wise beyond their years. I often think about them. And while I know that all the things I have are blessings from God and how God wants to bless us, I often wonder how I would be if I had nothing.

Me and Mario :)

Mario and his sister

This was the funniest little girl...Her name is Nixi and this was her favorite face!

We loved the Nixi Face too.......... :)

• You often think that you are going to bless people on mission trips, but in turn find that the people there bless you so much more. My mindset when I go on mission trips always is that "I can't wait to bless all these people." And while that is true, I always leave with my heart full and blessed even more. You learn so many things by just giving and sharing love. While we were down there we went to a landfill and fed a bunch of people and gave them clothes and shoes. These people lived in the trash. I even saw one man digging through the trash to look for food or clothes.  There's nothing like seeing a little kids smiling face, knowing that they are going to be able to eat today. There's nothing like seeing a little boy have his first pair of shoes ever. And there's nothing like seeing the joy that comes from a parents face, knowing that their kid has clothes to wear now. Those things just don't compare with some of life's biggest moments.You leave feeling so much closer to Jesus because in a way, you can relate to Him. You see why Jesus loved the poor so much and why He hung around them so much. I can imagine He felt the same when He helped these people. 

The kids running behind our bus at the landfill because they knew we had food for them.

• The best way of sharing the Gospel with someone is by showing them love.  While we were working on this giant cement house, a boy named Javier was helping us. Construction was his job. While we were there, we hung out with him, talked to him, joked with him and just loved on him. Around the last couple days we were in Honduras, he started asking questions about us. He said he could tell that there was something different about us, and he wanted what we had. He said he had never met a group of young people who would pay money to come to Honduras to help them. Eventually, some of the missionaries and students that went with us started talking to him about Christ, and he accepted Christ into his heart. I remember congratulating him that day and looking into his crying face and thinking, "this is why we are here." We didn't do a lot of evangelizing on this trip like I thought we would. On my previous mission trip in Africa, we went to different houses and shared the gospel a lot with different people so that is what I was expecting here. But I realized that just by showing love to people, their lives can be changed. Even with the little kids, we had a big field day with them and we played games, colored pictures, made crafts, and shared the gospel with them through the craft and all of them loved it, they had never experienced that before. Time is the best gift that you can give someone, because it is something that you can never get back. These people were just so appreciative of our time, and I never really understood the meaning of it until I got back. One person on our trip said one night, "what did the Honduran people do to get us to come here?" and we all said, "nothing.." Then he said, "it makes me think about he gift of salvation. We didn't do anything for Christ to come on this earth and die for us. It was a free gift. Kind of like our service to these people." Man, am I ever thankful for my salvation. I'm so thankful for this experience and the humility that the Honduran people taught me. They will always have a piece of my heart.

This is Javier right after he accepted Christ :)

The whole team on field day, what a great day this was.

The Honduras crew! And some of the best people I've ever met.

Watch our video here!

Hola amigos!

This is my first real blog, still a lot to learn! I'll be posting my thoughts, things the Lord is doing in my life, fashion/hair/make-up tips, etc. I'm going to be a future cosmetologist so I'm going to get as much practice as I can now... and share it with you all :) Beauty and fashion is something God gave me a passion for, but it's not where I find my worth. I find my worth in Jesus Christ alone and I'll be using this page for His glory. But for now, it's late and it took us forever to get this all set up so I'll start blogging more tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll enjoy this! Goodnight and be blessed!