DIY post?? What???

Ok guys...I'm getting trendy here and writing a do it yourself blog. Why? Only because I'm so proud of my mom and myself for what we did!

So my mom has hated her refrigerator for a long time and I've been addicted to pinterest for a short time now. So I had the brilliant idea to convince her to paint the fridge with chalkboard paint. It may sound weird considering there's no little kids in the house or anything but if you think about it it's very practical. You can easily keep track of what's in the fridge, what you need to buy, make to do lists...whatever you need to use it for! So I'll walk you through the steps to this super cheap way of upgrading your fridge.

First, you should know that our refrigerator is not made with that thin shiny plasticy stuff they seem to make them with lately. It's an old one so it has this thick textured exterior. I'm not sure how well it would stick to the plastic stuff.

For this project you need:
Chalkboard paint
Small roller
Angle brush
Small paint brush (like for water color type painting)
Paint tray
Painters tape

Yup that's it! Tape up the rubber at the door hinges and any trim you don't want painted.

Paint around the edges and trim using the angle brush and fill in with the roller. Let the paint dry before starting your next coat because going over it while wet seems to make it peel right back off. We did 3 coats and still had plenty of paint left over.

After it all dries peel the tape off and go over any small imperfections with the small paint brush. Unless you're a good painter and don't have any imperfections.

And voila! Did I spell that right? New updated fridge you can write on! And it only took us about 4 hours and 15 dollars. Here's ours :)

When He calls

Ever felt like God was asking you to do something, but you were so scared to do it you weren't sure how to react? Maybe you'd been praying for God to show you his power or his sovereignty. Or maybe you asked to be taken out of your comfort zone. And then he did just that and you thought "oh shoot".

Yup that's where I am right now. But then on my way home as my wonderful phone read Mark 1 to me tonight, I read (or rather, heard) the story of Jesus calling his disciples. Ever realize it says these fisherman left everything immediately to follow him? Immediately. Talk about convicting. When you think about it, we have so much more of an idea of who Jesus is than they did. We have books of history telling of his teachings and his amazing works. They had nothing but faith. And yet Jesus calls us to maybe leave one thing behind and we can't do it. We stop. We get stuck. All of the sudden we need to weigh the options and decide if this crazy thing he wants us to do is the responsible choice or the best one in the long run. As if he doesn't control the "long run". Meanwhile these guys just dropped everything with no questions asked and followed Jesus Christ. Yeah, oh shoot.

So where does that leave me? To be honest I still am scared to death. I'm still weighing the pros and cons. I'm trying to let go and let him do his thing while I follow his lead but it's so hard. So if your reading this, can you pray for? Pray that I can clearly hear God's voice and that he will provide a clear way for me to do what he is asking. And pray for courage!

I need to trust he's got it all under control.

When your plans fail...

It's amazing how God works sometimes. Actually all the time but some things stand out more than others.

We had our high school youth group tonight. It's always an awesome time. I love seeing kids learn about God and have meaningful discussions. This summer we're watching a video series that's basically a reality show where teens discuss major life issues. Then we break into small groups and discuss those issues further. There have been some great conversations following these videos and I've absolutely loved every week of it.

But this week disaster struck.

Or at least that's what it felt like for a while there. The DVD was scratched and kept skipping and eventually we had to turn it off. That meant doing small groups without the video. That meant trying to fill and hour with small group time. That meant more than we were prepared for. But God didn't disappoint. Despite our prayers the DVD didn't work, but clearly He had other plans.

I heard so many stories of amazing conversations that might not have happened if we didn't have all that time. People learned what it really means to have a relationship with Christ, not just follow a religion. It's funny because praying before the night started I told God I trusted His sovereignty. Guess He had it even more covered than I realized. Plus the worship team got to put together a few songs last minute and they did an awesome job of closing out the night in a way that allowed us to praise God for being in control and for wanting a relationship with us.

Wow what a great night. I'm just so encouraged by what happened and how I saw the Lord move. Definitely a night to remember.

Pressing Forward

So I've decided that this summer will be all about improving my relationship with God. Step 1: read the Bible every day. So I started that today. I picked a plan on my Bible app on my phone (gotta love technology) and set a daily reminder to read whatever is in the plan for the day. I've told myself a million times that I would read the Bible in a year, but I always get stuck somewhere around Numbers or Deuteronomy. But I'm going to do it this year. Feel free to hold me accountable and ask how I'm doing! It'll keep me reading :)

After my realization/rant a couple weeks ago (see my last post), I've decided that I really need to step it up in my personal relationship with God if I want to have any sort of positive impact on those around me, specifically the high schoolers at church. So please, ask me how I'm doing and don't be shy about it. I need the accountability and I know most of you reading this are people I can trust to talk honestly and openly with.

On another note, although not entirely, I have a lot on my mind tonight (as usual). It's good though. The young adult group at church was great tonight - just what I needed. Thanks Erik Vagen for allowing God to work in an amazing way! I was able to spend a lot of time in prayer - praying for our generation, for my friend next to me who I hadn't seen in forever, for Matt, for myself...

We read in Ephesians 3 today. My favorite reminder in the verses was that God is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine. (verse 20)

Wow.

More than we can imagine?? That's a promise by the way. There's no question in the way the Bible says it. So I started dreaming big. I imagined a generation full of followers of Christ, rising up to train and mentor the next generation to be even more faithful than themselves. I imagined myself a significant part of ending modern day slavery for good. God can do more than that? I have to be honest it's so hard for me to have faith in that. But while I prayed tonight, while I was listening to and singing along with the worship team as they sang about God being our savior and allowing the weak to say "I am strong", wow did that set in. I need to stop limiting myself.

I need to stop limiting myself.

Oh! So I'm the one holding myself back? It's the fear of failing. It's the pride that causes me to think "I'll do it my way". It's my quickness to default back to comfort and complacency. I'm done with that. I'm going to start praying big. I'm going to start opening myself to the Lord and honestly asking Him to do His will in my life. Scary? Yes. But it's that fear that holds me back so I'm letting go of it and giving that up to Him. Prayers would be appreciated :)

Rekindling the Fire

So it's been a while. Actually almost two years. But my mind was racing tonight so I thought I'd start up my blog again. I had a conversation with an old friend today that got me thinking and decided I had to write it out.

But here's the topic on my mind tonight: today's youth.

I know what you're thinking...Aren't you today's youth? Maybe I am but as I said in that conversation earlier today, I feel like things have changed even in the past 5 years in terms of America's youth. If you didn't already know, I work with the high school youth group at my church. I love those students. They're my little brothers and sisters. I want the best for them, and sometimes that means challenging and stretching them. So when I talk about youth, this is the population that I'm mainly talking about. So yes, it's only been 5 years since I finished high school, but boy does it seem like a lifetime sometimes when I look at these kids.

To my high schoolers: if you're reading this I'm so happy you are! I want you to know I love you with all my heart and I love watching God work in your lives. So please don't take this post the wrong way, but don't think you're excluded from it, either. Think of it as a bit of a wake up call. Maybe a chance to look at your life honestly and determine if you fall into what I'm about to say. 

I guess my issue tonight is that I feel sad when I think about the direction our youth is headed. What I want to see is a generation of passionate, on fire students. Kids ready to sacrifice anything for a cause. Willing to dedicate themselves to what they love no matter what the cost. Committed. On fire. Relentless. In everything they do. What happened to "whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"? I see it peeking out in some of my students lives. They go on missions trips or they talk about conversations they had with friends at school. I'm so proud of them. But I want to see it go beyond that. I want to see this...intensity in everything. After all, isn't our most powerful testimony the way we live our lives? How can we say we love Christ with everything inside of us and be content to go to church twice a week and continue with our lives till Sunday sneaks up again and we have to recognize all those boarder-line questionable things we did throughout the week? And I say "we" because I've seen myself fall into this trap, too.

But maybe that's part of the problem.

Maybe they don't have a dedicated, sacrificing, passionate, committed, on fire, relentless example to follow. As a leader in the youth group, this thought is convicting. Am I pushing these kids to be the best they can be? Am I challenging them to live life for Christ, no matter what the cost? Am I teaching my girls exactly what it is to be a Godly woman? Like I said, it's the way we live our lives that is our biggest testimony. So this summer I'm going to challenge myself to change...or maybe grow is a better word. How can I expect my students to grow if I don't do the same?

Sometimes it seems so impossible to make a difference here in this upper-middle class town. How do you reach teenagers who already have everything they could ask for? I know what it's like - I went to the same high school as a lot of these kids. I know how it feels to see your friends handed everything they could want. I know some of our kids are the ones getting whatever they ask for. I've seen how that can damage a person...take away their appreciation for hard work and dedication. Take away their independence without them even noticing. And there's a sense of entitlement. But here's the thing: the one thing that matters - the only thing that we forget to ask for that we desperately need - is salvation. And no one is entitled to that. I don't care who you are or where you grew up, you're not entitled to eternal life. Don't get me wrong, God wants you to have it. It's His gift to you. He loves you unconditionally and couldn't want anything more than to give you this precious gift. But you did nothing to deserve it. You're not entitled to a relationship with Christ. So please, please, don't take that for granted. Don't act like you deserved it and the person next to you in class doesn't...after all we've all fallen short of the glory of God. But isn't that what we do when we go on with our normal, everyday lives without showing God's unconditional and amazing love to that person next to you in class?

Dig deep. Dust off the Bible, the devotional book you bought with good intentions, the prayer journal you haven't touched in ages. Find your passion again. Fight off the apathy. Because the idea of raising a generation of kids who don't do everything they can to reach the world for Christ? Well that scares me to death. But in Christ, all things are possible. Even changing the attitude of an entire generation.