So faithful

God is just so faithful. I am absolutely blown away!! As I look back on the past week(s) I just see His fingerprints all over and I am so thankful. I wish I could remember all of the times that He's graciously worked on my behalf or blessed me in little ways but you would probably bore of reading them. So I thought I'd just post a few.... (this is a really really long post. I'm sorry! I kind of used this as my journaling spot tonight so bear with me and skip it if you don't want to read all of my thoughts- i won't be offended!!) :)


The most recent thing I see is that I realized that I hadn't completed all of the necessary book reports for my school. Not only that, but my last report had to be a book that you pick from a list that they gave us at the beginning of the year. Gulp... so I pouted my way over to the file cabinet and pulled out the list, positive that there would be all of these old-fashioned books for smart kids that love old literature. Well I was wrong. There were some of those old classics (i'm sorry Dad, they're just not for me!!) but there were also some good contemporary books. One that caught my eye was by Elisabeth Elliot called "Quest For Love." I'd read her "Passion and Purity" a year or so ago and recalled enjoying it so I decided to try this one. I am so glad that the Lord made that title pop on the page, because this book is SO GOOD. I am learning so much, and I feel like the Lord is speaking to me straight through the pages and the words of Mrs. Elliot. He's pricking my heart in some places and showing me things that I will need later on. The book is a compilation of stories from men and women who have had both successful relationships and failed ones. She takes each story and pulls out these truths using the Word. The main theme so far is what a Godly relationship between a guy and girl looks like. I have been reminded again that the Lord created the man to be the pursuer, and for the girl to respect him and let him lead and initiate. That just doesn't happen in this world and it makes me wonder if there's a guy out there who will follow this!! What if I sit back and wait and nobody comes for me? Well, the Lord just knew that we would wonder and so He gave us these precious words to treasure in our hearts:

My [daughter], if you accept my words

and store up my commands within you,

turning your ear to wisdom

and applying your heart to understanding,

and if you call out for insight

and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as silver

and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 2:1-5

What a beautiful promise. The other thing that I've been encouraged by in this book is an affirmation of my decision not to date in high school. My parents and I made that decision together and it certainly wasn't easy; but I have no doubt that it's what God wants me to do. My Dad gave me this purity ring to symbolize my promise of purity to my husband and I'll wear it until I replace it with an engagement ring!! My heart breaks when I think of all of the girls my age who have given up that precious gift and now they're broken and wounded. I'm so thankful that the Lord has brought people my way, even people I don't know, like Elisabeth Elliot, to give me encouragement to press on, for there is great reward at the end.

Since that post went alot longer than I thought it would I'll just save the rest for tommorow.

Walk for Life

Hello everybody!!

I am walking in the Walk for Life this year. This event raises funds for the Pregnancy Resource Center here in town. They provide support for mothers who are pregnant, helping them emotionally, physically, and financially. They have a new thing called e-Walk. It's an online way to make pledges. My website is the following:

http://hopeforafuture.ewalk.org/guatemolly10491

You can go to that to make a pledge, if you'd like to. I encourage you to make even a small pledge. And if you don't even know me, I would love to have you make a donation anyway. It doesn't support me, it supports the Center and the furthering of our God's kingdom. I'm just here to help.

Thanks!!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

I hope you're all having a lazy Sunday afternoon. I certainly am. I've spent the past hour lying on my bed watching random adoption videos and, of course, crying all the way through!! I'll be the biggest emotional wreck EVER when I adopt my own children. It seems like marriage and parenting is a billion years away. Yet, if the Lord wills, it may not be that far off...

Anyway, enough about that. It snowed, sleeted, and rained today. My plan was to wear my really cute spring skirt to church this morning. Scrap that plan! It was 40 degrees outside. Nope. No flip-flops or spring skirt. Maybe next week.

The Lord has been teaching me so much and really challenging me recently. I've had to just let go of some things this week and let him take care of it. Next year is going to be a big one for me. I realized today that if I really wanted to, I could graduate next year and go to college the following year. Yikes! Yet I don't know if that's what He wants for me. It's so hard to know His will. So hard to make decisions that will affect my future forever. So I guess I'll be learning how to listen in this season of life. I do alot of talking and I think that sometimes I don't just sit and listen to the still, small voice of the Lord. He asks us to rest in His will. Such a simple direction, but SO hard to live out.

When Love Takes You In

I saw this video for the first time tonight. It's the music video to Steven Curtis Chapman's "When Love Takes You In"

Go check it out (grab your kleenex) and then read the rest of the post:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=demRHgul2Zk


How sweet is that? Oh how that sums up my heart completely. My greatest dream is to save even one orphan and give them a home. Even me, a 16 year old, count the days until I can bring a sweet one home. My heart just longs to nurture and love and it breaks everytime I think of children who don't have a family. It's a given here in our society to have at least one parent. But in reality, there are children- yes tiny kids- who have nobody. Some are fortunate enough to be in an orphanage, but some are not. Anyway, you get the idea. Sorry to be Miss Raincloud!! I hope that you'll be encouraged to pray for these children.

Have a blessed night.

No Roadmaps

A lesson I learned today:

Go straight for 5.6 miles... turn right on Grove... keep going for another 3.4 miles... on your right you will see a beautiful building... turn right before the building... etc.

Unfortunately, there isn't mapquest or maps for the journey of life. We can't plug in our questions and recieve an answer like this:

Stay right where you are for another 3 months.... join this Bible Study for the rest of the year... apply for this college in April.. study hard for this test... etc.

Nope... no instructions like that. As I pray and study God's word, many of my concerns are about decisions I have to make. Teens my age are faced with TONS of decisions. We have to decide what college to attend and what career we want to do for the rest of our life (therefore deciding our major) all while dealing with grades, friends, family, and the normal things of life. Not to mention making prayerful decisions about jobs, mission trips, dances at school, what to do about dating, etc. Whew!! It's so overwhelming when you think about how the actions I take now are going to affect me the rest of my life.

Yet, I have nothing to worry about. Our God is the giver of Perfect Peace, a peace that surpasses all understanding. As soon as I started stressing about things I would just remind myself that He will give me direction. Through His word and prayer, He reveals truth to us, guiding us in the way of His will. Although He rarely says exactly what to do through His word we can see what is good and right in His eyes, and through that, make wise decisions. So I'm sorry if I bored you but I was excited to be reminded of this and I hope you'll be encouraged too.

I have a blog????

I have been a terrible blogger. I'm sorry...

To catch you up on my exciting (not) life... last week was my first week back from Spring Break. It's encouraging to see how close we are to the end of the school year. Being homeschooled, I am done or nearly done with most of my classes. I'm behind in math, however, so I really need to pick up the pace in that. It's my worst subject and VERY HARD. My Dad doesn't even remember most of the stuff. So that's where I'm at as far as school work goes.

I also applied to our community college for next fall. My plan is to take a Spanish class next year and then depending on how next year goes, perhaps start on some of my general ed. classes to get a boost on college courses. But we'll see where God leads with that.

This weekend has been busy but fun. I hung out with Corinne Friday night, babysat Saturday morning, rearranged and organized my scrapbook room Saturday afternoon, and hung out with church kids Saturday night.

This morning I went to church and then tonight I had youth group. It was a great night because we played Sardines practically the whole time (i know, not very spiritual but part of youth group is fellowship). I laughed ALOT and I just really enjoyed having fun and being goofy. I'm just so thankful that the Lord chose to give me these great people to hang out with. It's just another example of His amazing goodness to His children. He cares for me so much and He knows that I need these friends. I can't imagine what my life would be without Christ Church and without the youth group kids. We've had our rough times but He has been so good to redeem friendships. So I'm just feeling thankful and joyful.

Just don't ask me how I feel at 6:15 tommorow morning when my alarm blares in my ear..... :)

Back to the Grind...

I hope everybody's having a great week. Although I'm not exactly enjoying my school work, it's been a good week so far. I don't have anything exciting to report so I guess I'll just get back to work. Have a happy day!!!

Also- Ethan (teen with cancer) is probably coming home this weekend!! Praise the Lord. Please pray that he wouldn't have any setbacks and that he can return home as planned.