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End of the world ? I think not.

Today is the day that Harold Camping predicted that the world would end at 6:00pm but yet it hasn't. Even though it's not 6pm here yet it has already been in different places around the world but we're all still here.

But here are my thoughts on this...

Matthew 24:36 says that No man, nor the angels, or even the Son know when the Lord is going to return. Only the Father. That means that Harold Camping doesn't know, I don't know, you don't know. We just don't know. We can predict day after day but it doesn't matter because God has his own plan & his own timing.

I know that it is confusing because God & Jesus are of the same & equal to each other. Most people ask, how is this possible? How can Jesus not know when he's coming back? & honestly I don't know. It is beyond my comprehension but I believe it to be true. I have no reason to believe that it is not true.

Verse 40&41 are referring to the rapture but verse 42 says to BE ALERT because we don't know when this day is going to come. I believe that Jesus will return the way the bible says he will, 'like a thief in the night.' God wants you to be ready for his return all the time. He wants you to put your trust in Him & t0 have a relationship with you. If he told us the exact day he was going to return then we would try to clean up our lives up then decide we want to have a relationship with him & do all the stuff we are suppose to do. But, that is not how it works. (verse 43 explains this perfectly.)

As far as the bible concerns we have had signs that the world is coming to an end. It says there will be false prophets, we are seeing those. Nation will rise against nations, we are seeing that happening. Famines are happening, just like the bible has predicted.

If Jesus did come back tomorrow or next week or whenever. Are you gonna be ready? Do you know Jesus as your personal Lord & Savior? Because thats the only way to heaven. (John 14:6) If you have trusted in the Lord & you know him as your Savior then you have nothing to worry about.

I know how easy it is to be a procrastinator. (trust me, I'm the biggest one EVER but I'm working on it. Thats a whole different discussion though) It's easy to say 'I'll read my bible tomorrow, I'll pray tomorrow, I'll go to church tomorrow, blah blah, on & on'. So do those things now. Jesus wants a relationship with you & from my own experience it's the best thing that I have ever done. Don't think that you have to 'clean up your life' before you can come to Jesus. Jesus changes lives just the way you are now & he won't turn you away. He loves you even if you don't feel like he does. I know you might be thinking, 'how can God love me when all I've done is things I shouldn't have?' but trust me he does. He died on the cross for your sins! God would not put his Son through that unless He loved us unconditionally!

Even if it the world doesn't end tomorrow or next week or whenever BUT your life could. Not trying to scare anyone or whatever but it's true. & same for me too, I could die/you could die. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Don't spend your time now saying well I'll do that "someday" because honestly that day may never come.

Anyways, there's plenty more I could say but this is enough for now. (:

One year completed !

It seems as though I have become a terrible blogger but with everything going on I haven't had a lot of time to really put my thoughts down into a blog. Hopefully with school being over for the summer I will find more time to write blogs..

Well...speaking of school, I just finished my first year of college. Most of you know that for the past year I have attended Boyce but if not, you do now. Boyce college has truly been a blessing to my life & I have learned & grown in my walk with Jesus.

Over this year, I have had so many papers to do and so much reading that some days I wondered if I would ever see the end but with God's faithfulness and support I made it. Starting college made me nervous as to if I would be able to handle it but I did.

Attending Boyce is very convient because I live in Louisville & I don't have to live on campus. I enjoy being with my family. I know that I miss out on some things but it has been cheaper to live at home. I have made plenty of friends though & I am truly blessed to have them in my life. I know that I can spend the night with them on campus & when I do it's always fun.

I've never really had a lot of christian friends to help me or to understand. It has been hard not having people to talk to but I'm so thankful for my christian friends that I have made over this past year.

Also, I have watched some of my old friendships fall apart. I still talk to some of my old friends, but not as much as I use to. Theres just some friends who I've hated to see go, for whatever reason people change, move on with theirs lives, and choose differents paths. Change is forsure hard for me at times. I don't like things to change but I think that most of the changes that have happened this year have been for the better. I've lost some friends but I've also gained some.

I have learned so much just from being at Boyce for a year. I realize that I need to share Christ with everyone that I can & I think in the past I have tried not to offend people. I've cared too much what they think & God has shown me that it is not about me. God deserves all the glory & who cares if someone doesn't like it. I still struggle with this because it's easier to keep quiet than to say something that someone might not like.

I realize that helping people is not gonna be easy & sometimes I might even feel burnt out some days, but doing this means so much to me. Leading people to Christ & helping them will be more than worth it. Learning about counseling at Boyce has truly shown me that I am doing what I should be. I love learning about it & I wouldn't want to have any other major. I have bad days though where I don't think I'll be able to do it but God always tells me to trust Him & I will be able to do it!

My faith has grown so much just within this past year. I am learning to trust God more & realizing what is important. Not listening to music that doesn't glorift God & working on what I shouldn't watch. Watching my speech & so much more than this. I have been blessed with great professors who have taught me so much. I know that I am going to continue to learn & grow more next year.

Thanks for reading (:

Mark's last Sunday.

Well I'm not a good blogger as much as I use to but many of you probably know that yesterday was Mark's last sunday at Parkwood. It is sad and we hate to see him go but I am very happy to see what God has in store for him next. I know Central Baptist will be blessed.

Here's a picture from yesterday. Patrick, Casey, Me, Mark & his son Ethan.

Its hard to believe that Mark is leaving after 15 years of being at Parkwood. He was my Youth Pastor for all 7 years from the time I was in 6th grade until I graduated. I'm very glad I could have someone who taught me well in Christ. He even helped with our college group. I appericate all the time he has spent into our lessons and just hanging out with us. He is going to be a great pastor for Central Baptist. I always enjoy listening to his sermons. He does a great job.

We will miss you Mark! & we all love you <3

Saturdays.

I woke casey up this morning lol.

I know I haven't wrote a blog lately, so I'm gonna try to get better at this. I'm going to see the Never say Never movie with my cousin tonightt! Maybe I will blog about it later lol :)

Relationships Part 2.

Ever heard someone say " he completes me?" I think its safe to say that majority of girls say this & not so many guys but you've heard it right? Or maybe you've even said it yourself. Maybe you haven't said it but your relationship might say otherwise. Before I continue, let me just say once again, everything I write I have learned myself. I'm not an expert on this or anything so don't judge me (: I don't want to appear as a "know it all" because I don't. I'm learning new things everyday.

The truth is nobody can complete you, only God can. If you go looking for a person to complete you then you're always going to fail. We all know those people who always seem to have a boyfriend/girlfriend right after another. Those people who can't be content with being single & honestly I thought I was like that for awhile. After I got out of a 3 year relationship I didn't know what to do with myself. I never tried to just be with random people but whenever I talked to guys I never understood why I just felt unfulfilled. I thought being single was terrible but after about a month I realized that there are plenty of good things about being single until the right person comes a long.

God finally showed me that he's the only one who can fulfil me. I kept waiting for this perfect guy to come along who was gonna be so much better than all the others & we would have this happy relationship & it would all be okay. God showed me that it's him that I needed. God is the only one who can be there for you EVERYDAY/ALLDAY & NEVER let you down. God is the only one who won't hurt you. Once I learned this I was happy being single. I wanted a boyfriend. I still want to get married eventually & share my life with someone but I know that he's not perfect. He's going to let me down & there's going to be times when we don't agree on everything. That doesn't mean that you should just pick anybody by any means because of the fact that they are going to let you down. It does mean that you follow God & that you rely on him. You put God FIRST. Not your boyfriend/girlfriend or anyone else for that matter. You can't put your hope into a relationship that may or may not last but God will always last. If you don't last then atleast God is there for you when it's over. You will find more contentment with being single because you don't rely on a human for your love/care. It comes from God. You're always going to be let down if you're looking for someone that doesn't exist. What you're looking for is God & I know because I was looking for him too (:

Anyways this is it for now. Hope it helps. Thanks for reading!

Relationships.

I feel like I have a lot to say about this but I'm not exactly sure where to start..

Okay let's see.. one of the biggest things that my friends have always come to talk to me about is relationships, I guess because they are one of the things that cause a lot of conflict & they just want to talk about it. I always try my best to help in whatever way I can so heres maybe some advice that I actually told a friend today..

I'm not an expert on relationships & I'm not claiming to be one so before you go & say anything, lets clarify that. If I have learned anything from my relationships in the past, its that you can't change anyone. Period. I know you might be thinking, yes I can. No. I'm sorry but you can't. Only God can change people. I'm talking about real genuine change. I believe that some people do make some progress because of someone else but they have to do it themself & they have to do with God's help. You can disagree with me if you want & thats fine but if you do agree with me then heres what else..

I thought I could change someone at one time. I don't think that I ever said well I'll change him & it'll all be okay but I thought that if I tried getting him into church & talked to him about Christ all the time that maybe things would be okay, I'd convince him not to do certain things & he'd become a christian & we'd live happily ever after. Can you believe I thought that way? Ha. Well looking back I can't. It didn't happen like that at all. We eventually broke up, mostly because we just didn't want the same things at all. Its hard to be with someone when they don't see 90% of the way you see things. Its not that I didn't like anything about him or that he was this horrible person, I just didn't want him doing some of the things he did. I wanted him to follow Jesus. I just wanted him to see things the way I did. When it comes to relationships you want a partner, not a project. That has really stuck with me because it's true. You might be thinking thats silly that I was like that & it was, but I know that theres other people out there right now thinking the exact same thing. Truth is if you don't like the way the person you're with acts, the way they do something, something they believe, then its probably best to just not be with them.

Second thing.. one of the BIGGEST things I see, & trust me I am guilty of this myself, is the whole controlling thing. It kinda goes a long with changing somone but not exactly. SO back to this guy that I tried to change. Not only did I want to change some things about him, I didn't like all the girls he talked to. I know you know what I mean. You get upset, jealous because your boyfriend is talking to this girl & you really don't want him talking to her, or guys you don't want your girl talking to these guys so you tell them to stop & maybe they do & maybe they don't. I think its safe to say though that you shouldn't have to ask them to stop. You shouldn't have to feel like they're doing something wrong behind your back. One of the things I learned is that they are going to do it no matter what, whether you tell them or not. I know it seems like simple truth but I just didn't get it. I got too caught up in how I felt about him to see what was infront of me. If a guy/girl really wants to be with you then other girls/guys don't matter. People don't just stop doing something because you tell them to, they have to realize its wrong & it doesn't hurt to tell them you don't like it but if they don't or it seems like they just said they'd do it but they're not then consider if you really have an honest relationship or not.

Theres just soo much to say bout this that I could keep going but I think I'm going to end with this for now. They're might be a part 2. We'll see :) if you read this then I pretty much love you!

btw, happy new year!!