A Mountain Top Moment

P E A C E F U L

To choose a single favorite moment from our trip to Colorado is way too hard. I don’t know if I have an all-time favorite but there is one that has stood out more than the rest.

It was on the second day of hiking. We were driving through the mountains, trying to find our hiking trail, and no we didn’t get completely lost, but I finally just sat back in the seat and started to soak it all in… driving through the mountains, the windows down and the icy mountain air brushing across my face, my hands out the window feeling the breeze with the Jesus music blaring, yet all I saw and felt was a horizon filled with breathtaking snow topped mountains and peace.

This is my happy place. This is my moment. This is peaceful. This is priceless.

I realized in this moment that life is good. God is good always. And trials become good. Yeah we got kind of lost in the mountains but I was only lost in the beauty and majesty of this place.

Then… it started snowing. What could be better? It was magnificent. Glorious and perfect. You could see the clouds of blustering snow come in and covering the green tree filled mountain side. It only lasted for ten minutes or so but seeing that and knowing who created it was worth a thousand tree covered mountains.

- Mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of Your Name - Chris Tomlin

During these moments the only words I could really say was thank you, God. My heart was full and I could not express exactly how I felt except thank You Lord for who You are and for the daily blessings that You give me—the both small and big ones.

“It’s a crazy life” accurately describes mine. The past month has been one of the best times of my life. It was a jammed packed life session but so worth every moment. My head rarely hit the pillow, my car ran and ran, my mind was constantly filled with thoughts, to do lists, test knowledge, and my hands never stopped moving.

I look back over the days and think of how incredibly blessed I am. God is good, always, and I see that more and more every day I live on this earth. My time in the mountains helped me realize that life is about the One who created all of this. I serve Him and only Him. My life, who I am, what I do or have just done (graduated for high school) is not about my accomplishments but solely about the One who moves mountains and calms the seas.

- I live my life to declare You are King -

I love my life. I truly do. I love the good times and the bad. I am growing to like the bad times more because it is when I encounter trials that I truly grow and see more of how great my God is.

James 1:2-3, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." (NASAB)

In the moment on the mountain I breathed for the first time in a long time. I couldn’t form all the words of gratitude that I wanted to say so I just said thank you over and over. Remember to take those moments in your crazy life to recognize God and thank Him for who He is and what He has done and is doing in your life.

Holla to my mountains… see you again in three weeks.

~Gracie

7 Things About Being in Life's W A I T I N G Room

« Meaningful Mondays »

Waiting. Waiting. And more waiting. Three of the most challenging things I have to do in life.

Waiting is not my forte. Learning to wait on God is even harder. It truly takes much of yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. These past few years I have had to wait for so many things. I honestly do not think I can list all of them—there are a ton. I am by no means an expert at waiting. However, here are 7 things I have discovered about being in God’s waiting room:

W A I T I N G contently in prayer and peace

> W. hat Is Waiting?

                  Some people think, oh waiting is so easy, we don’t have to do anything, well that is the point, we cannot do anything and instead we have to let someone else do it for us. However, I would not call waiting easy. Many times we are control freaks and want things to happen immediately.

                  Waiting is not sitting around on your rear all day and just waiting for God to show up and do something in your life. Waiting starts with the attitude and the heart. It is a mindset of letting go and letting God. It is actively seeking His face always, but being willing to wait on Him for answers while living out the rest of our life to the fullest. It is being content with life just as it is in this moment. Remember to become content while waiting.

> A. sk For Guidance

                  For me, waiting is literally one of the hardest and most difficult things I have to do. Sometimes I am waiting for days, other times its months, and I have prayers that have been on my heart for years and God is still answering them with—wait.

                  Part of waiting is being willing to ask God for patience and wisdom through this process. Yes, He is making us wait for whatever reason, but He also gives us these opportunities of waiting to draw nearer to Himself and realize that we cannot do life on our own. He wants the best for us and with our selfish hearts it is hard for Him to just give us what we want when we want it. Instead, He has to grow us closer to Himself. He is patient until we are ready and mature enough to graciously receive whatever it is we are waiting on.

> I. nvest In Prayer

                  Waiting calls for more prayer. Plain and simple. Warning: mini story ahead. I was planning on completely filling up my summer with running around the country (and out of it) doing different things. Yah for adventures. One of the plans was to attend a Summit Ministries Conference in CO. There are many dates for this conferences and as we got closer to the sign up deadline, I couldn’t decide which date to go with. One of them I had close friends going and the other one I just really felt God tugging my heart to go. However, the latter one I really wanted to go to suddenly filled up. I momentarily panicked but went ahead and signed up for the other conference date that also worked. Afterwards I said, “God, this one is completely out of my hands. I signed up and I would really like to go to the conference that I feel you pushing me towards. I am on the waiting list for that conference but there is nothing I can do about it. This is all You.” I knew that in this situation, all I could do is wait and see what God’s will for my summer is. Well I waited and it was a struggle. I prayed. And prayed some more. I wanted to have a set schedule but I couldn’t yet. A few weeks later I was printing off Spanish homework when I got the call—I’m officially into the conference date I wanted. It was out of the blue and I was completely taken by surprise. It was such a joyful and rewarding feeling. I had waited for weeks not knowing the outcome. However, I had peace knowing that God completely had this under control. He knew what was best and I relied on Him and His timing to show that to me.

                  Investing in prayer means that when we have something we are waiting on, do not pray once and simply drop the subject waiting until something happens. No way. We need to pray and petition it to God because He uses these situations to show us His glory and to grow us up. He will teach and show us amazing things that were completely off our radar.

1 Thessalonians 5:17-18, “Pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (NASAB)

> T. akes Time

                  Waiting is the opposite of going. Patience is key. I have asked God so many times why He is making me wait because “I don’t have time to wait”. Truth be told that from that statement that I obviously need more practice with patience and waiting. Waiting is not waiting if you try to intervene and do something on your own power because God is not showing up when you want Him to. God is on His own time schedule and He will do things when He is ready and when He knows that you are as well. Remember to stay patience.

> I. nsignificant Insecurities

                  Waiting can sometimes seem discouraging. We think that God will never come and answer our prayers. What if He doesn’t hear me? What if He doesn’t care? What if…? All of these questions, concerns and worries are ridiculous. They are not even worth the effort of saying.

                  God will answer us. It may not be in the way we imagined or in the time frame we wanted, but He always answers to those who call upon His name and seek His face.

Matthew 7:7-8 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (NASAB)

                  If we are going after God and not the worldly things of this life, this verse will become a reality in our lives.

> N. ever Give Up

                  I have learned that anything in life that is worth having or worth experiencing will not come easy at all. I embrace those struggles because without them, life would be bla. Nothing would have worth because it was so easily obtained.

                  Stay strong when the going gets tough and lean on the Rock. Remember that failure builds character. Learning (or failing) at patience while waiting is not easy, it will take time, but the lessons you learn along the way are worth it. Never give up on God or prayer.

> G. od Is Good

                  No matter what happens, God is still God and He is always good. I have slowly learned this and seen it play out in my life time and time again. In the midst of a situation it may not seem that God is in control and sometimes we want to freak out, but we have to remember that God has a master plan. He wants to bless you beyond your wildest thoughts.

Ephesians 3:20-21, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” (NASAB)

                  Just because you asked God to do something in your life and you are waiting and praying for that thing does not mean that God is going to swoop down after you’ve waiting long enough and do it. He may and He may not. He does things according to His plan and His purpose.

                  I do not know His plan, and I am okay with that. I do know that nothing happens by accident. I know that each waiting room I come to in life I meant for me to learn something from. I know that I will have to wait for a lot of things in life. I am content with that because if I tried to live life solely on my own strength I know that I would fail tremendously. I trust God to work out each area of my life if I am faithful to pray and serve Him.

God truly works all things for good to those who love and honor Him.

If you are struggling waiting remember:

To be content with waiting

To ask for patience

To invest in prayer for your situation

It will take time

Never doubt

Never give up

God is always good

Blessings in your waiting room,

~Gracie

Joy vs. Happiness

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CRAZY is a fairly accurately word that sums up my life these past few weeks.

The weird thing is that even though every day I wake up with a list the size of my textbook pages to do that day and I run around throughout the day like a chicken with its head cut off, I am not constantly feeling “STRESSED OUT”. I simply feel busy.

It is hard to explain but I have concluded that deep down I have peace about my current situation in life. I still have my moments but during the midst of all the craziness I, myself, am not going crazy.

It is one of the best things I have ever have experienced—true peace and joy with all of life. I want to share some of that journey with you.

4 Things About My Journey of Finding TRUE JOY IN LIFE:

1) JOY is Different Than Happiness

            Happiness is a mood that can come and fade in an instant. One moment crying and the next laughing (this happens often to me— welcome to the world of emotional females). Happiness is a feeling. It is a surface-y thing that we say when we feel good about something or someone.

            Joy on the other hand is deep. Joy is vast. Joy is “harder” to obtain. It is greater. Joy is feeling happy, content, and peaceful about all of life. Deep down it is knowing that someone has our back and we are able to smile through the struggles and trials.

2) JOY is Way Better Than Happiness

Now I am not saying that happiness is a bad thing. However, when we are searching for things in life that only make us happy we miss the true joy that we can experience through each and every stage of life.

Many times we end up seeking happiness instead of joy. We find the things in life that make us happy and pursue them or go around telling people how happy they make us feel. I do the exact same thing. I have a tendency to say, “Oh my goodness, that makes me really happy,” a lot. And while I am happy at that moment for whatever reason it is merely happiness and not true joy I found.

--A smile can equal happiness but a heart, mind, and body that is smiling equals joy--

3) Finding True JOY

            How we achieve this true joy is not by running around smiling all the time and telling people that we have joy in our hearts. While positivity in life helps, true joy is found in Christ. He is the only one that can completely satisfy our heart, mind and soul.

            Our comfort should come only from Him and not in the “other things in life that make us happy” because sooner or later those things will disappear. And if our identity and self-worth was found in those things, one day we will be left feeling empty and alone.

True joy lies in searching the Word (the Bible) for our contentment. During the hard days it is choosing to rely on His strength and not our own. It is choosing to believe the truth and to not let discouraging lies creep their way into our thoughts.

James talks about joy and trials often and this is one of my favorite passages because it is encouraging and hopeful (even though I have only recently really understood it):

James 1:2-3, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” (NASAB)

4) How to Maintain True Joy

This is the part of joy that I have been experiencing lately (James 1:2-3). Through each and every incoming and ongoing life thing that is happening I am finding this sense of stability. It is this deep down, God given, emotion of security, peace, and joy.

Because of this, I have been able to truly enjoy the moment without being worried about the outcome of the next. I have been able to smile through the tears, the momentary pain, the frustration, and the struggles that life brings my way. I have leaped off of my self-propelled, unsuccessful, fishing boat and jump onto His unsinkable ship.

I am trusting that GODS’ GOT THIS.

The only way I am able to do this is through constant prayer. If we want a life full of joy, we need Christ to remain at the center. We need to thank Him for the many blessings we have. We need to boldly ask for strength to endure. Reading His scripture often and being reminded of His promises during the midst of adversity is what will keep joy and peace in our hearts.

Learning to trust God with everything in life is one of the hardest things we will ever do. Even though we are Christians, we still want to be the headliner and the star. We value our pride. We may experience some happiness during those times but they will come and go quickly.

If we are rooted in Christ, actively seeking His face each day, keeping faith in His timing, and staying humble by accepting instruction, we will experience and be able to maintain true joy with life. We will feel free because we cannot control everything and now we know it.

"I COULD PLAY THE BACKGROUND" --Lecrae. And let God "STEAL MY SHOW"-- Toby Mac. These are two of my favorite songs. They point to being content with letting God take over. When we see God do something amazing or have a "God moment" life becomes that much sweeter. We can see Him working and doing incredible things through us. It is so much better than observing our own, self-make accomplishments that are so, so tiny and do not come close to being compared to what God can do and is doing in our lives each and every day.

Finally, true joy is saying (one of my favorite quotes from Facing the Giants): “Lord, I will still love you.” No matter what happens we have to learn to become content (having joy and peace) with where we are at, who we are with, what we are doing, while actively trusting the God we cannot see to do the things that are out of our control.

Blessings,

~Gracie

Do You Want an Easy Life?

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“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Generally speaking I have not wished for this. I have always wanted an easy road to follow. One that I thought would mean happiness and success. But the truth is no one should want this kind of life. An easy life in reality equals a meaningless one because it never required effort. No sweat, no tears, no anguish, no fear, no pitfalls, no drama, no progress and no heart.

While these things may not be desirable per say, they are essential parts. Whatever we want to do in life will require some part of us— whether it be mentally, emotionally, physically or spiritually that we may not get back. Therefore, might as well take this opportunity and learn from it. Throw yourself in 100% and take pains with whatever it is. Think of how much greater the reward will feel once the goal is accomplished.

We all have to realize that life is a process. Many times our journey has several different parts. We will come upon the first step, then the second one that takes twice as long, and the detour, then the third step that gets flipped upside down and we finally reach the end. This is how our lives go and many times we get frustrated that they aren’t perfect.

But no matter how hard we try, we will never be able to attain a perfect life. We may look around and think that others have wonderful, easy lives. Maybe they chose the easy road and their life appears great, but inside they will be missing something. Something that they cannot find. That would be Jesus.

Life with Him is worth so much more than just a life. Life with Jesus means to actually LIVE life. It may be a difficult life, but with Christ life has meaning, it has purpose and hope in the future.

Instead of praying that all these struggles and pains go away we need to pray for STRENGTH to get through the hard days and difficult times of our life. Without these trials, life would get boring. We wouldn’t see God’s hand work and we wouldn’t have stories to tell or memories to share. 

We need to bring those difficult moments into a new perspective. Think of them as opportunities to learn and grow. Opportunities to strengthen our faith.

Embrace life’s struggles.

There is always room for improvement. Ultimately the storms and bumps in the road make us stronger, wiser and more appreciative of the joyful, satisfying moments we experience. Once we learn to embrace the struggles they will become easier, because we will understand that they do have a purpose. Nothing in life happens by mistake.

Christ is the only rock to lean on

I hope whatever trials are being thrown your way today you will be able to see the bigger picture that life is worth so much more than the struggles of today. I pray that you all will have hope knowing that God will forever have you in His hand.

Blessings,

~Gracie

Even Slow Old Computers Are A Blessing

Meaningful Mondays is something that I am starting and hope to use as a tool of encouragement for all of us to look at the important things in life—the moments that take our breath away. Many Mondays I feel like we tend to see the difficult moments of the upcoming week and fail to recognize the beauty before our eyes. Each Monday is a new day. A fresh start. No mistakes. I hope that through these weekly Meaningful Monday posts you all will be encouraged and able to start your week positively.

« Meaningful Mondays »

A few nights ago I was up late rushing to finish up scholarship applications due the next morning. It had been a long, exhausting day and 11pm was rolling around. All I had left to do was fax two things and print off a whole bunch of pages. All the hard work was done… so I thought.

I started to bring up the files on the only computer I could print from. A minute later the page was still loading. I tried deleting it and starting over but came up with the same results. Now, we have all had this problem before. Whenever we are in a time crunch our printers or laptops seem to suddenly stop working. In this case our computer. It is ancient, I think it still has the Windows XP version on it and often it chooses to just stall without rhyme or reason.

At this point I was frustrated. I had worked hard all day and was so close to being done but I could not get it to bring up the documents I needed. Yes, after a few moments I burst out into tears. Then through the tears I prayed. I just asked God to let the computer work so that I could be done and go to bed. I knew He could make it work but for some reason was choosing not to.

Soon I recognized that my brother’s laptop was also sitting on the desk so I tried to fax, load the documents on his computer and print from it. It all worked. I was astonished. I did not know that was possible. I thought that our printer was too old to connect to my brother’s new laptop. Then I realized that if it worked on his laptop it has got to work on mine. So, I tried my laptop.

AND IT WORKED!

I was so thankful and relieved. Later I realized that this was a God moment. He had my best interest in mind and did not want me to continue to use the old laptop to print from because it was such an inconvenience. He said no to my original request (to allow the old laptop to load) because He had something better in mind—a blessing.

Now this was not a life or death situation (although at the time I would have argued for it). It was a pretty insignificant technical difficulty. I could have waited for an hour or so and eventually the old computer would have worked. However, God had something greater in mind.

Philippians 4:6-7, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

God used this "problem" or "trial" to bring me close to Himself. He gave me a blessing. He taught me have a different perspective through this situation. He taught me to pray about the small things in life. He wants to communicate with me and you always. Even about the seemingly insignificant things, because nothing in life happens by accident.

Wherever you are, whoever you are with, no matter what is happening , God is there. He is giving you opportunities to show Himself to you and for you to be an example to others. God's timing is ALWAYS perfect. His plan is ALWAYS perfect. We just need to have a little faith, a lot of prayer with some patience and peace to trust that He's got everything under control.

I hope this Monday you will be able to have a little perspective change and see that God can use something as weird as an old, slow computer to bring you closer to Himself.

Blessings,

~Grace

--> CHANG3 <--

It is a goal. An idea. A dream. A desire. It is something most people want. “Want” being the key word. CHANGE is what people desire in their lives. No one is perfect and therefore they want to become a better person and more like Christ. Only dilemma it is not as easy as saying the words “I want to change xyz in my life. Right now!” And suddenly all your problems are solved! It is a bit more complicated.

Here are three things I have discovered about change.

1. You can only change yourself

There are many times in life that I would love to change the people around me. Unfortunately that is not the way life works. You are never responsible for other people actions or helping them change. You can only change YOURSELF and your reaction to others. You will not be able to change them but you can impact them by changing yourself, your attitude and by showing them love and compassion.

2. You cannot change everything

You cannot walk up one morning and make a decision to take a 180 in your life and expect everything to be different and wonderfully changed for good. You may make that decision and that is great but you have to start out small. Choose one maybe two things in your life that need to be changed the most and focus making yourself more like Christ in those areas.

You have to take it one day at a time. One area of your life at a time. Goals are great but you are not God and you cannot do miracles being becoming a whole new person overnight. It is a process.

3. Change will be a journey. Stay encouraged.

Keep your VISION

The first time ever one of my brothers learned to ice skate he was immediately skating backwards and he looked like a pro. I on the other hand have gone twice and I still look like an idiot. Just as learning to ice skate takes time for some people, so does change. Do not base your success or lack of it on how other people achieve the same thing. You are not them and you both have different strengths and weaknesses.

Change really is a journey of itself. Some days are great and others are incredibly difficult. You think you’ve finally come around the bend then bam you are right back in square one. But that is okay. Life is the long journey with many ups and downs and in-betweens.

Along the way you must never change your vision. You can never give up. You must fight for change. Fight for your goals. They will not come easily. The road will be bumpy. You may have to reroute, restart and try different ways.

However, stay encouraged during these times of trials ( see James 1:2-3) and keep faith knowing that you are growing. Stay patient. Being a Christian is not supposed to be easy. But it will be rewarding. Stay strong.

Hebrews 12: 1;3, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (2) fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (3) For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (NASAB)

No matter what obstacles comes your way God knows about it. This might take you by surprise and it might take your dream of changing a bit farther away for now but never lose heart.

Luke 1: 37, "For nothing will be impossible with GOD." (NASAB)

Endure the process of change with grace and ease knowing that with the strength of the Lord CHANGE IS POSSIBLE.

Now! Go out there and attack whatever area of life you want to conquer, succeed and change for good!

Blessings to you all on your life changing adventures!

~Gracie

<< Restarting >>

Trials. Seasons of our lives when our faith is being tested. Well I have had mine and I have been failing.

And yes it has to do with me not writing blog posts. I would like to say that it has to do with being busy with finals, work and just life… but that is not the reason. I still do not even how it happened but the truth is that I put my relationship with Christ on the back burner.

LOVE

It is so incredibly easy to fall away for brief moments into the worldly nothingness of life. This is what I was doing. I was not pursuing the Lord. Because of that I did not have anything to write or talk about. I had not been in the Bible searching for truths to share with you all. I am so amazed how much reading the Bible had impacted my everyday life. Now I see the results. I am looking forward to restarting my journey.

I want to apologize to everyone for letting my selfishness to get the better of me.

I’ve always considered myself a “good” Christian and a woman who follows Christ but the truth is that all of us fall short. We have and will never be perfect. But thank God for His grace, mercy, patience and forgiveness with us. We are a fallen people and He knows that yet He still loves us all the same.

I am so thankful for Christs’ forgiveness.  

Micah 7:18-19, “Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possessions? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”

No matter what terrible, horrible or hurtful thing you have done in life Christ is ALWAYS there for you. Once you are a blood bought child of His nothing can take you out of His hands. If you truly want forgiveness, He will forgive you-- no matter what you have done. No sin is too big for Christ. After He forgives you, your sins are all cast away, never to be mentioned again. Now that is true love.

Here to finishing that last few days of 2015 strong! Merry Christmas everyone!

Blessings During the Storm

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/446349013046773128/

 

I kept asking God why? Why now? How in the world could we have gone through that much work and in 20 minutes our 11 hours of labor was literally washed away, completely destroyed. I was feeling sick to my stomach and trying to fight away the headache that had been nagging at me all day while I was in the heat.

I was walking upstairs completely drenched in muddy water, exhausted, burnt, and on the verge of tears when I somehow remembered James 1:2-4 which says:

          “Consider it all joy brethren when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing
           of your faith produces endurance.” (NASAB)

How can I find joy in this situation? Putting a 24’ round pool in the ground is not an easy task. We had it 90% completed when a downpour came with about 6” of water and hail and crazy winds that destroyed literally everything. Yes, it is a trial, but finding joy? I’m havin a hard time with that.

I was leaning on my sister’s bunk bed with these thoughts were bouncing around in my head. I picked up my phone and cleared all the apps off. I glanced at my screensaver and it caught my eyes.

~ Train yourself to find the blessing in everything ~

Bang. That hit me upside the head. I still wanted to ask God WHY, WHY, WHY in the world did this happen to our pool, but I was then able to realize that instead of having a crappy attitude and cursing or being angry at God for this I need to thank Him for what I do have.

Do I NEED a pool? No. It would be nice to have but it’s not a necessity. Will we have one eventually, yes so I’m thanking the Lord that we will be able to reconstruct it. It was a fairly dangerous project. It is a BLESSING that none of us were injured in the process. I am blessed that we are not in a drought. We have rain. I am sure there are several places and people around the world who would give their right arm to have the rain we just had. Furthermore, I am blessed to have wonderful, healthy siblings and parents who are able to put a pool in by ourselves. These are just an example of a few things that came to my mind. The list can go on and on.

I do not know all the plans of the Lord (I hope our pool fits in there somewhere). But I do know that He give us trials so we will rely on Him for our strength.

Psalms 55:22 says, "Cast your burdens upon the Lord and He will sustain you;" (NASAB)

If life was easy 24/7 we would be proud people who didn’t know they had a need for a savior. Instead, Christ gives us struggles to make us more like Himself.

I hope you realize that whatever trials you are experiencing now Christ wants you to call out to Him in faith. He is your rock. Rely on your rock, not some dirt and sand like that which we used for our pool. It can be washed away in seconds. However, Christ will never leave you once you put your life in His hands.

And wherever you are in life ALWAYS remember to be thankful. God created you, a beautiful person and He has given you so much. It may not be everything you wanted but you are blessed.