A Happy Birthday Post!

Good evening everyone! I hope everybody had a very blessed, peaceful, fun, spirit-filled Christmas! Due to my new-found intimacy with Christ and my greater knowledge of who He really is and what He has done for me, mine was definitely the best one yet. I was planning on sharing yesterday, but I was very busy with festivites! So today I decided to dedicate a post to the birthday of Jesus and also the birthday of one of my best friends, Hannah.

I'll start with Jesus. Every year I see the "reason for the season" statuses and go to the Christmas Eve service and listen to the Christmas story, but this was the first year I truly felt like I was celebrating Jesus' birthday and not just some holiday filled with pretty lights, good food, happy music, and lots of gifts. This was the first year I fully appreciated what Christ did for me and was able to comprehend, to the best of my ability, the outrageous beauty of the Christmas story. This year I didn't wake up the day after Christmas feeling disappointed because I didn't have presents to open or a party to go to, but instead I felt renewed and driven to do whatever the Lord wants of me. Once I realized that I didn't have to earn salvation and that it was a gift that I am so undeserving of, I stopped wanting to do good works for selfish reasons but instead to give back as much as I could to my savior, because He did so much for me. And hearing the Christmas story with this new attitude made me all the more zealous about following the Lord. So here's the main things I got out of the Christmas Eve service...

God chose to come to earth in the form of a human, 100% God and 100% man. Jesus was as holy as God, yet could feel sorrow, pain, treachery, temptation, and every other feeling that a human feels. He did this so He could identify with us. Hebrews 2:18 says "Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."

 

But wait, it gets better...He didn't come in the form of just any human, He was born unto the poorest of the poor. He's the almighty God for crying out loud; He could have been born in a palace or at least in a motel room, but instead He was born unto a 13-year-old girl in a manger without even a blanket; He had to be wrapped in cloth. The fact that He was even born as a baby is crazy! He could have just come to the earth as a full-grown man and be sacrificed right away, but instead He chose to be delivered as a baby and go through childhood then adolescence then adulthood. Jesus did all of this so He could identify with us; so He could understand what it's like to walk the earth as a human and go through the stages of life. He could have been rich or at least not in poverty, but He was willing to be poor just so He could identify with not only the wealthy or the average, but also the needy. He chose to be a baby and go through life as a human so He could not only identify with 30-year-olds but also children and teenagers. He chose to go through one of the most excruciating types of death possible just to prove His immense love for us.

 

I don't know about y'all but hearing all of this definitely humbled me and brought tears to my eyes! How great is our God? And because He died that horrific death, paying the price for our sins, we have the chance at a genuinely intimate relationship with Him. I was so grateful to be able to spend time with the savior who is above all things on His birthday and everyday of my life.

 

And now onto Hannah (who has the flu and it's her birthday tomorrow, please pray for the poor soul!). Anyway, I had the joy of becoming close friends with Hannah last year and do not thank God enough for her! Her testimony as a whole is amazing, but any little story she has to share about something God has done in her life is such a joy to hear! She is a constant reminder to me that age does not matter when it comes to following God, because she is one of the wisest people I know, young or old! Her ability to hear God and be totally obedient to Him is incredible and her positive attitude about everything in life is so rare. She is one of those people that does not take a day for granted and rarely lets things get her down. Without her encouragement and advice, I can honestly say I wouldn't be where I am today! There's so much more I could say about her but I think I've summed it up pretty well!

 

Happy Birthday to Jesus and to Hannah and Merry (late) Christmas to everybody else! My prayer is that you will all realize God's glory and accept the most beautiful gift of all time, your salvation through Jesus Christ!

 

 

Sweet Hannah :)

My family on Christmas Eve

White Christmas

Running, walking, or just chillin?

Gooooood evening lovelies! As you guys might have picked up on by now, I often get inspiration for my posts from listening to songs. The other day I was listening to Hillsong United's "Running" and had an epiphany...more like a reality check, actually. Some of the verses that really stuck were...

 

"Every stride is taken in faith
Every step compelled by Your grace
We're taking up our cross
No matter what the cost
We give it all to go Your way
We're never gonna stop"

 

This got me thinking. Is every stride I take in faith? Am I even taking strides? Am I following God no matter what the cost? Is all my life devoted to going God's way? I was hit by a wave of conviction as I realized that I am way too often content with my faith. I am not always running towards God and in constant, non-stop pursuit of Him. I live my life in intervals, sometimes sprinting and most other times kind of just walking or even just standing still. Sunday was a sprint for me. I heard God telling me to get baptized, did it with no hesistance, was overwhelmed & on a Jesus high, and now over the past week I haven't really been striving to get better. I was just so wrapped up in taking a big step that I thought God was happy with me and wouldn't want much of me for a while. I hate that I let these thoughts slip into my head and take over my heart.

 

Contentment is an evil put into us by the devil. If he can't turn our heart away from God, he's going to do everything he can to hold us back from God's purpose for us. When we grow content with our faith, we stop trying to see what God's next step is for us. We stop serving Him and His people in all that we do. We stop running towards Christ and stop making sacrifices and big changes in our life to bring glory to Him. If satan can't turn us away from God, causing us to stop running towards Him is the next best thing.

 

So what did I decide to do about this? Well first I had to accept the fact that I'm never going to be perfect and will slip away & that God will wash me clean of my shortcomings. Then I had to realize that through the power of prayer, God will give me strength to get better at this and grow stronger in my faith. And lastly, I decided to post about it so that my friends, family, and everyone else who reads this can hold me accountable and hopefully learn from this too!

 

 

Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

 

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

 

But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

 

somewhat running with these lovely ladies :)

Oh, Happy Day!

Excited.
Nervous.
Anxious.
Thrilled.
Lovely.
Overwhelmed.
Overjoyed.
Grateful.
Amazed.
Holy.
New.

I never would have thought I was capable of feeling all these things in one short moment....but I did this morning when I GOT BAPTIZED! Woo!! I'm sitting here reflecting on everything, because it happened so fast and I had so many people to talk to and pictures to take afterwards that I never really got to take it all in. It's difficult to put into words exacly how I felt, but I think all the above emotions sum it up quite nicely. Goodness, God is SO good. I appologize if I'm all over the place with this post; I'm kind of just typing out an explosion of my thoughts right now. Anyways, I think I will share what my baptism means to me!

As I've shared with y'all multiple times, in these past few months of my life I've expirienced more growth in God than ever before in my life and have truly committed my life to Him. I also shared in one of my Thanksgiving posts on prayer about how one night about 4 months ago, I desperately cried out to God some lyrics of my favorite song, "come and find me in the darkest night of my soul." That night I realized how far away I was from Him and asked Him to rid me of whatever it was that was holding me back from Him. I didn't realize how painful and hard that would be at first, but I also didn't realize how beautiful the result of that pain would be! Looking back to the night, I can't help but rejoice that God heard my cry and answered my prayer with greater things than I could ever imagine! In this fruitful time, He

• taught me how to trust Him with everything
• told me to stop making plans for myself and just listen to what He wanted of me
• helped me realize how beautiful & precious I am in His sight and helped me find my identity solely in Him
• brought many new friends and mentors into my life while also showing me how blessed I am to have the ones that were already in my life
• taught me how to love others the way He does
• made me realize that I don't have to be perfect for Him to love me and that nothing I could ever do could make Him reject me like people of this world do
• showed me that nothing in the whole universe is more valuable than a deep, intimate relationship with Him
• gave me the strength to get over my shyness and share with others about how great He is!
• gave me the drive to get over my laziness and post about what I learn on this blog:)

Don't get me wrong, I'm still a broken person and still fail Him daily, but now that I know all of those things, I am a completely different person and live my life in a whole new way. And since God answered my prayer and made me new, I decided to publicly profess my commitment to Him and get baptized on this beautiful Sunday morning! I can honestly say it is the best decision I have ever made. I will forever keep this day in my heart as a reminder that I surrender my life to Him and that He made me new! Thank you for everyone who has told me they are proud of me and who has supported and encouraged me; I couldn't ask for better people in my life!:) And while I did choose to take this next step, it was Jesus alone who made it even  possible. Because He paid the ultimate price, my sins and shortcomings were washed away and I was born again. It was God who answered my prayer, and God who makes ALL things work together for my good!

If you have committed your life to Christ, but haven't gotten baptized since, I HIGHLY encourage you to. It doesn't matter how old/young you are, all that matters is that you've made God your everything! And if you feel far from God or have never really had a relationship with Him at all...one prayer, one desperate cry is all it takes! He will hear you and answer you with greater things than you could ever imagine. Prayer is powerful, God is beautiful, and I am made new! Hallelujah!

"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

"Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Acts 2:38

"And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matthew 21:22

 

the BEST family a girl could ask for:)

My second mother, Marla

 



My awesome, supportive friends:)

Breaking Chains

Hello everybody! I hope everyone's doing well. I finally have the time and mindset to post something tonight and I'm so excited! I've been thinking about what to write for the past few days and got some unusual inspiration today. While working long and hard on a history project over the Civil War, I got to thinking about enslavement. How terrifying would it be to live all your life in bondage with no way to escape, never getting the chance to experience true happiness and serenity and freedom ever in your whole entire life? Although we aren't enslaved the way they were back then, each and every one of us is enslaved by something that robs us of true happiness and peace. But luckily, we do have a way to break free of these chains-allowing Jesus to fill our heart.

Now this idea that we are all enslaved by something...we like to reject it and believe that we're happy and don't need to "break free" from anything. But the truth is we all have that at least one thing in our life that distracts us from constantly pursuing a relationship with the Lord. Some people have things that really affect their life such as an addiction while others are more subtle, everyday things like sports or boyfriends/girlfriends and stuff like that. Now, these things that we are slaves to aren't always necessarily bad things, just the way we prioritize them before God and let them define us is what can be dangerous.

But the good news is that our God is greater and mightier than anything of this world and if we have faith that he will give us strength to repent and to break free, we can be made new by Him. We don't have to be slaves to items of this world, we can be slaves to God and to His will. Slavery often has a negative connotation and that's because wordly slavery is a negative thing. But Heavenly slavery- submitting yourself fully to God, being obedient to His word, and never hesitating to follow His will- brings overwhelming joy and peace. Greater is He who is within me than He who is in the world!

So how can we begin this lifestyle that's free of the world and full of Christ? First you must ask yourself what enslaves you. If the answer is nothing...YOU SIT ON A THRONE OF LIES. Harsh I know, but accountability needs to be sometimes. You must be completely honest with yourself and look in the depths of your heart. Contentment is such a dangerous thing and we should always be ready to admit and accept our flaws so that we actually can ask God to help us repent from them. Is it a certain sin that enslaves you? Do you lie often? Or feel like you must gossip to fit in? Or do you have a hard time loving others in the way God wants you to and often judge them? Do you constantly compare your life to others and wish for more? Do you have lustful thoughts? It was hard enough to admit to myself that I can answer yes to every single one of those questions, so it's pretty tough to admit it to everyone reading this. I don't say these kinds of things to to brag; I'm saying this to be open so that my readers can hold me accountable, so I can give every detail of the lessons I learn in hopes that someone else can learn from them too, and so that nobody thinks that just because I can sit behind my computer screen and share about my walk with God that I am not totally broken like everyone else. Anyways, I am a slave to all of those sins, some more than others, and cannot break free from them without the power of God. In this world we live in, it seems nearly impossible to stop those sins, and while it is impossible for a human not to sin, it is toally possible to break free from the chains of sin and stop letting it affect our relationship with God. Repeated sin is what holds us back,; when we constantly do the same sin is when we become a slave to it. But God can take that away and make us new! The same God that came to the earth in human form and suffered and bled and died for our sins is the same God today that can grant us the power to break away from the sins that enslave us! What great news!!

Now besides sin, we are also slaves to anything in our lives that we put before God over and over again..basically telling God that he isn't good enough. In high school especially, I see this happen with relationships. We all want to feel loved and valued and special and often look for that fulfillment in the opposite sex. I used to do this for a very long time, but didn't realize it for a while. Because me and the guy I dated both had good relationships with God and loved Him and went to church together and talked about God together, I thought there was no way that our relationship could be taking away from my relationship with God. It wasn't the guy's fault I was drawing away from God, it was my own. My mind and heart were filled with this guy way more than they were filled with God and I tried to find my happiness in the guy rather than in God. Even when a person treats you well and loves God, if you put your relationship with that person before yours with God, the relationship with fall apart at some point and you will be left feeling empty because your source of fulfullment is gone. If you search for fulfillment in absolutely anything but God, you will probably be found feeling empty in the end. But God is everlasting, eternal, and never failing! Our lives are to be 100% His because we were created for Him and by Him.

So I challenge you to truly reflect on what you are enslaved by. But don't be discouraged! Pray a long, intimate prayer, asking God to shower you in strength and power to break free and overcome this world! "You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it." -Matthew 21:22

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." John 8:34

"You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." Romans 6:18

Free fall swing at Frontier Ranch this summer

 

Just my beautiful sister being free and what not.

Reflection

Happy Sunday everybody!! I hope everybody's weekends were lovely. I haven't posted in a while and I apologize for that, but I've been so busy with school & other things that I've been trying to take every chance I get to just sit and meditate and talk to God. All the things around me have been so overwhelming and all that's been giving me strength is to stop what I'm doing & read some scripture and have long prayers with God. I haven't really been in a state to post & teach, but more to reflect on myself and on who God really is. In this time I've learned some convicting things & would like to share with you guys!

There are typically three different ways that people react to the fact that Jesus died to make all our sins unpunished & that as long as we believe in Him in our hearts and say it with our mouths, we get to spend eternity in Heaven. Some feel that this unconditional love means that they can just go out and sin as much as they please because it won't affect whether they're accepted into heaven or whether God loves them. Others believe that since God loves everybody, they must constantly do good deeds to get His attention and to feel His love. These people end up seeking perfection more than they seek a real relationship with Jesus. While certain people have live their whole life in one of those two ways, most other people still have both of those characteristics in them. The third reaction to God's unconditional love is the one we should all strive to have. We are to realize that nothing on this earth compares to God's grace & mercy. We are to fall in love with who He is and desire to do only His will for us.

I'd like to sit here and tell you that my reaction is the third one 100% of the time and that my motives in doing good deeds are always to follow God & show my love for Him. I realized that I recently reached a state of contentment for the past week or so and haven't been fully striving to follow God. These things are all true about myself:

• I am totally in love with God.
• I desire to use the talents and opportunities He gives me to fulfill His purpose for me in my time on earth
• I  want to fully devote every aspect of my life completely to Him
• I never want to stop growing closer to Him and discovering more about Him.

But do I act like this 100% of the time? No. Do I slip away and grow weary sometimes? Yes. At some points in my life, I've had the mindset of "oh I'll just go and do this sin because I like it and I'll ask for forgiveness later; God will still love me. I'm young and everyone around me is doing it!" This is an evil little thought that the Devil slipped into my head to keep me from whole-heartedly following God. Yes, He will still love me no matter what but shouldn't a beautiful love like that be honored? To go and sin just because you can is to take God's amazing love for granted and is an insult to the cross. At other times in my life I've gotten to the point where I do good deeds as a routine, but don't really invest in my relationship with Christ. I think that if I'm nice to people, go to church, refrain from gossiping, judging, envying, lying, etc., I'm doing a good enough job at following God. But that's not what it's all about. This is also a thought put into our head by the devil. He wants us to be content with our walk with God so we don't do the crazy, radical things that God calls us to do.  The enemy wants us to think that simply doing good deeds is enough so we will hold back in totally investing in a relationship with God. The truth is that our number one priority should be our relationship with Christ and the rest will fall into place. When we devote our whole heart to God and have a deep, strong, passionate relationship with Him, it will result in a desire to do good works and to love others and to serve and to honor His word.  We shouldn't do good deeds to feel God's love, we should feel the power of God's love and desire to completely follow His word, because really that's the least we can do for Him compared to what He's done for us.

My challenge for you is to step back and reflect on how you react to God's unconditional love. Do you take it for granted? Do you seek perfection over seeking a relationship with Him? Do you generally appreciate His love and work at your relationship with Him, but have let the devil slip these other thoughts in your mind? Don't be discouraged with what you find, but rather recognize that He loves and forgives you and do everything you can to get back on the right track! None of us are perfect and it's important that we all step back sometimes and evaluate how we are living our life.

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

A page from Francis Chan's Crazy Love



Have a blessed week!:) -Mary Catherine

A Week of Thankfulness: Leaders

Happy Wednesday everybody! Today will be my last day of this series; thank you to everyone who has been reading it and to everyone who has given me positive feedback! God has given me so much to be thankful for and unfortunately I can't cover all of it in 7 days worth of posts, but I tried to include the major things I feel blessed to have. Today I am thankful for the mentors/Christian leaders/role models that God has put in my life.

While it's so important to have friends your age who are pursuing a relationship with Christ, it's also crucial to have older people who have more expirience to help guide you and share their knowledge with you. God did not hesitate to bless me with multiple mentors and role models and I cannot thank Him enough for them. From church leaders to YoungLife leaders to FCA leaders to bible study leaders, I have quite the collection of Christian leaders in my life. Some I'm closer to than others, but I am equally thankful for each of them and that they take the time to teach me and listen to me and help me grow. I hope it won't embarass them if I go into detail and name a few of them, but all I have to say are good things so I doubt it will.

I'll start with my amazing YoungLife leader, Marla. This women is pretty much my second mom. We only officially met this summer, but I feel like I've known her my whole entire life (cheesy, but oh so true). After any talk I have with her (they often involve tears), I walk away with so much knowledge and feeling so much better than I did before the converstation. When I'm worried or stressed or upset, she always reminds me to take a deep breath and just know that God has everything under control. Our weekly meetups are what get me through each week, whether we have a deep conversation or simply just joke around. She's taught me so much and is always there when I need anything. I am so thankful that God put her in my life and I hope she stays in it for a really long time.

Next is my bible study leader, John (aka Papa McNelly). Papa McNelly holds bible study at his house every Thursday morning before school and NEVER fails to provide a great lesson. If any of you goes to my school, I highly suggest you come; it's definitely worth waking up a little early.  He is so wise and I always get so much out of just the little hour that he teaches. He and his family are so in love with God & His people and they show it in their every day life. The fact that they are willing to cook breakfast and prepare a lesson every week and teach a bunch of high school kids about Jesus reflects their love for and commitment to God. I am so thankful that Papa McNelly takes time out of his week to share His knowledge and share the word of God.

Lastly, I just wanted to share about one of my biggest role models, Jessica Hover. She doesn't really know who I am so I feel ultra-creepy right now, but I found her blog last year and fell in love with it. Her story is incredible and the way she lives her life is awesome. I just wanted to share her blog because she's the one who inspired me to write one and her words have impacted me tons. http://jessicahover.blogspot.com/

I have multiple other leaders and mentors in my life who have made such an impact on me and have all helped me in my walk with Christ. I am so very thankful for each of them and don't tell them enough. If you feel like you don't have any real Christian leaders in your life, go find one! Join a youth group and don't hesitate to confide in an older leader because it is so very valuble!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody; I am so thankful that you took the time to read this! :)

the lovely Marla

 

Papa McNelly and our bible study group last year

another awesome leader in my life, Hannah

And another leader I'm thankful for, Jessica

A Week of Thankfulness: Friends

Good evening! I am now officially on break so it really feels like Thanksgiving time:) Once again I will be posting about something so dear to my heart. In case you haven't been able to tell from previous posts, I really love my life and the people God put in it. Today I am thankful for my friends.

Besides my group of my 5 very best friends, I am also blessed with multiple other amazing friends who all make me so happy. Recently, God has put many new people in my life that I'm so thankful for. Going through high school and staying steadfast in a relationship with God can be really tough. But if you surround yourself with the right people, it can be a lot easier. Luckily, I've been able to find so many friends who all want to pursue Christ in the same way I do, which is a rare thing at this age. The encouragement, accountability, and knowledge that you gain from a Christian friendship is so incredibly valuble. Being able to share your moments of triumph & joy and to celebrate God's glory with somebody who truly cares is amazing, along with being able to lean on someone and get support when you're struggling. A friend who loves Christ will show you that compassion and will genuinely care about you in times of hurt and happiness, which is something we all long for.

I'd like to share a little something about each of my 5 best friends. I won't go into full detail because you nor I have all day, but I'll share something I love about each of them. This precious group of girls that I call my best friends are all radiantly beautiful inside and out. Their hearts are all so full of Jesus and they reflect that in their everyday life.

I'll start with my ginger friend, Hannah. I cannot even begin to describe how on fire Hannah is for God; I just love to sit and listen to her talk about how much she loves Him. The way she can resist the temptations and pressures of high school and be totally obedient to the Lord blows my mind. I love Hannah for her boldness and her constant persuance of the Lord.

Not only do Mary and I share names, we also share a love to have deep conversations about anything and everything. I love the way Mary truly cares about everything I have to say and how I always feel better after talking to her. She is such a strong and beautiful woman of God and I'm so thankful for her.

As I type Halston's name I just can't help but smile, because that's exactly what she does...make people smile. If you asked anybody to describe Halston, they'd say she's one of the sweetest, happiest people you will ever meet. I love the way Halston is just so genuine and kind to everyone she meets and constantly sets an example of how a follower of Christ should treat others.

We always joke that Madison's our "mommy," because she's the most caring person and will really do anything for us. I admire Madison's strength and constant trust in God's plan. Anytime she's given a tough situation, she immediately turns to God and grows closer to Him.

Not only is Kelly the best cousin ever, but she's also been my best friend since we were in diapers. Whenever I didn't live here and I'd come to visit, she would bite me sometimes because she was so excited to see me.  Considering we live three houses apart, are related, have 4 classes together, are on Pom together, take dance class together, go to church together, and hangout with the same friends, we pretty much spend more time together than we do apart. It's a crazy thing that we're still friends after all this time and we are always asked if we get tired of each other, but we actually get along so well and have so much fun together. I seriously consider her a miracle, because it's so rare to find a friend like her. I love Kelly for understanding me and for just making my everyday life so much better.

So anyone who's reading this and has a solid group of friends who love Jesus, thank your God for putting them in your life and remind them of how much you love & appreciate them. Anyone who doesn't feel like they have that, seek out those friends because they truly are so valuble! If you don't know where to start and are a little bit shy and socially-awkward like I am, I love making new friends and sharing the good news of God's love with them so hit me up and we can be socially-awkward Jesus lovers together:) Lastly, anyone reading this who is my friend, thank you for loving me and for allowing me to be a part of your life!

Some photos of my wonderful friends:

 

 

Shout out to my bestie, Slade!