My Christmas List This Year...

Hello.

This year...my list is small.  Wanna know what my number 1 item on my list is?

Giving a gift to a child or family who won't get a gift this year.

http://mygiftcatalog.worldvision.org/site/TR/GiftCatalog/GiftCatalog?px=1438186&pg=personal&fr_id=1660

That's my wish list! ^

That's my profile page stuff! v

I love gifts! I actually love giving gifts more than I love receiving them. I love that feeling when the person opens your gift to them and they are surprised and excited about what you got them; that feeling like you've just picked out the most perfect gift in the world...pure accomplishment.

This year, my number item on my Christmas list is gifts that go to people who may not receive anything this Christmas.  I want them to have the gift someone was going to give to me.  The kids and families who do not get to celebrate Christmas because there are no gifts to be shared deserve to have their faces light up with joy as they unwrap or open a gift that is just for them.  I want to give them gifts!

Please give them a gift this Christmas as your gift to me.

Beautiful...

Hello.

Admired and loved do not begin

to describe the hearts so deep within.

Now as you walk where angels lay,

we will remember you, day by day.

Do not fret, for you're with Jesus;

and all your pain He then appeases.

Please wait for me at heaven's gate.

I'll be a minute, but not too late.

Just My Mind Spinning Again...The Trinity?...

Hello.

The trinity blows my mind. I think it always will. But, I have a...theory?...maybe. Lots of thoughts running through my mind and they eventually form some sort of solid, unified, idea...

The Bible says that when God made us, He made us in His image. People say that being made in His image means we are the only beings on the planet with a soul. Which yes I agree with that, but I think there is more to us being made in His image than just having a soul. We are 3 in 1 as well. Obviously not God, we are completely powerless, but we are 3 in 1, 3 separate, but 1 being. Father, we have a mind (a control center, ideas and thoughts creator, something that we cannot fully comprehend no matter how much we study it); Son, we have a body (living, breathing, the actions to our thoughts, something that dies, but in God, comes back to life); Holy Ghost, we have a soul (we have something that feels, determines good and evil, and searches). 1 Corinthians 2:9-11 talks about the Holy Ghost searching: 

However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
    the things God has prepared for those who love him—

these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Yep. That is what my mind has come up with.

Did You Know...

Hello.

So, I found out that if you call the USPS at 1-800-610-8734 and say that you need a free military care package kit, they will send you free priority mail flat rate boxes, priority mail tape, and customs forms! It sounds like they change what type of boxes you receive every so often, because I found another woman's blog and she got a lot more boxes than I did.

In my kit I received:
2 Medium Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes
2 APO/FPO Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes
Mailing labels
Priority Mail Tape
Customs Forms
And the envelopes to put the customs forms in.

When you call you just give them your name and address and they mail the boxes to you in 7-10 business days. They also give you an ID number so that when you call again, all you put in is your ID number and they have your name and address under that number and they mail you more!

Many of the boxes are the APO/FPO boxes that can ONLY be sent to those addresses, so if you're just trying to get free boxes your shucks out of luck because you can't mail those boxes to regular addresses.

It's All In God's Hands...

Hello.

Sooo it has definitely been a looong time since I have written anything. Knowing me, it will probably be a long time before I post anything again.

I don't have an exciting post about controversial religion topics (which I always enjoy doing), but just a..."Here's what's going on in my life right now" post.

I'm stressed. A lot. These past couple of months have been a huge God lesson for me. I am learning over and over how to put everything and every situation in God's hands. It's hard and I will probably still be learning when I am in my 80's.

First, my boyfriend got deployed. If you don't know, my boyfriend Taylor is in the army. He has been deployed to Afghanistan. I can't say the deployment came as a surprise, because I knew he was getting deployed before I started dating him. That doesn't make his absence suck any less, though. I miss him terribly. I worry every second of everyday if he is OK. I pray constantly. I think I have prayed more in these past couple of months than I have prayed in my entire life combined (and that's saying a lot...because I may not be an out loud, fall on my knees and pray type of person, but God gets a lot of prayers from me all day everyday about all the little things in life). I walked around Target the other day like a zombie, completely lost in thought and sadness because I missed him so much. I cried at work the other day. It's tough.

Second, I am going to Peru (in 24 days). I am extremely, extremely excited for it. The 1st week there I will be doing missions work with the children of missionaries. Just because their parents are missionaries doesn't mean they don't need to hear about Jesus from someone else and get love and attention solely for them. I found out don't have the money raised that I need. So stress soared through the roof today. I still need to raise over $1,100 dollars for the missions trip. If I don't raise it, I have to pay the difference when I come home. I'm stressed. I feel like I'm pushing for money by doing this, but if you want to help you can go to www.cccomaha.org/give and set up an account. Once activated, login and select "Sort-Term Missions" and then select the trip  and Jaimie Lewis and enter your payment information.

I can't sleep. I'm stressed. Just...please please please pray that Taylor is safe, comes home safe, is OK when he comes home, and everything for Peru will work (not necessarily just money, but safe travels, God does amazing things in these kids lives, God does amazing things in all of our lives, and everything just goes OK).

Jesus Vs Religion...

"Institutions never bring life; the Spirit of God brings life. This is the difference between religion and life in the Spirit...I gave up on the power of religion a long time ago, because religion doesn't change a life. But, I've never, I've never given up on Jesus, because Jesus is the hope of the world; Jesus changes lives!"

-Pastor Mark Ashton

Something I Don't Understand...

Hello.

This is something that has been bothering me for quite some time: Why do people say "F" God? Especially atheists? It's just something I don't understand.  I mean, we push God out of our lives consistently, we don't ask for help, we tell Him we can do it ourselves.  So, God graciously gives us what we want.  Then when something bad happens, suddenly it's God's fault and He should have done something for us.  I mean isn't He supposed to always be there for us??  That would be like me working on a project and someone offers there help.  I say, "No I've got this. I don't need any help." I eventually finish that project, start and finish another one, and am working on a completely different one, when something goes wrong.  I turn to the person who asked me if I wanted help 2-3 projects ago and say, "What the heck?? Where were you?? I needed your help!" Just a wee bit ridiculous if you ask me.

I especially don't understand why atheists say it.  According to Dictionary.reference.com the definition of an atheist is: "A person who does not believe in God or gods." By saying "F" God, they are inadvertently claiming that there is in fact a God who has at least some power and control over how things turn out. So they are disclaiming their own beliefs. It just doesn't make sense to me!

That's all I've got. I just had to get it out there.