*Shocked and Appalled!*

Shocked and appalled doesn't even begin to describe how I felt when Lady Gaga decided it was a good idea to basically have a sex scene on stage during the American Idol finale last night! First of all, isn't this supposed to be a family show, and second of all the two finalists are YOUNG TEENAGERS!!!!! If Mcdonald's can get sued for coffee being hot, Gaga should be sued for teen pregnancies! Really?!?! REALLLLLY, Fox?!

Every time I see her she looks at me with those crazy eyes and if she is wearing clothes I breathe a sigh of relief. I mean what's next?! What's in the future for my kids?!?! Am I going to have to move my children to a remote island to homeschool them just so they don't have to see people walking around naked in the streets?! Is that what is next for us, people?!?! Gaga is apparently making more money that anyone else right now. How has this happened?! I mean, I am seriously up in the middle of the night freaked out that this is what our world is coming to. Right before she came on Ryan Seacrest called her a "mentor"….scary, scary, SCARY!!!!! In Gaga's world, it's a spooky halloween night every minute!

Not only did Gaga decide to give me a heart attack, but Beyonce sang her "favorite song" with the words "make love to me" like every other second! SERIOUSLY?!?! CLEARLY teenagers and young kids are watching that!!! For heavens sakes, adults shouldn't even have to listen, either!!! I have always been a fan of Beyonce's diva walk, but last night I was disappointed. All of the sexual stuff in the show took away from the actual winning of America Idol in my mind! I mean sex is made so cheap these days which is very sad to me.

Besides, the woman's body isn't even respected anymore!!! I mean, I don't want anyone but my husband seeing my stomach I'm so conservative, so you can imagine just how appalling all this is to me. I may seem way too modest to some, but I'm not a free for all!!!! I don't want my man thinking he's just another one of the millions of guys getting a peeksy!!! He deserves better than that and so do I!!! Does nobody see things the way I do anymore? Aren't our bodies meant to be precious gifts given to the one we love and not just thrown around for all to see? What are we teaching our children??? I know that a lot of my students watch American Idol and it makes me sick thinking that they saw some of that stuff last night.

Luckily, both Scotty and Lauren are very vocal about their morals and values and I'm sure they weren't happy about what was going on up there, either. How wonderful to see that America chose those two to be in the finals!!! I love the country genre so much. Jack Black was a positive addition to the show as well and seriously funny as usual. He decided to show up completely covered which was very considerate of him I thought.

Yep…I'm extremely conservative and proud of it!!! I will be that homeschooling mom that shelters my kids for a while and I don't care who has a problem with that! We are going to wear clothes and love Jesus. End of story.

*Excuse me?!?!*

On the car ride to the beach on Friday, I decided not to eat very much so I could really enjoy my BackPorch food that night. I dream of the Grouper Florentine all year so this was not just an ordinary eating experience. All I ate the entire day was a pork sandwich and a banana so you can imagine how starving I was by the time I got to there. I would never suggest doing that again because apparently showing up that ravenous brings about some embarrassing results.

Our waiter was a little late coming to the table and I could tell right away that he was a slightly immature. The way he acted just seemed young, but I can only imagine how immature I was when I worked at Tropical Smoothie and Dairy Queen, so no judgments here. We ordered our food and he was sure to throw in his two cents between every sentence.

I got my food and literally shoveled it in because I was so hungry without caring what others thought around me. Once the waiter came back I asked him very urgently where the desert menu was like the world would come to an end if I didn't get it NOW! Next thing I know, his eyes are wide and he takes a dramatic step back. "WOA! You really threw down! I'm a 21 year old guy and I couldn't do what you just did! In fact, large men come in here all the time and don't do what you do!!!"

*EXCUSE ME?!?!?!!?!??!!* Does he not have ANY sisters or women in his life?!?! Wrong wrong WONG thing to say! Especially to a female needing her desert and QUICK! I gave him an ugly face and he laughed saying: "I'm not meaning anything BAD by it AT ALL, I'm just super impressed! REALLY!!!" He acted like we were going to be friends after that moment but too bad for him our interactions were OVER.

I mean seriously?! It wasn't THAT bad. I'm sick of all these salad eating women making all the men out there think every girl should eat like a bird! Not true!!! I've noticed the happiest girls are the ones that yell frantically for the desert menu! I can pretty much promise you that!!! In fact...they are usually the most confident, too. Believe it or not, most girls I've talked to who are constantly worried about what they eat are the most insecure of them all! It's an odd reality, but true non the less! To find a really confident gal just listen for the one screaming: "EXTRA CHOCOLATE, PLEASE!!!!!"

Just sayin.

*Real You, Real God!*

The sun is shining on the waves giving them a sparkling quality that makes this day feel heavenly. In my Beth Moore devotional last night she said: "Sometimes God gives us a splash of happiness to get our feet wet in what we will be swimming in for all of eternity." I feel like today is exactly what she's talking about. :) Last night in my journal I asked God to use this week to pick me up and dust me off from the stressful road I've been traveling for a long time now. I definitely feel His renewal and refreshment already and I'm so thankful. By the time I get back home, I should be ready to hit the ground running again.

I heard from my Nana about a new book called "A Praying Life" and thought it sounded like something great to read. As I walked on the beach this morning, I started listening to it on tape and already got some great truths from it. If you are a person who struggles with prayer, is a little jaded because your prayers don't seem to come true, or just want to get closer to the Lord, you should DEFINITELY buy this book! It is very good! It focuses on REAL issues instead of just teaching us how to look holy and perfect. No thanks to stuff like that!

The book was talking about how we need to become like children before the Lord in our prayer lives. I have always loved the idea of the kingdom belonging to little children because I love kids so much. I have noticed the fact that they believe very easily and are quick to have faith. Not only that, but when they have faith in something they believe it with all their hearts, no questions asked. I know I want to have passionate faith without question like a child, but something I heard today made me think of another quality children have that we need to have before the Lord.

There was a chubby little two year old hopping around on the beach while I was listening to the chapter on becoming like children. It's funny how it gave me a picture of exactly what the book was trying to say. This little girl was quick to share her joys with her father and even quicker to share her pain. She was TERRIFIED of the wet part of the sand..I mean terrified! She looked to her father to supply her with comfort and didn't even think to be embarrassed or ashamed about how she felt or acted. She came to him with her heart out on the table, just as she was. She had sand all over her face and was slobbering from her cries, but she didn't hesitate to run strait to her daddy dirty and scared.

As adults, we kinda clean ourselves up and give people and God only the presentable side. We may be feeling so many difficult emotions or struggling with sin and nobody will ever know. We don't tell anybody about it, not even God in our prayers. At times in my life, I avoided praying because I was so upset with my life circumstances and felt guilty about it when I prayed. I was upset about my prayers not being answered the way I wanted them to be and knew I wasn't right. I was mad because I felt alone in it all and figured God didn't want to hear my list of complaints. I KNEW I was wrong because I do believe the bible's truths, but my heart wasn't following. I felt like a spoiled child and I didn't want to spend time reminding myself of how jaded I'd become. I decided to stop praying so I could avoid seeing how cynical of a person I was. I didn't stop believing and I didn't stop reading my bible, but I did delete the prayer part. Then one night I was in my room feeling completely hopeless and alone when suddenly the Lord said to my heart: "Come to Me with everything. Tell me how you feel and don't be afraid. There is nothing I cannot carry."

That was about a two years ago and my life changed dramatically from that moment. I remember telling God, "Okay, You asked for it!" then screaming: "I am SO angry! I feel so hurt, I feel so abandoned and rejected! I feel like You don't listen! I feel like you let my enemies get away with everything!!! I feel like I can't trust You! I feel like giving up!!! Your plan is NOT fun so far!" I had bitter tears and a really bad attitude. I was acting like a spoiled child, but I was being completely honest before Him. To my surprise, instead of pulling away, the Lord was closer in that moment than He'd ever been.

After that night, He began to teach me truths about Himself that I hadn't known before. Truths I couldn't realize until I was able to truly open myself to Him. The reason I was so angry is because I didn't understand the heart of God. He doesn't LIKE for me to go through bad things. It hurts Him to see anyone He loves in pain. He has the BEST plan even if that comes with disappointment. (And it will, because this world is broken) The Lord is GOOD in all things and trustworthy even when I didn't feel it. The Lord WANTS to hear how I feel even if it's horrific. Even if it's something that I wouldn't say to anyone else on earth. There is no guilt when talking to the Lord…it's no secret to Him that I am a sinner. Why do I try to have the most eloquent words and pray as though I have it all together when I don't? Throwing my feelings out on the table opened up the way for me to learn more about the heart of God and grow closer to Him. The Lord is big enough to carry all our innermost thoughts no matter how bad they are. To my shock, He can even handle it when I have a problem with Him. He lovingly showed me where I was wrong without shaming me with guilt. He loves us so much!!! It's still hard to believe His reaction to my thoughts, but I am so thankful! Bottom line is…the Lord wants us to be REAL and He can handle it.

Just like a child wants to share with their parents things they like, the things they feel, the good days, the bad days, and everything in between, so should we be with God! He loves what we love, He loves hearing about our day. He loves hearing what we thought was funny, or what we are wondering about. He already knows what we are thinking, but for us to say it means so much to Him! I only have a glimpse of the beauty of the heart of God and I can't even imagine all the good that is in there!!! My human mind cannot fathom it.

I guess the point of this is to remind us all to be real. We may KNOW that the bible says the Lord is like our father, but is He in our personal lives? Are we REALLY in a deep relationship with the Lord, or do we just talk about it? Are we holding God at a distance, or are we laying our hearts out before Him in prayer? None of us are perfect, non of us are invincible, none of us are void of pain, so let's stop acting like it. When we open our hearts up no matter how broken they are, true relationship with the Lord follows. He understands us more than anyone else in the world, so let's never be ashamed to go to Him with our most raw thoughts and emotions. Just like the baby on the beach ran to her earthly father today, let us run to our Heavenly Father in the same way! Bring the REAL you before the REAL God!

What a good and faithful God we serve!!! :)

*My Day as a Princess*

As some of you may know, today is my big debut as Snow White in the kindergarten production. I woke up early and dressed up in my princess outfit not knowing exactly HOW fun it would be.

The moment I walked into the school, students stopped what they were doing and looked at me with wide eyes. Some gasped, some put their hand over their mouths, and some couldn't get to me fast enough. "Snow White!!! What are you doing here?! How did you get here?!?!" Some of those kids REALLY thought I was Snow White! I finally got the chance to be what I've always wanted to be...a princess. And it felt GOOD. haha

It was funny because even students who were old enough to know I wasn't ACTUALLY Snow White still came up to me and talked to me like I was. One fifth grade boy smiled at me and said "Where's your prince, Snow White?" I told him that my prince was late showing up and if he sees him to notify me at once! haha Mrs. W had to make a "no touching" rule because all of the kids wanted to come up and grab me. I even had a place to stand that was out of the way so everyone wasn't running to me. I almost felt like a fragile plate or something.

Once we went through our dress rehearsal, I got in my car and realized I was about to run out of gas. To my disappointment, I only had cash and did not bring another outfit to change into. I had to walk into the gas station DECKED OUT in full princess attire and it was quite the scene. All of the subway people were laughing, but the funny thing is EVERYONE went along! "Snow White is here!" said the man at the desk. Then I went out into the parking lot and some people rolled down their windows to scream at me. Everyone wants to believe, I think...even adults. It's kinda like Santa and how we always talk about him even though we know the truth. (Although, I've heard he has a facebook.)

Anyway, I got lucky because I got to live the dream and get the fame of a Princess for one day. Not to mention it's quite the compliment if kids really believe you're a Disney princess because if you have some growth on your face, they are the first to tell you. I'm feelin pretty good about myself right now, actually! haha I was a princess for the day and it was just as good as I thought it would be. :)

*Dillo on my Pillow*

I was asked by a guy the other day if I liked to go camping. Of course I always dread for people to ask me that, because it's totally vogue at my college and church to be a camper. Unfortunately, one of my favorite movies is Troop Beverly Hills because I could relate so well. In my brain I just can't wrap my mind around purposefully sleeping on a rocky ground with spiders in your ears and no proper sinks for brushing teeth! I went camping freshman year and I remember my friends telling me to pack my grunge clothes for the trip. Grunge clothes?! Now…why would I have those?!

I wish so bad that I was an outdoorsy wild woman because then I could be really popular, but sadly that's not the way it is. I just don't understand why going to the bathroom behind a bush and having ants in my food should be appealing. I might have to go camping sometime just for the sake of a good blog because nature hates me. I promise you, anything crazy that everyone says won't happen, ALWAYS happens to me. It's kind of like when I was at summer camp and they told me the scary horse was a sweetheart and he bit my hand a minute later. His name was Mr. Ed and I'm still mad and scarred!

One time I tried to camp out in my backyard to try to become one with nature in junior high. It didn't take five minutes before a mountain lion screeched a horrendous cry outside the tent! I have never ran that fast in my life and I had no idea that mountain lions lived in the city. People still tell me I was mistaken, but I assure you I wasn't. If it wasn't a mountain lion, it must've been even worse….like an armadillo.

The wilderness is full of armadillos! WILD ONES!!! Those things are the most terrifying creatures known to man!!! Not only are they creep central, but they are completely BLIND! That means I might wake up with a dillo on my pillow! That means they might just wobble on over to my extremely uncomfortable sleeping bag for warmth! That means their eyes are probably the scariest things to look into up close!!!!

I just got creeped out because I googled "facts on armadillos"and a huge picture popped up. I seriously had to click out of the page because the dillo grossed me out so bad! It makes me itch to look at the guy. They kind of make a crunching noise when they walk which doesn't help their cause.

*That's Life!*

I'm sitting in my old dorm room with a flood of thoughts filling my mind. It's a place that brings back so many memories that stay locked here until I return. It's a world that disappears when I go home to my family...a world that sometimes feels like it was only a dream. It's funny how memories work like that sometimes.

My mind has been full of memories lately because of this monumental time in my life. I'm sure you all know about this because I can't stop talking about it! I think we wait and wait and wait and never celebrate what we've waited for when it finally gets here. That's why I have been talking about it...I won't upset myself by not being happy about something I've wanted for a long time. I believe in celebrating and not just waiting around for things...I like to celebrate what's already HERE.

I don't know about you, but I always picture the monumental moments in my life and they never end up the way I imagine. There is always that little snag in the situation that reminds me this isn't heaven and things won't always go as planned. For instance....it's the night before my graduation and I have MAJOR shin splints! Like, very painful, every step is a job well done type of thing. When I imagined this day, I did not dream that I would be in pain from shin splints and half my face sunburned from practice. But the thing is...that's the way life is. I decided to sprint up a large hill two days before graduation and I'm paying the price! Once again, the quest to do something to stay in shape has bit me right in the behind!!! Either way, I'll do it again, because that's life, too.

Not only do I have shin splints, but I also had a terrifying experience at the county jail and figured out that I had lost my drivers license in front of the po. I was at the county jail because my licensure was having a rough time coming through and the big long saga continues. I had to run to the revenue office and pay for a new drivers license and I'm still really confused where mine is. But here's the deal....all of this could really annoy me, or I could just roll with the punches and stay happy regardless. I decided not to get frustrated about any of it and it was a very freeing experience. I have a realistic view on life that makes these little things not surprising to me at all.

Some girls sit around and day dream about their future love story or kids in their spare time. I do that sometimes I will admit, but there's always little snags involved. I imagine my wedding day and I've got this enormous wedgie that I can't do anything about because the congregation is watching the most romantic moment of my life! You know why I dream like that? Because THAT'S LIFE! Find one bride who isn't super stressed about her wedding and I'll find you three flying pigs! I mean, Molly got her wedding dress run over by a car and you wouldn't know that from the pictures! Pictures are so misleading sometimes. You find that smiling mother with her new baby in a photo looking like life is perfect and ask her if she put her hand on her belly with a pleasant smile for nine months strait! I will bet you all the money in the world that's not how it went. Why we all pretend like life doesn't have it's snags is beyond me. Just wait till I get married and have kids you will hear the TRUTH. You'll feel so much better about your life and realize you're quite normal.

The truth is...I am going to graduate with the worst shin splints of my entire life in heels that take the skin off my little pinky toe with my license hanging in the balance over finger prints. But you know what? That's okay! Because it's my graduation day and if it comes with excruciating pain, then so be it. I'm happy and it's going to be a great day, snags and all. My fingerprints may not go through again and I might be stuck at the creepy jail with no handsanitizer for days, but I won't sweat it! Cause that's life here on earth and we better make friends with it. Our perfection and deepest desires will be fulfilled in eternity, and that to me is enough to be joyful in anything that life here brings.

*Nightmare Come True!*

Most graduates have the "dreams". The ones where we finally make it to graduation, but they stop us in our tracks and say we have ONE MORE class to take. It's kind of like when people are having a baby and dream that they give birth to a wooly mammoth instead of a child. I think the "dreams" just come with all life phases.

I've been having dreams like that and am always thrilled to wake up and realize they aren't true. Unfortunately something that SHOULD only be in a graduation nightmare has totally happened to me today in the form of a letter.

I went to get my graduation outfit from the bookstore and of course had to try it on while humming the cliche graduation song. I marched around Macy singing in my black robe for a while celebrating the fact that my worries were over! Graduation was near and I was going to be licensed very soon! Then I had a thought out of nowhere that interrupted my fun….maybe I should check my school mail because I haven't all semester?

Next thing I know I have my face shoved in a mailbox staring at the most horrifying sight! It was a large envelope from the police department that stated: "URGENT! REPLY IMMEDIATE!" First of all…I don't think immediate was used correctly, and second of all it was time to FREAK OUT! The police had sent it in JANUARY and expected me to reply in thirty days. Turns out my fingerprints didn't go through and my background check wasn't cleared.

I ran up to one of my professors and asked them how serious this was and she said: "Oh, it just means you can't get licensed unless you figure that out! That's how big of a deal it is!" WHATTTTT?!?!?! Insert another record scratch of my life! I have worked five years to get a degree and here come the po po being the biggest buzz kill of my life!

I will figure out how to make all this right and I have till August to get my license, but REALLY?! Come on! haha I'll keep you posted on my professional status…I'm going to the Po's office this week to get it all sorted out.

Yikes, right?

*Memories, Messes, and Mom*

I remember the butterflies churning in my stomach as I woke up on this particular Christmas morning. I can't recall the exact year but I think I was around second or third grade. The anticipation had been rising for a couple of weeks because my mom would put more presents under the tree each day. By the time Christmas came, the room was overflowing with gifts and we were full of excitement.

I woke up at 4am and ran into my parents room because I wanted to start Christmas so badly! My love language is gifts, so you can only imagine all the joy that was going on inside of me knowing I had presents ahead. Mom and dad told me to wait until 5am and try to sleep till then, so I went and sat in my bed wide awake for an hour.

Once we finally got downstairs, it almost felt like magic! There were three new bikes and a wagon. Each of my other sibling got a new bike and the wagon was for me. I wasn't very good at riding a bike and I'd much rather have people tote me around and my mom totally knew that. I was way too old to be dragged around, but mom did it anyway. As everyone else tried out their new bikes, I was having a ball in the wagon. (I have yet to enjoy a bike ride…I know HOW but it's always rather unpleasant actually. I know it's cool to ride a bike, but I'm not vogue enough to sit on those abrasive seats!)

Mom always had a way of making days like that so special. I remember one year Molly got crutches because she wanted them so bad. I'm still not sure how she got those, but I'm sure it was a big hassle. Mom really goes above and beyond every single day as a mother and I want to be just like her someday! She literally loves me through thick and thin…even when I was a tubby fifth grader in a pooh shirt, she totally thought I was the cutest thing ever. I still can't convince her that I was super awkward!

This week I have been a total pain in the rear because i'm totally stressed from school. After hard days, I usually just go in my room and crash and am not the most fun person to be around. All day long I am the most smiley, positive person I can be but when I get home I just fall into bed dramatically. My second rotation has really taken it's tole on me and I find myself useless by the time I get home. On top of that, I've made a huge mess of papers, glue sticks, markers, binders, tabs, and so much more all over the floor trying to get my life together! She has totally put up with the mess even though I know it drives her insane! She is borderline OCD so that is true love for sure. She has said some off handed comments but at least she doesn't try to make me clean it up. I need to have a mess right now to get all my stuff in order to graduate and so I REALLY appreciate it. (I hope she reads that, haha)

I can't go into detail about how great my mom is or even begin to touch on how wonderful she is because no writing could be enough. I mean, I wouldn't be who I am today without my mother! She taught me to love children and helped me realize my desire to be a teacher. Even though I didn't learn to read until second grade, my homeschool days are some of my fondest memories!!! I know I can use a lot of the things she's taught me in my classroom and future. Not necessarily strategies on teaching reading, but I have a lot of loving strategies to use, haha! When I become a mom someday, I want to be just like her!!! (Only difference is, I won't make up my bed everyday…I still wonder why people do that just to get back in it?)

I know Molly is going to be a wonderful mother this summer when Samuel is born and a lot of that comes from my mom. I can't wait to do some of the fun stuff from my childhood with my future babies and I hope that I can make them feel as loved as my mom makes me feel. No matter how stressed or grumpy I am at the end of a long workday, mom still greets me with a big smile. When my life is taking care of children all day long, it's nice to have someone take care of me when I get home.

I am so thankful the Lord gave me to her because it was such a good soil to grow up in! She and my dad love Jesus and have instilled those beliefs and values into their children. I am so proud to come from such a Godly legacy and I will work hard to be the same in order to keep it going for generations! I want our family to bring glory to God all of our lives and my mom has really shown me how. What a blessing I was given on the day I was born! :)

*Student Descriptions of Me*

At my going away party today the students all gave me notes and wrote poems describing me. I had a lot of laughs when I got home and read through them because it's funny how students see me. I'm really tired so I don't feel like typing much, but I do want to write a few things that students said about me that you may find entertaining if you know me:

1.) Likes to talk

2.) Is very clean

3.) Wants to have fun

4.) Loves to swiffer

5.) Likes to hug

6.) Loves to work all the time

7.) Lives at school

8.)Likes to be a babysitter

9.) Likes to pre-rinse your dishes

10.) Laughs at everything

11.) Loves to eat

hahahaha…oh, wow. Through the mouths of babes, right?

*Fatal Distractions*

Distraction: Anything or anyone that pulls you away from your God-ordained purpose

First of all I want you to know that this might be pretty important because I really felt some spiritual warefare whenever I got online to write about this. There's something that's come to my attention lately that I haven't thought about and I really want to share it with you!

As most of you know, we are in a CONSTANT battle with the enemy and if we are not aware of that, it can cause many problems. It's not really the popular thing to speak about the unseen war, but it's crucial so I'm going to! One of my spiritual gifts is being a warrior in the unseen battle and I have a major sensitivity to it. It can creep people out when I talk about it, but please still read because it's IMPORTANT. It's not healthy for the battle against darkness to be the MAIN focus, but we also have to use our weapons against it or we will be attacked and sometimes not even know it. It's important to find a balance and not obsess over it, but forgetting about it can be fatal. Usually the most crippling attacks are the ones that are so subtle that we may not even know they are from the enemy.

There's a book that I felt like the Lord wanted me to get the other day called "Fatal Distractions" and I'm so thankful that I did. The Lord has a plan for all of us that is far greater than we can imagine and that will bring glory to His kingdom. The enemy doesn't want it to happen and throws fatal distractions through lies that sink deep into our hearts to try and distract us. The sad thing is most of us believe these as true and don't even realize that it's the enemy trying to sabotage us inside so we aren't as effective for the Kingdom.

I'm going to make myself pretty vulnerable here and give you some examples of the lies that have been put into my head. Looking at it now with a clear view they seem completely insane. But the fact is I have entertained some of these thoughts before. Even though it feels funny to admit these because it's seriously the filthiest part of my thought process, it's completely worth it to me if I can help even one person...

--Here are some examples of the fatal distractions and some of the lies that may come with them: Have you ever?-

*Had envy or jealousy ? "If only you were skinny like her, then you could be loved." "Of course he chose her over you! She's way less dramatic and look at those legs!" "Everything comes easier for her. Why is your life so much harder?"

*Felt completely alone? "Nobody really cares about you." "You're going to be stuck alone for the rest of your life." "If you try to get close to people, they will run when they get to know you."

*Been so angry at someone that you can't get it off your mind? "Can you believe he cheated on you and got away with it? He's even a ministry major, nobody in the ministry can ever keep their lips to themselves." "You deserve to get revenge." "You are allowed to be angry and hate that person…look what they did. Poor you."

*Become bitter because a situation didn't turn out the way you planned? "You will always be the spinster watching everyone else get married. Save up your money…there are lots of gifts to be bought for OTHER people." "Wow…look at your track record for bad situations. Anticipate disappointment in life!" "God wants you to have a bad life because it will make your ministry better. Go ahead and put your hands out for the chains."

*Felt hurt and broken? "Remember that he said you needed a talent or nobody would like you? Let's think about that everyday cause he was RIGHT." "You don't have what it takes and you never will no matter how hard you try."

*Been afraid? "A tornado is going to burst into your room at any moment!" "Enjoy today, because someone you love is going to die and it may be soon." "What's that noise?! I bet it's a killer coming to snatch you up! Freak out about it! COME ON!"

*Let rejection leave you feeling crippled? "They don't want anything to do with you and are smart because of it." "You will never be enough to impress them."

I know that I have felt every single one of those things at one time or another and I am 100% sure that part of the reason I felt that way is because of lies put in my head by the enemy. Some people might even be shocked that I've ever thought those things and they do feel very silly now. I have a sneaky suspicion that everyone else might have some things they've thought that would be embarrassing to put on paper. But when we believe them in the isolation of our own minds, they aren't silly at all. They are truly fatal to us and can distract us from growing in Christ and doing what He's called us to do.

Those crazy lies that we believe can get us into some MAJOR trouble. Isn't that how he got Eve to sin for the first time anyway? He whispers lies that we take for truth even if they are completely insane. When you hear something in your mind that hurts deeply, ask yourself if it might be the enemy trying to distract you. These things may have crippled us in the past, but they don't have to anymore!

Let's stop entertaining lies in our minds that just make us miserable. Following the Lord will never be easy because attacks will certainly come, but let's at least be ready for them. Our God is greater and stronger and much more powerful than anything we have against us. Praise Jesus for His constant power and that He fights on our behalf!!! We are valuable, we are loved, God has a wonderful plan, we have so much to be thankful for, we are NEVER alone, we are beautiful, we are treasured, we do have what it takes because of the power of Jesus Christ inside us! :) We are more than over comers!!!!!!!