Happy Thanksgiving! There are many things I want to talk about in light of what today is about.  First, I just want to thank God for choosing to save me from the kingdom of darkness and an eternity without Him.  If it weren't for Him, I would be totally lost in this world.  Second I want to thank God for continually pulling me back on the right path when I stray.  He has made me who I am and it is only because of His grace that I am close to Him right now.  I also want to really thank Him for my family.  I LOVE FAMILY.  Mom, Dad, brothers, cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles.  If you are not thankful for your family, sincerely ask God to change your perspective.  Contentedness and thankfulness are so important, especially contentedness about family.  They are such a blessing and such a gift.  Gifts are meant to be enjoyed and treasured, so enjoy you family and treasure them dearly.  Thank God everyday for the family He has placed you in.  This Thanksgiving (or even after Thanksgiving) I have a challenge for you.  Think of two things that you are specifically thankful for of each immediate family member (and don't be vague!).  Just two things, it shouldn't be very hard.  And, think of at least five things that you appreciate about each parent.  They sacrifice so much for you, thank them, and acknowledge the things that they do for you.  You have no idea how much it will bless your family members if you tell them some things that you a  And, as an added bonus, you may want to tell some of your friends the things you appreciate about them  Anyway, I hope that your Thanksgiving is/was good, and I hope you remain thankful the other 364 days out of the year!  Thank you for reading my blog! :-)

I want to talk for a second about the creation story.  In the beginning, God began an act of creation.  For six days He created everything you see here on earth, along with the rest of the universe.  Then, after He had created all of those things, He said, "Let us make man in our own image."  He then proceeded to form Adam out of the dust of the earth, and later He created Eve.  They were set apart from the rest of creation because they had something special.  They bore the image of God upon them.  God looked at them differently from the rest of creation.  He loved them specially, and interacted with them on a higher level.  He made humans his greatest creation.  After the fall, God's image that we share may have been tainted, but He still loves us more than any other creation.  He still interacts with us differently.  We are still His greatest creation. 
   Now, why am I telling you this?  Because, many times I think of myself as God's greatest creation (instead of humanity as a whole).  Now, have I ever really thought to myself that I'm personally God's greatest creation? No, but I live like it and think like it, and I'm not alone.  We, as fallen beings, many times get so caught up with ourselves and our problems and our image that we seldom see the importance of other people.  Being self-centered is a natural side-effect of the fall, and it can really damage our calling as Christians if self-centeredness pervades our lives. 
   The Gospel is a message to people.  Redemption though Jesus Christ is directed towards people.  And, for those of us who have been saved through His blood, people are a central part of our lives.  Just look at what the New Testament says to Christians.  It talks about two things basically: Our relationship with God, and our relationships with other people.  You can't do well in one without doing well in the other.  They are interrelated.  I'm studying the Middle Ages, which means that I read a lot about monks and escapists.  They had the idea that in order to grow in relationship with God, one must retreat from the world and go off by oneself, or in a small community of other like-minded people.  But they only experienced part of Christianity.  They didn't interact with non-Christians, so they couldn't spread the Gospel to the lost.  They only interacted with a handful of other believers, so they missed out on many opportunities to minister to others.  This isn't good. 
   There are also those who focus so much on people that they lose track of their relationship with God.  They may start to become people-pleasers, conforming themselves to the expectations of those around them.  And what starts to happen is that they lose the true meaning of love.  As they drift from God, they drift from true relationships with other people.  They lose true love of people, and people instead become instruments of their own satisfaction.  Obviously, this isn't good either.
    Neither of these produce true love of other people.  But we don't necessarily have to have one without the other.  As we foster a relationship with God, He will call us to minister to other people, and we need to be ready.  Too many times we are so caught up in ourselves that we miss out on opportunities to really bless people.  People are so important!  They are God's most important creation. 
   What are spiritual gifts?  They are Spirit-given abilities to minister to God's people.  He has placed us where we are for a reason.  He has placed us with certain people for a reason.  He expects us to love those people, befriend those people, and minister to those people.  God will use us in so many ways, if we are open to being used.  But many times we aren't, and it's sad. Truly loving others isn't in our nature.  We naturally do the opposite.  So it takes work and courage to step out and minister to others. 
   Many times God will want you to do something that seems awkward.  One time, I felt like God wanted me to talk to a random guy at the Atlanta airport.  After a few minutes of talking, I got the impression the guy wanted me to leave, so I did.  It was awkward, but maybe God used that for something.  I may never know, but at least I did it.  Sometimes an even harder thing is to spend time with someone who you don't like very much.  Maybe they get on your nerves, or maybe they are just kind of strange.  It can be hard to talk to them and may feel more like a waste of time than anything else (especially when you could be spending that time talking to your friends).  But it can be a real way to minister to that person.  I'm not saying that you should always sit next to that person and always talk to them, or whatever.  But most times it doesn't really cross out minds to do anything at all. 
   Does all this make sense?  I find that my natural tendency is to be self-centered, instead of thinking about the needs of others.  My natural tendency is to love the people who love me, instead of being loving (and showing love) to all.  My natural tendency is to talk to people who want to listen, instead of listening to those who want to talk.  Are you tracking with me?  I hope so, and I hope God will give you opportunities to love others like He loves you.  God bless!              

I want to share with you guys part of an email from a friend of mine.  This is what she said (I've left her name out so she won't be embarrassed):  "Please pray that the Lord would shine through me. I don't want people to be left with 'Oh wow, [person] is such a fun girl.' I want to leave them with the amazing Savior that saved me."  That really made me smile and thank God so much for that type of attitude expressed in a Christian teenager.  It's something that I've been struggling with ever since I can remember.  The idea that we should care more about Christ being glorified through us, rather than our own glorification.
   Self-centeredness is something that I struggle with a lot...and something that we struggle with as teenagers in general.  Many times we go into social situations with the intent to impress or get people to like us or make sure that people still like us.  We can find ourselves being people-pleasers in order to feel a sense of worth.  We find worth in our identity and too often we try to find our identity in how others feel about us.
   The problem lies in where we find our identity.  Instead of finding our identity in the image we present to people, we should find our identity in the Person who we were made in the image of.  Christ is who we should find our identity in.  Now, I know you all know this.  But, it is hard to live it out--trust me, I struggle with it every day.  You see, we naturally bend towards seeking to glorify ourselves.  We do this because we think that worth is found in other's opinions, or social significance.  When in reality, worth is found in the eyes of God!  God loves you oh so much, and He sent His Son to die for you.  And, through Christ's death, you have been transformed from death to life (and, in turn, have been given the ability to seek to glorify Him, instead of glorifying yourself).  And, because you now can find your worth in Christ, your striving to find glory among people is really quite meaningless.  You already have so much worth and significance in Christ! 
   This is why it made me so happy to read what my friend wrote.  We can now stop seeking to glorify ourselves, and start seeking Christ to be glorified through us.  We live not for the praise of man, but for the love of Christ.  This is a hard task, and one not easily accomplished (and even harder to make a lifestyle).  But never despair, because God will see your strivings to bring Him glory, and He will rejoice in them.  He will also help you grow more and more and will give you a desire more and more to glorify Christ.  I encourage you to examine your life for a second.  Pray that God would reveal to you your heart, and that He would help you to live a life that is focused on His glorification instead of your own.  He will help you.  Never be discouraged!  We live for a God who desires your all, but we also live for a God who will give you all the patience, love, mercy, and grace that He's got.  And trust me, it's never going to run out. :-)  God bless you!

I love family.  I've been coming to realize how great family is more and more.  Let's first talk about Evan.  Man, if you don't know him, you're missing out.  There were times when we got along great, and times when we didn't, but through it all he was so patient with me and loving towards me.  It's been sad to have him go away to Bryan, but it's been great that I get to see him at least once a week.  Last weekend I was up at Bryan for a visit and got to spend the night in the dorm with him.  It was really good to spend time with him (though for most of it he had to study, which was understandable).  But, I knew that I could talk to him whenever, and he would make the time to talk to me.  He's always ready to talk and always kind. 
   Then there's Benjamin.  He's just plain enjoyable to be around.  One thing I appreciate is that he is such a deep thinker and he struggles with many of the same things I do. Whenever I have a problem, I know that I can go to him and talk to him about it.  He is ready to give advice and share what's he's been dealing with if I ask him. 
  And then there's Mom and Dad who are pretty awesome.  They both really love God and have really helped me to grow spiritually.  Mom is always ready to serve me and help me, and Dad is ready to give me advice and make me think.  I can tell that they both really care about me, and it's so encouraging! 
   But let's not forget the cousins!  I had a really great hour-long talk with my cousin not too long ago.  Just catching up on things and sharing different things God is doing in our lives.  It is so great to have cousins who care about me and pray for me and are willing to talk to me.  Plus, my cousins are a ton of fun.  Some of the most fun times I have all year is family gatherings, especially at Grandmother and Granddad's house.  It's so much fun to be around these guys.  There is no need to put up an image; I can just be myself.  It's so great. 
   Your family is such a blessing.  God has given us families for a reason, and it is so important to cultivate relationships within your family.  Even if they aren't around, it's nice to know that they love you and are willing to talk to you.  And I encourage you to love your family as well, and to always be willing to talk to whatever family member that needs you.  Help them to love family too! :-)

Fall is in full swing now.  October ushered in my favorite season of the year, and November and early December will bring it to a close.  It may be short, but it sure is enjoyable.  I just love the crisp, clean air on my face.  I love the brilliant colors that the trees shout forth.  I love the cool breeze, and the early nights.  I love the apples that are now in harvest.  I love the crisp leaves that decorate the ground.  I just love fall!  God has truly created a world that is full of wonder and excitement.  I was looking at the mountains the other day, and silently prayed, "we praise an artist for painting a beautiful picture of nature, but You have done so much better."  I mean, what are the artist's trying to do anyway?  They're trying to copy what God has already made oh so beautiful.  I mean, look at those amazing colors!  Nature is beautiful when it's all green, but the changes to orange, yellow, and red make it even more breathtaking.  God has really blessed us with a great earth to live on.  He didn't have to give anything colors at all.  Or, He could have made everything one color.  But no.  He has introduced so much variety into his creation.  And He doesn't even stop at that.  Not only do we have some plants one color and some the other, we have those same plants changing colors once every year.  And not just plants, everything.  He created everything unique.  He even gave animals personalities!  If you don't believe me, spend a couple of minutes with my dog. :-)  God has truly blessed His people so much with such a wonderful creation.  Most of the time we take these things for granted, and it is sort of inevitable at some point, but how about you spend a couple of minutes (or longer!) outside, taking a look at the beauty around you and thanking God that He took the time to create this masterpiece that we can live in.