Ringing in the New Year

Wow, can you believe 2009 is actually here? It just seems like it turned 2008. IT wasa great year, but I am totally stoked about 2009! A few days ago, I was so just nonchalant about it. Yeah, 2009, whatever, a new year. But now...SO EXCITED about it.

It all started with the question "Who wants a Jesus year?" And I realized, well, yep that's something I'm totally down with. A year with my Savior and me would be great. Not just another average year. This one has so many opportunities for me, all because I've decided to live it with my Savior in mind. Yes, this is something that a person can decide at any time of the year, but with my obsessive complulsiveness about things like this, trust me, this is a great time.

It so excites and dumbfounds me that God is thrilled about my decision. Yes, a year with Him, getting closer to Him for me is nothing less than thrilling. But for Him to be thrilled to spend time with little 'ole me? Blows my mind. This is a year I don't want to lose track of our relationship. I know He doesn't go anywhere, but trust me sometime my mind does.

I want so many things out of this year. I want to seek Him more in my decisions. I want Him to be intimately involved in every aspect of my life. I want to stop being so daggum indecisive about things and live my life fully relying on knowing that He is with me no matter what. I want others to see Him more in me. I want to memorize His Word so that it is pasted in my heart. I want to know Him intimately and have my prayer life just grow leaps and bounds. I just want Him and my relationship to be the main focus of my life this year before anything else.

Of course there are numerous other things that aren't nearly as important that I also want out of this year. Did I mention that I long to write books? Lol. As much as I love to read, and I do mean LOVE, I've always wanted to be on the other end of the rope. As for if that will actually happen, we'll see. Perhaps I'm just meant to be a reader of other's books. But I really would love to write books for God's glory.

God, please just take this year and mold me into the person that you want me to be. I'm all yours.

I hope God sends blessings to you this year, Siestas.

~Sarah

Oh Goodness...

Y'all, this has just not been my week. I know everybody has weeks where nothing at all goes right, but it's hard to imagine anyone feeling exactly like you do or having just as bad of week when you're right in the middle of it. The only reason I got through it was by the Lord picking me up and carrying me at some points. I have no clue if it was because of the full moon or what, but Satan was out FULL FORCE this week!

I have had so much to do for school that my mind is fried. Plus, we started our practicum this week, and I'm in 4th grade this time. Apparently, my teacher does not understand that a practicum student is different from a secretary, because all I have done is graded papers, filed papers and the Lord only knows how many copies I have made! I will stop before I get agitated again. :)

Oh, and this will be funny to y'all. Tuesday night I had to stay home from revival to do loads of homework. Mind you, everybody else in my family was at the church. What happened? The pigs got out. Not 1, not 2, but 6 pigs got out of their pen! So here I am, barefoot, chasing this pig and trying to keep him from escaping up the lane. I finally herd him across the cow pasture to the pig pen, and guess what happens there? Somebody (my brother) left the water running, so when I go in the pen to try and herd them in, I sink knee deep in mud and God knows what(literally, He knows, but I ain't askin'!). I drag out my cell phone to call for reinforcements, but lo and behold, nobody will answer me because they are at church. You talking about a desperate girl, that was me. I finally got ahold of my grandaddy before he went up to sing in the choir, and he told me not to worry about them. So I hiked myself back to my house, tried washing the mudd off of me, and did my homework. Then people start calling wondering if I got the pigs back in. Ummm....NO! 6 pigs that don't listen to me? Don't think so! My brother finally came and fixed everything. They aren't even my pigs. I felt like I smelled liek pigs the whole day after.

Well, I'm not going to go on about how bad my week went, but I will tell you how gracious my God is! Literally, I was about to have a nervous breakdown (ever have one of those?) Wednesday night, when the coolest thing happened. My grandaddy text me telling me to not let people and circumstances get ahold of my emotions, which was something that we talked about in Sunday School. God knew exactly when I needed that message. Can you ay Wow?!

God is good to me. He never leaves me, knows what I'm going through and can relate. Even when I get so overhwelmed and I put other things in the forefront of my mind before Him, I'm always first in His. He loves me. I'm not nearly worthy enough, but He loves me. And that? Makes me totally happy.

Hope y'all have a blessed weekend!

~Sarah

Hectic Weekend!

Considering it's Monday, I got up at 5:30 (I know, early right?!) and it's after 9 and I'm still awake enough to write for y'all, I think I'm doing pretty dern good! To say this weekend has been hectic (and the upcoming week looks to be the same) is an understatement. We had our homecoming football game Friday night, which we won. Why on earth you have homecoming a month early in September when it is 90 degrees out is beyond me. Sunday was homecoming at church, and Sunday night started revival. Oh my goodness, I cannot describe how good that homecoming lunch was! I just looove covered dish lunches at our church. Revival ends on Wednesday. We decided instead of bringing one preacher, we would bring back all the preachers that were raised in our church. How cool is that?! I was able to go last night and tonight, but I'm not sure about the next couple of nights. I've got a lot of busy work at school I"ve got to accomplish.

I do briefly want to touch on what Sunday nights message was about. One of my many cousins was the preacher. He hasn't goen to seminary school, but boy can he bring it! The very first thign he did was ask a question. It made me think, so y'all do too. Who in the Bible has the most determination?
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Ya'll I was thinking of all kinds of people. First off, I was thinking it was one of those quick questions where the anser was Jesus. Well, he wasn't looking for that. then I was thinking of Paul. Nope, wrong again. Want to know the answer? ....Satan. Yep, I felt pretty dumb after that.

The text was from Matthew 4 when Satan tries to tempt Jesus, which is a pretty dumb thing to do. If His Father can throw Him out of heaven, he's a very determined guy to keep on trying something that purely ain't gonna work! He also went on to tell a story about how he strove for 2 years to become the best archer around. He practiced hours a day, each day of the week. Finally he got there. And then he posed the question, well what if he had used that determination for God and His glory? Where would he be today? Awesome thing to make you ponder what you're really about.

HE also made a statement that I really loved. Satan is determined to destroy you, but you've got to be more determined to serve the Lord. Simple statement, but defnintely profound! I think what he was trying to get at was that Satan will do anything to make you think you don't need to be revived. He'll spit all kinds of lies to you, but you've got to see through them. Revival doesn't start within a church. It starts within a person.

I hope all of y'all have a wonderful blessed week. Hopefully I'll be able to get on more than I have these last few days. :)

~Sarah