be the CHANGE

Good morning ! Today is the very last day of 2011 ! Has it been an amazing year for you? Looking back on this year, I had so many crazy experiences: I ran so far from God, only to turn around & see him right behind me with arms wide open, calling me home. So I ran back to him. I think the biggest highlight of my year was spending two days with 7 camp directors from Australia and New Zealand. We went on an overnight canoe trip, which I begged my camp director to take me because I was the boating director. This canoe trip still impacts me today, it was that powerful ! God is so good ! Always :)

Today, being my last day in this year, & your’s too, I think we should focus on fellowship today. What better way to reign in the new year than to be surrounded by some close friends? Fellowship as a Christian is so very important, the Bible stresses it in many different books (three chords are stronger than one !). This new year, I want to work on my friendships with the amazing Christians God has placed in my life. I am a very social person, but that side of me has been hiding because I scared to lose close friendships again. I need to trust God that the people he’s putting in my life are there to stay.

Open yourself up ! Spend your day with friends- I’m making food for some old friends who are visiting (it’s a brunch because lets face it, university students don’t wake up early for food on holidays). Pull out some board games ! Invite someone on a walk, do whatever you love doing, just invite a friend along, Close your laptop, shut down your computer, get off your phone, tablet, whatever ! Go BE with someone. I know that the internet is a huge blessing, don’t let Satan turn it into a bad thing. Focus on your fellowship today

When I go to church, I bring my Bible, a notebook & multiple pens. Why? Because I believe that the message said on that particular Sunday is given to us to use, sometimes the message doesn’t apply to our life right at that second. Maybe it does. But my pastor will say something that hits me so hard & I have to write it down so that in the future, I can remember its magnitude. I also write down verses that I should check out as well as lyrics to some of the songs that are just so beautiful.

Have you guys ever had that smacked in the face moment at church? Or the tingly skin- as if that lyric or those words were meant for me & my Creator is here helping me?

I think it’s amazing how God is ever present in our lives and constantly pulling us to him. Sometimes we need to sit in the stillness of his presence & feel the power and love that he wishes to shower on us.

Today’s challenge could be multiple things that I have alluded to. But I think I’ll save the notes for tomorrow. Today, I challenge myself & you to find a quiet place, sit down, & be silent. Open your heart to God & wait. Be patient & silent & see what God has to say to you. These are my favourite times to spend with God, in his grand and vast majesty, but they definitely do not happen often enough. Today I challenge you to take 10 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour- however long you need & give that small portion of your day to reflect on the One who loves you more than any other could.

Cast all your cares upon him..

This is was my first thought this morning and God is so good because it’s what I needed to hear !

Today’s challenge is to cast my cares upon him, NOT TO WORRY !

This is a huge challenge for today because I am very very very concerned (which is the christian way of saying I’m super worried but I’m trying to trust God) about my best friend. He was traveling yesterday & I have no idea if he & his family made it safely. Yesterday, the highway was FULL of ice, I should know because I was also traveling. There were tons of accidents but God was with my mom & I as we were driving back in the ice and the dark. I’ve been trying to get a hold of my friend to relieve my nerves.

I need to trust so much in what God is doing in my life right now, including whatever happened to my best friend. I need to trust that God is holding him in His hands, regardless of the situation.

My goal for today is that whenever I think of my friend, I will immediately pray & give the situation to God, instead of attempting to take the worry back from him. God is the Great Physician, he takes care of us. Maybe my friend’s phone is dead & that’s why I haven’t heard from him. Regardless, I need to let go of the worry & stress & trust that my God is bigger than this problem. He’s in control, not me.

If you have the chance, would you please pray for my friend? I truly appreciate it !

Also know that my Ask Box is always open for prayer requests or if you need someone to talk to, especially if one of my challenges hits close to home with you. Or if you want to know more about how to deal with an issue ! God is here for you, so I am :)

Wow - good morning !

I pray that if you accepted yesterday’s challenge of forgiveness, you did not epically fail as I did. The two people I had on my heart to forgive, well, my efforts to clear the air and move on like civil people blew up in my face. If you’re reading this, doesn’t matter when, could you please pray about this situation? I suppose this is me being humbled and reaching out to anyone who can help me. Last night, I turned more to God than I have in a while, which now is a huge encouragement that maybe these daily challenges are working

Praise God for using something as small & trivial as this to show how strong He is !

Today’s challenge is to reside in God’s strength. I have a road trip with my family today & I love my family to pieces, but one of the people I was trying to forgive of a lifetime of heart was my older brother. We’re driving him back to his apartment in Toronto, which my whole day will be devoted to being in a car with him. Not an easy task. Not because I’m finding it hard to forgive him, I think he refuses to forgive me of something I did. But I don’t know what that something is. So I’m leaving this to God & I will be depending on his strength all day.

God is GREAT in power and grace, take a hold of that today & let others see just how great he is through your faith !

To be incredibly honest, yesterday was not as amazing as I thought I could make it, although God did bless me with the ability to spend most of the day with my mother, I don’t feel like I did anything amazing for him- but maybe I just don’t see it. God definitely did something amazing for me by blessing my day with it being mom-filled !

Today’s challenge just came to me as I am typing right now: I need to forgive. There’s a very important man in my life that I need to forgive & that’s going to be incredibly difficult. He hurt me pretty badly & I guess this is one of those times were I really need to be like Jesus. If Jesus can be nailed on a cross & ask God to forgive the people who not only put him there but also scorned him, hurt him, and allowed him to die the most painful death, I think I can display that forgiveness, too. In order to set my heart free of this hurt, I’ll need to spend a great deal of time praying, I need to get back into God’s presence ASAP ! 

We all are damaged & bruised, but despite our inequities, GOD LOVES US ! More than we can fathom. Whenever I mess up, I remember that & feel such great joy that my God is so great, so strong & so mighty, there’s nothing my God can not do ! If you’ve been bruised by someone, you need to let it go today- I’m here to help if you need some. The Bible tells us that we should not under any circumstances let the sun go down when there is still anger in our hearts. In other words, don’t hold a grudge, reflect God’s great grace and mercy to them before the day is over.

My challenge for myself today is to get out into the world & do something amazing ! Small amazing big amazing, help someone, whatever !

I love love love being around people & laughing & having fun BUT I’ve become comfortable being a hermit. If you have ever lived the hermit life, it’s so easy to just continue staying in it & not having to see other people. I’ve become a hermit again because I have worked so hard & so many long days, too many cups of coffee this past semester. I want to sleep & relax & do nothing at all ! Sounds great, right?

But the Bible tells us that everything needs to be in moderation. Which means relaxation in moderation ! I’ve had a week all to myself to sleep in past 6am & it’s been great. From now on, I need to wake up earlier.

When I need to put everything back into perspective, I always ask myself, if Jesus were to come back today and he found me sleeping in at 1 pm, would that reflect me as his servant? We need to live everyday as if it were our last. Sounds crazy, but tomorrow isn’t promised to us.

So today, I’m going to do something that puts me out into the world so that my Saviour can use me to shine through.

Will you join me in putting yourself out there today? God will use you if you break down the walls that separate you from Him.

Merry Christmas to all, or whatever holiday you are celebrating this season- may it be fantastic & full of joy !

Today’s challenge is going to easy to say but hard to do. Today I will work on contentment. God says that he provides EVERYTHING we need. And if he can create such beautiful things such as flowers- won’t he provide so much more for us, his beloved? Around Christmas time, it’s super hard to fight against what the world says, because media and stores and everyone else tries to get us to feel like we NEED to buy that thing & then this thing, just to feel whole and complete in our lives. When other people receive more presents or money, etc, look at what you have. You have so many blessings ! They may have more material things, or maybe they don’t, but we have treasures stored up in heaven !

Today is the day to thank God for everything he has blessed us with and to feel so whole in him, so content with all that we have- for it’s abundant !

Have spectacular days where I pray that your bellies will be full of good food, your faces full of sincere smiles, your hearts full of love, and your bodies surrounded by the ones you love !

It’s Christmas eve ! I love Christmas time, everyone is always so happy, right? False. I’ve seen so many people stressed & upset & worrying about debt. Breaks my heart. That’s not what Christmas is all about ! It’s about salvation and God’s gift to us in Jesus. You don’t need a holiday to be thankful for Jesus, but it is his birthday and our culture loves celebrating birthdays

Today I want to focus on JOY ! I didn’t buy gifts for my family in the mall, I bought them KIVA cards, which is like a giftcard to go toward the Kiva charity (check out this link above to find out more about Kiva- it’s an AWESOME idea !) & I asked for no presents. Why? I just wanted to come home for a bit & that’s expensive because I live so so far away from home- flying isn’t cheap. I’m overjoyed to be home with my family for a bit. To me, Christmas is all about the gifts God has blessed us with, like family.

Another gift God gives us is joy. I’m not talking about that happy feeling you get at a good joke or the temporary smile you may have plastered on your face for a day. Nope ! I’m talking about the deep rooted, down in your soul JOY that God gives us as Christians. We have joy because we have Him. What can this world do to us? Nothing when we have Christ in our hearts !

Doesn’t that make you feel all tingling and smiley and just JOYOUS?

Today, I’m going to let my joy glow through me and spread to others because my Jesus was born unto us. Let your deep rooted joy tell your stress and problems to take a hike today !

Love is such a hard challenge ! Yesterday was a massive eye-opener to how many chances I have to show love & how often I blow it. Love is also such a HUGE and wide and broad topic, I want to break it down a little for today.

For my devotionals, I have been making my way through Romans & as I posted yesterday, Romans 8 is powerful stuff. Anyways, I was listening to worship songs and reading over verses and lyrics and it hit me: everything is about Jesus.

OK- let me clarify, I knew that already. But sometimes you can know something to your very bones and it can still surprise you. What made me so full of awe was that all of these verses and worship songs all sing about one thing (Jesus’ love) and yet they are all so different and hit our hearts in many different ways.

I was listening to All Sons and Daughters and Jesus Culture (CHECK THEM OUT !!) when two of their songs hit me:

Brokenness Aside and Your Love Never Fails

such good songs ! They talk about how MUCH God loves us, so much that we can’t even begin to fathom & if that doesn’t give you chills and put an instant smile on your face, you’re missing the point. And I mean a HUGE smile. God takes us from being broken and full of the disgusting sin that is within our nature, we’re sinners, and HE TAKES US AND MAKES US BEAUTIFUL regardless of what we have done, he makes it for his glory- he makes us beautiful.

My challenge today is to sit in awe of God. To take the day and just sit in God’s presence and feel his love. Don’t ask for things, thank him for his LOVE that knows no ends, that we could never deserve.

It’s Christmas time, there is not a more appropriate time to revel in God’s great love for us than the time where he sends his SON to die for us. Refocus on what Christmas actually means. Know God’s love. Pray, sing, laugh, and be loved by the Great Creator.

Last night I was reading Romans 8

such a good chapter, try checking it out sometime, if you’re a Christian or not. It resounds with God’s unfailing love for EVERYONE and all that he sacrifices, day in and day out.

The greatest gift on this earth is love. My challenge today (the very first one !) is love.

I’ve always had an issue accepting other people’s love, even though it’s all I want. I love everyone so easily, or at least I used to. My mind is so clouded now with judgement and hatred, I want to change that first. TODAY I will love everyone & accept their love back. It doesn’t matter if it’s my older brother who hates my guts or a socially awkward penguin. Today I will not judge. I will love fully and irrevocably.

Forgive others and love them with your greatest efforts. Feel the love that is everywhere and waiting for you to embrace.

Today I will be patient and kind, I will not boast or envy, I will follow God’s guidelines of love in 1 Corinthians. My actions will exude love and I challenge you to love with all of your heart today, too.

Tell me how it goes !

Hi there !

My name is Katie & I’m about to spill my guts out & change my life. Someone might actually end up reading this or maybe no one will. And that’s ok. This blog isn’t for other people, not directly.

I want to change the direction of my life. The person I have turned into is NOT the person I used to have potential to become. I was so excited for that future, but I ran so far from that life that I can hardly see it. Just barely. BUT it’s still within reach, I can make it into the person I so desperately need to be. It’s just going to take some help. So, I googled blogs, found tumblr, and off I went typing. I need the accountability of a blog to keep me trying every day. Maybe someday someone will read this & find the courage within themselves to change, too. We’re all afraid of what we need most. Right now I’m terrified to change, but I need to. I’m embracing challenge, I’m going to CHANGE.

SO what have I done that needs to be changed? Well..

I’m a second year university student who was incredibly sheltered in high school. When I went to university, I stopped playing sports & decided to “try all the things life had to offer”. So I got into the party scene with the skimpy dresses and the basically sex on the dance floor. I can’t remember most of those nights, which is a sign that you were “partying right”. I became materialistic- the way I looked all of a sudden mattered so much. I needed to get my hair done in fancy ways so that I would look amazing, I needed to wax my eyebrows to make my face look perfect, I had to shop until I dropped to look like a model. My body needed to change, too, so I stopped eating excessively & tried out exercise outside of sports teams (this adventure didn’t last long).

To make a very long story short, my first year was a massive eye opener into the world that I could become a part of. But those things don’t matter to me. Have I mentioned yet that I’m a Christian? That those values mean more than anything? I came out of the partying feeling violated and somehow still retaining my deepest set morals even though I blacked out in questionable circumstances.The “friends” that I had made stopped talking to me when our common interest, drinking, changed.

I realized I needed to change my life when 3 things occurred to me:

1. I haven’t truly invested enough in my true relationships at university (which is over 1000 km away from home) and thus feel all alone up north.

2. I spent more money on myself for Christmas than I did for all of my family and friends

3. God smacked me in the face with the way my thoughts went, the gossip, the judgements, the materialism, everything. Since when do I tell drinking stories to impress others?! Slather myself in make up when I’ve been made beautiful just the way I am??!

So I am proposing a change in my life. I have no idea how I am going to go about it. Suggestions are MORE than welcome. Tomorrow is a fresh day and I know I can set things right. One day at a time.

I challenge you to join me if you can relate in ANY way. Change is hard. We can do it together.