Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

This might be a little different from posts I normally write, but I am very excited about this one! 

Have you ever known two people that you can tell are in love? Have you ever met a couple that strives with everything in them to make it work? Have you ever met a couple that has managed to stay together after 5 kids, 4 grand kids and 35 of marriage? I have. They're my parents. 

I know that not everyone is lucky enough to have a strong set of parents, and I especially know that it's more common for divorce to occur in today's times. Like I've mentioned previously, I'm a Social Work major and that is under the Sociology program. I take a lot of Sociology classes, so I'm constantly breaking down and analyzing people and our society. After two years of problem-solving and paper-writing about problems in marriages, I am ecstatic to sit down and write about a positive marriage!

35 years ago today my parents were married. I don't think they ever knew what life would bring them. Just their children alone could have given them a run for their money. My siblings and I constantly joke around to my parents, because they only planned for 1 kid, and ended up with 5! My mom and dad had an interesting love story, and to sum it all up-they never really dated. My mom was a college student in Lancaster and my dad was a sailor in the Navy. They met at a Christian conference and started writing letters to each other. If you ask either of them, they'll agree-they never really went on dates. I love when my dad tells me stories of them, and I especially love when he said that his mother (who passed away before their wedding) told him that he better keep this one (my mom) because he wouldn't find anyone else like her! My dad ended up proposing, and they've been in love ever since.

I don't want to put it off like my parents are perfect. I know they're not, and especially now being older, I understand that marriage is something you have to work at. They're normal-they fight, they get frustrated-but nothing could break them. After many events happening to our family and different friends of ours, I constantly fear that something could happen. I remember thinking to myself "if it is this easy for a marriage to end, it could absolutely happen to my parents." I do have full faith that their marriage will stand strong and not be beaten by the sin in our world. 

My parents have shown me a lot through the years (there is a previous post about that) and they will continue to show me things throughout my life. Here is a short list of some lessons they have displayed to me and/or my sisters and brother:

-always put Christ as your #1 and do all things for His glory

-if you fight together, you make up together

-even if we do wrong and become like "the prodigal son", they will still accept us with grace and love 

-marriage is a two-way job. Both the husband and the wife have to make time and put effort in

-date night is a necessity

-parents are a team. If dad says no, mom says no too 

-always kiss in front of your kids (and sometimes gross them out)

-put others before yourself 

-be strong for the other; when my mom had cancer, my dad really stepped up as much as he could. Much to my dismay, my dad sometimes fixed my hair in the morning so my mom could continue to rest. 

(By the way... Dad with rough hands + toddler Cassie with long hair + a comb= Pure torture) 

-even when the going gets tough, fight harder. A marriage is a gift from God, and one that is worth it.

-Finally, never to settle for someone in a marriage. This applies to 2/5 children they have, but my parents knew what they looked for in a spouse, and never backed down from those values. Thank God for that-I wouldn't be here if they hadn't! 

Happy anniversary Commander Pam & Colonel, here's to 35 more (I'll be your age when that happens..oh my!) I love you both! Thank you for fighting for your marriage and always loving each other! 

^ my parents on their wedding day, 35 years ago! 

^ This was at their first child's wedding in 2005 (my sister Mandie)

^ My favorite picture! At my sister Erin's wedding in 2011

^ Also in 2011 at my other sister, Rebekah's wedding

^ This was during one of their weekend getaways..they were getting ready to fly in that tiny airplane! 

^ This was this past December at a military ball! I also love this! 

In Him, 

What I Wish I Knew in High School 2: Less IS More

   I thought that I would continue on a theme that I wrote about in the past. As the school year is closing, and many teenagers will either graduate and move onto college, or move up another grade in high school. If you would like to read my previous post (the first one in this theme!) about the importance of a good relationship with your parents, you can check it out here!

  As a child and a teenager, I felt like I always heard the phrase "less is more". It could be involved with food, opinions, fabric, paint, etc. What I'm going to talk about is makeup. The big "M" word! This is beyond cliche, but I know that everyone says things like "Makeup is only to enhance what's already there!" and obviously the one I mentioned earlier. Just to give you an insight into my past with makeup, I will include my old makeup routine versus my current one. And despite my embarrassment, I will add in pictures of the way that I used to look!

 I'm not saying that wearing makeup is a terrible thing, I wear it all the time! It's completely 100% fine to do your makeup in anyway you want-this is just my story and my feelings about it! I wish that I would have listened to my older sisters and my mom when they told me "raccoon eyes" are not the best way to flatter light blue eyes. My old makeup routine would have gone something like:
-cake on foundation all over my face, especially on my acne
-getting black eyeliner and smudging it all over my eyelid
-putting mascara on
-getting the same black eyeliner ad smudging it all underneath my eyes

 Currently it looks something like...
-washing my hands
-putting SPF 30 sunscreen all over my face
-applying under-eye concealer (dang years of me squinting to see the board in class!)
-applying a light pink or cream eyeshadow to my eyes
-putting on mascara and curling my eyelashes
-concealing any acne I have
-chapstick!

  All though my current makeup list is a little longer, it certainly goes a longer way. Here are some examples at my "raccoon days":

^Creeping on the elderly-hey, I was 14 at the time. Don't ask.

^My best friend, Natalie and I at a rock concert. We constantly laugh at this picture. We believe we resemble "drug dealers"-a lot of darkness around our eyes! 

  As you can tell, you can barely see my eyes. There was so much black stuff around it, that you could barely see my eyes. For myself, my eyes are naturally light blue, so adding chunky black eyeliner all around them made it difficult to see their beauty.

  So-what changed my views on makeup? What made me believe that less truly is more? 

I used to believe that I wasn't the most attractive girl in the crowd. I had a distorted image of beauty from watching television and movies, and reading beauty and gossip magazines. Body issues aside, I used to believe that I just wasn't attractive. Somewhere along the line, I had trained myself to think that caking more makeup to my face made me more beautiful. As for the choice of color, I had watched girls my age and older have lines of black eyeliner all over their eyes. I never realized that what looks great on other girls may not look great on me! After growing more comfortable in my skin, I recognized what features on my face needed to be brought more attention. 

No where in the Bible does it say "your face is the money-maker". It does not say "you are only beautiful if your face is pretty according to society's standards." And it never mentions "adding black eyeliner around your eyes makes you more beautiful." 

As I grew older, I realized that God made me so beautiful in His eyes! He never looked towards my outward appearance...

1 Samuel 16:7

      "...The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 

I know that it's not always realistic to believe that all people look at your heart. I know that we live in a society where our outward appearance means everything. God doesn't care! He wants me, wrinkled eyes, big chin and all! Once I stopped making makeup a priority, my confidence increased. I looked at my face a began to really try to put as little makeup on as possible. Eventually, I did-now I'm at only a few products at a time. I still wear makeup to emphasize features on my face, and I still wear it because I think that I look better with it on! I'm just very happy that I learned not to add as much on as possible. My face is not like an all-you-can-eat sundae bar; it's a human face that God created especially for me. I want to add as little as possible to God's design! 

In case you were curious, my face now looks a little like this: 

                         ^ Four years later and we're still at concerts ,but wearing a lot less on our faces! 

In Him,

                                             

We Spent 24 Hours Being Crazy

   It was around two months ago that I received an email that sported the event of a lifetime. I quickly called my best friend, Natalie (she is my go-to partner in crime). She agreed that we absolutely had to go to this event. She called out of work. I cleared my schedule. We bought tickets to see Hunter Hayes.

  Non-country fans, or any man that may be reading this blogpost needs to know that Hunter Hayes is huge in the country music scene right now. He is insanely talented, and now I know that he is an extremely humble and thankful artist. There was something that Natalie and I hadn't really caught in the ticket information. You could say that we didn't read the "fine print". The thing that we didn't realize until the tickets were printed up was that the concert doors opened at 5 a.m. Yes, you are reading that right! The actual concert was expected to start around 7 a.m. We had no idea that we would have to get up in the middle of the night (technically morning) to see Hunter perform in his concert. There were three special things about this concert:

1. This was Hunter's attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most amount of live concerts in 24 hours. The previous record was held by the Flaming Lips for a total of 8 shows in 24 hours. Each concert had to be at least 15 minutes and at least 30 miles away from each other.

2. This concert series donated to Child Hunger Ends Here. This organization donates meals and money to help prevent child hunger in America. This organization allows brands of food, cleaning products, and health products to have a code on the packaging. By entering this code on their website, the organization will donate meals to children across the nation. Most of the proceeds from the concert were given to this organization. In addition, Hunter's new album, Storyline has a code inside that will allow the organization to donate 10 meals to hungry children.

3. Natalie and I went to his last show, which was in Philadelphia. This show wasn't necessary to break the world record, in fact, it was an additional show that Hunter decided to add on. Officially, the record was broken in Asbury Park, during his 9th show.

  I have been to plenty of concerts before, and this was by far the craziest. It was even crazier than going to Times Square at 4:00am to see the Jonas Brothers perform on the Today Show in 2009. Here is a brief timeline of what went down during that night/morning:

12:00am-Natalie and I finally go to bed
3:19am-Natalie and I wake up to get ready
4:02am-We leave to drive 40 minutes into Philly
4:45am-We stand in line outside of the venue that had been about a block and a half long and wrapped around buildings
6:15am-The first opener, Charlie Worsham, started his set
7:00am-The second opener, The Railers, started their set
8:15am-Hunter finally arrived in Philadelphia and started his set!
9:30am-Natalie and I met Hunter
9:50am-We left and went to breakfast

 I still can't believe that all of it happened. It was just so wild and lively! There were definitely times where we were frustrated and tired, but we pulled through. We discussed our foot and back pains (from standing for almost 3 hours straight), our hunger, and the extremely hot temperature of the venue. In the end, it was all so worth it. Because of all of that, I have no voice left. I also have no regrets (except for paying $29.00 for parking). We ended up finding where Hunter was coming out of the venue, and where his tour bus was. We hurried over to where there were about 4 or 5 girls standing there behind a barricade. Within 10 minutes or so, there were about 12 of us. The security then didn't allow anyone else to come back where we were. We stood and waiting, completely expecting just a wave and a "hello" from him as he went on to his bus. Naturally, understanding that he had been up for more than 24 hours on this race, we weren't expecting much. He came out, and immediately came over to all of us. He signed whatever we had, talked to us, hugged us, and took pictures with us. For every single person in the line, he thanked them for being there, and for helping fight child hunger. He was one of the most genuine and nice artists that I've ever met. He is a four-time Grammy nominating artist who had a no. 1 selling album the first day it came out. Something that I noticed during the concert, was he was so, so grateful for everyone coming. He ended up playing about 7 or 8 songs (twice as much as his other shows), and released confetti bombs at the end of the show.

  Overall, it was one of the craziest experiences of my life. It helped restore faith into modern-day music. Hunter is a Christian, and remains a positive figure in the music scene. So, was it worth it? Was it worth the early hours, and little-to-no sleep? Was it worth the raspy to non-existent voice pattern that I've experienced over the last two days? Absolutely. I wish I could re-live it. I wish that I could have bought more tickets for the sole purpose of raising money for the cause. Hunter, hats off to you kid-you broke the record. You might have also broke some girl's hearts in the process.

                                                          Waiting for concert to start inside

                                                            Hunter finally got there!

Representatives from the Guinness Book of World Records at the concert, giving Hunter his plaque for being "Officially Awesome"

                                             The confetti shooters during the end of the finale!

                                         Natalie and I waiting outside to see Hunter!

                             Obviously had to capture a picture with the newest world record-breaker!!!



In His forever & always,

Where Is He?

   It's the end of my semester. I am a Social Work major, which means I have to take a lot of sociology classes. One of my classes this semester is solely on problems in our society. It's crazy to think that I go to class for 3 hours to literally talk about all of the problems our world has. I'm surprised at myself for not getting upset and uncomfortable with the problems we discuss until now (after I'm finished with the class). At the same time, I completely understand my reasoning and the way that my emotions work. I just finished a research assignment about the social problem of child soldiers. This has been a cause that has tugged at my heart for about 4 years now. I have been very involved with different organizations that deal with child soldiers. Falling Whistles is the organization that started my heartache for these innocent children. Since I heard about them, I have been involved with their cause. For the last two years or so, I haven't been as passionate about it as I once was. I feel almost convicted that I'm not jumping at every new person I meet to say "Hey, do you know what's happening in Congo right now? Do you know what is happening to these children?!". I used to have that spirit and eagerness to share the devastating news with everyone, but I haven't recently. This research assignment really opened my eyes back up to the cause, and re-kindled my passion for it.
 
   As I was sitting down researching more about this topic (kind of hard since this is my third research assignment on this in two years!) I had a thought that I have never had before. I was looking at pictures, and remembering the tear-inducing images from the movie "Machine Gun Preacher" (a movie about a preacher who saves children in Africa from the rebel armies. Careful! It's rated R for a reason..). I just had these images flash through my head and I thought about how I haven't been as involved with this cause as I had been once before. I suddenly thought:

"I haven't been as passionate about this cause as I have before. But it still hasn't changed. The children are still being abducted. The women are still being raped. The two and three year olds are still being used as noise-makers and bullet-takers. This mass genocide is still going on."

   From that thought, I became instantly depressed and angry. Not only did I feel convicted with the way that I had just given up on this cause over the years, but I also felt that I had pushed it to the side while I lived my life. After thinking about that, I again had a thought and feeling that I truly have never had before (though I came close):

"Where is God? Where is He during this time? Why isn't He intervening? Why are these children still dying? Where. Is. He?"

   One could say that my emotions and feelings about these children in places like Congo and Uganda have intensified since September 2012, when my first nephew was born. I have since gained two more nephews and a niece, and my heart has learned to break more for children. There was a month period where I would wake up drenched in sweat and experienced anxiety because of a reoccurring nightmare that the rebel armies were taking my nephews. I decided to stay away from images and videos that had anything to do with child soldiers for the next two months, and to spend that time praying and crying out to God to stop this murder. I just didn't even know how to handle myself. It was probably during that time that my passion died down a little bit, and I started really focusing on my relationship with Christ.

   My feelings came back the other night, but luckily I think I had angels over my head to prevent me from having any nightmares. I was angry at God. I was upset. I didn't even know what emotion I was feeling. I kept asking myself "Where is He? Where is God?" and everytime those questions were repeated, I became more and more frustrated and emotional. 

   I knew that I had to draw myself to my Bible, and I knew I needed to cry out to Him, like I had done before. I cried out my questions to Him, and begged for forgiveness for doubting His presence. I guess it's just so difficult to believe that God is present in countries where the conditions are so terrible. I was brought to the gospel of John, in chapter 10.

                         "...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." 
                                                             John 10:10 NIV 


   And just to be clear y'all, that is in red ink-so it is definitely important! I was shocked that I wan't brought to somewhere like 2 Corinthians 1-the chapter on the God of all comfort. I looked at this verse for a while, and then it hit me. This was Jesus talking during his time on earth-explaining that He was sent that us as sinners would live-and we would experience it to the fullest. This is also a promise to me. It's a promise that Jesus will return and we will have life with Him, if we choose to believe. To me, the first and the last three words of this verse are the most important.

                                             "I have come..."     "...to the full"

   Jesus has come! Through Him we are given our life to the full because of Him. I understand how my thought process doesn't make too much sense here, but it does to me. This verse was just the comfort that I needed. I needed to hear that Jesus promises us a new life. I needed to hear that through Him my life is able to live to the full. I needed to hear that Jesus gives life, and doesn't take it away. Here I am in my dorm, blaming God for what is happening all over the world. I needed to understand that God isn't making those rebel soldiers in Africa abduct children. He isn't creating all of the hate and hurting that is going on. If anyone-I should be angry at the snake-eyed Satan! I also needed to realize that God has a plan for everything, and does everything with His timing. And, trust me-His timing is the best timing. After my mood lightened, and I spent some time with the Father, I decided to make a list of where I could see God. Everyday life-where could I sense God's presence? "Where is He?"

I see God in:

• the flowers outside of my dorm
• the sunset walking back from my class
• the kindness of my sweet nephew when he comforts my crying niece and nephew 
• the giggle and smile of my oldest nephew
• the miracle and answered prayers of my nephew and neice
• re-kindled friendships
• the specific shape and darkness of the clouds before the thunderstorm last night
• the forgiveness that has been given to me
• the loving words from my family
• the beautiful weather that I've experienced lately
• the news that a family friend has recently become pregnant
• answered prayers
• un-answered prayers 
• the passion and life of other Christians
• the young adult Bible study that my brother and I attend
• The Bible; something I can look to everyday to hear the words directly from Christ be spoken to me

   I have one question for you this week: 

               Where do you see God? 

In His forever & always, 

Why You Should Put Your Clothes Back On & Respect Yourself (& Brothers)

  I have about 3 weeks left of my second semester of my sophomore year of college (what!!). As the stress and anxiety of the dreaded topic of finals comes up in my head, I immediately defense my own self against the negativity and bring myself to a happy place: summer. I can feel it already! I start my nannying job in June, which means I virtually have the month of May to let go and enjoy my break! I started imagining what my best friend and I could do with all of our "free" time. We have trips scheduled to go to the rodeo, picnics at the park, shopping trips out of town, and maybe even a cross-country excursion. As soon as I thought about traveling across the country for a vacation, I immediately thought of the beach. I don't know why, but I just sat there at my desk, thinking about the beach. Now, for normal people, this idea might bring pleasant thoughts. For me, it just doesn't. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the beach, but I don't love it either. If it were up to me, I'd spend my summer lying by a pool getting tan and jumping into the chemical-filled greatness. I hate the sand. I hate seagulls. I hate stepping on unknown objects in the water. I hate having to pay a fee to essentially lay down and/or go in natural water. I'm just not a fan. When I started thinking about all that I disliked about the beach, images popped into my head of overly-bronzed girls in bikinis. They're everywhere. In fact, it's rare to see a girl not wearing a bikini. And then I thought "My word, how times have changed." There was a point in history where it was extremely modest for girls to wear anything that came above their knee. Sometimes I wish times were still like this. In a society of Miley Cyrus's and barely-there clothing, I feel suffocated. I feel bad for people like Miley Cyrus because I have to imagine how little self-respect they have for themselves. This post is not to condemn, or to judge, but simply to explain my point of view on "modesty" and self-respect. If I'm honest, this idea was spurred on a few weeks ago by a tweet that I saw. Justen Harden's tweet on April 7th read:

             "Ladies: earning respect from a man begins with you respecting yourself" 

   I was so astonished reading this tweet. I looked up from my phone and yelled "FINALLY. SOMEONE GETS IT!" Ladies, this 20-something "Vine" star has nailed it. I wonder how it is that a 20 something year old man understands this and yet most women do not understand this. If you ever expect a man to respect you, you have to respect yourself. 

   You might be wondering how this all ties in with the whole modesty thing I discussed earlier. Remember that these are my opinions, and my take on these issues while I explain this. The only time you'll ever see me in a bikini is when I was about 4 years old and in the Bahamas. Ever since then, it's always been a one-piece or tankini. This has nothing to do with the way that I look either. If I had a body of an international super model, I still would choose not to wear a bikini. For me, there is no difference in wearing a bra and underwear and wearing a bikini. For practically my entire life, my brother lived in the room next to me. I always remember being so afraid that he would open the door while I was changing-why? Because I was afraid of him seeing me in anything but my clothes. I quickly realized that he would see girls in 'bras and underwear' every time he went to the beach. Or a pool, he would be surrounded by nearly naked women. Now again, I'm not condemning anyone or judging, this is just my opinion. Everyone is allowed to wear what they want-and if that's a bikini-rock it!

   There are different levels of modesty. If I were honest with myself, I would say I fall on the middle of the scale...maybe a little less than middle. Whenever I discuss modesty, people tend to think of head-to-toe coverings. I know that is illogical in today's society, and you would most likely get stares from everyone around you. I was just talking to my best friend about this topic because I heard someone say about skinny jeans being immodest. I think that everyone should be the judge of their modesty levels. For me, I think it's okay to wear skinny jeans..they're not so tight that I rip my pants if I bend over, but their not baggy either. Modesty also has to deal with your background and religion. Some religions don't allow women to show anything but their eyes, which is okay for them! I am a Christ-follower (Baptist if I had to specifically define it), and my religion allows me to choose my clothes. Because I am a Christ-follower, I choose to dress modestly. I choose to not show every nook and cranny of my body in my clothes. I choose not to wear see-through or skin-tight clothes. I choose not to wear bikinis. I am aware that others choose to do otherwise, which again, is alright. The point that I am trying to make is that a woman should not value herself by the least amount of clothing she wears. I saw an awesome YouTube video of Jason Evert explaining his point of view on Christian women and modesty. I encourage you to watch it here!

  Self-respect. I respect myself by wearing clothes that I consider modest. I respect myself by allowing a man to look at me and not see a lot of skin. I respect myself by allowing a man to be curious about me and wonder questions (like Jason Evert said in his video). By covering up, you are allowing your brother in Christ to wonder more about you other than your body. Don't give it all away!   If you question if something is immodest, it probably is!

  Instead of measuring my respect and value through sexuality or barely-there clothing, I love to reflect on what The Bible says about what a woman should be. My favorite passage is Proverbs 31: A Godly Wife. Here is a list that I comprised for myself on how to be respected and valued through God's eyes:
A Godly Woman.....

• finds wisdom (Prov. 3:13)
• has pleasant ways (Prov. 3:17)
• is a tree of life to those who embrace her (Prov. 3:18)
• guards her heart (Prov. 4:23)
• is motivated (Prov. 10:4)
• does not gossip (Prov. 11:13)
• opens her arms to the poor (Prov. 31:20_
• IS CLOTHED WITH STRENGTH AND DIGNITY (Prov. 31:25)
• speaks wisdom (Prov. 31:26)
• is kindhearted (Prov. 11:16)
• has noble character (Prov. 12:4)
• is not anxious (Prov. 13:25)
• builds up her house (Prov. 14:1)
• has a peaceful heart (Prov. 14:30)
• brings good (Prov. 31:12)
• works with eager hands (Prov. 31:13)
• has a good attitude and can laugh (Prov. 31:25)
• fears the Lord (Prov. 31:30) 

   In all of Proverbs 31 (A Godly Wife) it never mentions anything on physical appearance. It talks about braided hair a gold jewelry in a negative context. Sisters, let this be an encouragement to you. You are worth so much more than your sexuality. If a man doesn't respect you without that, he is not the one God has intended for you. I think that what Justen Harden was saying (coming from a man himself) was that women have to respect who they are enough to not  dress immodestly, and to not post it all over the internet. I often wonder why girls post selfies with little-to-no clothing on Instagram or Facebook. I truly wonder where their self-worth lies. I hope that all of my sisters in Christ (and me) will be encouraged by this to defy society's standards on respect and value, and strive to be the Godly woman that The Bible describes. 

                                                    Now about our brothers.....

  It's scientific. It's proven. The male brain is wired so much differently than women's brains. They are stimulated by visuals, where women are usually by emotions and words. If nothing I posted above catches your eyes or encourages you, please, please think of our brothers in Christ! Think of what wearing extremely low-cut shirts or skin-tight pants must be doing to them! We want to help them out as their sisters! We want to encourage them not tempt them! 

Our bodies are temples to The Lord. I hope that this has encouraged you, as it did for me just writing it! I will continue to pray for all of sisters that we would know where our respect and value come from and for our brothers that they would stray from the temptation they face everyday.

*Read what I've previously written on the amazing Justen Harden here! 

In His forever & always,

Perfection Does Not Exist*

I've thought about this post for quite sometime now. I would be comfortable saying that I've thought about it for almost a year now. I think that this is a message that constantly needs to be said, and women constantly need to hear it.

                                                    Perfection Does Not Exist.*

This is plain and simple. It's a phrase that I've repeated to myself one too many times, and yet I still fall to the trap of perfectionism. I understand it. I'm a 20 year old girl. I'm self-conscience about more than I should be. With age, I wish I could say it gets better. Now that I'm in college, I'm not only self-conscience about the way that I look, but I'm self-conscience about grades, social standing, money, work, friends, religion...the list goes on. You discover more about yourself and those around you, which leads to you discovering more that you're self-conscience about.

I read an article for my Psychology class earlier this week, and it had me completely in tears. It was a study that talked about college-age women and their strive for perfection and how they literally can deteriorate from the constant effort for something that will never exist. I wish it were easy to come to the understanding that I am God's princess and I'm very beautiful....Which is the truth, but it's not reality. You will run into things multiple times a day that can hurt you. As I'm writing this post, I'm listening to the song "Flawz" by Caitlin Crosby and I'm crying at how true the song is. She is a beautiful song-writer and Godly woman who put every girl's feelings into words.
  

                                                        "All my flaws to see

                                                  But you still love, love me

                                                        You still love me"

This is the simple chorus of the song, and yet it is still so powerful. We all have flaws. Caitlin mentioned some of hers in the verses of the song. I think that the point is that we have to accept we have flaws. We should't forget them, we should recognize that they're there, and we should love them. There is no such thing as human perfection, but God takes our flaws and uses them for His glory. 

"But He said to me: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV

Our flaws are our weaknesses. Do you see what Paul is writing there? Jesus himself told Paul that His power is made perfect in WEAKNESS! His power is made perfect even with our FLAWS! To anyone who may be reading this, know that you are SO beautiful. We are all created in God's image (Genesis 1:27) and we are all fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). We shouldn't view our weaknesses and flaws as a bad thing, rather, we should learn to accept them because The Almighty Father accepts them, and uses them. 

So, sisters in Christ, we should stop striving for perfection. It just isn't going to happen. It's humanly impossible. The reason I put a star on the title is because perfection does exist, just not with humans. God is perfect. The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit are perfect. We are not because we are humans and we are born with original sin (Psalm 51:5). Instead of striving and straining ourselves with society's distorted image of "perfection" we should embrace our flaws and let Christ use them to His power and glory. Remember that no matter what you do, and no matter how many flaws you may have, God loved you before you born, He loves you now, and He will love you until the end of time.

That, my sisters, is the perfectness that I focus on. 

In His Forever & Always,

Cassandra 

The Importance of Getting Lost

    Imagine starting off a very exciting trip. You have the address of your destination programmed in your phone. Your best friend is sitting next to you in the car. Your favorite song is blasted so loud that your sister's husband's cousin's neighbor's cat can hear it. You're trying to hear your nice GPS voice over the song, but your favorite part is coming up and it's on the radio, which means-no pauses! You figure that you've been driving on the highway for two hours and you'd be fine. You thought wrong. All of a sudden, you are in a different state. You don't recognize anything and your phone has lost its signal. You look at your friend in a sudden panic. Looks of "Where are we?" and "Did we mean to go here?" are all over her face. You both look at each other with the same thought clearly viewed across your face says "We.Are.Lost."
    What would you do if you were lost? Remember, your phone has no signal so you can't call your older sister or mom. It's just you and your best friend in a car in the middle of nowhere. Neither of you can see anything ahead of you. At least your favorite song is on, right? You could see this event from two different perspectives. Let's call them Polly and Ollie. 
    Polly would view this event as a terrible thing. She would be extremely uncomfortable and terrified. She would have a lot of anxiety and not know what to do. She would see all of the cars fly by her and focus on the fact that she is not like them, because she has no idea where she is at. Polly would view getting lost as an unnecessary thing in order to grow personally.
    Ollie would be almost the complete opposite. He loves getting lost! He does it quite often, actually. He thinks that he gets in touch with himself when he doesn't know where he's at. He loves looking at the strangers around him driving around and enjoying life. Ollie would say that getting lost is the best thing he's ever done in his life.

     Maybe you've caught on to the fact that this post isn't about getting physically lost. Maybe you've picked up on the fact that I'm not talking about getting lost on your way to vacation. Maybe you even know what I'm talking about. I am talking about getting lost in worship. 

"Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods.  Rather, worship the LORD your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies."
                                                          2 Kings 17:38-39 

"All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.  For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God."
                                                          Psalm 86:9-10

"He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water."
                                                         Revelation 14:7 

     There are so many verses in the Word that talk about worshipping. As a Christ follower, I am required to worship God. I've never seen it as a requirement, rather something that I look so forward to doing. My title is something that I like to remind myself to do. I remind myself to get lost in worship. I don't understand how people DON'T worship! I look around my life and see so much to worship for. I've always been musical, and I really enjoy singing, so vocally worshipping during the week is one of my favorite things to do. I can get so lost in a song, and its lyrics that I believe that I'm not in my room, or in the sanctuary on Sunday. I'm just lost. 

    I like to remind everyone to do this. I hope that everyone experiences getting lost in worship. Here are some practical things that I have found during my high school and college career that have helped me continue to worship The Almighty: 

1. Make a worship playlist for your car or your phone. This is so simple, yet so impactful. It was one of the best thing's I've ever decided to do while going to community college. Worshipping in the car was a good use of 15 minutes and always put me in a grateful mood. 
2. Find other ways to worship. Maybe you don't like singing, or singing in large crowds. That's fine! I knew someone who loved worshipping by drawing. She would "draw things to God"-pictures or images that reminded her of Him. Whatever you love to do, you can dedicate to Him and encourage others to worship along with you. 
3. Pray in the car. When your phone dies, or your cd skips, it's easy to just turn on the radio (maybe to a secular radio channel, too!) I decided to take this time to pray. It's nice to do in the car because you're most likely awake (I hope!) and you could be alone. It's a perfect time to talk with your God. 
4. Listen to worship music while doing homework. For those who don't like to sing, you don't have to! Simply listen to songs that glorify God and it will change your outlook. From personal experience, I have noticed that listening to Christian music puts me in a better mood, and I am more susceptible to praising God throughout the day. 

 I pray that we all will remember to get lost in worship daily. Look around and observe all that God has gifted you with. See a beautiful flower? Praise God. Your parents love you and bless you with all you need? Praise God. Your friend decides to check out "this Christian stuff"? Praise God!! Praise Him in all you do and for all you have. Trust me when I say it will better your relationship with Him and you will be blessed in return. 

 

In Him forever & always,

Cassandra 

                                          ^I took this picture of a friend worshipping when we visited Hillsong NYC

*Songs that I'm loving to worship God to these days: 

1. "Lord I Need You"-Matt Maher
2. "Remind Me Who I Am"-Jason Gray
3. "Lift My Life Up"-Unspoken
4. "Oceans"-Hillsong
5. "Anchor"-Hillsong
6. "Sinking Deep"-Hillsong Young & Free
7. "10,000 Reasons"-(covered by) The Rend Collective
8. "In Christ Alone"-(covered by) Owl City
9. "One Thing Remains"-Jesus Culture 
10. "Take Heart"-Hillsong