Inhale and Exhale

Recently it seems as if every time I post a new blog it has been awhile since I have written, so my deepest apologies. My life has been crazy recently. I leave to go home in 2 weeks exactly, I have project due date on Monday, I have lots of homework and a couple finals coming up. School is the most consuming thing in my life currently, but with school comes friends, issues, projects, homework and drama.
I don't know if it's because it is my second year in college, but I have found that more and more people tend to put others down. Maybe it's because we know each other better now or maybe it's simply because we don't have anything better to do. I know for a fact that I have said some pretty nasty things about some people this year and all it is doing for me is...well, nothing actually.
Putting others down may build you up for a temporary moment, but in the end you're the one who is hurting yourself by wasting your time talking about someone or something when you could be doing better things such as ; encouraging someone, buying someone a gift, giving advice, getting closer to God or just having quiet time.
My challenge is to see if you can go a day without talking negatively about anything or anyone. I mean, it is the time of year to focus more on being grateful. Who knows? Maybe you'll save a breath or two :)

The Great Sadness

The Shack by William Paul Young has recently inspired me to better  my walk with the Lord by putting my full faith in Him. Although this concept may not sound as difficult, I believe putting it to action is the most difficult thing in the Christian walk. In the book, Young talks about a man who goes through this Great Sadness in his life. Overtime you realize that this overwhelming emotion in his life is the loss of his youngest child. Obviously, this loss is a great burden in his life and later he ends up giving this burden to Christ.

Recently in my life I guess you could say that a burden has been lifted off my shoulders. I gave something to God that had been tying me down for too long. After I gave it to Him, it hurt a little, but God gave me peace of mind about it. Letting go of this burden did not mean that I couldn't pick it up again though. And I did just that too! I picked it up again, carrying as if it were my own and that's when I began to crumble back down into this dark state again. Have you ever been in a dark room? And by dark I mean, you can't even think about what daylight looks like and the darkness is just swallowing you. You can literally feel the darkness. That's the state that I'm talking about. The state of complete despair and hopelessness. Here's the thing though. Just when you want to give up, hurt yourself even more than you're hurting, or shut off entirely to the only Light in your life; you see it. The little flicker in the distance. The voice in the darkness that causes you to be at peace and  be still. That soft, quiet, humble, yet powerful voice.

If you didn't catch it, that voice was God's. That Light is Jesus. He is the Light unto our paths we tread. He is the hope we have when all else fails. He is the peace inside our hearts that keeps us from fighting with ourselves to do something stupid. He is that still, small, beautiful voice.

Whether your Great Sadness be a loss in the family, an emotional struggle, an inward spiritual battle or a physical insecurity; let Jesus take your burden at the cross. He already paid the costly price to make that un-needed pain go away in your life.

Let God, be The Great Happiness in your life.

All Things Work Together For Good. Don't They?

Do you remember when you were little and you were super excited to go to your friends house for a sleepover? Or when you couldn't wait to open up that gift at Christmas? Or what about the time you counted down until it was your birthday? Where did all those feelings go? It seems as if the little things don't impress us anymore. Everything in life has to be bigger and better. Need less to say, I want that feeling of excitement to come back to me for college.

I will be 100% honest with anyone who asks me right now if I'm excited to go back to school right now and my answer will be the same every time; no. Sure, I am stoked to see my friends, I'm excited to be a Room Leader and ready to see what God has in store for me,but I am dreading this more than anything. I have to say goodbye to one of my closest friends and it's killing me. I have to leave my little brother who I got closer with this summer and I have to leave my mom who at times bugged me like no other,but we worked through it.

Emotionally, I'm a wreck. I am ready to give up,but I keep getting this tiny ounce of hope every time I open the Word, read my daily verse, or pray to God. Everything is going to be okay. I just have to continue to tell myself that.

Ripping Off The Band-aid

As a little kid everything seems to be so much bigger than it actually is. Recently, I went to a waterpark that I had not been to in over five years. Going there was like facing that huge final exam my second grade year.
From going to the water park I came to conclude that experiences in our life are always going to seem one way, but be another in the big picture. We as humans are going to continuously go through things in our life that will sometimes seem very big, but in the 'big' picture of life they will be very small and vice versa. I believe that as a girl I tend to let emotions get the best of me at times and I have recently known someone who went through a situtation that seemed big, but in the long run, it is only a little thing that she will face in life. Looking back she will think 'Wow, I really thought was a lot bigger of a deal than it was.' And the cycle goes on and will continue throughout our lives. I'm not saying in the least that we should shrug off every event in our lives as if they mean nothing, but I am challenging myself and others to be strong in  every situation even if it hurts like a load of bricks hitting you in the chest and knocking the wind out of you.

Things in life are gonna come at us quick and we need to be willing to rip off the band-aid quickly so it doesn't hurt worse in the end.

Accomplishing Great Things

"Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing." Thomas A. Edison.


This quote about sums up my freshman year at college. I mean, I was always busy doing something,but that busyness did not necessarily mean I was really accomplishing anything worthwhile. I mean, I could have been busy eating that chemical processed food in the dining commons, or working on a paper I did not want to be writing at 4 in the morning. Either way, the heart behind it and the attitude is what matters more than turning in a paper 3 minutes before it's due.


What did I "accomplish" my freshman year at college then. I think I learned more than I ever have in my life about patience, love, friendship, spirituality, religion, teamwork, good character, and more. God really showed His work throughout the year. Although I was not the closest with God at times I KNEW He was still there watching over my shoulder helping me "accomplish" the things that were worthwhile. 


I made new friends, said goodbye to some and cried with many. Through it all I have learned that God knows what He is doing no matter what. He puts people into our lives because He loves us, He wants us to learn to love others besides ourselves and because He is an awesome God. I am excited to see what God has in store for me and my friends I've made here at school this summer. I hope He does something life changing and that we accomplish all that should be accomplished.


Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

So long.

One Month and Thirteen Days of Silence

WOW! I haven't blogged in over a month and it's like my entire life happened during that period. Not really,but I have been incredibly busy beyond my belief. Softball literally consumes my life. To paint a picture for you: take softball and think of it as a really strong tornado sucking you in and you have no choice but to go with it because there is no way of escape. Inside this tornado consists a ton of other stuff ranging from school, school, more school and oh! Did I mention school? Yes, that's pretty much my life right now.

I miss my friends and family to the max. BUT I get to go home in T-minus 27 days as of today. My brother and I get to stay an extra week because my brother has a baseball tournament he must attend,but it's okay. I will survive and going home will be all the much more amazing!!! 

Sorry for all the randomness,but school is almost over and I'm stoked out of my mind. I'm piled up to my nose with book reports, extra credit, English papers, projects and more, but honestly God is going to get me through this. 

Well, peace to everyone. I've missed blogging and I hope to blog more this month and this summer.

I'll Be Home For Summer

I don't know about you,but I hate when I have those dreams that are insanely amazing, realistic, perfect, riveting, exhilarating and then BAM! It's not real. You wake up and reality slaps you right in the face and says "Hello, wake up! I like to trick you by making you believe that dreams are real!" It's rather lame if you ask me,but I guess without dreams like that we wouldn't have stories to tell, blogs to write or reality to face.

My dream last night was pretty legit if you ask me. It seemed pretty real for the most part until I woke up. All I know is that my parents got my brother, my good friend and I all tickets to go home for spring break. We ended up going home and it was legit because we got to hang out with family and go to this magic show. Then my phone broke so I couldn't get a hold of any of my friends to hang out,but it was fine because I was having a lot of fun with my family. Eventually I saw one of my besties at the store and it was amazingly awesome because we hadn't seen each other in so long. I bet you could imagine by now how much I was enjoying this dream and then SMACK! I get slapped in the face and wake up from this dreamland and face reality.

Need less to say, I miss home a lot. I miss my family a ton! I miss my friends to the max as well,but I am looking forward to a great summer full of lots of memories. Can't wait to see you all again in due time.

To Infinity and Beyond

Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean, Lord of The Rings and Spiderman all have one commonality; trilogies,but none of these trilogies come close to comparing to the most recent completed triology; Toy Story. As a kid I remember watching Toy Story 1 and being amazed at Buzz Lightyears awesome features, laughing histarically at the little green aliens and being terrified of the toy destroyer, Sid.

Stopping at Toy Story 1 wasn't enough for the Pixar filmakers. Over the next years, more and more Pixar films came out such as; A Bugs Life, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Wall-E, Ratatouille, and Up. In 1999, the second adaption of Toy Story hit the screens and as a kid I remember getting excited to see the loved characters from Toy Story 1 again. Toy Story 2 did it for me and I didn't expect another Toy Story to come out,but it wasn't until last summer that yet another Toy Story came out. When Toy Story 3 came out, I was there, in the front rows on the opening day. I have never been more excited for an animated film in my life.

I'm sure that a lot of my generation can relate to the Toy Story trilogy and appreciate it for what it is. Andy, Woody, Buzz, Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, Ham, Rex, and many other loved toys were basically growing up at the same time we were. They came to life on our screens, fought through peril with Sid, Stinky Pete and Zurg and 'grew up'. Now that the Toy Story adaptions are over I appreciate them more for what they were. Thank-you Pixar filmakers for making Toys, Fish, Monsters, Rats, Cars, Superheroes and Love come to life on my TV screen. There is nothing like sitting down and watching a good Pixar movie with a bunch of friends no matter what age you are!


"The CLAAWWWW" - Little Green Aliens
"You are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity" - Buzz
"You ARE A TOY! T-O-Y TOY!!" - Woody
"I don't like confrontation!!" - Rex
" Ages 3 and Up; it's on my box, ages 3 and Up! I'm not supposed to be babysitting princess drool" - Mr. Potato Head
"Highly explosive...keep away from children. COOL!" - Sid

Silently Struggling

In the United States alone, around 10% of the population of 18 years and older struggle with depression. I wrote a paper on depression this week and the statistics were profound. People really struggle with depression and as sad as it is to say, it's an increasing problem. Most people who have this struggle don't like discussing it with others, but there are a few who do seek help. I commend them for their determined action to tell others about their struggles.
Recently, a lot of my friends  have been struggling. Their struggle has been different than usual though. It has been silent. To get you to relate to what i'm talking about it's like when you see your friend in the hall, ask 'how are you' and they respond 'good' ,but you can see in their eyes or with their body language that something is wrong. As a friend  you don't want to pry so you just kind of brush it off,but the truth is; we all need a little boost here and there. You don't necessarily have to spill your guts out to anyone,but if that's how you roll than go for it.  I have found that giving someone a quick word of encouragement, praying for them or doing something nice for them can go a long way.
We all have struggles, so that's nothing new, so if you see a friend that's down or struggling, go the extra mile. Give them a hug, a joke, an encouraging word, say a prayer with them, or invite them to hang out and just have a good time. Showing God's love to others goes a long way.

Have You Ever Wondered What a Smashed Coin Looks Like?

Recently I've been having a major problem with procrastination. Sometimes I look at my long list of homework and think it will just do itself,but obviously that's just foolish thinking. My new strategy to conquer this problem of procrastination is doing my homework in the afternoon. It seems as though everything exciting happens at night and I have a really hard time saying no to my friends who are throwing candy, birthday cake and streamers in my face asking to hang out.
With softball starting I have to start using better strategies to manage my time or else I'll be a smooshed coin on a railroad track by the end of this semester. That won't be the case for me. I'll smoosh this procrastination to the railroad track before it ties me down and smashes me.
Peace and blessings.

Electrons and Protons

Why is it that one negative comment, gesture or person can ruin a perfectly good day? A day can be going so smoothly and then BAM someone says something that completely tips you over. I think it's sad that a simple little comment can effect someones entire day, week, month, year, or even a lifetime. Why can't we take that negative energy and somehow turn into positive energy? I think we can. We don't have that much to complain about. Next time you get a negative thought or someone says something negative to you think of something good that's happened to you in your day, a good memory, a song, or a funny joke.

I've realized that seeing a positive person is such a refreshing thing,but in our society today we have a tendency to shoot down the person who brings us up. Instead of bringing them down, we need to follow along with them. Get on board the positive train and take a ride. It may make your life a whole lot easier!

Change is a Choice

I'm happy that God has given us the command to love others. In recent events that have taken place in my life, God has showed me that He commands us to love others to teach us many things about Himself, ourselves and others. In the big picture, if we really think about it, helping others can be done in 2 different ways: 1. For the sole purpose of self-satisfaction or 2. Because we want to show God's love through us. When it comes down to it, if you are helping others to please yourself you are not going to be satisfied in the end because we as humans fail, but if we do it in want of pleasing God, satisfaction will occur because God will not fail us.

Recently, God has shown me that the best thing to do in helping others is to love them with a Christ-like love and don't try to change them. People will change on their own and must make their own choices. That's why we need to lead by example through our actions.


A challenge I give to everyone this week: Love others and help them because you want to please God, not because you want to satisfy yourself.

Three Little Days

I am pleased to announce that it is officially Friday. After struggling to get by this turtle like week the weekend is finally here. I never appreciated the weekends as much as I do now until I got to college. College has taught me that weekends aren't just three little days of the week,but something much more. To participate in a full week of classes, work, socializing, and homework without a chance to breathe can help you appreciate the weekend a lot more. It's refreshing to finally get the chance to sit, relax, do some homework here and there, goof off with friends and get a spiritual recharge. I'm urging you to take advantage of weekends and cherish every second of them because they normally are the recharge for your upcoming week.

Speaking of weekends, I thoroughly enjoyed last weekend. A couple of my Gould friends and I went to a little town we'd like to call, Delafield. As college students, we got creative and took advantage of the fact that we had a camera, a car and a group of crazy girls. Unlike most college students, our weekends don't consist of parties, but of joyous adventures and crazy picture taking. I am pleased to announce that we find different ways of having fun and have fun doing it. I bet no one would have ever thought that Best Buy could be a fun place to hang out, but our group of girls begs to differ. Taking pictures with a Best Buy worker, playing video games, getting on laptops, making new friends (Angelia and Sophia), watching big screen TV's and testing out the latest stereo systems proved to be one of the most exciting weekends yet. I don't know if anything can top that. I can't wait to see what this weekend has in store.

The Ice Ages

After many grueling hours of hard work, sweat, and almost tears the film that swept across the Gould dorm was born. The plotting of this epic film all started about a week back. My dorm supervisor and the two RA's schemed to make a dedication video to the much needed heat that we have not had in the Gould dorm for the past years. Once they established that a video presentation would do the trick they called me into action. Somewhere through the grapevine they heard I was supposedly a "techy" person so they asked me if I could put together a little video for the dedication ceremony. Little did I know that a six minute video would take over six hours of hard work and determination, but  this hard work has paid off in the end. I am glad that I could have the  privilege of putting this video together for the better of the people.

In the end, when given a hard project to do, don't hold anything back. Do it to the best of your God-given ability and for the people. It's not about who will be rewarded in the end, it's about the heart behind it.

The New Girl on the Block

Obviously, most people wouldn't take interest in the new girl on the block unless she was absolutely beautiful and had all the 'neat stuff', so I don't expect anyone to read my blog and find it fascinating. I am starting a blog simply because I would like to voice myself. Not because I want people to take interest in my writing or to please the public,but simply for the selfish reason of talking about my life. I wouldn't count myself to be the best of writers,but I know how to sit at a computer and pour out everything that's going through the surface of my head. So where do I start? The beginning? Or do I want to defeat the purpose of being a unique individual by being clichè? Not really, so I choose starting with this week. 

I'm not sure if I'm alone when I say that this week is going by ridiculously slow. I'm sure most people can relate when I explain that it's one of those weeks where time is going so slow that you get all of your days mixed up. I really did think yesterday was Friday. It became a fact to me that it wasn't Friday when I realized that I had two tests coming up this week. (Obviously you normally don't take a test over the weekend.) I'm happy to say that my internal clock is starting to catch up with me though.It's Wednesday and hopefully by the end of the week my time will be back on track.