Draft #6

Five Drafts and I'm determined to not let this be the sixth. I read through the others and it seems as though they were posts for the moment. So lets do a post for January 12th, 2007. First of the new year.

2007... This is going to be such a good year.

I'm expecting to learn new things of the Spirit this year. For some reason the this next years looks very bright to me. It's like I see a calendar with all the seasons and months and each season seems to glow and radiate. I'm hoping that's how it's going to be because that would be amazing.

This has been the best winter I've ever had I think. I always hate the winter because it's so cold and icy and eventhough I'm always with my family during the holidays, I've always felt like I was by myself for some reason. This one was different. This year my winter started off with a pretty boy who has turned out to be one of my best friends. Christmas was spent with cousins that I havn't seen in years but love dearly. Two of them moved here a couple of weeks ago actually, I think the last time we saw them was about 15 years ago.
Another plus, Fall quarter is finally over and Winter Quarter is so much fun. My classes are great and I love my teachers. But even with all of this, I'm definately looking forward to Spring.

For some reason I'm very excited for spring to be here. It'll be warm again and the flowers will be blooming and it'll be bright and sunny outside and we'll have to wear sunglasses! I'm going to graduate highschool and college with my AA degree. Life will be good...

Summer is going to be so much fun because I'll be hanging out with my friends and working and that's about it. Summer is always the funnest though, that never changes so I'm not surprised.

Fall is going to be a bit interesting because I have no idea what I'll do yet. Probably just work some more, save some money and whatnot. It'll be fun, but I'm interested to see what exactly I'll be doing. I'm kind of nervous but God has it all planned out.

Winter will be different. That's all I know. It's going to be very different...

Hmm, so there's my forecast for the year. Sunny days with a few thunderstorms, but don't worry, it's just a little rain...

I will not surrender.

WAR

noun (plural wars)
Definition:

1. armed fighting between groups: a period of hostile relations between countries, states, or factions that leads to fighting between armed forces, especially in land, air, or sea battles
The two countries are at war.

2. period of armed fighting: a period of armed conflict between countries or groups
during the Vietnam War

3. methods of warfare: the techniques or the study of the techniques of armed conflict

4. conflict: a serious struggle, argument, or conflict between people
The candidates are at war.

5. serious effort to end something: an effort to combat or eradicate something harmful
a war against drugs

WAR DANCE

noun
Definition:

dance before or after battle: a dance performed as a ceremony before a battle or to celebrate victory, e.g. by Native North Americans

• For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12 (NLT)

I want to encourage all those who are reading this to remember that the things that are happening may seem like they are coming from man, but you need to realize that it is the enemy working through situations and strongholds to make you want to give up. Pray through it. War through it. Dance through it. Just don't give up. God is not surprised by anything. I'm pretty sure "oops" is not in His vocabulary.

Eyes...

Why are so many people fascinated with eyes??

Why?

How is this that a person's eyes can show so much expression?

How can a person's eyes have such an effect on you?

You can always tell when two people are in love (or like each other very much for the younger crowd) when they can't stop looking into each other eyes. Be it up close and pesonal or acros the room. For some reason, it just always happens.

Ezekiel 10:12
Their whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings and the wheels were full of eyes all around, the wheels belonging to all four of them.

Why? I don't know, I just have always thought that it was cool.

Matthew 6:22,23
"The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!"

Have your parents ever told you, "garbage in, garbage out"? Well, basically, they jacked it from Jesus. A good source to get it from.. I don't know, I'd listen to Him. But seriously now, that's basically what he said. That's why our eyes can be so expressive. Our emotions show through for everyone to see.. Most everyone, some people are just clueless to that kind of thing, but don't worry, they'll come down out of their high soon. The drugs never last as long as you think.

So, that basically explains my fascination with eyes. Just remember that what ever you put in, comes out. That's the motto for the human body.. eye's are no exception. So make sure you know what you're "feeding" your eyes because you can't see anything in the darkness..

And check out www.prophetik.com

They have the coolest shirts ever.. Including one about eyes.

I would've blindfolded Him....

I watched The Passion of the Christ for the first time last friday and in my mind I was constantly hit with the question, "How could they have looked into His eyes and not known?" I just didn't understand it. And then, I found this little cartoon by a guy named Joe McKeever. Actually, I read one of my friend's blog and she had a link upto it so I decided to check it out. Not sure how I actually got to this particular cartoon, but I did.. I'm sure glad someone else had the same question as I did.

Honestly, you know how you can look into someone's eyes and can just kind of tell what kind of person they are? I mean, you don't have to be an expert to do it. It's like when you meet someone for the first time you look in their eyes and either immediately get this feeling like "oo.. creepy" or like "oh.. nice". Yeah, I know you know. (Big brother is watching.. I always found that show slightly disturbing...)

But how did those soldiers not realize who they were killing? I mean, it was by God's grace that they didn't know what they were doing.

Grace:
3. generosity of spirit: a capacity to tolerate, accommodate, or forgive people
7. gift of God to humankind: in Christianity, the infinite love, mercy, favor, and goodwill shown to humankind by God
8. freedom from sin: in Christianity, the condition of being free of sin, e.g. through repentance to God

I took those from the dictionary on Encarta. (Props to the Ancarta folks! You get 7 points for those answers!)

It's by God's grace anything happens.

One personal example (I have many) took place a few weeks ago. Finals week to be precise. Well, for this story to make sense, you'll have to know that I am a female and with the female gender comes that one week out of the month where the female will engage in a slighty displeasing manner. So basically, since this isn't the animal channel, and no, I do not support PETA (just wanted that out there), I'll tell it like it is. I had both finals on the same day and when I got to school, I started getting cramps. They weren't so bad, so I thought I could live with it. (If you're a guy, you have no idea what I'm talking about but keep reading it'll start to make sense.) Well, I get through my first class and I get to my next Final (psychology, the one that really counted) and my cramps are unbearable to the point of passing out. But I think, "this is the worst part, it'll get better now." It didn't. It got worse. So while I'm trying to focus classical conditioning, I'm also trying not to pass out or throw up on the person sitting in front of me.

When it came down to it, I left within 45 minutes of a 2 hour final. I turned in my test without saying a word of what was going on to my prof. and left.

My first encounter of God's grace was on my way to the car.. He was the only reason I even made it to my car. The second was that my aunt happened to live 30 seconds away and came to drive me to her house until I felt better.

Now the good part...

So I knew that I completely bombed my entire test. I couldn't even remember what was on it and I was heartbroken because nothing like that had ever happened to me before. I'm usually a good test taker and can bluff my was through an essay like nobody's business.. a true car salesman so to speak. I had no choice but to beg my prof. to let me finish my test.

So then next day I went to his office (thank you Jesus that he was actually there) and I explained what had happened, tears and everything, eventhough I promised myself I wouldn't cry. So he got my test out.. looked it over.. and said, "Why don't I just give you a new one.." and with that he ripped up my old one and took me to the testing room. Grace. In just a few seconds I had gone from complete anxiety to total peace. The test ended up being a cake walk, and Mr. Taff will always be remembered in my family.

WOO YEAH WOO YEAH WOO YEAH! I think it's something to cheer for.. Go ahead.. yell a little.. get crazy! YEAHHHHH!!!!