What will be Remembered?

"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel." - Carl Buechner

      I absolutely love this quote! This is so true, because I can remember the way people have made me feel (good or bad) a lot longer than I am able to remember the exact words that they spoke. As people we really need to consider this daily, because if you simply give a stranger a dirty look it could hurt their feelings. My grandma taught me to smile at someone, and that it could possibly make a difference in their day. I know that I feel really good after a stranger performs a random act of kindness towards me. God wants us to love others and when we love relatives, friends, and strangers what we did is something that could stick with them for the rest of their lives. I love to recall all the nice things that people have done for me, because it reminds me of how loved I am. This quote reminds me of a story in the bible. “The Feeding of the Five Thousand” is about how a little boy gave up his lunch, Jesus prayed over it, and the food multiplied to feed five thousand people. In the bible it doesn't say what the boy said, but it did mention his act of kindness. Although we don't know his name he will always be remembered for what he sacrificed. Without that act of service, we wouldn't have the story "The Feeding of the Five Thousand." See God will use your actions! Let God be your focus of life and maybe you will be remembered for your acts of love.

Family

I am so blessed to have the family that God gave me. I love my family so much and I have enjoyed facing the ups and downs of my life with these special people. Family is very important and many people in this day and age don't understand that. I know some people have hard family lives and this may be more difficult for you, but with Christ we can love all people who have done us wrong.

Some teens believe that being a teenager means becoming rebellious and violent, but that's not what needs to be expected of a child of the King. I want people to know that you can rely on your family (this applies to most families but not all, sadly) and you should because God knows you, completely and wholly. God placed your parents in your life for a reason, and if they're Christians they are there to encourage and lead you to Christ. Some kids have parents that aren't Christians but God still has put them in your life for a reason, maybe so that you (as a child) can minister and lead them to Christ by your example.

Try to draw closer to your family, because they are the people that you have been blessed to be stuck with for the rest of your life! Your family will stick with you through thick and thin. My mom is seriously my best friend and we have an awesome relationship. There have been times in my life where we haven't understood each other or even gotten along but that was just part of the growing process. Your parents and siblings are going to make mistakes and hurt your feelings (just like you do theirs), but you have to know that you need to forgive them like Christ forgave us and died on Calvary. I hope this encourages you to draw closer to your family. May God bless you, and help you to draw closer to your family!

The Translation of the Dream I Had Last Night

     There was a race taking taking place. It was a pair race and the course was very long. There were 4 different groups running this long race. The groups started the race at different times, and they were let out slowest to fastest. The slowest group of runners were let out at the first shot. They started to run, run, and run some more. After the first mile they started to jog and when they hit the second mile they decided to sit down and rest for awhile. The second group dashed off when the second shot hit the air like an arrow piercing a target. They began to run hard but grew tired at the mile and a half point, so they decided to stop at the two mile point and play the game soccer with the other team that was ahead of them. The second team thought ,"Well these were the only people ahead of us and they stopped, so we might as well play a game with them because when we see the other team coming we will be able to outrun them." Team 1 and 2 began to play and they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Team 3 were able to start the race at the sound of the third shot. They sprinted down the road and they soon found themselves feeling exhausted. They passed team 1 and 2 quite quickly because they had been sprinting but not soon after they passed the other two teams they sat down to take a break and play cards. They thought that since they had passed the other teams and that they were resting instead of playing they would be able to beat the fourth team when they saw them coming up the road. After awhile the fourth gun shot was heard and that let team number 4 know that it was their turn to start running. They started out with a good pace, something in between a sprint and a jog. They ran and did not stop, and soon they were able to pass the first and second team who were playing a soccer game. They were starting to feel the strain on their legs but they had both agreed beforehand that they would not give up no matter what obstacles they had to face. They began to come upon the third team, who was playing a game of cards. The third team started to run as fast as they could but they were no match for the fourth team, even though they had even rested. They fourth team was humble and did not scream taunts at the slower team, although they were starting to outrun them. The fourth team were the ones who ran strong and hard throughout the whole race and in the end they were the ones who won the race!

      The point of the story/dream is that you can be succesful in a race when you continue to run. God has given us the Bible as a tool to help us throughout life. When you trust in God and follow His footsteps and become fully dependable on Him, He will help you to finish the race. We all have our different ideas on what a race looks like in our lives. When we depend on ourselves we will want to give up and play a game instead of finishing the task at hand. The fourth team that won, did not win just because they were the fastest runners but because they relied on the promise they had made to each other to not stop. When we accept God into our lives, we promise Him that He can reign in us. When we make this promise to God we need to follow our word and allow Him to live in us. When you make a promise you need to keep it. When you trust in God you need to trust Him even when you can't see what is at the end of the road in your race. Allow God to help you run the race that is at hand.

Growing Up and Down

     As kids and teenagers, we always say, "I can't wait until I'm older." We focus on when we can change our age and people will look at us differently. We hope that this year, maybe just maybe we have gotten to the age that people won't hear our age and say, "You're that young!!" We want people to hear our ideas and our opinions and accept them. We want to feel like we belong and that people enjoy being around us. When we are a kid we think life will be so perfect when I'm older because I will be free and independent.

     When you become an adult, all you want is for someone to say that you look younger than you really are. In becoming an adult, you have gotten older (obviously) and been placed in multiple situations that you have to overcome. Adults dread becoming 70 or above because that is the age where your voice really starts to become lower. Your voice become lower because often times the younger generation thinks that older people don't know what they are talking about because they weren't even born in the current generation. Adults sometimes just want to go back to the times that they were kids because they feel that life was so simple and easy because they just got handed everything and there were no bills to pay.

     When you are a kid/teenager you can't fully comprehend what adult life is like because you haven't been able to experience it yet. Also when adults wish they could become younger they tend to push away all the memories of all the hard things they had to overcome or they make the trials they went through seem simple compared to the ones they are dealing with right now.

     The fact is we all need to understand that God wants us right where we are at the exact age that we are right now. God has made you a child to minister to your friends by playing with them and sharing and maybe you can show them Jesus' love through your acts of kindness. God has made you a teenager to be humble but yet bold. Be bold in your faith don't be ashamed of Jesus Christ. Examples speak louder than Words is my motto. Show your friends that you are a true follower of Christ by not becoming involved in sinful acts. Stand up against the crowd and people will notice you and want to know what makes you stand against the flow. Some people will mock you for going against what they are doing but others will admire you for standing up even when you are ridiculed.

     God has made you an adult because He has an awesome plan for you that could not have been accomplished if you were a child or even a teenager. God wants you adults to be ultimate examples for Christ. Children and teens pay attention to adults. They pay attention to what you wear, how you act, and how you love others. They watch adults all the time and once they find an adult they think is a good remodel for them, they begin studying their actions and place themselves in your shoes and try and consider what they would do in your situation. Teenagers and kids do not want to be you but they want to be like you if you're following Christ. If you are following Christ wholeheartedly there is no better remodel to follow than you. When life hits you hard don't throw in the towel, but be an example for your brothers and sisters in Christ. When you hit a point in your life where you are suffering, that's when you are handed a megaphone. You can either curse God with your megaphone and discourage people from doing the right thing or you can say I know I have troubles right now but through these troubles God is preparing me for something else. God has a plan for you! Trust Him and when you have your megaphone make sure you are speaking the right message!