By Your Side

Do you ever feel far away from God?  
 
I have a span of a fews days or weeks when I feel really close to God, but then I usually get distracted by the things in my life.  God takes the back row when I become busy with my homework and friends.  Thankfully, God is always patiently waiting for me to return to him.  And then God forgives me for forgetting him!  

James 4:8a states, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you."  The ONE and only true God loves you soo much and wants to be in constance communication with you.  Draw near to our great God, the creator of the universe, and he will draw near to you over and over again. 

Why are you striving these days

Why are you trying to earn grace

Why are you crying

Let me lift up your face

Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love

Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough

To where will you go child

Tell me where will you run

To where will you run

And I'll be by your side

Wherever you fall

In the dead of night

Whenever you call

And please don't fight

These hands that are holding you

My hands are holding you

Look at these hands and my side

They swallowed the grave on that night

When I drank the world's sin

So I could carry you in

And give you life

I want to give you life

Cause I, I love you

I want you to know

That I, I love you

I'll never let you go

~Tenth Avenue North

By Your Side

Flowers and Forts

Last night I made a duct tape flower for my friend!  (I just learned how to make them)

Caroline and I made a fort tonight in the lounge because Caroline came up with the brilliant idea!  I used my architecture skills to design the fort and Caroline used her talents to hang the blankets up.  It turned out pretty sweet and so now we are going to have a sleepover in it!

Caroline building the fort

Inside the fort

The ceiling

The garbage bin (hidden by the red blanket) with a chair on top of it 

The whole fort with Melissa and Jenna inside

Be You

Tonight I heard Ryan and Sarah Hall speak!  (If you don't know who Ryan and Sarah Hall are I would advise you to google them :-)  I went with three other ladies from school to an inner city school about 40 minutes away.  Ryan and Sarah talked about their organization, The Hall Steps Foundation. 
"The Hall Steps Foundation aims to empower the running community to use the energy and resources that fuel runners’ athletic achievements for social justice efforts. Currently in its first year of operation, the Steps Foundation funds initiatives that tackle structural causes of poverty such as chronic lack of access to basic entitlements including clean water, shelter and physical security. Specifically, Steps partners with leading international and local nonprofits in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia to fund projects that invest in sustainable methods of enhancing access to basic essentials. In the U.S., the Hall Steps Foundation is funding youth mentor and running programs across the country that aim to position athletic activity, goal-setting and training camaraderie at the center of the national movement to improve youth health, fitness and opportunity."


In addition to talking about their organization, the Halls shared their stories of how they started running.  Ryan shared that he found his passion for running at a young age and pursued that passion.  Ryan and Sarah encouraged us to be the best person we can be with our talents.  God gave us certain talents that are very different from others; we need to focus our attention on the talent God gave us and develop that talent.  Ryan stated that he believes greatness is achieved when we are who we are meant to be to the fullest.

Me, Sarah, Ryan, Hannah, and Katie

Demotivational Posters

Best part of my day...reading these!  I found them on www.zazzle.com!  Enjoy

AUTUMN & ART PRIZE

It was nice to be home this weekend.  The first thing I noticed was that the leaves on the trees were changing colors...the leaves here have not changed yet!

This afternoon I went to Art Prize.  The artwork was so cool and I loved being downtown!  I wish I could have been there longer, because we only got to see a fraction of the pieces.  Each piece was made of a different medium and each was very different from the next.  The artists are so creative!

These two colored pieces caught my eye because they show movement.  We are creating pieces in 2-D design this week that display movement.  The picture on the bottom left corner shows "THE WORLDS LARGEST COLORING BOOK."  This artwork piece made my day!  I wish I would have thought of that...people apparently just love to color!

Keeps Me Turning Home

I miss a lot of things from home:
~DRIVING my car around and listening to the radio
~my CHURCH and church family
~my mom's HOME COOKED MEALS
~listening to my dad's funny STORIES when he gets home from work
~hearing my little brothers talk about and analyze SPORTS
~having my OWN room/bathroom
~PLACES in my hometown, such as Meijer and Little Caesars
~reading the NEWSPAPER on Sunday afternoons 
~watching the NEWS on tv in the morning


Thankfully I am home for the weekend! Hopefully I'll have the chance to enjoy some of these things!


"Usually take one last pass through town
Stop the car and touch the ground
Watch those streetlights swayin’ in the breeze
Decorated store fronts
Rusty old gas pumps
Try to fill my mind up
With somethin’ before I go
Picture postcard memories
You know they always make for good company

I don’t know no town
Like the old town
Even when the miles are many
I feel like I’m still around
Deep inside me
Like rings through an oak tree
Yeah, there something ‘bout a Sunday when I’m gone
That keeps me turning home"
David Nail, Turning Home

HaPpiNeSS ;-)

Lately I have been thinking a lot about happiness.  A few weeks ago our professor asked us to raise our hand if we were truly happy.  I was the only one who raised my hand.  He asked me why I was so happy and I said, "Just because I am!"  No one else in the class raised their hand; they said that they were sometimes happy and went on to list a lot of little things that made them unhappy.  I was shocked that no was else was as happy as I was.  I realized later on that the reason I am truly happy, all the time, is because Jesus is living in me and I have nothing to worry about!  NOTHING to worry about!  The professor gave us the assignment last Thursday to write a paper on any topic.  I chose HAPPINESS for my topic.  While researching this topic I found an article by Nuala O'Faolain called "Chasing the Evanescent Glow."  She writes,

"When I think about happiness, it is not an image I see, though I know the ads that show perfectly matched children hugging their toys or an impeccable couple strolling on the beach at an exclusive resort or a silver-haired pair holding hands beside a golf cart. My happiness moves. Where I live in the west of Ireland, often in the evening a bar of golden light blazes along the horizon of the ocean. Then small clouds, ragged and wistful, drift across the radiance and obscure it and thicken, and that's how the dusk comes. There's nothing I can do to make the gold arrive, and of its nature it dissolves. After dusk departs, the dark is not just dark. It contains the memory of what it was. And that's what I think happiness is like--radiant like the last of the sun, but always in the process of disappearing.
Because nobody can summon it up, nobody can say that it will never come again. But nobody can stop it from disappearing either."


Our happiness does not have to disappear.  In fact we are CALLED by God to be happy!  No matter if you are going through trials in your life or if everything is going fine, be happy.  If you are struggling with finding God's will for your life or if you know the path he has called you to take, be happy.  


Psalm 68:3 "But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful."

Proverbs 15:13 "A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face; a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day."


This one is my favorite:


Ecclesiastes 3: 12 "But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does? I've had a good look at what God has given us to do—busywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time—but he's left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he's coming or going. I've decided that there's nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That's it—eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It's God's gift."


Did you catch that- life is a gift. So make the most out of your circumstances and be happy!


~I laughed a lot with Jenna tonight.  We were both acting super crazy, as always!  We decided to make a sign for our friend Melissa.  We found this sweet quote to use and then when I wrote it on the sign I forgot to add a word.  We laughed so hard because Jenna colored in half of the sign before she realized that it was missing a word.  I laughed even harder though when I saw this mistake because it dawned on me that plan A failed.  I implemented a plan B and I think the sign ended up turning out pretty cute!  Melissa loved it!

Hanging the sign in her room for her!

“I shall become a master in this art...

only after a great deal of practice.” — Erich Fromm


For my first three art projects the focus was on line, shape, and form.  We study each topic for a week.  For my assignment I have to draw 40 thumbnail sketches relating to the topic.  Then I have to use one of the thumbnails and draw it out on a normal size paper using cray-pas.  This was very hard for me to get used to because the artwork is supposed to be abstract; I am not so good at thinking abstract.  Next, I have to draw one of my thumbnails on the computer, using Illustrator.  And I have to turn in a picture I took.  Here is what I have done so far:

My thumbnails for this week relating to form- symmetry, balance, near symmetry, and contrast.  The picture with the books is supposed to show symmetry.

Cray-pa drawing for Week 1- line

Week 2- shape

Week 3- form

We've got EACH OTHER and that's a lot

"Who has your back?


Faith is not meant to be lived out alone.  God has designed us to do life together.  The smallest group Jesus ever sent out on a mission was two- he never sent his followers out alone.  Why?  Because he knows that we do not function well alone.  We need companionship, we need encouragement, we need accountability.  


We need someone to watch our back.  


Where can you find a friend who will be there when you become too exhausted to fight the enemy?  It doesn't matter how you come together, you need someone in your life to watch your back.  Someone to hold you accountable.


That's straight from the Bible, not just some philosophical rhetoric.


"Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and PRAY for each other so that you can live together whole and healed." James 5: 16


"Friends love through all kinds of weather." Proverbs 17:17"


~taken from "Taming a Liger" by Jeff Dunn and Adam Palmer


I read this for devotions this morning and then tonight I spent some time with some great friends!  God works in mysterious ways!  I went to dinner with Megan, Jenna, Lette, Caroline, and Anna.  We had a dinner in the cafe and watched deer outside the window while we ate.  Next, we went on a walk around the neighborhood and listened to Caroline sing us Disney songs.  Currently we are watching "Anastasia!"  Up next is "A Cinderella Story" while we color!  

Word to the Wise

DO NOT ever ask those majoring in art to do math!  Bad idea all around.

Today at work I was supposed to hang up art pieces on the walls in the ArCC.  My teacher explained to me how everything needed to be equally spaced.  He then went on to give me a complicated mathematical formula for how to divide the space up.  As you can see in this first picture, I was able to do my math!

Now when I went to hang up the next five pieces I had someone helping me.  Lauren and I both did the math, hung up the pictures to no avail, redid the math, hung up the pictures wrong again, tried one last attempt at math and then gave up.  We asked our boss for help, after she witnessed our struggles, and she just told us to eyeball it.  She said, "Well, the pictures are about congestion and tension so the way you are hanging them up creates tension and congestion!"  There you have it- because we can't do math the pictures now create tension and congestion when viewed by the human eye.