2011 Is Here!

Wow, guys! It's 2011 already!
I remember sitting here a year ago with my wonderful family, making New Year's Resolutions, and looking forward to my senior year ending, and my first year of college starting. A year later, I'm sitting here a high school graduate, a sophomore in college (hour-wise) and someone who has been drawn closer to God throughout everything in my life.

So. What's next?
Well, to start off with, I refuse to make New Year's Resolutions. All it does is make you feel guilty because you've held yourself to a standard impossible to reach. As I read in Evan's blog (this really stuck with me, apparently) "Make an educated guess. Be wrong. THEN be awesome." So, this year, through myoneword.org, I give myself permission to be wrong. To make mistakes. To screw up. To fail as epically as possible, allow God to use my failure for His glory. My word this year is "care".

What does that look like?
Well, in my mind, it looks like someone who cares about others, their successes and failures, their needs and wants, their pain and joys; someone who cares about myself, about taking care of myself physically, emotionally, and most of all spiritually. But most of all, caring means being more connected with God by caring more about what He wants than what I want, by seeing this world as an extension of His kingdom instead of my own. Hopefully, God willing, by the end of this year, I'll be someone who can say I was caring towards others, caring towards myself, caring towards school, and caring towards God.

Also, I'm going to attempt to blog more frequently. :)

Yours,
Kayla
"We do not need to write to you about having love for your Christian family, because God as already taught you to love each other." 1 Thessalonians 4:9

525,600 Minutes.

I watched Rent for the first time a few minutes ago, and it has made me stop and think about the time I've been given on this earth. I've spent the first 18 years of my life the way most people do: selfishly. But I don't know what the future holds, and from now on, I'm going to make every minute count.

A Time to Reflect and to Hope

Hello lovelies.

So, here we are, December 21, 2010, four days before Christmas and ten days before the New Year. Ohmygoodness, 2011 starts in ten days. WOW. This year has gone so fast, and I just finished wrapping a present for one of my friends, and it's gotten me thinking of all the things I'm thankful for. Yes, I know this is something we normally think about around Thanksgiving, but it's something that I have been thinking about a lot recently.

So, if you're interested, here goes nothing.
First and foremost, I'm thankful for my family. They are extraordinarily talented at driving me absolutely insane and are even better at reminding me how loved I am. I am so lucky that I have such an amazing family, people who are always there for me, who love me and who teach me how to be better.

Secondly, I'm so thankful for my friends. They truly are the people that make me better, who push me to succeed, and the people who show me what followers of Christ look like. (This means you: SER, JMH, MEB, KDB, MAW, TNL, TS, CT, AH, SSC, JRB, MK, ESB, VRB, HF, RH, MB, and so many more.[I Facebook creeped on a lot of you to get your middle initial. Just saying.])

I'm thankful I live in America. I have the freedom to worship, to study, and to live in peace. *hums the God Bless the USA song while typing*

I'm thankful I have a roof over my head, and food in my stomach, and a bed in which to sleep. After working with some of Greensboro's homeless population a few times with Awaken City church, I know how many are going without this holiday season, and I thank God for what he has blessed me with.

Last, and most certainly not least, I'm thankful for my Creator, my Savior, my Rock, and my God. I would be absolutely nothing without Him, and no matter how many times I screw up (so, so, so many) He takes me back like I deserve it. He is my light and my life, and no matter how many words I use to describe Him, they will never be enough to say all that He deserves.

What's next? I don't know, but I know that I'll be trusting God, and if He allows it, I'll be getting closer to the aforementioned people, and learning more from them. I'll also be "hoppin' and boppin' and do what I do", to quote T. ;) So, here's to a fantastic 2010, and an exciting, Spirit-filled 2011!
God's peace to anyone who reads this,

Kayla

This is my hope, and my strength:
"Yes, I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor ruling spirits, nothing now or in the future, no powers, nothing above us, nothing below us, nor anything else in the whole world will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

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So, here we are.
It's December 13, 2010. I've just finished my first semester of college (holy crap). It's just so crazy to think that I'm a sophomore in college already! Where is all my time going?

In my first semester, I've met so many wonderful people, and been drawn closer than ever to God through those people. Tonisha, Madeline, Salem, Andria, Valerie, Evelyn, Matt, John, Chelsea, Tiana, Evan... All of these people have, in some way or another, shown me what it means to be a true follower of Christ... what love really looks like. There are so many more, but they're the first people I've come up with. :) I thank God for these wonderful individuals every day; not everyone gets to have amazing friends like these.

But, for now, I'm back at home. Getting ready to start work again, for a few weeks. *sigh* It's for something I need desperately (money), so I can't complain too much. Well, I can... but it's not going to help anything. *looks for a positive side* ... *finds one*

I'm also back home with my family. I've missed them so much, but my immediate and my church family, plus all the friends I've left behind here. It feels so good to go, as I did earlier today, and walk around my high school and get hugged and tackled and told that I've been missed.

What's better than all of that? Looking forward to the next few weeks, and then onto my second semester, and knowing that God has something amazing planned for me... Something that will change me, and make me more like Him.

Yours,
Kayla

"Time flies like an arrow, and fruit flies like a banana." Hank Green