Strength

Courage. Bravery. Boldness. They are all words related to standing up for your beliefs through persecution. In 2 Timothy 3:12 it says: Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Living for God is not always going to be easy. That is not promised. What is promised is that He will help us through the hard times. In Isaiah 41:10 is says: So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

God promises to strengthen and help us. The other day I was with some friends and there were a couple of tables outside. There was a group of people sitting at one table and one kid sitting alone at another table. It would have been easy to sit with the group of people, who seemed to be having a good time and were all good friends. It probably would have been even easier to sit where I already was sitting, at a completely different table inside. But when my friend grabbed me and said "let's go sit with the kid who is sitting at that table all alone", it definitely wasn't the easy thing to do.

It's hard to walk past the "cool people" table and sit at the "uncool" table. I could have easily turned to my friend and said no, I already had a seat inside. But it took strength, God's strength from his righteous right hand, to sit at that table.

I just want to remind everyone that when you are called to do something, God will be there right next to you, guiding you. As much of a hurt I felt for the kid at the table that the people were being mean to him, I know for sure that I wouldn't have been able to stand up and walk to that table without God's strength. God promises strength to all of us. All we have to do is ask.

7:53 PM

Sorry it's sideways - don't know how to turn it :P

Haha my mom and brother and I got a laugh out of the "7:53" part - and it wasn't just this one sign, either. All the signs all over Plymouth were like this :)

Google Doodles

My brother suggested to make a Q&A session about Google Doodles, but I decided that a normal blog post would be better and easier to relay the information.

First, you might want to visit http://www.google.com/doodles/finder/2012/All%20doodles



The picture above shows some of the various Doodles Google has done over the years. Doodles are basically a fun (sometimes interactive) way that "Google" is written on the home page.

Here is an article that talks about some of the most popular Google Doodles; http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398044,00.asp

And this one is probably my favorite: http://www.google.com/pacman/

Enjoy :)

The ballad of the Lonely Sock

Once upon a time, only one very cool colorful sock went through the washer. His poor friend (the other very cool colorful sock) was left behind in the dirty laundry, heartbroken to be put through the agony of separation from his best friend for life. They always had done things together; when they were in the sock drawer they clung tightly to each other. Whenever they were worn on Molly's feet, they were worn together. The separation was almost unbearable.

Molly taped the Lonely Sock on the wall (And she spelled Lonely wrong like "lonley" and didn't even realize it until she was typing this and a little red line appeared under the word). The reason she did this was so that they would not be separated for life in the sock drawer. When his buddy reappeared after a long trek through the wicked washer and the deadly dryer, Molly reunited them by taping the other to the wall to be with his friend. The post-it note by his head continued the thought "Lonely sock :("... "Is no longer lonely :)"

Molly's friend Nick came to her house. He asked the story of the Lonely sock and why she had taped her sock to her wall. She explained and when she was not looking, he took the lonely sock's friend off the wall and put a new post-it note up that read "is still lonely >:0" 

 And the story lives on. Who knows what will happen next with the Lonely Sock and his best friend for life. The best we can do is hope they will be reunited someday. Sadly, at this time, I am unable to end this story "and they all lived happily ever after". Maybe someday....

Overflowing Joy

I heard a cool definition of the word "sing". It said: "Sing - to allow joy out of the body through musical intonations of the voice".

That right there describes me in a nutshell. If you've ever been around me, I'm sure you've heard me sing. I can't help it. Singing makes my work go faster, my schoolwork easier, my days more enjoyable. Singing makes my thoughts happier, my smile wider, and it helps me to see all the beauty (rather than pain and bad things) in the world around me.

I am filled with a type of joy that can't be described. The only way I know how to let it out is to sing (and play piano, guitar, or bass).

The reason I have this Joy can be found in Psalm 126:3, which says: "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy". It doesn't say "it gives us a little bit of joy" or we are "half-full of joy". We are filled! To the top! And when something is filled to the top with more coming in, it has to be let out somehow!

The reason that more joy keeps coming in is because God's mercies are new each morning! Blessings are poured out on us ALL THE TIME! When the Holy Spirit lives in us, one of the fruit of the Spirit that we have is JOY. On Google I found a definition of a fruit of the Spirit: it is "a quality of God's character that flows forth through the believer." It doesn't stay inside, it flows forth. It has to come out!

This is why I sing. There are other reasons too, some being that I love praising Jesus and there are definitely things you can say through music and lyrics that are easier to express that way than through speaking. But I think the reason that I am CONSTANTLY singing is because that Joy needs to escape! It is inside of me from the Holy Spirit and it is overflowing through my lips.

Anyone can have this kind of Joy. I am not saying that I am a perfect Christian because the Spirit is in me. I've still got work to do. There are times when I could be more loving or patient, times when I should stop worrying. God promises His Spirit to live in everyone who believes in Him, and the Spirit works in different ways in each of our lives. But when the Spirit comes into you, there are 9 fruits, or qualities of God's character, that come out: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. They certainly don't all just appear at once, as we would sometimes like ("God, please send your Spirit into my life". POOF! You are now patient and have perfect self control and are completely loving!), no it doesn't work that way, but God's spirit WILL work in your life and people WILL see the results.

Or in my case, hear the results :)

:)

Ahahaha! I crack myself up! I was reading past posts and I really do amuse myself :)

Hexapod robot battle

Video of our Hexapod robot doing a battle routine... enjoy :)

Things to say to your driving teacher in the event of braking too hard

I would recommend reading these things my friends told me to say to my driving instructor in the event of braking too hard (list compiled by Julianne Nicole, Allison Marie, and their mother)
-"Just checking to make sure the seat is locked in!"
-"The tail hook caught!"
-"Now we all know how inertia works!"
-"Seat belt functionality? Check!"
-An excited squeal followed by "Wow! I've missed Cedar Point!"
-Sorry, I thought I was pushing the clutch"
-"I'm just trying to wake up that kid in the back seat"
-"Did you know that my dad's a whiplash insurance salesman?"
-"I was trying to keep us from becoming a crash statistic"
-Look at the teacher and say "Why did you do that?!?!"

12:10 challenge

Romans 12:10 - Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

What would happen if all Christians really lived that way? It would be a light in a world of darkness, a beacon saying "I live for something more than myself". Over the month of March 2012, I challenge you to live that way. Try to honor others above yourself in everything that you do.

There is more to the challenge. Every day, make it a point to go out of your way to give someone a blessing. Hold the door open for a stranger. Call a friend who is going through tough times. Pray for someone who is not normally on your prayer list. Buy your mom flowers. Make your sibling a card to show your love.

If we got 10 people in on this, over 31 days of March we would have shown God's love 310 times. 50 people - 1550 times. 100 people - 3100 times.

If you use Facebook, you can take the challenge by liking our page: 12:10 Challenge. If you don't use Facebook, you can still join in! Please let me know if you are doing it. Feel free to invite as many people as you want to join in!



God bless :)






-Molly