Keep Calm And Write On

In a world where terrorists strike every week, and Christianity is more and more being mocked and disdained, Facebook Theologians have long, drawn out discussions on whether a Christian should smoke, drink, and watch certain movies and tv shows. For a people who continually tout that "It's not a religion, it's a relationship," We sure seem pretty obsessed with what we can and can't do, and who disagrees with us. For your reading pleasure, I submit the entire fifth chapter of Galatians: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, [ a ] and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2  Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3  And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4  You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5  For we through the Spirit eagerl

"Yesterday’s a closing door. You don’t live there anymore. Say goodbye to where you've been, and tell your heart to beat again." - Danny Gokey, "Tell your heart to beat again." I fell in love with this song three months ago, when I was in a car accident and was wrestling with anxiety, flashbacks, nightmares and other effects of this thing that had smacked me in the face halfway right before finals. When my world was a jumble of visits with specialists, and talking with my counselor, and trying desperately to pass my science class, when reading for more than ten minutes gave me splitting headaches and I couldn’t focus worth anything, when I felt broken and desperately wanted to be whole, music is what spoke to me the most. I've always been a big reader. For the first time since I was four years old, reading was no longer an option. So I listened to things I couldn’t focus on with my eyes. Music, audio books, episodes of Friends through my Bluetoo

Dear Exhausted One, You don't have to keep going at a breakneck pace to live a productive life. Sometimes the best times are the ones that society claims are 'wasted', but no time is truly wasted, because the so-called wasted time is what fortifies us and prepares us for the productive time. Rest is a vitally important part of our life, something that we are slowly cutting out of our society. More's the pity, because we are creating an entire generation that believes they always have to be busy. Every hour must be planned, college must be a time of working three jobs and taking twenty credit hours. That's great for some, but not for everyone. Some of us need our journaling time, and our music time, and our staring off into space time. If you happen to be an introvert, like I am, you need that quiet time just for your own mental health and energy, So to those who need that 'wasted' time, it's okay. it's needed, and if you have hobbies that yo

My mind had wandered. I knew it, but I thought I could control my thoughts. I was wrong. It sucked me back in and replayed in my mind, this thing that had impacted me so.  I tried in vain to remind myself that  that I was safe, I was sitting in science class, and everything was fine. By the time I made it outside I could barely breathe for the panic, but when I took a deep breath of the late spring air, it did a lot to revive me, and I focused on my breathing the whole way to my counselors office, glancing around as I always did, for some reason paranoid that someone I knew would see me. Not a lot of people knew I was in counseling, or that this thing had impacted me so much. But it had, and I felt trapped. I talked to my counselor and after my appointment with her, I bought lunch and took it outside with me. I took deep breaths of the fresh air and felt myself relax. Still, I couldn't let go of the feeling that it was taking me too long to heal from this. "It'll tak

Dear Person, If you're reading this, you know what it's like to not feel like you have your life all together. You know what it's like to feel like a failure. You're dropping the ball left and right, it seems. Laundry piles up, phone calls accumulate, and your to-do list grows ever longer. But you're exhausted. You can't possibly do any more than you're doing, but you feel worn out. Anxiety swells and panic surges and it's all you can do to get through one more day. The memories of events past keep you awake and vie for your attention. and you fight to stay in the moment. Maybe your health is failing, or there's barely enough food on the table. Maybe you feel like you're drowning. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but you'll come out of it eventually. And you'll be so much stronger on the other side. Your Father has a good, good plan for your life, and you are being refined as gold. In the meantime, cry out to your father the

So, I had planned to write a follow up article to my post on Sadness today, but didn't get it put together in time. Anyway, instead, here's an update on the goals i mentioned earlier this week, and how everything's been going. The Goals A, Three shifts at work. I'm back at my retail job for the summer, and I'm so excited to be back. Retail has its frustrations and all, but I always liked this job, and its so good to be back. ---One shift down, two to go. B. Finish Paper and email to professor. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I had a few things from school follow me home and I would love to have all of it completely under wraps by the end of this week. ---DONE! C.Four loads of Laundry I may or may not have allowed my laundry to pile up the past couple of weeks. Time to get on that. ---Three loads down. one to go. Almost done! D.Finish blanket I've been working on crocheting a blanket for, well..eons. It ends this week. ---Progress is bein

    Sadness If you've seen the movie Inside Out, then you're well familiar with the character of sadness. She just doesn't fit in with the other emotions. Joy spends most of her time either trying to make Sadness happy, or get her out of the way so the other emotions can take care of Riley. We never really know how to handle sadness in others, do we? Raw emotion makes a lot of us uncomfortable. We're afraid of making it worse, so we never really say anything at all. Why are we so afraid of being real with each other, especially when the Bible is filled with examples of real emotion? I've been in the psalms for a while, just marveling at the real, raw way in which David reached out to God.  "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?      Why are you so far  from saving me,      so far from my cries of anguish? 2  My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,      by night,  but I find no rest." (Psalm 22:1-2) I wish i

So. It's been a crazy few months, and I've neglected my poor blog. Life is finally settling down after too long of being crazy, and I'm getting slowly back into the swing of everyday life. To keep myself focused, I decided to borrow an idea from some other bloggers and make a list of a couple goals I wanted to work on this week, and post them. So, without further ado, The Goals A, Three shifts at work. I'm back at my retail job for the summer, and I'm so excited to be back. Retail has its frustrations and all, but I always liked this job, and its so good to be back. B. Finish Paper and email to professor. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I had a few things from school follow me home and I would love to have all of it completely under wraps by the end of this week. C.Four loads of Laundry I may or may not have allowed my laundry to pile up the past couple of weeks. Time to get on that. D.Finish blanket I've been working on crocheting a blan