Nachoooooooooooooooo

“Precious father, whhhy have you given me this desire to wrestle and then made me such a stinky warrior??? Have I focused too much on my boots and all my fame and my stretchy pants???” (Nacho)
So, I am going to be totally lame and take a nacho quote and (attempt :-P) a blog about it lol. I just find it so true, how we can so easily come to God with our troubles and ask why He has graced us with a talent, ability, or what not. Then the first thing we think of is perhaps we have used this gift wrong or perhaps we ruined His grace with our sinfulness and selfishness. I know I do this a lot in my life. I am always so quick to assume that it’s my fault or that I have ruined something so precious.
We cannot put so much blame on ourselves. God fully knows that we are not going to be perfect as soon as we are saved. Therefore, we are just wasting energy and time feeling sorry for ourselves for ruining His gifts. Instead we should devote that energy to realizing our gifts and how to use them correctly or fixing our mistakes.
And most of the time this is true, we are not perfect so we do ruin or mess up gifts that God graces us with. That doesn’t mean we have completely failed. God is so wonderful and He meets us where we are at. He sees that we perhaps did not do exactly what He had in plan for us but He runs with it and says “Ok, here’s where we are at with this lets fix this”. We don’t necessarily need to crumble all our dreams into a ball and throw them away. We need to come to God with our “ball” of dreams and ask Him “What now? Where do I go from here?” while completely trusting in Him. I believe that if we are earnestly seeking after Him then our end result will be aligned closely with His will, it may not be exactly what we were hoping or dreaming but Gods will is so much better than our fantasies. That doesn’t mean we won’t continue to mess up along the way. We will we are only human after all. If we were like Jesus already we would not have or need a desire to be like Him. In fact, our entire belief would be pointless and we wouldn’t need God. That’s where the truth comes in that we do need God because we aren’t perfect.
I’m sure most of you know how Nacho ends but he does find a purpose for his gift (although it may not seem great to outsiders, but our gifts are ALWAYS seen great to God--just think of him as a father who is putting your first grade drawing of your stick figure family on the refrigerator. He sees it as a work of art when others see it as a few stick figures and a house) and in the end he defeats Ramses… and gets the girl of course lol.

I cannot sense you close, though I know you're always here... <3

I know I am terrible at this but this really isn't about me, it's about God. Therefore anyway that I can reflect Him and His wonderfulness to me, I will.
So, I've been having a lot of doubts lately. Brought on by many things. Doubts such as, is this where God wants me? Doubts concerning school, my future plans, my job, friends, etc... yeah and a boy lol.
I feel kind of like God has left me lately as well. I know He hasn't and perhaps it's just me but I have been patiently waiting and listening to a wonderful song to get me through "faithful" by Brooke Fraser. Check it out!
I keep looking to God for guidance, to lead me on the right path. I just want to walk in His will and not my own selfish ambitions. But how do we know that we are following this? The only way I can think of to figure this answer out is to constantly pray and talk to God. To ask Him for a sign... multiple signs...even an endless amount of signs. Unfortunately, I am very skeptical so I enjoy many many signs. I have been to the point where I am crying out for Him, my patience has been wearing thin.
Little did I know, he was answering me right then and there, I was just not opening my eyes wide enough to see. I was too focused on Him hearing me rather than being patient and listening to His wonderful words and signs.
God has graciously told me that I am where He wants me to be. And I have been realizing lately that the more I attempt to walk in His will and earnestly cry out for Him. The more He will lead me in the right direction and turn me away from a dead end.
So, to answer how do we know? We'll we don't always unless He tells us. But we can try our best to do things for Him and not ourselves. This alone has put rest on my worrying heart. Everything will work out when we are living for God. Things may not seem to work out, but I honestly believe there is a reason for everything.
Even why God led us to a certain school or church. Which He has taught me lately. I have been wondering why I was brought there and looking at my wonderful friends, the wonderful group on campus I attend called 180 Christian Fellowship!!! Where I have met such great people! The church I attend on sunday... just everything.
God took away a relationship I was in that was just crumbling me. I was falling apart. I would cry literally every night straight for eight months. I thought he was my world. Four years and I assumed it had to be him.. but then we grew apart. God taught me, it took a while, but He taught me where I needed to be in my life. That opened up my eyes to seeing I needed God more than ever. That I should fully rely on God and God only. And that God is and always will be number one in my life. No one is above Him and no one ever will be. Sorry boys. lol.
Honestly, I have never been happier. I think the only time I cry now is when I'm wicked frustrated or stressed. And I believe... no I KNOW it is because my God is too wonderful to me. The more I walk with Him, the happier my life is.
So, random tangent and all.
God is wonderful. He will answer you if you seek for Him.
He has three answers to prayer.
1. Yes.
2. Not yet.
3. I have something better in mind.
<3 Manda

"Maybe since my life was changed long before these rainy days it's never really ever crossed my mind" Mercy Me- Bring The Rain

Bloggity Bloggg…

I always find it incredibly difficult to start a new blog. I was using one on mindsay for about a week now, but I don’t know anyone on mindsay, so it was kind of boring. But, my wonderful friend Bonnie decided to do blogspot, so I was converted.

So, I guess this is where I start with who I am.

I am an almost 21 year old college junior. I am a psychology major who isn’t that wonderful at writing, yet somehow I get by. So, hopefully this blog will help me become a better writer! Yeah, but if you want to know more about me, I’m an open book so just ask and I probably will explain more about myself later in my blog.

I have been through a lot in my life but the day that changed my life into something wonderful was about four/five years ago. My best friend, Laura, and her boyfriend had been trying to get me to come to youth group with them. Now, I have always believed in God and prayed almost every night but the thought of going to youth group scared me because I was extremely shy and was scared of being an outcast. Well one day Laura asked me and I was like ok I’ll go. Not knowing that night would change my life, pretty much FOREVER!!

So we ended up going, it was a Thursday night had to be around February of 2005. I’m not 100% sure so don’t quote me on that. We’ll we got there and we were a little late so we went to this place that looked like a house. I was so confused I thought we were going to go to the church, yet we went to a house right by it. We ended up pretending that we were banned from reading the bible and were only able to read it by secretly gathering in a basement of an old abandoned house in order to learn more about the bible. That night I realized that I have totally free to read the bible, to worship God, etc., and yet I’m giving away this freedom because I feel the need to be selfish.

Ever since that wonderful day I have been living my life for the Lord. Yeah, I have had times where I have messed up and moments of doubt but those times have made me who I am and realize more and more my need for God. That I cannot walk this walk alone, I need him to guide me and even carry me during times of struggle.

So, today is Jesus’ birthday!! Whether today is exactly his birthday or not, we celebrate today as his birthday. It’s also my friend Mike’s birthday!! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS & MIKE!!!

-Amanda aka Manders, Mandi, Manda… whatever you want to call me!