ALL= Everything

When someone says "give it your all", they're saying do your best...But when God says "Give me your all", I think what He really means is give me everything you've got. Like the good, the bad, the unspoken, the fears, the shame. A lot of times, I neglect the fact that God loves every part of me, and try to ignore and hide the bad parts of me from Him. I neglect to pray about my fears, my troubles, my hurts, my emotions, my shortcomings, and my needs. But God really does mean it when He says He wants it ALL, the good, the bad, the ugly.

I love free things

So, as you all recently learned from my last post...I am a heap individual...and cheap people LOVE FREE!!! Unfortunately very few things are free anymore...But fashionablygeeked is having a giveaway...And I entered it :)

Awardness...

So fashionablygeeked gave me an award:

...now I must share 7 things about myself...So here goes:
1. I'm a freshman psychology major at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
2. People say I'm very motherly.
3. My favorite color is pink.
4. I'm extremely cheap...yet I love to shop.
5. I love to read, sing, and shop.
6. I've always gone to school with at least one relative. One time as many as 6.
7. I love my family.

Open up, Baby! This is Love.

Ok, so that title's probably a little on the creepy side, but for some reason I think it's a quote or lyric from a song...really can't remember. But anyway, as teens we get hurt by a lot of people, things, and circumstances. Christians also go through hurt and hardships (Psalms 44:22). So for a Christian teen, it may feel like we're getting a double portion. And like most humans, when we get hurt, we shy away, we turn away, we close ourselves up. Which not only makes our relationships with friends, family, and others really difficult, but more importantly our relationship with Christ may suffer. Sometimes I find myself hesitant to "put myself out there", so to speak. One thing I've always struggled with is completely trusting God (a whole nother blog post). But when I feel the fear that attempts to keep me from really letting God in, I kinda have this realization that often makes me feel like the most idiotic fool. I realize that Christ put Himself waaaaaaaayyyy "out there", on a cross, to die, in  front of a taunting crowd, and He KNEW people (even His own) would reject Him. And if that's not love...then I don't believe it exists...

God has my back

This week I realized how much God has had and continues to have my back. Point 1: Over the summer, I met this girl from my school through this website for students to find a roommate. So we exchanged numbers and txtd the majority of the summer. She seemed pretty cool and I thought we'd make a good match. However, when it was time to request each other as roommates,, she had already been requested by someone else. So, I was gonna have to room with a completely random stranger picked by the school. This was really scary and for weeks, the worst possible scenarios ran through my head. Around mid-July I got an email from my school with my room and roommate assignment. Me and my school-assigned roommate exchanged contact info and started txting. She seemed cool just like the last girl. so, fast forward to move in day...I walk into my room and see people from my church there. Turns out my roommate and her family go to my church...But being my normally hard-headed self, I didn't quite absorb the fact that God had looked out until Wednesday. The girl I originally planned on rooming with txtd me to hang out Wednesday after class. We went to the diner and had lunch during which she cussed excessively and talked about drugs, alcohol, and partying non stop. All of which are major annoyances for me. So as soon as I walked out of the diner, I was immediately like "well thank God I dodged that bullet".

All the way to YOU

All the Way to Texas-Coffey Anderson
So one of the unfortunate components of this teenage life is loneliness. No matter who you are, at some point you've probably felt alienated from your peers or maybe even family. Sadly, it's even worse for Christian teens. We feel it when all of our friends go to that one really epic party, when others are smoking and drinking, when you just can't and won't do what's "cool". At least I did. I still do sometimes. Annnyyywho, I was studying and listening to music and one of my new favorite songs "All the Way to Texas" by Coffey Anderson came on. So basically the gist of the song is that no matter where you are or what your situation is, Jesus will come to comfort you. So I was just zoning out (and not studying) and I had an epiphany. It was pretty much along the lines of "OF COURSE, he'll come to me...He went all the way to Calvary for me".

Fashionably Geeked: Outfit(s): Crystin's Family Values

Check out my cousin and my other cousins! They're looking kinda cute and I don't see all their private business!!!

Fashionably Geeked: Outfit(s): Crystin's Family Values: Hi guys! Meet [some of] my family. And if you like the ring I'm wearing, I stole it from my cousin Brittanie ;) My sister, Courtney ...

Rambling about the Grand Canyon

One thing that I'm sure all teenage (and even some adult) females go through is the constant struggle with self-esteem. For some, it's just the occasional days were you may just feel plain ugly. However, for others it's even worse and that self-esteem monster attacks you like everyday. I am pretty much in between the two. I have my days when I try to avoid mirrors at all costs. But this summer I had an experience that quelled pretty much all of my self-esteem woes. I visited the Grand Canyon! Now, I know that doesn't really sound that life-changing, but I've never been off the east coast of the US...so this was a pretty big deal. I wasn't expecting some divine revelation when I visited, maybe a few cool pics and a nice souvenir. Well, I got my nice pics and a new perspective! When I first saw the Grand Canyon, it didn't look real...it looked like it had been photo shopped or something. I got to thinking about how only God could make something so beautiful that it didn't seem real. Like my brain couldn't process the beauty of such a place. This led me to think that if God created such a beautiful Grand Canyon, how much more beautiful I must be. Think about it, the Grand Canyon is simply just a pretty hole in the ground...but we are "made in His image" (Genesis 1:27). Now that I have rambled on about a hole in the ground, here's some pictures...

The Thirst

Me and some of my friends and cousins have this inside joke about the "The Thirst". Basically "the thirst" is an epidemic that causes guys and girls alike to act desperate in an attempt to gain the opposite sex's attention. Like when a girl constantly texts a guy when she knows he's really not interested in much. Or when a guy stands in a spot where he knows girls will be, with the sole intention of hitting on them. Or perhaps when a girl spends hours fixing herself up to go to the club and wears uncomfortably high heeled shoes, tight clothes, and displays every physical aspect of her body in the hopes of being noticed by a guy. It's called the thirst because apparently these poor individuals aren't getting the attention/ affection they needed, so they act out of desperation to achieve it. Although this is just a joke among friends, it got me thinking. Because we're all thirsty. And like those aforementioned, we're going about quenching it the wrong way. Personally, I know this is my problem. There are days when I just feel like something's missing. And it's typically at this pivotal moment that I do something...dumb. I'll go out with the wrong crowd, call the wrong person from my past, or just go back to the things I used to do. And in the back of my head, I know that these things I'm doing are never gonna quench the thirsting of my soul. Because I know what I really need is to pray, read, my bible, do something that's gonna get me closer to God. We may not realize it but we're all dying from thirst. You know those crutch habits you run to when things get bad? Yeah, that's the thirst. Most of the problems and bad habits we have stem from our thirst. The alcoholism...yup...thirst (and not the physical thirst). Sex addiction....yup...you're thirsty. Drugs? Thirst...But there's someone that can no doubt quench the thirst...FOREVER. I call Him Jesus...Here's His number: John 3:16

The Decision to Live

The one thing that really breaks my heart is the suicide rate. I'm not exactly sure of the actual numbers and figures, but whatever it is, it's too high. It makes me so sad to see and hear about so many people taking their own lives. Simply because I've been there. There have been many times when I thought my life didn't matter and it wouldn't be a big deal if I just ended it all. Too many times, when life presented disappointments, when my plans didn't work out, when friendships failed; I'd think about just taking my life to end the pain. For along time I was ashamed that I ever went through this. I felt weak, stupid, like a failure. Now, I understand things better. The only reason I ever even gave voice to those suicidal feelings was simply because I was living for myself. Once I started living to please God, my life had a lot more meaning and value. It wasn't until last week that I realized that the decision to live solely for God was what made the decision. There's something about living to please God, living for God that just doesn't amount to living for anything or anyone else.

Greetings!

Well hellooooo there, thanks for visiting! My name's Jasmine and I'm brand spanking new to this whole blog thing, although I've wanted to do this for awhile. Bare with me as I begin this journey of what will hopefully become a Christ centered blog for teens.