author of my life

camp flew by
undetected by everyone in my life
except myself and those who shared my experience there.

every summer I think I know what God is going to teach me
and every summer I'm smacked upside the head
with a lesson utterly unanticipated
that I usually don't notice until months later,
the full impact taking much longer to truly sink in.


I didn't think I had a "real" testimony, a God story, until this year.
I didn't think there was any stuff that had happened in my life
that God set in place for a reason.
Or maybe I just hadn't taken much time to think about it?

But I had to share my testimony this summer,
so I was force to comb over my life.
These things, significant things...
mom having cancer
a cousin killing himself
friends getting in a serious car accident
a life-threatening experience
grandparents getting divorced
struggling through the ideas in a class at church
a cousin-in-law dying
As I looked back, the stuff God taught me
hit me like a giant station wagon.
My experiences, good and bad,
were woven together like a perfectly told story.

Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Three things:
He loves us
He works for our good. (IN ALLLLLLL THINGS.)
and we've been called to serve Him.

Take a minute and reflect on what He's taught you. If we don't slow down and take the time to appreciate that every good and perfect gift comes from above, (James 1:17) We might not realize what an amazing story He's writing for us.

the reason blogs exist.

I'm speaking from a completely singular perspective when I say,
I think every person has a desire, if not natural tendency,
to express their thoughts to others.
Maybe that's just the way I am,
and no one else shares this sentiment.
But it seems to me that even those
who aren't audibly opinionated
still have something they're passionate about,
something to contribute to discussion,
and they have a longing to do so.
The back side of this is that, for the majority of people,
again, many of them being in the not 'audibly opinionated' group,
have a difficult time doing this.
And it's not because we lack eloquence,
diction, the required vocabulary,
or literacy for that matter..
It's because we're unsure of how others will react
to our passionate way of thinking.
What we perceive to be others' opinions of us
severely affects how we act and what we say.
"I am not who I think I am, I am who I think YOU think I am."




The most important things are the hardest to say.
They are the things you get ashamed of,
because words diminish them --
words shrink things that seemed limitless
when they were in your head
to no more than living size when they're brought out.
But it's more than that, isn't it?
The most important things lie too close
to wherever your secret heart is buried,
like landmarks to a treasure
your enemies would love to steal away.
And you may make revelations that cost you dearly
only to have people look at you in a funny way,
not understanding what you've said at all,
or why you thought it was so important
that you almost cried while you were saying it.
That's the worst, I think.
When the secret stays locked within,
not for want of a teller,
but for want of an understanding ear.


Stephen King