Trust

As Christians, we tend to hear the expression "trust in the Lord" a lot, but like the popular saying goes, "familiarity breeds contempt." 

Not that trusting God becomes necessarily contemptible, but often when we are used to hearing something everyday, it sometimes tends to get blown off. 

In my devotions, I've started to explore more about the whole concept of trust, and what the Bible's definition of it is, so I wanted to share something that I found to be really thought-provoking that I came across while I was studying:

Using Job 13:15 - "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.  Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless man would dare come before him!"

Matthew Henry commentates:

"Trust in God, though He slay us, that is, we must be well pleased with God as a friend even when He seems to come forth as an enemy, we must believe that all shall work for the good to us even when all seems to make against us.  We must proceed and persevere in the way of our duty, though it cost us all that is dear to us in this world, even life itself.  We must depend on the performance of the promise when all ways leading to it are shut up.  We must rejoice in God when we have nothing else to rejoice in, and cleave to him, yea, though we cannot for the present find comfort in Him.  In a dying hour we must derive from Him living comforts; and this is to trust in Him though He slay us."

Actually, someone wrote a song based on that verse....super neat:

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Had a photoshoot with these two gals.  So much fun!  

:D

Sweet dreams everybodeeeee!

:)

Well, Tuesday is already gone (hey!  life happens...) so I might as well just put a 'Picture of the Week' up just to say that I did something!  :)

But yet again, iPhone pictures (that I didn't even take) will have to suffice.  (It's not the most convenient thing to lug a big ol camera up a mountain....I'm always worried that I might drop it over the cliff or something :P )

We went hiking this past Sunday afternoon with a group of kids from our Church up to Table Rock - nothing like hiking in Fall weather, eh?  :D

~

Keep Calm and Tuesday On - Concert at Smokey Mountain Center for the Performing Arts

This past Sunday, I had the privilege of accompanying Mom to the Smokey Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin, NC.  She is the background vocalist in Lori Sealy's new CD, 

'Be Gone Unbelief'

They were doing a benefit concert for the Smokey Mountain Pregnancy Care Center, and I must say . . . it was a super good one (as always)

The next group to perform there will be Third Day - pretty cool, huh?

The place was legit!  With the big light bulbs surrounding all the mirrors in the women's break room, and everything!  It all felt so professional :)

Mom, Lori Sealy, and Charlie (the percussionist)

I'm so proud of my family :)

Keep Calm and Tuesday On - Carowinds

Heeellllooooo everybody!  Man, I have been just pumped full of energy today; I don't know what is up with me????  I can't seem to sit still for very long, and so consequently this post is not going to be very profound ... or lengthy.  :P 

All I've got for youz guys this week are some iPhone pictures from our trip to Carowinds this past Saturday, which was a blast!

Poor Ben....This was his first time to ever ride a big roller coaster.  He looks kinda sick.  

:P

{But!  He ended up riding almost every, single coaster in the park for the rest of the day.  Such a trooper}

For lunch, we had an all American meal of hot dogs, fried chicken and beans....not the best idea for going on loop-the-loops afterwards, but anyways... 

{Uummm....what other kind of ketchup is there????}

And then for dinner, we ate Chinese.  

Best part of Chinese food is the *Fortune Cookie*!!!

{What a letdown}

What a good weekend that was!

Now I've got a whole new week full of school, apple picking, birthday celebrating, and brothers coming home from a big fishing trip with even BIGGER stories, to look forward to :) 

I couldn't ask for a better week!

KC&TO - All I Have is Christ

"All I Have is Christ." 

- This video truly does not need an explanation or description.  It is super, and I hope it moves you just as much as it did me. - 

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Dad took Caelen and I out on a mini excursion to work on some retaining walls with him, and you know what I took along for the ride???

Camera + Book

Keep Calm & Tuesday On - Self-Discipline

Oh, how I do so love school!  ....Wait, whaaa?? .... OK, maybe that's not entirely true all the time, but I have loved getting some sort of rhythm back to my life once again.  For my last year of High School, I've slowed down some on my "normal" subjects and have been able to focus more on College Plus and just finishing up last High School requirements like language, math, and writing, which I'm a bit behind on.  

But besides getting back into the groove and learning a bunch academically, God has also been teaching me the importance of self discipline, and I've already started to feel and reap the benefits.  There are at least 5 areas in which I have really been working on for the last three months or so, and they are:

Exercising daily

Getting up by 6:00 every morning

Reading a book a week

 Blogging every Tuesday . . . {well, either Tuesday or Wednesday :P}

and Memorizing Bible verses by topic weekly

Exercising and getting up earlier are pretty much self explanatory - you can guess why I've found those to be so beneficial.  :)

 But reading a book a week, what's up with that???  Well in talking to different people and just some general observation, I've found that the people who read a lot are usually the well-spoken, easy conversationalists because of all the knowledge they've gained from avid reading! . . . and I'm not just talking about one particular genera of books over another, I'm talking about reading in general.  As a wise person once said, 

"Reading Begets Reading" 

{and that is oh, so true!}

Then of course, there's blogging on Tuesdays (and sometimes Wednesdays...)

aaaaanndd.... in order to discipline myself further in this area, I'm going to try to post a picture a week to try to help keep me motivated to TAKE MORE PICTURES!  :D

(We'll see how that goes...)

POW (Picture of the week) :

{In case you are wondering what this is, it's a picture of Bob-da-Log.  My dear brother cut him down and brought him home from work for me to keep in my room - face carved, a name and everything!} 

~

Lastly, memorizing Scripture by topic every week has been one of the best things I've done in a while.  

One day a while back, Dad, half kidding - half serious, asked me, 

"can you quote more lines from a movie than verses in the Bible?" 

I kinda laughed at first, but when I actually thought about it, tons of quotes from different movies immediately came to mind, while I could only think of 2 or 3 Bible verses off the top of my head.  Point Taken.  

But that's not how it's supposed to be!

Thus started my goal to take 1 topic a week (i.e. patience, beauty, unbelief, pride....etc.) and memorize a passage of Scripture based on that so that eventually I would have more verses in my arsenal than anything else. 

~

So anyways - self discipline is definitely not on the easy list of character development, and that is why I don't have any right to brag about anything that I've been able to accomplish lately.  

It is by God's strength alone that anyone is able to discipline themselves to do something that they would not otherwise want to do in the first place.  

Philippians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Keep Calm & Tuesday On - Short-Off Mountain

Huh.  It's a funny thing . . . One week we are at the beach soaking up the ocean, and the next we are climbing a mountain.

{Basking in Nature}

{Jumping off of nature}


{Falling off of nature}

Family LUV  :)