Snow Day!

   

     Snow days to most students means sledding, hot cocoa, and most importantly, no school work. However, I feel like I am an adult trapped in a 17 year old's body because {most} of those things are the furthest from my mind at the moment. I feel like I have more to do on these days off!
     When I have all of this time off, it gives my mind wayyy to much time to wonder. I think about the stuff I don't really care to remember. I think about what stresses me out, what freaks me out, and everything else that likes to run through my mind at the worst possible times {as I'm trying to fall asleep for instance}.
     However, I am not, let me repeat not, going to do that to myself today. I am always so worried about every little thing. So today, this post is to remind myself to get the important things done without stressing and most importantly to r e l a x.  It may seem impossible but it's my goal for this snowy Tuesday afternoon. So rather than stressing about  everything going on in my life right now, I am going to take a nice hot shower, sing at the top of my lungs when no one is home, and have some carefree audition-practice time.
     So I challenge you today not to let all of this free time cloud your mind with stressful and negative thoughts, but to enjoy it!

XOXO
Lindsey

Overwhelm Me

     Let me be frank right now, I completely freak out don't really handle stress well. Dealing with friends {and non-friends}, family {gotta love them}, school {what classes I decided to take this year anyways}, college decisions {yikes}, appearance {ugh}, being a good Christian {so much harder than it may seem sometimes}, everything else that comes hand in hand with being a teenage girl quite honestly makes my head feel like it's going to explode. 
     And to be honest again, I haven't been necessarily been dealing with the many joys of my life {haha..} in the best ways. I have taken it out on others, taken it out on myself, and then just flat out resorted to closing myself off from whatever, and whoever, I could.
    Obviously, that is not the most sufficient way of dealing with life. Well thanks to a very kind and loving youth leader, I have just recently gotten a teen devotional book called Falling Apart: 100 Days of Getting It Together. I am only on Day 2, but I have already been able to see that the way I've been acting is not the right way. 
     Rather than letting all of the many things going on in life become overwhelming, I need to let God overwhelm me. What an epiphany right?! I have many of those as I'm laying in bed not sleeping, {I'm basically an insomniac now, go figure!} but this has by far been the most helpful to me. One of the quotes given in the book says that God didn't promise us molehills, but mountains! He is capable of what seems impossible, even helping me keep my cool when I want to flip! 
    So this is just a reminder for all of my lovely readers {because I have sooo many of those} not to let the stress of life get to you. No, we'll never be perfect enough to keep our cool all the time, but life is much, much more enjoyable when we can just put our trust into the One who is capable of handling it all with an eternal amount of grace. So, rather than letting the world be so overwhelming, I am just going to let the love of someone Who will never give up on me, overwhelm me. <3

 

*If anyone is interested in this devotional book and it's tips, well, in 98 days you are more than welcome to borrow it! 

Boo!

Dictionary.com defines the word fear as: 

a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. 

Fear comes in many different shapes and sizes. Whether it may be an object that you fear (spiders, snakes), an occurrence that frightens you (drowning, burning), or an abstract fear (stage fright, being rejected), fear is just a part of our lives.
     I wouldn't say that fear runs my life, because that is an extremely false statement. But it's not like I'm immune to fear! Of course I absolutely hate spiders and snakes, and drowning and burning would just awful. But what I am really trying to conquer in my life right now are those darn abstract fears. As I mentioned in my first post, I am absolutely terrified a little nervous about getting old. Call me crazy, but it's true. Not only will I be completely responsible for taking care of myself and my future family. I'll have to have a reliable job, help pay the bills (along with my caring, kind, Christian husband who can play the guitar and loves to play with my hair), make sure my two children (a little boy 1-2 years older than my little girl) are safe and happy, and then not to mention getting really old!  Something about having the possibility of being thrown into a nursing home plus getting wrinkles just freaks me out! 
       But no matter how fearful I am of getting old, I am a normal teenage girl. Rejection, in all honesty, is my number one fear. Who isn't afraid of being rejected though? Being rejected by friends, peers, teachers, colleges, directors, the world in general; the list is endless. But I mean this is normal, right?? {sigh} Anyways, I have been trying to conquer this fear for a little while. And despite how lengthy this process has been, and will continue to be, so far it has been successful. Trying out for our Spring musical last year was the most horrifying thing I have ever done! I had never sang in front of anyone before and did not want people walking around school the next talking about how horrible I was; let's just quote my good friend Kim by saying that "my leg grew a personality of it's own". I was shaking, sweating, gasping for air. Yupp. I was that girl... Well luckily, most of the side effects (except for the leg thing) stopped before my actual audition. I went home afterward and cried my eyes out. I thought I did just awful. Turns out, I got a part!!! Now, that one audition has changed my life for the best! I am in love with performing and singing now! All I had to do was conquer that fear of being rejected to find out so much more about myself than I could have imagined. 
      I still struggle with that fear though and I'm not afraid to admit it. I'm not made of stone, ya know! Anyways, in case anyone is actually reading this someone else is struggling with fear in their life. Here are some verses that have helped me very much. 


Romans 8:39 Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.

Psalm 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? 

Psalm 56:3-4 When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?

PS. If you are actually reading this, let me know so that I can know whether I am just typing to my computer. :) And if you are reading, thanks.

  

Me a blogger? No!

I suppose it's true. I am, as of now, a blogger! I'm not exactly sure how to go about doing this, so I'll start off with a whole lot of things a little bit about myself. Things that you already knew or may have had no clue at all. Happy Reading!