friends photoshoot

His grace.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: 

for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 

2 Corinthians 12:9a

As I was reading my bible this morning I came across this verse. I've read, memorized, known this verse for awhile.

But, just think about it! 

Jesus is telling us so personally that He is all we need! Does it get more clear than that?! Maybe you're having a bad day or going through a difficult time. Just remember that HIS strength is made PERFECT in weakness! 

Our youth Pastor preaches a sermon about when we are going through a valley, that is when God is developing us. Just like film (back in the day) - we take the negatives into a dark room and that is when they are made into the image that we see.  

Don't get so wrapped up in the hype of your day to day life that you forget that Christ is all you need! His Grace is sufficient for ME!

Christ is my reward

And all of my devotion

Now there's nothing in this world

That could ever satisfy

Through every trial

My soul will sing

No turning back

I've been set free

Christ is enough for me

Christ is enough for me

Everything I need is in You

Everything I need

Christ my all in all

The joy of my salvation

And this hope will never fail

Heaven is our home

Through every storm

My soul will sing

Jesus is here

To God be the glory

summer.

Attention fine folks.

It's almost here! Eeeek! I'm not sure why i'm so stoked for summer this year. But, if you were coming out of an extremely loooooooooong winter i'm sure you'd be pretty excited too!

          >> Long days and nights with sunshine all around.

          >> Late nights.

          >> Canoe rides down the river.

          >> Teen Camps.

          >> Epic adventures.

          >> Hammock swinging.

          >> Lighter hair. Darker skin.

          >> Green grass.

          >> Rain.

          >> Running.

          >> Floating on tubes down the river.

          >> Late nights at the airport.

          >> New friendships.

          >> Freckles.

          >> Door-knocking.

          >> Road trips.

          >> Hiking.

          >> Froyo.

          >> Vacation Bible Time.

And the list goes on. 

Martha's Multi-Talking Mistake

It doesn’t take a very in-depth look at most women’s lives to come to the conclusion that we are excellent “multi-taskers”. Most of us have our plates full, and balancing it all has become second nature to us. We’ve become very good at filling our schedules and running from the one thing to the next; and even feeling a sense of pride or accomplishment at the many things we juggle in our daily lives. Women, in general, just love to get stuff done.

Crossing things off our task-list might prove very rewarding, and it is indeed good to set to work at the task in front of you, yet, the danger of becoming so duty-driven that we neglect the more valuable things in life always lurks around the corner. We see this in the story of Mary and Martha. Jesus came into the two sisters’ home to share a meal with them. Martha, who most probably was a multi-tasker extraordinaire, immediately jumped to work, and was quite disturbed at her sister’s seemingly sluggish approach to all that needed to be done. It says of Mary that she “sat at Jesus feet, and heard His word.”

When petitioned to address Mary, Jesus’ answer in response must have come as quite the shock! Instead of telling Mary to get up and help her sister, He declared that she had “chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” 

Jesus' words to Martha’s chore-minded approach to life, have challenged me so many times. It seems that we would much rather be running around, cumbered about with many cares, than to simply sit at the feet of our Lord. What Martha was doing wasn’t bad; it just was not the best. Mary chose what was best. I don’t know about you, but I know how many times I’ve chosen tasks and to-do lists over sitting peacefully at the Jesus’ feet.  

Don’t we all too often treat our relationship with Jesus that way? We’re so busy doing things for Him, that we neglect being with Him. We argue that if we take time to pray, worship,and study His Word, we won’t get other things done, instead of realizing that it is at His feet that we find the strength and energy we need for all that is before us. I think it was Martin Luther who once said that was too busy NOT to spend the best three hours of his day in prayer. Sadly, we often treat even Bible study and prayer as duties to be done, rather than an opportunity to come to know Christ more fully! Spending hours of your day, quietly and lovingly at the feet of your King, might appear to many as a waste of precious time- time that we could have used to be productive! Remember that choosing Him over all other things, is choosing the best part, and it shall not be taken away from us!

Written by Elsje Zornes from setapartgirl.com 

God made me

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. -Ephesians 2:10

I've recently been reading a book and one of things that it is talking about is how God made me just how he wanted me! There isn't a human 'standard' that I have to live up to, He made me just the way I am! 

Often times, it seems that we try to conform and model to someone else. I need a new hairstyle, I need to lose weight (ha!), I need to get new clothes, I need to change the shape of my body and so on. 

GUESS WHAT?! WE DON'T! Whew...bet I just saved you a bunch of money! :)

I'm in no way saying that it is a bad thing to have new things and take care of ourselves. But, are we doing it for a way so that others will notice or are we doing it for God's glory? Are we going to the gym to chisel our body in a way that the world looks upon as 'fit' and 'looks good'? *rant over*

Just think - there is nobody in this world who is exactly like me! I am one of a kind! I'm special! God made me! If you really stop to ponder that, it's truly amazing. The God of the ENTIRE UNIVERSE made everyone unique and different. So let's stop trying to look like and be someone else. 

In closing, if the barn needs painting...then paint it! ;)

that's what faith can do.

Everybody falls sometimes, gotta find the strength to rise

From the ashes and make a new beginning

Anyone can feel the ache, you think it's more than you can take

But you're stronger, stronger than you know

Don't you give up now the sun will soon be shining

You gotta face the clouds to find the silver lining

I've seen dreams that move the mountains

Hope that doesn't ever end

Even when the sky is falling

I've seen miracles just happen

Silent prayers get answered

Broken hearts become brand new

That's what faith can do

It doesn't matter what you've heard, impossible is not a word

It's just a reason for someone not to try

Everybody's scared to death when they decide to take that step

Out on the water, it'll be alright

Life is so much more than what your eyes are seeing

You will find your way if you keep believing

I've seen dreams that move the mountains

Hope that doesn't ever end

Even when the sky is falling

I've seen miracles just happen

Silent prayers get answered

Broken hearts become brand new

That's what faith can do

 

Anchorage Trip

The Piano Guys are coming to Anchorage?! Uh yes, we are going! If you do not know who they are then PLEASE check them out! They will rock your socks! Ok - maybe not quite that extreme..but, yeah.

So if we are going to drive 350 miles to see them we may as well stay a few extra days and chill in Anchorage right? OH! And since we were so close to Seward, we may as well go spend the day there too right? You might not call it close, but living in Fairbanks - a 2 hour drive is nothing! 

We left Friday Morning and headed down the road. It was a beautiful drive! Just kidding, I don't exactly remember the drive, I was viewing the inside of my eyelids most of the time :) naturally. 

Arrived in Wasilla and ate Red Robin...naturally. Cause when we go to Anchorage we enjoy the food we don't have. Oh...and by the way, the WIND was WICKED! Running when you're trying to walk. It was pretty cray.

So Friday night we went to the Aces Hockey Game. That was something I was really looking forward to. Contrary to popular belief...the game was epic. A plus was that the Stanley Cup was there! If you don't know what that is......then I have no words to you. No words. So naturally....we got pics with it. It was my second time seeing it. It was in Fairbanks a few years ago. Another cool bonus was that they brought the Cup onto the ice "Alaska Style". In a DOG SLED! How cool is that?! It was pretty bomb.com. {p.s. we did get kicked out of the building, I guess they couldn't handle our awesomeness} 

Saturday, the boys wanted to go to Alyeska to go Snowboarding/Skiing. The original plan was that we were going to drop them off then go back to Anchorage and do super cool stuff. Like eat :). But, seeing how doing that was going to cut us 4 hours short (1 hour drive there) we decided to rent a car! Genius idea right?! The boys dropped us off at the airport (which is like the perfect place to take pics fyi). After a few hangups - WE GOT A TRUCK! Yup, that is how we roll. It was a red dodge. Oh sad thing was that when we went into the parking garage to get it - there was a DARK GRAY FORD F-150 driving away!!!! Ugh...we barely missed it. In case you don't know..that is like the coolest beauty ever :). 

*thinking what else we did*

Barrie and I did some eating and shopping and eating some more and eating. Just kidding, we aren't that big of pigs! But hey! When you got good food around you have to take advantage of it right?!

Saturday Night -- CONCERT TIME! We got there a little early, cause we can :). I really don't know how to explain it to y'all. It was just uh-mazing! They did a really good job and were really funny too! And for the record - I didn't get in trouble at all! Just Micah...for using his camera. He didn't hide it as well as me :) muhaha. 

Ready for the parking garage story? Well Anchorage has a much bigger "downtown" than us...naturally. Coming out of the concert hall we went to go get our truck. Micah and I decided to...ummm...run up the ramp that cars come down. Why? I have no clue. So we could have a better chance of getting in trouble? Who knows. Barrie and Jordan went in the door (psshh...no adventure). Well, after viciously running up to the 6th level and STILL not finding our truck, we came to the conclusion that we were in the wrong garage. Who does that? Us. Fairbanks people. Now we've got to go back to the ground to meet up with the other peeps. Micah's genius idea is to take the creepy stairs. Cause riding in an elevator when you can't catch your breathe is too mainstream, I guess. After the first flight of stairs we come flying around the corner and there is this guy standing there. He steps out of the way for us to pass and then right when we pass, he starts running right after us. We weren't like taking our time running either. We were booking it down that stairway. I was pretty much freaking out with this dude at my heels! Anyway - we made it to the ground level and he ran around the building. PHEW! I thought we were gonna die! It was pretty scary...not gonna lie.

After finally finding our car after a 20 minute search, we met up with Austin and Crystal to go to Dennys! We had a very...close...enjoyable meal. ha! 

By now, it was like killer late! I don't remember what time, but it was late. AND we still had the 2 hour drive to Seward! Finally arrived in Seward at about 2:30 AM. Mrs. Davis had everything lined up when we got there which was nice. They are pretty much the BEST people in the world! Not even joking. 

Sunday went pretty fast. We went to church at Resurrection Bay. Cool peeps there btw. Made a quick drive to the Ocean between services :). After church, we went to lunch with the Davis' and some people from the church.

Sunday afternoon was mostly just nap time. We were exhausted. I mean, all the sleeping makes one tired right? :)

After church Sunday night we had some more church people over for pizzzzzzzzzza and Olympics :). It was a nice relaxing evening. Can't wait to go back. That city is SOO PRETTY!! 

We headed back to Anchorage Monday morning. Planning on leaving early and then getting out of Anchorage early too. HA who are you kidding?! We got to Anchorage, got Qdoba and then went to CHUCKIE CHEESE! Greatest place ever for a group of young adults right?! Pretty epic things happen in that place! From roller coasters to dancing with Chuckie! 

A few more stops and we were finally headed home! 

Our beastly truck

At the concert

Alyeska

Micah at Alyeska

Aces Game (pre getting booted out)

Leaving Seward :(:(

Umm...they were kind enough to give us enough space for our feet.

Downtown Anchorage

Stanley Cup in the dogsled!

Beautiful Seward

FROYO!!!! Had to get some while at the airport! My fav

Kenzie and I - one of the coolest kids ever

Piano Guys!!

Jordan and I

Sneaking in a pic at the concert!

Me and Stan

Well, that's all folks! There are a ton more pics...I just don't have my hands on them. Sad day.

Tanna out. Thanks for stopping by!