//No End to my Journey//

Hey there readers! Long time no see! This year has been absolutely crazy. Ever since I joined Youth Staff at our church's youth group it's been difficult to find time to write. I finally graduated from college so now I have oodles of time to write! I just haven't -.- I've been thinking about this blog recently and how so much has happened since my last post in February. Since then, our youth staff has gone to a leadership conference, our youth group has gone to Evoke youth conference and we all took a trip up to Lake Stevens for a week long youth camp. God has been rocking the lives of the students AND of the leaders! Many were called into ministry and it's been such an adventure! There has also been a lot of struggle over the last few months. One of our youth staff as been in the hospital for a number of weeks fighting sickness, one of our church elders is back in the hospital for cancer treatment, and then friends of Kevin and mine were in a car wreck and are recovering, one still in critical condition and the other was able to go home. We thank God for His healing power and for the work that He has been doing. Through all of these events we have all been drawn closer together as a church in prayer and hope that we are going to witness God moving in his people and bringing the sick back to us completely restored! I have had the incredible opportunity to witness this firsthand. A woman in my church has a son who was in a terrible accident leaving him unable to fully control his muscles and move around like before the accident. As a result he lost a lot of muscle and they have me come in a massage him twice a month. It has been such a blessing to get to visit him every other week and see his progress with each visit! We are expecting a full recovering one day because we all have faith that God is going to completely restore his body!
Now I am going to come back to the focus of my post today. Remember the reason why I started this blog? Well, I finally found my answer. I have finally reached the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, only to discover that there was a whole train of rainbows and pots of gold after that one! Yes, I finally discovered what it means to love but I also realize that this is not the end of my journey.
Let me tell you a little bit about my relationship with my boyfriend, in case you don't know any of this or haven't read any of my previous posts. Ever since the beginning of my dating "career" (ugh I hate to call it that!) I have been almost afraid to use the word love in fear of using it and not really meaning it. I have always known that it was a very strong word, especially when using it with a significant other. When I first started dating my incredible boyfriend, Kevin, I made it extremely clear that I would not be using that word anytime soon. In fact, I didn't plan on telling him I loved him until we were at the altar getting married!!! So for the next year and a half he very patiently waited and our relationship got stronger and we fell for each other more and more every single day.
The moment that I finally discovered that I was in love, I was sitting on my bed getting ready to fall asleep and I was thinking about all of the examples of true love that I see every week in the church and at my home. All of a sudden, it was as if God just started speaking to me and pouring all of these definitions of love into my head and I quickly ripped out a piece of paper and started writing a letter. Keep in mind that I have written and rewritten this letter many MANY times in the past but I was never able to get it quite right. It just wasn't the right time. When I finally finished writing, I had used every single line of the page, front and back, signed it, and immediately called my best friend to read it out loud. She couldn't believe how perfect it sounded! I actually couldn't believe that I had written it either.
The next day I had the letter in the pocket. Kevin and I have written each other letters in the past but we usually save them and read them later. For some reason, he knew that this letter was different and he asked if he should read it now. I couldn't believe it! This was exactly how I imagined that he would read it. I hugged him as he read my letter out loud and we both got a little choked up at some parts. After finishing reading the letter, he looked me in the eyes and gave me one of his perfect off-the-top-of-his-head discourses that seemed pre-written. It is a gift that he has the I lack. I have to spend an hour writing a sentence that he could think of in ten seconds. I think that I almost cried listening to his poetic speech. Then we hugged it out and our relationship has been absolutely thriving ever since!
We have since then taken up a challenge of over using the word love and arguing over who loves the other more. It's all very cute stuff.
So, that is all that I have for you right now. Love you all! Thanks for reading(:

//Brittany Danielle//

//Share the Love//

Over the last few days, God has been speaking so much into my life!! It's been so exciting to hear what he has to say. Yesterday, He spoke to me through a classmate and then later that evening though my boyfriend. Today, while I was preparing a pizza for class tomorrow and listening to music, God basically told me what I was going to do with this Blog and where it was going to go. He didn't give me and details or tell me exactly how it was going to work. All He have me was a few words. "Share the Love Campaign." I immediately pulled out my ear buds, stopped rolling out the pizza dough I was rolling out, and began to talk to God. "What does that mean? What do you want me to do?" But I was honestly just so excited. God is finally giving me the first directions for where He wants me to go!
My Youth Pastor has assigned the youth staff to read a book called "Greater." If you have the time to read it I highly recommend it. It will change your life. The last couple of chapters have been about Elisha and his works for God. Chapter 4 was called Burn the Plow and this chapter completely blew my mind. Essentially, when Elisha was called to ministry, he burned his plows, which were his working tools. This was symbolic of him getting rid of what he was holding onto so that he wouldn't have anything to go back to and so that he could focus on what God had in store for him. Chapter 5 was called Digging Ditches and that chapter told of how when an army was facing a drought and needed water before a war, Elisha told the king to have his soldiers fill the valley with ditches and that God would provide the water that they needed. This involved a lot of faith because the soldiers had to act on faith that God would bring rain to hydrate them. The more that they prepared for God to bless them, the more they were blessed. Okay, I'm done recapping.
The author of the book and I share a similar "plow" that needed burning. We both grew up wanting to be rock stars and living a life on the stage. Yes, I've always wanted to be in a band and sing for the rest of my life. Surprised? Didn't think so. I had actually been messaging someone I knew in a band about recording a song with them and I was so excited that when He didn't respond immediately to my message at 12 am... I actually cried. It seems silly now that I look back to it but I was probably just really tired. After I was done pouting, I started praying to God and I had been kind of fighting this feeling that this wasn't the direction that I was supposed to take. It has been my life long dream but it's just not God's plan for my life. So I completely surrendered my life to God that night and I told him that I would burn that plow and prepare for what God was going to have me do in my life. I was going to dig ditches everywhere because I wasn't sure what exactly God wanted me to do. Almost the next day, I received a message from the guy in the band saying "I'll talk to the guys." I just kind of stared at the message like "Oh, man." It sparked up hope for my rock star life but I remembered that this isn't going to be my future. Instead, I saw it as a blessing from God. I could almost hear Him saying "Thank you for listening. Have fun but remember not to get caught up in it!"
Back to tonight and my pizza. "Share the Love Campaign." I'm still waiting for God to tell me exactly what this project is going to be exactly but I know that I need to start digging ditches for God to bless this work. This is my first ditch: spreading the word. I almost see this project as a series of conference type get-togethers with speakers and such to spread the word of God and the true meaning of Love. My purpose on this earth is to love others that way that God loves them.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope that you'll be a part of this ministry or whatever God wants "Share the Love Campaign" to be. I hope that you'll pray about it with me and please share your thoughts! I apologize if this post seemed a bit scattered or if there are any glaring grammatical errors. It's really late for me and I'm very tired but it was really important that I got this written out. I'll keep updating this blog as God gives me more to share!

If my little summery on "Greater" intrigued you, here's part 1/4 of the video series! http://elevationchurch.org/sermons/greater

//Brittany Danielle//

//Using HATE out of context//

Hate /hāt/
Verb: Feel intense or passionate dislike for (someone)
Noun: Intense or passionate dislike

I feel like as time goes on, certain words seem to lose their true meaning and are watered down or even redefined. One example of a watered down word would be "retarded." It's supposed to describe someone who has down syndrome and now people use it to describe someone who is "stupid." An example of a redefined word is the use of the word "gay". To be gay was once to be happy and now is used to describe someone who is homosexual or is used to replace words like "lame." If I were to break down every term that I use throughout my daily vocabulary I would probably find many more example of these watered down, redefined words. In fact, I've probably used a few just in this short paragraph. Right now, however, I am going to focus on one overused and watered down word: hate.
We use this word all the time. "I hate doing the dishes." "I hate Susie." "I hate green beans." Is this really the appropriate word to be using in these circumstances, though? I mean really. Let's look at some biblical examples of the use of this word. 

Hebrews 1:9 (ESV) - You have love righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God has set you above your companions by anointing you with oil of joy."

Proverbs 6:16-19 (ESV) - There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him; haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicket plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Matthew 6:24 (ESV) - No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Proverbs 8:13 (ESV) - The fear of the the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

Matthew 10:22 (ESV) - And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endured to the end will be saved.

The bible does not take the word hate lightly. The true meaning of the word is much more intense than how we tend to use it. God uses it to describe how he feels towards evil. It is also used to describe the feelings of the people who were against the work of the people sharing the word of God! Why should we be using the very same word to say how we feel about an unpleasant activity, person or type of food? 

So, then, how should we be using the word "hate"? How about in the same way that the bible does? It's not wrong to hate something. You just have to be careful how you use it. It's okay to say that you hate something that is evil but it probably shouldn't be used to describe feelings towards a classmate or the lunch that your mom packed you yesterday. 

The reason why I've been so compelled to write on the subject is because I've seen so many "Christians" proclaiming their hatred towards homosexuals and that really makes me so sad! We are not called to hate other people!!! We are called to love all people that God put on this earth. I once heard it said like this: "Hate the sin. Love the sinner." If we run around telling all of the "pagans" that we hate them, how is that going to bring them any closer to the Lord? When ever I'm asked about my stance on homosexuality, I state that I love the person but I do not approve of the lifestyle. This is how I have been raised and this is how I intend to raise my children. That lifestyle shouldn't be an option as it is make clear in the bible. 

Leviticus 18:22 (ESV) - You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 

Leviticus 20:13 (ESV) - If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination  they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (ESV) - Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, not adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

So God has made it super clear to us that we are not to take a part in homosexuality. Okay. But instead of cursing them and telling them about how they are "going to hell" like some churches, I prefer to use the method of showering God's love. 

Proverbs 10:12 (ESV) - Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. 

1 Corinthians 16:14 (ESV) - Let all that you do be done in love.

1 John 4:8 (ESV) - Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Leviticus 19:18 (ESV) - You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

1 John 4:12 (ESV) - No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 

I also encourage you to read 1 Corinthians 13. The whole chapter is dedicated to defining love and it is one of my favorite chapters in the whole bible. 

I hope that this has helped you to rethink your use of the word "hate" and perhaps use a different word when that one is not appropriate. I know that I will be focusing on it more as well! 

To end this post, here's a song that I like. I think that it might help(:

http://youtu.be/2qI_aq89p3E

//Brittany Danielle//

//Loving my neighbors//

Over the last 4 weeks my Pastor has been doing a series on Love which, as you can imagine, I was stoked about! The series has been absolutely wonderful and I have been so thankful to have an incredible Pastor to bring such awesome words for us each week! Anyway, over the last year I've been making an effort to love everyone around me and to bless them as much as I can. Sometimes, it's something small like writing a letter to one of my friends and leaving it under his windshield wiper on his car at school. Other times, it's something even as minute as smiling at someone as I'm passing them on the sidewalk or being really friendly to the bus driver. It really seems to make their day!
Some blessings come seasonally. Over the last few years, my sister and I did yard work for our neighbors. Be it shoveling snow or mowing the lawn, we always did it for money because we were desperate youngsters without jobs. It's funny because now that I am older I find it so much more enjoyable to surprise my neighbors by doing these tasks myself and not asking them to pay a fee. We recently got new neighbors and they were pleasantly surprised last Fall when I came over and raked all of their leaves. The kind older man actually had me come back over so that he could pay me! 
Well, this year I decided that I was going to do it again and this year I raked the leaves right when the super leafy tree dropped all of its coverings. Last year I did not get to that tree's leaves before his lawn crew did so this was actually all new to me. These leaves were way bigger and WAY more in number. I was used to tiny, slimy little brown leaves that stuck to the yard and when you raked them you picked up just as much grass as you did leaves (sorry mom).0 My neighbor's leaves were big, beautiful orange, yellow and green leaves that completely coated the lawn and the sidewalks and were beginning to take over the street! I got to work and started in the least covered corner of the yard and slowly worked my way to the other side and then the sidewalk. That's when it happened. A gigantic gust of wind hit the tree and sprayed me with leaves and actually hit my head with some twigs!! I stood there kind of stunned for a second and realized that there was no way I was going to get all of the leaves in one afternoon without re-raking the same area over and over. None the less, I continued to work down the sidewalk and the side of the house where the trees were. 
As I was raking I began to think of ways that this could correlate into my life. God tends to give cool insight when you ask for it. I just kind of asked God to show me something and then all these revelations just started flooding into my mind. I was kind of like "Wait, God! I have to remember all of this so that I can share it!!!" So here is what God showed me while blessing my neighbors. 
Sometimes, your life is like a lawn, Your parents put the seeds into the dirt, they water it and weed it until it's a beautiful green lawn! But then the Fall comes and with it come the leaves. Some people like the leaves and some people don't. The leaves seem appealing at first because they are really pretty with the way that they cover the ground and they're a reminder of the wonderful season that Fall is. Other people really don't like the leaves because all though beautiful leaves may seem appealing, they know that when the first rain comes that the leaves are going to get all sticky and then they're going to decompose and get ugly and then coat your gorgeous lawn in brown guck that's really difficult to rake. So the people that want their lawns to be pretty and green begin to rake and rake and rake and soon they begin to see progress. 
However, if you are like me and you rake your lawn during a wind storm, it can seem so pointless. Just when your lawn looks to be clean and clear of any leaves, the wind comes roaring by and brings a whole new wave of leaves!! It can seem so disheartening to see all of your hard work be ruined within ten seconds but if you think about it, it didn't all go to waste. The leaves may keep coming over and over but they won't forever. They have to stop at some point. Take a look in the yard debris bin. There's that many less leaves that you'll have to take care of tomorrow. 
The same goes for our lives. Sin comes in to destroy our beautiful lives. It may seem so appealing at first but in the end it's only going to destroy God's beautiful creation. The people that don't like sin get rid of it because they know what it going to happen once the appeal of it is taken away. They work so hard to get rid of the addictions and the bad habits and just when things are looking good again, a huge temptation comes and you have to decide if you're going to give in and let that temptation ruin all of your hard work or if you are going to keep working to get it completely out of your life because, like it or not, the enemy is GOING to run out of leaves to keep throwing on your lawn and one day we'll be in heaven with the King and we'll be able to enjoy our perfect lawns with Him. 
Okay, I'm glad that I was able to get all of that on this blog for you to read! After I finally finished all of the raking that I was going to do today, I walked into my house and breathed a huge sigh of relief. My mom looked at me and said "Are you getting paid?" and I replied "Nope!" She told me that God would bless me but I thought to myself... you know what? I already have been blessed! Doing all of that work for my neighbors really made ME happy and if that's all that I got out of it, I wasn't going to complain because that's really all that I wanted was to make my neighbors happy. 
And I really was blessed because the whole time, I was thinking about how hungry I was and when I got inside, lunch was already made (pasta!), my mom made me some yummy orange juice and later I get to go to the movies with her and see a movie I've been so excited for!! 
Well, folks, that is all that I have for you right now. I promise that I do have more posts for you later and I haven't forgotten about this blog! I love you guys so much and thanks for your input(:

Dear God, thank you so much for my pastor and his amazing sermons that he brings to us. Thank you for the inspiration to do good things for others and thank you for showing me these cool stories to share with my friends and family. I hope that you will touch the hearts of all that read this and I pray that they will be inspired to love other too! Amen.

//Brittany Danielle//

//In a world that is just too anxious//

Just recently a girl that I've know most of my life got married. I don't know if I'm the only girl that does this but whenever I look through the pictures from a friend's wedding I get this anxious feeling. I starting thinking about the future way too much. Soon I start seeing my face in all of the pictures and imagine that it's me who's getting married. Am I the only one?

I think that we live in a society that rushes things. I know, call me Captain Obvious but it's true! I first started noticing this while reading the book "I Kissed Dating Goodbye". I've mentioned this book in previous posts but that's because it's a really good book. The author was saying that he avoided being alone with a girl at all costs. Any "date" type activities were done in groups with other people. Now I don't completely agree with doing that for all dates but the reasoning behind his rule made me think. He said that he avoided it because when you start going on dates alone, people start treating you like a married couple. Soon people will start giving you space like you require alone time to function as a couple. Again, I think that when you are dating someone that one-on-one dates are great! But he really does make a good point. I started experiencing this in my own relationship and when I started to feel like I was being treated like I was married, it almost made me feel uncomfortable. 

Marriage is a beautiful thing. I believe that it is a sacred institution that was ordained by God (before the church was!) and it is an extremely important thing to God. I believe that there are some things that are okay to do outside of marriage and many things that need to wait. But the more I believe this, the more I notice just how impatient our culture is. People are entirely too eager to behave like a married couple but don't want to make the life long commitment. I don't really know a ton about this kind of stuff but maybe this is why the divorce rate is so high. People move in with each other, have sex, have kids and don't even really care to get married. This kind of stuff drives me crazy!

A month or so ago I had a conversation about this with one of my teachers. She kind of described a relationship like a house. When you build a house you need a structure to build off of, other wise the house if going to fall apart. The structure starts being built when you meet the person and you talk about the things that you have in common. Then maybe you go do the things that you have in common and you build memories. With those memories you build a friendship. While in that friendship you go through trials and through that the friendship grows stronger. So my equation so far is

Things in common + memories + friendship + trials + other stuff = marriage

Being a not-married person, I cannot fully understand all of the implications of marriage so I added the category of "other stuff" for things that I have yet to experience for myself. If you have anything else to add to my equation, please comment! 

I think that the problem with our culture is that people want to skip all of these steps. We live in a world where everything is faster. Fast transportation, fast communication, fast food, etc. We're used to getting things the way  that we want it and quickly. It's really easy to blame it on our fallen nature and use that as an excuse but we really need to take responsibility and make the change. (This is the part where I start preaching if I haven't been already) 

I don't want to be a hypocrite so I'm going tell you right here and now that I'm culprit of this impatient living style. Many of you may have seen my brief Facebook post that was only up for 6 hours but about a week ago I publicly admitted to having a three year addiction to pornography. Praise God, I'm finally getting the help and prayer and support that I've need to break free. I don't want to sit here at my computer preaching to you all on a silly blog about living a pure life when I'm not doing that myself. This last week has been the most amazing week of my life. So many of my friends have opened up to me about having the same struggle and many more have told me about their success and it is so inspiring! It's nice to know that there's still hope out there. 

Now are you starting to see where I'm getting at? I titled this post "In a world that is just too anxious" because that's really what we are. People are too eager to get married so they do so without really getting to know the person and the marriage falls apart. People are too eager to have sex so they do it without even getting married. People are too eager to just please their flesh so that satisfy themselves with pornography. Why can't we wait? How can this problem be fixed? I've found that the only real peace that I can get in the matter is through prayer and trying to set a good example. It's really difficult to stay pure with all of the pressure to just give into the fleshly desires but I think that we can do it. 

Dear Jesus, thank you for all of the people who are reading this right now. I hope that I was able to convey this message that you wanted me to. God, please help us to be more like you. Please help us to learn to be patient in this fast moving world and please help us to do everything that way that you intended it to be. I pray, Lord, that you would help me in my own life. Please help me to remain pure for my future husband and help me to be a good example to everyone around me. Jesus, please bring a revolution to my school, my county, my country. Open our eyes to the wrong that is going on around us and show us the perfect love that you have in store for us. Help us to be patient. Amen.

If you have any thoughts on the matter, I'd really like to hear your opinion! Please leave a comment and tell me what you think!

//Brittany Danielle//

//Getting to know Jesus//

The last few days of my spiritual walk have been so crazy! I just finished my book "The Ishbane Conspiracy" and it's been so inspiring. The book is about a girl named Jillian and her friends Rob, Brittany and Ian. The author writes about their spiritual walks and coming to know God more and after each chapter there is a letter from one demon to another. The idea is that each demon is assigned to a person and their goal is to make sure that person does not go to heaven. Two demons, Ishbane and Foulgrin, write letters back and forth and reading those letters really gives insight on the enemy's tactics for taking us down and really changed my perspective on the spirit world. Anyway, I really enjoyed the book because it challenged my views and made me want to seek after God so much more! I'm really excited to dive into a few more Randy Alcorn books in hopes that they are just as good as this last one(:
Over the last few months I've spent the last fifteen minutes of my day praying to God and thanking Him for everything that He has blessed me with. One thing that I have really been praying for recently has been my school. My teacher, Mr. Davis, has been saying that a revival is going to come in the last weeks of school and I really believe that. Being involved in the school's worship team I have the special opportunity to be a leader in my school and help the other students in blessing God. It's really been an amazing experience. The last few weeks I've been learning piano and now I'm able to be that much more of a part of worship on those Friday mornings. Yesterday morning was, I think, the beginning of the revival. Worship was incredible and the students really reached out. Please join me in praying for the student body and the teachers.
Dear Lord, I pray for my school, Vancouver Christian. I pray for the principal, Mr. Miller, and that you would guide Him in decision making and that he would run the school to your favor. I pray for the teachers and that they would be there for the students. Please help them to have to right words to speak and lead the students toward you. I pray for our student counsel, Jacob Millay, Mike Polyakov, and Andrew Evanson and that they would be leaders for our school and examples to the other students. Please guide them to a closer and more personal relationship with you and help them to lead others to you. And, Lord, I pray for myself. Please help me to be a leader and an example and help me to glorify your name through my actions. Please give me the words to speak and help me to be more like you. Amen. 
I'm so excited for what God has in store for this school. I really think that it's a very special and unique place and I am so very thankful that I have the privilege to graduate from there in two months!

//Brittany Danielle//

//Briefly Understanding Me//

I thank the Lord everyday that I was born into a wonderful, loving, God fearing home. I was brought up by great parents who took care of me and I have a really awesome sister. School was always difficult for me. I was always distracted and as a result, didn't have the best grades. I didn't have a problem making friends but I did have a problem making close friends. To this day I only have a handful of true friends. I remember when I thought I found a whole group of brothers and sister that would stick up for me. Turns out they were the people who I had to be protected from. All through high school I've had leaders that helped me through difficult times. I became really attached to many of them and it seemed like right when something amazing would happen at church or youth group or at camp, God would move them to another church or state. Ever since that began to happen I've been almost scared to get too close to anyone or even have a mentor. But through all that, I think I finally got God's message. He was trying to teach me to have an independent relationship with Him. Looking back, I was always closest to God when I was using a leader as a crutch to connect with Him. God wanted me to be able to love Him truly and independently. No I'm not trying to undermine leaders or mentors. I hope to have some kid look up to me one day. I'm sharing this in the hope that my readers will understand my story a little better and know where I came from. I came from loneliness, attachment and almost abandonment struggles and all of this was fueled by doubt. Now I come from faith, love and understand. I'm so excited to see where my relationship with God is headed and to share my story with you all.
I started this whole Love project after having a wonderful day with my amazing boyfriend. Here's a little boy history. The first time that I had a "boyfriend" was when I was engaged to Kelii in preschool. Ever since then I could give you a name of my crush that I had through every year until the present. I didn't have my first real relationship until I was a freshman and I didn't have a real boyfriend until I was a Junior. As of right now, I've been dating my current boyfriend for four months and I'm the happiest that I have ever been with a guy. God has truly blessed me with the perfect man. I started this Love project so that I could discover what real Love was and be the greatest girlfriend and later wife to my future man.

Anyway, that's just a little bit about me(:

//Brittany Danielle//