On A Diet

Now that school is well underway and friendships are reconvened, I'm hearing more and more fat talk. It's easy to get together with your girlfriends and say "oh, you know, I should really cut back on my calories," or something like that. Maybe that's true. Maybe you shouldn't have eaten that second, third, sixth cookie last night while reading boring AP Econ notes, but that was one day out of 365. It doesn't make you automatically "fat."

Speaking of which, whether you're bigger or not is completely besides the point. What the scale says DOES NOT MATTER! How else can I get this through your thick skull? For real. If you feel comfortable with yourself, if you're eating a healthy and balanced diet, and if you're exercising regularly that's all anyone can ever ask of you, and that's all you should ask of yourself.

It's unhealthy to skip meals. In the long run yes, you'll probably lose some weight. But that is so unhealthy. And isn't that the opposite of what you're trying to do? Skipping meals slows down your metabolism. And if you're like me, and you have zero self control when it comes to food, you'll probably just end up pigging out on a bag of candy corn later that night while reading Lord of the Flies.

So, have I convinced you to drop the "I'm on a diet" speech? Because I'm not going to listen to you whine about how you've consumed too many calories in the past few days.

On a side note: I know that counting calories works for some people. If you know how many calories you need to consume in a day to stay at a consistent body weight or whatnot - go for it. Count all you want. Just don't live your life by it. I know if I were to count calories I'd drive myself insane.

To begin our "healthy journey" out of the land of calories, diets, etc. I start by grabbing some fruit in the mornings. I've gotten into a wonderful habit of eating frozen berries, yogurt, and raw oatmeal, which fills me up just enough and is super good for me. When I get the munchies during school, I grab an apple to tide me over until lunch - great way to get in another fruit/vegetable.

Like a lot of schools around the country, we've morphed into eating only what's good for us (sarcasm). The only upside I see to this is it's easy for me to eat two more produce items with my lunch, which puts me up to four! And it isn't even one o'clock yet. See what I'm doing here?

Plan your meals around fruit and vegetables, add on some whole grains, and never forget to eat a little protein (it helps keep you feeling full longer).

Got it? Produce. Whole grains. Less meat, but enough protein. Lots of water.

Oh, and NO MORE DIETS!

Feminism at the grocery store.

Pet peeve: when women give up and let a man take care of things.

I told myself that I wouldn't post anything about my job, but we all know that plan wouldn't pan out, now didn't we? I work at a grocery store. I courtesy around, picking up odds and ends, making everything look pretty, and bagging your food for you to gorge yourself on later.

Being my first job, I can't say that it's a particularly appealing profession in the long run. To those who do go into the grocer-ing business, I applaud you. I've heard you people can end up making a lot of money and work your way up sky high. I wish you the best of luck, but it will never be for me. When I walk into work I always try to remind myself how lucky I am to have a job. Not only because of the crappy economy, but also because a few decades ago it would have been seen as "unfeminine" for me to be working. Or something like that.

Which brings me to my next point. Women have come a long way in the past century. We've won the right to vote, we can run for government positions, we are able to work our way up in life without depending on others to provide for us. Basically, we are freaking rock stars. So why is it that some women feel the need to put themselves back into that box of dependency?

Part of my job is bringing in shopping carts after they're discarded in the parking lot. Yes, at times it is physically taxing. But it's not all that bad. It's a beautiful day! It's a chance to get away from customers! (Seriously though, love you guys.) It's an opportunity to move around instead of waiting for something to happen. (That's not quite true. For heaven sakes, I work at a grocery store. Busy, busy, busy!)

Today, however, a woman was stepping into her car when she saw me struggling to get a couple carts unstuck. Before taking off she said, "They shouldn't make the girls do that. Bring the boys out here."

Well goodness me, I wasn't aware that I was incapable of manual labor!

But for real, why? Why do you want to go back to a way of life that puts women at the bottom of the food chain? I enjoy opportunities just as much as the next guy.

In her defense she isn't the first one to say something like that to me. I was once vacuuming the entryways when a man came in and told me that I was going to make a wonderful housewife. If I hadn't begun the whirling of the vacuum again I'm sure I would have said somethings to that man that would certainly have come back to bite me later. It isn't his fault he's stuck in the fifties.

I just don't understand. Don't say you want equality and then sit back and let some man carry the load when you know you can do the job a whole lot better. Get out there and bring in your own carts.

Under Attack

It's time for a little bit of honestly. There's a reason I haven't posted for a while. Senior year has begun, and I'm ready for it to be totally awesome. So far nothing exciting has happened. Last year I felt like I really sort of discovered who I am. That may sound totally cliche, but I really got involved in the things that I'm most passionate about. I had found a totally great relationship with God, and I was able to share Him with the people around me. I also did a lot of research on "body hate," and realized that we have a choice in the way we preceive ourselves. And I got into running. Which was totally awesome, and I had the best time of my life crossing those finish lines.

And then the finish lines were behind me, AP Lang blogging was over, I had let my relationship with God fall apart, and I just felt a little stranded. I'm not sure how else to explain it. Even though nothing major happened, my perspective shifted and everything I new to be concrete shifted with it.

This song has been playing on the radio a lot lately. I haven't got it all figured out yet, and I never will, but this song always reminds me that God will always love us. No matter what we do, no matter who we were before or who we are now, we can always come back to Him.

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, now things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

I'm still having a hard time at it. I don't know why God feels so far away right now. But I know that He still loves me. And He loves you too! We just have to trust Him. He's not promising that everything is going to turn out all right, but He is promising to always be there for us.

Say Cheese!

For those of us who have been or are seniors, we all know the stressful-ness of getting everything done that ought to have been done months ago. I am just beginning to experience this type of procrastination. Yep, that's right, senior pictures! I just got them taken, like today, just. And I would like to say one thing - there is wayyy too much pressure put on the "perfect" senior photos.

All week I have totally been freaking out about my appearance. Every little detail that I found a nuisance has been blown out of proportion into a full fledged "ugly". Starting with my hair. Everyone has good and bad hair days, and I am learning to enjoy my natural hair style. There's only one problem. Once it dries, that's the way it's going to look for the day, good or bad. And with all this nice weather we're having, my hair has been drying pretty flat. Which has been stressing me out all week long! I wake up, look in the mirror, and complain, complain, complain about my hair. I probably asked my mother a thousand times what I should do if it turns out bad.

That's just one of the many things I've been fat talking myself about this week. My teeth are crooked. My eyes are too close together. I'm too pale, for heaven sakes it's summer! And goodness, gracious, I have no idea how to pose for a picture. No modeling in my future. That's a joke. I'm too short, and not skinny enough, and it goes on and on and on.

But then this morning came, and I woke up two hours early. Went through all the steps to ready myself in the morning. Voila! Fret about outfits some more. Look at myself in the mirror twelve hundred times. Check to make sure my makeup wasn't smudged. All the worrying comes down to a couple hours of harmless photography.

To wrap this all up, the right photographer can make you forget all your worries. Once we started snapping pictures, I was no longer thinking about if they were going to turn out alright. Besides, these pictures aren't for the "today". They're to remember the yesterday ten/twenty years from now. And I hope that when I look back I won't think, "Man, look how crazy my hair was!" but I'll be remembering how happy and special my teenage years were.

So if you're in the midst of a modeling session just remember: You are so beautiful! No hairstyle, number on the scale, makeup smudge, or pant size can change that.

Good Ol' Iowa State Fair

Let me begin by saying this: I am in no way, nor will I ever be a country girl. The Fair is a new world to my city-bred eyes. I had no idea cows were so big! And I made sure to cover my nose and mouth when we passed the pigs - you know, swine flu outbreaks and all. But really, I had a great time at the Fair. Apparently I've been there before? I can't remember anything but a giant pig that I was sure would swallow me whole had he the chance.

When you go to the Iowa State Fair, three fourths the experience is in the food. For real. Throwing caution to the wind, I leapt upon the chance to try greasy, deep fried dishes that are sure to stop your heart. If you ever get the chance to try fried macaroni and cheese go for it! No hesitation. Best decision I have ever made. Seriously good. That, and a German Chocolate funnel cake consisted of my dinner. I don't normally like funnel cakes, but my friend and I inhaled the entire thing in five minutes flat. Because if you're going to put cake in a funnel you might as well make it German Chocolate.

Now let me get to the real reason why, of all people, I ended up at the Fair. Concert. Yep. My first official, tickets-with-seating-on-them concert. And yes, it was Toby Mac. For those of you who live in a hole, Toby Mac is a Christian rapper artist who is totally awesome.

The other two bands that played were Jamie Grace, who is a fairly new artist, and Tenth Avenue North. You may know Jamie Grace's song Hold Me: 

She's pretty awesome too. When she was up on stage she was talking about getting some bad feedback for having love songs on her CD. Her response? Why shouldn't a twenty one year old, Christian girl write love songs? Why do they have to be about anyone other than God, who will always remain her first love? So awesome!

And then Tenth Avenue North took the stage and I went berserk. I love them so much! Their stories that they told while on stage stuck out to me the most. The lead singer talked about how you can't define yourself by your accomplishments. They weren't their songs or their talents, but God's People. Jesus' Children who He died for. Secular performers worship themselves while on stage. These guys - they were totally and completely giving their all for God. 

Sitting in the middle of the fairgrounds I was able to find God. In the midst of all the chaos of the world, I was able to worship God. It was so amazing. The whole time I was sitting there so thankful to have the opportunity to believe in the God who created me. We have the freedom to worship, and that is truly awesome. 

Beautiful Things

When I was around six years old, I asked my mother about sin. I wanted to make sure I was going to make it to heaven. Not to meantion, I was feeling a little guilty that day for making my sister cry. I had asked God over and over again, "Please forgive my sin" afraid that he couldn't hear me or that I was being insincere. When my mother told me that we had to ask God to forgive our specific sin I quickly got to work, sitting on the back porch stairs, naming off every misdemeanour I could remember, always worried that I had forgotten something.

We all worry about sin. For those of you who don't believe in God, why do you feel guilty when you do something wrong? A lot of the time when I invite a friend to church the immediate response is that God will strike them with lightening for stepping into His House because they know they aren't right with God. You were created with a desire to know Christ. Whether you want to or not, you feel guilty for your sins. That's called the Holy Spirit, people. Like our God-given conscious. It's a thing.

You can't get right with God until you believe He can forgive you of your sins. Until you mean all the "I'm sorry's" and the "I won't do it again's," He's waiting to forgive you. He's waiting for you to love Him. Because trust me, He already loves you.

John 10:10 says, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

Jesus died to give you life. Eternal life. "For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God" (Romans 3:23) but God sent His Son, Jesus, to die on a cross, one of the most gruesome and humble deaths; He took your sins, before you were created, and took them upon Himself, so that you may be forgiven.

If you ask.

Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

The other day I was sitting in service listening to a missionary speak. He lives in Haiti with his family. He talked about how Haitians are pained at being known as one of the poorest countries in the world. Mass graves, now overgrown with wild grass, hold the bodies of the victims of the earthquake. Entire villages are living out of tents around the rubble. Yet, out of all the destruction and hurt, brokenness creates healing and beauty.

Brokenness creates healing and beauty. I love that.

Jesus wants you to come to Him just as you are. Brokenness and all. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Accept.
Believe.
Confess.

Revelations 3:20 says, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in."

You have to make the choice. Jesus is waiting. And He loves you.

Disconnect.

First order of business, happy August everyone!

Second, I am happy to assure you that I did not fall off the face of the earth. As silly as it may seem, I've been kind of off in my own little world. I have been entirely unmotivated to do anything, and in doing so have wasted some of the precious weeks left of summer. No more! This is me, motivation and all, writing to you about my life. Aren't you lucky?

You may remember my babbling last year about my infamous Camp Table Rock? Back to the archives we go. Let me remind you: Fun in the Son: Year Four, Back to Missouri, Knowing Your Faith, Proving the Truth, Seeing the Face of God, Go Light The World. Because camp has a certain repetitive aspect to it, I won't bore you with the exciting details of my adventure this year. But I will say this, my fifth year as a camper at Fun in the Son has been just as great as the last four. The seminars this year were over Evangelism. This is the second year I have heard this seminar, but I learned as much this year as I did the previous.

At the beginning of the week we filled out a witnessing questionnaire. The gist of it is this: we were all created with a desire to know about Christ, God will not be disappointed if we give our all in presenting the Gospel, we are successful witnesses even when the other person does not accept Christ, people do care what God has done in your life, and it is our responsibility to share God with those around us and make sure that those lead to Christ are discipled in their walk with God.

One of the verses that really stuck out to me this year is Acts 26:17-18, which says, "I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me." Last year I really got into the evangelism kick, especially when it came to my classmates; however, now that I look back I'm not sure I was doing it for the right reasons. It is our responsibility as Christians to share God's Word with those around us, despite the consequences. James 1:22 says, "Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." The Bible says to share God's love and message with is people. James 4:17, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." You know what you have to do. Go change the world for Christ.