the center..?

im listening to this song my Israel Houston called "Jesus be the center"

here it is:

Jesus be the center of it all, Jesus be the center of it all
From beginning to the end, it will always be, it's always been You, Jesus.

Nothing else matters, nothing in this world will do.
Jesus You're the center, Everything revolves around You, Jesus, You

From my heart to the heavens, Jesus be the center
It's all about You, yes it's all about You.

it got me thinking about the importance of Him being the center of our lives.
i am so completely guilty here, because lately He has not been the center. recently it's been school, swimming, surfing, getting a job, moving toward graduating. i've been more motivated to get my school done with good grades than ever in my life. that's pretty much all i do, all day.

but i have to get back to the point where i say "nothing else matters, and nothing in this world will do." He needs to be placed back in the center of my life...and it's only 2 weeks into the school year.

to those of you who pray, and who happened to read this, please pray for me. it's my senior year, and i can EASILY get distracted with school and sports because it's my "last chance to make something of myself in this area.." i thousand thoughts fly through my mind in one day. "i need to apply here...i need to run...i need to do my ab workouts....i need to get chemistry done....im behind in history.....i have this to do in comm2......swimming in an hour......i need to think about my senior pictures......oh crap there's that grad meeting this week, i really need to go to put my 2 cents in on the plans...."
and then everything with my family and their HEALTH. and cars. health and cars is where everyone is failing right now, and it sucks. because everything falls on my mom and myself, and it's super tough.
life is crazy. so your prayers are def. accepted!!! thanks guys :)

Psalm 47:2b

"..He is a great King over all the earth." Psalm 47:2

i had the great pleasure to ponder this verse today. through every small thing that was placed on my shoulders today that might slow me down, i thought of THIS.
"He is a great King over ALL the earth.."
every creature in the sea, every bird in the sky and every animal on the land. over every person. over every circumstance. over every hurt or pain, over every concern. over the waves, over attitudes, it's really cool.

im so blessed to serve this King, and to know Him. it makes me soo happy to think that yes, anything could happen. but my Daddy is a GREAT King over ALL the earth. :D it makes me so so happy. that's all :)

the cross is always ready.

wow. God did so much more than i even expected. you just dont know how good He is to me, though i don't either. He's so insanely good that my own mind can't comprehend it all. 

Tuesday and Wednesday [traveling and six flags] i was guarding and preparing my heart every moment. i made sure to keep a seeking heart and to not get too wrapped up in everything. 

my attitude going into this weekend was that i didn't want to miss ANYTHING that God had for me, and i wanted EVERYTHING He had for me. 

and i got hacked. most of the posts that were put up here weren't even me.

everything was just good. the worship, the words. i soaked up every bit of what was being said. i got to lay on my face and just be heart to heart with Jesus, my HEART finally got to be next to His and it was the most perfect thing ever. i felt Him looking at me this weekend. His eyes really do burn.

but the thing that impacted me the MOST was Damon's teaching about baptism. He basically took us through nearly every verse that talked about baptism and explained what it REALLY meant. 

to put it shortly: baptism is dying. when we go into the water, we DIE. our 'egyptians' are in that water and left there as we come out. 

we were then baptized at Williams Creek. from the time that the morning service got out 'til really the evening service my  heart was just solemn. i smiled rarely, which isn't like me. i was so focused on DYING. i believed it with all my heart that when i went under that muddy, beautiful water that i would not be the same. that something in me would DIE forever. that creek is the most holy place ive ever been to. stepping on that property was so new. it was crazy.

i died. my egyptians, my own flesh, even my own desires DIED yesterday. walking down those steps to the cool water i was terrified, excited, joyful AND sorrowful all at the same time. 

i was thinking this through on our twelve hour drive home this morning. the Bible says "death, where is your sting? grave, where is your victory?" it's TRUE. dying yesterday, i found, was not bitter or sorrowful when it was said and done. the only thing in me that felt sorrow was my flesh. dying was sweet. there are no other words to describe it. 

i believe that God killed my flesh and burned the body. never, EVER to come back. and the hilarious thing is i am more alive now than ever before. im more awake now than  ever. =)

i would like to let everyone know that i will FOREVER be changed. i will never be the same again. i noticed it today when i tried to think about something that used to make me happy, and it didn't today. i didn't think i could get freer than i was. i didn't think more hunger and passion for God could come from me, but it did and it is and i am. my heart is freer than ever before.

so with these changes  also comes changes in my lifestyle.  i die daily now. every morning i pick up my cross and die. im reading the whole Bible. prayer meetings are happening, wherever i am. sleep and food don't matter. and last but not least, i refuse to miss an opportunity to tell someone about Jesus. fear of man that used to live is now dead, that is now floating down a creek in alabama, never to come back.

and i find, even now, at 12:01 on June 13th 2011, that He is still tearing stuff out of my heart. He's really ripping it out. im glad, even though some of this really hurts. i know He has my best interest in mind. and i also know that on the other side of this cutting away there are such good things. i've been waiting for this tearing for this to happen, i just didnt expect it to be like this. but i suppose if He hadn't done it this way, it wouldn't be ripped out totally. Thank You, Jesus.

verse

There's A Pure And Undefiled Religion

Walking With You Jesus

You Are The Blessed Hope

You Are The Risen Son

And There Are witnesses Of Ressurection

Calling Everyone

To Walk The Royal Way

To Sing The Kingdoms Song

Chorus

The Cross, The Cross Is always Ready

Everyday It Waits For Me

Christ Own Narrow Road Our Vision

Christ, The Everlasting Seed

im sure there is much much more i will want to add to this, and many more things to write. for a later time, when i understand better what all exactly happened this weekend.

Thank You Jesus!

it's wonderful.

im here. im in the best place i could be in. 

from the outside, im sure it looks crappy, if you know all the details. life for me isn't what most people my age have to deal with. it's still a sticky situation at times, yes. it still challenges me. but it's the best place i could possibly be. 

• everything in me desires God. this is the most beautiful place i can ever be in. desiring God is the best feeling anyone could ever experience. passionately going after Him is the best pursuit i've ever been on. it's the best story i could ever tell.
• God has given me the biggest gift EVER. He's allowing me to pour into peoples lives...through surfing. oh it's just the best! everyday i get to go out i feel SO privileged to have the great opportunity to take people surfing and watch them change within the few hours i spend with them. their language changes, what they find funny changes, it's amazing. i am so blessed.
• im learning to love. im getting exactly what i asked for :) He's placed certain people in my life that challenge me to love them. it's like they ask me every day "will you love me if i do this..?" im learning real, unconditional, fearless love that doesn't hold back one bit, even if i get hurt because of it. it's selfless love.  

i like being where i am. i definitely dont want to stay here, but im happy God has me here where i am. 

i knew God was going to do a lot since January. He has. He's done so much in me and through me! im so thankful for Him being 'all up in my business.' God is wonderful. i love giving Him my everything! 

i think, also, that right now i am more ready for this summer than i was before. i thought i was ready, but i had so much to learn and so much to walk through before. im glad i did, even though it sucked at the time. this is gonna rockk.

people people people.

have you ever hung out with someone and later wondered "hmm....i wonder if they're hurting??"
just having one of those moments.

i love people. and im learning to love people even more. when i sense that someone's hurting, it makes me just want to give them a hug and pour out every last bit of the love of God on them that i possibly can. i wish so much that i could show them just how much Jesus really does love them. i wish i could plan an encounter with God for them so that their eyes are opened and they can see what i see. i wish i could show them that their identity is found in Jesus and not in anyone else, and that they dont have to "act" their way through life.
my heart really just reaches out to people so much.

the past three years of my life...

i cannot believe im a senior now. well, i guess it becomes official in august..i dont care.

2010 swim season

it's made me ask myself a few questions about my high school years. Have i done what i wanted to do in high school? have i turned the world around me upside down? have i reached out to people and loved them? 'cause i only have one more year to do it.

well, i haven't done all that i've wanted to do. thank God i have one more year to accomplish it.
but there HAVE been some things i have done that i wanted to do before i graduate.

like...
learn to surf.

A&R tour, 2010

• get direction with where i want to go in life. <---this has actually been coming the whole four years, gradually. it's really REALLY cool now that i look back.
• i've encountered His love in the best way ever.
• i've devoted myself to serving more and more.
• i made it to districts in swimming, this year my hope is to get to state. big time training is coming my way.
• my life was changed in Liepaja, Latvia, my first missions trip.
• i saw snow
• i learned how to play guitar
• im in a band.
• i made pretty good grades the entire way so far. A's and B's aren't nothin' to turn your nose up on..

Sept 2010. first board

the list goes on and on. the last three years have been really awesome. one more to go. a few more college classes, one more season in high school swimming, few more high school classes, hopefully a job to get, and im outta here.


There have been some things i totally regret that i did the past three years...

• i got in a car wreck. though it wasn't bad, i still regret it
• i got a ticket. on my way to the beach...the waves were good. 
• i said things i didnt mean.
• i let my heart get tied to someone.
• i made a fool of myself more than once.
• i didn't spend enough time with my family; i didnt visit my sister enough when she was living on the beach.

 Despite these things, i am ironically still loved and trusted by lots of people. Why my Mom trusts me with a vehicle, i dont know. My own stupidity has definitely not been something im proud of.

2009 formal, Gaylord Palms Orlando

im satisfied, so far, with my high school experience. home schooling through it hasn't been bad. i do wish, at times, that i could have gone to THS and just been in it. so that i could get a group of friends to pray at the flag pole in the morning. so that i could just understand what YOU experience fully. but i think that if i had, i wouldn't be who i am today. i wasn't as strong as i am now in the Lord at 14. i think i would have been pushed around a lot, and i think i would have been run over by my peers. now i see a totally different person compared to then. 

2010 A&R tour [Rick Pino] Jax beach Fl

2010 horse camp

Liepaja, Latvia. 2008

This last year of high school, i am determined to make it the best yet. it's going to be full of Jesus. family time, looooottts of friend-time. lots of surfing. and im sure swimming will take over my life for a few months too, haha. ill be planning to move away. whether that is to Costa right away or Jacksonville, i dont know. whatever God says. ill get certified to be a lifeguard so i can enjoy my job. ill grow my hair out. [so yeah..ill be going through an awk stage my senior year. haha way to go, Lisa.]

2009 CO ninja trail

And, last and not least, this year i turn 18. wow.
That's insane. but im not going to do something stupid
on my 18th. im going to do something productive.
surf. :)

im going to try my very hardest to get out of this country one more time before high school's over. Costa Rica. :) we'll see how that one flies. im going to take a trip to the Ramp. and if EPIC surf ministries doesn't go ahead and plan themselves a trip there, im kidnapping some people and going to Hamilton :) haha. 

the CALL Orlando, 2008

2008, Amy's beach house

He is Worthy.

hi, this is for all the people out there who are hurting. for all the people that can view this, who have been hurt by someone. who are trying to love the one who hates you like Jesus says to.

"that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, on heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:10-11

i personally got some really nasty really horrible news today as i was sent to the bank and walmart. thank God for blaring music and windows that open..

Holy Spirit reminded me of this verse. :) 

EVERY knee will bow and EVERY tongue WILL confess that Jesus Christ is Lord....

 all the angels in heaven, the creatures that are covered with eyes, every person on the earth, every animal in the world, and even every demon in hell will HAVE to confess that Jesus is Lord. 

He died for our own victory. He died so that we could live as DIFFERENT people, not to live like everyone else. and He has not forsaken us, and He never will. His great love for every person walking the earth is still there...

but He IS worthy. and He WILL receive His glory. and when He comes back, He WILL receive every bit of glory He is due. 

this verse makes me feel victorious. because right now, people can spit in my face. they can try to tell me off. they can beat me down and their actions can scream "I HATE YOUR GOD!" but this isn't the end of the story. 

they will have to bow at His name. no one has authority over Him. no one has more power. He is a good good God, who is just and beautiful and full of love and grace and mercy. and He is glorious and worthy.