a quote for your thursday.

I take a couple classes with the lovely Hayley of Victorious Heroine, and the other day, she said this:

 "If God wants our hearts, it's kind of sad to hand him a fake one."

Just wanted everyone to hear that and think it over... thanks Hayley. :) You are wise and I love you. 

s

thirty-two random things I am thankful for

HI HI HI HI IT'S ALMOST THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS AND YAY I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR.

:)

I'm linking up with my lovely friend Hayley over at Victorious Heroine for a special thankfulness hootenanny and it's going to be awesome. I've never linked up before so can you tell I'm excited?! :)

Since it's almost thanksgiving and since I want to give thanks, here are some thankful quotes and a list of what I'm thankful for. I'm grateful that God has given me so much, and that he has enabled me to know from whom all of these good things come from - him! He's so good to me.

(all pictures found on Pinterest)

what I'm thankful for, in no particular order.

one) my Bible

two) my phone :)

three) TV shows (Once Upon a Time and Downton Abbey, mainly)

four) my lovely family

five) laughing and my family's special sense of humor

six) my friends <3

seven) my blog and the way it allows me to share my heart and experiences with people, because we all need each other in this great big world we're in. 

eight) food. just, in general.

nine) good, good books

ten) dreams and ambitions

eleven) a God who says "yes"

twelve) my bed (haha)

thirteen) the gift of writing

fourteen) hope

fifteen) teachers who don't give tons of homework

sixteen) beautiful things that reflect Jesus and his beautiful mind

seventeen) the ability to create

eighteen) my school that allows me to not only attend classes from my bed, but also helps train my mind and challenges me so that I grow mentally and spiritually. 

nineteen) my parents, who love and support me in all of my dreams and aspirations

twenty) my lovely french teacher, who inspires me to love Jesus even more

twenty-one) my wonderful church, who has accepted and loved me and helped me heal and grow. 

twenty-two) my youth group. these people make my life. 

twenty-three) thunderstorms and rainy days

twenty-four) puddles to jump in

twenty-five) christmas! 

twenty-six) trains
twenty-seven) music
twenty-eight) musicals 
twenty-nine) disney
thirty) nail polish
thirty-one) sweaters
thirty-two) veggie tales

Just a super random list of things I love and am so grateful for. What are YOU thankful for?

Oh and also, I would totally put the link-up thing at the end of this post so you could link up with me, but I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT. :P Anyway. You can put what you are thankful for in the comment section if you'd like. Because I would like that very much. :)

s

giving

     My blogger friend Davi posted something recently on her blog about our weaknesses bringing us closer to Jesus. You should go read her post (busy high school students mooching off of other bloggers for the win! ;)), but she got me thinking about it. Like it usually happens (me being a "church kid;" someone who grew up learning all of the right answers), I had already heard this truth. But I think God pulled another layer off of it this morning and delivered it to me anew. He reminded me of this passage: 

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

"So to keep me from being conceited..."

"a thorn..."

"grace is sufficient."

SUFFICIENT.

sufficient. enough. all I need. 

I'm weak right now. So very, very weak. 

But right now, right at this very moment, I'M LETTING GO.

I can't do it! I just can't! But God can. He's the one who is SUPPOSED to be doing it, after all.

I'm letting it all go. I don't care if I have a paper and a chemistry assignment due on friday. I don't care if I'm behind on reading. I don't care if I'm getting a low grade in math. His grace is sufficient. I'm not going to fix my problems by myself, because that's impossible. So why try? 

God = Success. 

Success, meaning... living the life that God wants you to live. Davi also said in her post that stress can sometimes mimic the effects of being poisoned. I'm not going to live like that anymore.

Giving all of my circumstances to God means:

I'm giving up stress.

I'm giving up the false security that comes from trying to control it all myself.

I'm giving up sleeplessness.

I'm giving up not eating because I'm too busy.

I'm giving up cramming.

I'm giving up bad grades.

I'm giving up poorly managed relationships.

I'm giving up serving myself.

I'm ready for freedom. 

Do you have something you need to give to God? If so, I encourage you to do so right now. This very moment. It's scary, losing control of something. I know! I know. But freedom is on the other side of that fear. 

Sarah

 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

sharing someone's thunder :)

     I read a post by Eimile over at Reflect the other day that really hit me hard. It's about judging people and thinking you get what you deserve - it's really good. you should read it. :) You can read her post here. Please do; it's very enlightening. :)

Happy October!
- Sarah :)

an award?!?!

     Wow... was not expecting to be nominated for any kind of award whatever. Haha. :)  It's called the Versatile Blogger Award, and you can find out about it here (this is also where you would go if I nominate you).

     My dear friend Hayley (from Victorious Heroine) nominated me. Thanks, Hayley! And to everyone else, please go look at her blog because it's incredible.

     I'm supposed to nominate fifteen bloggers I read - I'm not sure if there are fifteen that I really follow, but I can put some down that I love:

one) Rachel at Chasing Kite Tails
two) Eimile at Reflect
three) "The Pixie" at SimplyPixie
four) Davi at Band of Brothers
five) Abra at The Gift
six) Diana at Diana Droppings
seven) Carlotta at Carlotta Cisternas
eight) Sarah at Sarah Layne
nine) Kelli at She Learns as She Goes
ten) Elizabeth at SuperMegaFoxyAwesomeNerdyHot

     They also want me to give seven facts about myself. Here we go. ;)

one) I'm terrified of Darth Vader. Even just his little asthmatic sound. Ugh.
two) I LOVE Downton Abbey and am a bit of a Downton geek.
three) I'm a total introvert (read: hobbit, writer, thinker, terrible socially, etc.)
four) I love tea and hate coffee.
five) I am very ambitious - I want to study the Classics in college, but I have dreams of the musical theatre stage and becoming Cinderella at Disney World.
six) I'm an incurable night owl.
seven) I am half-Canadian. :)

     Thanks again to Hayley for nominating me! This is something a lot different than what I normally do, but it was cool. :)