Christmas with my second family!!

I just had a wonderful night celebrating the birth of Jesus with some of the people I love most! I think Christmas is the most special when there is as little stress as possible and it is just fun and carefree. I love Scott and Erica and their kids! They are such a huge blessing to me and are hilarious! Scott and Erica are so funny and loving to each other and are just living out Gods promises!! The kids are so great, and I am so glad Reed is all healed up. He is healthy and strong again! Thanks for your prayers! 

They gave me such an awesome gift all Christ centered!! I am so blessed! We also got to end the night with a game night! I love playing games with people, especially the people I love! 

The holidays

As Christmas is rapidly approaching, there are many shoppers out and about buying gifts for others. Some are stressing about finding the perfect gift, others are worried about money, some fear seeing their family, and then there are some content in Christ. I want all Christians to not become anxious around the holidays, but instead relaxed and throwing our burdens onto Jesus!! After He is what this holiday is truly about. 

A friend asked me this week "well if atheists celebrate Christmas in America, I wonder what atheists celebrate in other countries." I didn't really have a response. I know people always say Christmas is about giving, but it is not actually. Christmas was the day of God revealing His promise to us. He showed His faithfulness and a journey of new to us. God gave us something more than we can ever give back to Him. So Christmas is about giving. Giving blessings. It is not about presents and Santa and pictures and snow. I believe Christmas is about promises. If you have dedicated yourself to Jesus, He already dedicated Himself to you many years ago. So what gift can you give Him? Not stress or anxiety, but love!! Cry out to God, go to church, go to a homeless shelter, give people things they NEED. 

Don't let people stress you out, but if you are going to be stressed out, be stressed about the fact that we aren't doing enough for God!!! Gifts will break, they will fade in color, we will grow out of them, and we will forget about them. It may make someone happy temporarily, but the gift that will last is your love and you loving them with Gods love. In the end they will not remember the gifts, but your acts of service and dedication. Giving them a bible AND offering to do a bible study with them. It may seem cheesy but honestly gifts don't matter, it may make you "cool" for a day, but when you love them day after day and bring them to salvation, is when you are worthy of the king almighty. And going back to earlier that is what we are trying to do, give back to someone that we can never fully "break even" with. 

Happy late thanksgiving!!

I realized that I never said Happy Thanksgiving!! God has given us so very much to be thankful for and even though there are many ups and downs and trials that we go through, God allows these things to happen because He knows we can endure through them!! I am so thankful for where I live and go to school, I live in a good and safe area and am provided for. I am thankful for every person in my life, those that have hurt me and those that have just been there all the years. Why? Because they are all part of my story. They won't be forgotten, but I will thank God for them because they have some how impacted me or changed me even if it is in the past. 

I know family time can be stressful and buying presents for people can be a hassle, but that is not the point of it all. The point is simplicity. With all that is going on in our lives, we need to take the time to thank God for all that He has done!! I am so very thankful for the storms God has brought me out of and all He has kept me safe from! God is good! 

Here are some pictures from my trip to Nebraska!