w-o-n-d-e-r

Scrapbooking

Wed, 22 Oct 2014 06:30:37 +0100

As you may already know, I LOVE to scrapbook, and these past few years I have been working on a special one. A scrapbook of Kolten and I. I finished this in June but I forgot to post pictures so here are a few! If you want to see more, check out my facebook. This is only Sophomore and Junior year. I am working on a senior year/college.

Numbers 1

Wed, 22 Oct 2014 02:50:07 +0100

I have almost finished Exodus! So... I have started reading Numbers with my boyfriend Kolten. We like to read the same books in the bible together sometimes to keep each other connected with God, and to remind us that God is number one. I am going to try to upload as many devotionals I do of Numbers as I can. Considering college keeps you super busy.

In chapter one of Numbers God has Moses count every male over 20 so they could serve in the army. Each signed up by tribe, except for one and that was the Levites. They weren't counted though for a reason, because they had the important job of protecting and moving the tabernacle.

This reminded me of how sometimes we can get upset when God doesn't call us to do the same job as others and we can get jealous. But sometimes we are like the Levites and God has a very special job for us that isn't common like every one else's. This reminded me to be patient and not to worry when everyone else gets to do something and I don't. God has a plan and I need to follow it! :)

Jesus loves you!

DIY Cards out of Paper bag

Wed, 22 Oct 2014 02:40:11 +0100

When I was packing for college I didn't think about bringing some blank cards. I know, what was I thinking? Well of course the opportunity came when a few friends deserved a thank you card so I made some out of a paper bag! It was pretty simple and I got the ideas for the front of the cards off of Pinterest of course ! Here are some photos of where I cut the bag so the paper was fold-able like a card. :)

College

Thu, 09 Oct 2014 03:23:55 +0100

About two weeks ago I made a giant leap and moved to WWU to go to college. So far my experience here has been absolutley wonderful, well besides my food poisoning and my now very stupid cold. College is a lot of fun and you meet a lot of wonderful people. My suite mates are pretty darn cool, and they love Red Robin just as much as I do so that makes it 8 times better. Here are some photos of my side of the room I took on the day I moved in. Not much has changed except a few of my photos have fallen down and I am a little better organized. So here you go!

I got everything from either Target, Macy's, Hobby Lobby, Walmart or Joanns. If you have any questions about where i got what just leave a comment below with your facebook. :) Hope you all like it!

Exodus 23:2 PBJ time

Mon, 08 Sep 2014 05:27:06 +0100

"Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd" - Exodus 23:2

Don't follow the wrong crowd. Seems pretty simple right? We all know that's a lie, and sometimes we even go as far to strive to follow the wrong crowd because they make us feel good, and popular. I know I suffer from this sometimes and wish I could just be "normal" and follow the world and sometimes I do. But guess what? It's not even worth it, not even worth the sin. You know why? Because nothing, absolutely nothing can come close to the amazing experience of hanging out with God. Sometimes it's hard to remember though when all your friends are getting drunk and look like there having a lot of fun on Instagram and your at home watching tv with your mom. Like I said earlier I am a sucker for this too, but then I go and read the bible verse on my phone. Normally it makes me feel better, but here's something to think about next time this happens to you and you want to side with the wrong crowd. Remember that you are unique. Being you, is the most IMPORTANT person you can be. God made no one else like you, not even close and you know why? Because your going to make a difference in this world, and every situation where you choose to be close to God and not the world your making a difference. Your setting not only an example, but your setting yourself up for success in the future to bring people to Christ through God, and the most important part? When you choose God over the wrong crowd, he will bring the right crowd into your life and that crowd will be more fun than any other crowd you've ever seen or heard of and not only that but they will care about you, for you, and help you when times get tough. So next time your on social media or hear someone talking about an awesome party last night, remember that you are different and you choose God.

Haircuts

Mon, 08 Sep 2014 05:03:40 +0100

My wonderful boyfriend who is quite outstanding, is also quite the poor college student. So he can't afford hair cuts and his mane was getting pretty long! So I decided to watch a few YouTube videos on how to cut guys curly hair and this is the result! It was pretty easy and only took me about an hour! If your thinking of cutting a guys hair for any reason I highly recommend going on YouTube and look up beauty school videos. They will go through the entire process. Here is a picture of the result!

Whale Cake!

Tue, 26 Aug 2014 07:50:18 +0100

Well I just turned 19 years old a couple week ago and my friend and I made a whale cake. Sense I love whales and plus I needed a cake for my party! I'll post pics soon!

Recipe:
A good ole box of cake mix, we used funfetti!

Instructions:
Bake four circle cakes, two large and two small
Stack on top of each other and put straws in them to stabilize
Shave the cakes to be in shape of the head
Frost and after doing so dip a knife in water and smooth icing
Use Fondant to make the tail and face
Lastly take melted chocolate and place in swirls on parchment paper on to toothpicks (we dyed ours)
Put the toothpicks in the top of the head
Crumble left over cake shavings and dye blue for the water surrounding

Here are a few pictures to show what I mean!

Vader Cookies

Tue, 26 Aug 2014 07:24:18 +0100

VADER COOKIES and DIY Chapstick

My dad has a 3D printer and made a cool cookie cutter for these awesome Vader cookies and lip gloss container for the chap stick we made!

Ingredients for Chap stick:

Vaseline

Crystal light flavor packets

Ingredients for Cookies:

¾ cp shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1tsp. vanilla

21/2 cps. Flour

1tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Here are some photos of the projects!

Here is the 3D printer in action

Here is the chap stick and containers.

Here are the Vader cookies!

My Testimony part II

Fri, 22 Aug 2014 06:54:37 +0100

        My depression was almost gone and my guy bestfriend and I had gotten back to being friends. We began to like each other and we were flirting a lot and then he kissed me. We started dating the next day and it was an amazing relationship, and I loved him. He didn't go to church except for Christmas and Easter, but I was determined to change him. Then after our first month of dating he started to get touchy with me in places he shouldn't have. I told him no multiple times but eventually decided it was ok because I loved him and he would marry me one day. A couple months later I gave away my most beautiful gift. My virginity.
         A week later I went to Church camp (he did not go). Church camp was surreal and I encountered God in a way I had never before. I began to feel guilty and repented for my sin and asked for forgiveness. I only told one girl in my cabin about what had happened and she said a similar thing happened to her and that God forgave her and he forgives me. That was only the first night, after that I knew I was going for God. The second night God gave me a vision of me preaching in front of a brand new church I had helped build. I can describe word for word what this church looks like to this day in fact here is picture below.



        After getting this vision I knew God wanted me to use myself to proclaim his word and tell people about him. This was outstanding. The last night at camp was the best though, God had used me in an amazing way. At camp there was a young man who I didn't like that much because I thought he was pretty selfish. That night during worship though God told me to pray for him. I refused and kept singing the songs on the screen and before I knew it that kid was standing right next to me. So I moved to the other side of the room, escaping what God had told me to do. One of the pastor's then got up on stage to ask people to worship to themselves for awhile and I thought HA God now I can't pray for him. I began praying when all of a sudden I felt like someone was pulling me to my right and I started swaying that direction towards the young man, and I sat down in frustration crying because I did not want to pray for him. As I was crying a friend of mine came up to me and said you need to go and then left. Still being the stubborn person I was I lay there balling my eyes out and I felt hands on my head. The young man I had been avoiding the entire time came up to me and told me in my ear that I needed to pray for whoever it was God wanted me too. I then turned around and said, God wants me to pray for you. He said that would be nice, so as I layed my hands on him to start praying he collapsed to the ground in tears and began to hold onto me. I was confused, this was the toughest, cockiest guy at camp and he was crying. I kept praying though and later found out that was the Holy Spirit.
        Even though I had this amazing encounter at camp I still came home and continued in my sin, not because it made me feel good, but because I didn't want my boyfriend to leave me. If he left me I would have no one to marry because I gave away my precious gift.
        Freshman year started and I made new friends, but I was ALWAYS with my boyfriend kissing him or holding his hand. We were attached at the hip. With Freshmen year came new things but I also had a boyfriend who was changing into something not so good.
        He began to tell me that I was ugly if I didn't wear makeup, and that I shouldn't wear sweatpants in public ever because I looked like a hobo. He also started to control what I wore, what I posted on Facebook, who I talked to, and wouldn't let me go out with my friends often because he didn't like them and didn't want me becoming a B**** like them. I was falling apart and in December he broke up with me for a night and I fell apart, but we soon got back together.
        In January I went to a Christian Conference (He was not there) and not only did I encounter God but I met a young man. At the conference I was having a blast learning more about my savior and I went to a Holy Spirit class and as I was walking back to the main conference area a young man came up to me. He said "Hi I'm Kolten, you look very beautiful today! I live in Yakima. Whats your name?" I told him my name and that I too lived in Yakima and went to West My depression was almost gone and my guy bestfriend and I had gotten back to being friends. We began to like each other and we were flirting a lot and then he kissed me. We started dating the next day and it was an amazing relationship, and I loved him. He didn't go to church except for Christmas and Easter, but I was determined to change him. Then after our first month of dating he started to get touchy with me in places he shouldn't have. I told him no multiple times but eventually decided it was ok because I loved him and he would marry me one day. A couple months later I gave away my most beautiful gift. My virginity.
         A week later I went to Church camp (he did not go). Church camp was surreal and I encountered God in a way I had never before. I began to feel guilty and repented for my sin and asked for forgiveness. I only told one girl in my cabin about what had happened and she said a similar thing happened to her and that God forgave her and he forgives me. That was only the first night, after that I knew I was going for God. The second night God gave me a vision of me preaching in front of a brand new church I had helped build. I can describe word for word what this church looks like to this day in fact here is picture below.



        After getting this vision I knew God wanted me to use myself to proclaim his word and tell people about him. This was outstanding. The last night at camp was the best though, God had used me in an amazing way. At camp there was a young man who I didn't like that much because I thought he was pretty selfish. That night during worship though God told me to pray for him. I refused and kept singing the songs on the screen and before I knew it that kid was standing right next to me. So I moved to the other side of the room, escaping what God had told me to do. One of the pastor's then got up on stage to ask people to worship to themselves for awhile and I thought HA God now I can't pray for him. I began praying when all of a sudden I felt like someone was pulling me to my right and I started swaying that direction towards the young man, and I sat down in frustration crying because I did not want to pray for him. As I was crying a friend of mine came up to me and said you need to go and then left. Still being the stubborn person I was I lay there balling my eyes out and I felt hands on my head. The young man I had been avoiding the entire time came up to me and told me in my ear that I needed to pray for whoever it was God wanted me too. I then turned around and said, God wants me to pray for you. He said that would be nice, so as I layed my hands on him to start praying he collapsed to the ground in tears and began to hold onto me. I was confused, this was the toughest, cockiest guy at camp and he was crying. I kept praying though and later found out that was the Holy Spirit.
        Even though I had this amazing encounter at camp I still came home and continued in my sin, not because it made me feel good, but because I didn't want my boyfriend to leave me. If he left me I would have no one to marry because I gave away my precious gift.
        Freshman year started and I made new friends, but I was ALWAYS with my boyfriend kissing him or holding his hand. We were attached at the hip. With Freshmen year came new things but I also had a boyfriend who was changing into something not so good.
        He began to tell me that I was ugly if I didn't wear makeup, and that I shouldn't wear sweatpants in public ever because I looked like a hobo. He also started to control what I wore, what I posted on Facebook, who I talked to, and wouldn't let me go out with my friends often because he didn't like them and didn't want me becoming a B**** like them. I was falling apart and in December he broke up with me for a night and I fell apart, but we soon got back together.
        In January I went to a Christian Conference (He was not there) and not only did I encounter God but I met a young man. At the conference I had a blast learning more about God and the second day I was coming back from a class about the Holy Spirit and a young man came up to me. He said "Hi I'm Kolten, you look very beautiful today! I'm from Yakima, where are you from?" I told him my name and that I lived in Yakima too and went to this church. He looked at me with shock and then preceeded to say he went to the same church! Wait I knew this guy, well we had never met but I heard plenty of stories about him and how my friend used to have a crush on him. I told him this and we began talking all the way back to the conference area. At the end he asked about my necklace and said it was pretty. I told him I had gotten it from my boyfriend. He looked sullen after I said that and said "Oh, you have a boyfriend." We still talked though, and even sat across from each other at lunch.
        The last day of the conference I had a vision of Kolten and I and another young man holding hands on top of a mountain with a city below and God saying, you have brought all these people to me through your love. It was beautiful, I didn't tell Kolten though, not until months later.
        After that I went to youthgroup every Tuesday and my boyfriend and I were falling apart. Every Tuesday Kolten would talk to me about my boyfriend and one night I spilled it all out. I told him how my boyfriend was verbally absusive and how I didn't want to date him anymore. He encouraged me to do what God had for me. So my boyfriend and I broke up and got back together multiple times but we were always still together.
        Freshman year was almost over and I went to a church event with one of my new friends and I introduced her to Kolten. We worshiped and when we got done my friend said "You like Kolten." I nodded my head no, and then she looked at me and I said "Oh God, I do like him." After saying this she giggled and just my luck Kolten approached. He said I looked beautiful and that he had to go, I gave him a high five, blushed and ran to the bathroom.
        The day after school had ended and I had two of my bestfriends spend the night. We were in my pool when they told me that I needed to break up with my boyfriend and that he was no good for me. I agreed. So the next day I called him up and broke up with him.
        Afterwards, I felt free. It was finally over. I was set free. That Sunday I told Kolten about what had happened and that it was official. He gave me a high five and guess what? That day he got his first cell phone. I wrote down my number on a sticky note hoping he might text me. I never got a text that day and then around 8 oclock he texted me and we texted for hours about how much we love Jesus. It was beautiful.
        Months later we talked about how we liked each other but we didn't want to date till later. This time was healing time for me. I went through a lot of nights crying, thinking I will never have another man I can marry, let alone Kolten, because i was not pure and no one wanted to marry a girl without her virginity.
        Early September I told Kolten about my past and my biggest secret, and you know what he told me? That he still likes me and wants to be bestfriends and that God forgives me. That day he also gave me our first hug. It was beautiful. It still took about a year to overcome the idea that I was forgiven, but I now know I am.
        God forgave me. He can forgive you too, no matter what you have done. He loves you and wants to be there for you. If you need help finding him, find me or facebook me and I will pray with you.
        Now your probably wondering what else happened, well Kolten and I were bestfriends for a year and a half and we started dating and now we have been dating for 2 years. I hope to marry him one day, but only God knows that!
        So as you can see, I'm a different girl and always will be. God saved me, literally and figuratively. Without him I wouldn't be here today and I wouldn't be the happy loving girl I am. I hope to grow more in my faith, lately I've been slacking and need to get better so I am going to be posting my devotions on here as much as I can!:)
        Thanks for reading and I hope this helped you out a bit! Here is a verse I want to leave you with:

         Isaiah 58:9 "Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I."

My Testimoney part I

Fri, 22 Aug 2014 05:59:35 +0100

        I'm not the girl I was four years ago, in fact if you had met her you wouldn't understand how I am me. Not just met who I used to be on the outside, but what was infecting me through the inside. In 8th grade my family had joined a new church and I began to understand who he was, so I decided to get baptized for the second time. That was one of the best decisions I could have ever made.
        A month after I began my first relationship with a boy who lived out of town, I knew him through my cousin who was in middle school with him. We went on our first date to my cousin's musical and started dating. A week later he was my first kiss in the Red Lobster parking lot, not so romantic, but I was in love. This entire time though, I had liked my guy best friend, and as soon as he found out I had my first kiss he was jealous and asked me out, so being naive I dumped the boy out of town and dated my guy best friend. It was only a week before it got awkward and we broke up, and our friendship had been ruined.
        I cried that cold December night and to my surprise my ex out of town had texted me wanting to get back together, I said yes. I went to my cousins town and visited for a week before new years and saw my boyfriend multiple times. My cousin and I then threw a huge party and of course my boyfriend was there. We had kissed a lot and around 2am he picked me up and twirled me again and kissed me goodbye. Little did I know that would be the last time I would ever see him again.
         We dated for another month before he dumped me saying that we were to far apart and to young. By this time I had already planned out my wedding and future with my first true love. I had invested so much into him that when we broke up I fell apart. The blackness began to sink in. Depression attacked my heart. I began avoiding school, wearing black and hiding from my friends. At the time my Best Friend and I were fighting because she was cheating on her boyfriend with my guy best friend who was also her boyfriends best friend. I couldn't stand to talk to her anymore and we fell apart. By this time I was completely alone. Every day after school I would slip home and fall into a coma of tears. The depression attacked me so hard I began to cut myself again and again with bobby pins. I was still involved in church at this point but I wasn't encountering Christ like all the people around me. At this time my church began to start a book series about the prodigal son.
        If you don't know the story its about a son who asks his father for his inheritance even though his father is still alive. His dad gives it to him and the son leaves and spends it on hores and ungodly things. Then a famine comes across the land and the son has no money so he goes to work for a farmer as a slave and realizes that he is getting paid less than what his own father payed his servants. He then decides to return to his father's house and beg to be a servant. Although when he gets there his father runs to him and hugs him and throws him a party because his son has returned.
        Throughout this entire series we were analyzing this chapter and the significance in life groups. I was in one and didn't speak often. I did relate significantly to the story though, I was trying to go to God or the Father for my depression but I wasn't getting any response. I was really frusterated. Then one night a member of the group brought a song. It was "Hold my heart" by Tenth Avenue North. This song hit home. It was exactly what I was feeling, I was crying to God and I just wanted him to say my name.
        That night when I got home I cried like usual and around 1am I was listening to Hold My Heart on repeat. I got so frusterated with God that I decided to take my own life. I convinced myself saying if I killed myself I could be in heaven and all this pain would be over. So I walked out to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, I prayed to God and just as I was about to thrust the knife into my heart, I heard my name. It was a voice I had never heard before. I called out to my parents to see if it was them, but no one answered. At that moment I knew who it was, it was God. He had called my name, MY NAME. I fell down to the floor and began to cry of happiness. At that point my depression had begun to leak out of me, and I didn't need a knife to get rid of the pain, I needed God.
        I began to pursue God from that point on, but I still got lost. This is where the second part of my testimony starts in my next post. Here are some pictures of me when I was that age so you can see the difference.