Living in the Moment

 I read something in the Bible the other night.  It's found in Luke 10:39-42 and it says,

"She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what He said.  But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.  She came to Him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?  Tell her to help me!'  'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed -- or indeed only one.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'"

 This was part of my Christmas Bible plan I'm going through right now.  Especially during this time of the year, how often do we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season?  Many people this time of year are thinking about Christmas plans, Christmas gifts, school mid-terms, and getting distracted by so much more. I, myself, have been very wrapped up in school this month so far.  Studying for the Introductory Psychology CLEP test has been difficult, and if you know me, you know that I don't deal well under stress.  I encourage you not to get caught up in "tomorrow", but live in the precious moment you're in.

"Yesterday's the past and tomorrow's the future.  Today is a gift -- which is why they call it the present."    ~Bill Keane

 In other news, I passed my Introductory Psychology CLEP test this morning!  That brings me to 27 college credits!  I have one more test to go before I become a college Sophomore!

This week I'm thankful for...
141. fabulous performances of my church's Christmas play
142. being able to be a part of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
143. willing, helpful friends
144. another great LIVE for Christ meeting
145. seeing The Gospel According to Scrooge with my family
146. making cards all day
147. Grandpa visiting
148. girls' movie night with my mom and sister
149. prayer call with people around the country
150. passing Introductory Psychology

My favorite Christmas album this week is: How Many Kings - Songs for Christmas by Downhere

 In Christ,
     ~Sierra~

How It Works and more

 For those of you who have been wondering, follow this link to see how CollegePlus! works; to see how I'm earning my Economics degree...in high school!  If you're interested in enrolling, click here and you will get a discount!  As a Junior in high school, I have 24 credits with 3 more pending.  CollegePlus! is faster, for less, and for sure!  Let me tell you: you can't get much better than that!  Especially when earning your college degree!  And this program is not only for high school students.  It is for all ages who are looking to earn or expand their degree.  May I remind you that you are earning your degree at your own pace?!

 Now that I got my biased advertisement out of the way... :)

 Yesterday, we had our 5th LIVE for Christ meeting!  It went great!  We talked about Understanding the Fear of the Lord which is something we all need to be reminded of time and again.  How often do we worry about what others are thinking of us?  How often am I changing myself to "fit in" better with who I'm with?  Honestly, how often do we say to ourselves, "Who cares if they disapprove of this music!  What does God think of it?!"?Unfortunately, I don't say that very often.  Yes, I ask myself the latter part of that; "What does God think of ____?", but I also worry about what others are saying about it; about me.  My favorite song that talks about this (which also happens to be my favorite song of all time) is Beautiful Ending by BarlowGirl.  Love lost cause they all forgot Who You are/And it scares me to think/That I would choose my life over You/My selfish heart divides me from You/It tears us apart*chorus: So tell me/What is our ending/Will it be beautiful, so beautiful?/Will my life find me by Your side/Your love is beautiful, so beautiful.  Only God's opinion matters; He's the One Who'll be judging us in the end!

 On Wednesday night was the Christmas performance at my church.  My mom, sister, brother, and I are all in the play: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!  This play is hilarious and it's so much fun to be in!  Can't wait for Sunday when we perform it again!  Tonight, my family is going to a different Christmas play called The Gospel According to Scrooge.  I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like.  Next weekend, my dad is taking my brother and I to the sold out show The Story Tour.  I'm very excited to see that!  A night with Steven Curtis Chapman, Natalie Grant, Francesca Battistelli, the Newsboys, and Max Lucado?  Hurry, please! :)  It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, but not look like it.  There's no snow!  The paper-thin layer that's covering the ground right now doesn't really count.  In Minnesota, no snow is quite...unusual.  I just hope it doesn't get added to the end of winter, because that will be a looong winter!  I remember one year, we had snow till the end of May.  I think God skipped Spring that year... :)  Anyway, I just want it to look like Christmas by Christmas.

 Have a blessed day!
 ~Sierra

It's Sunday

Today's Verse: "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.' The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him."   ~Lamentations 3:22-25

Today's Quote: "Time is a very precious gift of God; so precious that it's only given to us moment by moment."    ~Amelia Barr

Today's Photo:

 Today we had another Brazil team meeting.  I'm so excited!  We had a few more answers today such as a closer estimation price wise, what we'll be doing while there, and got a little closer at knowing the dates.  The big ball that was dropped was the price estimation...quite a bit more than we initially thought.  However, if God is calling us to go, He will provide!

This week I'm thankful for...
131. youth group
132. great dress rehearsal for the Christmas play
133. relaxing Sundays
134. texting friends across the country
135. informational Brazil meeting
136. serving at the Operation Christmas Child processing center
137. receiving birthday wishes when it wasn't my birthday
138. game time with my mom and sister
139. watching I Love Lucy with my sister
140. decorating our Christmas tree

Favorite Christmas album of the week: It's a Wonderful Christmas by Michael W. Smith.

 Have a wonderful week!
 ~Sierra

Christmas Time

 This time of year always makes me feel light-hearted.  For me, it starts with Thanksgiving -- a time to gather with family, share your thankfulness, and enjoy fellowship.  This year, we had family over at our house, which was a lot of fun.  In fact, it was unanimously voted that we host Christmas, too! :)  It was fun to see the guys in the family enjoying themselves -- my dad fired up the forge and the men did some blacksmith-ing.  After watching them for a while, the girls went back inside to chat (and eat chocolate and drink punch).  I also was busy going through dozens and dozens of ads and clipping out great coupons!

 My sister, mom, and I stayed up and left our house about 11:30pm to drive to the nearest town with all of our "Black Friday stores": Herberger's, Kohl's, and JC Penney.  I was surprised to see how many men were out shopping with their wives at Herberger's!  It was pretty much me and five other men standing around the $10 14pc. Pyrex sets to find out how many we needed to grab!  We got to Kohl's about 2:30 (Kohl's and Herb's opened at midnight, if you didn't know), and decided at about 3:15 that we better get in line and take turns between looking around and standing in line.  To make a long story short, we were still in line at 4:45 with about an hour and a half to go.  Thankfully, we discovered a second line that everyone said was equally as long -- NOT!  It was WAY shorter: we jumped in at the back of the line at the 15 min. mark.  Anyway, I picked out a few Christmas presents for myself, so I know what I'm getting this year (it's better this way than getting something you don't want and having to wait in line after Christmas to return it).

 I am pleased to tell you that I got my pajamas at JC Penney.  My tradition is to buy two pairs of pajamas a year...on Black Friday...at JC Penney.

 We went to a few other stores and then headed home around 8am -- the entire way home I was nodding off, trying to stay awake to help keep my mom awake! :)  I slept from 10 to 2:30 and when I woke up, guess what we did!  Went shopping again!  This time it wasn't very exciting because we went to Cabela's and yes, their clothes are cute, but even on sale, I can't afford them!

Black Friday makes me so happy for two reasons.  One, because of all the sales!  Two, because it's the start of Christmas!  Friday night, I went on Spotify and made a 20 hour long playlist filled with dozens of Christmas albums, which I'm listening to now.  Also, on the way home on Friday evening, we saw mini-vans with trees atop them!  That's just a pretty sight to me.  Oh, and another favorite is the sound of bells outside of stores: the Salvation Army bell ringers!  Love it!

This week I'm thankful for...
121. Christmas music
122. beginning of advent
123. e-cards from friends
124. relaxing after a hard day
125. sleeping in!
126. family gathering
127. delicious food
128. Thanksgiving being a national holiday
129. Black Friday shopping with mom & sister
130. good deals :)

 My favorite Christmas album this week is: Home for Christmas by BarlowGirl.

 Have a blessed week,
   ~Sierra

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you have a lovely day with friends and relatives while you eat, be thankful, and maybe eat some more. :)

 I wanted to share a couple verses with you.  I have heard these three verses uncountable times within the past week.

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Jesus Christ."    ~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

 Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!

What Can I Say?

 This week has been quite an adventure!  Let's start with Tuesday: an amazing day with God's blessings!

 At the end of October, my mom and I applied for something.  Something big.  The week before this past week, we found out we were accepted.  On Tuesday night, we attended, with 15 others, the first meeting for our Brazil mission trip!  I am so beyond excited!  For a long time, I've felt God calling me to go on a mission trip, and here I am, embarking on an adventure that will be remembered for the rest of my life -- maybe even change my life.  God totally has His hand on this trip already!
 You see, 17 people from my church applied for this mission trip: 7 men, and 10 women.  Our pastor got in contact with the missionary down there who we will be going to help and asked if 17 was too many.  When she wrote back, she said they have two rooms: one for men, and one for women.  The women's room sleeps 10 and the men's room sleeps 8 which leaves one bed for a translator.  If that's not God, I don't know what is!  I will be keeping you updated as time progresses and you're prayers would be appreciated!

 Thursday, I woke up reeeaaally early (5am) to go with my dad to his work.  I needed to run some errands over there, and he had an empty desk for me to do school at.  I was so tired that day!

 Friday, well, let's skip Friday because Saturday was more fun. :)

 Saturday was one of the most epic days of my whole life...so far! :)  First, I started my day like I usually do by going for a walk with my mom.  Then, we went to play practice for our Christmas play at church.  I'll say right here that the only bummer of the day was that it snowed.  And it wasn't just a small, melt-when-it-hits-the-ground snow, it was 4-5 inches of snow.  Anyway, at 1pm the vehicles started rolling in, eventually bringing a whopping 25 girls to my house for LIVE for Christ's 1st Annual Harvest Party.  God had His name written all over Saturday!  We played games, had snack, made a cool craft, and had fun (at least, I hope they had fun!).  But, let me tell you, that wasn't the end of the epic day!

 My dad (the dare devil he is) braved the snow storm and drove me an hour (well, what was supposed to be an hour) to a gathering of CollegePlus! students.  There weren't only students from this state, but we had four states represented!  I've been able to get to know some of them online and such, but was never able to meet these awesome people in person!  Sure, I was exhausted at the end of the day, but it was SO worth it!

 When I got home, I cleaned up what was left from the party and curled up and watched a movie.  A great end to a great day.

This week I'm thankful for... *I'm a bit behind on this so this list isn't just from last Sunday to today*
101. a great LIVE meeting
102. 2 good weeks in a row!
103. planning a party for LIVE
104. how God never ceases to amaze me
105. flexible people
106. my first paycheck
107. exciting news
108. supportive friends
109. amazing LIVE party
110. meeting friends in person
111. seeing the time 11:11 on 11/11/11 =)
112. God's safety in snow storms
113. my sacrificing and helpful parents
114. a great Thanksgiving sermon
115. seeing God put pieces together in my life
116. laughing at lame jokes for a long time
117. friends who take pictures for me :)
118. dirty dishes (yes, I stole that one from someone else)
119. 1 Thessalonians 5:16
120. worship teams

 God bless!

 Sierra

A Verse to Share

Hey ya'll!

 I just wanted to share a verse with you today:

 "I am the Lord, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too hard for?"    ~Jeremiah 32:27

 For no particular reason, this verse stuck out to me the other night as I was reading my Bible.  Think about it, is anything too hard for Him?  He created every living thing on this earth!  He died and rose again!  When He died, He took away every human being's sins!  Plus, He's done SO much more for each of us!  I think - no, I know - He's pretty capable of anything!

 This week I'm thankful for...

91. a small Bible study group

92. a doorknob on my door

93. Google Chrome

94. online Scrabble with friends

95. my Grandpa visiting

96. jobs

97. people speaking about Operation Christmas Child at church

98. God making me an organizational freak :)

99. Sardines in the dark with my fam

100. the many different styles of communication

 Have a wonderful week!

 Sierra