What a crazy past few days it's been! I've had to say see ya later to many friends and family, pack up almost everything that I have, and move to a completely new place for 9 months. And I must say, so far I love college. Many people see college as a place to go crazy or explore themselves, but to me it's so much more than that. College is a place where I have the privilege to impact those around me in a positive way and meet so many other people like myself. I'm so excited for the opportunities UNA is going to give me!

     Friday when we moved in, it was chaos. We worked so hard to make our drabby dorm room look homey. We've already taken two Walmart runs and fail to get curtain rods each time. I think our dorm room came together really well, and we did a great job with making it special to us. It really feels like home.

     I think a common mistake Christians make is getting too comfortable with where they are in their walk with Jesus. Your relationship with Him should be everchanging and constantly growing. Pursuing Him means obeying Him, even when it doesn't sound like such a great idea to us. God LOVES for us to get outside of our comfort zones- sometimes being a Christian means getting rid of our comfort zone all together. Lately I've been working on that.

     I love talking people and getting to know them, but going up to someone completely random and just starting a conversation with them can be intimidating for anyone. I realize that I'm about to have to do quite a lot of that, as I leave for college on Friday. But something even harder for me is going up to a stranger and telling them about God. I love talking about God and my testimony, but the thought that the person could be of another religion or an atheist scares me because then I know what comes next. But the point of sharing our faith isn't to immediately help someone be saved, it's to make them question what they believe in and why they believe it. Why am I so scared of rejection when I have a courageous, just, amazing God? I have no idea. Human flaw, I suppose.

     I've started to enjoy going out of my comfort zone. I always feel accomplished afterwards, and nothing is more rewarding than knowing you've positively affected someone. I just think of when people have stepped out of their way to say something nice or meaningful to me, I can't get it off my mind. To think that I could do that to someone is kind of incredible. And if they make fun of me or mock my faith, that's fine. What do I care? That just makes me more eager to try and get to their heart. I'm a pretty stubborn girl if you didn't realize.

     On mother's day, a man was seated in the atrium of our church, and he introduced himself to me as I walked by. He poured out his heart to me, sharing his life story. He told me his wife died months ago and this was the first mothers day he had experienced without her, and I told him how difficult that must have been. He proceeded to tell me that he was a war veteran and an ex convict. This struck my heart, that this wonderful Godly man could have ever been in prison. I often think of this man and wonder about his life.

     I've been thinking quite a lot about spiritual gifts lately. How do we know what our spiritual gifts are, when do we discover them, and what do we do with them? Spiritual gifts are our talents given to us by God. If you think about it, really think about it, it's kind of incredible how God has thought about each one of us and examined our lives, gifting us with a talent before we are even conceived. 1 Timothy 4:14 says, We show gratitude for our gifts when we use them. Don't neglect the gift that is within you. Has there ever been a time when you gave someone a present that you thought was a really amazing gift, but whoever you gave it to just kind of brushed past it like it was no big deal? This is how God feels when we don't give him thanks and utilize our spiritual gifts. We use our spiritual gifts to serve both Him and one another.

     This past week in my college lifegroup, we talked a bit about having a specific time set apart in your day for God. Lately I've been really good about this but as much as I hate to admit it, I'm usually not. When I ask myself why I don't give five or ten minutes for God time, I have no good answer. I constantly make up excuses, like "oh it's been a long day" "I'm too tired to give God the devotion he needs" or "I want to have quiet time but I could be doing ___________ instead". One of my lifegroup leaders brought up something striking that I've been thinking about all week- what if at the end of the day, God said "I'm going to bed; I'm too tired for you"? Whoa.

     Often we make up these excuses but we don't really think about the reason why we need to spend time with God every day. I've noticed in these past few weeks of devoting just a few minutes to God each day, my life has improved. I have a better relationship with those around me, my patience has grown, I find joy in the smallest things, and I'm more appreciative of the things I have. We spend time with God because it strengthens our faith. God gave his son's life for us; what is five or ten minutes in the span of things, really? And you'll find that once you start reading and analyzing His Word, your heart will be on fire and you won't want to stop reading it. You'll start to get excited to spend time with Him instead of making excuses.

     Something that I hear people say a lot is they get distracted while reading the Bible. This is something that is hard to get past in our day and age. Put your phone in a different room, turn off the TV, and listen to what God is telling you.

     Something else I hear people say is that they don't understand the Bible. Personally I've struggled with this myself; not that I don't understand it but how to apply it to my own life thousands of years later. I have The Message, which is a rendition of the Bible by Eugene H. Peterson. The Message words the scripture in such a way is written in every day language, but has a poetic tone and relates things sort of to present day. Some people may not agree with the rewording of original scripture, but the ideas are the same. I realize this is not meant to be used as a primary translation of the bible; it just helps me realize how the stories and words are applicable today.
   
     In my quiet time every day, I pick out a book of the bible and go to a chapter. Usually this is completely random; sometimes it comes from a cool verse that I saw or something that was in my devotion. It's really awesome to see how relevant the chapter I randomly pick out is to what I'm dealing with at the time. Then in my notebook I simply write what I'm studying down. For example, here is a book I studied this past week (Psalm 16)

     The secret to happiness and success is to be optimistic. The funniest thing to me is that people will tell you you're being juvenile for believing the cup is half full. I once saw a picture of a dandelion that said  "some see a weed, some see a wish". 

     My name is Holley and I am a control freak. The first step to improving is admitting you have a problem, right? I'm one of those people who likes to have my whole life planned out hour by hour, or else I'll get nothing done. I have the perfect image in my mind of everything I want to happen, and if it doesn't happen that way it freaks me out.

     Well if you don't know me, know that I am a big coffee drinker. I'm stressed? Coffee. Depressed? Coffee. Happy as can be? Coffee! And my very favorite coffee mug has this quote on it: It is what it is.

     We as humans are often blinded by vanity. What can we say? It comes naturally. Women and teenagers are especially targeted, and being both of these things myself I have experienced this firsthand. Why is this? teenagers are just figuring out what they believe and why they believe these things, and they don't really know who they are. If you're growing up and a beautiful person is up on the television telling you that you have to have perfect skin or full lips just to be pretty through society's eyes, you're going to believe them. Marketers constantly aim towards women for their campaigns because for us, we always want to be presented in the best way possible. These days it's no wonder it's nearly impossible to be self confident and truly comfortable in your own skin. I know; I've been there. I'm there right now.

    This is such a huge roadblock for women to grow in their walk with God. How are we, as Christians, supposed to share the gospel with people we've never met if we're not even comfortable with having a conversation with one of our own peers? I think we all go through a period in time where we struggle with other people's perception of us.
     But honestly- how ungrateful and selfish is that of us? God handcrafted each and every one of us with a special purpose in mind. We look and think and act in such a way that God created for us. If that doesn't make you feel beautiful and loved, you probably need to get your priorities in check.

     What a beautiful picture that has been set up for us in Matthew 6:27-29. How long do we spend preparing ourselves for the day? Too long! Think about wildflowers. They grow naturally with nothing but sunshine and the grace of God, yet they are some of the vibrant and most beautiful things placed on this earth. What if we spent the time we do primping in the mornings thanking God that we have a truly exquisite, functional body- our amazing anatomy that he has blessed us with? Our days would be so much more fruitful, and our lives not cheapened by the vanity that surrounds us.

     One of the main things God reminds us of over and over again is to guard our hearts.

This means that whenever someone is telling you that you should look a different way or that you're not good enough, you tell them that you were made exclusively by your Almighty Creator, and nothing could be better than that.

     It's the least we can do for the one who gave up everything for us. What a humbling thought that is!