Dreams

Devote yourself to an idea. Go make it happen. Struggle on it. Overcome your fears. Smile. Don't forget : this is your dream"

I was told by one of my professors here, if you want something to happen you need to do anything and everything to make it happen (obviously within reason). We get so annoyed at ourselves whenever our dreams aren't falling into place but are we really chasing after them? Recently I realized that I had so many plans for my life, things I wanted to accomplish, yet I was doing basically nothing to try and achieve them. I wasn't putting myself totally out there and throwing myself into my dreams. We, as humans, love love love to complain but I have to say, I am sick and tired of being so apathetic about things. I want to ooze with passion in everything I do. The fact is, someday is today. One of the few things I remember about reading the Twilight books, (I had referencing the twilight books but I'm going to roll with this) was when Bella is trying to convince Edward to make her into a vampire and in a total passion she screams at him and tells her she is dying. This startles him and she simply tells him "I am dying, each day I get closer and closer to that point". Wow, very philosophical of you Stephanie Meyer. Its the one good thing I took out of those books. Anyway, the truth is we have the power to go out and make our dreams happen, but it all comes with rejecting apathy and working hard. Getting up time and after time. Never losing hope and never forgetting that this is our dream and we are the only people who can make it happen. But it all starts with one step. The first step. 

Rainy Days

So over here it is one of those rainy days which I always take as "thinking days". Basically, when these days come around I always acknowledge how I am not in the place I want to be, not in regards to location. I know 100% that I am supposed to be in Cincinnati. But I mean in other ways. I am not in the place where I want to be in my faith, my state of mind. But before you know it, the sun comes out tomorrow and the thoughts go to the back of my mind until the next rainy day. But I want to change this. This rainy day is one where I want to actually get an action plan together, how I can better myself and get a grasp of who I actually am. The college years are generally years where we are trying to find ourselves and I am pretty sure I could be top of that list. Sometimes I grind myself down and try to actually think about who I am, what I stand for, whats my identity in Christ? And I know I am not alone in all of this. I want to up my game and the teaching on Andy Stanley have reinforced a lot of things for me. The most important thing which I have taken from it is; Am I working on bettering myself?

The short answer? Not as much as I should be. 

So being tired with myself I am taking a year to find myself. To get a grasp of who I want to be, a year to solely focus on God, my dreams, and the woman I want to be in Christ. I'm sick of worrying who I think people want me to be, being a people pleaser is a total waste of time. And no matter how hard you try you will never please everyone. I get so worried about my future which comes at the detriment to my present. I live so much in the future that my present fails me daily. So my plan of action? I am off dating, for a year in the hope that I can discover who I am, so I can make myself into a woman totally after Gods own heart because I know that that is going to get me so much farther than anything else. You see, if I do this there is no way I could ever waste my time doing it or regret doing it. I'll be keeping you updated on my journey, as I become more open to letting God use me in whichever way he desires. But I need to solely focus, to not lose sight of why I am here and be open to Gods time. I am so excited to see how God is going to work in me and through me. 

Andy Stanley; This Guy Knows What's Up

So last night I started this series by Andy Stanley on "The New Rules for Love, Sex and Dating". I can honestly tell you I will be listening to the next one tonight. Andy offers common sense knowledge that WE SHOULD KNOW. But guess what? We don't. Andy places a focus not upon looking and searching for the right person but focusing on being the right person yourself. He uses the phrase "Be the kind of person who you are looking for is looking for". He describes the story of a young girl who just got so wrapped up in dating that it became her life, she moved from guy to guy and just got so lost in it. But one night she met this great guy, he was a christian, he knew what he wanted in life, total top guy. She went home and told her Mom all about it. After listening long and hard at her daughters excitement over this guy, the Mom turned to her daughter and said "honey, you know he wouldn't be interested in a girl like you", the girl fell to the floor in tears, the Mom was right. You see we get so caught up in finding the perfect person, we think that when we find them everything will suddenly start to work out in our lives, everything will fall into place. But this is a myth which has disastrous effects later on.

You see, these are things we need to work on now. We need to be bettering ourselves so when that awesome person comes along we are ready. But don't just give your heart away.You deserve the best of love, any guy or girl can tell you they love you but seldom mean it. You see we are blessed enough tot have a checklist and it comes in the form of 1 Corinthians 13, when that significant other tells you that they love you and it pulls on your heart strings, look up that passage, does it meet those criteria? Andy suggested that we should learn all these things, what real love is, not only can we work to become these things but we can also learn these and protect our hearts. Never fall for that person unless their love for you ticks that checklist. We are constantly told to guard our hearts but seldom are we taught how to do that, its something I have wondered for a while, but if we can learn this, what love is and the definition of it from 1 Corinthians 13 then this can help us to do that. You CAN find this love. And you DESERVE this love. So never ever settle for anything less.

Honestly, Check out this series, its really changing and molding my approach and thoughts towards dating
http://www.northpoint.org/messages/the-new-rules-for-love-sex-and-dating

I Promise I'm Getting My Life in Order

So again, I apologize for being so undisciplined with this. But my life is taking so many exciting turns. Basically, today is an awesome day in the Christian calender. We celebrate Jesus raising from the dead. Death could not contain Him nor the grave restrain Him. You see today I feel I get to start over. I am sick of being complacent. You see, I see and am part of something amazing. Think of life as a game, it kinda is sometimes you have to admit. We've always been taught its not about winning or losing but how we play the game (yea like we ever listened to that, I hate to lose) but here's the deal, we have a desire to win deep inside of us and you know what? we can have it, the ultimate win. You see Jesus has already won, He defeated death, and last time I checked I don't see much of that going on right now. Jesus has won and now its just about how we play the game, if you have Jesus you know of the victory. You're probably thinking 'ok so where does that leave me, if its done, where do I have a place?". Well let me just answer that for you, we need to show other people that victory, we need to show them how they can be part of this awesome victory. People who are beat down by life day in and day out, we need to show them that defeat is not their ultimate fate. We need to show them the victory they can have in Jesus Christ, how they can be transformed completely by the undying love of Christ. I'm sick of being so conscious of what others think of me, to the detriment of my ministry, and I'm sorry to burst your bubble christian readers but this life...it isn't about you...we have been gifted with knowing an absolutely amazing story. And if you are so utterly convinced of the realities of God, of heaven, how much do you really hate someone that you don't share that with them? I'm guilty of this, and it is something I have to remind myself of everyday, I have to keep reminding myself that this life is not mine, it never was, but God has placed me as manager of it, has given me gifts and abilities that if I use wisely I can be part of something amazing. I can make a difference. Yes me, a measly teenage girl from Northern Ireland. And you know what, YOU can too. I want to keep you encouraging you. You see, this weekend I decided that I am not where I want to be in my faith, I have become too comfortable, and there is no fun in comfort. I want to be ruthless, bold, I want to be remembered as a young woman who poured out the Holy Spirit in everything she did, but that doesn't just happen over night. Join me in this journey, try it out too, because you can, but you have to want to change, you have to be open to the call. You have to allow God to work in your life, allow Him to fix the crap in your life and let him chisel away at you, and it'll hurt, but if you want to be built on the solid foundation that is Christ and be truly transformed by Him, its what needs to be done. And I'll be right beside you every step of the way.
Love in Him,
Vikki :)

Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful

I am surrounded by beautiful individuals who seem to have no idea of their worth. Everyone sees it. A friend who thinks they don't match up. Maybe you think that you don't match up. The fact is you were fearfully and wonderfully made. I believe in a God who is a wonderful craftsman and creator, and believe me, He doesn't make crap. I believe that if people in this world actually realized how precious they are and how much they can achieve this world be a way better place to live in.

The thing we can seem to get our heads around is the fact that beauty is diverse. Girls, you don't have to be petite, with porcelain skin and completely toned up to be beautiful. Guys, you don't have to have the Hollister body and handsome face to be beautiful. We have created these ideas of beauty in our minds. What beauty is in others, and what it is in ourselves. But what we have come up with is so very far from what real beauty is. Beauty has become all about image to us.

But this is the truth; You are beautiful. 

I know you look in the mirror everyday and wish you could change something. I know that you've cried on many occasions because you felt you never matched up. Never got the guy or girl you wanted, because you felt you weren't pretty or handsome enough. But you are beautiful. You may not think it but you totally are. You were created in the image of God for crying out loud! You were sewn together in your mothers womb, a wonderful tapestry designed by the mighty God himself. You were fearfully and wonderfully made by a loving and faithful God who promises never to forsake or abandon you no matter what you do. 

Here's what they don't tell you, that stereotype of beauty you want to fit into? No one fits in that. Everyone is different, everyone unique. And its a huge blessing! A creative God wouldn't make everyone the same. And a loving God isn't unfair in his distribution of beauty. Everyone is beautiful. But you have to be your own kind of beautiful. You have to make it your own. You have to own your own beauty. I'm guilty of this too, believe me, the amount of times I feel I haven't been smart enough, pretty enough, or beautiful enough is unbelievable. But I am done of letting it own me. I am done with consuming myself with it. I was designed for more than that. I was designed by a master craftsman who knows way more than I do. 

But I just wanted to tell you that you are beautiful, and don't you dare let anyone else tell you otherwise. 

So sorry!

So my computer has been totally broken for the last few weeks and thats why I have not posted anything! I promise Ill be more up to date with postings!