God give me love, hope, compassion, and mercy

I've decided that maybe it not such a great idea for God to give me strength, but instead to give me love, hope, compassion, and mercy. I thought Id share these bible verses with those of you who are facing struggles, as I am.

Psalm 6:9
he listens to my cry for help and will answer my prayer.

Isaih 43:2
when you pass through deep waters, I will be with you. The hard trials that come will not hurt you.

Jeremiah 33:3
call to me, and I will answer you; I will tell you wonderful and marvelous things that you know nothing about.

Isaih 40:31
those who trust in the LORD for help will find their strength renewed. They will run and not get weary.

Hebrews 13:5b
Be satisfied with what you have. For God has said "I will never leave you; i will never abandon you."

Ephesians 4:32
be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ.

Psalm 23:1
the LORD is my shepherd; I have everything I need. Even if I go through the deepest darkness, I will not be afraid.

Psalm 46:1-2a
God is our shelter and strenght, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not be afraid.

Deuteronomy 31:6
be determined and confident. Your God, the LORD himself, will be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you.

Proverbs 30:5
God keeps every promise he makes. He is like a Shield for all who seek his protection.

Isaih 41:10
do not be afraid- I am with you! I am your God. I will make you strong and help you; I will protect you and save you.

1 corinthians 10:13b
he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; he will give you the strength to endure it.

My Life? No, My Gift.

Tonight there was a concert at our church, and we all sang Once Again, by Matt Redman. 
I tried my best to hold myself together... but knowing i couldnt,  i headed out of the room, and went and just thought about the lyrics. This song was a great example of how id been feeling for a while now...

"Jesus Christ, I think upon Your sacrifice 

You became nothing
Poured out to death"
Jesus gave a huge sacrifice, he became nothing, he gave US his life. How we use HIS life is our choice now.
"Many times, I've wondered at your gift of life 

I'm in that place once again"
Why would he give us his life? he really loves us THAT much... No one will EVER love you more than he loves you. No guy, no friend, no parent. No one.

"And once again I look upon the cross where You died
I'm humbled by Your mercy and I'm broken inside
Once again I thank You,
Once again I pour out my life"
Im HUMBLED, that Jesus finds me that amazing. enough to give up his life... for ME. His mercy is amazing and  makes me want to show mercy to others. Once again, i thank him. Im here, to give him my life.

"Now You are exhalted to the highest place
King of the Heavens, where one day I'll bow
But for now, I'll marvel at Your saving grace
I'm full of praise once again
Oh I'm full of praise once again"
He's in heaven, we're one day ill be. Bowing to him. exalting him. happy, content, and overwhelmed by his goodness. For now, ill MARVEL... at his saving grace. praise him, share the good news, admire him, and give him all i have. Im full of praise and admiration. Im giving you everything Lord. Im giving you my heart, my soul, my mind, and my life.
"Thank you for the cross, my friend.
Thank you for the cross."
Its unexplainable how thankful i am to you. You saved me. You saved me... YOU saved me.

once again, i had let everything BUT God have all my focus and attention in my life. Ive been so busy and distracted that i just skipped my bedtime prayers, Bible reading, and youth group activities.
I was letting someone new into my life and just couldnt stop thinking about him. Then when i finally let loose of him for that reason... I almost immediately let someone new take his place. why couldnt i see how foolish i was? Instead of having God fill that gap in my life, i was letting just about any guy fill that gap. i know im not going to let them go completely, but God needs to be in that gap. and the guys can just kinda be a little tiny speck of dust in my life. Until i meet that one guy, then he can have my heart, but God will always have the most of me.

God knew that i needed to hear that song tonight, he knew that by me hearing that song... i would come back to him. I have a desire to learn about him again... to know everything i possibly can about him. To make him my man. My number one man. The man i always talk to about everything, and study with, and "hug"....

Ive realized that its not my life, its my gift. Now i could just let it sit in a closet and not touch it and let it waste away. Or i could use it and show thankfulness to the person who gave me that gift. I love the gift God has given me... life is an AMAZING gift. I know ive had these revelations before... but this one is different. It really really made me feel complete, and made me realize so much about my life. Ive spent so much time crying over things that really dont matter.. Im sick of that. Im so blessed. That time could have been spent in such different ways. Im using the rest of the time i have with this amazing gift to serve my father, counselor, lover, savior, and friend.

♥Anna

A Lovely Quote

"Everyone says love hurts, but that is not true. Loneliness hurts. Rejection hurts. Losing someone hurts. Envy hurts. Everyone gets these things confused with love. but in reality love is the only thing in this world that covers up all the pain and makes someone feel wonderful again."
-Unknown

1 John 3:18

"my children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action."

All that's been left behind

Today I realized that I've been so busy and preoccupied that I didn't Even realize how much I was leaving behind. The real me was fading and I was changing. I wasn't being me. I don't even know who I was being. I was so worried and concentrated on things that didn't matter that I Lost sight of the things I needed to be thinking about... Like God, and my friends, and my family. I've been so overwhelmed with school, and work, and such, that I let it consume me. I need to get back to who I was. I need to get back to the old me. The me that I really am. I kept thinking... "God brings peace, so why am i not at peace? I've been praying and asking you for help God, so why aren't you helping me out here?!"
but then I came across Hebrews 10:36 "you need to be patient, in order to do the will of God and receive what he promises." then I realized... I need to be patient and do what God wants, and then I'll receive what God promises... Which is peace. The world doesn't revolve around me, Im here for God. I just need a reminder of that every once in a while.

Xoxo,
Anna

Hebrews 10:36

"You need to be patient, in order to do the will of God and receive what he promises."

Well this is... awkward...

I guess the only thing that matters is that theyre in love ;) bahahaha goshh... dont ever let me take a picture with a duster... i dont care how old and lonely i am.... XD

Southern Travel ♥

Tonight i got home from the trip! Of course i come home from the 80 degree weather to the 30 degree weather with snow on the way. Let me just tell you a little bit... or a lot.. about the trip :)

There was waffle houses on literally every single corner.... the GPS overloaded when we searched for one :)

Apparently southern people really love their waffles... :)

 we went down on the beach in mississippi, it was gorgeous. But the sea gulls were all evil and stuff... so Olivia chased them all away :) 

This is what happens when our mothers pick out clothes for us to try on.... =/

My new favorite fortune cookie :)

The beautiful beach and sunnnn ♥

This is our turtle we made and named after adam :)

Beachessss and palm treeeeeess :)

Another great thing was that everyone in the south seemed to think that my cousin was reese witherspoon... which made everything more fun! people asking for autographs and pictures and of course getting meals and everything else a hundred times faster :) Plus the looks on peoples faces when they saw her and when we jokingly called her reese :) It was greeeaat :)

When we went to Mississippi college the pre med professor threw a brain at adam... that was a surprise to everyone. i think that college got bonus points for that right there... the best part was that there was a surgeon who was on the tour with us cus his son was looking at the college and when he was holding the brain the surgeon dropped it... we were all shocked, then afraid ;) 

Okay, so everything in the south is fried or boiled. its insane. Fried fruit, fried salad, fried everything.... its ridiculously unhealthy... but amazingly delicious ♥

My family all ate fried alligator while we were there.... but i couldnt bring myself to eat such a thing... so i had a lot of chicken po boys instead :)

My aunt and my mom almost killed us all multiple times.... for some reason they found their elbows insanely funny and started tallking about "What if we didnt have elbows" then they started holding their arms out straight and wagging them back and forth screaming "ELBOWS!" while driving. then my mother ran over 14 curbs and my aunt ran over 3. my mom dented our car alot this trip. My mom also drove over 4 bushes because she didnt see them. My mom also drove into a ditch because she thought that it was a turn lane... no mom... im pretty sure thats a ditch...

Another thing i never thought about was that we always thought of other people being the ones with accents, but really, we have the accents to other people. so in the south, people kept making fun of our accents and one night while we were eating dinner a little girl asked her mom why we talked like the people on the t.v. (Which she asked with her southern accent)

now, most of the conversations i tell people that my family has, people simply cannot comprehend... me and my cousin have decided that its because we are just soo stinkin strange compared to everyone else. First off, my aunt and mother are both rather deaf. So they were sitting right next to each other when my mom started talking about lions in the coliseum. then my aunt said "did you just say the mien's in the coliseum?" and my mom said "No, not mimes!" This just demonstrates how strange and deaf they are. then olivia started a "when you were a baby" Joke session... here some examples of some of her jokes....

"When anna was a baby, she went poop... in her diaper!"
"When anna was a baby, mom put a paper bag over her head just to kiss her goodnight!"

"When anna was a baby... she pooped on her own face!"
"when anna was a baby she gave herself a wedgie just to see if it hurt!"
"When anna was a baby, everyone thought she was an earlobe!"
"when anna was a baby, someone peed on her!"
"when anna was a baby, she drowned!"
"when anna was a baby, she fell down the stairs! Like always!"

Etc. Etc. Which led to my aunt and mother and brother and sisters and cousin all telling "when you were a baby" Jokes. While we acted like penguins and drank or root beer.

Im very excited to say that i bought 4 pairs of boots and a winter coat for a total of 25 dollars on this trip... thats five dollars a piece! I found some great deals on this trip :)

My aunt likes to crack alot of lame jokes, which leads to my mom and my aunt who both seem to think theyre funny... not a good situation...

My aunt also found this trip as a great opportunity so say "Where not in Kansas anymore" As many times as it is humanly possible... 

The people in the south are sooo polite too. The guys are such gentlemen. It got to the point where when i got  to Missouri, i kept running into doors because i was so used to having someone who would run just so that i wouldn't have to open the door for myself, simply because they're such gentlemen! i know what your thinking, "anna is just using this as an excuse for running into doors..." But im nott! its truuuuue!

We went to the dollar store to get some cheap sunglasses because we lost ours somewhere on the trip. We kept driving till we found one and we ended up in a very very very ghetto area that we didnt necessarily feel safe in, but we decided to just quickly get in and out. so we went up to the door and they had to unlock it with a special button so we could come in... thats how bad an area it was...

When we got inside, there was a lady who had 3 one dollar bills taped to her chest. So we kinda laughed and then went, grabbed sunglasses, and got in line behind her. When she got up to the checkout counter she pulled the dollar bills off her chest, then she pulled her shirt up completely and started untaping more money from her stomach and chest... slightly confused and disturbed, we just waited in line... she finally checked out and was gone. what the story behind that was... i have no idea. 

I was actually pretty sad when we first got to the beach... theres oil everywhere. imagine how much sea life that has affected.... im praying ♥

also, even the elevators in the south have accents.... which i was amazed at. now i really want them to start installing southern elevators here :)

Here's what you are ♥

http://hereswhatyouare.com/

♥Anna 

2 Timothy 4:18

"The Lord will always keep me fom being harmed by evil, and he will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom."

Matthew 11:28

"Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest."

Science Fair

So, the school science fair is coming up... and my project is surprisingly far along! :) So, im building a human powered generator thingy mah bobber. and im slowly learning about engines and dc motors and welding and all that jazz.

But this is what i have done so far. 

But for now, im just keeping my fingers crossed that everything will go well, especially since this is my last week to work on it, with going out of town for like the next 2 weeks. 

Love you guys, hope your days are filled with smiles. 

♥Anna

Philippians 4:13

"I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that christ gives me."

Psalm 9:12a

"God remembers those who suffer; he does not forget their cry."