Fairy Tales

I am about to share with you all a secret about me that not many people know.


I still watch Disney movies. 


I am not talking about the ones that come on the Disney channel that have absolutely no plot line. I am talking about the old school Disney princess fairy tales.


Right now I am sitting in my room watching Beauty and the Beast, and I am fairly sure that Belle and I are kindred spirits. Belle is a book worm that is just looking for some adventure in life, and is not content with the mundane. Also, the scene where she walks into the library in the castle makes me wants to squeal with delight. I want to have that library someday, and I am confident that I will. 


I love fairy tales, but not for the reason that you think. I do not at all think that I am going to meet some prince charming that will rescue me at a moment's notice. I already have my prince charming, and no boy is  going to change that. Fairy tales aren't at all a good representation of earthly relationships. But they are a marvelous representation of our relationship with Christ. 


You see, people are always going to let me down, and I am always going to let other people down. None of us are perfect. Boys will never fully fill the void in my life. I do hope that one day I will find someone to share my earthly life with, but if I don't I am so glad that I have already found my true prince. Therefore, I am not going to spend away my youth just wishing for an earthly relationship when I already have the ultimate eternity-long love. 


Jesus is the hero of my story and my first love. He has rescued me from the ultimate danger.

 He is my prince charming and I am going to live happily ever after with Him.

Technology Overload

Have you ever thought about how much we use the internet?

Well, the internet has been out on my side of the room for several days now, and I have learned quite a few things about myself while the internet has been down.

1. I spend way too much of my time on the internet.

Obviously, this is a huge problem in our culture today. Many people walk straight into their room after class and get on facebook. I have been guilty of this as well. I wouldn't say that I am addicted to the social networking phenomenon, but it is definitely taking up too much of my time lately. Since my internet has not been working properly I have realized just how much time that I spend on the internet. Whew. It is a lot.

2. Much of my homework is done using the internet.

The internet has become a primary source for most research, rather than the traditional encyclopedia. I'm not sure that this is a good thing, but it is true. Also, I have found that a lot of my homework cannot be done without the use of an internet connection. This blog is a perfect example. I complete this blog not only for my own pleasure, but primarily because I get a grade for it in English class. However, I can't complete this blog without an internet connection. Therefore, it is really frustrating when the internet does not work.

3. I really miss having time to read books for pleasure.

Reading used to be one of my favorite activities, and as of late I have not had much time at all to read for pleasure. One really great thing about not having an internet connection is that I have had a huge amount of time to read. In fact, my sister recently let me take her copy of Pride and Prejudice to school with me, and I have been reading it almost every day. I read it a couple of years ago, but it is still one of the most interesting books that I have ever read. The movie is one of my favorites, but the book is definitely better than the movie.

Getting to Know my Savior

This past week has been a week of intense spiritual growth for me. I do not mean that I had some seriously emotional, spiritual moment, but I am being honest with my fellow believers in saying that God has really been smacking me upside the head with some truths about who He is. I have been meditating on one question for several days now.

How can I share God's Word if I don't know God's Word?

Well, we all know that I actually can't, but if I am being completely honest I would have to say that I have been trying to share passionately about something that I don't even read every day. This obviously needs to change.

Therefore, I am going to do something about it, and I am asking for some serious accountability. I have decided to begin memorizing specific passages and verses of Scripture each week. This may sound really easy, but the truth is that most of us only know a few verses of Scripture by heart. How can I defend the Word if I don't know it? 

I can't. So, I am going to start learning, memorizing, and meditating on the Scripture every single day.

So, if you randomly see me at school or church and you happen to think of it, why don't you just go ahead and ask me if I have already had my quiet time today. Also, you can go ahead and ask me what verses I have memorized this week. I am going to get real with my fellow Christians because we are called to hold each other accountable. Thanks to everyone who is already helping me in this journey. 

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith."

Romans 1:16-17

My First English 1310 Essay

I have recently written my first essay for English 1310, and it was actually a wonderful experience. When I finally decided on my topic, I realized that there were so many avenues that could be explored. I decided to do a descriptive paper based on the old Easley library. There are so many things about that library that are still vivid in my mind today. I began to jot down every single memory and sensory detail that I could imagine about that library. The only problem was how to narrow those topics down into something that would resemble a well-organized essay. It is so much more challenging than I thought it would be. After writing I realized that I had gone more than one hundred words over our five hundred word limit. This made me really mad. I had just poured my heart into this essay and now I was going to have to cut it apart and rip out some of its content. 
However, I did accomplish this goal and finally got under the maximum word count. I actually feel really proud of this essay. I know that there is still much to be edited and revised within it, but I am very excited that my first college essay has been written. A huge weight just lifted from my shoulders. 

needtobreathe concert :)

Last night I went to the NeedToBreathe concert at The Orange Peel in Asheville. It was completely amazing and definitely the best concert that I have ever been to. If you have never been to The Orange Peel, you should know that it is basically one big room with no air conditioning, and just a giant ceiling fan. I went ahead and uploaded a picture of the ceiling fan just because it was quite possibly the most hilariously large ceiling fan that I have EVER seen.





The room was absolutely full of NTB fans that were just trying to get closer to the front. We were all packed in like sardines and let me tell you, it was HOT. However, I would have stood there for probably two more hours if they had wanted to continue the concert. Some of the highlights of the evening included "Stones Under Rushing Water" (my new favorite song), "Girl Named Tennessee", "The Outsiders", and "Lay 'Em Down".

It was the first time that NeedToBreathe had ever performed in Asheville, but I am hoping that they come back very soon. It was their first headlining show since the beginning of summer, and you could tell that they were glad to be back in a crowd of people that actually appreciates their music.


By the way, they are coming to Greenville in November and I will probably go to that show as well. It was just that good.

Something Beautiful

Well, I am going to a NEEDTOBREATHE concert tonight so I thought that I would elaborate a little bit on one of their songs, which I absolutely love.

"Hey now, this is my desire. Consume me like a fire. 'Cause I just want something beautiful to touch me. I know that I'm in reach because I am down on my knees, waiting for something beautiful."

This song is so true-to-life for me right now. I just want the beautiful One to touch my life again. I want to be used up for Him. I am not going to rely on my religion or what I know about God to fulfill me. God did not mean for our religion to fill our lives. HE wants to fill our lives and actually walk with us each day. So, that's where I'm at right now. I want to be consumed by my Lord and be used for something beautiful.

I am standing before God today asking Him to use me. The incredible thing is that I KNOW he will, not because I am faithful, but because He is.

In Loving Memory of Aileen Riddle

Aileen Riddle was my great grandmother. I just called her grandmother. She passed away a little over two weeks ago, and I really want to share with you some of my best memories of her and my Pa.

My Pa and Granmother were some of the most hardworking people that I have ever met. They ran a small convenience store for a good majority of their adulthood and lived in a beautiful, yet small, brick house that was right beside the store. By the time that I was born they had sold the store, but they still lived beside it.

Every Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve when I would go to their house, I would also walk over to the store with the other great-grandchildren and we would all pick out some candy that we wanted. I will never forget how cool it was to hear all of grandmother's stories about the store. Another wonderful memory of grandmother occurred every single time that we went to visit her. She ALWAYS had Breyer's ice cream in the freezer of her refrigerator. Every single time we came, she would offer us that vanilla bean breyer's ice cream. It was no doubt the best ice cream that I have ever tasted. The other awesome thing about Pa and Grandmother's house was their laundry shoot. They had an old wooden door that you could dump the clothes into and they would go straight down the shoot into a bin in the basement. I thought that was the coolest thing that I had ever seen. Any time I was there my sister, my cousin, and I would yell down the shoot to each other and toss things down to each other through the shoot. 

I loved that house, but I loved my great-grandparents so much more than that. 

I am truly going to miss Grandmother, but I am completely at peace with the fact that she is in Heaven right now with my Pa. She missed him so much, and she can finally be with him again. 

So, as cliche as this sounds, go live life with the people that you love. Seriously. I would give anything to be sitting across from my grandmother right now at her kitchen counter, eating ice-cream with her while Pa watches baseball. 

Taking a Walk with my Savior

"Wherever He leads I'll go. Wherever He leads I'll go. I'll follow my Christ who loves me so. Wherever He leads I'll go."

These very familiar words are part of a beautiful hymn that we sing in my church all of the time. The trouble is that these words are a little, rather a lot, more difficult than they sound. Everytime I go to sing the chorus, I get a little nervous, because I am not totally sure that I would have the strength to follow Christ wherever He leads me. 

However, just because I don't know if I would follow Him wherever He led me, it doesn't mean that I am not trying to follow Him. Choosing to follow Christ is a day by day, hour by hour decision. My life verse further explains this concept.

 "I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count my self an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward-- to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'M NOT TURNING BACK."

Phillipians 3:12-14 The Message Bible

I cannot even pretend that I have my faith all together, and I certainly cannot claim to know where God is leading me. But, I think that's the point. If I knew where God was leading me, I wouldn't feel the need to trust Him. I recently was talking with my mom about this topic and an extremely relevent metaphor came to mind, so I think I will share it with you all.

In the spring of my senior year, I went to Disney World with my high school marching band. We went to the Fantasmic show on a Sunday night, and it just so happened that nearly two thousand people saw this show at the same time as us. Now, if you know me at all you should know that I don't exactly stand out in a crowd, at least physically speaking. I am five foot one inch tall, and even that is stretching it a little bit. Well, at some point while we were making our way out of the arena after the show, one of my band directors, Mr. Mumford, and I got separated from the rest of our group. Keep in mind that we were in a crowd of two thousand people who were trying to get out of the same exit gate. Chaos ensued. Praise the Lord, Mr. Mumford is over six feet tall and could see where we were heading. At one point,I was standing in front of him in the massive crowd of people, and I turned around to him and said, "I have absolutely no clue where I'm going. I can't see above the people's heads." He then placed his hands on my shoulders and said, "Just start walking, and I will point you in the direction that we need to go."

I was lost and confused. I was nervous and a little chlostrophobic. You see, there was no way that I could realize the big picture. But Mr. Mumford could see where we were going. All he needed me to do was to start walking, so that he could point me in the direction that we needed to go.

Do you see where I am going with this?
God does not need me to see the picture yet. He just needs me to start walking. He needs me to stop being a bench warmer and actually get in the game. I am called to serve. While I am sitting here panicking about not seeing the big picture, I am missing out on all of the little opportunities to just be led by my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God is the only one who can see the big picture of this universe, and that is exactly the way that it is supposed to be. So, right now even though I have absolutely no clue where I am going, I am just going to start walking.

I am quite confident that taking this walk with my Savior will end up being the adventure of an eternity.