My senior year in high school my English teacher told me how "outspoken" I was. When he told me that, it was the biggest compliments of my life. As a Christian and a blogger, there is nothing I want more than to be outspoken. So today I'm going to be pretty outspoken and say it how I see it.   I've noticed a problem with Christians today and what I've noticed is we are SO selfish . There seems to be a focus on "what can God do for me today?" instead of "what can I do for the kingdom of God today?" We love to go to church to be filled up but how many times do we leave the building to share about what was done to save us? Matthew 10:5-8 "Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: 'Don't go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the people of Israel-God's lost sheep. Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leporsey, and cast out demons. G...

  STORY TIME! When my family and I lived in the Bay Area there was a lake that we would always go to when it was hot enough. This lake was a couple hours away and so all six of us would pack up in my mom's minivan and head off. One specific day that we will never let my sister lived down, we drove by a neighborhood with a sign that said "No Outlet" and my sister, let my clarify, my older  sister horrifyingly asked, "So does that mean they don't have any power?!" Like any family would do, we all laughed. My dad then went on to explain that the sign meant that it was a dead end street/cul de sac not that the houses didn't have any outlets to plug their toasters in to.   This morning I woke up quite early with no plan to do so. Immediately I went on a Twitter rampage on how "I already have my 'lack of sleep' headache" and how today is going to be such a hard day because I'm up early blah blah blah. I stopped myself mid-tweet and though...

   The great thing about going to an AMAZING church service on Sunday and writing my blog on Monday is that I could totally steal the sermon from yesterday. Just kidding... Kind of..      I guess today's post is really more of a reflection than anything else. Like I've said before I really try to be as transparent with my faith as I can be and so today I want to be pretty open about what's been going on in my heart and life.      I remember a time where me and my family where going through a transition time and were stuck in our own wilderness. It felt like every devotional we had as a family was relating to the Israelites wandering through the desert. It took us about three years to reach our promise land and whenever I go through a wilderness I always think back to that time in our lives.     Well here I am back in my own wilderness walking around and around in circles waiting for my time to see my promise land. My life has become a ci...

  I look for my next blog topic in the world around me and this morning I found it through being awoken at 6 a.m. to the intense thunder and lightening. Rain in L.A. is always unusual and when it does rain it's not for very long. Right now it is currently sunny outside and I'm sure tomorrow it will be beach weather. I am happy for the rain but I am also happy that the sun is out so I can drive to school in safety. There are (obviously) seasons in life, some places have all four seasons in one day while others have two seasons split up in the year, but nonetheless seasons are there. Seasons are in our spiritual walk as well.     Ecclesiastes 3:1-11         "For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to d...

                 Today as I was preparing for today's blog my three year old best friend, Talia, came up to the table, sat as close as she could, and told me to read her some stories from the Bible. Soon we put on some worship music and took turns talking about Bible stories. Watching her I was able to see childlike faith play out. If you are new to the faith, the phrase "childlike faith" may seem really odd. What is childlike faith? What's so important about it? Why should we be like children in our walk with God?    Mark 10:13-16 "One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering them. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, 'Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn't receive the Kin...

  This one is for all my fellow sistas out in this world. Society is a crazy mess of shaming and women are caught all up in that. We are told to be skinny but then get called harsh words for being "too skinny" and then we are told to be curvy but not "fat". Our bodies are sexualized by society and are always picked apart. How can we find confidence in a world that's telling us contradictory things all the time? What voice do we listen to when it comes to what "beauty" is?   1 Peter 3:3-4 "Don't be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God." Beauty starts with your heart. You could have the hair color and cut that every girl envies, the most "in" clothes, the on fleek contour and highlight, BUT if you had a nasty heart peop...

   If I could some up my emotional state with a verse I would go with Psalm 69:1-3 "Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is par ched. My eyes fail, looking for my God."    Have you ever had someone in your life that you care so much about and all you wanted was to spend time with them? Of course you have... Who hasn't? But have you had someone like that who has made every excuse in the books, or got creative and made up new ones, just so they wouldn't spend time with you? Have you felt that hurt and betrayal? How many times have we done that to Christ though? I know when I've had a person like that in my life I've wanted to drop them all together. What's the point in holding on if they aren't giving back in return? God could very well say the same thing when it comes to us. How many tim...