Happy Easter!

Happy Good Friday Everyone!!!
Oh my goodness guys! K, so I just had a fantastic evening :) God is so good! Always! Forever! and He always has been :)
Humanity is so incredibly selfish aren't we? Always asking for everyone to treat us the way we want to be treated? Always expecting more, and more, and never giving back? I know we can definitely be the other side as well... Always giving, always helping, always loving and never asking or getting anything in return. And it can definitely wear you out when things aren't balanced eh?
Well let me admit, I'm one of the most guilty! of which one? haha both! I give too much, and I don't expect anything in return. But as a result, the time always comes when I realize I've gotten nothing and I'm wearing down... so afterwards... it's gotta be all about me. Forget the rest. I'm living things my way...
Well I got this new app for my laptop... yay windows 8! haha we get apps on the computer now to :P But it's a verse of the day app. and it's great! I have it so my login screen is set to a new verse every day. It only switches when there's internet, so first time in the morning I always get the old verse from yesterday... but today, when I turned my computer on the 2nd time... it had my new verse! I was praying God would do something to fix the situation, cause I was just stressed, wishing people didn't need me so much, or would just leave me alone for a few minutes so I can refocus myself cause I wasn't overly thrilled with things at that time. Well as I turned on my computer... this is the verse that came up:

"But He was pierced for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on Him,

and by His wounds we are healed."

Isaiah 53:5

Ok, Ok... I'll stop complaining, here I am people are just stressing me out... and you gave everything... pierced, crushed, and by Your wounds I am healed... Lord, kind of a slap in the face eh? You're pretty great.

 

Well vespers came and went, service was amazing... really good skit about a party kid getting into a car accident while drunk... then his brother gave his heart that the party kid would live... leaving a letter telling him to shape up, start over, and get back that girl he treated so bad but stuck around for 2 years, till she had enough... Well scene 2... they were back together and talking about how she forgave him and how grateful he was. scene 3, he got baptised :) found God's incredible love and started over. Really good. afterwards... 2 real baptisms :) then I got to have a quick afterglow with a couple friends, till they left and my wonderful cousin came to join me for the last hour before we got kicked out cause the pastor's wife wanted him home. I mean it was only 11pm... lol but I went for a walk after, to sing, enjoy life and to pray...

 

It was great, In Christ Alone, Amazing Love, and I'm sure another one or 2 were enjoyed. And finally I decided to leave... it was time for bed. God is so good! I was just in a state of pure joy, thanking God for the opportunity to be in a relationship with Him. To be His forever, to have been His always. And I began to think... What does every love story talk about??? Love at first sight, friends becoming lovers, the pursuit, God's got it all guys, He loved you the first moment He saw you. He strives for a friendship, for you to be yourself and to have an incredible friendship that will never be broken. And He chases, as you bolt, He runs full speed ahead till you run out of breath and let Him in. But best part? He took the bullet for you. True love would die for their lover.

 

Wow... I know you guys probably know this already... but think about it... If the person you love, your husband, wife, girlfriend/boyfriend, brother, sister, cousin, best friend... that person that is closest to you... He died so you didn't have to. When you were on life support... He gave his life so that you could live... I have to say guys... it hit me tonight, so hard. What an incredible blessing! I pray it never stops hitting me so hard I break down...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEYm2zA7h_k&list=RDqLOIxjPlc4s&feature=share&index=17

 

I don't know if you've seen this video or not... But if this doesn't break your heart... you need a heart transplant... God's done it for you once... let Him do it again...

If it does break your heart... Think about it... You're the girl. God saw you dead and dying... and He gave it all...

"Please don't let anything happen to my daughter!

I have money, I have a house, take it all!

My daughter Can Not Die!

Take my blood!"

 

And He took bread, and when He had given thanks,

He broke it and gave it to them, saying,

"This is my body, which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me"

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,

 "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."

Luke 22:19-20

 

My prayer for you this easter... Is that His sacrifice hits you hard. Guys we've screwed up big time... But no matter what the battlefield, He died that we could be free. That we could have life because as far as He is concerned... You Can Not Die! Accept His blood... cause He's given it... For you.

Hey Folks! It's me again ;)
Haven't posted for a while, man life is crazy these days eh? Can I get an Amen??! Talk about Burn-Out, I can tell you now, my last few weeks???... ok maybe my last month or so I have been living on the burner... Saving the world on your own??? Not an easy feat. I don't know which is worse, new parent or college student? Personally I've never been a new parent so I can't really compare but I've heard it's pretty rough... and if it's half as rough as college life can get... we need to make sure we remember those mother's in prayer! Don't really know what that has to do with anything, but for all those parents out there, you chose to live our life on the burner whether knowingly or not, but your children will thank you for it someday! (FYI... to my parents, that I know for at least a year did some college and kids, and work!!! guys... Thank You :) ) Anywho, back to my original point...

I'm doing a power point presentation on burnout. and I'll tell you, as I was making the slides... something made me see burn-out in a totally new light, and not a good one! but one that hopefully will make me realize what I do to myself on a regular basis and hopefully... hopefully!!! with lots of prayer and practice... maybe someday I'll learn to keep myself off the stove so I don't get sucked towards the heat of the burner...
If you want a good website to learn about burn-out... this one was really good!

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/burnout_signs_symptoms.htm

Honestly... I gotta admit, I never really new the difference between burnout and stress... but hey, there's a chart! sweet deal! I like charts, and that one seriously resonated with me... I saw my life for what it was, burn-out. I thought I was just stressed, you know working lots, so much homework, trying to save the world one pizza crust at a time and all... but man, I was beyond stress! I was completely at the max!

Quick symptoms of Burnout
- Every day is a bad day
- Caring about your work or home life feels like a total waste of energy
- You're exhausted all the time
- The majority of your day is spent on tasks you find either mind-numbingly dull or overwhelming
- You feel like nothing you do makes a difference or is appreciated

Ok, so kinda sounds like Stress... just maybe exaggerated stress eh? Well this is the part I found interesting... I'm not going to go into excessive detail... check out the website, this next part... is from the chart, Stress vs Burnout... This is the Burnout side
- Characterized by disengagement
- Emotions are blunted
- Produces helplessness and hopelessness
- Loss of motivation, ideals, and hope
- Leads to detachment and depression
- Primary damage is emotional
- May make life seem not worth living
 Anyone think they're living in burnout? I won't lie, I think to an extent I live on the fine line between stress and burnout on any given day... But my last few weeks... total maxed out burnout! Detachment and Depression? yeah, Loss of motivation, Ideals and hope? yup, pretty much living to survive, forget about ideals and hope it's survival. Life seems not worth living? Well guys, I've got a God that always makes life worth living, without him, I can promise you I wouldn't be here to write this today. But  yeah, even I began to feel like there was no point.... If you guys live in Burnout, I'm praying a special prayer for you tonight, cause I know for a fact, it sucks. Big time.

Thankfully for me, one of my class requirements this semester was a solo, in the wilderness. 3 days just me. Thankfully this wasn't like my survival trip, this one I got a shelter!!! Took my hammock and oh my goodness it's wonderful! warmth? my sleeping bag and a blanket was all I need and I tell you I was quite enjoying myself. No food on this trip, the idea is fasting and praying. work things out and figure out how you personally are going to be a leader, and what you need to do to get there. My favourite (ok... I'll be honest it was a toss up between this one and my hammock... but God loves me anyways) item to bring on the trip, the Bible. if there was one thing I did not enjoy about my survival trip last year... boredom... 3 days, just me, and nothing but a knife and a wool blanket... pretty much just suntan and try to get through the time... count down the minutes as the sun moves across the sky... the best way to pass time... try and figure out what time it was ;) but this trip... if I got bored, well hey, lets read the bible! and what a joy it was. But 3 days with my bible in the wilderness to pray and sort things out in my life... was just what I needed! Learned so many things! but we'll save most of the lessons for another day...

For now, learning about the burnout and having time away to think things out, I've realized, we live in a society of burnout, detaching, depression, emotional damage, people don't understand emotions... No wonder people start to believe in survival of the fittest, we live in a society designed to help us survive, and only a few are able to truly thrive... One thing I've learned through my coursework, psych classes, social work classes, leadership and expedition classes... I have so many incredible dreams! dreams to work with youth at risk, to save the world with more than just a pizza, to be so incredibly busy saving people that by the time I'm through... I won't have time to really live... Sometimes I think we live to accomplish tasks, to be the best person, to see the most places, to do everything on our bucket list...

ok for me anyways, I can be very goal oriented, I need to have a mission, to accomplish a task. And when my life is over, I want to see something I can say I accomplished. To say these are the people in who's life I made a difference. but through all of that, I let things pile up... maybe if I can help 5 people today and 5 more tomorrow, get through these 3 books or see these 2 countries, I will feel like I've truly lived, I haven't missed the experiences I could gain. Well I've been reading Last Child In The Woods a book for my class... and in it the author made a really interesting point... We spend so much time trying to cross things off our bucket list, so that we can get a knowledge of everything we can possible learn about... we forget to take the time to really learn about any 1 thing... travel for instance, people spend money flying to as many countries as they can before they are 30, or before they retire, or before they die, but how many know the backyard where they grew up? For me, I spend so much time trying to make sure these 50 individuals are doing ok, that... do I really know how any 1 of them are doing??? Gamers... spend their time trying to beat all the levels, and play every game so they aren't left out.. but how many truly know the games they've just won???

Once upon a time it was a thrilling experience to travel to a new town, a new state/province... But they really knew the land, they knew where their food came from, what to do in an emergency and how to work with what they have. How many of us could say we know where our food comes from... or what is even in the food we eat? We have a general knowledge of everything, but we don't have the basic knowledge of anything...

In all this living on the surface of life... I think we've begun to experience burnout more than ever before. We miss the value, we lose motivation in life. Because we don't know what it's truly about. We've made it about accomplishing tasks, knowing as much as we can in the time we have. But we've lost the community, the purpose, we've lost the simple joy of living.

I'm definitely not saying we should give up travel and go plant a garden. Honestly... that would be awesome. Personally, I'm going to Mongolia in a few weeks... wow guys... that came up fast... anyways... Traveling to new and exciting places, doing fantastic things... that's a privilege we get by living in today. Don't throw away the comforts just because you can. Take advantage of it! Let the spirit of adventure keep you exploring! But DON'T let it take away the purpose of life. Don't let it burn you out. Cause you won't ever be able to truly enjoy life if your constantly disengaging and detaching from it. God gave us so many comforts, and blessings in this life. But use those experiences, the blessings that He gives us to add to our life not our knowledge, Take time to start learning the basics of life. Get rid of the clutter that just sits there adding up to a full but surfaced life. Take a dive into the joys He's given us. Cause guys, when everything's gone and it's just God's love and His word... It's so much fuller and so incredibly rich that it's hard not to know when you've truly lived.

Keep living,
Keep loving,
Trust God Always,
Clear the space between Him and You
And get ready for a life beyond this one, one where you can spend millions of years getting to know your backyard, exploring the neighbourhood, adventuring to far distant places, and never stop experiencing, but always building a deeper understanding. Cause guys, when you die and come to heaven... Who cares if you've seen the Eiffel tower, your going to see God's towers, His Planets! Live the life you have now, but remember, The only thing that's going to matter, is the depth of life you've experienced here and spiritual journey you've travelled. When you get to heaven, that's when the real learning begins.

God Bless!
(My apologies apparently I had a lot of time to think over the weekend and I haven't transitioned into the short and quick lifestyle yet oops...)