The Best of 2014

Last year around this time I gave you a post of my top TV, books, movies, music, etc of 2013. So I thought why not do the same for 2014. So here we go! Keep in mind these are my personal favorites and are based on my own opinion ;)

                             TV
     With its reemergence in November to Netflix, I have to pick:

#1 Gilmore Girls!

                                  #2 Arrow
                           (if not just for its mid-season finale!)

and since I have Arrow on here I definitely have to include my favorite leading man this year, Mr. Grant Gustin in...
                                    #3 The Flash

#4 HTGAWM

possibly Shonda Rimes greatest creation!

                        and my favorite comedy of the year goes to...
                                #5 Cristela

MOVIE

I saw a lot of movies this year, but four stick out in my mind

#1 Guardians of the Galaxy

I AM GROOT!

#2 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

#3 The Maze Runner

with my hubby Dylan O'Brien ;)

  and last but not least

#4 The Fault in Our Stars

BOOKS

Now for books, it was much harder to choose. If you read my New Years Post in January you know that I made it a goal to read 50 books this year. Now, spoiler, I did not make that goal. However, I have read 28 books and that makes the task of narrowing down my favorites pretty hard. So here it goes:

#1 Under the Never Sky and Through the Ever Night

I am addicted to these books and NEED to read the next one!

#2 Unravel Me

I love Shatter Me, but this one takes the cake! I love Warner!

#3 TFIOS

                             

                     
               

#4 Killing Jesus

#5 City of Heavenly Fire

#6 The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

#7 Anthem

This was a reread, but I still loved it nonetheless 

 Music

#1 1989 by Taylor Swift

This whole album is amazing!

#2 Greater by MercyMe

#3 Fix My Eyes by For King & Country

#4 Jealous by Nick Jonas

#5 Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars

Let me know your favorites!

In a Perfect World...

Is it God's will?

This is a question that has been on my mind A LOT lately. What is God's will for my life? Is what I am pursuing His plan or mine? How do I tell the difference? Amazingly with this question on my mind, the past week's discussions with friends, mentors, and bible study groups have centered on this idea. It's amazing what God will put in front of you when you just ask.

So, with this burning question in my head, I thought I would take the time to jot down a few of my ideas on the subject and a few of my friend's ideas. There is no reason to take this post as the truth. I have been reading through some scripture and these are the conclusions I have come to. I only hope they can help you in some way. Also, note that this post is not the full extant of my thoughts on the subject. I could give you a post for just about each point I make and if you are interested in seeing that in the future, then let me know.

When it comes to God's plan for your life it is really easy to enter into freak out mode. The future is a scary mess of the unknown and when you plug in the idea of God and "achieving" Heaven then you can almost have a full on heart attack with all the worry you have stored up.

Now, before I get into what I think His will is for me or us, I first want to define what I mean by His will. I think we can all agree that our purpose in this world is to spread the Gospel (good news) of Jesus and all He has and will do for us. 

Mark 16:15-16, "And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

However it is hard to determine specifically what you are "supposed" to be doing for God, While, I have no answer yet, I do believe there are a few certain aspects you can look at to help you decide.

#1. Read His Word

I Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  Wow! How simple! God has plainly stated here what His will is for us. Get deep in God's word and you will find verses just like this one with God's will stated plainly for us.

#2. Recognize your Special Gift in God

I Corinthians 12: 4-11 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

 We all have a special gift that God has empowered us with. We are to search and figure out what that gift is and use it to glorify God. Figure out what you are gifted at and learn how you can use that to glorify God and further His kingdom.

 #3. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

Christianity is not popular. Christianity is not easy. Did Jesus seek out those who were Christian and doing the "right" thing? No. Who was Jesus' audience? The sinners. And likewise, these are the people to who we are to be ministering. God did not call us to sit comfortably in our church pew and worship Him only on Sunday. We are to STEP OUT for Him. 

#4. Stop Worrying and Pray

Don't worry, be happy. It's such  a simple statement, but probably the hardest to put into practice. I worry so much about my future, but I have come to realize that once I give it to God, then that worry vanishes. I pray to Him and I know that He has me in His hands and will always take care of me. 

#5. Be a DOER!

Now all that needs to be done is to DO! Go out and be the hands and feet of Jesus! Take you talents and use them to His glory. Get involved. Whether it be with a charity, within the church, school, etc. Just Do It! 

 James 1:22-25 puts it best, " But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing."

Living out the Gospel

On Tuesday night, Landmark Campus Ministry (LCM) took a trip to Auburn to worship with the Auburn Christian Students at their PB&J Devotional. The idea here was to forgo eating out, eat the Pb&j sandwich, and donate the money you would have used on dinner to their fund that helps two orphans they sponsor in Kenya. At first, I wasn't sure if I should go because I had a major Hebrew quiz to study for, but how glad I am that I did! 

*As a side note, this blog is mostly coming from notes and thoughts I jotted down while listening so I apologize if it seems a little disorderly.*

The group had been studying Galatians and the speaker, Micah was starting in chapter 2:11-21. His topic was Living out the Gospel.

11 But when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" 15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

The Gospel is not only the good news that we preach to others. The Gospel is something that impacts our lives and something we strive to live out daily. Micah began by giving us a few quotes from a fellow brother in Christ and leader that had the mindset that blacks and whites should not greet and acknowledge each other in church and so forth. He also mentioned a few other churches in this day and age that would not marry an interracial couple or even a black couple because of the controversy it may cause within the church. Micah mentioned that this mindset was foreign to Paul as is evident in Galatians 2. Micah spoke on these divisions and others that occur within the church and said that Paul makes these divisions a Gospel issue. 

In Galatians 2, Paul confronts Peter because he is not living out the Gospel. Peter is shown eating with the Gentiles, who have not been circumcised as according to the law, but when those who came from Jerusalem who did not believe the Gentiles were right, Peter began to withdraw from his feasting with them. He withdrew because of fear. By eating with them he was showing that God accepted these people even those who have not obeyed the law. Why was he afraid?, Micah asked. Well, we can only speculate, but maybe he was fearful of what it would do to his reputation with the Jews, maybe he had a fear of losing his influence, and maybe he was concerned about how he could convert Jews when he was sitting with the Gentiles. 

Peter has not changed his beliefs in this moment (he believes the Gentiles are accepted), but he changes his actions which makes him a hypocrite and that is exactly what Paul calls him. 

We are justified by God. Justified means how we become acceptable to God. Paul points that obeying the law is not acceptable enough to justify you. Trust and faith in Him justifies you. Jesus was obedient to God and through faith in Christ we are justified. We should accept people on the basis of God accepting them. What does your life communicate about the Gospel? You are accepted because Jesus did all the right things and you trust in Him. This is all that Paul said in response to Peter in Antioch. He does not give us the end of the story because maybe the people did not all agree with him. 

You can't just know the Gospel, You have to live it out! Romans 15:7, "Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God." 

In practice how does the Gospel affect who you accept as friends as brothers and sisters in Christ. Is your life communicating I accept people just as Christ accepts them. Do you hang out with those who are the same as you? If you took away the Christianity in your friend group, would you still have things in common socioeconomically, ethnically, and racially? It should not be this way. It should not be comfortable. Preferences, also, should not be a barrier. There should be forgiveness in your relationships as well. There is no time for grudges.

I found this lesson very interesting, especially since the past week it seems like church and my small groups and discussions with friends has centered around this very same topic. Even the very next day we had the discussion similar to this in Counsel (bible study group), where we discussed justice. Why do we treat people the way we do? Why is it so easy for me to look at myself and realize I am not perfect but look at someone else and blame their weaknesses on their selves and refuse to accept them just as Christ accepts them?  Matthew 5:38-48 instructs us how to treat others. How often do we read these verses and NOT carry them out? We seem to still carry out justice as society does. We put people in prison then refuse to help them reintegrate into society when their sentence is up. 

Is God's justice different than the world considers justice? YES! Isaiah 53:4-6 reads, 

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

  But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

  All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

Godly justice is this: The crime was punished and it is the intercessory nature of Christ; he takes on our punishment. We, as a society, have a miscarriage of justice. In I Peter 2:21-24, He trusted God to crucify him and to meet out justice. His mercy goes hand in hand with justice. Sometimes justice is as much about withholding as it is about punishing. For people to respect our beliefs we need to have Godly justice. This is where the recidivism of prisoners comes in as an example. We have one of the worst rates of recidivism in the world. We do not help them or accept them as Christ accepts them and do not help them to reenter into society. We are all sinners and Jesus’ blood was shed for EVERYONE.

EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. IN. THIS. WORLD.

Jesus broke the laws of temporality on the cross, our sins were put on Him, and time cannot have mattered at that moment. When you sin that price has already been paid if you atone for it. We are so quick to use our faith as a tool against people. Why is it our nature to act with retaliation?

Galatians 5:2-6 says, "Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love."

We cannot keep the law perfectly and you cannot treat people like they can keep it perfectly as well. Why can't we live our lives in such a way that is fundamentally different it is noticed and people see that we are not like them and they want to be like us because of the way we live our lives? We need to give them the same redemption we want for ourselves.                   

Paleo: Day 1

So today begins the journey of something I thought I would never do: the Paleo diet. If you are unaware of what this is then you have been living under a rock. I am only joking, but seriously where have you been? When you think of Paleo, or at least when I think of it, I think of the paleolithic era, and that's exactly where this diet gets its structure. Basically if a caveman could not eat it, neither can you! Which, turns out, the cavemen actually ate a variety of food. As the website NerdFitness states the Homo Sapien back then was much more athletic, tall, muscular, agile, and versatile than the average Homo Sapien today and our genetics have not changed much since then. As stated, this diet allows for you to eat just about anything you want.

So what does this mean? Well, it means no grains, no sugars, and no processed foods. Pretty simple if you ask me. What is allowed in this diet? meat and fowl (grass fed), fish, eggs, vegetables, oils (natural ones), nuts, and tubers (sweet potato, etc.).

Now, why have I decided to take on this diet? Well, I am fairly happy with the way I look. Of course, like any woman I have my insecurities and would not mind losing a few pounds. However, the main reason I am doing this is for my health. My family has a long history of diabetes and heart problems among many other things. My mom died from a heart attack and my grandmother and grandfather had similar problems. Even I as a young 23 year old woman have begun to show signs of sugar problems. So, I thought it was about time I took charge of my life and did what I could to prolong it. I want to live the longest, healthiest life I can so that I can serve God to my fullest potential and find and help lost souls hopefully get to Heaven. I want to follow I Corinthians 10:31 (ESV):

 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

I believe as well that there are many verses that support healthy eating and as I Corinthians 9:19-20 says my body is a temple of God and I was bought with a price and I should glorify Him with my body. 

Of course, that is not to say that I cannot indulge every now and then. As well, you will notice in the following blogs I am not following the Paleo diet fully. I know my body and my self-control and if I went cold turkey then I would soon fail at this lifestyle. So, I will be eating oatmeal in the morning some days and maybe a few other items here and there.

I wanted to blog this experience more for myself than anything so that I can keep myself on track and that I have a goal to set each day or week. I also hope that maybe this can show some people that it is not that hard or inspire someone to change a bad habit they may have. I am not sure how consistently I will be blogging, but I do want to catalog as many of my meals as I can. So, here it goes:

Paleo: Day 1

Breakfast: Overnight Oatmeal with cinnamon and dried tropical fruit and raisins
             What you need:
            - 1 cup oats
            - 1 cup almond milk
            -dried fruit
            -raisins
            -cinnamon to taste
Take your oats, milk (or water), and cinnamon and mix together in bowl. Put half of the mixture in Tupperware or mason jar. Sprinkle the dried fruit and raisins over the mixture. Repeat and layer as such. Keep in the fridge overnight for a yummy breakfast in the morning.

Lunch: Spinach salad with raisins, almonds, raspberries, and olive oil
            What you need:
           -1/2 cup spinach
           -almonds slivers
           - raspberries
           -raisins
           -olive oil to taste
Mix the spinach, almonds, raspberries, and raisins together in bowl. Drizzle with olive oil.



Dinner: Chicken with broccoli and eggplant fries
             What you need:
             - 1 boneless skinless harvest fed chicken
             - Handful of broccoli
             -eggplant
             -coconut oil
             -olive oil
             -salt
             -pepper
Cut your chicken into small pieces. Place in skillet with coconut oil. Brown the chicken, the add in broccoli. Salt to taste. Saute until broccoli is clear and tender. 

Cut the eggplant into medallions then cut into strips. Place on cooking sheet. Cover in olive and salt and pepper. Put in the over for about 20-25 minutes.

Drink: Water with white cherry flavor packet

The Beginning...

As of two Mondays ago, I have begun a new journey in my life. I am now a part time tour guide at the Rosa Parks Museum and Library and I am already loving every minute of it. I am so thrilled to have a job relating to my history degree. I feel so fortunate because a lot of times this does not happen. Statistically most graduates do not end up in a job within the degree they obtained. I was so worried for a while there that I would not find a job. I thought I would be babysitting forever. Once I decided to put it in God's hand and to stop my worrying then it seems everything fell into place.

I have been on the job now for two weeks. The first week I shadowed my coworkers and took notes on the tour. This week I began introducing people to the museum by giving the introduction in our orientation room. I am hoping by next week I will be able to give the full tour. I am nervous about it, but I am used to the nerves. As a docent at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, it took me a few times before I was fully comfortable speaking and knew what I wanted to say. I just hope I can do the story of the boycott justice. I hope that at least one person comes out of my tour learning something they did not know before.

One thing that is really exciting about this job is the book perks. My first week here I was given Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks and this week I am reading The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It by Jo Ann Robinson. I love that I am getting to read these books. They are so informative and interesting. Also, I love the first hand account of it. It so nice to read about history from someone who actually experienced it. It is so much better than a bland textbook. I am learning so many things I did not know before.

What is equally interesting about this museum is all the visitors we get. There are at least a 100 a day on average I would wager and they are from all over the world. Just this week there was a couple from Denmark. We also get a few boycotters on occasion and many people who were alive in the 1950s and have their own experiences and stories of segregation. I even asked my dad and uncle about it recently when I realized they would have been young boys during the Civil Rights Movement. They were young and lived in small towns so they did not have much experience with segregation. However, dad did remember that African Americans were not allowed into the school he attended until he was in the fifth grade. Both my uncle and father also remember crosses being burned in people's yards. My dad also told me a story that my mom had told him. She said she had a black friend when she was little but had to tell him they could not be boyfriend and girlfriend because her parents would not allow it.

I love learning and I think a museum is the perfect place for me right now. I never wanted to be a teacher but as a guide I really enjoy teaching others in a short period of time and seeing that light go off in someone's eyes. It really is a wonderful feeling.

Let's Talk About Obsessions (LTA Blog Series #3)

So with my undergraduate career over and my first few months in the "real world" coming to an end, I thought I would spend my time writing a blog post about some of my favorite things or as I like to call them, my obsessions. Now, before we begin, let's just all go ahead and admit it, we have an obsession or two or.....twenty. Whether they be a guilty pleasure or something that most people love we all have an obsession with or about something. However, I may have a little more than the average twenty three year old woman should. I mean I'm pretty sure, and some of my friends will attest to this, I am a 23 year old stuck in a 16 year old fangirl's body and I am not ashamed! I have obsessions in just about any category you can dream up, from food to clothes to TV to accents and on and on and on. So, without further ado, let's get down to business ( to defeat the Huns!). Oh, come on, you knew where that was going. Also, disclaimer before we begin, this post is not something written to enhance my life or yours. It is not written to give you any advice or show that I am changing my habits. I realize that some of these obsessions may be unhealthy, but for now I have them under control :) and I am satisfied.

Obsession Number 1: CHOCOLATE!!

Chocolate is my first love. I'm pretty sure I came out of the womb loving chocolate. My mom would always tell me that when she was pregnant with me she hardly ate because she was sick all the time. However, the main craving she had was chocolate. Skip to my childhood and the fact that I was such a picky eater but also a chocoholic I think we can safely say my love of chocolate began before I was even born. Chocolate is the one thing that I refuse to cut out of any diet I begin (and of course eventually end). It is my one companion when I have any feelings of any kind. Ok, now I'm feeling like that table in Mean Girls for the girls who eat their feelings. Oh well! So, yeah, chocolate, it's good and you should have some.

Obsession Number 2: TELEVISION!!!

Ok, so most people might think they have an obsession with TV and they would be wrong. These people think its bad that they have five or six shows they watch. To me, that is a healthy relationship with television. If you want to know what obsession really is then look no further. Between summer and fall, I watch about 70 shows and that is not an exaggeration. The last time I counted it was 64 and I have added shows to my schedule since then. I have an average of twenty shows per week/season that I watch. I spend twenty hours or more out of the week with my eyes glued to the screen. I mean if that isn't obsession I don't know what is. This doesn't even include the shows I watch on Netflix or Amazon Prime. 

Obsession Number 3: MY IPAD!!
To add fuel to the fire of my TV obsession, I own an iPad and boy is that trouble. Not only do I have a readily available source for my shows, but I also have easy access to all my social media. I take it with me wherever I go. I hate for it to be below 30% battery life and I am always charging it. I hate when I don't have it with me. It feels like an extension of me most days.

Obsession Number 4: THE FAULT IN OUR STARS!!
I am utterly obsessed with anything and everything TFIOS. My friend Andrew and I are up to date on everything that is happening involving the new paperback covers, new trailers, meet ups, and screenings of the movie. I am officially in love with Ansel Elgort even though I have yet to see the movie. I want to reread the book over and over and over again. I watch and read anything that has to do with this book and movie. I especially watch the trailer over and over and my reaction is just as excited and emotional as the first time I watched. I mean I have probably watched it over 50 times now. 

Obsession Number 5: TRAVELING!!

I have a bad case of the can't sit stills. I always want to be on the go. In my short years on earth, I would say I've done a fair amount of traveling. I have been to Haiti (for a mission trip) and Greece (school trip) and my heart is torn between the two. I have a passion for the orphans in Haiti and I have a passion for the archaeology in Greece. Yet, I have yet to explore all the places I want to see. Mostly I've done a bunch of road tripping and concert seeing. What I really want to do though is travel overseas. I have this undeniable urge to see the world and most importantly to see the world with as few posessions as possible. I am what you might call a vagabond, a dreamer. My aspiration is to pay of all my debts, save a little, fly to Europe with only a backpack in tow, and travel until I cannot travel anymore. My goal is to travel to all 7 continents.