Life Update 2020

Guess what! It's a new year and a new month. I know some of you may be wondering what I was up to these last few months. Well, I haven't been attending college because I am saving money to pay off my current loans before I return. College is expensive, if you know what I mean.
Instead of attending college, I have been busy in other ways. Most of my time is filled with working. But in my free time, I have been reading, knitting, and working on Christmas presents. Trying to fill my time so I don't miss my friends too much, many of whom are abroad, but some are still at college. I also try to keep up with everyone who is far away.
On that note, I have a request to make. If you are in the USA, I love getting and writing letters. Handwritten notes would certainly be more desirable than all these loan payment letters I keep getting!
So please, send me a message with your address, if you would like me to send you a letter. If I know you, or if I would like to get to know you better, I will do so. Thank you for your support.
                       Sara

Things I was thankful for in 2019

This last year, I have been writing down one or two things I was thankful for each day. It puts a different perspective on life when you try to find at least one thing to be thankful for every day. Granted, I didn't always remember to do it, but it has still been helpful to me. I thought I would share some of the things I found to remember, and maybe this will encourage you to foster a spirit of thankfulness too.

• Generous coworkers
• Memories
• A break from working at the local grocery store.
• Having time to finish a knitting project before returning to school.
• For the Sabbath, a time of rest and time with friends.
• Safe travels back to school.
• That I recovered quickly from a sickness.
• Being in choir with all my friends.
• Finishing homework quickly.
• Hiking a mountain and seeing the sun on a cloudy day. Singing around the piano with friends.
• Prayer group, always lifting me up when I need it.
• Only one class, my favorite one, choir. Week of Worship blessings.
• Bible study group on Jacob. Such a blessing to experience with my friends. 
• Feeling apart of a community.
• My friends. Trying to never take them for granted.
• A relaxing time with a good friend.
• A performance gone well.
• A wonderful drama production that reminds me of life and its complexity.
• My small group taking care of me when I'm sick.
• A great vespers program reminding us of service and all the different ways to serve.
• Thankful for a day of singing, a game with friends, my sister's birthday.
• Praise for a friend being able to attend school.
• Thankful for the joy Jesus gives us! And all the beauty around us. A day to think about God.
• Spending time with friends on their birthdays, bonding over games, writing on my blog.
• My blog, and the community that enjoys and is blessed by my writing.
• For all those who give me writing content for my blog,
• To live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
• Singing at vespers with friends.
• For days where adventures happen. 
• Lazy days.
• Thankful for a reminder that everyone is beautiful in their own way and the importance of confidence.
• For a long weekend.
• Thankful for a shopping excursion with friends.
• For organic conversations with my Bible study group.
• For some older friends meeting my newer friends.
• To be in a house with a friend.
• For thoughtful friends.
• For opportunities to fellowship with others.
• For conversations over Dutch Blitz. For relaxing drama breaks.
• To be at a wonderful school.
• For service opportunities.
• Thankful for singing and ministering to others.
• For sunny days and hot showers and naps.
• For days when plans change.
• For spring break.
• Time with friends and beautiful music.
• Talking to family, being with friends.
• GYC Northwest. A wonderful blessing. New friends. Cats. Seeing old friends. Choir opportunity. 
• Fresh beginnings.
• Birthday surprises for a friend. 
• My sisters.
• Celebrating my birthday 3 months early.
• The promise of heaven.
• For my mom.
• School banquet.
• Seeing some friends from Alaska.
• Choir tour. 
• Seeing a friend sing.
• Strawberry shortcake.
• Changing my major.
• Renew in the mountains.
• Summer. Time with my cousins and sisters.
• Singing with my family. 
• A picnic on the beach.
• My sister's birthday.
• Seeing an old teacher.
• Helping with a Vacation Bible School. Showing kids how loved they are. Seeing God's beautiful creation. 
• Working on sister relationship. 
• Enjoying my birthday. 
• Time with God.
• Celebrating my parents on their birthdays and anniversary.
• Having adventures. Time with family.
• Rain stopping the fires. 
• The chance to give. 

There is so much more I am thankful for, I am truly blessed. I try to remind myself of that each day. For now, I will let you think of ways you can remember how blessed you are.
                     Sara

These are a few of my favorite things

You asked me some questions about favorites, so I am answering them in this post.

• What is your favorite animal?

I like dogs and cats as pets. I also thibk dolphins are pretty cool. There's probably more but I can't remember them all right now.

• What is your favorite color?

Purple, but I also like several other colors, such as blue, green, yellow, and pink.

• What is your favorite constellation?

The big dipper is the one I've had the most exposure to and I think it's pretty cool.

• What is your favorite flavor of spaghetti?

Spaghetti is spaghetti... I like the kind with tomato sauce, Parmesan cheese, olives, mushrooms, etc.

• What is your favorite thing to do outside?

So many things!!! Get exercise, in several different ways...
Read, be with my friends, just hanging out.

• What is your favorite scripture, and why?

Wow, this is hard to choose. But one of my favorite verses is 1 John 1:9. It says "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

• What's your favorite thing about Jesus?

There are so many things, but I just love that He is so loving, He is pure love and that is so comforting to me.

How to be "strong enough" --- Accept that you are weak

    The important thing is to remember, first and foremost, that His strength is perfect. God is the only one who can hold us up and make us strong when we are weak. We need to be able to accept our weakness, but we can only do that when we know we are securely held in a loving embrace.
 
Once we know that we are loved, then we can stand strong and lift each others up also. As a society we are so focused on how strong we can be, but the reality is that we are weak. We can't do it all alone. We need God and we need people. Sometimes, it might look like we are strong, able to do it alone, but it is a lie. When we are prideful, that is when we fall. We need to always lean on Jesus to be our strength.

One of my favorite songs says "His strength is perfect when our strength is gone. He'll carry us when we can't carry on. Through His power, the weak become strong. His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect."

Please, always remember that it's okay to ask for help. It's okay not to be strong enough.

Love, Sara

Love your neighbor as yourself

Sorry that it has been so long since I last wrote. I have been busy, I know that is no excuse, I just haven't made time to write. But I need to write, and I need this community. I have been dealing with a lot of stuff and it isn't right to keep it inside. I feel better when I write. So here I am again.

I wanted to share something about loving others. This isn't easy to do, it requires self-sacrifice and perhaps heartbreak. It's true, people can be mean. I have experienced it. When I was 18 I wrote this:

"Right now I'm dealing with a lot of emotions..excitement that our Christmas program went well, and that I get to go home in a week, yet wanting to do well on all my tests..and then there's the nostalgia of knowing you're halfway through your last year of high school...and besides that, a little girl I had grown very fond of is moving, and I just found out today was her last day, so when I go to school next week, and after break, she won't be there anymore :(needless to say, I'm dealing with a lot of emotion and stress, and it's not pleasant! But something I've gathered from this, at least for me..there is no way I can ever replace the love I have for this little one...but I would rather love than close up my heart and refuse to have friends. I've been hurt many times, leaving friends or them leaving me, whether on purpose or not, but my life has been richer for allowing myself to love. I wouldn't give up those experiences for the world, even though I miss them terribly! It's better to love and be broken, than never to have loved at all.."

This isn't the only experience I have had. I have had to deal with people who weren't always there for me, who sometimes said one thing and did another. It is difficult sometimes, but it can be done, especially with God to support you even when you feel alone. But my life has been richer because I have loved. Those who don't allow themselves to love, are empty inside, and they are not really living. We were created to love and be loved. 

Something we should ask ourselves, is how are we loving others. It's easy to love those who love you. Not so easy to love those who don't. But everyone on this earth is your brother or sister. It's like the song Brother by The Brilliance. Sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zone in order to be blessed, and in order to do what God asks us to do. Sometimes we need to be uncomfortable in order to see the greater picture. 

Who is God asking you to love? Go do it and be blessed! Your life will be changed, and you will change someone else's life. So get out in the field and change lives! Go love your neighbor, your brother, your sister, or even your enemy, as yourself. 


If God is for us, who can be against us?