Bake Sale!

Hello again everyone!! First, I want to say thank you all SO much for praying for me... I have been feeling much better! Hopefully it will last.

And I wanted to tell you about my bake sale! It went AMAZINGLY well. The Lord brought in a lot of money for the orphanage - people were so generous! And, it was super fun baking everything. And since my awesome friend Sarah took lots of pictures, I thought I'd share some of them with you. :)

This is Sarah and I at the beginning of the day, excited and ready to go!

Mixing lots of things up :)

Cupcakes! :D

Silly grin! I looked so horrible :P

Mmm... rocky road cupcakes and Oreo cupcakes all finished!

Triple Chocolate cookies... sooo good!

Are they done yet?!

This batch was a total FLOP! But surprisingly, they sold pretty well.

They tasted like rocks!! Very tasty rocks, of course ;)

Marshmallow pops! So cute and yummy :)

My beautiful bouquet :)

Cinnamon Swirl bread :)
(I know, it looks sunken in, but that's just because of the swirls)

The whole table of goodies... and that's not even all of them!

Another angle... mmm so tempting :)

It was such a wonderful, faith-building event! Perhaps sometime I will write about how awesome God was through it, but right now my brother wants the computer. So goodbye for now! :D

Ugh...

So, I just wanted to ask you all to pray for me. I have been very sick lately. I have no idea what's wrong with me, but I've been nauseous, my stomach hurts, and I get killer migraines. It's been going on for quite some time, and my doctor doesn't know what's wrong. Please pray. Thanks!

Alone?

*Sigh*

Lately I've been feeling pretty lonely and discouraged. Ever since my brother moved away I feel like I've lost a really close friend. And lately, I've been missing him a lot. Also, our family has been really busy lately, so we don't have as much time together. Sitting at the kitchen table - alone - has become a hobby of mine. I don't want to write on and on about melancholy details, but I just feel so alone.

But am I?

I know I am not. Even in the times when I feel so alone, I have a Savior, a Father, a Friend, and a Husband to be with and talk to. Sometimes I forget that. And when I do, I miss out on a wonderful joy and peace. He's waiting, eager to talk with me, to listen to me and comfort me, and to show me more of how marvelous He is.

So my challenge to myself - and anyone else who struggles with loneliness, as I know we all do sometimes - is to cry out to God. He will listen, comfort, help, and strengthen.

"Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." Psalm 62:8

"...casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

"This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life." Psalm 119:50

"My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him." Psalm 62:5

Spring is wonderful!

Oh. My. Word! It has been almost 3 months since I've posted! Well, I won't try to catch you up on all that's happened. I'll just tell you all what has been happening recently. :)

In about 3 weeks I will be done with school for the summer! WOOT! I can't wait. As of right now, I only have 3 subjects left - Spanish 2, Chemistry, and Algebra 2. Also, my spring piano recital is coming up in a few weeks. I'm totally loving school these days. Since I don't have as much to do, I am able to really focus my attention and effort on a few subjects, which I really enjoy. I've been spending my extra time cooking and baking up a storm - and I love every minute of it!

Some exciting news: I'm holding a bake sale at the end of this month, and giving the proceeds to an orphanage! I'm trying to raise $1,000 to send to Danita's Children, a wonderful Christian orphanage in Haiti. I've been working on it since about Christmas, but all of the other things have tried have fallen through. I'm SO excited that I am finally going to have an opportunity to do this!

I am SOOO glad that spring weather is here! Since it's been cold for so long, I am soaking up every bit of this warm weather! It's sunny, warm, and green! I am so thankful to the Lord for all of the blessings He has given and continues to give me. He is teaching me so much!

Hopefully soon I can upload some pictures to show you all what I've been up to lately. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

A Passionate Romance

"Love is here, love is now, love is pouring from His hands, from His brow. Love is near, it satisfies, streams of mercy flowing from His side." (Love is Here - Tenth Avenue North)

Wow, those lyrics are so true! In light of Valentine's Day, I thought it would be apropos to write a post about love.

All too often, we look for love from other people; girls are especially guilty of this. And, as Christians who are striving to remain pure for the person we will someday marry, it's easy to act like love is something that's in the future.

Love is not somewhere, someday. It's here; it's now. Jesus Christ is the only one who can satisfy us.

"Why are you looking for love? Why are you still searching, as if I'm not enough? To where will you go, child? Tell me, where will you run?" (By Your Side - Tenth Avenue North)

Jesus loves us. Yes, it's true! He loves you more than you can imagine. He gave up everything for you. Even though we are, by nature, God-hating, selfish, and wicked, God chose to love us and sacrifice everything for us. But His love has one condition. "But," you say, "I'm nothing, I'm a failure. I can't meet any conditions!"

Well, read on. His one condition is this: You must hope in Him. That's it! You must reject any other hope, any other pursuit of love, security, wealth, power, or anything else, and place all of your hope in Him. He is the only hope of salvation, love, and joy. If you cling to Him as the only way to save you from your sins, repenting of all of our sins, rejecting all that is contrary to His word, He will adopt you as His child. He will betroth you as His perfect bride. You will no longer be condemned, and sin will no long have any power over you.

And this isn't some distant, mystical love. Having a relationship with Him is a day by day, hour by hour, intimate romance. If we really believed He was our lover, how would our lives be different? We would daydream about Him. We would laugh with Him. We would talk about Him. We would tell Him everything, and listen with delight to everything He tells us. We would pour over His love letter to us, memorizing it, obsessing over it. We would be so much more joyful!

That's my challenge to you today. Treat Him as you would treat a lover.

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness(alone with Him!), and speak comfort to her. I will give her her vineyards from there(blessings/tokens of affection), and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt(Coming out of Egypt = Being freed from sin/salvation). And it shall be, in that day," Says the LORD, "That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’ for I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals (idols/sins), and they shall be remembered by their name no more... I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in loving-kindness and mercy;" (Hosea 3: 14-17, 19) (All of the words in parentheses were added by me, for clarification.)

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day, everyone! I pray that you will have an every growing, passionate romance with the Lord.