adventures // england, ireland, and scotland.

this trip happened like. two years ago. but it's one of the most amazing ones i've ever been on. i got to meet three long time friends, see where part of my family is from... it was so incredible, and it just cemented the fact that i so desperately want to live in london when i get older. the city has this vibe that's... so hard to describe. it's not just alive... but it's just a beautiful mix of the old and the new and... okay. enough rambling. here's some ~kewl pix~

adventures // ATL (passion twenty-fifteen)

on the first day of the new year, i got on a flight and went to atlanta for passion twenty fifteen with two of my best friends.

here's the weekend through my eyes.
thank you, Jesus.


NIGHT ONE // Louie Giglio

"Tetelesti - It Is Finished." - Christ's last word was our first. We go to the end of His life to find the beginning of ours.
The system of religion is finished - we no longer need to earn/find our way to God, for HE HAS COME.
Before the crucifixion, the system of passover wasn't bad - it was God's system, and it wasn't designed to be our saviour. The system was designed to point us to Jesus. That every moment before His birth and death, we would be waiting. On the night Jesus died, the lamb for the passover was slain, and the Lamb of God was slain.
It is not "sin makes us bad people", it's "sin makes us DEAD people... we need life."
Satan is finished, but he's not done with us yet. Like snake fangs that hold venom long ager the snake dies, he is still dangerous. He has seen the end, and knows what's coming for him... and he's going to take as many down with him that he can.


DAY TWO // John Piper

Only Christians gather like this... so why do we do it?
We should not be a generation that functions soley on instinct - we do stuff "just cause". We need reasons. We are not mindless creatures. We preach, sing, preach sing.. why?
Christianity is the only religion that is created and sustained by news... and WE had nothing to do with it. 2,000 years, the Church has proven this news can't be merely taught or discussed... it must be heralded.
We encounter God's gift of the beauty of God in Jesus Christ.
Our biggest problem as humans is not that we are bent against God, but that we are BLIND to Him. Stubbornness creates this stupor around us that we can't see Him.
At the root, your conversion is a miracle of God's gift of spiritual sight.


DAY TWO  // Carl Lentz.

OCCUPY ALL STREETS.
I don't want to be caught up doing all the things.. and forget the point of why.
OCCUPY REVELATION - Who you are is not defined by what you do, but it IS defined by who Jesus is to you.
1. Occupy WIDE AWAKE.
- (there is probably more joy in this journey than you are currently seeing.)
- some Christians have never been fully awake because they're running around.
- M A R Y MENTALITY
2. Occupy WITH URGENCY.
- urgency doesn't make you weird... it makes you effective.
- God uses broken vessels to point towards HIM.
- remove "someday" and "almost" from your vocabulary.


NIGHT TWO // Ben Stuart.

• Let's learn how to struggle well.
• We are liberated TO struggle. 
• I will not revel in the things Jesus came to destroy. 
• The struggle is one of your greatest assurances that you're alive. 

NIGHT TWO // Francis Chan 

Meeting with God has turned into this normal, ordinary thing in our society. Our time with God is a "burden", something we fit in-between our instagram posts and our hot lattes. Americans would rather take a selfie with Moses than talk with our Creator. 

why don't we want to go up the mountain??

something is terribly wrong when we don't want to meet with Jesus. 

F I N D Y O U R M O U N T A I N T O P

DAY THREE // LG 

wake up to the WONDER of God. 

if we are still bogged down by our sin, we may be more system oriented than we realise. we can't keep thinking our alter sacrifices are needed.

even though "IT IS FINISHED".. the fight has just begun. 

Let us hold unswervingly to the faith we profess, for HE who promised is FAITHFUL. 

ten things // 11. january. 2015

alright, let's ease back into the blogging scene with a ten things. that sounds easy. kinda.

1. ooh last first day of high school was a thing that happened and i was left extremely emotionally unstable. on the last day of twenty-fourteen, i woke up to a text from one of my best friends saying "happy last day of the last year where we're not adults." so that's a thing.

2. i am almost at my one year anniversary of working at second which is i n s a n e. time has flown by so quickly yet also feels like i just started here. the opportunities that have arisen this year have been... stupid. like. so stupid good. i try and think about how it all happened, how everything magically orchestrated into place for me to wind up here, and the only thing that i can keep saying is.... God is good. so extremely good. and i am so thankful he uses us broken vessels to further HIS kingdom.

3. i...don't like coffee anymore? (thirteen year old me is having a mental breakdown right now). i mean. it's not like i hate it. i just used to be able to drink black coffee and lattes all the time... and now if i drink any hot beverage, it's usually tea. (i think it's stemmed from the fact that i can't have coffee on/days before i sing... which is all the time now. and my love for it has slowly dwindled away. how weird.) i will still (occasionally) drink a good vanilla soy latte... but that's about it. who have i become.

4. this semester has only been a thing for like... a week. not even. and it's already been the best semester i've had. i'm doing the readings for class... like, ahead of time??? what is this??? where is my normal, procrastinating self??? what happened??? i'm prepping for midterms (in mARCH)... nOW?? guys seriously what is happening to me.

5. the past few months has shown me i love the technical side of ministry. lighting, audio, media, etc. love it, and i'm super excited to be learning skills that will help me in the future... but my one true love is worship-leading. and i'm so glad i've realised that.

6. texas is cold. like genuinely cold. someone broke texas. we're actually having a.. proper ... winter? what? (shh, don't say it too loud, you'll scare it away.)

7. seventy-three days. wait, what? shh no. i didn't say that. nothing. (we'll get back to this eventually.)

8. passion 2015 was absolutely amazing. i am so glad i got to experience it with one of my best friends in the world. (also, COLDLANTA. missing you rn.)

9. this month has been filled with williamsburgers. like heck yes thank you. seeing as i haven't seen some of these people since may, my heart is happy.

10. i still have my christmas tree up and have no intentions on taking it down anytime soon. i can't be tamed.