Anchors and Rocks.....

O.K., so I found this poem online by Mike Shaw.  It's titled "Anchors and Rocks."

Anchors And Rocks
Keep you safe
Keep you secure
Stop you drifting with the tide
And let you come home
Anchors and rocks
More precious
Than any other stone or metal.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah" (Psalm 46:1-3)
 Rocks and Anchors move some, but not very much. What if we were to substitute Jesus in for the anchor, and our mentors for the rocks?  My anchor, Jesus, is the best part of my life. I wake up ready to start the day with Him. But as time goes by, I tend to slip away and get stressed out about finding something or get worried about something and go panicky. That's when I run, away from everything and run home to Jesus. I don't take running lightly either, I AM NOT a runner. I run alot, but something I think about is running to Jesus. Jesus is going to let you come home to Him.
On to the rocks, my rock is my mentors. These people include, my parents, my teachers, my small group leaders, my best christian friends, etc. The people I can trust with everything. I have a REALLY hard time focusing on school at the end of the year and these are the people that I can count on to help me through my trouble in studying.
Precious metals are the people that I watch, but don't really want to follow their example. I'm not one of those crazy middle-school girls who smears makeup on a chases everybody, has a really loud voice(although I really project decently....!!!) I don't participate in every middle-school gathering, I have my best friends and then my friends who aren't really there very often. I generally am a quiet person around people I don't really know.
How many of us really worry about something and can not let it go with out finishing it fully? TOTALLY ME! If I have something due this thursday, and can not find it. I will get SUPER STRESSED OUT! I can only run to god and say, "This is what is going on. Can you help me?"
Recently I read about the word selah. Most scholars think it means to pause. I think it means that this thing that the guy just said was really important. God apparently wants us to understand that he is our refuge and strength in times of trouble.

I'm going to God, I'm running to God, for He is my Anchor.

A letter to y'all from a person struggling with the same issues.

Our God is not dead. Nothing you say or do can separate you from his love. Isn't that amazing? That there is a god who loves you so much that he sent his son to die so that you can be free. I am NEW. God has made me perfect and blameless and it doesn't matter what the world  tells me, because I am blameless and perfect in his sight. Isn't that amazing?

What the world might tell me:
You are not good enough.
You will not ever suceede in life.
You will never look good enough.
You are a failure.
You will never be the right person.
You will never be thin enough.
You willl never look like those people on the TV. 

My mom recently sent me an email that had a letter from God in it and I want y'all who read this and have stuck with me this far to read this slowly and think about it.
Date: FOREVER


Dear___________________________,


When you think you are ugly, I know you are beautiful.
The days you feel like you are not measuring up, you are exceeding my expectations.
Just when you think you haven't done enough, I step in and do the rest.
Where you find the end of the rope, that is exactly where I will be.
You are never alone, I am always near.
When your faith in people leaves, I will be there to hold to.
Occasionally you will walk/run away, I will be waiting to see you again.
When you wish for so much more, I am there to give it to you.
When you don't know what else to say, I am there to speak;
Hopefully at that time you will listen.
When you are weak, I am strong.
Some storms will come calling, but I am in charge of those too.  
When the road seems long, I have a map.
Sometimes the plan will seem to not exist, but I hold it right here in my hands.
The world will tell you that you don't measure up, except I know they are wrong. 
When hope is lost, I will remind you I AM. 



I love you only for who you are-- everyday.


Love, 
God

Doesn't that just strike a hole in you? Doesn't that help to fill that part in you that says , I will never___________. 

One of my favorite songs is: White Flag. We need to be ignoring what the world tells us and surrender our lifes to God. I'm not the only one who struggles with this. Today's a new day. Let's life gloriously trusting in God!

Hannah

 

I am so sorry!

Just ignore the subscripts. I haven't been on here in forever, but I've been working on a research paper. It took me a long time and I'm not ever sure if it's good enough right now. Ohhhwell, I've already turned it in.

Relating the past few days in a post. PART 1

Friday:

I was turning 13 @ 6:04 on Sunday.  I've already had all the sugar I can eat for a VERY long time. I had a party with my friends on Friday night and we had a HUGE turnout. Almost everyone I invited came. We had at least 9 middle school girls, and for a Friday night, right after school: that was AMAZING! I thought that my party was over, all we had left was a small family party on Sunday night.  Boy...was I wrong!

Saturday:
It was clean the house day. :-( not that don't mind cleaning a little. But this was OVER THE TOP MAJOR CLEANING! I don't think the house has been this clean since we got the place since I was 3.  I was kind of mad because my sisters kept copying everything that I was doing. I wanted to watch TV, so did they. I was sitting in a chair, got up to get some water and when I came back, it had been taken. I was reading an important school book and set it down, for a thinking break. My sister took it and started shaking it. At this point I was frustrated with her. I no longer had enough patience to wait one more second. I went and I told dad, pouring out all of my frustration. Maybe it was all an accident, but to me it just seemed plain rude. We had a talk together and removed some of the trouble inside of our selves. I was no longer mad, but I was needing some attention from God.
That night I got out my bible. I had not had a bible time in so long I was beginning to feel the need to start it back up again.  I had gotten a new journal and had decided to use it for my bible study. When I opened it, I found that there was a bible verse on each page. Saturday's was: Deuteronomy 33:27

 
²⁷ “The eternal God is a dwelling place,
And underneath are the everlasting arms;
And He drove out the enemy from before you,
And said, ‘Destroy!’

That hit home. It didn't matter what I was studying that night.  Then I started thinking about a story I had either read or heard recently. I am not sure where!

There was a man and God and they were looking over the man's life together. His life in heaven was like a beach with some small rocks and some massive boulders. He was reviewing his life and everything he had said and done with God. Imagine that relationship! as they were walking along the beach they came to the boulder and the man saw only one footprint going across it. He didn't say anything about it though, and continued walking. The same thing happened on the next big boulders. He asked God at the end of the tour, "Why are there only one set of footprints on the boulders? You said you would be with me always. How come I'm alone in that part of my life?" God replied, "My son, you were not alone for I am with you always, I picked you up and carried you through that part of your life. "

That really connected to the verse for me. Don't get all scientific and say, you can't leave footprints on boulders. That's NOT the point of the story. The point is that God will never leave you or forsake you. He is with you always and though he might carry you through with his everlasting arms. He is STILL there.

-Hannah