So... College (Part 2)

Well, since my "keeping up to date" was not successful I will sum up my first semester in college. :P First semester went well, ended with a 3.3 GPA earned with three A's, one B, and one C. Proud I must say! This semester I'm taking only four classes because I dropped my PE class. I'm taking Composition II, US History II, College Algebra (which I'm beasting), and Theatre Appreciation. Everything is going well so far, just need to work harder in my history class, as always. Spring break is in ONE week! Amazing. Trying to get smexy for my new swimsuit... hopefully that will turn out well and my whiteness won't blind everyone on the beach. This year has flown by so fast; I can't believe that my freshman year in college is almost over. We just got our midterm grades for spring semester... half way through and doing well.

So... College.

I am in my second week of college at Georgia Southwestern and so far everything is going pretty smoothly. Homework is starting to happen now instead of just sitting around doing nothing all day. Classes are going in full swing now and everyone is just doing the college life thing. Me, I am pretty much a recluse after I get my classes over with. Oh well though. I did go to the BCM Melon Fest last night. I must say it was pretty fun even if I was just a spectator of that fun. This weekend me and Lindsey (room mate) are going up to Atlanta to hang  out with Drew and then go to the Skillet/Creed concert Sunday night. Monday morning I will be regretting it, but it will be super fun. Can't wait!

So as far as college goes... I am taking a grand total of five classes. I am taking Music Appreciation, Intro to Sociology, Composition I, World Civilizations II, and The GSW Experience. I think the most challenging will be the world civ just because I am not good at history. Sociology will be good... I like and don't like the teacher. He is... crazy... but he will probably be one of my best teachers. My composition teacher is in my yoga class... yes I am taking yoga. I am majoring in English- Professional Writing and planning on minoring in Art.. maybe glassblowing or photography. I don't know which one yet.

I'll keep you up to date! :)

Extraordinary: chapters 1 & 2

So, first off I'm very glad that Kevin mentioned this book reading idea at the Atlanta Fest concert. I was super excited when I got the book after checking with several stores. (:

As I read these chapters I kept a pencil handy and underlined what really stood out to me...

Chapter 1
- "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him" 1 Corinthians 2:9
This verse really hit me and as I kept reading I understood just how much I could not fully comprehend.

- "Why? Because 'extraordinary' is how we were created to live. It was God's plan from the beginning."
This really shocked me... not that I didn't already know that God has already fully created a plan for our lives, but that His plan included our lives to be more than ordinary, that He CREATED us to be more than normal. But why haven't we taken advantage of this "extraordinary" gene that God placed in each one of us? It has been right there all along, but we just sit back and live ordinary... normal lives.

- "He is the One who breathed into us the desire for the extraordinary."
"God BREATHED into us"... just that right there is wonderful, but then to add "the desire for the extraordinary" just is the icing on top of the cake. He gave us this desire that we need to take complete advantage of in order to live the way He wants us to.

- "God brought the animals to Adam and gave him the responsibility of naming them....Not only did Adam have the creativity to name them all, but he also had the capacity to remember each one."
Sweet creativity. (: God is a creative God isn't He? He gave Adam the extraordinary creativity needed to create sooo many names for millions of animals, and Adam remembered them all? That is just crazy to me. I can't even imagine trying to name all of those animals, but to REMEMBER them? Goodness. 

Chapter 2
- "we can't do anything to make Him love us any less."
That is just straight up comforting to me. As many times as I completely mess up and make my own parents mad... His love for me doesn't change. (: Very good thing to remember.

- "Then the world will know that you [God the Father] sent me [Jesus Christ] and will understand that you love them as much as you love me" John 17:23
When Kevin said this verse at ATL fest, it really caught my attention. God loves me as much as He loves Jesus? Little ole me? Goodness. It really is hard to comprehend His love for us, but that surely does put it into a better perspective.

- "His love for you can never weaken or become obsolete."
As many times as we get hurt because we get told "I love you" but then people leave us or say they never really loved you... God's love NEVER weakens or goes away... NEVER. That is good news.

- "In God's eyes, Jesus' value is the same as yours!"
Ah, sweet love.

- The whole conversation that John Bevere had with God really was amazing to me. There were many great points made: "I hung on that cross, bearing your sins, sickness, disease, poverty, and judgment and finally died because I esteemed you better than Myself." His love is so great! To suffer all of that for the love of humankind... I can't even imagine the pain! Just to save us, such a huge price. I wish that I could have that clear type of conversation with God... hopefully one day.

- "He's the One who poured out the love of God in your heart when you gave your life to Jesus Christ"
I never really thought about that before... the Holy Spirit POURED the love of God into my heart? Pure crazyness.

- "He is the Spirit of Love, for God is love."
I love this... the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Love itself, and God is that love. (:

I really think this is the perfect timing for reading this book since I have a little over a month before I move off to my first year in college. Hopefully this book will prepare me to be extraordinary throughout college faith wise and academic wise. Thanks, Kevin, for sharing this with me. (:

P.S. sorry I wrote so much, I like to write... what can I say? (:

Extraordinary by John Bevere

So while I was attending the wonderful Atlanta Fest 2010, I got to see Disciple in concert which is one of the bands I saw at my first Atlanta Fest. They were great of course! The lead singer, Kevin Young, mentioned his idea for reading a book. He said that he was tired of just reading them by himself and wanted to try reading with a bunch of Disciple fans. Everyone gets to post their thoughts on the chapters on the Disciple boards. So I was super excited and finally bought the book after searching BAM, Lifeway, and Family Christian Bookstore. :) I encourage everyone to read this book. I have only read the first two chapters so far, but it is already great! It puts things out there loud and clear for you to understand... kinda like a slap in the face by God Himself. :)

So, not only am I posting on the Disciple boards, but I am also going to post my thoughts for each sets of chapters (2 per week) on here. Please read and tell me your thoughts too! Read the book! :)

hilliary.

School's Out Forever!

From spring break to now has been packed full of all sorts of things. It has only been about a month and a half, but what a month and a half it has been. From senior parties to writing graduation invitations and thank you notes, April and May have been crazy for sure. We have had so many senior parties throughout the month almost 2 a week it seemed. So many presents have started coming in too. Right now i still have 32 thank you notes to write. Its been hectic, thats for sure. Thursday was my last day of high school! It is so weird to think about. Yesterday we had the senior ride-around and the senior slide show. Both were a success. The ride around consisted of water balloons, baby powder, and silly string while the boys rode on little motorcycles and Steph's moped. Senior slide show was great and hilarious. We do have some crazy boys in our class thats for sure. Once next Friday passes I will be a high school graduate! No more Westwood for me! So over the next week I will be having graduation practices and cleaning the house like something crazy before everyone comes over on Friday. Woo Hoo!

Easter at Cocoa Beach

So this morning, after my long weekend of prom and then riding 6 whole hours to get to the beach, we got up super early to go to the sunrise service on the beach beside the Cocoa Beach Pier. It was awesome to be out there with so many people that made themselves get out of bed during their vacation just to celebrate Easter Sunday. There were probably 300 people gathered there this morning for the service to sing along in worship of God while the sun rose over the vast ocean. After the message and worship people gathered to be baptized in the ocean of Cocoa Beach with the sun just above the ocean. It was an amazing site to see, everyone gathered to be "dunked" in the ocean on Easter Sunday. It will definately be something that I never forget.

Love, Lies, and Deceit.

What is love exactly? Is it just those butterflies you get in your stomach when this guy talks to you for the first time after you have been crushing on him for the longest time? Is it caring for a person more than yourself? Is it taking care of that person when they are sick? Or is it dealing with getting hurt by them over and over again just so you can be with them? Love. Love leads to lies. Lies. Lies lead to deceit. Deceit. Deceit is what hurts the most, but it also makes that love stronger by working through it together. All of these are tied together like knots in a string. With one comes another no matter what. Love will always contain lies because without those lies there would be nothing to work on in the relationship. There would be no deceit. There would be no fights that would end with making up by showing that person just how much you love them and you would feel those butterflies deep down in your stomach again just like the first time. You would feel that tremendous love again just like when you first met your lover. This love grows and grows with each and every lie that is stitched into this web of love and life. All love has issues, this we cannot run away from. It follows us everywhere. With each failed relationship we learn something about ourselves and about love. We may get hurt, but that just makes us stronger so we will ultimately be able to be with your true love forever even through numerous fights and misunderstandings. We build ourselves up and create a strong foundation for a future marriage. So remember… when those relationships that you thought was the one failed, it is not the end of the world… it is the start of something new. It is the start of a new love to come. This is when you begin to love yourself.