What's going on in my world?

So here are some updates

I have been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. At first, I was awful. Like I mean I went and saw a psychiatrist awful. COMPLETELY depressed. Truly, I couldn't get much lower than that. But it's gotten much much better. I have the most amazing family in the entire world, incredible friends, and I have the sweetest boyfriend ever. =)
So here's the most important thing about Type 2: It's curable and preventable, so it's all going to be okay. If you had asked me 2 weeks ago what I thought about diabetes I would've broke down into hysterics. So believe me when I say I've done a complete 180 about it all. I lose some weight, exercise more, eat better, and the symptoms will go away. In just 2 or 3 weeks, I've lost 5 lbs. =D So I'm actually excited about it! Is that weird? Hahaha yeah. My mom is probably reading this right now and saying "Alright, fine. I'm printing this out and showing her what she wrote next time she freaks out on me." Lol I love you!!!
I'm going to be ok.  <3

I have a friend who isn't a Christian to my understanding. I had been inviting this person to church for over a year until one day I just gave up. We got into an argument and I used that as an excuse to "never speak to this person ever again" This argument was at the end of my 9th grade year. 10th grade rolls around, and I say hello in the hallways every now and then. Nothing major. Still friend on FaceBook, but no biggie.
Well this person starts posting some pretty scary things as his or her facebook statuses So I start to pray for the person. (From here on the person will be referred to as Hermin...I don't know anyone named Hermin.) For 2 or 3 weeks I prayed for Hermin. Still have no idea what's going on.
Now get this: Hermin calls me randomly on Monday evenning. Hermin asks me if he could catch a ride to our youth service next Wed. night! I am soooooooooooooooooooooo excited!!!!!! Prayer is amazing. mind-blowing amazing.

So it's been quite an adventure these past fewweeks! God has thrown me some curve balls I definitely was NOT expecting. Some are ones that were very very scary, and some of them were wonderful surprises! He's taken care of me and I know He will continue to do so! <3

Holy is the Lord, God Almighty! The Earth is filled with His glory...

I wrote this a while back, but for some reason I never posted it...
My youth minister once said in a Saturday Night sermon

"...Jesus knows our loneliness, our anxiety, our frustration, our weaknesses, and even our temptations. But the good news is that in Hebrews 4:15 it says "He did not sin" He's not just another Adam. He passed the test. Because of that, He is our savior and our redeemer. You say "What does matter if he can empathize with us? He didn't sin! What does it matter?!?" Here's why it matters: in verse 16 it says "LET US THEN APPROACH GOD'S THRONE OF GRACE WITH CONFIDENCE." With confidence. When we know that when we come to Jesus and say "I am weak and broken, and I am tempted to do these things I hate to do and it's overwhelming..." We don't have to be embarrassed when we stand before God. We can come to Him and say "You know. I'm not saying this to a God that's far removed. You know. You were weak like I am; you faced these same weaknesses and temptations. You know." So we can approach the throne of grace with our sin and things that make us feel shame about ourselves. With the things in our hearts that bring us down and hurt us to even think about! We can approach the throne of grace with confidence. Because we have a high priest who can empathsize with us. Who can say "I know your weakness, and it's OK" And what do we get when we approach the throne with confidence? Keep reading in verse 16. It says: approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may recieve mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need... Do you get this? So when we come to God with confidence and we say "I am weak. I am broken. I am messed up and I am hurting..." Jesus is saying "IT'S OKAY!" He doesn't ridicule you, he doesn't judge you, He doesn't point to you and say "I'm very dissapointed in you." It says we find mercy and grace in our time of need. Jesus said to the Pharisees once that "The healthy don't need a doctor. I came for the sick." Jesus isn't waiting for you to clean up your act. He isn't waiting for you to get a handle on your alcoholism. He isn't waiting for you to fix your marriage. He isn't waiting for you to be a better husband, dad, or brother. He isn't waiting for you to be employee of the month. Or to get out of debt. Or stop gambling. He isn't waiting for that..."

(emphasis added. =) I know I left quite a few words out, but that's most of it I believe...)

That's from time  "Humanities of Jesus" that you can get on iTunes if you want to hear the rest of it. That one is my absolute favorite. =D
I've been trying to solve SO many problems by myself. "Forget God...He wouldn't care! He has enough going on in the world without me adding to it." WHY do I think like that? Ugh!!!! I do it ALL the time!!! In the back of my head and in my heart I KNOW it isn't true but it's like Satan is just poking at me saying "Hey! Think like this because you aren't good enough..."
Without God we aren't "good enough." But this guy named Jesus, died for us. He knew we were sinners, but He lived this PERFECT life and then DIED for US! If we accept that, then God forgives us! He takes us in and He cleans us up because He loves us THAT MUCH!!!! He's by our side and he CARES and He LOVES us! I am overwhelmed by these thoughts of grace and mercy!!!!! It's so easy to forget that. =(

God's unconditional love. It’s so insanely crazy amazing. I use the words “awesome” “amazing” “insanely crazy” all the time to describe things, but the only other word I could possibly think of is HOLY. Our God is perfect and holy. I truly didn't know what that word meant literally five minutes ago. I'm so tired of using this word and making it seem so great when I don't even know what it means!!! I hear pastors and people, and singers use it ALL the time but I don't know what it actually meant. But now that I do, TRUST ME this is the most brilliant (I just threw in a new adjective into a blog post! lol) perfect, amazing word to describe God. According to this smart little dude named Webster "holy" means: exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness. (Exhalt means to "raise in rank, or power. To elevate in praise or to glorify." I looked that one up too.)
That's God!!!!! Like that song says He is "worthy of our praise." (Big Daddy Weave and BarlowGirl!!!) God is worthy of our complete devotion because nothing on earth matters compared to His perfection. He is good and He is righteous. (Righteous litterally means free from guilt of sin. Webster's online dictionary is pretty cool) God is perfect and God is HOLY!!!!!!!!!!!!
I apologize. This is one of the longest posts ever, and I know I'm probably just saying the same thing again and again. =) But what I'm really trying hard to say is that I LOVE this guy named Jesus!!! I absolutely ADORE Him!!!!!!!!

An amazing writer and a Melissa Moment

  If we want God to teach us, to reveal his plan and purpose and will for our lives, we have to show up. We have to meet with him daily. We have to study his word; pay attention to what it teaches us. We have to sit and listen to him; we have to talk to him. We have to practice living as he calls us to live. We can no more expect God to give us his good and perfect will without earnestly seeking it, as we can expect our Spanish teacher to give us a 100 on the test without genuinely earning it.I know when I fail at something, as much as it hurts me to fail, it hurts my father even more to watch me fail because he knows if I had just listened to him, I would have succeeded. God has a plan and a purpose for all of us, but as much as he wants us to seek him so he can give us the true desires of our hearts and fill us up, he allows us to choose for ourselves what voices we will listen to and what path we will learn from and follow. -Jessica N.

Jessica is an AMAZING writer! =) I had to share it with the handful of people that read this. <3

So, it's been a while since I posted a "Melissa Moment" hahaha here's one:
I was getting a hairbrush out of my mom's bathroom and the shower door was open. Let me describe this door...it looks like this
 That's not the shower, but that's kind of sorta what the door looks like. It's clear and it opens towards the entrance to the bathroom. Hope that makes sense.

ANYWAY, I was walking and looking straight ahead. STRAIGHT AHEAD, Then suddenly, SMACK!!!!!! I ran into the door. How I didn't see it, I don't know, but I ran into the door.

All you need is Love....

"I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty."
- 2 Corinthians 6:18
I went to Crossroads this past weekend. Most amazing experience of my life!!!! I wish I could say everything that happened and all the amazing things that made the weekend a surprise! If I did though, it wouldn't be a surprise for anyone else...so I'll keep quiet. BELIEVE me!!! That's not easy for me to do at all... <3 It's not that it's some big top secret what goes on at Crossroads or anything like that. Trust me, if you knew all the things that went down and you went on a weekend like this it wouldn't be the same then because you would know what's happening. Ugh I hope that makes sense... LOL <3 Just know that it was amazing and I would recommend Faith Walk, Crossroads, Discipleship Walk, and anything else like this to anyone who wants to grow closer to God then they ever have before!!!!!

I payed for the trip myself, and then had many bad days that turned into two horrible weeks back to back to back. =( Thursday rolled around and I decided I didn't want to go anymore. Friday rolled around and I still didn't want to go. Friday afternoon I gave in and decided to pack up and get away for the weekend. Truly, that's all I wanted. I wanted to get far away from everything. THAT feeling didn't last though. <3 God had plans...

Long story short, I encountered God and felt SO close to Him for the first time in months! He LOVES me!!!! L-O-V-E-S me! He knows what's going on and He CARES!!! And he cares about you and He loves you and everyone else on this earth!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

If I could say in two words what God taught me this weekend is that God's love is unconditional and that after He's forgiven you, and you have to forgive yourself. Love and Forgiveness. I experienced the best type of love ever...love from God!!!! I've always known He loved me, but He loves me SO much!!!!!!! And I never thought about it before! It didn't fully click until this weekend. I've never been weeping at how much He loves me, but this weekend I did!!!! He loves you SO much! He loves your friends and family SO much!

I've been holding on to SO much lately. I gave it all to Him. I mean ALL of the stuff I've been holding onto is gone. G-O-N-E!!!!! He's taken it and thrown it away somewhere. All I need is Him!!! I know that He's forgiven me and that I've forgiven myself. I know that I love Him SO much and that He loves me even more! It's crazy amazing!!!!

This weekend was incredible. I don't have a word to describe how I feel STILL!!!! It was THE MOST amazing experiance of my life. I can not wait to volunteer for it next year!!!!!!!!!

Your Not Guilty Anymore - Aaron Keyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE8gxOxMuhg&playnext=1&list=PL8DB2842C6DB34EBB&index=47

God's Chisel - The Skit Guys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhfUzodLRvk

Give Us Clean Hands - Live Performance - Kutless
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9dDrK2a3Os   

It's a little piece of of how thankful I am for my amazing Savior

Flush an ice cube, do a dance, and 30 minutes later BOOM!!!!!

So last night at Jericho Junction we painted with markers and ice cubes. When the kids were done with their ice cubes we would flush them down the toilet and do a snow dance. (The snow dance involved moving your arms up and down and then your arms side to side and saying "snow comes down, the snow will stick") I'm not kidding about 30 minutes after all the kids flushed their ice cubes it started to snow!!!! =D
I went sledding for the second time of my life. I went once when I was little but I got scared b/c I fell off. Today we walked up the park in my neighborhood and people everywhere were sledding. =) So, I grabbed a sled and joined in. It was sooo much fun!!!! And it was COLD!!!! LOL =) I fell off many times, but that was seriously the best part. At one point I came very close to hitting a pole...but I didn't =) hahaha!
Now I'm about to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and watch the snow fall. I can't believe it's still coming down!!!! So excited!!!!

A little piece of how excited I get about the first "white fluffy stuff falling from the sky" of the year

Please note: if you have ever had a bad day the go watch a singing cucumber. It makes a difference.

This is the post for the people who have had a horrible day. Sometimes it's even worse than that and we have seven days back to back that we have to call a horrible week. It's sad, and stressful, but it really does get better. =) If your at the point where you are bawling your eyes out and truly have no idea why, then it's time to do something major. Call up a friend and follow these simple instructions...

Go to http://www.youtube.com/
Type on the top "Silly Songs with Larry: Yodeling Veterinarian"
After that one is over watch "Silly Songs with Larry: Where is my Hairbrush?"
Then watch "Silly Songs with Larry: School House Polka"
Then type in "Madame Blueberry part One." Know however it isn't in English. I think it's Italian or something....? See how long you can last and then laugh at the talking tomato you can't understand.
Then "Silly Songs with Larry: I Love My Lips"

You should feel at least a little better after that. =D I know I did!!!!! lol
WARNING: Do NOT do this without one of your friends. It won't be nearly as funny!

A little piece of how excited I get about talking vegetables...hahaha jk!

He holds everything...

Sometimes you may wish so much for the day to be over, to rewind the day,  and to take everything back. However, God already had everything planned out for you. He knows what has happened, what is happening currently, and what is yet to come. When your day ends up not being what you expected, all you can do it hold your head high and ride it out. God will make everything right in the end.

"If He can hold an ocean back with one little shore then what's this worry and doubting for? I believe...He holds everything." -Point of Grace

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,tI will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. Psalm 23