Hands and Feet of Jesus

 The hands and feet of Jesus is people serving the people in the world. It is being with the outcasts and loving them as they were made to be. They are loving them as God's children. Jesus hung out with all the misfits. The prostitutes or the homeless. Even the people with disease. Jesus was there. Jesus cherished his Father's children and accepted them, taught them and mainly just sat and talked with them. For those people who were shunned by the rest of the town, it was validating knowing they were seen.

  Being apart of a church where serving is the main mission, I love to see and be the hands and feet of Jesus. There is a family I really admire. From the relationships toward each other and their servant hearts for the people around them. Personally they have blessed my family with doing our laundry every week because we don't own a washer and dryer. It is a luxury having clean laundry and I am so thankful for it. There is a park next to my church where every week they go and serve the homeless community there food. They sit and be with the people there and have developed relationships  The people at the park await their return because they can see the light that is shining through each of them. 

  That is the hands and feet of Jesus. Acknowledging them and treating them as equals. 

  The world is so busy with people rushing back and forth to each of their duties, but a family has dedicated time to come and be with them. Their family inspires me and has shown me so much of God's love. May He continue to bless them and use them for great things. 

Another Fall Post

  Here I go. I am going to be another blogger talking about Fall and the beauty of it. Well, it really is wonderful. The weather is awful where I live, but in Fall it finally starts to let up and everyone comes out of their caves. Coffees are spiced and pumpkinized (I'm sure that's not a really word), goods are baked and everything that symbolizes warmness and comfort is introduced for the holidays.
  The feeling of Fall coming is a nice feeling. I can feel it in the air and see it in the stores as the country prepares for falling leaves and snow. If I had a porch, I would curl up with a cup of coffee, read a book and here the birds chirp to each other. The birds never leave as my state is the warmest place to stay in the winter.
  The holidays really do bring everyone together, no matter how cliche that sounds. The weather encourages us to go outside, spend time with each other and breathe in the Fall air. I am excited for the holidays and for the weather to get colder so I can bring a jacket when I go outside. Or hide in a blanket and savor the warmth as it spreads over me. The simple things that make the winter enjoyable.
Have a happy Fall as it one of nature's prettiest times of the year. Soak in the falling leaves, the pumpkin coffees and long walks in the cool, breezy afternoons.

Tour de Fat

  While driving home, I came upon this in front of my house. Literally thousands of people riding their bikes, dressed up in the coolest and wildest costumes. From triple seater bikes to double deckers, there was a non-stop stream of riders so we couldn't turn into our driveway. It was the Tour de Fat, where everyone was riding to the city lake to get beer for Oktoberfest.

It was so cool to see the city come together and ride in style. There was laughing and cheering, a girl was even throwing out cookies as she pasted us. So many people were joined together just like a community. Their spirits was contagious and the sites mesmerizing as each person rode by, each dressed differently than the last for the yearly festival. It went on for over a half hour so we finally had to turn around and go another route since all of the streets were blocked off. People were as one, hanging out and accepting of whoever you were. It was a sight and makes me love the city I live in even more.

  

Bus People

Photo by: FelipeGarcia

           
          Bus people are interesting. If you needed a good character for a story, the bus is the place to go. You won't know what you'll find each time you step aboard. It is a mixture of shapes, sizes and personality. I take the bus to and from school every day. I'm quiet in general, but really observant in places such as the bus. I see each person going through the process to get where they need to go. Some wear annoyed facial expressions and others, tired, blank ones.
  There are the ones holed up in the corner (Me included), ones talking to the bus driver, loud people and then the ones that make you want to know more about them. 
  And then the wondering begins.
  Who are these people? The bus people?
  Each person is on a journey in their life somewhere. Good or bad, they each have a story and make up the characters in the bus. It makes me want to know what is going on in their life. So I can help or really what I need to do, is just be there.
  I was taking the bus home with my little brother when this girl around my age said I could sit next to her as the spaces were already full. She told me how the bus scared her because people have harassed her while she was on it. She said that she hated going on here by herself and that she wanted me to sit next to her because I would make her feel better. I was speechless. This total stranger was confiding in me out of all the other people. What was so special about me that gave her security? The bus ride was short and I had to leave, but I hoped she would be alright.
  We ride as one to get to our destination but we are so mentally withdrawn. When you realize it, a bunch of strangers come as one. We are there though just to get from point A to point B. Shouldn't it be different? The public bus systems are one of the most used services nation wide. What if there was a ministry to serve the people who went on the bus? Or some kind of essence of God being shown? Create an environment with positivity rather than hostility. Of security rather than fear. It made sound like a difficult task, but there should be a way where people can travel with a new feeling of something. The feeling of God. There should be a way where God is seen.
  What I can do, is I can just be there. Bring in a light that some people have never seen before. Because I come with the reassure that God is my provider and my protector. I don't know what I would do without knowing that. People go so long or forever without knowing there is a loving God out there. So they won't feel the comfort of being loved by a Heavenly Father. Their souls are restless as there is no place they can fall too.
  There is a scientific study that proves how people feel, it affects the other people around them. With or without knowing it. Even changing your mood can make a difference towards your surroundings. I find myself being really withdrawn and having a hard expressions. Not on purpose, because I get self conscious and don't know where to look on the bus. I need to remind myself to relax and look nice. Simple as that. I'm not saying you need to let your guard down (You are on a public bus with strangers) but check your appearance. How you look can set the judgement for how people will see you. Let God radiate from you. People naturally gravitate to their maker. They will see it in someone even if they don't know what it is. They can't name it, but that feeling of God, it settles their wandering souls.
 

Eve

  It seemed like a switch had been turned on when I turned sixteen. In the same day. What I saw and felt was different. I was no longer the girl that lived carefree. It felt more as if I was burdened with a new feeling. I wanted something more than I did yesterday. What I longed for was to be loved.

  The feeling grew until I was sick to my stomach. Literally hunger had vanished and I was anxious at everything. Nothing would stop it and I scolded myself for being so ridiculous. I was a young woman, some would say a young girl, and here I was being a fool and wanting love.

  It seemed like no boy ever looked at me. I once had a crush in elementary school. I wouldn’t even say it was a crush. He was in my math class and I sat right next to him. One day, maybe the boldest thing I did in my life of my life, I wrote on my folder that said ‘I like you’ and slid it towards him so he could see. We were already best buds before, so he responded with ‘me too’. Well, we never kissed or held hands, those lovely dovey things kids try to pretend to do in grade school. Let say I change schools and he gave me warts all over my hands. (Don’t worry people, that was many year ago.) Despite that, he was a really good friend and that was before we had hormones and he reached puberty.

  I know I’m beautiful, that God created me beautiful, and that I was created to be captivating. Then why do I feel so un-beautiful to guys? Like I wasn’t pretty enough for their attention, that there was always some prettier, more outgoing girl in the room. Any guy I had a crush on, I would compare myself to him. Things like ‘he doesn’t like those kind of girls, girls like me’, or ‘I’m too shy for him. He probably thinks I’m a snob’.

  It was something that I tore myself over about. I always put myself below these people, like I wasn’t equal with them. I felt as if I didn’t have anything good to offer to the table and I would be lucky if he ever talked to me, let alone looked at me.

  It’s so hard to pull myself up, out of the slump of lies. It’s so hard to feel the worth that I was given. God created Eve for Adam. That he sealed the creation with Eve, the mother of all things and Adam’s helper. Am I Eve too? Was I created with purpose and a piece of God?

  These past few months have been eye openers to me. It has shown me the woman I want to become and the life I want to live. I fight the many struggles, so many other girls like me have to face every day. And in reality, it is really exhausting. Spiritually and mentally. Always feeling like there is something, someone out there that is worth more than you. I just have to push back the lies and see the truth; over and over again if I need too. The freedom from the lies Satan has embellished in my soul needs to be banished. I want it to be gone so I can enjoy the life and time I have on my own.

  There is someone out there for me and I am his standard of beauty. Until then, I have many things to fix, many things to experience and many things to discover with God.