Today

Today was my orientation and registration at my new school.  Although the orientation was boring and the same as all the other schools, it was a great day.  I got into three classes in my major and two 100 level classes that I am not too worried about.  After registering, I got a phone call for a job interview, so I went there after registration. I also got a phone call for another interview that I will have tomorrow! Although I didn't want to transfer, God has been providing opportunities left and right and confirming that this school and town is where He wants me!

Another thing that happened today is I decided to start working out again and eliminating almost all sugar from my diet once again! (No more sweet tea :( )  today I started with the baby step of alternating running and power walking....10min walk, 30sec run,1min walk and repeat the running and walking 5x and then a 5min walk to cool down.  Its a very small step, but it's all my body can handle right now...which I believe is ok: ) when I started to run, it felt like I had a million mosquitos inside of my legs biting me! That's how I know I need to take baby steps. I also am continuing my ab work out.

Now off to a worship service with a very dear friend!

Why I believe the song Oceans is responsible for the circumstances of this season of my life

Many of you know the song Oceans by Hillsong.  It is a song that has spread like a wildfire around the Christian community in the past couple of years.  I personally think that the reason this song has taken off the way it has is because this song not only talks about trusting God through periods of waiting and unknown circumstances, but also cries out to God to take his people to a place where all they have is God and all they can do is rely on God.

The Bridge of this song states:

"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever you would call me
Take me deeper than my feet have ever wandered
And my faith would be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior..."

The lyrics of this bridge have become a prayer for me: a prayer that God has answered.  Looking back and reflecting over the places God has led me over the past year in a half is proof that God has answered this prayer.  I have been to three different schools in the past two years and I am about to start at my fourth school a week from today.  I also just spent my summer in a brand new place in a somewhat uncomfortable situation.  There has been very little consistency in my life for the past two years.  The only thing that has remained constant in my life is God.  But I guess, what else do I really even need?

Although God has been leading me into all of these new and unknown situations, I really do believe that my faith has been made stronger just like this song says.  Every situation that I encounter prepares me to stand through the next one.

The weirdest thing about my newest transition is that although I have moved back 'home' to where I grew up and to where my family lived for the majority of my life, this is seemingly the hardest transition I have had to face so far.  However, God has already been proving faithful in this situation and I know He will continue to do so!

God has truly been leading me to deeper places than I have ever been, and that is why I believe the song Oceans is responsible for the circumstances of this season of my life.

Tribute to my Little Sister

One of the most powerful moments in my relationship with my sister Haley was right before I left for Olivet.  The two of us were sitting in the scrapbook room and she says, "Cana, I have something that I need to tell you."

My family isn't always the best at being sentimental or admitting things to each other without being awkward, so in order to picture this scene, picture me sitting on a stool looking down, and Haley across from my spinning on an office chair.

Anyway, I look up at her and say, "What is it?".  She then looks at me and then abashedly says, "I forgive you".

That moment was very powerful, for more than just one reason.  Not only was it powerful because the concept of forgiveness is powerful, but it helped me realize how much a mistake I had made impacted my little sister.

It also helped me realize how much I long to be a good role model for my sister! I have made my fair share of mistakes yet she is willing to forgive me and look up to me still! How awesome is that!

I want to be someone that my sister can look up to and not only learn from my mistakes, but also learn from the things that I do right.  I've been realizing more and more how much everything I do can affect my family in some way.

I am SO proud of her, and the young woman she has become.  I can see evidence of her growing in her faith and in maturity whenever I am able to talk to her.  She is very smart and has an extremely bright future!  Also, she is incredibly beautiful inside and out.

I know this is the 'typical' verse that women use to encourage each other, but I still want to encourage Haley with this verse.

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment such as braided hair and wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.  Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.  For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful."

1 Peter 3:3-5

I love you Haley!

Interesting Night

A few weeks ago I signed up to be a part of a ministry called Youth for Christ.  Youth for Christ is a mentorship program that they offer in the Kankakee Junior High, where kids can sign up for a mentor.  As a mentor, I will be going into the Junior High once a week to meet with my mentee and talk to her.  Although we cannot directly bring up and share Christ while we are at the school, we are able to invite them to events outside of the school where we can share Christ with them.

Tonight was supposed to be the night in which I met my mentee at an event at Perry Farm.  However, only about 4 of the students showed up to the event out of about 40.  My mentee didn't show up, so I was a bit bummed, but the night turned out to be an interesting experience.

The event was a parent and student dinner so the Youth for Christ center had a whole bunch of food left over. Because we did not want this food to go to waste, we went out into the streets and asked people if they wanted any of it.  A few people came into the center to grab a free meal, but we still had a bunch of food left.  So, we decided to make up plates of food and drive to a place in Kankakee that is known to have a lot of people around that need food.  We were able to get rid of all of the food by going into a bar.  Like I said, it was an interesting experience.

Anyway, I just think it's cool that although the ministry we had planned to do didn't work out, we were still able to use what we had to go and minister to people.  It was so great to see people switch gears and go out and do something that they would have never expected to do tonight.

Set Your Mind on Things Above

Today has been such an interesting day.  I've been realizing lately how trivial things are in life when compared to the big picture.  I've also been realizing how much I have dwelt on those trivial things, and how hard it is not to.  Although some of the things that I think about are not directly sinful to think about, it is still such a waste of time that I could be spending focused on Christ.

How would my life be different if I eliminated the pattern of dwelling on trivial thoughts from my life?  I feel like it would cause so much room for growth! This is what I am going to be working on.

Application Verse: Colossians 3:1-4: "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set our minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When then you also will appear with him in glory."

Colorful Paper Chains

A pattern that I have noticed in my walk with God over the past few years is that every time I begin to feel content, He adds something to my life to spice it up and make it more interesting.  He doesn't always add something that makes life more interesting in an enjoyable way, but it is always for the good.

Tonight, over dinner with a friend, I was looking back and noticing how God adds and uses these things in an overlapping fashion.  I also noticed that because they overlap, I have never been unprepared for any of the curve balls that have been thrown at me.  Although it is sometimes very hard, I can definitely look back and say that with God's help, I have successfully overcome the trials that have come along with the changes that have made my life interesting.

I kind of feel like life is like a colorful paper chain.  A colorful paper chain is made up with a bunch of different colors that are all connected.  Each of the colors represent a different season of life.  The links in the chain are all different colors, yet they are all connected to the colors around them.  Also, by looking at the chain of colors, you can see how they all come together to make something beautiful.  By looking at the chain of seasons in our life, it is easy to look back and see how they all came together to make something beautiful.  I know this isn't the best analogy, but it popped into my head as I was writing this blog post. ;)  Oh! Also, the different links in the chain can also work together to make the chain stronger.  Just like how we come out stronger after the seasons in our lives.  (I'm not sure if my analogy is working, but it works for me!)

Now that I have come up with this analogy, I can visualize the chain of seasons that I have been through in life.  I think that currently in my life, I am working on the beginning of a brand new link in my chain.  This excites me! I can't wait to see what God does in my life during this new season.  I know It's going to be great, and that I'm going to come out stronger yet!

For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace. — Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NLT)

For everything there is a season, another color; or link in the chain of our lives.

Cana <3

COLLEGE!

HA! So I am now officially a college student, and I am LOVING it!  I've had three out of my 5 classes so far, and they have gone great! Looking forward in the syllabus, they don't look very hard either.  Challenging, thought provoking and lots of work, but not hard.

The first classes I had were yesterday.  In Intermediate Algebra, we learned about integers, real numbers, order of operations and stuff like that.  Elementary stuff...like literally!  My sister is doing harder algebra!  However, the professor said it was basically a repeat of Algebra 2, so I should be fine! The only thing I'm worried about is doing my math work in word processor. It takes more than twice as long!

My second class yesterday, English, was interesting.  My professor is a little strange, and he talks like he's from the 1700s! He also has some very strong pet peeves and is very strict.  I think it'll be an okay class though.  I love english!  I found our first reading, on machiavelli, to be very interesting.

My third class, which was today, is Intro to Weather and Climate.  It's basically what I learned in my meteorology class in High School...except it's most likely more in depth and more work.  I love my professor though and I already have a basic grasp of the concepts, so I should be fine in that class too!  However, I'm the only freshman...:/

So that's the lowdown on what I have done so far at college, and I have a lot more to come!  I can't wait until Crown! I have a feeling it will be a lot more challenging to manage my time there, but I can't wait to get away!

Cana

ANIMALS...

Animals, animals....They can make life so interesting!  As most of you know, I have 5 cats, and 2 bunnies.  But as of right now, it looks like we only have 4 cats and we now have 4 bunnies.

CATS
So, for three months, Emmett, and Clarabelle have been living up here in Rhinelander, and Shadow, Cloud, and Edward have been living in Rapids.  However, our Rapids house sold so we ended up moving the three cats from Rapids up to Rhinelander the day before yesterday.  The first night, the cats were all fighting so we had to keep Shadow in the bathroom of the camper.  In the middle of the night, Emmett decided to attack one of the cats and a huge fight broke out, scaring Cloudy and making her relieve herself from both ends at the same time.  My mom called my dad to come out to the camper to clean her up, and she ended up getting out and running away.

The next morning, Shadow was cowering behind the camper toilet like he had been all night, so we decided to try and let him outside.  Big mistake.  He then took off and ran into the woods and hid.  We haven't seen him since.

The good news is, last night when I was coming out from the house, I found Cloud sneaking through the garden and we got her back.  The bad news is, there is still no trace of Shadow.  Shadow is my favorite cat and I really hope and pray he comes back soon! He was out in a hail storm today, but he has survived a tornado so I'm not real worried about that.

BUNNIES

So that's what is up with the cats, but here is the new scoop on the bunnies.

My mom left to go pick Haley up from Lake Ellen camp where she had been staying with Becca to go to the fair, and I guess Haley begged my mom to take these two bunnies home.  The person that was in charge of them was going to let them out into the wild, and Haley new that a domestic rabbit wouldn't be able to survive the wild.  So my mom agreed and they came back with two beautiful rabbits.  From what we can tell they are both boys, and we are going to rename them.  One is gray, and the other is black.

Haley built an outdoor rabbit pen a while back and that's where they are staying for the moment.  Supposedly they will only be here for a few days, but we will see.  Haley has been trying to contact the Rhinelander Animal shelter to send them there for someone from Appleton to pick up and foster.

So that is the scoop about my animal situation, and my animals have pretty much consumed my entire day.  I am starting college tomorrow, so my next post should be interesting.  I am really excited!

Cana

verse i wanna remember

 ¹⁷ Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; ¹⁸ if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; ¹⁹ if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— ²¹ you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? ²⁴ As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. romans2

There is no condemnation...

 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,  because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 

Romans 8:1-2

I refuse to sit and let myself feel guilty for mistakes I have made that have already been forgiven.  Even though I have messed up, God has forgiven me and has forgotten my mistakes.  Since Jesus has died on the cross, I am set free from the law of sin and death through the Spirit.  Sin and death has been destroyed!

"Oh, death, where is your sting,
Oh, hell, where is your victory..."

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

1 Corinthians 15:56-57

We have victory over sin through Jesus Christ! 




Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,  by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,  and since we have a great priest over the house of God,  let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:22

God can free us from a guilty conscience.  Sometimes guilt is the thing that holds us back from living the life that we are called to live.  It may be because we don't feel worthy, or it may be because we don't think God will forgive us or love us the same after what we have done.  Guilt is a lie from satan that holds many people back from an intimate relationship with our heavenly Prince!


If we have asked for forgiveness we need to have faith that God has indeed forgiven us.  God doesn't keep any record of wrongs.  He just loves us no matter what.  Even if we feel like we've done the worst of the worst.  If we still feel guilty after asking for forgiveness, we don't have faith that God has forgiven us.  It doesn't matter if we feel forgiven or not, we are! Faith is not a feeling.  We have to believe that we are forgiven before that guilty feeling will go away.  Don't let guilt overpower you!

"...as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

Psalm 103:12

My Dream

So last night, I went to bed at 8:30.  I was super tired and fell asleep almost right away.  I was sleeping peacefully and soundly until about 10:30 when my mom came and woke me up and told me something that made me a little angry and upset.  After that, I was still tired enough to go to sleep but when I fell asleep, I fell into a deep restless slumber.

In my dream, I was at 'the cabin'.  The reason I put that in quotes is because in my dream it was the cabin, but it barely looked like the cabin and a lot of unknown people were there.  Haley was having some weird party thing and all the sudden my mom said that she had to go because Shopko called her last minute and said that they needed her help.  My mom used to work at Shopko, so in her dream it was just a normal thing.  When I was there, I sat and watched these weird Shopko commercials that looked like they were from some horror movie until a Shopko employee came over to me and told me that they wanted to hire me on the spot to work right then and there.  I accepted because my mom thought it was a good idea, and my dad suddenly appeared and he was allowed to help me with my job.  The first time I checked someone out, I got knocked out from the back and I actually felt it in my dream when I passed out!  When I came out of it I had a headache in my dream and blurry vision. Then no one realized that I had just been knocked out so they looked back on the security tapes to see if it really happened. ( there was a bunch of other random stuff involved like dogs and stuff that I don't really remember)

After they figured it all out, they put me back to work and  I still had a headache but I worked as good as I could.  There were more people working there after that, that I knew like Maria, People from church and of course Dan...because he works there in real life.


When I left Shopko, the guy that had knocked me out was waiting for me and he became my stalker.  My dad and I kept fighting him off and eventually we had to fight off wolves with these broom handles.


All together it was a very strange dream.


~Cana~

Greetings! Welcome to my new blog!

Hello! Welcome to my new blog.  Instead of having two different blogs, I've decided to start over and put all of my blog posts on the same blog.  I'm going to use this blog for writing anything I feel like.  Sometimes It may be like a journal, other times it may be like an essay.  Some posts may evaluate scripture, and others might just be me being vulnerable.  It all depends and what is on my heart at the time of the post.  This blog will be full of my 'Heart Thoughts'.  I'm really looking forward to this blog! Keep checking in for updates!

~Cana