Perseverance

I've been running alot more these past few weeks to get in shape. It hasn't been easy and most nights I honestly don't want to run. In order to run I needed to have more motivation. What else should I need but getting in shape right? I started looking for running blogs and I came across a amazing one!

One of the first encouraging messages I came across in this awesome blog was "Running is more than being in shape – it’s a mental game. It was super encouraging to read this! If you want to check out her awesome blog do it! http://runningwithperseveranceblog.com/

Her journey is amazing and I love her passion for theLord. She ran the New York Marathon to raise money for 26 kids who have nothing in different countries. Here is a little section from her most recent blog. She was having ankle pain during the Marathon, just to catch you up. "Two nights before the race at the Team World Vision dinner Jerry, a local pastor and seasoned marathoner, told me to think of the cross if the pain comes during the race. I began to take myself to this state of mind knowing my pain did not compare to the pain Christ endured nor the pain that so many people go through daily just to survive in oppressed and developing countries."

I thought about this concept myself. I think running 2 miles is the end of the world and I want to quit. She is running 26 miles for kids who have nothing with sharp pains in her ankle, does she quiet? No, she thinks about the Lord and is encouraged! One thing that I love about this journey of me running is that its bringing me closer to the Lord. The process is teaching me so much about myself and about who I am in christ. I love it, just incase you didn't already get that!

One last thing to share, not only am I learning more about who I am and the Lord, but God is blessing me with people who are helping me stay focused. I mentioned to my friend shelby, whom is also super encouraging and loves the Lord, that she should have a running blog. She and I always used to run together when I lived in IL and when i go back she helps me to run. She told me she would not start a blog but she would send me inspiration text messages about running. So here is her inspiration text message:

"Personal running blog text #1: When you feel like you have to turn and go home, make yourself run as fast as you can, get your legs to go. Your legs won't collapse underneath you and you'll feel 1000xs the accomplishment with the same distance." "Thought for the week: God created you to move. Every movement your body makes is a testimony of the life that is within you and the One who created it. He will help you through this run and make you stronger for the next." I love having friends who will help me out along the way! So to anyone who is running or starting to run, you are not alone! I hope to get more of these encouraging little tips and I will share them with you.

I'll end with a sweet bit of knowledge I swiped from another blogpost, "Persevere: to persist in anything undertaken; maintain apurpose in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement; continue steadfastly."

Road Trip

I'm so behind in posting blogs! I love blogging and think about blogging often but I just don't seem to do it! Just like this blog, it's something I should have posted about 2 weeks ago! Oh well, I hope it still shows what I wanted to then!
I recently made a random road trip to KC/Kansas. My friend Amber asked me to come see a Cubs vs Royals game that she had an extra ticket for. I have not really been to many baseball games so I said why not! I got off from work on Saturday at 12 and drove to KC. I had tons of fun with amber! We first went in search for a outfit for the game. We decided to go for KC. We got our outfits finally after searching everywhere. You would think that in KC they would have stuff for the baseball team... but not really. They have more Mizzou stuff that KC stuff! Sunday was the day of the game. We got up and went to church before heading to the game. At church the pastor was talking about timing. This would have been the second time in two weeks that the sermon I've been sitting in on has talked about timing. I was thinking... hum, maybe God is wanting to show me something. The rest of the day was a blast. The game was so much fun! After the game i drove to Kansas to see another friend. I ate dinner with her and her family. It was really good to be around the Brenners again. They are really good friends. The whole trip was just amazing.
On my way home, i had alot of time to think and talk to God. I've been a little confused lately on what he wants to do with my life and I know I've been trying to take control. I decided that while i was driving to just give up that control. Believe me, I don't like not knowing, but God being in control is so much better than anything I could ever do/accomplish. All the sermons that I kept hearing, I felt like God was trying to reassure me that he could do this, that I didn't need to keep trying to do it on my own. I shouldn't have been trying to anyways. A few days later, a lady from Columbia College came into the Bank were I work. She asked to speak with me. I was a little caught off guard because i thought maybe something with my school had gone wrong. It made me a little nervous, not going to lie. She asked me about summer classes and then said she had a job opening. She said she saw me around the bank and said that I have great people skills. She said she wanted me to come apply for the job because she thought i would work out well there. I later found out that the job was a Administrative Assistant. It was actually her Assistant!! It was a huge blessing and a huge sign from the Lord. I felt like he was saying, "See, you let me have it and look what I did." How many times have I done this to God? How many times could he have blessed me and I've messed it up?? Seriously!!! It's not easy but I am trying to daily give the keys of my life to the Lord. I say daily because I know very much so that I keep taking them back. It sucks to say but I know I do. I have to remind myself daily, "Kayla, have you given him the keys? Have you given him control?" God is so amazing!!! I don't understand why I would ever try and do anything without him. So that's my rant for now... :)

P.s. I got the job, I start July 25. Its actually the week of my birthday. What's crazy is about 2 years basically on the same day I started working at the bank. God worked that one out too...He he beyond amazing. Here is a fun picture from the game!

Random Moments

It's become very evident to me, that I don't get away enough and just spend time with the Lord. I used to do that all the time when I was at Windermere. I honestly loved doing it, so spontaneous and random at times. I would randomly just drive down to the boat dock and sit under the stars and sing worship music, best time ever. It was much easier at the time because its just wide open spaces everywhere. Yes it was wonderful, but just because I had a huge camp then doesn't mean, I can't find random places where I'm at now. So I have challenged myself to once a week just taking a little time and going away from everything and everyone. I want to just be with the Lord. It will be good and different instead of just sitting in my room and reading like normal. I think I have an idea for my first place just need to make sure its safe for me to go to by myself :) I found a cute little dock by one of our swimming pools, should be fun!!

Park Day

While at home for my brother's wedding, I got to take my cousins to the park! In my small little town the park is pretty much all we have and they just put all new equipment in! It was way better then we ever had but i do admit I miss that mara-go-round (sp?). It was old but it was so much fun!! I took my camera when we decided to go and took a few pictures! I love those kids!!!They are so much fun!!

Logan and Keira checking out the new stuff.


Keira swinging! She loved it when I was taking pictures of her!



Logan sliding down the new slides. I tried to get all of him,
it just didn't end up that way. I thought it was cool anyways.

Logan didn't want to leave. He was having so much fun!!
I had alot of fun with them! They are just so stinkin fun and cute!!!

Fishing on My Day Off

My post's that are coming up, are going to be out of order. I just wanted to do this one first lol. Be prepared for one on my brother's wedding and one from my park day with me cousins. Now back to this post, Monday after coming back from my brothers wedding I had a extra day off. My friend Megan was here because she went to the wedding with me and we decided to go

fishing!

This is me fishing. Well my pole anyways. :) It was super fun!
Megan has several different ponds we could fish in, this was the best!
I caught a fish right away!!

This is him, little Nemo as I called him. I couldn't touch him!!
He was so slimy and I just couldn't!!! Megan kept trying to get me to put
my finger in his mouth to hold him but I just couldn't! Maybe next time! ;)

This is Megan holding my fish because I wouldn't! :) Poor guy,
he had to sit there for a while before i decided I didn't want to
touch him!!! lol

I loved the whole day and it really made me want to live in the country!!!
It just so much better in the country. You always have something
fun you can do and it just feels so much like a community!!! Fishing
was alot of fun, next thing I want to try...is hunting :)

Vanessa Hudgens - "Can I Have This Dance" From HSM 3

Am I a complete sap for listening to this and thinking...hum.... I think i want to play this at my wedding...whenever that may happen :)

Esther 1

A lot has been going on lately in my life. I haven't exactly been spending time with the Lord the way I should be. I tell myself, I have a relationship with the Lord but a relationship means that you are spending time with someone. It means you are invested in them. I was reading Esther Chapter one tonight and I kind of saw it in a new way. Yes, I'm probably just getting what I am from it because of where I'm at but that's the greatness of the Lord. He speaks to us all differently. If you haven't read the chapter you should, but I will try and sum it up a little. The chapter is mostly about the King, "King Ahasuerus [Xerxes] ". It starts off just talking about his rain and he about how he was very powerful. He had a huge 7 day party and while he was having this party, his queen (Queen Vashti) was having one to (with the women). On the 6th night when the king was pretty well intoxicated he asked the the Queen be brought to him/ in front of everyone so they could see her beauty. She refused to do so. The king then has her killed because of her disobedience.

I read this and this is what I thought. In these past few weeks the Lord has been calling me to spend time with him and I've been to busy. I've been ignoring him because I have my own things. Right now, I'm going through some things and right now is the moment I need to be relying on him the most. So like the Queen being called by the King, God has been calling me to spend time with him. He wants to show me he loves me and wants me to be with him. The best part of my story is that God is so wonderful in his grace that he is not going to just get rid of me. I'm so glad that our God is the way he is. He hasn't left me this whole time and even tonight when I finally got over my own self....he was there waiting. I'm not saying we should always wait because he will always be there. I'm just saying unlike this unforgiving King, we have a forgiving one and we should not take that for granted.

I am exited to continue reading each chapter because I know he is going to keep showing me new things about himself. That's all he has been wanting to do this whole time! He's such an amazing God.

Frienship

I was watching a show and at the end this is what was said, " Friendship, It begins when two people chose each other, but what happens when we out grow of the choice? When little by little our paths diverge, our needs change, and one day we wake up and realize that we need to choose something different.


It's not the best little quote but its very true. Although I hate losing friendships, I often find myself just happen to have know the person for that time period. God brings so many wonderful people into our lives, weather it be for a short or long period of time. It's amazing how he works out people to appear at the exact moment you need them. I'm so very blessed to have the friends in my life that I do. I hope to say that most of them are the kind that will last even when we grow out of the choice.

Birthday Help

Okay so I have a friend having a birthday and I want to do something fun for her. She lives kind of far away and I was just going to surprise her by showing up, but her birthday is the weekend before my brother's wedding. I was wondering If any of you had any ideas of what I should do for her. So please share all you thoughtful ideas of things you have done for friends or maybe just ideas you have for me! I need help friends!!!

Get It Right

So I love Glee very much, not so much the drama that goes on in the show but the music!! This song has become one of my favorites because its honestly how I feel sometimes. It's actually something I'm working on with the Lord. I feel like my good isn't good enough, as it is says in the song. Most times I tend to let others take over because I'm afriad of my own failure. I constantly don't feel good enough in so many areas. It's kind of hard to explain completely but the Lord is showing me I am good enough in Him. He's been showing me that I can do anything with him. I think its always something I will struggle with but I'm so glad I have a Father, who can walk with me every step of t he way. Hope you enjoy the song as much as I do!!!

April 1

So I was reading My Utmost For His Highest today and I thought I would share it with you. I love reading it, especially at the beginning of the day!!

---It is Christ . . . who also makes intercession for us. . . . the Spirit . . . makes intercession for the saints . . . —Romans 8:34, 27

Do we need any more arguments than these to become intercessors-that Christ “always lives to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25), and that the Holy Spirit “makes intercession for the saints”? Are we living in such a relationship with others that we do the work of intercession as a result of being the children of God who are taught by His Spirit? We should take a look at our current circumstances. Do crises which affect us or others in our home, business, country, or elsewhere, seem to be crushing in on us? Are we being pushed out of the presence of God and left with no time for worship? If so, we must put a stop to such distractions and get into such a living relationship with God that our relationship with others is maintained through the work of intercession, where God works His miracles.

Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, becoming so burdened with people and problems that we don’t worship God, and we fail to intercede. If a burden and its resulting pressure come upon us while we are not in an attitude of worship, it will only produce a hardness toward God and despair in our own souls. God continually introduces us to people in whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them. We give them a quick verse of Scripture, like jabbing them with a spear, or leave them with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord.

Are our lives in the proper place so that we may participate in the intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit?

( I will write more later, time for work!)

10 Random Things About Me

I'm stealing this!!! Elise did this and I thought it looked super fun!! I also have not posted in a very long time. I love more looking at other people's blogs. I just love to read about how others think!!! Wait I have not even started yet and I'm already starting to list something!!! Here it goes:

1. I came to know the Lord at a church camp called the Wilds in NC. I actually knew of the Lord my whole life but I never completely made that decision until then. It was that best choice I have ever made!

Love that Summer!

2. I am extremely hard on myself. I believe I'm not good enough most of the time. It make it extremely hard to try new things because its automatically my thought process that, "I will be bad at it." It's something I'm working on with the Lord!!

3. It feels like I care about people sometimes too much! If that's even possible. When I'm in a friendship, I'm in. I tend to give all of me and that's how I believe I will be with my future husband (whom ever he might be) :)

4. I work at a Bank as a teller!!! Some days I love it and others I don't, which is pretty normal. I've meet some amazing people working there, made friendships that I would not change for anything!

5. I'm going back to school right now at Columbia College. As of now, I'm going for a Elementary Education major. I'm thinking about changing to Business but not completely set on that. I also have my Associates in General Ministry from CCCB.

6. I'm a huge hugger ( is that a word)!!! I absolutely love hugs and I feel very loved when I receive them. It is not my love language however, that is quality time.


7. I am a little obsessed with musicals. I love going to the Fox and watching them on a real stage! My favorite is Wicked, which i still don't think can be topped.

Going to see Wicked for the first time!!

8. If I could travel all of the world I would. Right now there are so many places I want to go and my list keeps getting longer. My first stop will probably be New York but on a grand scale, Ireland. I just love the Lowe's far to much not to see them for years. :)

9. My roommate owns a Savannah cat. They end up getting pretty big because they are originally from Africa! I'm pretty sure I will be eaten on day so pray for me!!



10. I want to have 5 kids. I would settle for 3. I just love kids so much and I love being around them. Best time I had was sitting with a little girl at church while the worship team practiced for Sunday! She and I sang the worship songs together and it was a wonderful time of worship. Kids are awesome.

Computer Problems

I have not posted for a super long time! My computer had a virus and it had to be fixed. I was almost ready to go ahead and get a MAC, when my wonderful uncle Fred fixed it for me. I do want to get a MAC but for now, its me and my wonderful Dell. The whole house process is not going as smoothly as we would like. It takes forever to get all the paper work done and then you have to wait for it to go through. It cleared on the computer side a few weeks ago but then when the under writer viewed it, it didn't. They then had to change some things and we are back to waiting again. I know that everything will work out in the way the Lord wants it to but waiting is no very fun. Plus we told our landlord we would be out by a certain date, which looks like it will be pushed back. Thankfully, he has not rented it to anyone yet, but he most likely will not wait forever. If everyone could pray for this whole situation that would be wonderful!!!

Also another prayer request, tomorrow I'm meeting with my boss and his assistant (Teller Supervisor and Teller Supervisor Assistant). She has been giving me some problems and I just finally want to talk to her about it!!! Its not going to be an easy thing to do and I'm worried it might create more drama. On the up side for the past week and a half, I've been in Camdenton! I've been working at the branch i love. Also good thing, after the meeting, I will be working at camdenton all day and until next Monday. This might help to avoid anything weird after talking to her. :) Well anyhoo this is all I got for now!!! Hope everyone had a good holiday!!! New Years Resolutions will come soon!!!! What are yours??