Words vs Actions

Let me start out with what I told all 555 people I have on my facebook:
Claiming to be a Christian does not guarantee you a spot in heaven, some people have a false understanding of what it means to claim the name of Christ. If you say you believe in him, then start LIVING for him every day, in every action. Jesus is not just a quick fix, he is a life style. He is our role model.
Why is it that we all think that once we say the prayer, we're fixed forever? Let me tell you right now, it doesn't work that way. I get so excited when I can talk to people, believers or unbelievers, about God. I get SO excited when people accept Christ into their lives!!! I had 7 campers this summer either commit their lives to Christ for the first time or rededicate their lives. All in one evening too. My co-counsellor and myself were SO excited, she had to run out and tell someone and she had tears in her eyes. All I wanted to do was scream and praise God! It was just an awesome evening and I remember it so well. I remember the feeling of excitement I got from seeing all these girls, at bed time, wanting to invite Jesus into their hearts. Praise God. I will never ever tell someone: No, I won't let you accept Jesus because you're going to be a hypocrite just like the rest. No. I would never do that. Anyone who has, wants to, or will ever accept Christ, I am so excited for you!!!!! I think that the thing most people get confused with is believing in God and living for God. When you accept Jesus into your heart, that's because you believe in God. Okay, fantastic. But notice how Jesus never told us to become "Christians". That's a human term. Jesus told us to follow him and he would make us fishers of men. I actually never got the phrase "fishers of men" until a little while ago. What I understand from it is that Jesus wants us to go and find (fish) other people and tell them about Him. He wants us to go and be friends with them and show them God's love and help them commit their lives.
I am sick of seeing people say with their mouths that they believe in God and that they are Christians and then go against everything the bible says. The bible clearly says "do not have sex until you are married", yet many people I know have had sex before they are married and think nothing of it. Now, swearing and smoking and drinking and stuff like that, I think are gray areas. I don't know for sure if the bible says anything specifically about swearing. I do believe though that your body is your temple, and I don't think that alcohol is something that I would want to put into my temple. Same with smoking. I really can't tell you what to do with your life. I can't judge you. But I can tell you that when you say that you are a "Christian", that's saying you believe in God and want to follow him, that you can't do it half heartedly. It doesn't work. I'm tired of seeing teens go and work at Christian camps, preach to these kids and then come home and they're swearing and drinking and having sex again. It's not right. And I hate it. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the person, but I do hate their actions. People will know you by your actions.
I just realized how off topic I got, sorry guys. Anyways, I was talking to my pastor the other day about how people tend to think that after you become a Christian, life will be easy. My reaction made him laugh, because with the sound I made and the face I made, it was obvious that I sure knew better than that. Life is not easy when you follow God. Is that a bad thing? Heck no! He will make you uncomfortable. He will challenge you. But it will make you so much stronger. People say that I've "lived so much life" already. I never knew what they were talking about, but looking back on it, yeah, I have. With giving my life to Christ, came an adventure. It is one wild ride you guys, sort of like a roller coaster. (Don't judge me! I'm allowed to use cheesy examples every now and again :) ) Sometimes you will be so high on the Holy Spirit, on fire for God, and other times you will be on your face crying because of the events of the day. I have hit the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and you know what? I wouldn't take one minute of it back. I love my life, and I love who God made me and who he's helping me become. I love him so much and I would never be able to turn my back on him. It's painful even thinking about it. Once, I tried to think about becoming atheist. Burning my bible, not praying, not having a god. And I couldn't even think about it. I tried imagining burning my bible, and I couldn't do it. I can't do it. I can't do anything without God, and I'm slowly but surely coming to that realization. He is so good to me even when I'm the most terrible daughter in the world. I can't ever thank him enough or serve him enough or do anything that could ever show how eternally grateful I am. Living for God is the hardest thing you will ever do, it's going to test you and it's going to make you cry, but it's going to give you the greatest joy in the world and it will be the only thing that makes life worth living for, trust me. Love you guys!
Blessings,
Ariel

God Speaks

This is such a powerful song. This isn't the band speaking to you, or a member of the band speaking to their girlfriend, or friend, this is GOD speaking to YOU through them. I know that some of you have heard this song a million times, like me, but never listened to the lyrics. Read the lyrics, listen to the lyrics, and take them to heart. God's asking you, why are you doing all these things? Why are you striving? Why are you trying to earn grace? Why are you crying? Why are you doing all of these things when I'm right here, with open arms, waiting for you to run into them? "Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough?" We all do this, or have done this. Tried to fill that emptiness that only God can fill with something else. Can you even imagine how much his heart aches as he sees you going through all this, without him, trying to find something, anything, that will make it all better? It's not that God can't pull you out of it, it's that he wants you to grow as a person. God can do whatever he wants. Don't doubt him. God's always there for you, at the drop of a hat, he's already there. "Please don't fight these hands that are holding you". God's never let go of you. He's always been there, holding onto you, he doesn't want you to fall. He really doesn't. It's when we let go of him that we hit rock bottom. "When I drank the world's sin so I could carry you in and give you life, I wanna give you life". Jesus died for you. In saying this, he doesn't exclude anyone. Jesus wants all of us! He died a terrible death, this person who had no sin at all, completely whole and pure and perfect, and he took all of our sin upon him. How incredible is that? He wants you to sit by the throne with him. He wants you with him. He doesn't wanna watch you suffer. No way. "I love you, I want you to know, that I, yeah, I love you, I'll never let you go". HE WANTS YOU, HE WANTS US, TO KNOW THAT HE LOVES US. He loves us unconditionally, no matter what. He will give you the greatest love you can ever get. He loves you.
God bless,
Ariel

Australia

Okay, I just had to share this quick little tidbit...last night I was just spending time with God, talking to him. Earlier I had noticed that I had my first viewer from South America (yay!!!) and I was SO pumped! So I started thinking about that, I have viewers from North America, South America, Asia, and Europe. And I was like, God, how cool would it be to have just one viewer from Australia? Just one. Can I please have one person read my blog from Australia?
This morning, I checked my stats, as per usual. I see one the little world map they give me, that Australia is a light green color, I look down a little, and it says: Australia-1 viewer. Praise God!!! God is good! Every single day, every single hour, every single minute! He answers prayers! God is so good!!!!
God bless!
Ariel

Pre-Blessed Food

Okay, first of all, I would like to apologize for making you endure that video, but I found it funny! Then again, I'm a teenager with a horribly corrupt (yes, I just looked up the definition of that word! Thankyou google.) sense of humor.

But really, have you seen some of the infomercials we've got goin' on?? Hey, I've got a great idea; let's all get a Sham-wow! Then, lets go out on the street, use it, and exclaim "WOW!" every 5 seconds! Yikes, I'm tired. I think it's a good idea. But then, I'll need to do that while wearing a Snuggie, of course. I want the leopard print one. I think it'll really make my eyes pop! But then my back side might get chilled. Hmm. Oh! I can even put a Bumpit in my hair! It'll be sky-high, there's no way anyone will be able to ignore me. (If you don't think that I'm a complete freak by now, maybe you should go to a doctor. Just sayin'.)
But seriously, these are such dumb things. Useful in some way, but they act like it's the best thing since sliced bread. We had it coming.
And if you were offended by this, I really don't understand it. We have a right to be made fun of! Everyone gets made fun of. Gays, whites, blacks, Americans, Canadians, vegetarians, athiests, menonites, everyone. Why should we get left out?
There is no way that we can live in a society where Christians are the way they are, and where we can sell anything. There is always someone who will buy into it.
I have to say, they did a good job. Usually, in infomercials, they take something that never had anything wrong with it to begin with, and try to fix it. We all know it's not gonna work! "Since I got preblessed food, ain't nothin' changed!" Exactly. It's quite a unique idea though. Having people buying food, praying over it, and putting it back on shelves. Well done. Now, we have all seen black people praising God. It's just awesome! (I'm not being racist, I call myself white, because me skin is white. Vice versa.) I love their voices, the way they get into it, they are probably some of the coolest people I have ever seen. And you know what? They get made fun of too! I had to laugh so hard at that part, "If you don't want a white guy praying over your food, we've got that too!" It's so ridiculous, it has to be funny. Then, you find these people who are so busy with work and watching tv, that praying is just too much of a hassle. Honestly, this is what we've come to guys. We get so caught up in worldly things that we push God back another step. This is a wake up call, right now. "Inside of every package of pre-blessed food, is 2 tickets to heaven!" I laughed so hard! But have we really come to this? It's like Monopoly, get out of jail free card. It's ridiculous. This "sharing them with your friends and family" thing, should be something we already do! Your ticket to heaven is Jesus Christ. And you can share him with all the people in the world and you'll never run out!
I love Julian Smith. He is hilarious. I don't know where this guy comes up with his ideas, but I think it's great. Watch some more of his videos, you will pee yourself, guaranteed! www.juliansmith.tv
God bless,
Ariel

Lion of God

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today
Is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips
Then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle.
That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
-What If I Stumble by DC Talk
Is this you? Does this statement apply to you? I read this a couple days ago, and I couldn't get over the boldness and the truthfulness in it. Have you ever thought about it in this way? Someone once said to me, "Well, I'm Christian, just not all the way Christian." There is no in between with God!!! In Revelation it says "So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." You're not supposed to be on the fence about God! That's not what he wants. Either you're all for him or all against him. Not somewhere in the middle, because there, you can't really serve him. Maybe I'm completely off with this, and please correct me if I am, but this is what I get out of it. I'm tired of Sunday-Morning-Christians. It sickens me. Am I perfect? No way!!! But I know for a fact I am not a Sunday-Morning-Christian. I spend time with God every day. I try my hardest to build him into my school lifestyle. I try my hardest to live as Jesus lived. Jesus is my role model, no one else. Why? Because he was perfect. Not one flaw. All humans have flaws, but not Jesus. That's why he's the perfect role model. He never messed up. These people I know, they come to church on Sunday, but in church they're still texting and swearing. They leave, they use God's name in vain, they swear, they're disrespectful, they talk dirty, I hate that! And you know what? So does God. I know that for a fact. You think that if you say you believe in God with your mouth, it's all good, you don't have to do anything else. You know what I've learned? Living for God will make your life so hard, BUT it will fulfill you, it will give you life, it will fill you with joy, you will live the best life possible because you will be following God's plan! "The Lord has taught me a hard lesson, but he did not let me die." Psalm 118:18. That right there says that you will go through hard times. Some people commit themselves to Christ and think it's smooth sailing from then on. No way, not even maybe. It's hard. But when you have God on your side, he'll make everything work out. I've always felt like a mistake because my parents had me when they weren't married and when they were very young. But I've realized through the help of some amazing people that, yes, humans make mistakes, but God can take those mistakes and make them work for his good. He took this broken situation and made a beautiful masterpiece. I'm not a mistake. God makes no mistakes. If he didn't intend for me to be here, I wouldn't be on this earth right now. His timing is perfect. No doubt. He knew what I was going to do. He knew that I could help change this world. He knew that I could impact people. He knows. I used to hate my name, just because. I never liked it all throughout grade school and middle school. Now, I love it. I believe that God specifically chose my name for me. Lion of God. That's the meaning of my name. There is no doubt in my mind that God knew that I would serve him with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. When I think of a lion, I think of ferocious, ready to fight, ready to defend, never gives up, protects her cubs. I'm ready to fight. I'm not gonna stop! Now that I'm in this war, I'm going to fight it to the end. And in the end, when I die, I get to live on forever with my daddy in heaven. How could you ever lose this fight?? Your mortality doesn't mean you have to die.

I Killed Jesus

You know, sometimes I feel like I'm stealing people's words, their ideas. I know for a fact that everything I've posted on here is not something I thought up all by myself. I'm not that smart. Some of it is my own, but lots of it I learned from other people. When I hear something that I think is so true, or that I like, or that I think other people need to know, I tell people. I'm usually very eager to tell people. But then again, we all know how Jesus saved us, the incredible way that he saved us, but many of us are very reluctant to tell people. If you find a new song, or get a new makeup set, or get a new video game, or hear a cool story, you text your friends right aways. So why don't we do it with Jesus? Don't get me wrong, I'm the same way. I'm a very shy person, I get embarrassed very easily, by the stupidest things too. But I'm really trying to fight this.

I got 6 new tshirts from http://www.c28.com/. Very, very cool site, check it out. It's a ministry first, store second. They have a "Need Jesus?" tab that I think is so awesome, they have a forum, prayer requests, you make friends very quickly on there. And the awesome thing is, they're all willing to talk to you. No one hesitates. Everyone is friends. I want it to be like that in the community, in real life. Not just online. Yeah, it's gonna be hard, but won't it be worth it? I wish there were no cliques. I wish that everyone could just be friends with everyone, talk to everyone, even just a simple, "How's it going?" every now and again. Anyways, back to C28. These are the shirts I got.

I wore the "I killed Jesus" shirt to church today. I was kind of disappointed, I only got stopped a few times. But those few times were just awesome! I want people to question that shirt!! It's such a bold statement, but it is true. And the first thing that you see is, white on black, I killed Jesus. I love it. But really, we all killed Jesus. If you have ever sinned, which we all have, you killed him. He died for our sins, we all sinned, we all killed him. This is a sensitive truth for some people, which I really don't get. I love that Jesus loved us so much, in all our imperfectness, that he died for us. I honestly don't know how someone as perfect as he is could stand us humans. We screw up so bad. I mean, I have a hard time handling people! They irritate me to no end! And Jesus came from heaven, where everything is perfect, to be with us. Incredible man. He came to this imperfect world, where people were so ignorant towards him, and he saved us. He showed mercy to us when all people gave to him was hate. I love him so much. So much.

God bless,

Ariel

Picture This

Something that I have recently learned is that God really knows what he's doing. He knows what's going to happen before it happens. If he thinks that something won't do you any good, or will hurt you too deeply, or will cause you severe pain (emotionally, physically, spiritually), he won't let you go through it. He's got our backs. As humans, we don't realize that. We're too quick to act when something bad happens. We think of the worst. Something that I'm really trying to do is, when bad times hit, as they always will, I want to think of the good times. My big sister, Jenny, told me to think about this past year. Not the bad times, but all the amazing things God did in my heart, all the amazing people I met at camp, all the amazing kids I got to influence. This is what makes life worth living. And she is so right. I don't think, actually, scratch that; I KNOW that God never makes mistakes. It's us that make mistakes. We make mistakes, but God doesn't look at those mistakes how humans do. Humans have very closed minds. God looks at something that was done and says, look at what I can do with this, look at what I can make happen because of this. He can take something that is completely broken and make a master piece out of it. How amazing is that? I've noticed that we also care too much about things on this earth. Like, if someone drops their iPod and it breaks, they get so angry because now they can't use it. But, in the back of our minds, we knew that it wasn't going to last our whole lives anyways. I once heard that someone was at a restaurant and he had his iPhone on the table. The waitress accidentally knocked it off of the table and it broke. She apologized, she was so sorry. His reply, "It's not my treasure." This is how we should all view things. I love that perspective. But it's a very hard mind set to get into.
Another thing I've been thinking about: Mary, Jesus' earthly mother. How awesome would that be?? Picture this, you and your boyfriend are engaged, you've stayed pure, you love God, and all of a sudden something's weird, you take a pregnancy test and it says Pregnant,  but it's impossible, you've never had sex. God tells you that you are pregnant with his son, he's trusting you with his son from heaven, to raise him and to love him, to take care of him and to trust in God. How crazy is that?! I would give up everything to be in Mary's place! To have the son of God inside of you, to give him life, to love him and raise him and watch him grow up to be this amazing man, King. I can't even imagine. It would be so incredible. Even just being one of Jesus' friends. Seeing him at work. I think we can still be his friends and see him at work. I am and I have. It's incredible and I wouldn't trade it for the world. God is good.
God bless,
Ariel

Hear The Sound

Okay, so in the next two weeks, without my facebook addiction, I will probably be writing quite a bit. I need your prayers guys, seriously. It is an addiction! And I'm starting to think that facebook mobile was created by the devil himself, that is what got me so hooked. This is how often I used to go on facebook: when I woke up, at every break at school, at least 5 times at lunch, after school, go on for an hour in the evening on the computer, on every commercial break while watching tv, sometimes during the tv show, once every half hour from 9 to 11 then usually from 11-11:30. This first day without it has been torture. Yes, I realize how pathetic this sounds. But you don't know how pathetic I feel. This is such a useless thing and all I've thought about all day is how I can't go on it. It doesn't help that I get a bunch of emails from facebook. Stupid technology. Although, there are pros to facebook. I have friends in so many places, some who I only get to see once or twice a year, and it's so awesome to keep in contact with them. If it weren't for facebook, I would definitely not have so many people knowing about my blog, and I love that people are reading what I have to say and getting the Good News all at the same time! I can post bible verses as status's on facebook, and that is always a good thing. Plus I love seeing what people are up to. So, yes, facebook is both a good and bad thing. Maybe it will be like what people say for smokers who are quiting, once you get past the 3 day hump, you can get through the rest? Here's to hoping. Pray for me, please! This is terrible, and I can't help but laugh at my own pain. Oh boy.
I've been thinking a lot about YC Manitoba!!!! We got the list of guests recently and I am just so pumped. I could barely sit still! Bluetree, Unhindered, EPO, Disciple (eep!!), Panic Squad, Remedy Drive, Matt Tapley and Duffy Robbins. I AM SO EXCITED!! Alright, so let me explain. Bluetree was the praise and worship group last year. SO GOOD!! Plus they're Irish, so that never hurts (hehe). Unhindered is a group that I am just discovering now, but they sound like kind of a rock-ish praise and worship group. Sweet stuff. EPO sounds like a really cool organization. They're a variety of urban artists (ex: rap artists, dancers, breakers and dj's) they also use a bunch of different forms of expression, like hip hop, street, funk, graffiti, etc. "Epo" is basically "hope" backwards. They're trying to bring in people who have a backwards view of hope, to view it the right way. So cool. Disciple. Oh man! I am so pumped for this! I've just started listening to them, and they are just fantastic! I really encourage you to listen to their song Dear X, so good! Panic Squad, these guys are just the best. Improv comedy group. Christian. Goof balls. What more can I say?? They are so much fun! Remedy Drive, also a band I am just tuning in to. Matt Tapley and Duffy Robbins are two guys that I have never heard speak, but I always love hearing new speakers! It's gonna be a good year!! The theme this year is "Hear the Sound". Fasten your seat belts! That's all I gotta say.
Last year was my first year and it was just amazing. So many good memories. Thousand Foot Krutch, Manafest, Rapture Ruckus, Bluetree, Preston Centuolo, The Panic Squad, Amanda Falk, so many amazing people, how could you go wrong?!
Anyways, I'm just so pumped for this. I think that you guys should come out for it, it's gonna be a party!
God bless!
Ariel

Foreign

First of all, we all need to watch our mouths. Really. I have people coming to me and telling me what is and isn't right. What I'm doing wrong. How I'm not acting like Christ. How they know more about Him because they've been alive longer. I'm not going to stand for that. I don't compare my faith to anyone else's. My walk with God is mine only.
I am me. God made me how he wanted me. I am changing and will forever change to be more like Jesus. That's what I want. I never want to stop learning. I never want to stop growing. I hate it when people attack me, but that's going to happen. It clearly states it in the bible. Matthew 5:3-12:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
I love that verse.
If you're going to tell me something about God or heaven or anything relating to that, I want to know where you're getting it from. I want you to tell me where in the bible you found this so that I can read it for myself. If you give me a verse, I'll read the entire chapter. Why? Because many times, one verse can be misinterpreted.
Another thing that's bothering me is how we treat other people. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are supposed to treat people with love. Love your enemies. Love your neighbor as yourself. LOVE is one of the most stressed things in the bible. Was America not created with Christian beliefs? Yet look at how they treated the Natives. It makes me sad. They were there first but they got kicked off of their land. It's not right. In American History class we watched a movie called Dances with Wolves. I really wasn't into it in the first half hour, but the next class I got so into it. This white man decides to approach the Native camp. He finds a girl who hurt herself and brought her back to them, and they were very defensive at first. But soon enough, they became friends. They tried to communicate. They shared their goods, they didn't need to fight. Because one man reached out his hand in love. What if everyone did that? Actually, the camp has a really good relationship with the Native reserve that had the Mission Point land before us. We were told that they said that we've always treated them different, better than anyone else. I love that. That we can show them that love. To show them that we're not bad people. I just don't get why people have to treat people of different nationalities poorly. In our town, it's the Germans that are treated like the Natives in a way. No, they weren't here first, but same idea. And no, I am not being racist. They are from Germany, I call them Germans. That's where they're from. Just like Canadians. We are from Canada, therefore, Canadians. Same idea. They are treated so poorly. Of course I get annoyed with them too. Here's my view point. I think that they should speak English as much as possible. Just like if I went to France, if I didn't know French (which I don't) I would try to learn it, and use it as much as possible. I don't want them to lose their first language, but I don't like not knowing if they're talking about me or not. It makes me feel very insecure, and it annoys me a great amount. I think that if they would have had different attitudes, they would have been treated better. To us, it seems like they come into our school acting like they own it and they're better than everyone else. That's not cool and no one's going to take that from anyone. I feel bad, because they've been isolated to only be friends with other people from Germany. There are very few that are friends with Canadian people. I wish that we could all be friends, but that's not the world we live in. I'm going to make a real effort to treat them with love. I don't want to have a bad relationship with them. Why would I want that?? "Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt."-Exodus 22:21. "Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt."-Exodus 23:9. "And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt."-Deuteronomy 10:19. There's your biblical proof.
I had a devotion last night about how God gives you everything that is good in your life, but what if that good thing becomes more important in your life than He is? So, I am cutting facebook out of my life for 2 weeks. I'm not telling you this to get praise, because I don't want it at all. I'm telling you so that you can pray for me. Facebook has become such a big addiction. I have it on my phone so I check it every commercial break. Sometimes even during the show. When I get bored, I go on facebook. When I do devos or read my bible, I have the urge to go on facebook. It's become unhealthy and it needs to stop. Please pray that I'll desire God so much and be on fire for him and have no temptation or urge to go on facebook.
God bless,
Ariel

Camp Family

I have confidence issues. People have told me that I seem so confident, but let me tell you right now, that is the fakest show I put on. I was so pumped up for the WBC Staff Retreat that happened from Monday to Wednesday this week, I was so excited to see everyone, and then I psyched myself out of going. I scared myself so bad. I have never regretted one thing in my life, even the worst, but not going to this staff retreat has been the first thing on my list of regrets. Because I know who these people are. I know how loving they are, how much they care about me, how they don't care how I look, how they look past everything on the outside and really get to the inside. These people are the most incredible people I have ever met in my life, and I was scared to be with them. I don't understand why. I just cannot wrap my mind around it.
I was texting my friend Kym and she asked if I was coming to the praise and worship night tonight, so I decided, you know what, I'm going to go, even for this small time. I got my rides together (which was harder to do than it should have been) and off we went. In the car on the way there I was incredibly nervous. I was shaking and I had a knot in my stomach. Don't ask me why, this sounds just as insane to you as it does to me.
I walked in and Katie saw me and waved, she looked so happy to see me! That definitely calmed my nerves quite a bit. Then Kym saw me and hugged me, then I sat with Katie and we hugged. I felt so welcome. Then we moved all the chairs so we could have open space to sing and worship God. I went to find some friends again and felt a tug on my sweater, I tried to look back but suddenly got tackled by a different gasping person. Best "Welcome" ever!!! It made me so happy! We sang for about an hour and then we shared. Some of the things that were said were just awesome. I love sharing time.
I had the brilliant idea to go up and share. I talked about my half sister that I found out about a little while ago. And I feel like I did a terrible job and really didn't get my point across because I heard my voice start to shake and then completely lost my train of thought, so here you go:
I found out about my half sister on Boxing Day. It came as a total shock to me because she's a year older than me. My parents thought I had remembered her from when we were little. Nope. I went through every single emotion the human body has ever experienced in the 24 hours following. It was a crazy time. Some friends were there for me, some weren't. I kept questioning God, why didn't I find this out years ago?? Why do I only know now? Somehow, I just know that this is what He wanted. God's timing is perfect. I know that this is what he wanted, no doubt about it. I met her on January 1st and we had a really good time. I already love her!! I've always felt like a mistake because my mom had me when she was really young. But now, I find myself wondering if she ever felt the same way. My thoughts are different now. I think that's a good thing. I'm pretty sure that God got fed up with me calling myself a mistake all the time too...
Also, in the very early morning on January 1st, I was spending time with God. I felt this overwhelming sense that this year was going to be different. That everything was going to be okay. And I still feel that way, and I rely on that. God is good.
Anyways, I really really love you guys. I love you for who you are, for caring about me, for loving me, and for never giving up on me! I'm praying for you and I love you so so much!!!
I will never ever forget the love that I feel from my camp family. Because that's what you are; you're my family. You truly do show God's love.
God bless!!
Ariel

Truth

"I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born."-Ronald Reagan
This statement is so bold and so true. I could have easily been aborted. My mom got pregnant with me at 17 years old. That was definitely a possibility. I think that there's more of a chance for a teenager to have an abortion than an adult. When you aren't married and have no job and aren't emotionally stable and aren't an adult yet, I get that it's scary. But I also think that you have no right to decide if another human being gets to have life or not. If you think that you are mature enough to have sex, then you also think that you are mature enough to be a parent, because that's what sex is meant for, to create life. It's also meant for married people, not teenagers, just saying. If you don't want to keep that baby, then give it up for adoption. Some people say that they don't want to put their bodies through pregnancy and whatever other excuse you can find. If you are willing to put your body through sex, again, you know full well that pregnancy is a possibility. There are people out there, married, so in love, so good with kids and who have the desire for children who aren't able to conceive a child. That makes me so sad. Especially because young people are just in it for the pleasure, not thinking about the after math.
Abortion is murder. It is killing a human being. End of story. I think that a "morning after pill" is different. Why? Because the baby has not yet been conceived. It's different killing a baby (abortion) and destroying the possibility of there ever being a baby. It's time to wake up at realize what we are doing, to take responsibility for our actions.

People often say that there's no "proof" of God. He's not a "proven fact". That makes me sick. Have you ever noticed that a large percent of science is based on theory? Not fact, theory. Yet people are still trying to tell me that God does not exist. There's no proof so they simply can't believe in him. You want proof? Here's your proof:
At a youth retreat, the youth pastor had a vision while praying. He went to the front and said he saw that there was someone here who had a condition where one of their legs were longer than the other. He asked them to raise their hand. Two girls, sisters, raised their hands. They came up to the front and sat down, putting their legs in front of them so that he could see the difference, and he did. He asked the guest speaker and his girlfriend to come to the front and pray over them with him. It was a very powerful time. They prayed over these girls and they just started crying. There was no more pain from this condition. They could feel their legs grow. They are healed by the grace of God! If that's not proof enough, how about this:
I was at Mission Point with the WBC LDP group. We went on our cross walk. Basically, we heard the crucifixion story from a different point of view, we wrote something on a piece of paper that we wanted to give to God and nailed it to the cross, and we went outside and carried the cross around the island. This is just the short of what happened, it was so much more powerful than I can ever explain. We had been outside for just a couple minutes. It started thundering and lightning and raining. I looked around me, at the water, the trees, the grass, the sky, it was all so beautiful. I was praying, and every time I would finish a thought, it would thunder. So I said, "Okay God, if you're really hearing me, if you're really there, make it thunder, right now." And it thundered the biggest clap of thunder yet. Right then. Do you still need more? How about this:
Look around you. In Winter, look at the snow falling from the sky, resting on the ground. In summer, look at the grass, the water, the trees, the animals, the rain, the thunder, the sky. In spring, look at the flowers growing, the birds coming back, the atmosphere changing. In Fall, look at the leaves, changing colours, feel the crisp air. In every season we see God. When you look at that, how can you not believe in God? I just don't understand it. After looking at the nature, at how beautiful God made everything, there's no way that I could ever say that he does not exist. No way. Look at a new born baby, taking it's first breath, first sound, first smile, first laugh, first word, first steps, when you see that baby for the first time, how could you not thank God for that precious little human being? I don't understand. Look at all the miracles that are performed and how everything always seems to work out in the end and some of the things that people are capable of doing, how could you not believe in this almighty God??? Please explain this to me, because I just don't get it.
Okay, so this whole big 2012 scare is getting really old. Movies, songs, superstitions. When will it end?? (This could be taken as a pun, but it's not meant to be, just so you know...)  First of all, people don't get to decide when the world will end. Maybe it will end in 2012, who knows. But we can't say when it will. No one knows. Only God knows, so can we please give it a rest? Unless it's God's will, we're not gonna die in 2012, so please stop talking about it. It's getting very annoying.
God bless,
Ariel