180 Turn

Have you ever compared Adolf Hitler and abortion doctors? Have you ever compared the Holocaust and abortion? Before seeing the 180 Movie, I hadn't either. But wow, you guys, are they ever alike.
Abortion is murder. A baby in the womb has a heart beat. It has eyes. It has a body. Your mother could have aborted you, but she didn't. Would you have said that it was okay if you were the one who was murdered before you even got the chance to live? You might be thinking, well, I can't do anything to stop abortion. You're right, you, alone, probably can't. Just like a toothpick, with one tiny bend will break. But if we stand together and fight abortion, we'll be unstoppable. If you've ever taken a hand full of toothpicks and tried to snap them, it doesn't work all that great. We can come together as one and stop this horrible crime. Why is murder illegal but the killing of an unborn baby is somehow okay? Wake up, people!
Go to 180movie.com or http://www.youtube.com/watchv=7y2KsU_dhwI&feature=BFa&list=SPF7A795CE0A9857FE&lf=list_related
to watch. Let's start a chain reaction!
My mom could have easily gotten an abortion. She was 17. She was still in school. Not married. Her parents would've been disappointed. She could have killed me and gone on living her life like it was normal. She could've gotten married and then decided to have kids. I wouldn't have disrupted her life. But she chose to have me. Nothing in my life, none of my circumstances should have ever ended up in me following God. It makes no sense. But God wanted me. He fought for me. That's why I'm alive today, because he loves me, he has a plan for me, and he's not giving up on me. If I would've been aborted, I would've never had the chance to be on fire for God in this little ol' town of mine and make a difference. There are not many teenagers here with anywhere near the passion and drive I have for God, and I want to change that.
Guys, we have to put an end to this horror. Step up! If you, as one person, is added to the number of people fighting abortion, we will have a chain reaction and abortion will be put to a stop.
Now, if you've had an abortion, you know what? Your Daddy still loves you. He's waiting there with open arms for you to come to him with your burdens, your fears, your tears, your heart ache. There's hope. You are a living testimony!! Don't let your life be wasted. Live. Live while you're alive. You were given the chance to.
http://soundcloud.com/dko528/momma-do-you-hear-me-1
God bless you guys,
Ariel

Untouchable

I got my tragus pierced. Yupp.

Actually hurts less than a cartilige piercing.
But you can definitely hear the cartilige breaking. :)

Ha, I am just in an "untouchable" mood. I knew that people were going to be...unimpressed with me for getting another piercing, and I knew that it would probably hurt like no tomorrow (although it didn't), but you know what? I took a jump. I have to learn to do that more often. Now, this was a very small, unimportant jump, (it's jewelry, c'mon!) but nonetheless, I took a jump. I decided that I couldn't care less what anyone thinks of me!
Since school started, I have learned to love my spare. It's right in between 2 classes, so I can't stay home and sleep, and I can't go home early. Well, I have a tiny little bible in a metal case (that I love!) that I carry in my purse. So, what did I decide to do on my first spare? TAWG! (Time Alone With God). It was fantastic. I just feel so much more awake and joyful and ready to tackle the day when I spend time with God at times other than before bed. And the great thing is that I have students and teachers walking by me every now and again, and that's a door opened to me, a seed planted. I have teachers that I know for a fact aren't Christian. One of them walked by me, and I totally wasn't expecting him to because he's on a completely different floor, but he said that he liked my book cover, and that he was assuming it was a bible. Little things like that just make my day! Bam! Open door. Now, my history teachers going to be a harder door to open. I have a binder with pictures and verses on it, so he comes and sees pictures, picks up the binder, I'm assuming the first thing he read was the verse, he put the binder down and walked away without saying a word. My first thought: Oooh, this is gonna be a fun year! Ha, oh man, he walks by me reading my bible, not a comment. And friends have told me stories from the past that just show that he gets so ticked off at any belief in Christianity. Like I said, this is gonna be a good year. Prayer is a powerful thing! Something will happen, I'm sure of it. God wants as many people to come to him as possible, so why wouldn't he open a door for that to happen? I have full faith that God can completely change someone's heart and views. God willing.
I was called a "Bible Thumper" the other day by a friend, but she said that it "suited" me. This was like a punch to the gut. I hate labels. I love this friend dearly, don't get me wrong, it wouldn't have mattered who would've said this. My confidence just shattered. I went into school just on fire with confidence, and that confidence definitely shattered from that. But then I was reading my bible, and verse after verse says you will be called names, you will be persecuted for following Me.
Luke 6:22-23 "People will hate you, shut you out, insult you and say you are evil because you follow the Son of Man. But when they do, you will be blessed. Be full of joy at that time, because you have a great reward in heaven."
John 15:18-19 "If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of this world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you."
And then there's my friends who just continue to uplift me in everything. One of them told me this: "I just wanted to tell you that you DO have a label. You are a daughter of the most High one and only God!" And another one said this: " I was called a Bible thumper when I was in high school, now those same people say they really looked up to me because I stood for my faith." And Jesus was just giving me thing after thing to rebuild my confidence. Praise God! He is forever good. You know what? In this world we will be persecuted, we will have trouble, but take heart, because God has overcome the world!!!
So, again, as I have said before, I really don't care what anyone thinks of me! I have an audience of one, and that is God. He knows my heart, he can judge me, so I really don't care what you think. As long as I'm pleasing him, I'm good. Galatians 1:10 "Do you think I am trying to make people accept me? No, God is the one I am trying to please. Am I trying to please people? If I still wanted to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ." Amen.
Love y'all dearly, but I don't care what you think of me. :) "I won't bow down even if the whole world thinks I'm crazy!"-Hey Hey by Superchick
God bless!!
Ariel

Look Deeper

I've said it before and I'll say it again: die religion die. It needs to be gone. Religion is nothing but a bunch of man-made rules, not God made, man-made. I'm so tired of people telling me what I can and cannot do because "God wouldn't like that" when really, that's just their opinions on what God would or wouldn't like. Stop putting words in God's mouth. We can't do that. I don't do that, and if I do, then call me on it! I go back to the bible, every time. I had an argument about music with one of my friends on facebook a while ago, and I proved everything I said with Biblical evidence, this other guy comes in, he said what God "would say" but never gave biblical back up. And quite honestly, what he said was delusional and he was justifying his actions. He was putting words in God's mouth to suit him and the way he wanted to live his life. Not okay. I'm not saying this to beat up on this guy, that's none of my business. I told this story because I want so badly for you guys to get that we can't  make up our own truths. Bible Gateway is an awesome resource to find verses quickly for whatever situation, or Google! Whatever! Just back yourself up, and keep your opinions out of it. In fact, as a person who is following God and has given their life over to him, your opinions should line up with the truth that is God breathed in the bible because that's what God says and that is what you believe.
If you're just going to church on Sundays, reading your bible and praying once a week, that doesn't make you a Christian. "Going to church on Sundays doesn't make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car." Being a Christian is a relationship. If you went to school and your best friend didn't talk to you for a week, would you think that they still wanted to be your best friend? No. Why? Because they weren't saying hi in the halls, they weren't telling you stories about their day, they weren't even asking for help with their homework. Why do we think that God's any different? If you don't talk to him, there's no relationship growing. How do you think we get closer to people? We talk. How do we get closer to God? We talk. Simple as that. Last night I was talking to God as if he was right there on the couch beside me. It was awesome!
Just look inside yourself, do you have a relationship, or do you have religion?
God bless,
Ariel

Blow Your Mind

How impossible is this earth? It's absolutely impossible! There is nothing naturally possible about it. I hear people talking about evolution and how they believe that everything evolved into what it is now. Or another one of my favorites, the Big Bang Theory (good show, by the way, besides their purely idiotic so called "truths").
Look at one of the key points of evolution: monkeys evolved into humans. Not possible. Why? Because there's still monkeys on this earth, so why aren't they evolving still? And better yet, why are there still monkeys on this earth? Shouldn't they all have evolved into humans by now? Missing links. If there's a missing link, there's no way I would count it as truth, because it's not.
I just find this world so amazing. And so impossible. It's incredible because everything you look at points to God. Nothing on this earth is even possible without him. Like a tree. So, you take this tiny little seed, as small as a pea, and out of this tiny little seed grows this gigantic tree? It just shouldn't work! There is no possible way! All the bark and leaves and roots and everything that this tree has built into it so that it can survive...wow. That is just incredible to me, I don't know about you, but that just blows my mind.

Do you see the tiny little seed?

That tiny little seed turned into this beast! How in the world...? :)

Another thing I find just so mind blowing is how far in advance God plans things. Bare with me and actually read all this, because it will blow your mind, I promise. (I got all the years from my bible and did all the approximate math.) In Psalm 34:20 it says, "He will protect their very bones; not one of them will be broken." This was probably written around 1400 B.C. Jesus was born around 50 A.D. That's over a thousand years difference, from when  this was prophesied to when Jesus was born. It probably would have been about 1500 years after that Jesus was crucified. So, well over 1000 years before Jesus was born, they said that not a bone in his body would be broken, then Jesus gets crucified, and guess what?! Not a bone in his body was broken. Fifteen thousand years, baby. When they crucified people, they nailed them to the cross in their wrists. At the beginning of all creation, when God created man, he gave us two bones in our forearm, with a gap in the middle. He did this at the beginning of creation so that at least 2000 years later (I couldn't figure out the actual timeline because a) I'm exhausted and b) I didn't trust any of the internet sources, so if you can give me the actual timeline and reliable proof, it would be appreciated :) ) when Jesus was crucified not one of his bones would be broken because the nail would go in between the 2 bones put in our arm at the beginning of time so that the Bible would be 100% the truth. How freakin' awesome is that?!?! He plans things so far in advance that from the beginning of time he had Jesus' life planned out. So what does that mean for us? God planned out our life from the beginning of creation. He knew which family we'd be in, he knew who are friends would be, he knew who we'd marry, who our kids would be, what troubles we'd go through, and how many people we would reach through Him. What an amazing God we serve. I can't even understand his ways, not even maybe.
Or look at the human brain, or the human eye. Charles Darwin, an agnostic man who did believe in evolution to an extent said, "The suppose that the eye could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree." Here's a man who believes evolution saying that evolution is absurd. Bam. I've heard of so many evolutionists taking back their theories, and saying that it's impossible, but for some reason, people just keep milking it. Now, the brain. This blob of goop that controls our bodies, remembers everything, allows us to think and do everything. What??? How is that even anywhere close to possible?! It's not. Ha, the way that God has created everything is just so crazy, and only possible with him. I love it. The care and time that he took in making every single one of our bodies is just amazing.
Open your eyes, open your hearts. God's just waiting there, if you search for him, you will find him, guaranteed. Just try it, just this once. You won't be disappointed.

Blessings,
Ariel

Fire

Wow, it's over. Summer camp 2011 is over. I can't believe it. This summer has been a ride, that's for sure. I can't shake the feeling that last night I should've been at staff meeting, and this morning I should've been bringing kids to their cabins. But I'm not, and I didn't, because it's over. Wow.
WBC staff, I love you, with all my heart. I don't even have the words to describe what you mean to me. I look back at encouragement note after encouragement note, and I just think to myself, wow, how did I get blessed with this group of people? This group of people in Southern Manitoba, this group of people who are so out of the ordinary, that all some how ended up at Winkler Bible Camp. How does that even work?!?! There's so much junk out there in the world. As teenagers, we're expected to sleep all summer, to just lounge out, party, drink, swear, date person after person, and just not really care. And here I am, in the middle of over a hundred teenagers who've given up their summers to come to this camp and spread the word of Jesus to these kids; these teenagers who are willing to wake up early in the morning, work all day, and go to bed late; these teenagers who never turn down a request for help; these teenagers who are just on freakin' fire for God!!! I still how no idea how in the world I got put in this crazy place, but I love it. I love YOU! Man, you guys are just awesome. I love watching you serve, I love working with you, I love being around you! Don't let that fire die, throughout this school year, or whatever you're doing this year, please just rely on God in everything. Keep building that fire, it can never be too big!
In the song Hosanna, it says "I see a generation rising up to take their place, with selfless faith, with selfless faith." I proclaim that! And I know it's possible. Why? Because I saw it this summer in each and every one of the wonderful staff that I worked with. We are that generation.
I love you all! Please, please keep that fire burning!
Blessings,
Ariel

Alarm The Alarm

Wow, Satan is attacking hard this weekend. I get home, and my mom tells me that I have to clean my room before I can go see my auntie or anyone for that matter. I tend to snap at the littlest things lately. I just got so mad. I went up to my room, and man were the tears trying to make their way out. It wasn't just that though, it was also my week. Satan has been pushing hard on me for the past week.
My girls, intermediates age 12-13 just didn't seem to want to get into God. They were great girls otherwise, at activities and stuff, but when it came to Bible Break and Cabin Sharing, they just didn't care...at all. I was so discouraged on Thursday, I went and talked to my sister and the tears were just poking at my eyes...it was horrible! She prayed for me and I went back to my girls. For devo's we were gonna do a Beauty/Boy talk, we got finished the beauty talk, and the girls had questions about some of the verse I had read, but not about the beauty part of it, about the God part of it. We veered completely off the topic of beauty and they just had so many awesome questions about God and who he is. I was so happy!!! We went to bed around 11:30, and I remember looking at the time after I did this, 11:47, I'm pretty sure I accidentally giggled out loud because I was thinking about the events of that evening. So funny. I woke up at 6:30 just giddy. Man, God was so present! Then on Friday, Bible Break is usually around half an hour; our Bible Break lasted an hour and a half! Woo! It was fantastic!!! Ha :) I love the way God works. I'm just so happy that these girls got to experience God and that this week wasn't just a wasted effort.
So yeah, with the frustrations of the week, I got home and just got even more frustrated. My feelings throughout the summer have just built up higher and higher until the point when, yesterday, I just broke down. I cried like never before, and cried out to God like never before. I remember one thing that triggered it was facebook. I go on facebook and see all these people's status...wow. I just wish they would experience God and that it would change their lives forever. The holy spirit works in mysterious ways...who knows what will happen :)
This week/weekend has just been a crazy mix of every emotion, I look forward to my final week at camp. Please keep me in your prayers.
Blessings,
Ariel

Break Free

The one thing I always wish is that the whole world could have a camp atmosphere. To just be able to praise, to be able to break off the chains, to just worship Jesus! This weekend is probably the most I've hung out with any of my friends. I went to the These Kids Wear Crowns concert on Friday for my friend's birthday party. I'm happy that she had such a good time, but it was really heart breaking for me, to be honest. First off, what is the point to concerts with no meaning? I'm going to see Starfield tonight. There's a point to that: to worship God. But TKWC are purely entertainment. And for them being purely entertainment, I was bored. Not to mention I was half asleep for the whole thing (remind me not to go out on Friday nights anymore). I saw another one of my friends at the concert, and we freaked out and hugged. She was with one of her guy friends who you could tell by the way he acted towards me that he flirts with every single girl he meets. So, I was hanging out with these friends and it was so sickeningly worldly. The were smoking, swearing, threatening to kill people (dramatic much?). It made me so sad. So sad. For me, I know why if someone spread a rumor about me I would treat them with love. Sandals of peace. That's what we're called to wear. But for these people who don't have God in their life, and see no reason to have him in their lives, what are we supposed to do? What reason do they have to treat anyone with love? What reason do they have to do anything good? Nothing at all. And if they don't believe in God and don't want a relationship with him, then what can I do? I don't know. I'm so lost, I'm so broken.
I started thinking this week about different religions. Like Buddhism or Hindu or whatever else there is out there. It just breaks my heart because I don't know what I can do!!! I just want to do something! Do they really think that Buddha is real? Do they really think that he could ever love you or do anything for you? If this is their truth, and if they believe it with their whole heart, then how can we show them the real truth? Say someone believed in Buddha like I believe in God. My faith in God is unshaking, and you can't do anything to move me. I know that God is real. I've had my fair share of proof. But what if someone is set on Buddha? Then what? What am I supposed to do????? I just want so badly for these people to be shown the truth. God is good, he'll show himself to anyone who wants him, I believe that full well.
I'm realizing very quickly how I do not want to keep my faith a secret because if I keep it a secret, then I'm basically allowing the people around me to go to Hell. If they don't follow God, and I even try to do anything, then what good am I on this earth? I'm not going to go and scream in people's faces, "YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW GOD OR YOU'LL GO TO HELL!!!!!" No, but I will live my life how God wants me to, and I will be evident and bold about my faith. I want so badly to see the people in my town, in my school, break free from their chains. If God will use me and let me be even a little part in this, I am truly blessed.
God is good.
Blessings,
Ariel