Hey, Let's Go

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

For me, I don't show much emotion. And right now as I'm writing, tears of happiness and over whelming emotion built up from a year of prayer are flowing like a river. The best part is- all I did was submit a Summer Project application.

For two years God has had it on my heart that I would go into ministry at some point in my life with Native Americans. For one year God has put on my heart the Nations Montana: Blackfeet Indian Reservation Summer Project. He’s made it clear that it’s this summer I need to experience something significant on my own. Not with people I live with or have grown up with, but with strangers in a new place experiencing something so rich.  I'm content with the thought of being gone for five weeks on a Bison Ranch, hiking, and loving on the Blackfeet tribe. My heart is full, God has me in such a beautiful overwhelming state right now and it's awesome to feel his love. 

And I don't even know for sure if I'm going yet, I'm just happy; happy that I've taken the initiative against all reservations. Money will be no issue if I get accepted; God has really shown me that I need to trust in him with finances for not just the project, but life in general. That's hard to do when you've grown up knowing that money can be what hinders your goals aspirations.

I've recently read "Love Does" By Bob Goff for a second time and it gets me on an adventure kick every time. He doesn't let finances hinder him from doing what he loves. It's great, I want that mentality. And yes, money is always an issue, but I recently read an article that said something along the lines of this topic. It was "If I wait until I have enough money, I'll never go." It took me a few minutes to understand what the author was saying. Then it hit me: If I continue to spend my time living in fear of not being able to do something because of money then I'm doing exactly opposite of what God wants me to do. He tells us to "Go". And "Go" I will. Money works itself out, I've seen it happen dozens of times over.

My heart is full, and I believe that submitting that application is just the first step in not only partaking in the adventure of a lifetime, but a growing experience like no other. I’m excited to see what the Lord has in store for me this upcoming semester and summer.

If you are a college student looking for something to do this summer, go to gosummerproject.com and take a gander. You might find something that peaks your interest, and if you find yourself feeling called to one of the projects, apply for it. Don't let Satan pull you down because you don't know if you'd be able to raise the money, God will provide in one way or another.

Much love,

Tay

www.gosummerproject.com

Taking Time

First off I would like to say thanks to my readers! I have officially reached well over a thousand views!!

Which to me is pretty impressive!

Also, I want to make this post about what God is doing in my life right now.



Lately, I've recognized something about myself, that I've been continually telling myself is not true.

I struggle with HATE. HATE, is a "strong word, and we are not allowed to use", is what I grew up hearing over and over and over.
Yet to this day, I don't struggle with the use of the word (I just say "I strongly dislike") but the action of HATE.

I have my beef's and grudges, and I have been really effected by them even though I try my best to push them below the surface. It's become a real issue this summer as I've been trying to control my tongue around kids and adults. The Lord has really shown me what I need to work on in order to move on up in life. If I keep holding on to the things that affected me in the past, I will get nowhere. And that is exactly opposite of where I want to be.

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4: 4-7

All my life I have looked at these things as just "ADVICE" or "SUGGESTIONS" on how to live.

In reality, they are RULES. Which if you know me, I don't enjoy following the rules. But because I have seen enough and understand what would happen if I didn't just follow these rules, but act out on them, I would be miserable the rest of my life. I want people to be drawn to me so that they may know my Lord and Savior. I want them to see that my actions are not that of hate, but that of LOVE. I like to have a plan and I like to know what is going to happen next, God say's do not be anxious. Which means I need to work on that, so that I can do what he is calling me to do. 

With that my friends I leave you, wherever you are this summer, I hope y'all are doing well. 

Love from Colorado,

-Tay

What it's Like Being the Oldest Child: Uncensored-ish

After completing my first year of college and returning home to live with my family for the summer, it's been a rude awakening. 

And I mean RUDE. 

I'm the oldest of four, all of us are two years apart. So we're pretty similar in age, but also so very different at the same time.

Anyways, I have two sisters, whom take the SHARING thing, a little too seriously. I work with four year old's eight hours a day, SHARING is important, when it's okay. 

I come home everyday with some form of clothing dirty, when it had been clean and folded when I left at an ungodly hour. 

WHYYYYY. 

"Well it looked cute."

or.. 

"I didn't have anything to wear!" which translates to "I didn't want to wear my clothes because I'd have to dig them up from the floor."

or my favorite..

"It looks better on me!"

I've come to the conclusion that the only solution is this:

I'm going to put my name on EVERYTHING. I mean it. That way, they can't wear it. Let's be real, no one wants to be walking around with someone else's monogram and name. That's just STUPID. 

It's a real shame too, they have cuter clothes than me. But they feel the need to go out of their way and figure out what it takes to turn me red. 

Another gig that comes with being the oldest, a personal favorite, YOU'RE THE FIRST. 

The first to..

Ride a bike, go to school, graduate high school, go to college, first to go out on their own. 

Not to mention, I have red hair and freckles, it's not like I can hide in the background and get lost. I'm the first they notice, and the last they see. 

I did something terrible a few years ago at a conference, it was right before my senior year in high school. I was pretty much done with the self righteous, guitar playing, bible waving people interrogating me about my future. Thinking I could make a game out of it, I began telling people I was going to skip college and go right in to the bush. Or my favorite, I was saving to buy a sail boat, and planning to sail the world.

 It was fun for a while, then I began to run out of fun idea's. For a while I was going to go on an ancestral trek and make my way to Ireland to find my past and my future. I still wouldn't mind any of those anyways. 

But if you know me at all, you know I love my sister's to death. You'd also know that I love being the oldest, and I love being apart of the firsts.  

It's been great being back with the family for the summer and watching my younger sister's and brother grow up so much and so fast. That's my favorite, I get watch them grow. Whether it be height, age, or maturity, it's a great first. 

It's a fun gig, being the big kid. It's really scary when you begin to sound like your own parents, that's when you know. You know you've almost reached it. 

Adulthood. 

-Tay

last Thanksgiving, we're never serious. 

C o l o r a d o h e a r t

This summer I have had the opportunity to go out to Colorado for the summer to work in a Child Care position for Cru. This is a weird and unnatural term to those of you who don't know what that means. But it's okay, it still doesn't make much sense to us either.
When I began the summer I could not wait to get out of Florida. I'm always up for travel and change and can never wait to get out of town. Coming into this summer I had the wrong attitude the entire time. I wasn't happy about coming in the first place, but it was better than sitting in Tallahassee or Orlando. Terrible attitude right?
R i g h t . .

Whenever I do that though, God always has something up his sleeve. He has already showed me this is where I need to be for the summer. Regardless of how much I fight it. There's more in store, it's just a matter of time and prayer. It's going to be a great summer friends.

It's amazing what a few days of mountain air can do for the soul.

(Can we note this was taken while driving, and also how blue the sky is)

Today my mom and I adventured off to a local place called "Verns". It was delicious. 

Even though I got new shoes, I still went and got my toes wet in the Poudre river. 

 I'm super happy about my moms goodwill find. Finally rain boots :) 

It's amazing, Gods craftsmanship and how all these mountains are formed with such a majestic presence. 

Happy summer and safe travels,

- Tay 

To my Friends going on Project

Unfortunately, this is fantastically true. 

I found that picture on Pinterest the other day and sighed because it was very true for myself. All my friends are going on their summer adventures to all over the world, and its starting to hit me. From Africa to India to North Carolina, my friends are scattering themselves for the summer. Though I will be in Colorado playing with kids and hanging out in the mountains, it will still be hard knowing they are all far away from me. 

I find myself feeling like a mom who's about to have an empty nest, and the loneliness sinks in a little early. It's not like this is new, every summer this happens, but I manage. The best part is when they come back and share their stories of how God has changed their lives. Though I'm sad now, this is just the beginning of something wonderful. Changing lives is what we are meant to do, and to see my friends take the leap of faith to go out and do so is so very wonderful. Almost magical. It's great to see people change in such a short period of time. For the Lord they stick out their necks to do great things that he has called them to do. It's such an adventure in the making and I can't wait to see the out come. 

Prayer requests:

Please pray for my roommate Rileigh Puckett as she heads to India for the summer. She's excited for what the Lord has in store for her.

Please Pray for two of my good friends Anna Ellis and Danielle Dolson. Both of them will be on Summer Project with Cru in North Carolina. 

Please Pray for my dear friend Timo Dykes as he heads to South Africa to work as a leader on the MK2MK summer project for high school students. 

Please pray for safe travels and a great time.

"Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."- Matthew 28:19

I hope that my dear friends reading this are going to have the time of their lives. And the Lord truly shows them his love and mercy. I hope that they all come back willing to continue to serve the Lord and shine his light wherever they are. 

Love Always,

-Tay

Emotional Feed

Raise your hand if you are a frequent user of social media.

My hand is high. 

Studies show that women are more frequently using social media, checking it multiple times a day.

Hand is still up.

Why though? We use the social networks to keep in contact with people, that's for sure. But what else do we use it for? 

Easy.

We use them for acceptance, self assurance, and to place our emotional resumes out there for the world to like and comment on. 

( Disclaimer, this is my personal thought, no fingers are being pointed, I have done all of these things too on social networks) 

We have all posted a heartfelt status seeking comments and likes to reassure us we are good at the mushy stuff. 

Social media has created a term that is still not accepted by auto correct and dictionaries, "Selfies". A picture you've taken and posted of yourself, taken by yourself. Selfies have become very common and normal, I've even taken a few. But why do we feel the need to over edit and post multiple versions or multiple shots? And when we pick the one we want as our default what do we do?

We sit, and wait.

For comments, likes, approval and praise. 

My hand is still up, and getting very tired I might add. 

We may not of have noticed it, but we do find ourselves looking at who liked the photo or commented. It's in our nature to want to feel accepted and search for it. My sisters have fallen victim to it, and use it as a focus or pass time. When they should be worrying about their track records or yards in flag football. Not which filter to use or if the caption says what it needs to. 

To quote my Adolescent Development professor: " Teenagers have always looked for acceptance in others through appearance and accessibility to it. It's just in the last eight years social networks have enabled them to do it in a lazier way, but also harder." 

It is harder, you have to gain a following base, and get people to notice you. 

Really hard, and my hand is still up. 

Emotional Resume..

To quote someone on twitter:

"Its attractive when guys are good with kids."

You're so right. It is an attractive quality. It's also something every single woman wants in a man whether or not they want children. It's common knowledge. Along with "I want to be treated like a princess and be brought flowers." or the whole "I want a TUMBLR perfect relationship."

Pardon my french, but, what the H-E_DOUBLEHOCKEYSTICKS? Tumblr perfect is a thing? 

I honestly think I have lost brain cells searching Pinterest and Tumblr for information. Coming up empty handed other than seeing young teens embracing eachother in nicely edited photos. 

All those quotes above are prime examples of posting your emotional resume. Wanting a guy to fit the slots. You might as well pass out surveys and take the one that answers the questions most accurately. Honestly, not a bad idea. Just could end badly. 

I see it in all my news feeds. Whether its for friendship or relationships, people are using social networks to fill the void of what they want. Personally, if you want to make friends, or meet a nice guy/girl go out and get'er done. You don't need to publish to the world what you want or need. It's honestly degrading of yourself and the people who are trying to fill that void for you. 

I fell victim to it late middle school, but I soon realized that I don't need to use social networking to fill my void. It's destructive and potentially painful. 

Solution:

Think. Think before you speak, tweet, and post. It's hard I know. I don't always do it myself. I love seeing what my friends are up to, especially the ones I don't ever see. But what I hate is seeing what they want, or wining about how they don't get enough sleep. Internet Etiquette, let's make it a thing. 

Some people it's their only outlet, only way you know what's going on.  And to an extent that's fine. 

But for some people it does nothing but take them down. Yes you may get a ton of likes, but a majority are out of habit. 

Also a limit of five status's a week should be a thing. 

This is just some thought's I had, nothing to take to heart, and no offense intended. I'm not complaining, just observing. Loving and wanting everyone to understand I love them. You should go to people before you go to the internet for therapy. 

What do y'all think? I know I've probably sparked some emotion and debate among my readers. And I'm sure not everyone agrees. But as I've seen it and done it, and recovered from it. I thought, YOLO. 

-Tay

Adventure and the Beast

Adventure is something that I've yearned for my whole life. Though I have no backing or some life changing story that ties into this post and my love for adventure, I have a song.

Ever heard of Disney's Beauty and the Beast?
Yea, me too.
It's pretty cool if you're into that kind of thing (which I totally am). Anyways, there's a great line in one of the songs that she sings, and it goes:

"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere, I want it more than I can tell. And for once it would be grand, to have someone understand, I want so much more than they've got planned."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SEr8VELvl0
( link to the clip)

Anyways, I've got this thing, it's like an annoying feeling in the pit of my stomach, that is always telling me to go do something wild, not dangerous, but you know, unexpected.
Sorry to those who expect me to fit the norm. I want to go and do the unexpected.
When I was a kid she was my favorite princess, for many reasons. She was a real beaut', she loved beyond looks, and loved to read. It took me years to accept my wild red hair that I still can't seem to beable to manage. It took me years to love literature, but yet here I am. Loving beyond looks, and the whole "Don't judge a book by its cover" thing has always been my motto. I don't care what you look like, you could look like a tea pot, or a beast, and we can still be friends.
Belle not only did that, but she was selfless. she took place of her father in the Beast's prison, and that my friends is something to think about.

I want to be like her, not specifically, I'm nearly twenty years old, I still want to be a princess. But I want to strive for adventure and succeed. I want to become the type of woman people want to read about. Someone who's adventures are one's for the record books.
So if the opportunity arises that I could stay in a castle with talking furniture, I'm taking it.


Thanks for reading a completely pointless post, and making my studying for finals worth procrastinating.

-Tay