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2 weeks and 3 days...(i've had longer intervals without a post)...

anyway

in this 2 weeks and 3 days...

i've gone from having almost $700 to raise for our l.a. missions trip to now only having $250 to raise!! God has been blessing me in so many ways. my friends (even friends who are trying to raise their own money for l.a.) have given to me. my brothers (jd and lincoln) gave me everything they had, too! ...

at refuge last week, (when i still had like $650 to go) i started thinking about all of the money i had left to raise...and i got a little worried. but then i remembered phil.4:6-7 (don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.)

and i realized that i had not ever actually asked God to help me raise the money. (i felt like an idiot when i realized that!) so, of course, i immediately asked God for His help. then-not 10 min. later- someone left $100 and an anonymous note for me in the office!! the note is hanging on my wall...i look at it everyday and i remember that no matter what i'm worried about, God's going to take care of it.

and the coolest thing about this whole experience is that at enthralled, 2 days before, mandi ash spoke about how being thankful- even when we don't feel like it- can change our entire outlook on life. honestly, i've never had a life group lesson speak to me and stick with me like this one did. all day tuesday, i tried my best to keep a thankful heart- and everything seemed so much lighter. and i tried to do the same on wednesday... and then- after i had displayed (or at least tried to display) thankfulness- God blessed me.

it's sad that i'm just now beginning to grasp this...but thankfulness can truly transform our lives. it's like the load is so much lighter...and negativity fades while the good things in life become more vivid. we can see beyond ourselves and into what others are going through. we aren't blinded anymore by our selfishness and we can see opportunities to do good. and we begin to appreciate God and His love for us so much more!!


so... that was the highlight of the past 2 weeks and 3 days for me!
along with...
-seeing spiderman 3 with heather
-eating sushi with a bunch of the closer girls
-getting to hang out with some soon to be refugees (THE FRESHMAN!! -oh yeah!) at nestle tollhouse
-goofing off at sonic with candace, misty, madalynn, and mickey
-seeing the first showing of SHREK 3 with closer, full time elevate, and my entire family!!
-hanging out at emily wooten's amazing harajuku party (with edamames and sushi!!)
-chilling with my pal leah...(shopping at tj maxx, slurping wedding cake snowballs with cream on top, and visiting her poppy {who gave me a new nickname- "torrey pines"!!!} :)
-going to sandra's going away party and eating julia's german dome cake!

(unfortunately i missed salem's graduation party...i was puke-ing my guts up! but i heard it was a pretty slammin party)

and...
-finishing my junior year of highschool!!!

woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

can't wait to go to camp and l.a. and then start elevate!!
life's good!

i am so thankful for all of the awesome people God has surrounded me with. thank you guys for speaking into my life like you do!

:)
-tori