Finding Meaning In His Word! (+ July Goals!!)

Hey everyone! Is it not amazing to see flowers everywhere and be able to run barefoot? I am loving the spring/summer vibe that has found itself a home where I live! Golden hour is beautiful and warm again, and it lasts for a looong time, both in the morning and at night! Looking out the window is an adventure every time!

Its kind of like the way we feel when we’re really working on our relationship with the Lord. We feel uplifted, refreshed, and we want to read the Bible and illustrate verses and sing worship songs all the time! But when it settles into a less exciting routine, we become a little less passionate, a little less committed; and of course, then the dog days set in.

I’m not saying that we should always be on the “mountain-top”! Its wonderful there, and those times are amazing and special, but they don’t always last. The thing that lasts, is the love that is steady and calm and TRUE.

I’ve been challenged by several people recently (including my amazing friend Keziah in this post ♥), that the Word of God is not a part of our day that we need to just get through. We need to treasure it, make it THE most important part of our day! No matter how busy we are, reading the Scriptures and seeking our Father’s voice in His Word is more important than any exam, job op, or get-together. And the love of the Bible and the just being there to spend time with God, is part of what it means to have that long-lasting love, instead of just the wonder of the whirlwind romance.

This is totally not something I am perfect in. I have just been realizing it, little by little. Pursuit of God through His Word, combined with prayer, is our way of connecting with the Creator, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. But we all need His strength to hold us up in the spirit, keeping us from our fleshly desires to just laze through church and the motions. Being a passionate believer requires supernatural strength and wisdom, and praise the Father, He is willing to give it in abundance!

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

James 1:5-6, ESV

“He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:29-31, ESV

HIS STRENGTH AND HIS MERCY, EVEN IN OUR YOUTHFUL FAILINGS, IS MORE THAN WE COULD EVER IMAGINE.

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And now, onto the May Favorites …

• coming to value the power of prayer more than ever before
• going out of my comfort zone and talking on the phone with people
• wearing shorts and not being cold! *jaw drop*
• watching The Chosen with brothers!
• babysitting and writing a book with two precious girls
• wondering why my arms hurt, and realizing that lifting heavy flower baskets was what did it!
• singing with thirty youth and young adults, voices lifted high
• commiserating with a fellow exam-taker about our nervousness
• to-do lists that take up a whole page, messy and in different colors and styles of writing, complete with varying levels of legibility.
• my crazy awesome Dad goofing off in the car and making us almost wet our pants laughing in the backseat!
• writing a song with a picture as a prompt
• staying up late, and going to bed early
• a nerve-wracking piano recital and wobbly arms
• wearing white pants at the piano recital, which made me feel like a bit of a rogue because they frequently change color based on the wearer’s care! XD
• a friend not recognizing me at an event because I curled my hair!
• the hilarity of six people eating ice cream at 9:30 at night, sharing three spoons!
• The Word of God – living and active.

And now for the June favorites …

• practicing piano like a maniac!
• hangin’ out with homeschoolers
• fireworks for some extremely belated birthdays!
• GOING TO THE BEACH!!! (Okay, it was a lake, but I liked it!)
• brunch with a couple other families, which turned into a huge unrelated project and games time!
• a girls grad party with a bunch of my sweet friends, that was such a blast!
• putting on my carpenter’s hat and building stands for said party!
• emailing people 🤗
• babysitting and playing goofy games with two-year-olds
• my first voice recital (at which I stood too close to the speaker and the mic didn’t work, but I couldn’t tell! I could see my family in the audience gesturing that they couldn’t hear, and I just kept singing! 😝😭 It went otherwise well, though. 🤣
• fencing with a friend and strategically figuring out how to fit six people on one quad!
• swimming and dying and swimming and half-dying and swimming and not-dying-any-more 😂
• learning that I aced a piano exam (despite shaky arms and the miles between heaven and earth, God worked miracles!)
• finished reading one of my teensy little books I seem to have acquired … and almost completely forgot about the rest. *facepalm*

And now …. JULY GOALS!!

1. Search high and low to find a pumpkin pie recipe for my Dad!
2. Spend four hours each morning on high school work.
3. Lane swim at least twice a week (with my crazy lane partners, aka brother(s)!)
4. Finish reading the prophetic books, Obadiah to Malachi, and read all the “writings” books, except Psalms! (That, my friends, is reserved for August, when I will be the coolest counselor you have ever met! 🤣)
5. Attend Staff camp! WOOOHOOO!!
6. Take my final lifeguarding course! (Hence the swim practice!)
7. Get a tan. (True, I have burnt many times trying for this goal, but we shall see this summer whether new strategies will succeed or not! I just hope this doesn’t affect my outgoing personality … you know what they say, “Once burnt, twice shy.” 😝🤣

HOLD UP! MAKAYLA’S GONNA BE A COUNSELOR?!

Yes! In August I will be away from home in some beautiful gorgeous place where I go to this cool unnamed camp, and I will tell you all the deets and learning lessons when I come back! (As you should have grown to be used to by now! 😂) I am so excited for this opportunity, and so grateful to God for this blessing that He’s given me!

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And that’s it! Tell me, y’all – how do you find passion in reading the Word of God? And relating to goals, what is one of the most exciting things you’re doing this coming month? Do you have any sensational summer plans? Chat with me in the comments!!

Y’all have an amazing day now, you hear?! 🤣

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Motivation To Help You Stay Strong Through The Rest Of The School Year!

“Hail, the end of the school year! All salute!!”

I am so excited for spring and summer! As the snow melts into the ground, I am inwardly bouncing around just thinking about wind in the trees, sun on my back … yep, this is the good life!

One thing is a little difficult … coming back to earth to think about school, and finishing up the grade! Most of us are going to take a summer break, and for those of us who are, it can seem like that break is sure a long time in coming! But there are a few things that we young people can keep in mind when eagerly anticipating the end of the school year.

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It’s not just about finishing up school. There is a lot more to it than that. Just think about it … why are pretty much all of us are getting a little demotivated with school or feeling overwhelmed with the amount of end-term work we have?

Because the issue is not only external – what we are struggling with is PERSEVERANCE.

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us”

Hebrews 12:1

“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Romans 5:3-4

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

James 1:2-4

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

2 Peter 1:5-7

So, although you might have thought that this whole motivation thing was only about school, it’s not. Its also about perseverance – finishing what we’ve started – running the race set before us – building character – and “faithing it” throughout life.

So, let’s have perseverance.

Let’s remember to live FULLY.

We’ve committed to this school year – let’s finish it strong!

Our parents are counting on us – let’s make them proud!

Some of us are graduating this year – make this a month that YOU are proud of!

And most of all, let’s make God proud!! Let’s show Him how grateful we are for the blessing of education, by making the most of every moment we have (even if it is a difficult subject or topic!) Let’s not drag simply because our stagnant natures want to slack. Let’s motivate ourselves! We can do this!

And finally, as one of my friends says …

“You can do it! You can do it! You can do it! You can do it!” (By the way, you CAN! 😉)

(Disclaimer: None of these pictures are mine. All credit to creators and owners.😊)

I hope these quotes and my words inspired you to keep going strong throughout the next month or two of school! What are all of y’all doing for summer break?

Let’s Talk About Brothers And Respect …

Yep, I’m another one of those girls with a heap of brothers! Today, I want to talk about respect .. respecting our siblings, and helping them to learn to respect us. My brothers are fun-loving, mischievous, loud scamps who drive me crazy, but they love me and show their love by respecting my personal space and my opinions. I have a brother who is very close to me in age, and he is one of my best friends! As a teen, he has begun to mature in ways that amaze me. Not only does he respect me, he has also protected my heart, protected my body, and kept my secrets. Not every girl is so blessed as I am.

Thoughtless comments, rough physical touch, ridiculing, teasing, bugging on purpose … how does any sibling, and child of God, deserve to be treated this way? Some brothers treat their sisters with carelessness, not with care. These brothers might not bad guys – they just have a bad habit of treating their sister with less respect than she deserves, not only as their sister, but as a woman, as a daughter of God.

This makes me wonder … why do brothers fail to respect their sisters? I understand occasional kind-hearted teasing, (goodness knows, my brothers have dished out their fair share often enough!), but what about when it becomes an epidemic of unkind words and actions? What drives young men to treat their sisters this way?

I’ve learned that for some boys, they don’t feel like their sister deserves respect. They feel that she is a baby, or that she’s mean to them, so why should they be nice to her? They might have bad examples in their parents, who treat their daughter with less care than they should. Or, they might feel that they don’t measure up to their sister, and the only way to deal with their bitterness is to act out of it, rather than releasing it. Whatever the reason, our brothers need to understand that respect is not necessarily deserved (because of course we will fail and disrespect them sometimes) but respect is something that you give freely, like love.

We love because Christ first loved us – so why don’t we respect our siblings the way Christ treats His brothers and sisters in the faith?

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Another thing that we girls need to realize is that, although we may crave our brother’s respect and kindness, we may be making it difficult for them by treating THEM unkindly. In the same way that girls can show kindness to our guyfriends by dressing in a way that does not provoke them to immoral thoughts, so we should act in a way that makes it easier for our brothers to love us back.

• We need to respect THEM first. Although there is no excuse for our brothers to disrespect us simply because we disrespect them, we cannot expect a major life change to occur in their hearts unless WE change first. Maybe your brother will change on his own, but as an older sister, I can tell you that our brothers will, to a certain degree, mirror our actions. Respecting them is a great way to show them the kind of respect we want.
• Our brothers are the men of tomorrow. If these young men don’t learn to respect us as their family and the people they live with, then what kind of respect will they have for their wives, sister-in-laws, and even their own daughters? I’m not saying that their fate rests on your (and my) shoulders alone, but I am saying that we can be the change in their lives. Encouraging them to respect us in their words and actions will prepare them for the day they realize that their wife wants to be respected too.
• Even though it hurts to be disrespected, you must know that you’re not in this alone. Your parents are the ultimate enforcers in your house. If the situation has come to a place where the line has been crossed between simple teasing and ridiculing, then don’t be afraid to ask your parents for their advice, or ask your dad to talk to your brother. Communicate clearly with them that you love your brother, that his disrespect makes it difficult to respect him back, and that his attitude hurts you. Not every brother is man enough to take it humbly, and to actually change the way he relates to you, but some WILL own that responsibility.
• Don’t forget to PRAY. If you’re a sister waiting for your brother’s heart to change towards you, don’t wait without doing anything. Pray that God would touch his heart and his responses towards you. God can do anything, even fix your relationship with your brother, so don’t be afraid to bend the knee every once in a while to seek his help in mending the fences.

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And to those of you guys who are reading? Please, please, examine your heart, thoughts, and actions. Are you respecting your sister? Or are you putting her down? She doesn’t need to DESERVE your respect. But if you truly believe that all of us matter to God, then you need to treat your sister like you love her with GOD’S love. And who knows? Maybe she will blossom under your affirmation. And maybe not. But no matter what happens, are you man enough to respect your sister like you will have to respect your wife someday?

And while you’re at it, love them. Help them. Protect them. Serve them. Know that your actions are being seen, not only by those who will come into your future someday, but also by the One Who holds your future in His hands.

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Well, sisters, you should know that my heart hurts for those of you who have been hurt by a brother’s disrespect. When my brothers disrespect me, I feel abandoned and rejected, because I want a loving relationship. So I understand what you feel like. Please don’t be afraid to take steps to love and respect them, even if they continue to hurt you. In the end, we are to love our enemies. You’re brother might not be your enemy, but the principle remains; to love all, even those who don’t love you back.

And if you have friends who get disrespected by their brothers … let’s protect them, shall we? Let’s stand up for them. Because, even if nothing changes in their lives, we have a responsibility to love the unloved and respect the unrespected. And once we do that, one thing will for sure happen – you will be a voice of hope and change in your friend’s life.