The Future Looks So Beautiful & Bright...

Tonight in ballet, we were lining up in the corner of the room to travel across the room.
In my studio, the seniors get to choose their song for their last solo *silent tear rolls down cheek*.
One of the girls gave our teacher her CD with all of her songs on it, and the first song that played really got to me.

It's called, "Hundred More Years" by Francesca Battistelli.
If you never heard it here are the lyrics:

A diamond ring and twelve red roses 
Everything she ever wanted 
All those dreams and now they're finally here 
She's so young and he's so perfect 
They waited for love and it was worth it 
She wants to feel like this for a hundred years 

All this life still yet to live and they can hardly wait 
They can laugh 
They can cry 
The future looks so beautiful and bright 
They can dance under the moonlight 
'Cause God is smilin' down on them tonight 
And she wants to stay right here 
Make it last for a hundred more years 

She's got blue eyes just like her mother 
Three years old, he's crazy for her 
He wants to freeze this day before it dissapears 
She's spinnin' like a little princess 
Makin' sure he's gonna notice 
He could watch her twirl for a hundred years 

She'll grow up and she'll leave home but until that day 
They can laugh 
They can cry 
The future looks so beautiful and bright 
They can dance under the moonlight 
'Cause God is smilin' down on them tonight 
And he wants to stay right here 
Make it last for a hundred more years 

And its only time 
But it flies right by 
And today is sweeter than we know 

And so they dance under the moonlight 
While God is smilin' down on them tonight 
And they want to stay right here 
For a hundred more years

For some reason this song just really pried into my heart.
There's just something about a husband and a family to me that I don't think I will be able to do without in life.
Hopefully it's all in God's plan for me.

I just want so so so deeply to have a wonderful marriage that will last our entire lives.
And I want so deeply for my children to come from a good home, where good examples are set for them.
Not only good christian examples but a good example of how to treat your spouse and how to honor your marriage.

I've just been thinking a lot about my future lately and I've come to the conclusion that I don't care what job I have.
I don't care where I live.
Or how big of a house I have.
Or what kind of car I drive.
Just as long as I have a family and my faith I will be happy.

And to lighten the mood for this post, enjoy this picture of me as a 3 year old who had short curly brown hair that wanted long, straight hair more than anything so my mom bought me extensions from Sally's. 

*Insert HYSTERICAL laughter here*

Ta-ta for now friends!

You are who you surround yourself with.

I've struggled a lot recently with the types of friends I have...who I'm surrounding myself with, yadda yadda yadda.

One of the verses that cleared up a lot of questions I had on this subject was:

"Bad company corrupts good morals." -1 Corinthians 15:33

 This may seem silly, but to be honest, I didn't really understand what this verse was truly saying until maybe 6 months ago.

As a child, I always thought, "When I'm a teenager I'm not going to make any silly mistakes. I'm going to hang out with the right crowd and I'm never going to do anything I regret."
Let me just say, I could not have been more wrong.

While I wish I could have held true to my original high expectations for myself, I must admit that I am human, and I have way more faults than I would like to admit to anyone.
However, my mistakes have made me more and more grateful for Jesus.

Most of my mistakes have unfortunately taken place because of the people I have surrounded myself with.
Now, I'm not saying that any of these people "MADE ME" do anything. Nobody "MAKES" anyone do anything because we all have our own minds and we are all capable of making our own decisions.
What I am saying, though, is that you choose what and who you surround yourself with.

If you befriend people that drink, for example, you are making a decision for yourself, that says it's okay to be around alcohol.
Next thing you know, your friends have persuaded you that it's not as bad as you think, and you begin to shut God out for a little while.
You think to yourself "The Bible only says not to get drunk."
And so you take a couple drinks, but you don't get drunk.
What you may have overlooked, is that the Bible also says, "Abstain from all evil." 1 Thessalonians 5:22.

So what you missed was right under your nose.
But you probably never even thought about it, because everyone else around you was doing it.
Obviously, I pulled that example from the top of my head but it's easily relate-able to many other subjects.

A good rule of thumb in my mind is, if they're not helping you get to heaven, it's probably not such a good idea to hang around them very much.

BUT you have to know who you are and who you want to be along with what morals and values you have.
Because not every one you meet in life that you don't necessarily agree with is avoidable.
(Which makes studying your Bible a good idea so you know what to believe, why to believe it, and how to explain to other people why you believe it ;))

If you're a teenager out there like me or even an adult, and you're still waiting around for good friends be patient.
PRAY PRAY PRAY.
I seriously thought I was never ever going to find any friends that had the same morals and values as I do, but as we all know, God's timing is perfect and he blessed me with a friend just like me.

Thanks for listening to me ramble about my jumbled thoughts today friends!
If you have any words of wisdom on how to wisely pick your friends, please leave them in the comments below!
I would love to hear them!

"Pray without ceasing."

*1 Thessalonians 5:17

As a Christian, one of my biggest struggles is daily prayer.
I try my hardest to take time every single night and spend some time with God to study His word and to pray.
However, it doesn't always happen.

Thus came the....
...drumroll please...

Prayer Journal.

I came across this idea in a recent Bible study. And let me just say, this is in no way required. The Bible does not say you need to have a prayer journal, it just says to pray.

"Pray without ceasing." -1 Thessalonians 5:17

"And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” -Matthew 21:22

I personally, however, am a total "Type A" person. My mind operates best when things are organized with a certain agenda for each thing and each day. So, I've found that keeping a prayer journal is a great tool to keep track of certain things that I want/need to pray for.

Let me specify that it doesn't matter what kind of journal you use for this! It could be any kind you would like! This one is from Mardel's. I chose one that had a scripture on the front and a scripture on every page. The last couple pages are also reserved for personal memory verses that I may want to write down or continually keep tabs on.

I plan on using each page for a new week and conveniently there were 21 lines on each page to split up into 3's for each day.
It's the little things that make my heart happy :)


***Ps. I don't have the best handwriting so bear with me!!

I put a little key up at the top for you guys so that you could see more easily what the colors were for.

So obviously each day will have it's own little spot. And with each day comes different obstacles and different situations so I chose 2 different colors *ahem* my favorite colors to write down certain things that needed to be given thanks for or certain things that needed to be asked for. So since I'm going out of town this weekend and I'll be coming back on Sunday, I wrote down in orange to ask for safe travels on the way home. I also put a purple star beside it to remind myself (Lord willing that we make it home safely) to give thanks for those safe travels.

There are also many things in my life that I may not pray for every single day, but I need to make sure that I am taking the time to pray about. So, for example, every single Sunday I will be making sure that I'm praying for the Elders, Ministers and Teachers of the church. Every Monday I will be praying for the one God has set aside to be my husband in the future and so on so forth. I also left a little blank spot next to each of those in case something extra heavy is weighing on my heart that day about that subject, so that I can write it down to remember to pray about it later.

I'm thinking I should've flip flopped these last two in the reverse order but whatever. I'll do it on the ones to come :)
So up at the top I have a spot for answered prayers. No matter when they happen in the future, whether its later that week or later that year, I can remember that I prayed about that and then go write down how God answered me. After a lot of time I think it will be really eye opening and amazing to go back and see how God really is listening and really does care. I'm sure it will be one more factor that strengthens my faith later on.

Lastly, there's a spot for "Prayer Priorities." This spot can be filled with anything that you want to be sure to be praying about all week long. Personally, I will be adding the church's prayer list to mine with all the people who are sick, having surgery or having other problems. You could also add friends or family members who are having a hard time, or of course, prayers for yourself in areas that you need help in.

I really hope this inspires you to pray more, or to even make your own prayer journal! If you do make your own journal I would love to see it and if you have anything to add I would love to hear that as well!

Remember, if you have any prayer requests at all, no matter how big or small, please don't hesitate to ask! I would be more than willing to pray for you or someone you know!

I hope your week is going well so far!
Love y'all!



PS. I'll be going out of town tomorrow until Sunday, so this will be the last you see of me until then! :)