I'm listening to the song "Wedding Dress" by Derek Webb and am thinking about sin and how it takes away from God. The distraction it plays to pull us away from Him and everything I strive to live for. Does anyone else ever get frusterated with how weak we can be or how self-righteous we can be in judging others when we are capable of the same things?


In other news from my deep thinking I want to watch gilmore girls season 7. I also have a good amount of homework. blah.

I am taking the NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) Challenge! It's with Pastor Darin and Jackie though so it will be all good :)

I'm still trying to decide on where I will be posting, but for today it's right here!

The haunted house went over pretty well. Gotta go tear things down today and then I can close the book on it and be done!

So I have some random thoughts about last night's haunted house and halloween and in general that I'm trying to work through...

The first is that it was kind of fun to be scary, mainly with the older kids. I was actually feeling quite amused all evening. I heard everything from "you're not scary," to "ahhh!! you're so scary" to pure shrieks just from pointing a fake black rose in their direction. I also got hit on by about 5 junior high boys. My favorite was the one that sat down next to me, took off his mask, waved his hair around like that annoying prince in shrek. Then proceeded to tell me that he was already an "eternal vampire" ahahaha. It was hysterical. But some things weren't so funny.

Motherly instints that surprised me were coming out last night. Do you know what it's like to see about 40+ students from the school that you work at walk through? Some were fine and smiled at me when they recognized me and were giggling at my costume and said, "Hi Miss LaFave!" But then you had the others that walked through with pure terror on their face. I immediatley took my fake teeth out and spoke loud and clear saying it's all pretend and I got my costume at a store just like they did. But a few of the kids I knew really well still looked at me with such fear in their eyes and struggled with wondering if they could trust me even though I was offering them candy without having to go into the vault. Those looks are what I've been thinking about this morning. It's amazing how easy it is to fall in love with the students you work with and that urge in me that jumps out to do whatever I can to protect them. I know it was all fun and games, but some of the kids were so young and the fear in their eyes was unmistakable and it left me feeling awful. Hopefully at school on monday they will be all smiles and say that they saw me. But I can't help but wonder if some of the trust they had in me might be gone.

I also was thinking about an analogy. When we are faced with fear we lose sight of everything. I do that with God. When I am faced with a situation that scares me or angers me my faith completley shatters and it's because I am so in the situation I lose sight of the One in control. Just like the kids who knew they could trust me, couldn't even look at me or listen to the words of comfort I spoke because they were dwelling in fear.

Does anyone ever wonder how Job did it? I don't get it, the slightest thing and I feel my faith crumble. I don't want to be like that. Is it because Job had a good life and had years of practicing his faith without trials? I wonder if that makes the difference? In my case however I have been through some awful things in my 21 years before I accepted Christ, and up till now. My life has been up, down, sideways, all over the place. So I can't help but wonder... if Job's years of practice of getting to know God without facing trials, and the distraction and pain that come with them, made his faith what it was? So that when He finally was faced with trials He was ready for them?

Is that my problem? That maybe I have never truly gotten to a point of knowing and loving God deep enough so that when I come face to face with a trial I don't lose sight of my trust in Him? It was like the older kids that went through the haunted house, years of practice and experience gave them the wisdom that everything was pretend. That was why more of the older kids were able to go through the haunted house and break a smile. Maybe in my faith I am still the small child who is doubting and wondering what is true and real. Maybe I haven't had enough time to stand up before the next thing knocks me back to my knees.

I truly have no idea, but I would like to hear from others about my analysis of Job's life. Do you think the lack of trials in his life up until the time they all hit played a big part in making his faith stronger?

This is going to be very random because I'm starting to feel guilty that I haven't been blogging...

There are so many things I want to do before Christmas. I want to go to NYC and see everything all lit up and beautiful. I want to go to the beach when it's snowing... just because I think that must be beautiful as well. I want to go to Pennsylvania to see my friends! Well... I guess that's not such a long list :)

In other news I'm addicted to a fiction book series about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. Definetley not anything I thought I'd ever read but a lot of my friends have been raving about them. I really enjoyed the books and am looking forward to the movie coming out!!!

I finally have a work buddy as of monday so my stress has gone down A LOT!

I'm heading up a crew to help out with the haunted house at Charlie's.


There I blogged.... :)

What a rough few days. After talking with my mom and a really sweet co-worker of mine who is like my mom at work, I told them I needed a break. I have had two days off but they have been anything but days off. I have been completley miserable and really struggling. These past three weeks have been filled with anxiety attacks, self hatred, and just plain awful thoughts. I am in the middle of a spiritual battle with myself. I don't know if any of you know what it's like to feel the constant fear that there is someone in your past coming to kill you or not being able to sleep at night because you could swear someone is in your house. I have those fears, to an unrealistic point. On top of that I struggle everyday with seeing the worth in myself. My job has been taking a toll on me this year, and I just started taking classes at school. And to top it all off, my faith has been shaking for some time. The thing is I don't want to give up. Even though my mind and body might want to rebel, my heart doesn't. I don't want Satan to win, I want Jesus to finish the work He started in me. I want to see a glimmer again of that passionate thirteen year old who had no doubts in her mind about who she was living for.

I'm going to see a psychiatrist tomorrow. I had been on a medicine for anxiety and depression but stopped taking it in Namibia. I think the big reason was because I felt like people would see me as weak or taking the easy way out. And if anyone disagrees with taking medicine, I know where you are coming from. I have been that way for a long time. But I don't feel the same about it anymore. I think that God put doctor's on this earth to help us. I agree that medicine is overprescribed, but that there are some people who genuinely need it. I do not want to be on medicine for the rest of my life, but I feel like I am one of those people who needs it right now. I have a long history of family members with depression and anxiety, and I have been through a lot of things in my young life that have only added to that. But I'm willing to admit that I am weak and that I need help. I don't want to waste this short life feeling like someone is just around the corner waiting for me, or being unhappy. I want to enjoy life and to be able to look back and know that I lived to my fullest. To do this I need something to stabalize my moods and bring my anxiety level down. I'm just thankful that God has put me in a church where I get to build into the lives of others, because it's in those moments I do feel worth and have time to forget about myself and help teenagers who may be struggling with similar things.

But just know that I am really having a hard time, and that it's in these times that I start to feel worthless, and wish I had someone who would remind me that I'm not and feel like they would protect me. Then my mind moves to wondering what is wrong with me that I don't have someone like that. So as you can see, my thought processes always end up with, "it's my fault."

But I'm not going to give up and I've been singing these words acapella in my car the whole ride home tonight.

"I believe You're my healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You're my portion,
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need."
~Hillsong

So if you think of it, an encouraging note or praying for me would be greatly appreciated. I just need a reminder that I'm not alone, and I'm praying that God would show up in a way that would blow my mind and remind me of that.

"Nothing is impossible for You."

My Mom: How is it that in the hardest times she never loses faith and always wonders what God is trying to teach her. She is so strong and I want more than anything to be more like that.



Procrastinating: I am so distracted and have done everything but my homework. Now that it's 9:30 I really should make this quick and get it done! hehe.

Music: Jesse and Lisa, you will be so proud to know that I just picked up the guitar and played for about a half hour. It felt so good, I'm not quite sure why I've been avoiding it because it is so therapeutic for me. I am so wanting to get my music recorded and to start writing again. Jesse you are so right, yours sounds MUCH better and I already can't wait for geetar shopping in October! PS: I still gotta talk to you about lessons...

God: I'm realizing more and more that I don't know anything. I feel like I need to go back to the basics and do studies in John and the gospels and remember who I am and who God is. Pastor Darin, you will be getting a call soon because I'd love to go over all of this with you!

Love: After watching far too many chick flicks with the Shaw girls this weekend, along with depressing myself with the new Josh Bales album (so good!), the new John Mayer album (SO GOOD!) and some new Relient K... I'm realizing that I am torn. I'm torn because I desire and crave that feeling of love and wanting to journey through life with that someone else, yet on the other hand, I battle daily in my mind with negativity. I battle with my idea of men. My step-dad got kicked out of the house two weekends ago. Yet another reminder that the men in my life for the most part really screw up. It's so hard to believe that someone would ever want to love me, protect me, and want to share life with me. It's hard to believe that there is someone romantic, patient, and loving. Someone who will make a good father. Someone who pushes me to be better and who doesn't let me get comfortable with where I am at. Someone who loves God and will be a good husband. Someone who is practical and good with directions to keep me from getting lost. :) Someone who shares my dreams, hopes and passions of traveling, music, and ministry. Not only do I struggle with believing that, I also struggle with trusting God to bring the right person into my life. There I said it...
It's so hard to say I don't trust You. To say that I trusted You before and that for some reason I must have heard You wrong, because I was so sure. It's hard to admit that I'm scared and that even if You brought the right person along, I'm scared of not being good enough. That I wouldn't make a good wife or mom. I'm scared of getting hurt again, and even more scared that there is no one out there. I'm scared of love. I'm scared of love because every time I have been vulnerable, I've been hurt. It's so draining to fight everyday and remember that You are not like that. That You, God, are trustworthy and loving and my protector. Please help me to stop worrying about trying to stop loving someone and also wondering who that someone should be. I just want to be rid of it all. To love You and only You. To become more of the woman You desire me to be. To bring me back to You even though I have been rebelling and trying to make my own path and have lost my identity and have forgotten who You are along the way. God please bring me back and break away everything. I am so tired of running and trying to figure out who I am. Help me to remember the purpose of why I'm here.

Youth Group: Because of night classes I won't be able to help out at monday night youth group for awhile. I know that God is going to use this time, but it's also reminding me how much I stinkin love those kids and how much I am going to miss it. God really woke me up to youth ministry at the beginning of my junior year in high school. It was right after I got back from Namibia for the first time and I was completley depressed. I begged God and asked Him what He wanted for my life. He said youth ministry, and since then my life has truly never been the same. I have realized my love for something that always makes me feel whole and makes me feel like I'm right where I need to be. Thankfully relationships don't end just because I can't be there on monday nights. So I'm looking forward to all that God is going to do in the lives of these kiddos this year!