40 Books Around the World

It's been a while since I've written, but I wanted to start blogging about a particular subject! My friend, Amanda, and I are starting a literary journey around the world. It is comprised of 40 books that are set in different areas around the world. I have only ever traveled out of this country like 3 times, twice to Mexico, and it is so close that I don't even think of it as leaving the country. But I am super excited about starting. We are starting in America and working our way through latin and south america and then over to africa up to europe and then asia, finally ending in america again. One thing I am worried about is being interested in the books. I usually am good about staying interested but I have a feeling that I will struggle with some, but that is ok. The other thing I am worried about is wanting to run off to countries I read about. It will be so tempting. I imagine this will take us a while, but I am ready. Amanda will be headed to Japan in September and therefore we will have to communicate over e-mails and such to talk about the books. Well I wanted to tell whoever reads this about it. I am fixing to start the first book right now...It is "Challenge the Wind" by Debra Tash! I will tell you about it when I finish! Well that's all for now! I hope you have a summer reading list ready! Enjoy

XOXO-Sara

Loving God...

Recently, I have had this desire to delve into God's word. To find out what he has in store for me, or what he wants to say to me. Naturally, I sometimes slack off in my daily quiet time. But usually it is a pretty steady thing, and then there are those moments. Those ones where I could literally sit in my room and read my Bible for hours, or pray to him for hours, or just spend hours upon hours praising his name. I feel as if these are those defining moments of a relationship that is filled with passion. You know...like a real earthly relationship. Not that there is even a comparison of God's passion and us mere humans' passion. The one where no matter what you do, you cannot help falling for that person. Not that I have much experience, if any, in that area. But I mean come on, I know the difference. Heck, I feel the difference. I can feel the difference from just the beginning of this school year to where I am now. And I love it! I thought I was in love with God back then...Boy was I mistaken! Let me give you a visual of this love that I am feeling--I am striving to love him so much that I honestly have no desire to have a boyfriend. I would love it if God would just bring that ONE guy along. But at this point in my life, I am so satisfied in my love story with God that I don't want to LOOK for my own earthly love story. Look being the key word. I am so in love with God that I think it may just burst all over someone one day...and you are going to want a front row seat to that. Because Sara does not burst hardly any emotion towards anyone, most of the time!--You may think that I am crazy...but are you sure? I mean I probably am crazy to an extent. But are you saying that and have never taken the chance to further your relationship with God? Just because this is coming from a girl, who to the world's opinion I probably think about love all the time, doesn't mean a thing when it comes to loving God but for those guys out there who are questioning my sanity or my feelings about God, have you tried deepening that relationship? Because let me assure you of one thing, if you honestly put effort into that deepening of the relationship over some time, you will be feeling the effects!! That is the truth. None of us deserve the love he has for us, none of us can ever pay him back. But you can bet that if we try to love him half of what he loves us, we will be crazy in love(haha, sorry it is like Beyonce day on fuse...anyway), and we will be a different person than when we started the adventure! yep, this was really long, but it was what was on my heart! Have a great adventure falling for the God of the Universe!!!!

XOXO--Sara

Umbrella...

So yesterday, as I was getting ready to go home for spring break I watched the Rihanna Chronicles on Fuse. One music video they played was Umbrella. I really like that song. But I don't think I had ever consciously listened to that song.
My discovery was surprising....that song is very spiritual. If you don't believe me, GO and listen to it somewhere right now. Because it is. Here is what the chorus says:

When the sun shines, we'll shine together
Told you I'll be here forever
Said I'll always be a friend
Took an oath I'ma stick it out till the end
Now that it's raining more than ever
Know that we'll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella

So there it is. Now think about it as if God is singing this to you....Didn't he say I would never leave you nor forsake you? That is basically what this is sayin'! The chorus is not the only part that sounds like this the whole sounds like a love letter from God, if you take the time to listen to it that way. So go and listen to the whole song, and you will leave feeling as if you can do anything and face anything because God is on your side...and you can stand under his umbrella! :) Well that's all I got for now...I love finding secular songs with spiritual undertones or spiritual lyrics without the artist ever knowing it. Listen on...
XOXO
Sara

Tuba Man...

So it was my last day of class today. Yay! When I walked out of my last class and was walking toward my dorm, I noticed a man. He was running. Typically this wouldn't catch my eye but this man was running with his tuba on his shoulders. It was one of the highlight's of my day. I wonder why he might be running so I made up a story. Here is what happened in my head... This man was walking to band practice with his tuba in its case in his hand. All was well until he met a rabid cartoon character, yep a rabid cartoon character. One that is like ADHD. It was going to bite him when the character noticed his case and wondered what was in the case. Then he got distracted again by the shoes this man was wearing and then he noticed his shirt. So while this character tries to steal his shoes and shirt the man opened the case and took out the tuba. With a snap of the case he had captured the cartoon character. He thought he was home free. No problem he can get another case. Little did he know the cartoon character had friends. The friends had watched it all happen, and so they started to chase this man with the tuba. The man realized what was happening about the time one jumped into his tuba. He managed to run and knock the character out of his tuba. He ran as hard as he could, and ran around the UC. He had lost them for the time being so he walked briskly toward the road turning around often to see if they had found him. When I walked out of the building he had just noticed that one of THEM had noticed him. So he took off running across the road. I walked to my dorm and am sitting here telling you this story. Only the Lord knows what his fate was. I hope that he didn't get attacked, or that he realized he was sleep deprived and it was all a figment of his imagination....Oh well, Good Luck Buddy!

XOXO-Sara

I am thinking....

I am thinking...constantly. There is a story in my head that is building itself up. That is what I think about a lot most days.

With that their is a character in my head, and she does not want to stay there very much longer. But the scary thing is, is I feel that if I write her down suddenly her story and character won't be my idea or creation anymore. I think I am going crazy, haha. Just kidding. But I really can't wait to hopefully write her story down and then one day maybe be able to walk into a bookstore and see a book written about her with my name on the cover as the author!

I hope I am living my life in a way to make GOD proud of seeing his creation with his name stamped on my heart as the author. That's all for today...

XOXO-Sara

He dances over me...

I am currently on the journey in realizing the way God is wooing me. I am learning the depths of the relationship I have with him. And I am becoming the woman he made me...

Wow its weird to say that, because I have never called myself a "woman." It always meant something deeper. Like there was some "secret" that I needed to learn before I could consider myself a woman. I feel like woman is a term of knowledge...a term of someone who has experienced life. Someone who has made her mistakes and is now living to not make them again, but she also doesn't dwell in them. She moves on and along the way, she uses that knowledge, that experience, to help other girls who are becoming women.

It takes me a while to realize what I am becoming. A couple of weeks ago, my dad made me listen to this song that talks about teaching their kids to fly and after that he and his wife will fly together. I asked my dad if him and my mom had taught me to fly. His response, "Your flapping your wings pretty hard." Translation-I am doing it. I am living my life, I am growing up, and while that is scary and sad to an extent, it is also exhilarating and joyful. It seemed like I wanted to grow up for so long and now that I realize that I have and am, I don't want to. :)

Its the same with being a woman, only now that I look back and see the differences there do I realize I am becoming that woman. It still may take time for me to say I am woman, but one day soon I will.

I only had the opportunity to realize this when I opened my eyes to the love God was pouring out on me. The opportunity to revel in his love and realize it was a far deeper relationship than when I was a GIRL. Wow...

God is Good. And I love him, he dances with me in my secret place...

XOXO,

Sara

"Oh the cleverness of me..."

So...another one. I was reading the quote that I put on this page and realized that I really liked it. (Well duh, I put it on there of course I liked it.) But I think it fits so well with my life. I have big dreams. I am working constantly to make them reality. It will be quite the adventure.

I want adventure in my life, I mean I am on the greatest adventure I will ever see. I am on a journey that God made for me and I am lucky I get to run across the people I know on this journey. Better than that, for whatever reason God has given me a very active imagination. So along this journey I am on, the exciting and dangerous things that we see in movies and read in books that I can't have, I get to experience them in the characters that come to life in my head. That excites me more than anything! So stay tuned because my adventures are fixing to explode all over the page and I can't wait.....

XOXO-Sara

PS- Peter Pan said it best in two different ways..."To die would be an awfully big adventure!"

Later...."To live would be an awfully big adventure!"

I personally plan on living forever what an adventure that will be, But I will also die and leave this earth behind and that will be a grand adventure as well!