Hi! My Name is Stacey!

Restless

2008-04-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

So...Today I went to the orthopedist for what could have been the last time for a really long time...But something very strange happened. I sprained my left wrist IN THE MIDDLE OF THE APPOINTMENT! I now understand just how careful I have to be.

I have about 6 months left until I will know if I need surgery or not.

I'm in a restless mood. I was stuck in bed last Wednesday AND yesterday with really bad stomach aches, and now I'm resting my left arm more than usual. The stomach aches could have been prevented and the sprain could have been too I guess.

But I'm eating healthy again! I'm hopeful that I won't get sick anytime soon! I'm hopeful and praying that my friends and relatives won't get sick either!

The Creek

2008-04-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

For me at least...Today was an amazing day!
I went to the creek in the afternoon and traveled aimlessly for over an hour! First I sat on a fallen down tree, and then I started walking around. I eventually came to a familiar waterfall and so I sat on top of that! Then I came to a bridge, which is actually part of a private property, but I walked under it and kept going until I came to a creepy looking bridge, and then I turned around. I sat under the first bridge for a while and threw some rocks, I liked the noise they made. And then I chalked "Smile" on the inside of the bridge. The chalk will come out next time there is a good rain around here. It's actually not sidewalk chalk, it came from a very sharp rock that I found. I left it under the bridge too, I know exactly where it is! Maybe I will write a lot of nice messages, and if anyone else ever finds them, they will be blessed...Or angry...

I went back to the fallen down tree and sat there for a half hour. I sent my mother a text message telling her that I was at the creek and then she sent me a text asking me what my middle name was. Later in the day she told me that she asked that so that she would know it was really me. And that actually scared me!

But while I was still at the creek I had some alone time with God. I sang a song to him and I felt fairly focused, it was nice! Better than it has been lately.

I liked going to the creek alone today but I want to take someone with me next time.

April is off to a Bad Start...

2008-04-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

For me at least. I feel like the enemy decided to torture me from different angles as soon as April started. I keep hearing lies that I'm not focusing on God enough, especially during worship. And the sad thing is that I focus so much on not focusing, that I stop focusing. And by time I realized that I have lost focus, I'm too sad and ashamed to continue worshipping. God deserves my worship and I can't give it to him. Worship is how I connect with God in the greatest way and the enemy is stopping me from doing it.

And for some strange reason I find myself being selfish! If anyone asks me for help my first thought is that helping them would look good on my record. I DON'T CARE ABOUT MY RECORD BUT I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT! And it's tearing me apart! It makes me feel like I'm helping people because I love myself...Not because I love them.

I'm auditioning for a worship team soon. For harmony vocals. But I feel like unless I have a guitar in my hands, I'll be an unimportant member of the team. I look at the girls who sing harmony now and I admire them, I know they are important. But voices keep telling me that I won't be.
But I'm going to audition anyway!

Advice

2008-03-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

So this afternoon I was making boiled eggs to go over Triscuits. I turned the stove burner off and put my hand right into the pot...STUPID!
Now my thumb has a nice red mark on it.

Don't stick your hands in boiling pots.

I Knew TV Shows Could be Heartless But This is Ridiculous!!

2008-03-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

I'm angry...

I just watched part of a TV show called "In Your Wildest Dreams" and it was one of the most cruel, heartless and terrible shows I have ever seen! It's a show about a real lady who goes to real people and interprets their crazy dreams. Ok nothing harmful about that. I wasn't even paying attention to the show until I heard the narrator call the first patient a subject. And then I thought...WHAT?! Not once did the interpreter or the narrator call someone else a person, a man, a woman or even a patient! They were always called subjects.

I don't want to be judgemental but when anyone refers to anyone else as something less than a person it seems like the first person is trying to make themselves feel above the other. And that's just wrong. Math is a subject. Humans are WAY above math!

What's 2 + 2?

See? You're above math! You awesome person you!

Adventures With my 'lil Cousin

2008-03-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

Today was just grand! I spent it with my 10 year old cousin Markeese and we had a lot of fun! He rode a bike up to my house and he and I sat around watching random videos on YouTube...We watched an anaconda vomit a hippo. A REAL ANACONDA VOMIT A REAL HIPPO! There's some crazy stuff on YouTube!

When the videos got boring and after a short Bop-It showdown we literally ran down the street and escaped to the slightly flooded creek! Two minutes after arriving Markeese tried to jump over some water and ended up in it. The water wasn't cold! It was cool, cool enough to put your hands in. So we looked for a cool spot to chill out and we found a dead frog. I thought it was plastic and then Markeese poked it with a stick...It wasn't plastic. R.I.P little frog!

We found an awesome rock in the middle of the creek but no way to get to it. So we built a bridge of other rocks, during the process I fell into the water. Only my legs got wet though. Eventually we made it to the rock and sat there for five minutes and then went back up to my house to play basketball with a flat ball. We played Horse but he wanted to spell Superman. Haha he was pretty good! He spelled Sup and I spelled...Well let's just say I was so bad that I probably spelled Superman five or six times.

Then we played NBA Live 2008 on the Playstation 2, in which I RULE! Sort of.

Tomorrow is a doctors appointment, babysitting and TheUG for the battle of the bands finals! Woohoo!

Safety Near the Ocean

2008-03-12T16:33:00.000-07:00

These are just some random thoughts I've been pondering all day.

I've been to the ocean, and there is something about that place that's different. I find that interesting because the ocean is dangerous! But something about listening to it, looking at it and feeling it against my feet, makes me feel safe! All of the dangers that are around me (Not including the ocean itself) are gone! Guns, car accidents, heartbreak, drugs, none of it exists.

When I'm near the ocean or simply thinking about it, I hear the Lord sing part of a song to me. It's a well known song! "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion. The Lord sings this to me,

"You are safe in My heart and, My heart will go on and on." Perhaps the ocean is his heart.

The Devil Makes Me Laugh

2008-03-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

My wrists began developing abnormally 4 years ago. This has resulted in me being unable to play music the way I would like to. These past few days have been VERY bad! I haven't picked up a guitar in a week. But I'm called to be a musician!

The enemy has been putting terrible thoughts in my mind. Thoughts like, "You will never play the violin again." and "How do you expect to play music with such terrible pains in your wrists?" and "Give up. Give up."

None of these thoughts are true...After all the enemy is also known as the father of lies. But my God is the God of truth and I am standing on his mountain. I will play music! I can't play guitar right now so I'll play piano! If my wrists give me too much trouble to play piano, then I will sing!

Here is what I have been saying to myself for the past few days and I want to say it to you, because we all struggle with the enemy.

"When the devil shouts "No!" you must shout "Yes!" twice as loud."

And please remember this...When the devil begins to pull you away from your hopes and dreams it's only because he knows that you can reach them.

Bungee Run!!

2008-03-01T14:34:00.000-08:00

Hello reader!
Last night I attended an amazing Friday Night Fight at my church, Friday Night Fight is when a bunch of high school kids come together to play violent, inflatable games such as jousting *which I am still very sore from* sumo wrestling *which I did not try* and the bungee run *which was my favorite!*

I learned a spiritual lesson on the bungee run! The bungee run to me, paints a picture of what the process of the life of a Christ follower should be:

We run ~ Honestly we have life inside of us, and I don't mean average life, I mean LIFE! We should be living lives so full that others can see that we're different! We should be running at life with everything we have to get farther and farther through it successfully just like the bungee run. The objective of the bungee run is to run as hard and as fast as you can and I think that should be our objective...To run as hard and as fast as we can towards Christ.

We plant ~ Next on the bungee run you plant a small velcro...thing...on the wall of the lane you're in. You have to get it as close to the end of the lane as you can, and it has to stick! When we reach a new height in life I think we need to plant it into someone else. Think of the velcro thing as the Gospel and the wall you're trying to put it on is an individual life or maybe the world! As we run we need to be planting the Gospel into people and set an example so that they can begin to do the same!

We fall ~ Being a Christ follower is not always easy. We have an enemy! On the bungee run the bungee chord is your enemy because the farther you run the harder it pulls you back. If you run far and hard enough chances are you're going to fly backwards and fall. This can sometimes be very painful! Our spiritual enemy is no different. The closer we get to our goal, the more desperate the enemy becomes and the harder he pulls us back! Sometimes in the bungee run you can slide backwards a little and get right back up. Sometimes in the bungee run you can go airborne and land with a thud, possibly on your head or neck like I did multiple times last night! Again the enemy is no different.

We get back up ~ After you fall you get back up and run harder! This is what we need to do in our spiritual lives. Surely you want to stay down for a moment to let the dizziness go away and to make sure you haven't broken your neck or anything haha!

I love how the Lord taught me a lesson through a bungee run and I am happy that I have the chance to share it with you! Thanks for reading!

Keep Him Abiding ~ A Prayer

2008-02-19T15:23:00.000-08:00

Jeremy Riddle is great! His sweet voice and dedication to the Lord makes me smile! His song Full Attention can easily be a prayer for any Christ follower, but for me, it's not only a prayer for myself, it's a prayer for my beloved.
Here are the lyrics. Please note that they have been changed into my prayer.

"May your voice be louder
may your voice be clearer
than all the others, than all the others.

May your face be dearer
may your words be sweeter
than all the others, than all the others in his life.

Please keep his eyes fixed on you.
Please root his heart so deep in you.
Keep him abiding! Keep him abiding!
Keep him abiding that he, oh that he may bear fruit.

May your presence be truer
may your presence be nearer
than all the others, than all the others.

May your light shine brighter
may your love move deeper
than all the others, than all the others in his life.

Please keep his eyes fixed on you
please root his heart so deep in you.
Keep him abiding! Keep him abiding!
Keep him abiding that he, oh that he may bear fruit.
Please keep his eyes fixed on you
please root his heart so deep in you.
Keep him asking! Keep him yearning!
Keep him abiding that he, oh that he may bear fruit."

One Powerful Quote!

2008-02-18T18:30:00.000-08:00

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine as children do.
It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

From the movie Coach Carter/Marianne Williamson

Friday Recap

2008-02-16T01:22:00.000-08:00

It is 1:15 A.M, I came back to my house fifteen minutes ago and after eating a wonderful slice of homemade chicken potpie I decided to write about the events of the day! It started at lunchtime...

My sister and I took my nephew to McDonalds to play in the playplace for the very first time in his young life and he was scared of the tunnels! It took him an entire hour to warm up to them, after that hour he was good to go and had a good time! Haha I tried to go down a slide with the toddler in my lap...And failed as my head got stuck against the ceiling of the slide, whipping my neck in ways that necks should not be whipped. It hurt a lot but I had to laugh. As did my sister who witnessed the weirdness. There should REALLY be some warning signs on those slides!

If you're too tall this slide might break your neck.
Have a nice day!

Later in the evening I went to The Underground for the Random Act of Kindness Party. A night of worship, music, friends, billiards and random cookies! It was an amazing night!

There were other events that made Friday interesting but if I listed them all then this post would be ridiculously long.

Interesting days make me think about life. After an interesting or busy or interestingly busy day I feel refreshed. I want to run at life! I want to live the fullest life I possibly can! And for some reason I feel like I've done this when I have a day like Friday.

I have to babysit later this morning...At 9 A.M to be exact so I think I'm going to go to sleep now! Thank you for reading! God bless!