eighteen.

Tomorrow I will turn eighteen. I honestly cannot believe I am turning eighteen. It sounds insane to me. My teenage years have had such smooth transitions that I can't believe they are almost past me. When someone says, "Oh, I can't believe you are that old!" I think to myself, "I sure don't feel that old."

Heh. I find it so funny. Growing up is not what I thought it would be like. As a little girl, I remember looking up to teenage girls and being so excited about being one myself someday. They were pretty, they could drive, they went shopping with friends, and they could play the piano insanely well. I also remember thinking about college and holding it on a special pedestal. I thought I would pack-up, go away to college, and come home for the holidays. (And, of course, meet my future husband and bring him home for Christmas.)

But life is so different then fantasies. And so much better.

I finally got past the awkward teenage years when I thought myself to be ugly.(Hallelujah.) I have a driver's license, but I hate to drive. I don't have that much of a social life full of movies and shopping, but I am cool with that. I don't play the piano nearly as well as I would like, but I am learning to find the beauty of music more and more. Oh, and college. I am finishing my first semester of online classes for college, so I live at home and do school. (And on that same note, college is just schoolwork. No big deal.)

This past year has been really calm, nothing dramatic happening. It has, however, been a conglomeration of many small, special things. I have a wonderful small circle of friends with whom I get to play music and worship Jesus. I have an incredible family. Even though my siblings and I are all growing up and doing our own things, I find my relationships with them becoming stronger. We may not have cross-country vacations, but discussing Doctor Who and nerding-out about Captain America is just as fun. (Also, thanks to Pinterest, I may have actually learned a little bit about fashion this year.)

And I am so thankful for Jesus' faithfulness. It just astounds me. I am so thankful that my relationship with Him has grown so much over the years. I mean, I fail Him everyday and am not even close to where I need to be. But this past year has taught me to trust Him that I will make it there. I think that is the biggest thing I have learned this past year. I don't have to worry so much about where I am going. I just need to live right here and right now. When the time comes for me to move ahead, then Jesus will light the path before me.

So. I have no idea where God will take me in my eighteenth year or who He will bring across my path or what He will teach me. But, I am super excited about the adventure up ahead. May this year be full of Jesus and joy and hope and revelation.

Hi. My name is Brooke, and I am going to Africa.

The Gospel.

"Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."-Luke 24:46-49

That Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. And that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations.

The simple truth. I think we make the Gospel complicated.

You see, God isn't asking for perfect people to come to Himself so that He can accept them as His own. He is calling out for the poor and powerless, the weak and needy, the no good, the losers, the hopeless, the fearful, and the wandering. He wants us just as we are. And through His power, He makes us whole.

Don't water-down the Gospel. Don't try to make it fit into your own ideas. You can't conform it to your life. It doesn't work like that. If you try to conform the Gospel to your life, it doesn't have any affect.

THE GOSPEL IS THE LIVING WORD. IT BRINGS LIFE AND PEACE AND JOY.

We try to fit it into a box to make ourselves feel better. But we can't. We aren't supposed to.

When we lay everything before God. I mean everything. Our hopes and our dreams. Our failures and our weaknesses. He breathes His life into us. The creator of the universe breathes His life into us. THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE. Before Him nothing on the earth or under the earth can possibly stand with pride. "Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."-Philippians 2:9-11

It is in the humbling, in the dying to our flesh. It is there that we find life. Glorious life! The life that comes from the One true God! Jesus Christ! He who suffered and rose again on the third day that we may have forgiveness of sins.

We must work everyday. Because a war was never won in a day. So we press on. Further up and further in.

Summer 2013

The summer I decided to be myself.

The summer I decided not to lose the innocence of childhood.

The summer I dreamed of Africa.

The summer we were in the pool and jumped off the ladder for an hour yelling out    movie quotes.

The summer I learned to let go and trust God.

The summer I babysat a little girl.

The summer Josh and Maegan became my best friends.

The summer we decided to buy a lodge.

The summer we played volleyball.

The summer I found Doctor Who.

The summer I began studying personality types.

The summer we read ALL of the time.

The summer we made a Batman movie.

The summer I learned to be content.

The summer Phillip and I discovered NASA documentaries.

The summer I finished my painting.

The summer I began learning discipline and persistence.

The summer Captain America and I became pals.

The summer the blogging-rage hit my family.

The summer I started playing the guitar.

The summer we watched movies on Netflix. A lot.

The summer of late-night revelations.

The summer I decided to learn.

The summer of continual rainy days and mounds of ice-cream.

The summer I did not achieve any of the goals I had set out to do but in the process, accomplished so much more than I could have anticipated.

I don't have to carry it on my own.

My life at the moment is crazy. Well, it isn’t so much what is going on around me, but my mind is going ninety miles a minute.

Trying to finish Algebra II. I must finish. I need to make a good grade. Must finish. What are you talking about, Problem? Must finish.
Preparing/Attempting to keep calm for the ACT next month. It is just a test. No biggie. Oh my, 35 minutes for 40 science questions. Whaa? I will make a good score.
Piano. I think we are reaching a breakthrough!
Dairy project. Why did I volunteer to do research? *bangs head on desk*
Guatemala. Raise a ton of money over the summer. No problem...right? But seriously, I am super excited about the trip. I got my passport in the mail todaaay!
College. Aaaggghhhh!!! No, I don’t know what I am going to do after high-school. Distance-learning course vs. Community College. Business vs. Education. The decisions one must make.

And you know what the worst part is? I have pushed God to the back of my mind in all of this. Craziness is ten times crazier when I am not praying and reading my Bible. This is a major problem. #1. God is so much worthier than that. #2 God is who keeps me calm. He keeps me together. He keeps me sane. And I don’t mean that jokingly. The past few days I have been so scatter-brained, snappy, and just not happy.

But I am reminded that I don't have to live this crazy life by myself. He is bigger than my problems. He is stronger than my fears. And His grace is greater than all of my mistakes.

My Jesus

Image via: google.com

I don't think there is a word in the English language that can fully describe God. If there was a word, the only one that comes close is "HOLY."

You see, my God is the One who made that beautiful blue sky with the cotton-candy clouds. He created that green grass you walk on.

My God is the One who makes the blind to see and the deaf to hear. He is the One that wipes away cancer. 

My God is the One whom demons tremble before. He is the One who sets the captives free.

My God is the King of the Universe. 

And He chose to step down from His throne, become a man, and die...for me. My mind can't comprehend it. The Father gave His only Son to die for a wretched sinner. When He was up there on that cross, He had me on His mind. And He had you on His mind. 

After three days of being in a tomb, He rose up and walked out alive in the power of God. He broke the chains of death and bought back His children. The power of sin and death is nothing compared to my Jesus.

My Jesus is King of Kings. My Jesus is Healer. My Jesus is Savior. Redeemer. Chain-breaker. Lamb of God. Great I Am. Friend. Lord of Lords. Victory. Hope. Love. Holy.

True Love-Phil Wickham

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj_shtsija8&feature=related

Change is inevitable.

Image via: pinterest.com

I thought that I liked change. Seeing new places and meeting new people were always exciting. I loved moving houses, and I was more than happy to change schools in order to have new experiences.
But this week I realized how much I dislike change. I miss how things were and wish they were the same now. I miss TeenPact. I miss going to Mobile each month. I miss cRave every Friday night. I miss all of those crazy people who seemed like family. I feel like they are fading away from my life, and I don’t want that to happen. I want everything how it was.
And if all that has changed in two years, then I can’t imagine what the next two will be like. The unknown future is not something that I am scared of, but sometimes I don’t like what the future brings.
Everything is changing at church, people coming and going. I will be graduating next year, starting college, and finding a job. I will miss my friends, co-op on Tuesdays, and my leadership class.
“You have the memories,” one might say. But I don’t want the memories. I want it to be now. Maybe I am all “blah” right now because life is so uneventful. Everything is routine which becomes bland and dull. Church on Sundays and Wednesdays and school the rest of the time. I want to change the world, not sit at home and study Chemistry.
But I know God is taking me somewhere. I know He has awesome plans for me. And I know He has to take me through all these stages of life. I may enjoy certain stages more than others, but He uses them all to prepare me. The important thing is to seek Him, and use every opportunity that He gives me to impact the world around me. Change is not always pleasant, but change is necessary. I must remind myself everyday: Don’t worry. God knows what He is doing.


“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”-Jeremiah 29:11