my sister

Today is September 23, my sister's birthday so I decided to dedicate this blogpost to our last 21 years together. These things I remember the most from the years we lived together.

She was my very first sister.
She was my very first friend.
She was the first person to physically abuse me(haha).
She was the first person to run me into a column in our house busting my lip and giving me a black eye (example of the physical abuse haha).
She was the first person I pushed off the slide and accidently broke her collarbone (oops!).
She was the first person I hugged and cried to after we almost got into a car accident together.
She's my sister.

Every year for about 8 years in a row from age 4-11 we sang this song at every single church talent show...EVERY YEAR.



We dressed alike almost everyday from ages 3-12 (embarassing) but we dealt with it. And to this day I am still the cute one and she's just my sister.

Lauren and I grew so close since we went to college. Through high school we argued all the time and never got along. We still have tifts but she and I have both grown phenomenally in learning to read each other and understand each other in a way only sisters can. I love her so much! She means the world to me! God has grown or relationship so much and I am so thankful!

Here are some flashbacks from our past:



This is Lauren holding our little sister Anna Kate.



This is Lauren and I have no idea what she is doing...I think she stole the noodle from me!



This is Lauren and I modeling our boogey boards-alittle blurry but this pic is priceless!



I am Jasmine and she is a Cat!! (WHISKERS)



I think this is the first day of school one year. I feel like I can say with confidence that we have both grown in our fashion sense! Thank goodness!!



Lauren and I in high school!



And all of us now!! Happy Birthday Lauren!! Love ya!

more

"Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, "Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." Luke 21:1-4

This is the verse we went over in a small group I lead that is made of of 11th grade girls. We talked alot about giving sacrificially- do we give our heart, time, and money to the Lord to "just get by"? Or do we give further in order to allow us to rely more on Him.

The two copper coins that this woman gave which would have been equivalent to about $1.50 is about the amount of what her next meal would have cost. This woman, destitute, and poor, gave the amount of money that I am sure was a stretch for her but she did it cheerfully and with a faith-filled heart. Do we stretch ourselves daily to give more to God in our time, heart, and money?

I think about my walk with Christ. Do I do just enough or do I do more? Sometimes I look at people and think that they look complacent (me comparing) and I think: I read my Bible daily, I pray, I memorize scripture, I live my life for God. But here's the real question: Can I be complacent in my "living my life for God"? I think so. We can get into a daily routine and get used to the good things we are doing. Instead I should be saying: How can I learn more of God, how can I love others more, how can I preach more of the gospel to myself, how can I glorify God in my daily life more, and how can I fight and see more of my sin? Notice the word: more. I don't want to get to a certain point in my life and stop growing or stop knowing more of God than I could. So we give sacrificially more.

This week in small group, we challenged ourselves to really guard our time with Jesus. And sacrificially spend more time than we normally would with him. We challenged each other to when we wake up before showering, putting on makeup, changing clothes, etc we would pull out our Bible and spend time with Christ. So even if we are running late, we spend time with Jesus first!! I can't wait to see how this plays out for me and for the girls!

come to me

"Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food." Isaiah 55:2

We talked about this in Bible study last night and thought about what we spend our money and labor on which does not satisfy. Our list included: phones, Facebook, school(sometimes), guys,etc. The next question was how do you know if you are putting those things before Jesus? As a group we came up with these questions to ask yourself:

Do you text more than you read your Bible?
When you go to bed and wake up in the morning do you run straight to Jesus or you makeup?
Do you study the word of God before the word of man(school)?
Would you say no to hang out with a guy if you hadn't spent time with Jesus yet?
Do you curse more Than you pray?

These are just some of the questions we asked ourselves. Then we each picked one that we knew applied to us- told a friend to help keep each other accountable and were going to think about this all during the week. So join us if you want! Pick a question and instead of looking to something to satisfy you- Instead Isaiah 53 say to "Incline your ear, and come to me ; hear, that your soul may live." So we come to Jesus and pray that Jesus would change our heart and help us fight our sins. Our only instruction is "come to me;hear"- we need to go to Jesus and listen;he will satisfy. And in the end we are grateful because he has already done all the work so that we may live.

pizza, pizza, pizza

I've been reading this book called "A Praying Life" by Paul Miller and it is completely changing my life. I have always had a hard time praying and have just thought: "I'm just bad at it." I am always distracted and can't keep focused. I have tried praying outloud, journaling, praying with eyes open, closed, etc. But it always ends the same. I become distracted so I just quit. I feel like I have to.

I have learned A TON from "A Praying Life" but one things I am focusing in on is this concept: when you are praying and random thoughts of distraction come into your head- pray about those thoughts...because that is what is really on your heart. That is so true! Why did I not think of that? This concept has changed my prayer life.

Last week was our first team Bible study- 13/20 girls on my team came (such an answer to prayer). We listened to a sermon called Four Chairs (I highly recommend it). I ordered pizza for us but when the pizza guy came he didn't have what I ordered. He gave us 2 boxes instead of 3 and charged us too much money. I was very frustrated and apologized to my girls. After Bible Study on the way home I prayed for the girls: that they would know where they stood before the Lord, that God would change their hearts and pizza, pizza, pizza. I could not stop thinking about the pizza mishap. Every five seconds I would think about it. I was tempted to stop praying but instead I prayed: "God, thank you for even just providing two pizzas, Im frustrated that there wasnt enough but it wasnt the delivery guys fault. The girls reacted fine to it. Please clear my anxious heart of messing up in front of the girls. I just thank you for the pizza we had." It was like magic, except not magic because I know it was God. My mind was done with pizza and I was able to freely and clearly pray for the girls for the next 15 minutes. It was incredible.

Another thing the book focuses on is praying like a child; asking what you want. There are some things we don't think to pray for. A girl on my team is having BIG knee problems. The doctors cant find anything wrong and the MRIs come back negative. Now, the girl and I are teaming up and praying for 2 weeks straight that God would heal her knee and lessen the pain. My prayer is that God would heal her that she might see more of God's greatness and grandness and when she is healed we will know where to give the credit. I've never thought to pray for an injury. She will continue going to the training room but everyday we will also beg the Lord to heal her! I'm excited to see where this goes!

I HIGHLY recommend "A Praying Life." It is a phenomenal book. I have learned so much and can't wait to read the rest!