Nice...Shoes?

I got the best compliment today that I've received in weeks. And with a very flattering boyfriend, that is something not easily said.

Today is TOMS No shoes Awareness Day - Today I was told by a passerby (who was also shoeless) "Hey, I like your shoes!!" We shared a large smile and went on about our day. Awareness days are great, but I've been told "if you are aware...where do you go from there?"

That question made me truly think. My roommate, best friend, and I have tried to do fundraisers for TOMS but they do not take donations (odd, but true.) They receive their money simply by people who purchase their shoes. Which is fair, but how on earth do we help if donations aren't plausible?

For one: GET THE WORD OUT! Safety, Service and Love for others aren't just things you speak about or feel without action - those things are movements only able to be put in action by people MOVING together.

For two: Host a TOMS Design Your Sole party, you can design your own TOMS in party form with friends who also want to change the world! It's a rather cool idea!

For three: BE CREATIVE! The Beatles didn't start a movement by sounding like anyone else but The Beatles. And better yet, Jesus didn't waste his time trying to reach his people the same way other churches and temples did - in fact He flipped tables and set people on their edge.

I love my "shoes" Make an effort and voice your opinion - start moving, even if it is just by not wearing shoes. Don't stop there, everyone makes a difference!!

until next time (:

I believe because He believed first

At the beginning of this year a friend of mine asked me a very simple question because he has questions himself. The question was this, "Why do you believe in God?" And my answer was just as simple - sort of. "Because He's never given up on me."

In a way I've found that the greatest way to get out my beliefs are to state them all out as a decree. I find it rather easy to explain my belief in God to others, and in some ways it is rather difficult to do just that. I can tell other Christians time and time again to watch their tongue, but if I do not do the same - what good is it? I can explain my belief in God as simply as His belief in me, but if I give up on Him - what good am I?

I believe in a God who is forever present and omnipresent. I believe in a God who before my birth knew me and sent His only child to die for the sins I would commit. As a Christian I am NOWHERE NEAR perfect, nor do I wish to be. I wish to be the greatest earthly version of myself I can be for my God. I wish to be a great beacon for those who cannot see through the darkness, and lead them to the shore where God reigns as the great light. 

I don't believe that God resides only in churches, ornate buildings made to flaunt the money that the church has brought in. I find church, the way that the Bible spoke it to be, in the conversations I have with other people. God is amongst those who push your faith and make you wonder why you believe exactly what you believe. I believe in God because when I pray I get a warm feeling from the tips of my fingers, to points of my toes. I believe in God because after I spoke on losing a friend to murder and how I was overcoming that through the faith that God can come in and make me warm again. I believe in God because He gave me friends and family who told me in my darkest times "let love in and He will do the rest". I believe in God because He never lost faith in me, He sent His son to die for me-my name was written on his every wound and for that, I will never give up on Him.

I have a lot of plans for my life, a lot of desires and a lot of wishes - thankfully, God has just as many plans, desires and wishes for me. Faith is following and being active in your beliefs. I am being active by believing in my God by helping those who need me and following where He opens doors. I believe He has a plan. He has never let me down.

I believe because He believed first.

until next time (:

Support for you from You

Many people fear going to funerals, just that many don't like them because they are too sad or too difficult to handle. Today, my school was courageous and banned together for a fellow classmate - in this I was moved. 

This past friday a friend of mine, let's call her B, her mother passed away from a five year long battle against a brain cancer. B is a very stable part of our society here at school and she means the world to all of us. So when we heard that her mom's suffering had ended and she was gone, we began to pray - cry - and surround B with everything we had. 

Now my school, being a religious environment, it seems sort of natural (one would assume) for us to come together like that, but not always. We are an amazing family together and we do always come together in ways that most other schools would not but today was amazing. Myself and a few friends stepped into the church where the funeral was to be held and we saw droves of students that went to our school, all in support of B. Had they ever met her mother? No, but it didn't seem to matter to any of them. The only thing that ever mattered in their minds was that B understood how much she and her family are loved by our community. 

I am proud to say I go to my school, and even more so to say that I belong to a group of friends and a student body that moves together to raise the spirits and hopes of our down trodden fellow students. B will get better, she will survive and be strong on her own, but with our help she can grow even stronger. 

To you, B, I love you and know that whatever it is that is taking place in your spirit that it will pass and we are all here to help it do just that. Remember your mom because she is still there, as a memory and as a love that transcends death.

until next time. (:

Winton's Children

How far would you go to save a life? How about the life of a child? Would you do it to get world head lines?

Nicholas Winton save 669 children from the Nazis in 1938, keeping a record of every child he saved he put the pictures and records away in his attic and told no one, not even his wife. What he did was save hundreds of lives and did it because he knew it was right and he that he could. How far would you go?

Sometimes I like to tell myself that it's ridiculous to say that I'd do the same, that there is no way I could have the courage to do something like save another human being's life. Then I realize that if I were given the choice to save my mother, best friend, teacher, child, stranger's life I would do it in a heart beat. If I were given the choice to breathe another day and let them lose their life or give them my last breath and leave this world, I would give them my last breath and say goodbye.

I pretend that I would talk myself out of it, but then I realize that as much as I love living and doing what I love to do in my own life, knowing I could let someone go on doing what they love and go on loving who they love means so much more to me. I'm content with my life and the way I'm living, in fact I'm ecstatic about my own life and the things my heart beats for the dreams my mind takes me on for my own future. Which, all of those things make me realize I would give my life over someone else's without a second thought. 

If even one other human being has dreams like mine then let them live. To save a life makes the life of the saver that much more important, much more meaningful. Saving someone's life would be the fulfillment of all the dreams I've ever dreamed.

So to answer my own question, I would do what Winton did in a heart beat, no matter the consequence, but would you?

until next time (: