Who Says? (Videos)

I was experimenting the other day, and made this video. The song has such a great message and I really love it. The video was a lot of fun to make and I thought I would share it.

Song: "Who Says" by Selena Gomez & The Scene

You can see my second video here: http://yfrog.com/2olluz (Since I can't seem to get it to upload on here.)

Just A Thought

 I just posted this quick little note on facebook and thought I might as well share it on my blog too.

I was just sitting here thinking about life... which I do quite often... and I had one of those "lightbulb" moments.

I spend so much of my life worrying about what other people think of me. Literally everything I do, I keep in mind what others will think or say. I'm terrified of opening my mouth in fear of saying the wrong thing. I get dressed and do my hair and makeup hoping to impress people. I try to be the best in everything I do to get approval from people. Even with my facebook statuses, I keep in mind what people might think or say about them.

But sitting here thinking, I realize that none of that is important. I could kill myself trying to impress the people around me. I could do everything in my power to gain approval from everyone I encounter... but in reality, that's not what defines my life.

Even if every single human being on this earth gives up on me or turns against me, I will still have the most powerful and amazing love in the world on my side. 

I mess up so many times. I say the wrong thing about 10000 times a day. I don't always look my best. I'm pretty far from perfect, but none of that matters. In my worst state, at my lowst point, when I've made every possible mistake in the book, God still loves me. That's the beauty of His love and grace! Even when I mess up so much to where I think my life is over, He's there with His magnificant love to lift me back up.

I can worry all day about impressing people or gaining approval, but no matter what anyone else thinks of me, God created me to be His beautiful and loved daughter. And that approval 

is all I really need to keep going.

<3 Amy

Spring Break!

I had Spring Break this week and went to Orlando for 2 days with my Mom. We met up with one of my long time friends and her Mom. They live down South so we never get to see each other but this was a perfect opportunity.

I can honestly say I had the absolute best time ever. We went to Downtown Disney and walked around which was a blast, we ate a lot of good food, and we went into the city to an Improv Comedy Club that night which was lots of fun. We went to Walmart at midnight and the next day enjoyed some shopping before we both had to return home.

I had such a fun girl's day and night and I loved it. I miss Alex and her Mom so much already but can't wait to do it again. I thought I should share some pictures from our time together. 

Prodigals = Heroes

I tried to write a blog the other day and nothing came to mind. So I was just trying to look up some quotes for my facebook, read this and quickly had to type up this blog post. 

I was inspired.

"I have come to know a God who has a soft spot for rebels, who recruits people like the adulterer David, the whiner Jeremiah, the traitor Peter, and the human-rights abuser Saul of Tarsus. I have come to know a God whose Son made prodigals the heroes of his stories and the trophies of his ministry." 
— Philip Yancey

I feel like a lot of people, including myself, spend a lot of our time and most of our lives trying to amount to something. We want to accomplish big things and end up on the top and "be somebody." Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. It's just the first thing i thought of when I read this quote. I feel like I spend so much of my life trying to be something big so that my parents will be proud of me, or grandparents, or people will like me, or even fame and popularity or whatever you can think of. Even with God. I tell the people around me every chance I get that God will always love them for who they are no matter what, imperfections and all... but then I don't apply that to myself. I feel like if I have the highest degree of schooling and the most money and the best family and I'm the most lovable person then God will be proud of me. I guess even through everything, I still have that thought sometimes where I feel the need to gain God's approval.

I find myself sitting around a lot, thinking of what I can do to ensure that God looks down on me and smiles. But, the harder I try, the harder it gets to achieve that. When in reality, I already have it. Deep down, I know that God is absolutely in love with me, simply because I am His child and He made me the way I am... but I still catch myself trying so hard to gain that approval. 

This quote really opened my eyes. The first part of the quote is something I've always said. Throughout the bible, we see all these examples of what God did with people. I usually refer back the the story where Jesus hung out with the tax collector. But the last sentence of this quote is what really got to me as I read it. 

"I have come to know a God whose Son made prodigals the heroes of his stories and the trophies of his ministry."

All those people that we look down upon became something big with Jesus. All of those things inside ourselves that we hate or we regret don't compare to what God can do with us. All of those who failed and whined and sinned and even denied Jesus became heroes. Those same people that screwed up and probably felt like failures were used by Jesus to do great, extraordinary things through Him. Those same people are the heroes in all the stories we read. They weren't perfect. They didn't live the most amazing lives and they weren't always at the top... but Jesus used them to do incredible things.

Reading this really reassured me of a lot of things. Peter and David and Jeremiah and all of the others didn't live their whole lives perfectly. They messed up. They fell. They failed. They were human. But the amazing thing is that even with all of their shortcomings, with God's love and His son, they ended up on the top. Not because they were famous or made the most money or did the most things, but because Jesus worked through them and showed love through them.

Jesus' love shone so bright through the same people that screwed up so many times. Through their failures, God's love was projected to the whole world.

Maybe I spend so much time trying to make something tremendous out of my life that I'm not letting God take care of it. I don't have to be perfect. Even with my failures, God and His love will shine through me, and that is far more important than the most fame or money in the world.

Just like the people in the bible.... They didn't make something big out of themselves on their own. God did.

<3 Amy

Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace.

"I'd rather be real than impressive."


A recurring topic has been showing up in my life a lot lately. It started with Taylor Swift's new CD, 'Speak Now.' I opened the album art insert in the front cover of the CD to the first flap and read these words:

"I think most of us fear reaching the end of our life, and looking back regretting the moments we didn't speak up." - Taylor Swift

The second instance happened just now when I was reading all the quotes on Jason Gray's website along with is biography, in which he said this:

"I'm actually grateful now," Jason says, "that my speech handicap never afforded me the option of masking my weakness behind an illusion of competency.  Whenever I opened my mouth, there it was for all to see... something was clearly wrong with Jason.  I couldn't fool others or myself.  I think the best thing that can happen to us is to be 'found out' for all that we are, our religious and human pretenses stripped away to reveal our sin, pettiness, and weakness.  Then we can devote our energies to better endeavors than the constant masquerade of sufficiency.  The added benefit is that people are able to see how God's grace works in a real person's life.  When we come clean about our brokenness, Christ becomes the star of our testimony and not us."

I think that for a lot of us, most of our lives are spent keeping our mouths shut for fear of saying the wrong thing. I'm not the best at it, but I know I think about it all the time. I'm scared to say the wrong thing, so I choose not to say anything at all. Whether it's fear of embarrassment or someone not agreeing with what I say, or even someone judging me wrongly for the words I say. It's all of these fears that keep me from opening my mouth.

When I was little, I grew up listening to adults say "Children should be seen and not heard" and frankly, as a child, I always hated that phrase. 

My parents will tell you I have a big mouth. And because of that, I always felt as if I had a very important opinion that needed to be heard. I like making my opinion heard and I like letting other people know what I think... but I have no filter. Therefore, sometimes, the things that come out probably shouldn't have.

I was a lot more shy when I was young, so I didn't worry too much about saying the wrong thing, since I didn't say much. But as I got older, I've started to talk more. And I talk a lot more with adults than I do with people my own age. I've noticed that a lot of people won't take you seriously when you're younger. Your age greatly affects your knowledge and your ability to say things of importance.

Because of that very reason, I always try to keep my mouth shut. My mouth runs faster than my brain has time to think, and I tend to spit out the wrong things at the wrong time. Since this has happened so much, it's easier for me to tell myself to shut up and then talk to myself before I go to sleep at night to actually spill out all my thoughts. (I can't just keep them in forever.)

But recently when reading all these quotes from people I look up to, I start to think of it differently. All those times when I kept my thoughts to myself for fear of being rejected, maybe I shouldn't have. Maybe I should have taken Taylor Swift's advice and spoken when I had the chance.

The fear of being rejected for my opinion is a lot smaller than the fear of getting to the end of my life and realizing I never said the things I wanted to when I had the chance, and then losing that opportunity just because I was scared.

Jason's biography and quotes put a whole new spin on that. 

Maybe, by opening my mouth, I might say the wrong thing, or I might embarrass myself, or I might lose respect from people... but at least I'm being me. When we speak our mind and let out our opinions, we show people who we are. We show our mistakes, we show our flaws, and a lot of times, we end up revealing our brokenness.

It's not always impressive to others, but that's where that first quote really touched me...

"I'd rather be real, than impressive."

And it's true. No matter what our age, we all have opinions. I quoted Dr. Seuss this week when he said "A person's a person, no matter how small." We all have beliefs and thoughts that make us who we are. We know what we believe and we have opinions that we feel strongly about. But a lot of times, because of our age or because of fears, we keep those thoughts, opinions and beliefs inside of us.

I'm not saying we should go around 24/7 blurting out everything on our minds. Obviously, that wouldn't be the best idea. But I am saying that there's a time to speak now. There is a time to say what's on your mind when you have the chance to say it.

We can live our whole lives keeping to ourselves and miss the opportunities to say what we wish we could have said, or we can speak up and let our voice be heard.

The fears of embarrassment or loss of respect or "saying the wrong thing" should never hold us back from saying what we feel. Through our thoughts and through our honesty, people will see the real us. People will see all our flaws and all our brokenness, but I'd rather let people see my flaws than pretend to be perfect any day.

The last quote, I read today [also by Jason Gray] that I really loved said this:

"By His love, all the outsiders and losers are being made beautiful."

And I will leave you with that.

<3 Amy