What if...

"....'What' and 'If' are two words as non-threatening as words can be. But put them together side-by-side and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life." -Letters to Juliet


I love this quote. Granted, it is a movie as corny as all get-out and if you know me you've probably heard me make fun of it at least once. The above quote though is one of my favorites from any movie, because it is so true. When thinking about this quote and what I wanted to write on tonight, I thought of the song "The Motions" by Matthew West. If you haven't heard it, I would recommend listening to it before I continue.



This is such a powerful song. Matthew West says that he will do anything to avoid asking "What if" in regards to his faith. I think this is a passion that we should all seek to have. In our relationship with God and in our relationship with others, we shouldn't ever have to ask ourselves "What if". I know something that I have been thinking a lot about lately is the question "Am I doing everything in my power to show everyone around me the love of God?" This is a difficult and condemning question. I am ashamed to admit that there are people that I see hurting in my daily life that I pass by. Sometimes without thinking about it, but sometimes I just think that there's nothing I can do for that person. But...what if? What if I stopped and talked to that person? What if I sent them a text message just to let them know I was praying for them? What if all they needed was a hug to lift their spirits? I am trying to live every day to where, at the end of the day, I don't have to ask "what if". I don't want to doubt that I gave everything that day because of my commitment to God and to doing His will.

"Just ok is not enough, help me fight through the nothingness of this life. I don't want to go through the motions, I don't want to go one more day without Your all-consuming passion inside of me. I don't want to spend my whole life asking 'What if I had given everything?' instead of going through the motions." My challenge to you this week is to do everything you possibly can to show God to those around you. It's as simple and as difficult as that. Try and see people through the eyes of Jesus, and I promise you that you will bless so many people because of that.

Be salt and light!!
Hannah

Service In It's Best Form

I have been so blessed in many ways. One of these ways is by having good, solid friendships with people who challenge me in my faith. Sometimes these challenges can be hard to swallow, but they are always needed. The most recent challenge that got me thinking came to me in an e-mail. Many of you know Evan, and if you have ever been around him you know that faith challenges come from all directions from him. He asked me the question, "What has been your biggest "light bulb" moment from God?" I had never been asked this before, and I'm sad to say I was stumped for a little bit! I was trying to think of a single moment in time when I just knew that God was telling me something, and I realized there had been many, many of them. But then a time came to me, and I knew what moment was my biggest "light bulb moment" from God. It wasn't a single event though, it was a series of events that drew me closer to God than anything has since.

If you have spent any time around me, ever, then I have probably told you about the mission trip my church youth group took to Piedras Negras, Mexico. They were building a church by hand, and we had gone down to help them. We had to dig 6 feet deep, 4 feet across holes for the support pillars to go into, and we soon found out a lot of where we were digging was solid rock. So people would use a jack hammer to break up some of the ground, then others would go in and scoop out the rock with shovels, and the process would begin again. I actually got to use a jack hammer, it was pretty awesome! This trip was so special to me, because it drew me closer to the friends I already had and even helped me make some of the most important friendships of my life. What changed me, however, was someone who lived there. The second day of working, me and my friend Jessica were working on one of the holes when a man approached us and in Spanish said he and another guy were needing a couple people to help them lay the bricks, and asked if we would want to help. We said sure and went over to help them. Now, in later reflection, I realize they probably just wanted to get us away from the power tools, but I guess we'll never really know. They introduced themselves- the man who approached us was named Ronnie and the man with him was named Bennie. Now Ronnie was speaking only Spanish to us, but Bennie was trying to learn English so he would ask us what different words were in English. That day as we worked Ronnie and Bennie asked us questions and showed us how we were going to lay the bricks and get them to be even. Me and Jess absolutely LOVE to sing, and turns out so did these guys. The problem was, we didn't know the songs in Spanish and they didn't know them in English. We actually both learned songs in the opposite language, which was cool. But we came up with a solution- we would sing songs that had different parts and just sing them in our respective languages. Our favorite song got to be "Someday". If you haven't heard it I would recommend looking it up- it's beautiful. As we were singing it I got to thinking about how cool it was that we were from different cultures, had trouble communicating, and yet we all worshiped the same God and found a way to worship together.

All week, I had been struggling to understand/talk to Ronnie. I was talking to a girl from the church there (she spoke fluent English) a few nights into our trip, and communicated my frustration over the difficulty to her. She looked confused and said, "Ronnie is one of the best English speakers we have here." I was shocked! The next day I went up to him and told him his ruse was up, and asked why he hadn't told me. He chuckled and said "Well, me hermana, I know both English and Spanish. So, it will help you talk to others more here if I speak in Spanish to you." He then, of course, resumed to talking only in Spanish to me. But I got to thinking about it, and he had been teaching me so much and that he was right.

Another thing I noticed about Ronnie was that he was the first person there in the morning, and the last one to leave at night. He was also one of the most cheerful people out there working. He would joke around with me and Jessica about how strong we were going to get and would make fun of the stuff we would say. No matter how tough the work got or how rainy it was, nothing could get him down. I was so impressed by his dedication to making the building the best it could be. I asked someone from the church towards the end of the trip if Ronnie was a deacon or preacher there or just one of the members. They told me that Ronnie actually wasn't a member there. They told me he went to a church in another town. This blew me away. One of the hardest, most cheerful workers there didn't even go to that church.

That, my friends, is being the hands and feet of Jesus. Ronnie saw a need, and he filled it with a glad and sincere heart. All that week he had been teaching me and Jess words in spanish, but it wasn't until later that I realized that he had taught us so, so much more. He had taught us the true meaning of service. He worked his hardest and expected absolutely nothing in return.

The last night we were there we were saying goodbye and crying. Ronnie hugged us and quoted us a line that we had been singing all week- "Peace and joy and happiness, no more sorrow- someday." He said "Someday soon we will see each other again. No need to cry, it is happy." At the time, I was thinking very literally. Next year we were scheduled to go back to Piedras Negras, and so I'd get to see him them. Since then, the unrest in Mexico has caused our church to be unable to go back. As I am writing this, I am fighting tears because I realize what Ronnie meant. We many not see each other in this world. But someday we will get to see Ronnie again.

Because of Ronnie, I see the world differently. Because of that week and the impact he had on me, I want to be a servant that expects absolutely nothing in return. I know that Jesus is going to accept Ronnie and say "Well done, my good and faithful servant." And because of Ronnie, I am striving to be another one that Jesus greets with that same phrase.

My challenge to you this week is this- be a servant. Our time on earth is short, and we should all remember that we are working towards a greater goal than anything this earth can offer. Find five people this week, and do something nice for them that they cannot repay you for. Send a note of encouragement, send them anonymous flowers to let them know that you appreciate them and the impact they have on you, or give someone a call that you have been holding something against, and say those freeing words "I forgive you."

Someday, Someday, Someday, Someday

Peace and joy and happiness, no more sorrow...someday.

Gotta be ready when He calls my name, I gotta be ready when He calls my name, I gotta be ready when he calls my name...someday.

The trumpet will sound and all the dead will rise, we'll walk the streets of gold...someday.

Be salt and light!
~Hannah~

Re-framing- Even to the point of silliness

Re-framing is a term I first heard my sophomore year of high school in Leadership class. We discussed how we should re-frame situations to make them seem better than they really were. Now, a couple times since them I have re-framed a few things here and there, but I haven't ever really committed to what I will now call "Living a Re-Framed Life".

This year I have gotten very close to an wonderful, dear person- my friend Nicole. Today we had the opportunity to talk about how God is working in our lives and it is amazing to watch how He is working through her to not only change me, but everyone around her. This has been such a blessing in my life. One thing in particular that Nicole and I have discussed recently is the very issue of re-framing. I don't remember how it started, but we realized maybe we were complaining a tad too much about things. So we decided to try and think of an alternative for it. There are the obvious and easy ones- someone cuts you off in traffic, and you can say "oh, they didn't see me!" or maybe someone doesn't hold the door open for you and you think "they must be running really late for something". Some, however, are not so easy. Some take creativity. For example, the other day I was in line to buy coffee and this girl cut DIRECTLY in front of me. It was very obvious I was there and that she saw me. I didn't say anything, and later when talking to Nicole I joked "Maybe she was so dehydrated that if she didn't get coffee THAT MINUTE she was going to pass out." Another example is if you trip, you can think "Well, I wouldn't have gotten to feel how soft the ground was if I hadn't tripped!" or if you drop your chocolate cake before you get a chance to eat it (always a tragedy) you can think "Well, I didn't really need the extra calories anyway."

Now, I realize some of these examples are a little extreme and most of the "re-frames" are pretty silly. But I've noticed it really does help me keep a brighter perspective on life. Because even if there is zero chance of the re-framing being accurate (the coffee line cutter) it can make you laugh and then you feel better. It also becomes habit, so when someone is rude to you it becomes almost second nature to think "Maybe they just weren't having the best day today".

I think that we should all try and live "A Re-Framed Life". I am no where near where I want to be on this, but if you try and be aware that we never know the full circumstances surrounding a person and their actions, then it becomes easier to cut people some slack. And I think that we need to cut people some slack. We live in an ever increasing "One strike you're out" world, and I believe that needs to change. We are all humans. We make mistakes. Recently I have become very aware that we can not, as Christians, give people just one or two chances and then kick them to the curb. We are told to forgive...and forgive...and forgive some more. We are also told to be encouragers, not people that bring others down. By re-framing, it makes it easier to forgive others and to encourage those. Instead of getting angry at someone when they are short with you, remember that maybe we don't know the full story, and a little encouragement to that person can go a long way.

My challenge to you this week is to re-frame, re-frame, re-frame. Even if you have to be silly and come up with extreme examples, still try and re-frame the situation and put it in a more positive light. From my experience, the world will seem a little brighter if you do so.

Be salt and light!!
~Hannah~

Just His Presence

I have wanted to be a missionary for...well it feels like forever. But lately, doubts started popping up in my mind.

Doubts like...

"What if people don't like me or want to listen to me?"

"What if I can't make a difference?"

"What if I'm not a good enough speaker?

"What if I don't know enough?"

These questions, and more, have been plaguing me for a while now. It's been quite the downer, because this is what I wanted to do with my future. I wanted to minister to people, whether I went to a foreign land or showed Jesus to someone just down the street. But how can I do that with all my shortcomings? Needless to say, I was definitely stressing out about my future.

And then a speaker at Downtown Church of Christ's Sunday night singing service (wow, try saying "Sunday Night Singing Service" five times fast) really touched my heart and got me to thinking. So this post will be a compilation of my thoughts throughout the week.

When God appeared to Moses, Moses had reasons as to why he could not go to Egypt. In the same way, when God appeared to Gideon, Gideon also had his list of shortcomings ready to recite to God. Both of these men, like me, had reasons as to why they did not think they were fit to minister to those that God was calling them to minister to. The next part of these men's stories, though, is what made me realize how silly I had been.

God doesn't say "No, no Moses! You're the best public speaker out there! You're going to do great, because you have such a talent for negotiation. I need your gift." God also doesn't say to Gideon, "No, you're definitely old enough! You are going to do great. I mean, look at how great you are at talking to people and getting people to listen!"

No, there was no reassurance of their talents. Not once did God say, "With your talents, you can do this."

What's my point?

My point is that we need to be focusing on what God DOES promise them. He doesn't reassure them and tell them that THEY can do it. God instead promises that He will be with them. That's it. It has nothing to do with the people and everything to do with God and His mighty power.

Once I realized that, my whole view began to change. I had been so wrapped up in worrying if my talents were developed enough to change people's lives and if my talents were good enough to make a difference. This isn't about me. This is about God doing amazing, wonderful works. This is about God touching people's hearts. He doesn't need me, He doesn't need us. And yet, He allows us to play a part in making people's lives better. If we help Him in His works, it's a gift that He has given us, not a requirement for His plans to succeed.

My encouragement to you this week would be to remember that His presence is what He promises us, and that His presence in our lives is so much more than enough for all of us. And when you get discouraged because of your shortcomings, remember that God was never relying on us. It is us that needs to learn to fully rely on Him, and that no matter how unworthy or ungifted you think you are, it's never about you and your abilities. So don't worry if you think you're not good enough to help someone, because God can work through anyone, wherever they are and use whatever abilities they have to glorify Him.

Be salt and light!!

~Hannah~

My Own Little World

I have recently been amazed by one of my friends. Everyday he does something that just shows me the love he has for Christ. One thing fairly recently that showed me this was that he wanted to take sandwiches to the homeless in the town we were in. Now, he didn't really tell people he was doing this (He's as humble as they come). When he got there he was told it was dangerous to hand out the sandwiches and that it would be foolish to do so. I was worried and obviously asked him not to, and he ended up not. He took the sandwiches he had spent hours making to a homeless shelter where they would be put to good use. He was so upset because he couldn't do more to help. It wasn't because he wanted the credit for himself, it was because he genuinely was upset that there wasn't more that he could do to help the people he encountered.

This was amazing to me. The passion he has for helping people astounds me everyday. He is the kind of person I aspire to be. I recently heard (and sub sequentially, became obsessed with) a song called My Own Little World by Matthew West. I would encourage you to listen to the song and really think about what it's saying.

It's so easy to write off people and say "well, it's THEIR fault they are in that situation, so I don't need to do anything" or "well, someone else will help them"...and the list goes on. But we are called to be that person that helps others.



My challenge to you is to look outside "your own little world" and help someone that needs it.

Be salt and light!
~Hannah~

True Beauty

"The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It's the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows & the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years. "
— Audrey Hepburn

I recently re-ran across this quote and again fell in love with it. I know this is probably the most overstated phrase, but in today's day and age people spend so much time focused on what people look like that I feel like we miss out on a lot of the actual person. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to look your best sometimes. It's fun to get all dressed up and put on your make-up and do your hair (boys, in case you are wondering I'm mainly focusing on the girls here. When I say "hair and makeup" just imagine I'm saying your favorite polo and your best cologne!). But always looking perfect shouldn't be our main focus. I always really took it for granted, but I didn't realize how much I appreciated my friends that loved me in my best dress or in sweats and a t-shirt. I have been so blessed with some of the best friends anyone could ask for.

I want to brag on my guy friends for a second. I think guys have more of a pressure to look for the outward appearance of a girl in today's world. This may be wrong, but that's what I see. I have friends that would tell me everyday that I looked beautiful, no matter how I really looked. One of the first things I noticed about a guy I met at Harding was that he would tell every girl he talked to, every Sunday when he saw them, that they looked beautiful. I asked him about it one time and his response was so incredible. He said "You girls look beautiful all the time. You have beauty that shines from the inside and that makes you girls beautiful, always".

Wow. I mean, how wonderfully refreshing is that? But part of me is sad that this mentality is "unique" and "refreshing". I feel like it should be so commonplace that you don't even notice it anymore. But, I don't see this happening. I do, however, believe that every girl deserves a guy like this. A guy who will love you when you're dressed up at a fancy restaurant, and when you're sick and have to cancel a date out, and instead go and watch a movie in sweats.

And don't get me wrong. Girls also tend to look at the outward appearance of guys. I'm not just ragging on guys here. It's just because I'm a girl it's much easier to look at it from the girl's point of view.

So this is my challenge to you (from a girl's perspective). Guys- don't be the man in the verse "For man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart". Look at the heart of a girl first. Because that, not her looks, defines who she is. And girls- hold out for a guy that looks at your heart. That thinks you're beautiful no matter what because you deserve nothing less.

Be salt and light!!

~Hannah~

New Format- Hopefully!

I recently realized that if I am going to have any hopes of blogging regularly, I will need a schedule. Because I forget. Or get busy (which has been the case the past few weeks!). So here is my plan! I'm going to attempt to blog a minimum of three times a week, with at least one "song or quote" blog. I'm really excited because I'm started keeping a journal, so a lot of my posts will probably be from the journal entries I've written. I have a lot of new ideas too, so that will be great fun. Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Church this morning and this evening was very challenging but also uplifting. I absolutely love my church. I miss the kids that went on mission trip though. REALLY wish I coulda snuck on the bus and gotten away with it. Oh well, they're going to do awesome work and I can't wait to hear all about it! Have a great week!

Be salt and light!

~Hannah~