Who is the Life of Your Party?

Hey Everyone!

I am officially Seventeen! Most people don't believe me, but it's all cool. But I think the older you get, the more insignificant the change is. I was at my neighbors birthday party and we calculated that as he turned 3, his age just increased by 50 percent. My age increased by about 6.3 percent. By the time you turn 100 (if you do) your age would be increasing by a mere 1 percent! Of course it is good that it works this way and not vice versa, imagine if when you turned 30 your age would increase by 50 percent, you would actually turn 45! Confusing and a bummer hey.. :)

Now that we are over that mathematical fun fact about birthdays, I can get to the major theme that everyone looks forward to at the special time of year, at least I do. I get overly excited, actually. The Birthday PARTY. Obviously. My mom has long ago handed over the organising of family parties to me, she makes the food, and I plan the rest. And I love it! I think it was at my 11th party that I made the first official treasure hunt on my own. Half of the clues had blown away by the time we were starting so I stationed my siblings in the places where the clues had disappeared from and made them repeat the clues like parrots. Big families are useful for this kind of things, although it may have worked better if they would have remembered the clues! 

But since that party I dare say my game choices have been adapted to the windy climate of the observatory and the quality of the activities has improved. I went on to have an Amazing race party one year, a survivor slash pool party and even this 'mixed up dinner party' where people ordered numbers off the menu and had no idea what food they would get! 

 Every year the guest list get longer, the happenings get more elaborate, and expectations became higher for both me and my friends. These all bring me to this year. Suddenly I didn't feel that amped 'it is party planning time' feeling that usually comes as soon as one party is finished. I was daunted by the fact that I was supposed to come up with yet another get together. What if people wouldn't enjoy it? I was severely stressed out about what used to be the highlight of my year. (of course some of you don't appreciate this kind of stressing over planning and prefer to just take it as it comes, but I plan my parties okay? and the planning usually helps!)

Enter my mom. I think moms are seriously under rated these days, lets stop and think about this for a second before I carry on. All that stuff she goes through for you, cooks, cleans, drives, stays up late waiting for you to come home, then listens to your problems even when she has a million of her own. Impressive! This generation has some big shoes to fill... :) Anyways, so my mom comes into the picture. Basically I was busy venting out all my 'my party is going to fail, no one's coming everything is going wrong' teenage whining thing to her and she just turns around and says ' Rebekka, who is the one who will make this party succeed; you or God? God is going to bring the people he wants to bring to your party, and he will make it work. Leave it to Him.'  

  

I found Deuteronomy 8.17-18 -->

 You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth.

Wow. Reality check. 

I was looking at my party like meMEmeMEmeMEmeME. But Christ is in me. I was made alive in Him. It is intriguing how something so seemingly secular as a birthday party, can have God's hand in it, and be used to glorify Him! I had not thought about my party in that light, at all. But now that I did, I could feel all the stress and pressure lift off me. And everytime something made me start feeling anxious, I could stop and say ' God, you take this from me, I trust you.' 

I stopped worrying about the party, and guess what? It was the best seventeenth party I have ever been at. There was enough food, enough games, enough chilling, enough friends... it was perfect. The 'vibe' was amazing, when my mom blessed the braai meat before we ate there was this unity in spirit, its hard to explain.. But I couldn't stop smiling and I felt so happy. I think everyone enjoyed it immensely, at least that is what i gathered from the feedback I got! People were blessed by the party, and the conversations and games impacted everyone. A birthday party! God is interested in the most peculiar things, because we are interested in them.

When the last person left past midnight I sat down in my room and thought about the evening. This joyous feeling came over me, and I just knew- 'That was all God.'

He is awesome.

*I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.*  galatians 2:20

:)

Im not THAT wrinkly...Or am I?

Good Night!
( Why is this automatically assumed a farewell? I mean, don't you meet people in the middle of the night as well? ... Just a thought... ;)

It was the most curious thing, I absent mindedly traced all the creases in the palm of my right hand with a pen while my diary lay splayed open before me on my bed.(Yup, I have a diary, a nice big fat one I might add:) As I looked down at my hand, all these creases and wrinkles now so evident made my hand look quite old and, frankly, weird. Now these wrinkles were the only thing that I noticed on my hand!

This may often happen in life as well. It is very easy to focus on one small problem in life and made to seem like it is the biggest problem ever presented to mankind. The flawless beauty of the rest of ones life has no meaning when this one 'major' issue can't be solved.

Especially teenagers! We often have a strange relationship with negative emotions, as if we were proud of being in the depths of despair (often for the most random and insignificant reasons) and having mood swings which can be conveniently blamed on teenage hormones. I admit, I get that way too sometimes, and that's when my mom's immediate and practical advice comes in, 'Go to bed and the problem will not be as big in the morning.' The world usually doesn't seem so bad a place in the light of a new day :)

It is also healthy to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Get a new perspective, and get other peoples perspective as well. What may seem catastrophic to you can be as simple as the difference between an apple and an orange to someone else.

Focus on the good things in life, the things you are grateful for. I don't mean that you should totally ignore the things that are going badly, of course those need attention and care as well, but don't dwell on those depressing thoughts continuously. Balance is key.

'Finally, brothers (which includes, sisters of course), whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.' Philippians 4.8

My left hand, is the perfect picture of what a nearly 17 year old hand is supposed to look like, as far as I know. Yes, the creases are there too, quite visible, but not the main feature. These creases aren't accentuated out of proportion with a blue pen. ;)

And remember that God is bigger than ANY problem! Give your worries to him :)

Stress-free Soaring

Phil 4.6

Good Morning! =D

Lately I have been super busy with school work, grade eleven seems to try suck out every drop of energy I have and then some more. I wasn't expecting it, but I guess it makes sense that grade 11 is harder than grade ten... The book of Isaiah, even though it seems like a hard to read or understand kind of book, has some really good insights. One of my favorite verses is from Isaiah 40, verse 31.

' But Those who place their trust in the Lord will gain new strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow faint.' 

This verse stopped me in my tracks. I was in a place where I was physically worn out with the busyness of my life, (and no, I'm not a forty something in a midlife crisis though that's a bit what it sounds like, high school is stressful too!) I realized that I don't have to do this alone when I have Jesus by my side. He is there to help me along, he doesn't want to stand by and watch, he wants to participate.

It suddenly struck me how God was right there, just waiting for me to fall into his arms so he could carry me the rest of the way. Now any time when I feel stressed or worn out, I take out my bible and read that verse again. I can give all my worries to God, and let him iron out my problems (I have this cute card that has one of those super wrinkly puppies and it has that sentence on it. A clever visual pun. ;)  

I love being a Christian, because I know there is someone who loves me more than I could ever imagine. He also cares about me and all my problems, even the itty bitty ones like the heritage project for history (I spent all day on that today btw)

‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ Philippians 4.13

(I find this verse easy to remember because it rhymes hehe :)

God loves you and wants to help you. You don’t have to carry on struggling by yourself, let him carry you. I did, and it was probably the best decision I ever made.