Quiz Time!

I am so a sucker for quizzes. Whenever I read a magazine I always save the quizzes for last because they are so fun to read. Ugh... they are so much fun!
So for all of you quiz addicts out there, this is for you.

What's Your Personality Christian Wise?
(please be as honest as you can)

1. You see a homeless person on the edge of the road, holding up a sign that reads "No home."

A. Try to stop staring and keep your eyes on the front of the road. Homeless people creep you out.
B. Make the Sign of the Cross and start to pray for the person's well being.
C. Ask your mom if you can give the person some money or food.
D. You're too busy playing on your iPhone to even notice.

2. As your walking into school you see a sign-up sheet for volunteering at the local food kitchen. You-

A. Quickly glance at it but decide that Tuesday is your only free night.
B. Take a moment to ponder and make a note to think about it later.
C. Immediately sign up and call a few of your friends over to look at it also.
D. Look to the sign above it that seems more interesting.

3. You're at a sleepover when a friend suggests that you all should watch a popular movie that's rated R. You-

A. You try to protest quietly but stop when your friends give you the evil eye. You're going to go to the bathroom on the bad parts anyway.
B. Start reasoning against it and feel very happy once the mom comes down and suggests something else.
C. Politely decline and change the topic to another movie.
D. Try to stop them but nothing comes out. So you just shrug your shoulders and agree.

4. A local pro-life rally is happening near your and you're parents dragged you to it. You-

A. Whine and complain the whole time and don't participate at all.
B. Don't say anything and mumble along to the prayers.
C. Feel kind of disappointed but try to make the best of it.
D.  Start to whine and complain but stop once you get there.

5. Food drive time! Your school is participating in the local food drive. You-

A. Hope that there will be enough donations without you.
B. Bring in a bag of toothbrushes that your mom had extra of.
C. Get some money out of your pocket and buy a few boxes of pasta from your local grocery store.
D. Ask for a donation from your friend at school on the last day the drive is happening.


If you picked mostly A's...
You move along with the crowd too much and kind of stick in the background in your comfort one. Next time there is something you can help out with, get out of your comfort zone and do it! If peers are pressuring you to do something that you know if wrong, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to make good choices, no matter what your friends say. Don't be afraid to go against the wave.

If you picked mostly B's...
You like staying on the sidelines and helping anonymously and you don't like being the center of attention or participating a lot. Start small but grow a little bigger. Once people see you participating, they will want to too! Be a role model for your peers.

If you picked mostly C's...
You like to stand up for what you know is right and help others. Tell your friends about all of the projects you are doing to help, and you all can help out with it!  Don't be afraid to listen to God for what He wants you to do.

If you picked mostly D's...
You try to act cool but your inwardly lamenting your fate whenever your parents drag you somewhere that you don't want to be. Ask God to give you an open heart and try to enjoy things! You never know when you might find a new hobby that you like doing or fun ways to help people.

So how was it? I took the test and I think I'm B. Our goal is C, to be like Christ. If you're there, awesome! Like it said in the description, now your job is to evangelize and tell others!
If your not quite there like me, take some time to pray and ask God how you can become a role model for others. It might be hard, but hopefully this quiz might make it a little fun!

All through Christ,
Maddie

God Loves You

I don't have all the time in the world so I am going to keep this short. But I just want to share something with you that really helps me when I'm down.

God.
Loves.
You.

At my camp that I will be frequently talking about there is this little social time where you are with everyone in the camp and you can talk and play games, etc. So I was talking with my friends when I feel a little ball of paper blow on my lap. I unravel it and smile at the words.

God.
Loves
You.

Three short words that can really make your day a whole bunch brighter if you think about it. Because if you feel like no one in the world loves you, you can't deny that God  doesn't. I mean, everyone does love you but God loves you the most of all.
He created you.
Yes, you hiding behind the screen.
And you know why?

God.
Loves.
You.

So we should love Him back with all of our hearts, souls, minds and strengths. But sometimes that's hard to forget. But believe me, you can't forget worse then my. I diagnosed myself with short-term memory loss, and I'm in a Restoring Your Memory class with Dori. (anyone catch the Finding Nemo reference? :))

So if you like me you need some reminding, And thankfully I remembered today that God loved me! Yay!
So go out and tell the world that. (I find the best way is to leave a note in a random page of a library book with a note that reads God loves you. Don't put it in every book, otherwise angry librarians would be at your tail. But maybe a few, when you have the inspiration.)
Three words.

God.
Loves.
You.

All through Christ,
Maddie

Steal my Show

Christian radios are so inspiring. Well, for blog ideas anyway. :)

If you know TobyMac, then you'll recognize one of his latest hits, Steal my Show. A very good song with a very good meaning. Here is his the YouTube video. All rights to TobyMac.

When I first heard this song on KLove, I wasn't really paying attention to the lyrics. I was like "Wow, cool beat, I love TobyMac," Then waited for the next song to come on. But since I have heard the song a few more times I have listened to the lyrics more carefully and fully understood what it meant.

Basically TobyMac is talking about how he wants God to steal his show. Because God is... God, ya know? We want Him to control our lives and steer us in the right direction. God made us so we could praise Him and join Him in heaven! (Right now I can just see a party starting...)

So basically through everything we do, we should give glory to God. Because it all started with God, right? He made us, gave us these awesome super powers to use for the greater good of the world. Techinically speaking, it isn't us at all, but God let's us have some credit.

As you might already know, I am an actress. (Where are you going with this? Yeah, I'm asking myself the same question.:) The theater I belong to is called CYT- Christian Youth Theater. And one of the number one things we learn, even before the acting stuff, is all of this is for God.

One of my favorite directors, Sam* is one of the most God-fearing, Christ-loving people I know. Every show I have been  in with him, he always talks about how we were made to praise God and give everything up to Him. My favorite thing that he has said was about giving God all the glory.

He said when your on the stage at the end of the show and everyone is applauding for you, you need to take a "mirror" hold it out in front of you, and let the praise bounce off and go to Heaven so God get it.

And just the way he said it, and how the room got quiet and the emotional particles flying around into my eye made me want to cry. Because then I realized how selfish we human beings are, caught up in all the glory when God should be getting it.

Another great example is one of the traditions at my Catholic diocesan camp. Camp has a lot of little...sayings, I guess you could call it. Like whenever a speaker would say "so" the whole camp would reply "sew, a needle pulling thread! Eek! Eek! Eek! Sewing machine." And so (sew, a needle...;) on and so forth with commonly used words. Even if there is some competition between two cabins, a cheer is used. We go "Competition? WHAT? Jesus is number one! Competition? WHAT! Jesus is number one!" And we're all standing up and jumping around and yelling like normal people and it really reminds you that Jesus is number one. Any grudges or complaints that I held against fellow competitive campers is washed away, knowing that there's a person who I actually like taking the winning spot.

It might take some time and effort to realize that yeah, it's all God. We should give the glory to God, we should hold up that mirror, we should tell Jesus He's number one. So I challenge you the next time you compete, whether it be sports, school, acting, whatever, let God steal the show.

*=All names are fictional for privacy purposes.

Newspaper

All my life I have wanted my school to have a newspaper that the kids are writing. I mean, there is a newsletter that the principal puts together but not an actual newspaper. And this year when I looked at the elective list I was so excited to find that an option was newspaper! So I signed up and got in, and so far we have had two meetings.

All of the kids doing it are seventh graders, so I know everyone. There are two different groups: one on Monday and Thursday and one on Wednesday and Friday. (I finally spelled Wednesday right!) I am in the latter group, and surprisingly we met first. The first little meeting thing-sha-bob was really fun, we brainstormed the whole time. And if you know me, you know that when I get into something, I get really into something. I was all over the place, making suggestions, going to other groups who were brainstorming and asking what they thought. Let's just say after that class I was  pumped.

The next class we got to pick the jobs, and guess what I was chosen for? The faith column! I wanted to be editor, but the faith column was my next choice! What I was planning for if I did get in the faith column, I would pick something from my blog and put it in there, and maybe at the bottom add the address, and wahlia! Advertising! (my dad would be so proud!)

So even though I was a mite disappointed that I wasn't editor, I planned to make the best of it. (I guess I have improved from the last time). And then my teacher said that we're probably going to need more editors, so if anyone wanted to be one they could ask.

And there it was! My golden opportunity! Or more silver, I guess. So I raised my hand and asked if I could be editor along with someone else, and my teacher said yes. If I was pumped before, now I was blowing out of air with excitement.

But wait, there's more! (I sound like a commercial now...)

Only one person was in the faith column, and even though there would be another group, my teacher switched me to faith and editor. How much better could it get? I get to edit peoples stories and talk about God! I don't think I could even answer that question.

The only thing that I might have trouble with in the newspaper is the large group. There's around 35-40 people in all, all working for one newspaper. It's going to be pretty chaotic, but I hope I can handle it.

If you are ever offered the opportunity to work (or write, edit, take pictures or anything else, I guess) for your school newspaper, I would suggest doing it. There are so many different jobs and for each one you can incorporate God, your life, and your opinions in it. What better way to evangelize?

Also, its pretty educational. (I bet that reason just made you send an email to the newspaper, asking if there is an opening. :))

I will definitely let you know once the newspaper is out, and pray it will go okay!
So, ta-ta for now readers!
All through Christ,
Maddie

Bible or Bust: Strong and Couragous

There's this nifty little glossary in the back of my Bible that has different verses under emotions. Like if you were feeling depressed it would direct you to Psalms 40:10. If you were enjoying life- Psalm 98 would be the answer. I looked up strength and found Joshua 1:9.

For some reason it really made an impression on me, and now it's my favorite Bible verse.

"I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened or dismayed for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."- Joshua 1:9

How true is that? God is commanding us to be strong and courageous because He will always be there to catch us if we fall.

If you read a few sentences before that, Joshua 1:5-9, it says 3 times. Be STRONG and COURAGEOUS.

In the actual events where this passage takes place, Moses just died and God is appointing Joshua as the leader. God is telling him that he will lead his people like Moses did and that the Bible should never depart out of his mouth.

God's commanding him to do this, just like He's commanding us to.

Joshua goes on to tell his people to be strong and courageous in the second part of the first chapter

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of the book.

In my fairy-tale mind I think of strong and courageous as being the hero of the fantasy- the knight in shining armor. I'll never be that knight. I am way to chicken to fight a dragon. In my dreams, literally I pretend I'm dead so I don't have to fight all of the scary people. :)

But think about it in real life.

You can be strong against bullies. Against temptation. Against the devil.

You can be courageous by standing up for others, for what you know is right. Be courageous by going over your comfort zone to help others.  Be courageous by showing the world the God you know and love.

Don't be scared because God is holding us up. Literally.

This verse has had a major impact on my life. I showed my mom and she shared in my "find." I had a friend over and she's been through some hard times. I told her about this verse, and she couldn't stop talking about how much it means to her.

The most meaningful way this verse has touched me is when I was at the dentist.
Yeah, just a typical setting for miracles, right? :)

So my brother was getting his teeth cleaned and I was filling out an audition form. One of the questions was, "What is your favorite Bible verse/quote?" At that point I memorized the "Joshua 1:9" part of it, but I didn't get the whole verse. So timidly, just in case the hygienist wasn't Christian, I asked my mom, " What was that Bible verse I liked again?"

My mom answered, "Just look it up." She handed me her phone and I looked it up. Then the hygienist asked, "What's the verse?"
And I told her.

I will never forget her reaction. She was really touched, and she compared the verse to Phillipians 4:13, you know, "I can do all things...?"

We were talking about how the Joshua verse didn't have as much popularity, but had equal to more impact.

The hygienist said, "It's so cool seeing how you love reading those verses. I remember my dad made me read the Bible, I didn't really want to. Seriously, it's awesome seeing this." I can't agree with her wholly because I am not always super pumped to read the Bible, but it made me feel really good inside.

She kept talking about how when you're older the Bible means more to you. After the checkup, she said "Make sure you have a Bible verse for  me next time you come."

I waved goodbye to her and couldn't stop smiling. Right then I realized this verse could  be very significant to many people. I felt that God spoke to her through me with that one verse. I felt special. I felt happy. I always want to relive that feeling. It was like my birthday, Christmas and summer rolled into one. This time it was more of an accident-but God apparently wanted it to happen- and it taught me not to be afraid to show  that you are Christian or Catholic.

So if you see someone down, say "Joshua 1:9." Or you can tell them the verse. But I like leaving them hanging so they will want to go home to check out the Bible, and maybe they'll find some other verse and hey, two flies with one swat! Or however that quote goes. :)

Your life may be full of ups and downs- I know for sure mine is- but be strong. Be courageous! Don't be afraid to show your faith. God's there. He's always there.

The Downs of Self-Pity

Okay, back to the show I auditioned for: Tarzan.

I did get called back (which means the directors want to "audition" again to see if you would fit particular roles),for the whole time. There was actually two different time slots, a dancer time slot and a character time slot. Some only got the dancer slot (which was only about a hour) and some got the dancer and character slot. (me! :D)

I was super pumped getting called back, and I actually felt pretty good. I have gotten called back numerous times before this show, but never have I felt so satisfied with my performance. I sang a song (wow, that's a surprise) and did a few scenes with other people. When I was up performing in front of others, it made me realize how much I love to sing, dance and act!

One of my favorite scenes that I did was when I was Jane and some one else was Porter (the dad). I knew I would never get Jane, but it was still fun to try! The most important thing was, though, I finally got to use my British accent for the better of the community. :)

After callbacks I went home and daydreamed about my roles. Now, from past experience I learned not to have my hopes too high. In one show I was almost certain I was going to get a role, and guess what? I didn't. So I went home and cried and felt sorry for myself, but now I know better.

The cast list took an unbearably long amount of time, which makes sense because so many great people auditioned. I was literally pulling at my hair all night long in anticipation for the grand announcement to appear out of the dark.

And finally.... it was up. I found out in the weirdest way, actually. I was getting ready for school and my mom bursts in and says "It's up!"
And ya think after a few days of torture I would know what she's talking about.

But no. I dumbly replied, "What's up?"

Finally, I got the jist and pulled the phone out of my mom's hand and started reading. Turns out, there's a double cast! And also...

I'm an ensemble.

Again.

For five shows, and now for my sixth, I have all been in the ensemble.

Let's admit it, I was disappointed. Like, I didn't have my hopes up really high, but I thought I would get at least a minor role.

But no, ensemble it is.

Tears were actually in my eyes, and I put on a smiley face for my mom and sister who is also an ensemble, and stayed in my room alone and felt sorry for myself, again.

I tried so hard, I wanted to be a main part so hard, why couldn't God just give me it for once!

I think we've all had that feeling before. If you tried out for some sport and didn't get in. Or entered a competition, and didn't win.  That feeling of total self-pity brings us down.

One of the directors famous quotes was, "You have 24 hours to feel sorry for yourself, cry that you didn't get the role, or celebrate 'cause you did. But the next day, you gotta be ready for work."

I am sorry to say that is not me. I need the whole show to experience self-pity, and then in the next show get over it.

But I am working on it. (like many other things in life)

You know, my parents, my directors, my friends- the all say the same thing. God put you in that role for a reason. And I need to start believing that.

I am not going to have fun if I sit around rehearsals and shows, not talking to anybody, just dreaming how good I would be in a certain role.

I will have fun, however, if I quit whining and get up and do my absolute best. Give everything I got, even if it isn't what I wanted. 'Cause the Big Man Upstairs had a different plan than what I wanted, so I'm going to go with it because I know it's the right one.

Maybe getting a main role would've been too stressful. Or maybe I might of had an emergency on one of the show days, and couldn't make it. Maybe it's for the better,

'Cause God made it turn out this way for the better.

And things could be a lot worse. I could be the only ensemble with a group of little kids. Or maybe I would only be on for a few scenes. I could have no friends with me.

So really, I am pretty lucky.

And there's always a next show! Always a next time.

But for now I should focus on what I have, and not what I want.

It's like if you were in kindergarten, and the teacher is going around, giving different colors of paper to each kid. And you want blue. You really, really want blue. Because it's the best color of the world, and you love it so much.

With a smile, the teacher hands you green.

And you know what they say, "You get what you get but you don't throw a fit."

After a minute of whining, you decide to do something with that green piece of paper.

And you but all of your effort and ability into that one sheet of green paper, and make something amazing. Like a green horse, or a pretty green sea.

And the teacher takes your paper and shows it to the whole class for them to see and says, "Look at how a nice job Billy Bob did with this paper!" And you feel happy.

And green's your new favorite color.

So that's how we should treat disappointments in our lives. Give it up to God and say, "You know, I really didn't want this, but your giving it to me so I can do something awesome with it and give it right back to you. So help me appreciate this wonderful opportunity that you gave and be with me the whole way."

The challenge of this post is either: If you feel disappointed, try your best to give it to God. Or, if you see your friend down, help them by telling them it's all God's plan, and it's going to work out splendidly. No British accent included. :)


So a word of advice to you, and me when you're feeling disappointed..

Take a deep breath, suck it up, and give it to God.

Little Things

It scares the best of us. It's late at night, the moon is out and sparkling and the darkness covers the basement like a thick blanket.

You left your phone in the farthest corner and you know, you can't live with out the cellular device. Fast-walking and not trying to think about what is waiting to grab you, you stuff your phone in your pocket and skedaddle upstairs before the air conditioner and toilet sounds start creeping you out.

Good 'ol basement fears never will leave, will they? Sometimes I have the embarrassing urge to ask someone to come with me, but I just suck it up and make my visit as quick as I can.

It's these little things when we forget we can ask God for help. It's either too small that we don't remember, or we're embarrassed to ask help for getting through the one minute round trip of the basement. I try to remember to ask God for help, saying a little Hail Mary or Glory Be. I remember one time when I went in the basement I started singing a worship song. Hearing my voice in the darkness comforted me, as did God's peace that I felt while singing the song.

So whether it be the basement blues, help with dishes or just to catch up, send God a quick message. If we can text our friends "hi" if we're bored or ask them "when can you meet up?" Why can't we do the same for God? Talk to Him, He'll want to listen. God will reply instantly, if you let him. If everyone else has heard about your hard earned A on the Social Studies test, tell God.

Through the big and the little, God will listen.