Oh the joy that overcame me when I found this image. Two reasons; 1) Lately, I've fallen in love with the name "Elliott" and have even been trying to write a song with that title.  2) That's exactly how I explain my praying method.

             When it comes to praying, i LOVE hearing the different ways that people do it. For me,  it's something amazing to hear how people chose to thank or ask things of God. In my case, I don't feel the need to say "Our Father" before every prayer. To pray, I simply start by saying "Hi God..." because let's face it, God knows we're talking to Him! I think it's one of the most amazing things, knowing that all you need to do is talk and He will hear! Blows my mind.

           "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him" (1 John 5:14-15). SO wonderful. Sometimes, it even amazes me how fast he replies. I have had friends tell me that they have heard Him speak, which is incredible! For me, his answers come in the form of comfort or clarification. If I ask something and feel relieved once my question is asked, then I know that God has granted my prayer. If I feel like I need to keep working, then I know that although He heard me, He is redirecting me. I don't believe that God just says "Nah." I think that if we don't get what we want, then it's because it's not what was best for us or what was meant to be. He knows, so don't sweat it.

              Well, I know that this wasn't a long post, but I think it had a clear point; it doesn't matter how you chose to pray, He will listen. Try it. :)

"Dear God, I think about you sometimes even when i'm not praying, Elliott"

          

              Dear blog readers, let's face it, I am VERY flawed, but so is everyone else. Deep inside, we all know what we have done wrong, even if we've never told anyone. Some people steal, some cheat, some hurt, some fight, some break, some lie, some run, and somehow, He still loves  us. Why? Because God sees the good in everyone. He sees whats deep inside, even in the baddest of people. God sees how good their soul is. 

               God always takes me by surprise because it's when I do bad things that I feel his love. Then, His love makes me want to be better. It amazes me that instead of hate or disapproval when we've done wrong, God gives us love. 

               Of course, God doesn't only see our real downfalls, He also sees our weaknesses. God is amazing in that way. When I feel my weaknesses take over and I feel like no one could ever understand, there's always a voice in my head that says "I know". Isn't it comforting to know that someone understands you, love you and doesn't judge your imperfections? I know that it is for me.

               Today I'm going to leave you on a different note than usual. I am going to leave you a song that I've loved very much this week. Here's your challenge; stop imagining the singer as Naya Rivera. I want you take these words and imagine them coming from God. It's a pretty powerful movement and I've gotten into the habit of doing that to many songs. I hope you enjoy it !

                                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0bYmsu8XD4

"God sees me like no one else can" 

 

             Have you ever stopped and wondered "Where the heck am I headed with my life?". I know that I have, many times. When we're children, we're exposed to the sentence "When I grow up...". Here's the problem; we're grown up. Now what? 

              Allow me to take my guard down for a moment. Two years ago, I was sitting in a car, in a stranded parking lot, crying like a child. I had to leave for university, grow up and make a life for myself. I knew what i was supposed to do; please my family and become a doctor. Like many people, I wanted to become a doctor for about five minutes after watching Grey's Anatomy. My mistake was that I had voiced that comment to my family. So flash back again to that parking lot. I remember thinking "I will be a failure." I was terrified of ending up with no plan and drowning in university bills over bachelor degrees that I never cared about, leaving me hating my work life.

               I'm sitting in the back of the car, trying not to scream at the top of my lungs. I'm crying. Do you know why I was crying? Because I hadn't realized that I wasn't the one making the plan. 

                Flash forward! Here I am. I don't know my plan, but I've learnt that I don't have to. God knows it. He is like the perfect parent who sits there with the agenda and calender saying "No dear, you can't go to your friends house because you have a dentist appointment! You can go after." That may or may not make sense to you. What I am trying to say is that God is going to let us struggle and go through the parts of life that we dislike (dentist) , however, in the long run, he has the plan, he give us what is right for us and what makes us happy (friends house). Make more sense?

                  All I know is that it took me years to realize that, and no one deserves to stress about it. If you don't believe in God, don't stress it anyway! Leave it to fate! I know that for the ones who do believe, you'll get where i'm going with this post. 

                   God's got this under control. He's following you with his little agenda, making sure that everything goes according to plan. His plan. 

 

"God has the most amazing plan for you" 

            When i found the picture above, I immediately thought of love as in two people in a relationship. Then, after having thought about it, I realized that this applied with any form of love. God has done so many amazing things in my life, but when I saw this, I thought of the relationship between me and my father. Like most relationships, there were ups and downs. 

             Unlike a movie, my father and I were not always outside playing ball or going for ice cream. Unlike a movie, there wasn't just one obstacle for us to face. We were in reality. No scriptwriters to add boundaries to our troubles. God wrote our relationship into our life stories and only He knew how it would all end up. I thank God now for every obstacle that was thrown at us because despite of it all, love prevails.

              The love between my father and I is better than any movie I have seen now. We've slayed our demons and have overcome our troubles. Now, in this big world, I am supposed to be independent. At 19 years old, it's expected that I want to break away from my parents and put up a barrier. In my case, it's in my 19th year that I've felt closest to him. 

                God made it clear to me that the obstacles thrown at us were only to make us stronger and to make us come together in the end. He wrote in something much better than any movie, he wrote in raw and eternal love; something God knows all about. God is love, so only He can be trusted in giving us amazing love stories.

               So, tonight I dedicate this blog to those that I know God wrote into my life in order for me to show them my devoted love; My mother, My aunt Sue, My father, step father, step mother and my "brothers". They make my life better than the movies.

"Don't compare your love story to those you watch in movies. They're written by screenwriters. Yours is written by God."

He never fails.

           Starting my second year at university turned out to be much harder than I ever expected. I was faced with challenges that I hadn't expected, despite warnings. I got my wake up call once I realized that a big city is a true awakening. I couldn't believe how rude some people could be. No one said "Thank you!" or "How are you?". No one held the door for anyone. I watched people let the doors close on a man who was in a wheelchair. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Naturally, I held the door for him and he was so grateful. 

         Despite all of this, the hardest aspect of being out here was feeling so alone. Even if I knew that God was always with me, I needed to find someone who knew just how I was feeling.

          I was laying in bed, on the verge of tears while texting my best friend (Thank you Colton for always helping me in these moments), ready to break down. I hadn't felt so alone in such a long time. At that exact moment, all I needed was someone who could sit there and understand exactly what I was going through without saying anything at all. Right before my breaking point, I knew what I had to do. I closed my eyes and prayed. 

          They say that God works in amazing ways. This was proof. As I was praying for understanding and company, I realized that this situation was now under control. It wasn't even 5 minutes after my prayer that I got a message from a new friend. I found out in no time that she was in the same situation as myself. My heart was so much lighter. I didn't even have to explain to her that I was feeling lonely a moment before she showed up because I knew that God would find a way to thank her and if He didn't, then I would. 

          Today, I met someone wonderful. God led me to someone who has the strength that it takes to be an amazing worshiper. Strength, will and true kindness. All I can say is that I can't wait to see more of this amazing life that God has given me.

          I was terrified of what the next few months had in store for me and scared that I would make the same mistakes that I made my first year in university. Scared to the point that I was willing to break down, give up. Then I did what I should have done on my first moment of fear;  I looked above. And guess what! He helped. He answered. It was amazing. All I can do now is hope that all of my friends who feel lost or scared right now can find it in them to find their faith. 

  

" If what is ahead scares you, and what is behind scares you, just look above; He never fails to help you."