This week has brought to my attention how wonderful of a family I have! I am so thankful to have amazing godly parents, siblings who are not only my friends and wonderful to be around but who are also serving the Lord. And it doesn't even stop there....I have such great aunts and uncles and cousins who I consider some of my closest friends! I seriously could not ask for more.

While teaching in the schools I have gotten cards from students that say thank you for caring and helping me realize that I have worth and that I can accomplish whatever I put my mind to. When I get these cards it just makes my heart hurt. On one hand I am glad to know that I am impacting them but on the other hand its like where are their family? why are their families not letting them know that they have worth and potential and that they are important?

When I read these cards it really makes me realize just how blessed I am! So all my family that is reading this I love you and I am thankful for you.

(One side of my family is having a reunion this weekend and I so wish that I could be there with them :( but I hope that you guys have a blast! )

If you don't know I work for a non profit organization called Reality Check, Inc. we teach students truth, risk avoidance, healthy life skills, goal setting, and boundary setting. It is a great organization to work for and I am blessed to work here. One thing that we talk about with the students is abstinence. This is something very important that I myself have chosen as a path for my life. I have chosen Abstinence until marriage not only because it is medically the healthiest thing to do but also because that is what the Lord says in his word. This is one thing that "separates" me from the rest of the world. I have a lot of people tell me Oh my word you are 23 years old and you have not had sex yet! Like it is something shocking. For me this is something that I have chosen and I know that it is the best step for my life and for my future (relationships, marriage, family).

For this is the will of God, that you should be consecrated (separated and set apart for the pure and holy living): that you should abstain and shrink from all sexual vice, that each one of you should know how to posses (control manage) his own body in consecration (purity, separated from things profane) and honor, not [to be used] in the passion of lust like the heathen, who are ignorant of the true God and have no knowledge of His will. 1 Thessolonians 4:3-5 AMP

Shun immorality and all sexual looseness [flee from impurity in thought. word, or deed]. Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own, you were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]. So then honor God and bring glory to Him in your body. 1Corinthians 6:28 AMP

Enough said right?!?! Each day I live for the Lord and as Christians we are suppose to live in the world but not be of the world. This is one of the ways that I am able to do that. Saving my sex for my marriage is very important to me and something that I feel very strongly about. This is why I take so much joy in working for Reality Check, Inc. Not only do I get to help kids set goals and make healthy life choices...I also get to teach them the importance of saving their sex for their marriage!

One of my friends brought to my attention that I have not blogged in awhile. And she is right. So here we go :)

I'm leaving in just a few hours to head to Yukon, Oklahoma! A few friends and I are traveling to OK to help out with a DNOW at Nate and Whitney's new church. I'm really excited!

So here is how the Lord has been working in my life this past week or so. SANCTIFICATION. I taught some girls this curriculum my friend Camie made (Modest is Hottest). Good stuff.

Sanctification - a process of ongoing change

toward being holy that begins when

you accept Christ and never stops.

He has been showing me that His whole master plan I have been searching for ia sanctification. Through my walk with the Lord this has probably been one of the hardest yet one of the best things! Sometimes it feels like I'm running in a marathon and it's never going to end. Sometimes it feels like I'm climbing Mount Everest. But this is what separates me from the word. Sanctification is what makes me different. :) I have joy in striving to be like Christ with the realization that its never going to happen because I am not perfect. But trying none the less.

It's not something that should come and go it is a process that is continually happening. It never stops and this is what is constantly exercising my faith. The best part is I don't have to go through this process on my own . My God is there helping me every step of the way! (how awesome is that)

The sanctification process requires prayer, His word, and self-discipline. He uses these things to tell me where the land mines are.

One other thing that I have been thinking about is how God disciplines those that He loves so that our views can be corrected and readjusted toward holiness! His goal isn't to make me happy (being happy is the world's view of a good life) God's goal is to make me holy.

Holy= distinct, set apart; different from

the sinful world around you; being

God's, like God.

People who are holy live in a continual state of joy. Are they happy all the time....am I happy all the time...NO! But I am able to rejoice everyday because I am living for God and by God's word. Happiness that is based on things of this world comes and goes. The joy we get from the Lord is forever. The Lord wants us to be special to stand out and be different then the rest of the world. So my goal....sanctification.