I'm back early by one day. I feel I have sufficiently gotten things done, and since I'll have to be gone Wednesday night – sometime Saturday, I decided to end my HW “stay away”.
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My New Rules:
These will go into effect for the month of December, and maybe beyond. I would appreciate help in keeping accountable to them.
1 ) No HW before 5:00 PM. EST
2 ) No HW chat if I haven't written 50 words in a document. (It can be pure nonsense, but I must write something.)
Now these two rules aren't hard, they are are fair, and they aren't that restrictive. I made them, and I want to try them out. You may find me strange telling you them, but if I don't, I may talk myself into deciding, 'Hey, I made them, so why don't I just rewrite them?'.
Yes, I may have done this before. . . . . . . . . . . I'm sixteen and graduated without a job or college plans; I have too much time, but that isn't an excuse to waste it.
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I wrote something that I took a good deal of time to think about. Since I don't know where to put it, I'll just add it to my, “I'm back!” post. If you happen to know what it is, maybe I'll make it a post of its own. *Shrugs*
Each of the topics could be expounded on, and some of them probably have whole books on them, but I just have what I wrote. I'm not really in a poetry writing mood, so I wrote this instead.
What Za Thought About While She Was 'Gone':
Every day has a purpose.
Whether or not we choose to realize it, life has meaning. Though we each struggle with different crosses, for the Christian, there is a purpose to it. We can fight it. We can deny it. We can cry to the Heaven's the age old question, “WHY?!” but none of those change the fact that there is a purpose.
We don't always see that purpose, or like the purpose, or understand the purpose, but that isn't our job. We simply must accept the path the LORD gives, and trust that He will do what He wants.
The Christian life is not blindly making it through another day. The Christian life is saying, “God, I don't get this. I don't like this. I am afraid. But in spite of all that, I'll trust You have it under control, and will in some way use it for Your glory.”
Every moment is a gift.
There are so many good things we can do with our time, that it is a shame when we don't use it wisely. How many minutes have you wasted today? I don't know how many I have, but I know that they are too many. God has given us the blessed gift of time, and too often we forget what a beautiful thing it is.
If we spent more time thanking God for all He has given, instead of thinking of what we want, wouldn't that be a better use of time? If we spent the time we use to lament on being stuck in the story, on actually plowing through anyway, wouldn't that be a better use of the time? If we spent more time expressing our gratitude to others, instead of dwelling on what they can do for us, wouldn't that be a better use of our time? I think it would.
We need to learn to stop in the middle of our busy days and be thankful for the time we do have, instead of wishing for more.
Every word is important.
When you use your words you can bless or you can harm. We all know the words, 'Think before you speak.' How many of us remember them when we are angry, or afraid, or excited? Many times we don't weigh what we say, and cause things we didn't mean to.
Worrying about what to say, isn't the same as weighing our words. I've spent too much time worrying about what I should say, when I should be trusting that God will remind me of what I know when I need it. When I start trying to cheer someone up, half the time I don't know what I'm doing. The funny thing is, most of the time I don't remember a thing I said, yet I get thanked for it. All to God's glory.
Every prayer is heard.
Have you ever prayed so hard for something, and it didn't happen? Recently I've been doing a lot of praying, and I'm not really sure what God is answering, but I keep asking. I know that it is hard to trust that God will heal, help, show, teach, and bless in His timing, but where will it get me to question?
There have been times in my life where God has answered prayers in ways that were surprising. Some of the prayers I completely forgot about until He chose to answer them. I am very grateful for the fact that He isn't as forgetful and impatient as I am.
I prayed this prayer again over the last few days. It is one of the most frightening things to pray, and last time I did God shook my world around. “God, I want you to do whatever You want in my life. I want the chance to grow closer You, and to trust better, and to be a blessing.”
Do you know why that is scary? Because when you pray it from your heart, God may take you out of your comfort zone. Yes, He can do whatever He wants, but it seems when we sincerely pray this, He drops a twist in the path, as if to say, “Ok. I heard your prayer. Will you trust Me even through this?”
Our actions speak louder than our words.
I don't know how many times I have seen the surprise on people's faces when I tell them my age. They say I don't act like a normal teen. This use to confuse me until I started to compare myself to other teens.
They are right, I am different. The chances are, you are different too. You have the light of Christ in you, and compared to many teens who are disrespectful, unreliable, lazy, unkind, and goof offs, you seem strange.
About a year ago we went to the little pizza place in our town and ate in. A few other people stopped in, but the were taking their pizza to go, so we had the place to ourselves. As we left, the lady at the counter remarked to my dad how well behaved we were, and mentioned that most kids who came in were loud and rude. We kids were surprised and later asked my dad why she would mention that to us. After all, we were just sitting there like at home. He said, “When the standard is so low, it doesn't take much for normal kids to stand out.”
You are the light of the world. Just by being different you are shining brightly. People really are watching what you do. That's an almost scary thought, isn't it?
I can make a difference in this world.
I really struggle with this one. Sure, you can make a difference! You aren't. . .me.
The thing is, what I do is important in some small way. The things I believe in, the moments I have, the words I use, the prayers I pray, the choices I make, the relationships I build with others, are going to make a difference. I may not see them yet, or ever, but I know that it is true. No matter how small and insignificant I may feel, God can use me.
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So hi, it's nice to be back. I missed you all, but I got a lot done.
I wrote over 3,000 words in my book, figured out some plot holes, wrote a summery of events that need to happen in the next chapter, planned out how I want to do the second draft of my book when I get there, almost finished the book “Graduate to Greatness”, started the book “Sinner” by Ted Dekker, made two blogs that I don't plan to be very active on until sometime in April, entered a “Go Teen Writers” contest, read through some of my poems, decided on the day I want to submit my poem file, practiced singing “Mary Did You Know?” a bunch, packed for a sleepover coming up, practiced guitar, and did some usual things. . . . Yes, I feel I was productive.
~ZA
The words of these songs are wonderful. (Yes, maybe I spent some time listening to pretty songs on Youtube instead of writing. . . )
I also have two of my favorite songs linked into the poem of my siggy.
A beautiful song.Another beautiful song.And another one.And another one. . .And this one is great tooThis is the last one. This is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE Christmas songs, and Sabrina Carpenter does a beautiful job. I hope you enjoy them.
Sorry, discussion buddies, remember I'll be praying for you.)
See ya later HWers. You can reply if you want, but the time I hit 'Submit' I'm leaving. 
*Hands magical chocolate pudding.* Bye Elrond. 
I will look at it on Sunday in the afternoon hours.