Living out Gods will...

This may sound like it's something that is easy to do. And sometimes it is easy. Sometimes God asks me to do things i know I can do. Sometimes I do things and I don't know what I am doing. Sometimes I miss it. Sometimes I make it. Sometimes I have all the faith in the world and sometimes...most recently...I've felt that my faith in God is so small...butit's bigger than it ever has been.
Perhaps it needs to be made known that I love the Lord and I want to do His will. 2007 was a year full of trying to live a life worthy of the price Jesus payed. It's been about purity and righteousness and walking IT OUT. It's harder than it looks. Recently, I realized that I was lookin for a formula for Christianity. I was looking for some sort of...equation that would hopefully lead me to heaven. Boy was I wrong. So, I've been trying to seek God out more without checking of my morning list (Devos, prayer, worship) and doing things differently on occasion as to not fall back into the stagnant pattern of making God a checklist...because he isn't a checklist...He's a father. I can't just go through the motions and please Him and to be honest...When we just go through the motions...we get no treasure for ourselves. Whats the point in "seeking" God if we are not in it to find Him. So here I am. 6 months and 7 days from Graduation from High School. I thought I had it all planned out where I was going to go and what I was going to do...and perhaps I will still go to bible college...but God has asked me to embark on an adventure with Him to see some places, talk to some people and step OUT of the boat. I'm laying out my fleece.

This brings me to my next point. Talking to God. The other day I was driving to get somewhere...but I didn't need to be there for another hour and so when I took the wrong exit I was perplexed because I don't usually "accidentally" take wrong exits.


This exit lead me to McKay Park where I got out of my car and went and hopped to a rock in the river and stood and simply spoke to God. He took my steering wheel and turned it because thats how bad he wanted to hang out. There were no people. just me, Jesus and the ducks. I am so blessed that my God would create me, die for me carrying with Him my sin and shame, and then change up the plans to hang out with me as if He though I was that important...and He DOES think that. I dno't know who is reading this but take this into your heart. God cares so much for you. Don't forget it. Don't push it aside. Hold fast to His love. He'll take you places you've never dreamed of. He's taking me now and in 6 months...in 2008...after I graduate and when I am getting ready to go to where ever God wants me to be...I'll think about this road trip for sure...because "The road trip only begins when you decide to leave everything else behind." -Casey Parnell

2008....here I come.

OK! So. I've been pondering the last year of my life as I get ready to step into the next year of my life. When I step into the next year of my life, I will be leaving 2007 behind. This is a scary thought. There is one a little more frightening than that and that is the thought that it is up to us to decide what treasure we will take with us into 2008 and what other stuff we will let lie in the past. This year has been hard. It was a year of finding myself. This year I ended my junior year of high school and I began my senior year. I met new people. I got to pray a lot and most of all, I started to really find out who God is.
Some Highlights:
Generation Unleashed (If you've never hopped on a bus at 7am with 40 high school kids who love Jesus to travel the 3 hours to go to a youth conference...if you've never woken up at 5 am to see all 40 of those kids up in the hotel lobby praying and doing their devotions...If you've never looked into the eyes of a teenager who loves God more than anything...If you've never experienced their contageous passion for Christ...you simply haven't lived.)
Winter Camp: God spoke volumes to me in winter camp. He opened my eyes to what it's like to spend a few days without the worldly visions, dreams and views...and what it is like to spend those days with Him. He opened my eyes and my heart.
Cassie: In April Cassie showed up. Little did I know that she would be so, so important in my life as a prayer partner, friend, sister, buddy...you name it. (Thanks God)
North Carolina: I went to north carolina in June to see my Aunt and Uncle. I was pulled out of my comfort zone and into the God zone with nothing but Him, my bible and my faith. I also saw the ocean for the first time. Atlantic. SO WARM!!! and I got to walk on the beach at 6 am, praying and meeting with God. wow.
SUMMER CAMP! 7 days with God. 14 messages. 21 meals. 1 God. Countless tears. hundreds of lives changed. wow. God is so amazing.
Revive!!!! I got to see how much work it is to put together and lead a ministry. It's not easy but I loved it all the same.
A weekend in Maupin! Seth Sokoloff, Stephen Smith, Tori Stern, Callie Norman, Michelle Herrera and My self along with some other family and family friends decided to make the 2 hour drive to set out on a weekend adventure to Maupin Oregon where we partook in some Rafting, laughing, eating, stayingup late, walking around, going on private property...things like that. My favorite part of this weekend was that we got to laugh as much as we did. We were constantly laughing from breakfast until we went to bed...and we're going to do it more this summer....but this time we will be kayaking and we will also be cliff jumping. No "River Fest" this year but it's sure to be a great time!
18: I turned 18. Nuff said.
Accepted to college: Pacific life. I'm going in September. This is going to be a big leap. It's already been a big leap of faith so far. But as I trust Him more, the leap will look so much smaller. :)
In November through December it has been hard but good as God humbled me, loved me, held me, showed me, helped me, taught me and guided me as he always does. He showed me how to look beyond me. It's not easy nor is it something I can simply "obtain." no. I'm just looking to Him.

So. It has been a greawt year full of GOD and it's been crazy busy but amazing none the less. Thanks God. and thanks Cassie for the prayers, thoughts...and for showing me how to work a blog. :) ok 2008. Graduation. College. Life. God. Here I come.

OH, CANADA!!!

CAssie and I are RAD in CANADA! WOOOOOOOO!

10-19

Now...to most people who are reading this...it would appear that my title is a date of some sort marking some sort of epic event of my life...This however, is un true. Although this does mark an epic event of my life the term "10-19" is not a date. It's a code. Read on and you will find out the story behind this.

My amazing and beautiful friend Cassandra DeAnne Diacogiannis just happens to be about hte coolest person in the world. She loves the Lord and wants to serve His more than anything else in life. When Cassie came to Bend last April and started working at the Bird I had no idea that we would soon become good friends with such a cool bond. Cassie and I also go to church together at Westside church. She just rocks, basically. Cassie has a HUGE family that lives up in Lynden, Washington, whom she loves adn cares for. She frequently makes visits up there to visit the small town and the large family and this time I was honored to be her guest as we made the 500+ mile treck that would take 9 hours. Cassies family has become my "adopted" family as I will be attending college not 2 hours from their house this coming fall...but thats a different story.
This trip, for me, was more than just a trip. This was my first time going on an overnight road trip without my parents...or any of my family, for that matter, and it was a VERY big deal for me to go. So. After making the trip up to Lynden, surviving on White Chocolate Mochas, Judah Smith and laughing...we dove head first into completely organized chaos. Cassie is extremely well known in her town and church and so it was amazing to see people just run up to hug her and just say "hello". It was overwhelming at times but I loved it all the same. I met over 100 people, easily. I got the chance to sit in the middle of a miracle as it was the very first service of Cassies old churches NEW Worship CENTER!!! Woo Hoo! It was very cool to see be apart of the result of God's work in a different state. I was quite the whirl wind adventure to say the very least...and that was just saturday night. Sunday morning we got up and went and had Woods coffee. (Heads up for all Oregonians who love coffee....They have 24 hour coffee stands inWashington. They take their Lattes and Americanos very seriously.) There were more people to meet and see and I got to watch as Cassie talked passionatly about youth ministry in Bend and what God was doing there. She was very happy and was basically like the ball of a pin-ball machine, bouncing from one place to another to see people and all of their children. Wow! what a crazy morning already. God did something super cool in my heart that morning, however. Being in worship I just began to feel God's confirmation for going to Pacific Life Bible College. This is something that has been on my heart for a while now and I was hoping to get some confirmation from the Lord. A feeling...a scripture...something that would give me the assurance that I was indeed follwing the plan and will of God for my life. I got an overwhelming feeling on Sunday morning during one of the worship songs that I was in the right place, at the right time, following the dream that God wanted me to follow. I didn't know what emotion to feel or what to do and when Cassie asked me if everything was ok...I began to weap. We got in her car, turned on worship music and I cried before the Lord, simply overtaken by His love for me. His love that had wrapped itself around me and had comforted me through the whole thing. His love. It is so precious. I began to pour out my thoughts about being overwhelmed and being afraid of the comformation that I had gotten and being afraid that in 9 months I would be embarking on a journey to college that only 5 people in my family have gone on yet and being the only one so far in my entire family who was being called to take a leap of faith and go to Bible college. This, my friends, is a scary thought. CAssie took me somewhere very special to cheer me up. She took me to the ditch that divides the United States from Canada and I jumped over it as she watched from behind the lense of her camera. I took my very first hop in this huge leap of faith. We took pics of me in Canada and then CASSIE took the leap. I took pictures of her as she goofed around and she strutted her stuff as I took some pics. :) it was rad. I'm assuming that the boarder partol thought it was rad too. especially when they sent a guy to tell us to please stop country hopping. :) This cheered me up. As we were speaking to the man we heward a voice from his radio, "Did you locate them?" "10-4 (this means yes) don't worry, it's just a 10-19." (Hence the title of my blog) This was a rad experience for me. So. We went home and we had some lunch (waffles) and then we went to the mall and shopped (Praise the lord) After this shopping, we went home and got dressed for the Christmas play in which Cassies beautiful little sister, Hosanna, starred. It was wonderful. After the christmas play, we met more people and then went home for dinner and a Diacogiannis family christmas. Cassie got a TON of kitchen stuff that she is not putting in her kitchen and trying to find out how to use. :) I got these amazing PJ pants and a beautiful ornament from the Diacogiannis family. We all prayed together, which was amazing, as you can imagine, and then we slowly teetered off to bed and slept. Monday was not as hectic as the rest of the days. On Monday, we got to wake up late and go to coffee at Woods again. It was awesome. We sat and talked about what the Lord was doing in our lives and things of that nature. Cassie had a meeting at 12 with a friend so I decided to take this as prime "Paige and Jesus" time and I walked to downtown and walked around the shops and such. Lynden Washington is SUCH a beautiful town, FYI, and it is worth the drive to experience all it has to offer. I got home and we made hot cocoa using this wonderful electric wisking amazing hot cocoa making thing that Mrs. Diacogiannis picked up because she heard from Cassie how much I loved cocoa and she figured we could try it out this weekend then her kids could use it for the winter. I got the honor of using it first and, not even kidding, it changed my hot cocoa perspective, which, previous to this trip was narrowed down to powder in water (still good) and the Starbuckery which isn't as hot or chocolatey as I would like it to be...It was amazing! (Thanks Mrs. D! You ROCK!) After this, Cassie and I packed up and headed for home. We drove all the way from Lynden to Portland making 3 stops. One for one last Woods coffee, one for gas and one in Olympia for Olive garden. We got to take somepictures of the beautiful Seattle Skyline at night. and it was SO rad gotin 62 mph with my head out a window looking back on one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Wow. We got to Portland and my parents had been kind enough to get us a hotel room so that we didn't have to drive the pass at midnight. We went to bed in this amazing room and woke up bright and early to hit the road. We got on the mountain and did NOT put chains on, thinking we would be just fin if we went slow and chilled behind a semi. Bad choice. We spun out and hit a snow bank. We had to dig it out and a guy came up to us with a shovel, shoeveled us out, informed us that we shouldn't out chains on because in 3 miles, we'd have to take them off anyway...he went on his was to Maupin or the Tyge Valley as we headed home listening to Podcasts from Bo Stern. This was an amazing weekend of amazing things and Gods hand guiding us. I would do it all over again in a heart beat. Thanks for reading. Pictures are coming soon. :)