Priorities

          This time of year I hear so many people talk about priorities (myself included), whether we know it or not we probably have some of our own. I think getting our priorities straight is something we really need to do to be productive and become who we want to be. For me my priorities is a list including family, friends, my relationship with God, youth group, household chores, etc. (the list goes on and on). I decided that this year on my blog I want to do something with you all, I want to work on the priorities. Our goal together is to clear out clutter in our life and really do what matters to us.

1. To start,sit down in a quiet area (do it now, don't put it off). I want you all to think about your daily routine and if what you do daily is what you really want your focus to be like. Ask questions like: Am I always too busy? Do I have clutter filling my life? Am I doing things I actually care about?
2. Now that you have all these things in mind I want you to write down your daily activities. Highlight the different things you do that are important to you! (or things you have to do like school and work). The things that aren't highlighted is clutter. These are the things you don't  NEED to do and should do it later when you have extra time (this should leave time in your life to just take a break). Take out the clutter and put together your new schedule based on your new priorities.
3. Take a test run on this schedule. Follow this schedule for a week and see how it goes. Through the week take out the things you see you don't need in your life and add the things you want to focus on. Remember that taking out all the clutter will take you while and that this all just takes time.
4. Once you really get your priorities in order I advise that you go thorough them again and make sure all the things you need are included. You can make sure that things like exercise, Bible reading, cleaning, etc. are in your everyday schedule.

         I hope this helps you bit this year so that you can really set your priorities and get them straight for 2015. If your like me and don't like schedules too much just make a checklist. You can put the most important things on top for what you need to get done (the things on the bottom can be what you don't have to do). So get out there and set some priorities for the new year!

-Julia-

Christmas: Jesus

Before I write to you what should have been posted yesterday (Christmas) I want to let you all know that I am working on organizing things so I have time for the priorities in life. Hopefully this will also make it so that I can post on a regular basis. But enough about me, let's get to the post (to let you all know this post is about Jesus and the Christmas story).        
          Let me start by saying that we are not the focus of Christmas God is, but Christmas is about God's deep and vast love for us. Jesus was sent by God into the world as a Savior (John 1:4), meaning that Jesus had the mission to save all who would accept him. Some people during Christmas just look at Jesus as a helpless baby in a manger, but it's so much more than that. God was willing to live a the life of a mortal man (Jesus) and go through all the bad things in life to die on a cross to save us! When we think of Christmas we should think of Jesus's birth AND suffering; we should think of how God has a plan for you and for me. The Bible says in Jerimiah 29:11, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future,'". This Christmas season let us rejoice that Jesus was sent into this world to die, so that we could be saved; He has given us true hope.

-Julia-

Christmas:Joseph

          Joseph is a descendant of David and is a carpenter by trade. Joseph was betrothed Mary (as we learned about a few days ago) and when Joseph heard Mary was pregnant he was going to quietly divorce her. It seems rude that Joseph would divorce Mary because she was pregnant, huh? The thing is he did it because he cared, he was "unwilling to put her to shame" (Matthew 1:19). Joseph cared so much for Mary that he would divorce her so that people wouldn't accuse her of adultery and put her to shame.
          Joseph also had at least four other sons and at least two daughters. Since Joseph isn't mentioned in the incident related in Matthew 12:46, it is likely that he died before Jesus began his ministry.

Bottom line is that Joseph was a "just man" who really cared for his family.

-Julia-

Christmas: Mary

I have decided that I am going to do some posts about the different people involved in the story of Christmas. I hope that this will not only help me understand Christmas more but, hopefully help you this Christmas season as well.

          Through Luke 1:26-38 Mary shows total obedience. She says, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." Mary doesn't complain like most of us would, and as we can imagine she must have been terrified. Imagine this teenager visited by an angel, telling her that as a virgin she would give birth to Jesus. I would personally think that the whole thing was some joke, I would most likely run and hide. But Mary did the complete opposite... she obeyed. Mary obeyed like none of us have before, she agreed to give birth to Jesus as a virgin teen.

This is the first of MANY posts coming up this next week. We will most likely learn more about Mary through the week, but I figured this was a good start. I think today is a wonderful day to try to be a bit more like Mary and be God's servant.

-Julia-

All Alone

     There are times, times when I feel all alone. I feel as if God is no longer there. I think we all have had those days. Days when we know God is there but, we don't feel His presence. Those days are hard. Sadly, there's only one person to blame in this situation, ourselves. We can make up so many excuses but in the end we realize that its our fault.

     Fortunately, the solution to feeling all alone is simple, all you need to do is search for the Lord. You need to search for Him in the good, the bad, the ups, the downs. We need to search for Him everyday, all the time and we will find Him. All of a sudden we WON'T feel lonely anymore, we won't only know God is there but, we will also FEEL His presence. We will receive love, joy, peace, and much, much more. That gap will  be filled and we will become content. Deuteronomy 4:29 says, "From there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him, if you search for Him with all you heart and soul." When you find Him you will no longer be lonely and you will be CONTENT.

-Julia-

Hope

      It's easy to feel hopeful on a beautiful day like today, but there will be dark days ahead of us too.
There will be days where you feel all alone and that's when hope is needed most. No matter how bad it gets or how lost you feel, you must promise me that you will hold onto hope. Keep it alive! We have to be greater than what we suffer... My wish for you is to become hope. People need that. And even if we fall, what better way is there to live?
     This is part of Gwen's graduation speech in The Amazing Spider Man 2 (the new one). I think what Gwen says is true, we need to BE hope for others because they may be in a tough area of life and need encouragement. It is true there WILL be days we feel all alone and have no hope, but for me as a Christian, I know God is there for me no matter what the situation. This can encourage me and any of you other Christians out there to be hopeful and know you will be okay in the end of it all. Since we have our source of hope I think it is important to give hope to others by just being their friend. Hope can change everything, it can help us through some of our toughest situations, it can help us when it feels like all is going downhill. Hope is what this world needs, and we can make that happen by BEING HOPE.

-Julia-

Life Goes On

     I was listening to "Adventures in Odyssey" (yes I do still listen to that) and I heard Connie's mom mention that "Life goes on", and truthfully it does. Life does go on and we need to realize that horrible things happen to us but life will keep moving and no matter how bad the situation, life won't stop, it WILL keep going. No matter what happens you will be OKAY. We don't need to worry because GOD will take care of us and our problems. For example my dad's cancer was a horrible thing that came by surprise (since no one else in his side of the family had ever had cancer before) and the process of surgery and healing was a hard thing (we are still going through the healing process) but I need to know that all will be okay and that life isn't just going to pause for me and wait for me to be ready to start up life again, that's sadly just not how things work. I hope that you all have a good group of friends that can help and support you through the times when you just wish you could put life on pause. Life if the kind of thing where you have to be all in and I know it is hard through those times life seems to be going against you. Let me close this post just by giving you these few quotes...

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
-J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

"There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them. But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there."
-Paulo Coelho, The Fifth Mountain

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27

-Julia-

Fairytales

     Many people always mention how life isn't a fairy tale but if you think about it, it all depends on your perspective. Looking at a Christian's point of view (and from being a christian) I have realized my life IS a fairy tale. People may not understand that so instead of leaving it at that let me explain.

     Let's look at how an everyday fairy tale goes, in the beginning you start with a princess or a newborn baby. The beginning of my fairy tale would be when I became a Christian, around 6. Next comes the moment where the main character in the fairy tale (usually a princess or prince, in this case I am God's princess) reaches the situation in their life. I am in the middle on my situation, my relationship with God. At age 12 and 13 I realized how I was struggling with my relationship with God. I knew he was there and that he loved me but that was it, it didn't really impact my life and actions much (besides serving at church). I often have to remind myself that I have to work on the relationship with God and that I'm not just going to wake up one day and be super close to Him. But basically, I was struggling (which I can post about later if you'd like).

     In the middle of a fairy tale is usually the part where the prince or princess (or whoever the main character happens to be) begins to get a solution to their problem. My solution (to my relationship with God) is slowly coming. I feel as if I am getting closer to God more and more each day. I think it really helps me that I go to church every week (most of the time with Daniel Pyon or my mom who are both amazing). But I can tell it is going to be a while until the solution is complete... but that's okay, because I have the comfort of knowing it's coming. Now that the middle is over we know what comes next, the end.

     We all are familiar with the ending of fairy tales, happily ever afters. In the end of fairy tales the princess gets her prince (vice versa). My fairy tale ends a bit different though. In my fairy tale I'm the princess and my prince is God. My happily ever after is heaven. 

     Some people don't get this but they hopefully will one day. My happily ever after IS and WILL be heaven and I'm so excited for that day, but until then I will continue to grow my relationship with God and help to lead others to the truth, God and his love. For those of you who don't yet believe you can also have this happily ever after by asking God to be your Savior and to be in charge of your life.

Just so you all know I am going to try to post once a week but no promises, because it sometimes is SO hard to know the right words to say. But I hope you all like this post and that my words can encourage you throughout your life journey.

-Julia-

Late Introduction

I really should have introduced my blog first but I will now. I'm Julia Shaffer and I started this blog to let you all know about my thoughts and beliefs. I am Christian and am working on my relationship with God and trying to become closer to Him. I want to give you all advice so if you have a question PLEASE ask in the comments. I hope you decide to follow my blog and journey with me through my life experience. Please comment on how I can improve my blog in the comments. Thank you for reading!

Samoan Tradition with the Pritchards

Today I went to a reception for Tavita and Caroline Pritchard's wedding and was shown how others really should treat people. The Pritchard's had a reception for Tavita and his bride, pastors were given many wonderful gifts and Caroline's parents were treated like royalty (literally). Everyone was welcome and was treated as if they were family. There was dancing and singing, laughing and eating but, the best thing fellowship. What I learned from this reception is that we really should treat others how we want to be treated just like the Pritchard's showed me with their Samoan traditions. The Pritchard's show me each day how I should treat others and how I should live my life through the ups and downs, they are true role models. I would just like to thank them now and let them know how wonderful they are!