Pregnancy, Supernovas, and Etch-A-Sketches

First, a clarification involving the title of this blog probably needs to be made.

NO, I am NOT pregnant.

You will understand that part as we go on.

This morning, I went to Piney Grove UMC for church because it was the Brooke's last day there, and I would feel horrible if I didn't get to say goodbye.

While I was there, I got to hear one of the best sermons I think I've ever heard.

I never needed to hear something that much, so thank you Jacob! (=

The title was You Complete Me, and he talked about how we can't be made whole without having God and His Spirit living within us.

He talked about how the Holy Spirit taking root and growing in us is like pregnancy.

I'm not even going to try to explain what he meant by that.

It made sense to me, but I have a strong feeling like I would totally misconstrue the point he was making.

Same with the supernova.

But, the etch-a-sketch analogy was the one I totally understood, and I think I can explain that one.

God doesn't hold our mistakes against us.

He lets us shake the mistake away and have a fresh start, like how you can shake an etch-a-sketch and start over again.

I have a bad habit of holding onto every little thing I do wrong.

I never forgive myself.

And, I'm learning and growing and trying to move past that.

Because, all that's done for me is make things MUCH harder for me.

And, it's not worth it.

I'm letting God rain down His mercy and forgiveness, and I'm learning to forgive myself.

-Kati

Beautiful Disaster

Uhm...I suck at updating, guys.

I apologize a lot for that up front.

I just got home from my cruise and went straight into drill week with band.

But, it was PHENOMENAL!!!!!!

It taught me A LOT about life, God, and myself.

As I looked out over the ocean (which I did quite often), I saw the vastness of God.

It made it that much harder to understand how the Creator of all the wonderful things I saw and experienced could desire a close relationship with me.

I tend to fight against that love, because I never feel worthy of it.

Which is true; no matter how hard I try I'll never be worthy of His amazing love.

To Him, though, that doesn't matter.

He looks past my flaws and works in my life in so many awesome ways.

I felt like, even though I didn't really try, I drew closer in Him and gained a deeper understanding of Him.

We were talking in youth Wednesday about how, while we may be living for Christ 100%, bad stuff still happens in our lives.

We often turn against Him at the first sign of struggle or trial.

I've been very guilty of that many times.

I'm learning that I'll never understand why bad things happen to us as Christians.

That's where faith comes in.

We have to trust that God will be there to pick us up when we can't stand on our own.

Trusting God is my biggest difficulty.

I can never seem to let God control my life.

However, I know He has AMAZING plans for my life.

They are so much better than anything I could ever come up with on my own.

He ALONE knows what's best for our lives.

-Kati

Imperfection

One thing you might notice about my blog titles is that they tend to be the titles of songs I enjoy at the moment of posting. Today, the song is Imperfection by Skillet.

I've fallen in love with some of their older stuff, especially the Collide album.

The thing about this song that makes me love it is that I tend to be guilty of not seeing myself as the beautiful creation that God intended for me to be.

I drown out my good qualities in my imperfections.

But, imperfections are what gives us a story to tell.
My imperfections are what usually inspires me to blog.
If I were perfect, this blog would probably not exist, or at the least not be interesting.
My imperfections are what makes you and I beautiful.
It's the amazing thing about being human.
The amazing thing about being a Christian, because God overlooks our uncountable flaws and loves us just as we are.
That's such a beautiful thing.
So, I may not be a stick thin Barbie doll.
I really don't want to be.
I am really insecure a lot of the times.
It tends to hurt me in the end.
I'm learning to accept me for me.
For who I'm supposed to be.
We're all beautiful.
I'm done begging God to change me in order to fit into the stereotypes of this world.

With All the Love,
Kati

The Blog Begins...again.

Hey!

I'm Kati, and this is my blog.

I decided to start over with a new blog and maybe I can do better updating this one.

This blog is going to be a story of my life.

It'll be real and honest.

I'm a little scared to try this again.

But, no one said doing what God's called you to do would ever be easy.

So, here's take two on Kati's blog.

With All the Love,

Kati