c a l l e d

(pictures by janelle)
(originally posted this on my main blog, but decided to post it here too.)

where to start, where to start. (this is going to get really long. I just know it.)

Matthew 25:40: "and the King will answer them, ‘truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’" Mark 16:15: "He said to them 'go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation"

when I was a little bit younger (think middle school) my church started putting on missions trips for the middle schoolers and the high schoolers. I never went on them, it wasn't for money reasons or because certain people weren't going, it was just because I had no desire to go serve. wait, what? Did I seriously just admit that? Yessss. I just went there. I really had no desire to serve at all. I was selfish, I am selfish. Aren't we all?

I don't think I really ever thought to myself that I didn't need to serve, or that I didn't want to serve, it wasn't like that, I just felt like the money you paid to drive or fly a few states away didn't make sense to me. Poverty in the United States is an odd thing, it's so so much different then anywhere else. It's hard not to judge the ones who need help here, think about it. People are weary of giving money because we have a reason to believe it'll go to drugs or alcohol or something else that won't even help their situation. The fact that us filthy rich americans just throw money out at car windows could be the worse thing for them. They need Jesus. I don't believe that going a few states away is a bad waste of missions, that's not what I'm saying at all. Everyone needs Jesus, everyone needs water, food, loving, etc.

but sometimes I think there is a bigger calling, to love the least of these. To get out of your comfort zone, to go sleep on the cement floor, to go where you have to walk miles to get water, live off tiny bits of food.... I want to go. I want to get up, leave, and go. I want to tell so many of the little ones about Jesus, I want to not only fill up their bellies, but fill up their souls.

Obviously the point I'm getting it is, I feel like I've been called to something big, something more then the typical serve at a food shelter, something more then talking to a homeless man for an hour at a mcdonalds, something more. 

I don't know what it is yet, but I know I'll be led to what's right for me, and where I'm supposed to serve. I couldn't be more excited for this opportunity, one of the things I'm most excited for is just giving it all away. I want to be changed so much, I want to realize what it's like, and get out of my day to day routine of living my way. I really couldn't be more excited and ready for this. I'd love if you joined me in prayer. Prayer for location, for money, for what I'm supposed to do. I need guidance.

Lord, send me.

on the 14th day of february, valentines day?

happy valentines day! i'm spending it single, and not to mention, happy with my singleness. on monday all the girls from my youth group are going out together. we're all single! i'm pretty happy about that, hah. anyway, slushy parking garages are fun, and i'm happy about valentines day! woot. xoxo, kiley.

joy filled Jesus time

moments spent at the coffee shop, or on the side of your bed, or in the car with your iphone Bible app when you just get a rush of joy from reading the scripture. the words bring chills up your spine and you feel overwhelmed. i'm at a loss for words at His greatness. i found my new favorite book of the Bible, Ephesians. the Lord has been working in me, i can feel it and it makes me excited. excited for 2013, and for changes in my life. i can't wait to dig deeper this year. also, starbucks and Jesus go well together. 

fake vs. real

I wanted to write about my surprise birthday party on here. The time where I came rolling over the hill to my best friends house and thought the limo was for my moms birthday, not mine. The time where all of my closest and best friends came to surprise me, and spend time taking goofy pictures and singing silly songs in the back of a limo while touring Minneapolis, and St. Paul. This blog was meant for more then silly feet pictures, I hope you know that. It's about me, my life, and how He has blessed me so much. It's a place to leave thoughts that I don't like leaving on my regular blog. Let me write about my friends for a minute. I just really have some amazing friends. Sometimes you really have to search though, deep down to find who are your real friends. They're the people you wouldn't think you'd ever be that close to. I love when you get to know people. When friendships form out of nowhere really, but you just become close. Where you can be yourself and laugh with each other. I just love real. Real is so much better then fake. I was extremely happy with who came to my party, I sat in that limo singing Party in the USA (ewww, Miley Cryus) with 9 of my best friends, and I looked around and I realized everyone there was real. They were there for me, they cared. They always have been, and I haven't always opened my eyes to it. Somehow my struggles become theirs, theirs become mine, and we're just there for each other. For awhile I think I was attracted to fake, to fake friends, because they made me look better, more popular, more pretty, more fake, more this and more that. Well friends, heres to a new life of more real and less fake.