Valentine's Day, a.k.a. SAD, and All the Cliche Stuff

Valentine's Day was, weeelll, yesterday. It's also known as Single Awareness Day, 'cause when you single, you may feel *slightly* left out of all the festivities because you do not have a sweetheart to do the cliche Valentine-y things with.

And doing them by yourself is lame. I mean yeah, sometimes it's good to just treat yo-self, to be alone and show the world you're happy as a single pringle, but let's be honest, half of you guys who do that are just tryna covertly say, "HEY I'M SINGLE SOMEONE CHANGE THAT" without looking like a needy fool. 😅

Why am I saying that? Uh, 'cause I resisted the urge to post cliche "Single and happy about it", "Pros to being single on V-Day: Saving money I'd otherwise have to spend on a Valentine present" etc. pics to IG and SC all day. All day. Because if I'm honest, it'd be nice to have found 'the one' by now and to be doing life with this human.

But on the other hand, boy am I glad I'm not dating anybody or preparing for marriage to anybody in particular. Like, dude, I still gotta learn how to schedule my own doctor's appointment and talk to my own health insurance company, I can't handle that kind of responsibility right now. 😂

What's the point of this post? I had a point. I know I did. Oh yeah, Valentine's Day!

So if you're dating or married, congrats, I'm happy you got somebody for ya. I pray they treat you well and that you treat them well. Be excellent to each other, aight? Or else I'll hunt you down, slap you in your stupid face, beat you with a hardcover, annotated KJV Bible and throw glitter-filled water balloons at you that have verses written on them about how we're supposed to treat each other.

All in love, of course. I'd do this to my brother. Because I love him. 'Cause everything you do should flow out of love. Yup. I mean, it's either glitter or I kill you and repent later, which would you prefer? 😃

Ahem, anyways, aaaand if you're single like me... Use this time to focus on figuring out who you are. Where do you want to go? What do you want to do with your life? How do you do that thing you wanna do? How do you get to that place? What habits do you need to form that'll help you be a better, healthier person that accomplishes those awesome goals and dreams you have? How do you form those habits?

Cliche, I know. But Valentine's Day is all about the cliche. As is Single Awareness Day. Whether you're in a committed relationship or not, be a decent human. Love people the way Jesus does. Look at yourself the way Jesus looks at you. Go after Jesus with everything that's in you, and change the world.

Love you guys. Happy Valentine's Day, Happy S.A.D., (both a week late), and keep being awesome. 😜


Photo by Bart LaRue on Unsplash

Rejection or Divine Redirection?

Let's talk about the r-word.

Rejection.

Ouch. It hurts just thinking about it.

Everyone feels rejected at some point. Life isn't always about acceptance, you know. People aren't gonna like you 100% of the time. Maybe it's 'cause you accidentally cut them off in traffic. Maybe you pointed out a flaw in their logic. Maybe you're doing the best you can and for whatever reason, they just really don't like you. Or, it could be, you're doing your absolute best to reach out, be the light, be Jesus to everyone around you, and they reject you for it. Whatever the reason, you end up feeling rejected, dejected, and that ain't a fun place to be.

And you know who one of the most rejected-feeling groups of people is in this world?

Youth.

They got ALL this junk going on with their bodies, school, peer group, etc. They're trying to navigate through the ins and outs of becoming young adults, becoming more responsible, while also having the expectations that this world thrusts upon young people, to be irresponsible, make mistakes and live it up as much as possible. It's a nightmare. We're supposed to have fun in high school, make friends, be crazy teenagers, and then suddenly seventeen and eighteen hits and, whoa, we're supposed to have jobs, get college degrees and know exactly what we wanna do with our lives? You're crazy. This world is jacked up. Like, hon, it don't work like that, there are some habits that gotta be formed before we can effectively do that, yo.

Oh, and did I mention the whole being a Christian thing? When you're a Christian, you automatically stand out from the crowd. You will get rejected for what you believe, whether you're actively telling people about what you believe or not. It's just the world we live in.

But don't let rejection stop you from being who God's called you to be. If God has called you to preach, don't let discouragement from your peers to "shut up about this Jesus thing" stop you from continuing to talk about Jesus. If God's called you to reach your friends and teach Bible studies, don't let anyone's rejection of what the Bible says stop you from continuing to look for someone who will accept it.

It all comes down to this, guys: Sometimes, it's not rejection, sometimes it's a divine redirection. Sometimes, that rejection saves you from wasting time on people who really don't want it, and forces you to go find the ones who really want the truth. Sometimes, that rejection you get sets you up to do what God meant for you to do in the first place.

You have to perceive it differently. Jesus said that when you get rejected, shake the dust off your feet and keep going. He already told us we'd get rejected just for being His followers. But there are people who desperately need and want this beautiful Gospel we've been given. There are people that only you can reach, and who are you to deny them of their chance at Heaven, just because you were rejected?

I understand. Rejection hurts. It's hard getting your hopes up only to have them crushed, to really go after something you want only to see all your plans fall apart. It's hard to try to reach out to someone who seems like they need, no, they want help, but they reject your help. And then what about next time? What if you try to reach out to someone else and they slap your hand away like that other person did before? Yeeoosh. The prospect of rejection can freeze even the strongest warrior. You're not alone in feeling it or fearing it.

But don't let that fear, or that feeling of having been rejected, stop you from being who God called you to be, trying to go after God's plans for your life, from reaching out to people around you. Rejection is that testing ground to see how much you believe what God told you. It's the fire that'll burn the things that won't stand and leave the things that will. Rejection can show you what you need to work on if you let it. It can spin you around, and then push you towards someone else. Yeah, man, it's painful. But it's not the end. There's life after rejection, there's something we're supposed to do afterward. We can sit in a corner and sulk about how someone rejected us, or we can rise above it and try to find someone who wants to hear about Jesus.

For me, rejection makes me reevaluate everything. That can be good and bad, you already know what the bad is so I won't go into that. The good: what do I do now? What's the next step, where do I go from here? Like they say, when you hit rock bottom, the only way to go next is up. What's that for you? Or better yet: who is that for you? Who else do you think just might want a Bible study, or might want to come to church, or might want to hang out with you and the youth group?

You know something? Rejection, much as it hurt, might be our best teacher. 'Cause sometimes, it'll redirect us from people who don't want it to people who do. Sometimes, it's not rejection. Sometimes, it's a divine redirection.

An Open Future

I feel like the name of this blog is perfect for me because sometimes I just go for weeks and months on end without posting and then I come back like HEY SO GUYS like no time's passed at all. 😅😂

But anyways. Guys. I got my diploma in the mail, like, a month ago come Saturday. Let's just say it softened the blow of not being accepted to grad school. Can't go to grad school this semester but hey, at least I can now prove that I finished my BA last semester, right?

And I'll have you know, I only cried like five times in the 7 or so hours after I found out about not being accepted. 😅😭😳😶

This made me reevaluate basically my whole life. "What now?" I asked myself. I have a mini fridge in the living room, a microwave, and a cool Ninja blender (that I have been using the entire time during this year's 21 Day Challenge a.k.a. Daniel Fast 2.0, btw). I have some money saved up in the bank, my own debit card, a cool smartphone, and a bunch of big dreams. What am I supposed to do now?

See, I had the whole next 4-5 months planned out. Go to grad school. Take classes. Hang with my best friends. Stay up way too late doing assignments and studying, drinking coffee and laughing with awesome people. Cry my eyes out during chapel services, pray like I never had before with people in my age group. All that's basically out the window for now. I have at least 6 months to do... what?

So, I basically sat down with my questions and tried to figure out what I want to do with my life. What do I want to do career-wise? There are a few things, but one thing I think would be pretty stinkin' fantastic is this: Write. I want to write. I wanna write fiction. I want to "live by my pen" as Anne Hathaway said in her role as Jane Austen in the movie "Becoming Jane." How do I do that? Well, first off, I gotta write. I gotta edit the mess out of my work. I gotta make it publishable. Next step, publish the work. Market the work. Get paid for the work. Aaaaaand repeat until I can either live off of writing or live off it and some kind of other part-time or full-time job.

Sidenote: I love my job, absolutely love it. I'm learning all these crazy things about the world of printing and web design and all this stuff, I feel like a starry-eyed kid at Disney World half the time (the other half I'm working trying to make sure I'm doing my job right and as well as possible). I just have like, fifty different ideas of how my life could go and I'm tryna get 'em all out before they make my head explode. 😜

What else do I wanna do? I wanna travel. I wanna go on missions trips, see what it's like to be a missionary, help out missionaries, do missionary work.

So what have I done about this stuff? Well for one, I've looked into some mission trips. There are too many deadlines at the beginning of the year so unless someone walks up to me and says, "Hey, I want you to come with me to this foreign country this year," then I probably won't go overseas just quite yet. I've also looked into going overseas to teach ESL. Got some pointers from my uncle, who went overseas and taught English in Korea, and there are some pretty cool opportunities that I'm looking into a little bit more. I'd need a TESL or TEFL certification and a few other prereq's that would take a little time to get done, but lucky for me, that fits my schedule for the next two years haha. Oh, and as for writing, I've made it a goal to write and publish 5 books this year on various platforms, i.e. Wattpad, Amazon, possibly Inkitt, etc.

I might still go to grad school. Or I might just go to the undergrad area to get a certificate in Apostolic Studies so I can articulate my faith in a knowledgeable way and get some experience living on my own for a bit. Or I might just skip all that, work hard, get my TESL/TEFL and move to Eastern Asia for the rest of my life! (JK, I'd miss my American people too much... I'll just pack 'em all in suitcases and take 'em with me, muahaha)

The point of this post? It's an open future for me. I've got a direction I want to go in. And I know there's a direction God wants me to go in. The trick is making sure the two are one in the same. Do I think writing can change the world? Yes, yes I do. Do I think teaching can change the world? Tried and proven, both in the secular and the church worlds, teaching can completely change the world, because it changes young people who will go on to change the world. Do I think this is something I should pursue? Short answer: Yes. Time (and a whole lotta prayer) will tell if this is the direction God wants me to go in.

'Til next time, folks!

--Sonya 😁 💖

P.S. I'mma try to get better at writing this blog, or at least posting something on this blog. Bear with me, guys. 😜

Fire. Coal. Diamonds. Info Dump. Teehee.

This is gonna be my inspiration for tomorrow night, and I need to get the fifty billion thoughts in my head about it out in, well, words, so bear with me guys. 😅

People have been talking a lot about fire recently. They've also been talking about a process, transformation, that kind of thing.

So here's this thing that goes through the fire, goes through a process, and undergoes this crazy transformation. You can make a diamond out of a piece of coal because they're both carbon compounds. The difference between a diamond and coal is that, while they're both carbon compounds, they're organized completely differently. A piece of coal gets put into a highly pressurized, incredibly heated environment. After a while in that heat, under all that pressure, it gets taken out and suddenly, it's no longer coal but a diamond. It still has to go through some cutting and polishing and stuff, so the process ain't over yet, but when it's done, it's this beautiful, valuable thing. And get this: when you shine a light through a diamond, you see different aspects of the light. A piece of coal gets a light shined on it and it's just a piece of coal. A diamond reflects and refracts light so you get that awesome rainbow effect that shows you all the different colors of the light spectrum.

We are like pieces of coal separated from the rest of the coal and set aside for the Master's use. When we pray, "Oh God, give me strength, give me patience," we think God's just gonna magically download patience and strength into us. It don't work like that, friend. See, we pray and ask Him for all of these awesome things, and then freak out wondering what we did wrong 'cause suddenly everything's blowing up in our face, our patience is wearing thin, there's all of this pressure coming against us and we are not strong enough to handle everything that's coming against us. But really, we're getting exactly what we asked for. It's a trial by fire. We're getting pressure from all around because God's trying to restructure us into what He wants us to be. We're going through the fire because it'll burn away all of the mess and stuff in us that isn't right. The bible talks about God being an "all-consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29) and that literally means He consumes every single last thing. Are you gonna let God consume every part of your life? He isn't doing this to destroy you, He's doing it to strengthen you and build up your patience. It's a muscle you gotta build. It's a process you gotta go through. So instead of freaking out like, "Why's everyone against me?" "Why is this happening to me?" "Why *insert whatever*?" ask, "What is God trying to work out in me and what can I learn from this?" And then do it. Allow the Spirit of God to flow through you in those situations. James 1:4 says, "Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." Go through that intense heat and pressurizing process that restructures you and makes you into something new and something beautiful that can reflect the light of Jesus to everyone around you.

So that's basically it. If you got any suggestions, I welcome criticism. 😁 Aaaand keep in mind, this has to be about 5 minutes or so. Yes, I can talk really fast but I can't just give people an info dump and expect them to retain everything. 😅

Speaking of which, I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a SUPER long time. Life's been crazy. I finished my coursework for my BA, I've been trying to make sure I have all my ducks in a line so that I can graduate in December, and then I've been freaking out about that and trying to get accepted into graduate school so I can go in January. So, basically, I'm preaching to myself as much as I'm preaching to my youth group tomorrow night, haha. Humans are great, it's the time crunches that're killing me. It's all in God's hands, though.

To all of you college and high school etc. folk, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You will get your BA done, college people! I believe in you. High schoolers, you will get your high school diploma! All y'all gonna change the world. See? I believe in you so much that this Minnesotan even said 'All y'all' for extra emphasis. You can do it. You're awesome. I love you. You guys inspire me. 😊

God bless you guys!

--Sonya :) <3

Update on Life :)

So, I learned something preetttyyy crazy this week. You ready for it?

Sleep is a precious commodity when you've forgotten that you had an assignment due last week and that you have an assignment due the next day that there's no way in Heaven you'll be able to get it done because you set yourself the task of reading Return of the King, among other books, in only two weeks. Because let's change the world one story at a time, right?

Pro tip #1: Get some sleep after a crazy thing like North American Youth Congress. And I mean sleep, guys.

Pro tip #2: Try not to get sick while you're at it. 😅

But anywho. I got the assignment done, turned it in late but it's done, now on to the next. I gotta make sure I don't overdo it, but I also need to make sure I stay on top of my assignments.

So let's talk about NAYC'17. It. Was. Phenomenal. 34,000+ Apostolic young people gathered together at Lucas Oil Stadium. The air was like electricity, the expectation was so high. The Holy Ghost was so thick in that stadium, the Colts might get the Holy Ghost next time they walk in there, you know?😜  Callings and prophecies were given and reconfirmed. People walked in one way and walked out another.

How do I know this? 'Cause I was one of them. I was changed. Promises God gave me, He reminded me of them again, vividly planting images into my mind of lost family members being saved, of being used by Him and doing things for His Kingdom and seeing souls saved. That first night, God didn't so much remind me of how great He is as He did reveal to me how great He is. Granted, if He'd showed me the whole nine yards I wouldn't be here to tell the tale, that's way too much for any human being to handle. But He gave me a better picture of how great He is. His greatness makes up for my weakness. He is great enough to make the things happen that are too big for me to do on my own. I'm human, I'll mess up, I'll forget, I'll lose sight of what's important, I'll stumble and I'll fall flat on my face, but He's greater than all of that, and He'll make it all work out just the way He planned.

I could go on for hours about the things God did at NAYC'17. There was testimony after testimony of people who were just working the stadium getting the Holy Ghost, getting healed, miracles happening in people's lives, all those kinds of things. People heard the call of God and ran after it. They didn't allow fear to be a factor, to motivate their actions, they let faith in God motivate them. We decided to answer the question "Is this that?" with "This IS That!" and we're drawing some lines, and we're keeping the fire burning and gonna see breakthroughs in our churches, towns, cities, nations, continents ('cause guys, we had people from other continents besides North America there, we're finna go global here!), and bruh, it's already lit. If God can do this much, how much more can He do? We ain't seen the end of it yet. In these last days, in this last hour, God's gonna completely blow our minds, we just gotta be willing to step out in faith and follow Him so that we can be a part of it.

God bless you guys. Keep that fire burning. And don't forget... THIS IS THAT!

Stay to the Side or Stand Up and Fight?

Which would you rather: Fight in a war, or watch both sides tear each other to shreds?

Let's set some parameters to this scenario: Neutrality means you live, but everyone in that war dies and neither side wins. Choosing to fight for one side means that you die, but your side wins, and everyone lives.

Let's say you choose neutrality. It's one of our basic human instincts to avoid pain and try to live. We're even called 'mentally ill' if we wish to die. You live your life, walking this line between the two sides of the war. You watch as people die around you. Men, women, children. Friends, family, acquaintances, complete strangers. The evil ones and the good ones. The atrocities that are committed, some that you could easily have averted, but that would've violated your oath of neutrality. Doing something means you've chosen a side, cast away neutrality and dared to believe you could make a difference. Doing something means you have to die.

Now, let's say you choose to fight. You know what's right. You know what you're supposed to do, what you've been called to do, or maybe you don't but there's something inside of you that says enough, enough of the senseless slaughter and the despair around you. Enough innocent blood being spilled, it's time to do something, to take up arms and fight.

And fight you do. You fight with everything you have inside of you. With every step forward, you can feel a part of you dying, being replaced by something new, by something supernatural, until one day you have to make a decision: die and win, or live and lose. Take back your neutrality, and you can live. You won't be bothered anymore. You won't have to fight anymore, because you're neutral. Because you don't care.

And you choose to die.

Neutrality is a beautiful lie. You cannot live neutrally without killing your heart and your mind, your very ability to feel and move forward. If you do not stand for something, then there's really no point in living, is there?

You have to choose a side at some point. You have to make your own decision about what you believe.Your friends can't make that decision for you. Your parents can't make that decision for you. Your pastor, youth pastor, church leaders, etc. can't make that decision for you. Nobody else can make that decision for you. You have to make it.

So, friend. Choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Who will you serve?

I Have a Dream

Martin Luther King Jr. was an inspirational man. Social Justice warrior, Christian, a man with uncompromising beliefs, this guy had a dream, and he pursued it with everything he had and inspired (and I dare say he still inspires) millions. That line from his speech, "I have a dream," is probably the one most remembered, quoted line that we know.

So let me use that line for a few minutes.

I have a dream. I have a dream that one day, I will see revival in a foreign country. I have a dream to preach, teach, live out and show the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people who've never heard it before. It's not gonna be me that changes people, it's gonna be the power of God that changes 'em. I just wanna be there to see it and let Him use me as a conduit of His power.

I have a dream that my unsaved family members will come to not only know Jesus, but be changed by His transformational power, go through the salvation process of Acts 2:38, and run with what He gives them. He gave me a promise, and I'm gonna hold onto that and stand on that promise 'til the day I see it fulfilled.

I have a dream that the people who have fought so hard against God will have a divine encounter with Him just like Saul of Tarsus did, and, just like he did, become the greatest apostles we've ever seen.

I have a dream that the friends and family who've left the Truth will come back and go forward stronger than before. Just because you left church doesn't mean God left you. Just because you messed up doesn't mean God's given up on you. He still loves you, He still has a plan and a purpose and a destiny for you, and He's calling you back to Him, listen to that voice, run towards the voice of God.

I have a dream that my youth group will grow in maturity, spiritually, and in number. As long as we got those three happenin', it doesn't matter to me in which order they go, but there's gotta be a spiritual maturity if we want to grow in number. A buncha young people in a building is just a social club. We have not been called to be a social club, we've been called to change the world. We gotta be a buncha Holy Spirit transformed young people, generating an atmosphere of the power and Spirit of God everywhere we go, whether it's at school, at work, at home, and yes, at church and bible studies and youth group too.

I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, Dr. King. He was a legend. I'm just me.

But legends are what happen when someone takes a dream, picks up a worthy cause, and do whatever it takes to make it happen.

He died for his dream. Are we willing to die for ours? Or, maybe even more important, are we willing to live to make them happen?