Truth Vs. Lie

So a few girls and I have started this new Bible study called The Truth Project. Pretty much it is completely rocking my world! The basis of the whole study is around why do you believe the things that you believe? Why is the Bible truth? Is the Bible truth? Etc. It’s pretty awesome stuff! I’ve really become enveloped in this whole learning more about Truth vs. Lies. I believe that without knowing it, the world has begun to overcome my worldviews. How disturbing is that? That Satan, coming in all silent like that…wow. And it is not just me that has started believing these ridiculous lies. There is a battle out there! I think it is so easy to allow the black and white morales of life to fade to gray. Our generation has become such a “feelers” generation. When did that happen?? We don’t want to offend people in telling them that they are wrong, or worse, we don’t realize that there is a wrong and a right! There is always a truth and a lie! You can’t be in the middle! I’ll get from behind the pulpit now…that’s basically been what we’ve uncovered so far through this study. I have known about all this already but for some reason it is really starting to resonate with me. I am loving it! I'm sure there will be more to come on this topic as I embark deeper...

In other news, training for my two 10ks is going well. I still really hate running with a passion, in fact while I am running I am saying that to myself haha. But I love the feeling you get afterwards. You are totally tired and totally sweaty, but you feel refreshed. I am stoked about the Richmond 10k because I found out this is one of the largest races in the nation! There is something like 30,000 people already signed up. Talk about chaos! But there are several of us doing it together so it will be good motivation!

I am also pumped about this week because my friend Lindsay and I are heading down to Myrtle Beach on Thursday after work for our own “Valentine’s getaway”. I did this last year with Mar and it was a total blast! I mean sure, we are basically surrounded by couples the whole weekend, but it’s totally fun! We dress up one night and go out on the town then pretty much stay in our PJs and veg the rest of the time by the beach. It’s glorious! I have come to love my little travel vacas lately.

Season of Friends

You know, I get really sad when I think about how much friendships can change. I am the type of person that likes having really close relationships with people instead of just simply knowing hundreds. I like having a close knit of people that I really share my whole life story with. I can probably count on my hands how many people I do that with. It is just unfortunate though how life just simply can change that. Living in Lynchburg, you get used to it. It is such a transitional place to live. People are always coming and going. I have a few of my really close friends who do not live here anymore. I keep in contact with them, but it is definitely hard. I just want to take a few warm fuzzy moments to talk about my good friends...
My best friend Heather lives in NOVA. I miss her terribly because she knows me the best out of everyone that I know. She and I were college roommates. We were randomly put together our freshman year and we totally just hit it off. I love her dearly!! We have both been through a lot in our own personal lives, and we have seen each other through it all. She was totally there while my dad was sick and then in his passing and I will never forget that!! She always knows the right things to say, she is definitely more blunt than I am when it comes to things and she does not care what people think about her when she expresses her opinions, but I love that about her. She is such a blessing in my life and I praise God that we still have each other, even living away from each other.

This is my beautiful roommate Marlene. Man, words probably can't express how much of a stronghold she has been for me this past year. Her and I are so different from each other and friends laugh to see how well we live together. She is a total SO CAL girl :) Her heart will forever be in San Diego and she absolutely HATES this cold weather that we get in Lynchie. Her and I have made it through some hard times as we both go through this "20 something slum" every now and then. She is a true woman of God who is constantly having to remind me to have "open palms" with situations in my life to allow God to work. She is inspirational and I am so blessed that she lives with me!



This is Ash Bash. I love this picture of her because this just a typical "Ash" expression :) Here is another one of my best friends who now does not live here anymore. She moved back home to NC last Spring and I definitely miss her tremendously! I could always depend on her to tell me exactly how something is. She will be the first to tell you that sometimes she lacks compassion when it comes to giving advice. But you know, sometimes we don't need stuff to be so mushy-gushy. Sometimes I need the cold hard facts of life. What she may not know is that even though she thinks she lacks compassion, the way that she expresses her love for others is totally ministry-minded. She is always wanting to better herself in the Lord which I totally look up to. Her and I pretty much just love to laugh together. She has seen me through a lot of those same hard times that Marlene had to see me through. In fact the two of them were my accountability for quite a while. I don't get to talk to Ash as much as I would like, mainly because we both hate the phone, but we do know how much we love each other and will always be there for one another.

Adam Wise. Everyone in Lynchburg knows this guy, I am convinced! And everyone who knows him can't help but just smile when they say his name because he is so darn hilarious! I am sure he would be surprised to make this "friend momento" list, but he is up there when I consider people whom I am close with. When him and I first met, I really feel that he helped me sort some crap in my life out. Again, he may not know this. He was there for me more than he realizes. I feel that I have seen him go through his share of ups and downs. He is a man of the Lord so he is always game to share with others about God's awesome Truth. His musical talent astounds everyone and he is always such an amazing entertainer at his shows. We know that God is going to do great things with him with his music and hopefully as "The 3clectic" grows.
Katie and Heather. Oh man...these girls. Ok so we all started hanging out this past summer and they made my summer!!! We had MANY wonderful in-depth life discussions on Adam's front porch. We consumed alot of fried dough and sno shack! And it seems that we went out to eat pretty much all the time. Individually...Heather is my encourager. She would on any given week, take time out of her day to send me a card or send me a funny email just to make my day. I loved it! She was always there to be a listening ear whenever I needed to vent. Katie is like sunshine on a rainy day :) She always has such a cheerful disposition and it is contagious! She is very easy-going which I need more of in my life...ha! She is a fashionista! The deals that she is able to get on a shopping spree is quite amazing! She is one to give me great advice because she is able to think outside of the box, in my opinion. Both of these girls gave me a lot of laughs....and both of them no longer live here either. Katie is in Roanoke which, thankfully, is not far. And Heather is now in Florida.

Finally, this is James. He is totally just like my brother. In fact one of our friend's moms thought we really were related. Hilarious. James is a deep thinker. He likes to look at things from all angles before giving what he believes to be right or true. He is definitely doing all things right to live whole-heartedly for Christ!! I am so proud of how he really tries to live in the way that men should live. He is going to make an awesome husband to someone someday and I can't wait until he finds her! (Sorry if that embarressed you bro). James is my guy mind. If I have a question about anything pertaining to men...I go to James. He gives me a perspective that my girl friends can't. He is trustworthy and honest. He actually just moved to Richmond because he is helping to start a church there and I am totally stoked for him. Luckily that is my home town so I know I will get to see him often, but it is still sad to have another close friend move away.


So there you have it. Those that I mentioned there are who I consider the glue to my life. Yes, I do have other friends and if I did not mention you in this blog, please do not be offended. You know I love everyone deeply..it's just a matter of the time spent with each of these and the things that we have been through together. Good times. So for me...when people talk of seasons of friends...yeah I can think of a few that may be that way, but I think I'm pretty good about choosing friends that are here for the long-run, no matter what life may bring. I love each of you guys so much and thank you for being little blessings for me! I hope that in reading this, you were able to see how you look in my eyes. Don't ever change anything about yourselves and how our relationships are....they are perfect the way they are. You are all beautiful and I pray God continues to bless each of you as we continue this journey of life.

2 Miles and Man Blues

So my friend Lindsay convinced me to start training for this 10k in Charleston, SC that is in April. I didn't really want to do it at first, but after her talking about it so much, she got me to cave. I started this week because now we are running not one, but two 10ks. The first is in Richmond for the Massey Cancer Center. This will be near and dear to my heart as this was where my dad spent some time while he was battling cancer. I think there is even something named after him there, like a door or something. Who knows, but it is important to support this center to me. The second 10k will be my real challenge. So anyway, last night I ran 2 miles!! I'm not a runner at all, this was a huge accomplishment for me! But today I totally started to freak out thinking about this race. I don't know if it is the thought of whether I will be ready or not, or if it is the thought of doing totally terrible at the race. Who knows, but it really got me down today....which then brought on the man blues. Let me explain..my roommate and her sister cane up for this phrase to use when you start thinking about wanting a man in your life but you don't have one. This happened to me today. I started thinking about how much of me just wants to find that husband of mine, but not knowing how much longer I have to wait for the Lord to bring him along. I know that he will be worth the wait and I will probably say things like "Oh, I would have waited another 5 years to have this one". But it is hard when you have those days where you just feel kind of lonely. I won't dwindle on this thought the entire day because that doesn't make anyone feel good, but for now...a little sadness will cover me.

Power Outage...Best Thing Ever!

Time for me to make some serious updates on this thing. It appears that blogging is really becoming quite the fad these days, and I intend to be one of "those" who keep up with it. So what has the end of sucky 2008 and beginning of enlightening 2009 brought you may ask?? I shall share regardless of if you care of not. I would ask that if you read my posts, please comment so that I do know that I do have some sort of fan base :) The end of 2008 was surprisingly very good...at least the last night of 2008 was. I went to Melting Pot with Katie and Caitlyn to toast to the New Year and I have to say that the challenge of coming up with resolutions was really great with these two girls.

*The end of the night all the waiters gave us every balloon from the restaurant. We closed the place down so it was a good time had by all!


I decided on a few things. First things first is to get out of this stupid debt I am in. Unfortunately I made the dumbest move ever to have this HUGE shopping spree to take out some aggression. Ah what the heck, these things are all about spilling your guts anyway and hey! I'm an open book....I went on a shopping spree the night I found out that my mom is dating this guy. I definitely need to find another venue to taking out any frustration or anxiety because I am still paying for this decision I made. (I will look cute getting out of debt though, that's the only plus to this story ha!). So that's number one...which probably with counteract with my second resolution, traveling more. How do I expect to travel more when I don't have the money to do it? Good question, but I am determined to get out of debt FAST so that then I can travel more later! I have some pretty good connections of people around the US and I intend on using the fact that they offer for me to come see them. My roommate Marlene has been after me to come to San Diego as well as my friend James, so I definitely need to make that a priority. I also have a good friend of mine who lives in LA that I want to see too. She works for Live Nation. They put on all sorts of concerts and such...(interject conceited story here....this particular friend scored me Dave Matthews tickets this year, so I am going Apr. 18th to Charlottesville to see them!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UUUUber excited about this one!....(back to what I was saying)....what was I saying? Oh right..resolutions. I think thirdly I have got to work on not sweating the small stuff. It is absolutely ridiculous when I think about the amount of time that I put into people who don't give a care! If people don't want to take the time to be my friends, then that's ok. I will live. I don't need to bust my butt off trying to win them over. I also don't need to be anyone's Saviour. THAT is just absurd! I have a God and so they. I don't need to put more pressure on myself to think that I need to fix anyone. Ok so now that I have brought everyone up to where I am at the start of 2009, onward to the purpose of this post...

I lost my electricity yesterday because of the ice we had in Lynchburg. Okay now we did not really get much ice, but somehow it managed to shut the power off, weird. Anyway! So it was a little cold, I do have gas logs but as I mentioned before about trying to get out of debt....cranking those suckers on would do no good in helping me SAVE money. So I looked at this as a great opportunity to potentially save at least $20 on my power bill haha. My roommate has a jeep kind of car so she was able to make it to school to work. I, on the other hand, was stuck because my car was in the garage. (For those that are thinking, "You can manually open it yourself, Kara"...I didn't think of this until too late..yes, yes, blonde I know!) SO! I did a little work from home. My boss constantly text messages me even when I'm not in the office anyway so this was no different than any other day. The dude would seriously lose his business if it weren't for me and I'm pretty much that is okay for me to say because he would admit it himself. He knows nothing without me. So back to me sitting in the cold dark..I tried to get my friend to come pick me up, but he couldn't. So then I'm thinking, Great! now what?!
For those that know me well, I hate being by myself for any extended period of time unless I am completely burned out. That is rare. So what do I do? Clean!! As I was cleaning, I prayed because to be honest, that can be the hardest thing for me to do. I just don't always think to pray, go figure! So I start talking out loud to God which is sometimes the best thing for me to do because my mind will start to wonder if I don't. It ended up being phenomenal! I found that I have been neglecting God. I actually have been putting my own ambitions in front of what maybe God has to say about my life. God totally needed this time of power outage to get my attention. I felt refreshed. And it wasn't really for that long. This all happened in a matter of maybe an hour. But I needed this. So the power outage...a blessing in disguise. So then when my friend called to check on me..he probably would've come and gotten me by then, but I decided, nah! I need to be with my Lord instead.

God is awesome like that, don't you think?

Leap of Faith

Perhaps that isn' the best title for this entry. I fear that those that may read this might chuckle at what I am about to say. Every Christmas season I end up going to about an average of 3 shows. I love the theater and the music in each one. Some do not know this, but in high school even before that, I lived to perform. LOVED it!!! There was a thrill about being on a stage knowing that everyone viewed you as entertainment. It was awesome. Dancing has always been my passion. I do love to sing, I do think that is a gift that Lord has given me (not tooting my own horn), but singing AND dancing together...even better. About 2 years ago, I was in Myrtle Beach seeing the Carolina Opry Christmas show. I seriously started to consider doing that. I thought how exciting that life would be. I love the thought of practicing over and over again. I love the thought of being surrounded by the same people all the time and forming such a deep relationship that they become your family. Then there is the final product. People actually paying money to watch someone just use their gifts and talents. Well...the thought is coming back. I may be going really extreme here, but what if this is something that I am being called to?? You can be Christ in a theater just as much as you can at an office job. And I would love it. It's something to think about. First step is research. Finding what it takes to audition...I fear that voice lessons may need to enter my life again...maybe a few dance classes. Who knows. This may be just something I feel passionate about for a season and never follow thru (I tend to have those a lot), but I don't know. It's worth a shot, I think. Thoughts??

Complacent

I realize that there may be something to be said for you deciding where your life is going. There is something to be said for someone to determine how they may feel everyday. I could wake up everyday and make a conscious effort to just be be happy about everything in my life right now, no matter what. Easier said that done right? I hate that. At this point in my life, within the last...oh, I don't know...2-3 months I have been feeling very routine lately. There is nothing wrong with routine, but I guess I'm wondering if there is something more to life than what I'm doing this very minute. I have always loved where I lived, the people, the familiarity, everything. But not lately...even though I may still have just as many friends as I did before, I am feeling more lonely. I love my house, truly I do, but I'm just feeling ho-hum about it all. Perhaps this could be the Lord placing on my heart that a change is coming and a move will take place. I don't know. No idea where I would go, no desire to go anywhere at all. Maybe at my age, you just find yourself in these ruts. My relationship with God is good. I am on my knees, face in Scripture, seeking His will for my life constantly. But do you ever feel like even when you are doing all those things, you experience a silence? And you know that silence means something, but you have no idea what? Not a fan of that either. I suppose I will look back on this as a "growing time" in my life. Gotta hate that... :) Fake it to make it. That's how I feel my life is these days...insight??

They Weren't There

I was introduced to an artisit, well two actually that have been speaking volumes to me lately. Missy Higgins and Holly Brooks. They both know how to speak to a girl's hurting heart, that's for sure. My heart is definitely hurting. There have been a series of events that have happened to me this month that I am sure has something to do with growth or something to that effect. I just want the pain and agony to leave. So going back to these two ladies...my best friend introduced me to this song "They weren't there". I then also really love "Heavy". I try to limit how many times a day I listen to these songs because I have noticed that the music behind these amazing lyrics, does not help me to get out of a depressive state. Friends would be shocked to see me in this state that I am in. I have never been known to be a depressing person. I am normally a very upbeat, happy person. I have tried my hardest to shake out of this rut, but it is going to be the death of me, I swear. I have never felt more alone. I cry a lot. That could be taken as an understatement coming from a girl who cries at the drop of a hat, but it is more than usual. And it is the kind of crying that after a while you shove down but you know you aren't done. I normally have to shove it down though because my roommate will come home, or I am driving in the daylight and I don't want people to see. It doesn't help that this month is also the time that I lost my dad 3 years ago. That pretty much has put the icing on the cake. I'm getting off subject...back to the song. I find that circumstances that I have in my life, people never can see my perspective on it. I end up making enemies about my situations. They may try their hardest to see my point, but I know they don't. This song is an expression of that. People weren't in my situations. They don't have my feelings, my eyes, my heart. So to sum up, I grieve my dad and I also am grieving what I fear to be, a friend. I hate losing people in my life. It hurts. And especially when I have no control over it. I know that this is becoming more rambling than anything else, but what is the point of blogs.. :) Anyway, I'm pretty unsure about myself and what the future holds at the present. I do know that God is in all of it. I know that he is my comforter, and He loves me more than I could ever imagine. I don't really feel that love, but I know it's there. This is just a difficult time. Sorry for such a depressing post, but it's all I got at this point.