TURN-THAT-FROWN-UPSIDE-DOWN-YALL.

with 44 days left in 2011, we have reached the holiday season, yall.i am going on 23, i am reaching the end of college-dom, and have experienced some life. i am now helping out with the youth at Journey Church International.and through it all, i have seriously already learned SO-MUCH. about myself...and about life...and about my relationship with the Lord...and about love.
there have been many, many, MANY times in my life where i have struggled. where i have been down. where i have felt insignificant. or not worthy. where i felt completely & utterly alone.
BUT...as time wore on, and i grew, and learned, and listened, i have come to realize a few things about life, love, and the pursuit happiness.
-and that they are realizations that could perhaps benefit others. so i will share them. (i know this is long, but bare with me.)

1. your brain is more powerful than you think.
once i made the conscious choice to be happy...i was.
because it is a choice.
i realized that deceiving everyone in my life into thinking i had this perfect-beyond-happy-life was hurting me. it was so-much-work; it was exhausting. and a lie. and impossible to obtain.
...by telling myself i was done being depressed, it made me progress into a truly joyful person.
and i'm not saying it wasn't difficult at times...because it was. there were many times i would fall back and hit a low, but i knew i had the power to defeat it.
2. once you start telling yourself you are happy, you become happy.
FOOL YOURSELF into thinking you are happy...and it will become a habitual state of mind.
don't let yourself dwell on things. and don't worry. the longer you dwell & worry, the more you are thinking negatively. and for WHAT?!? you are not solving ANYTHING. you are only hurting yourself.
smile. and laugh. and let yourself relish & revel in the joys of life.
3. count your blessings.
my mother has always told me to keep a grateful journal, a journal of every blessing i have...of every, single thing i am thankful for.
one of my favorite songs when i was young was 'count your blessings' by the martens. it's about the story of job in the bible, and how he literally lost everything and never doubted God-and kept thanking Him for what He did have. it is an amazing story. seriously, go read it if you haven't. and if you have, read it again.
this is not to make you feel BAD. honestly, i didn't like to do this when i was depressed because it made me even more depressed. i always knew i had it good--GREAT, in fact. and knowing that and hearing all the horror home-life stories and those in need overseas made me feel even worse because i knew i had no right to feel the way i did. it made me feel selfish, which in a way i was because i was self-absorbed in my "terrible" life; it was all i ever thought about. and the fact that i did not want to live anymore was SO selfish...that i would have thoughts of taking my life--away from everyone who loved me, especially my parents...was ridiculously selfish.
anyway, a blessing can be anything. it doesn't have to be a characteristic you are glad you have...it can be the fact that you have a warm house when it's below freezing out...or food to more than fill your belly...or that one day you get to sleep in...or the fact you have a job in this economy...or even just that ONE person you know you can go to about anything.
this leads me to numero quatro...
4. always look on the bright side of life. (no, this is not a monty python reference.) ;)
not only should you count your blessings during the tough times, but it's HEALTHY to think of how much worse things could be.
-make it a game. think of all the ridiculously, awkwardly, hilariously, embarrassingly, morbidly, AWFUL thing that could have happened instead of what did. and you'll make yourself laugh.
5. DO...laugh at yourself.
in fifth grade, i got my entire shirt ripped in half, right down the middle. and-YES, it was embarrassing to have the entire fifth grade laugh hysterically at you in just your sports bra and shorts...and then proceed to laugh hysterically when you have to wear an xxl stanley elementary wildcats shirt the remainder of the day. BUT i remember making a conscious decision to shake it off because moments like those are how dorks are made.
seriously though. people are going to laugh at you when you drop your books or when you trip and fall flat on your face--no matter who you are. that's just life. watch afhv or ridiculousness. if you can't learn to laugh with them, you're going to turn beat red and run away...and hate your life-at some point or another. (or just learn to be very, very cautious and fly under the raydar, which surely is no fun either.)
and laughing makes you happier-and live longer. (who's laughing now??)
6. Pray.
pray when you hate life.
pray when you love life.
pray and thank God.
pray when you wonder why.
pray for your loved ones.
pray for your enemies.
pray for the invisible children.
pray for that guy on the road who just flipped you off for no reason.
everyone--EVERYONE is going through something you have no idea about. no idea.
so who are we to judge that woman who just flew through that red light and almost t-boned us. she could be rushing to the hospital praying & hoping to tell her mother she loves her one last time.
7. Love.
love every person you meet. because even if they are the biggest jerk in the world, there is a reason. and i'd say 99.9% of the time, in one way or another, it is because they do not feel loved.
show-them-God's love. and they will wonder why. it's time to live the gospel unashamed.
8. Do not live your life for yourself.
God created us to have a relationship with Him. he CREATED us, in His own image...so HE could have a relationship with US. how crazy & fricken awesome is that?? God sent His own Son---to DIE on the cross---so He could have a relationship with us. and yet...we feel alone. or ugly. or depressed. or fat. or insignificant. or unworthy.
Let God consume your life...and the peace that transcends all understanding will consume you.

"So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold -- though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world."
- 1 Peter 1:6 -7, NLT.