Imagination

I have an overactive imagination. 
I mostly attribute it to the ridiculous amounts of cartoons that I watched as a kid. (I also am 90% sure that I have ADD and that it's linked to the incessant tv watching- but that's just my theory.) 
It can be a pain sometimes- mainly when I'm trying to pay attention to speakers or am having conversations with people. It's also why I don't really like scary movies, especially black and white ones. Zombies jumping out at random times isn't what scares me in these movies though. It's the lingering feelings and concepts that they plant in your mind. They come back to haunt me at random times when I'm by myself. Black and white movies make it worse for me because the lower quality leaves more to the imagination. When I watch a movie or read a book, it's difficult to tell myself that it's just a story. My mind gets involved in the story. 
It can be a blessing in someways though. I can keep myself entertained with just about anything.  Also, I believe that I enjoy books and movies more because my mind is so involved in the story.
In other news, the Lord brought me through this semester. The courses were difficult and I didn't think that I would do as well as I did, but God's obviously got a plan for me. 
I am so very thankful to be on break. I get to hang out with friends and family, and I am able to do lots of reading and exploring! YAY! 
Merry Christmas! I'll leave you with one of my favorite Christmas passages: 
Luke 2:8-15

⁸ And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

¹⁵ When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 

Boldness and Arrogance

I've been reading through Acts lately and God has been teaching me many things, such as: the power of prayer, how incredibly fearless the believers in the early church were, relying on God's timing, and how I should behave as a New Testament believer. 
One thing in particular that stood out to me was in Acts chapter 16 where Paul and Silas were going to pray and- long story somewhat shorter- they cast a demon out of a fortune telling slave girl. A seemingly good thing right?
Not for the owners of the slave girl. They were more concerned with losing the money that they made off of her fortune telling than the well-being of the girl. (This right here reminded me how incredibly depraved man is in his thinking and how wicked I am.) Regardless, the men proceeded to lie about Paul and Silas, give them a severe beating, and throw them in jail. Later that night, these men were not sulking over the days events, but rather praying and singing to God- until midnight. (I personally would've wanted some rest considering the days events.) By the working of the Holy Spirit, they are able to lead one of the jailers to Christ during the night. Evangelism would definitely not be what I would be thinking about past midnight, I should be however. The next day, the officials decided to let Paul and Silas go. And this is the part that stuck out to me:

Acts 16:36-40

"And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” ³⁷ But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” ³⁸ The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. ³⁹ So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed."

God really taught me that while we should "turn the other cheek" and "go the extra mile", we should also stand up for ourselves and for others when injustice is committed. 

One of my favorite quotes is by Elie Wiesel-

"The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference."

I generally lack boldness and am in need of it- especially when it pertains to sharing the Gospel and initiating conversations with other.

I suppose a reason I lack boldness is because I associate boldness with arrogance. I will try to explain why. It is due to the fact that I love quiet and solitude. The way I view things is unless you're going to say something important, don't speak. When everything is quiet and peaceful the fastest way to get under my skin is to make abrupt loud noises- I might just snap. I assume that I equate loudness with being bold- and the loud, bold people I've met are generally arrogant and obnoxious.
I also need to learn that talking is not a bad thing, in fact, its rather beneficial. 

That's my best guess, but we obviously are called to boldness as followers of Christ so I guess I need to separate the two. Boldness does not equal arrogance. 


Also, if you read my favorite foods blog post earlier- I forgot to mention french onion soup and any form of bread, they're in that list somewhere. 

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