Some of my favorites...

Lately, I've been thinking about some Bible verses that have really stuck in my mind throughout the years. Some of my favorites being:

Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." 

That verse means a lot to me. For when I'm down and I'm doubting myself in whatever life throws my way. There is no need to fear, cause Christ will give the strength to get through whatever may come our way. God's in control and he knows what will happen. And will give us the strength to make it through each day. Times will get tough, no doubt about that, but when they do lean on Christ and his strength! 

Isaiah: 41:10 - "fear not; for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Another verse that encourages me a lot. It's just so awesome when we are afraid or worried about stuff in this life to know that God is with us. And he will give us strength and help us to get through whatever the situation. He will not leave us on our own. What a great God He is! 

Hebrews 12:1-2: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for  the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

This verse is an encouragement and great reminder to me to keep running the race of the Christian life with endurance. Laying aside every weight. Whatever that might be that is holding me back from Christ. To cut it off, and lay it aside. No distractions. Looking to Jesus, keeping our eyes on him. Seeking first God's kingdom and not the things of this earth.

So those are just a couple of the many verses that are an encouragement to me, and hopefully now, an encouragement to you as well!

~JD

What? I have a Blog?

Once upon a time, there was a teenager. This teenager was super stoked about writing. Writing in general stories, books, you name it. Then one day a brilliant idea struck him. What about getting a blog? Yes! That was it. He would get a blog. Something to have fun with, to improve on his writing, to share with others about his somewhat boring life. And so he did. He began his own blog. Boy did he have fun posting. Especially the first couple times. But as time went on the posts became fewer and fewer. Until one day, they just stopped completely. 

In case you haven't figured it out by now... that teenager is me. I can just picture it now: 

"And the winner of this year's Worst Blogger of the year goes to......JD!" 

Haha, ok. Maybe I'm exaggerating a tad, but seriously I'm sorry for not posting forever. So anyway I thought I'd just give you an update on life. 

It's finals week!! Yup, the week that most students get stressed, Starbucks and other Energy Drinks become a need, and you feel the need to read over every word that you went over that semester. Thankfully, this isn't me (this semester anyway). This semester I took classes that ended up not really being ones that you can "study" for. For instance: I'm taking a class called Vector Drawing. 

Vector Drawing - A smart sounding concept which really ends up being defined as "drawing on the computer."

And really, there isn't much you can do to study for drawing... so yeah, classes like that that don't really require studying. Which is quite spectactular! 

Oh, and I decided to perhaps go into Graphic Design as a major (for the time being) unless God starts to lead me elsewhere. I took a couple of classes in the Graphic Design program and somewhat enjoyed myself. So next semester I'm gonna take some more classes in that program, and I'm kind of super excited to see what God is going to do this next semester! :) 

Well, this is kind of a short blog post but Lord-willing another will follow soon! :) 

Until then...

"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" - 1 Corinthians 10:31

~ JD

Where feet may fail...

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now

So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior


AHHH! This song has been stuck in my head the past few weeks! Some of the lyrics just hit me in a way that just leaves me in awe of God‘s grace. “You’ve never failed, and You won’t start now!” I just love that sentence. God doesn’t fail. He never has and he won’t ever fail us. At times we may think He failed us, but He didn’t. God’s plans don’t always fall in line with what we think should have happened. I hope that this is all of our prayer, that we would go wherever God calls us. Though we may fail, God won’t. 

The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." (Deuteronomy 31:8)


Seriously, if you haven’t given this song a listen too, you should. Even if it’s just once, or a thousand times. ;) 

~JD

Psalm 34

I will bless the Lord at all times;
    his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
    let the humble hear and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
    and let us exalt his name together!

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me
    and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant,
    and their faces shall never be ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
    and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps
    around those who fear him, and delivers them.

8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
    for those who fear him have no lack!
10 The young lions suffer want and hunger;
    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

11 Come, O children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 What man is there who desires life
    and loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Turn away from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it.

15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
    and his ears toward their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
    and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
    but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He keeps all his bones;
    not one of them is broken.
21 Affliction will slay the wicked,
    and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
    none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Today I heard someone say that this chapter was encouraging so looked it up and was encouraged by it as well! So just wanted to share this with you and hope that you too were encouraged by it. I know it's been awhile, a LONG while, since my last post. But hopefully, soon I will have a new post written. Thanks for reading!

~JD

Catch Up Post

So, this post is basically just a catch up about the Summer, that has been and gone already. Seems like just a few weeks ago we got out of school, and now. We are started back up. :O Summer went WAY to fast. But oh well, it was full of fun! Some of the highlights of this summer:

1) Camp! This is always one of the best things every year, is going camping (or cabinining in our case) with all our cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. It is an awesome thing to look forward to each year.

2) Florida Trip ~ This summer a few weeks ago in fact, we went down to Florida to visit our brother and sister-in-law. :) It was great to see them again! And to experience the beach for the first time. Seriously, that is one of the most magnificent things I've seen about God's creation. Looking out on what seems to be endless blue water.

3) Testing ~ Yeah, this wasn't exactly fun, or a "highlight" of my summer. But me and my brother did some testing this Summer to prepare for Fall classes that we are taking at a Community College right down the road from us. Woah, we're going to college. Scary thought!

4) I also started up with piano lessons for the Summer, and had an awesome time! Learned a TON!! A special Thank You to my teacher, who was patient throughout the entire Summer, with a student, such as myself. I learned a lot, thank you for furthering my piano experience, so hopefully my playing will be even more glorifying to God. Cause that's what our musical talents our ultimately for.

And now that Summer is over, school has started again as of this past Thursday. Am I excited? Kind of. I'm excited to see what God will do in my life this next semester, both at home, and at the college and just in everyday life. But I know that this semester will be a lot of work. So, that's the less exciting part about school, but that's just life.

Well, that's all that I can really think of for right now, on this blog post. But hopefully, there will be more to come soon! Thanks for reading,

~JD

Umm......

Well, I probably have no readers left for my blog. But for those that still are here. I apologize for not keeping this blog updated. So here's just a few things that have happened over the 2 and 1/2 months since my last blog post. 

1) Started taking piano lessons again! This was a major blessing! So excited to start taking them again. I took piano lessons for 3 years, and the last 5 have been playing randomly, sitting down at the piano, looking over the piano music, playing around on it. But this summer, I started taking again, so really excited about that. I have a great teacher, who is VERY patient with me. lol :) 

2) Camp! We had our family-reunion-camp-cabin-get-together-thing-a-ma-jig. Yeah, it doesn't have an official name, cause "camping" doesn't really settle the term. "Cabin-ing?" That seems to sum it up more. But it was definitely a fun time! Between going on walks, (some trails around the pond), going kayaking, scheduling random trips to Walmart, Dutch Blitz, and just sitting around visiting, and laughing to the point of tears. :P It was an awesome time with family. 

3) Summer jobs. Got a couple summer jobs going on this year. Which is a HUGE blessing! :) And maybe, this fall, I'll be 16, so could be going to work at Hy-Vee. But not sure about that yet. 

4) ACT. What more is there to say? Oh, and not ACT, Like acting in a play or anything. That is not the ACT I speak of.  (No joke, was looking up study books in the library, and when I searched ACT, it came up with all these acting books) I'm talking about the dreaded test that people take. Well, all I can say, is that it was a good first experience. :) 

Well, this wasn't as long as I was hoping. But it was a little update. :) 

~JD

Drama Days!

Well, yesterday we put on two performances of "The Treasure of Castle Siekfurst". An amazing play, written by an amazing writer! Our homeschool group has done Drama for 4 years! 4 amazing years! Although I was only in these last two plays. I have had an amazing time! I wish I would have done it sooner! But I am soooo glad that God gave me the opportunity to do it. But each and every play was unique and awesome! I guess two of the main thins that I got out of this play was:

1) That we can have sooo many idols in this life, that take the place of what is really important. Whether it be beauty, power, fame, being smart, money whatever it may be, we can get so caught up with these things and forget the real important thing that we should be focusing on. These things may seem important, but really they aren't! All these things aren't going to matter in eternity. Our minds should be focused on God and all that he has done for us. Don't get me wrong! None of those things are necessarily "bad". But it becomes bad when those things take the place of God. And we dwell more on those things then we ought too.

Matthew 6:33 -- But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

2) The second main thing I got out of this play, was that no matter how bad you've messed up. No matter what you have done. God is always able to forgive. There is no such thing as messing up too many times in God's eyes. He's waiting for you to ask for forgiveness, to repent of your wrong doings. Run to the arms of Jesus! Oh what a glorious thought that is!

I just want to thank everyone who came to watch the show yesterday! I hope that you guys enjoyed the show! And thank you to our drama director and producer who without them, we couldn't do anything! You guys mean sooo much to all of us! A big thank you the cast, who I have enjoyed their fellowship and encouragement! I have become friends with all of you! A BIG thank you to the crew! The lights and sound guy and gal! :) Without you guys the play wouldn't have worked. Thank you so much!

That's all for now,

~JD