A living Prayer

All Irish Girls... (Plus two americans!)

2009-08-15T18:15:00.001-07:00

We did so many great things in Northern Ireland. We worked with Mourne Presbyterian Church and Kikeel Presbyterian Church. We spent a week with Kitty's Road, a local Roman Catholic Community. We ate delicious food! We did so many amazing things that I can't even count.

One of the things that I will never forget is all the 'lovely' girls that we met. I will never forget how kind and welcoming they were on the first day. Within two days we were having pillow fights and laughing like crazy. Now I have friendships that I wouldn't be able to forget even if I wanted to.

Emma: An amazing girl who is gorgeous on the inside and the outside. She really cares about each and every person of Kitty's Road and on the American team. It was an absolute joy to meet and get to know her after hearing so much about her.

Emma, I love you so much!

Hannah: An extremely hyper girl that never fails to be happy. She is so encouraging to everyone with her constant positive attitude. I'm so glad that I was able to be her friend and love her so much!

Hannah, I will never forget you!

Nicola: A particularly fun girl who always made me laugh. She encouraged me so much in the way that she opened up to me and the way that she cared for every single person. I loved getting to walk along the beach and talk about our lives.

Nicola, I miss you so much!

Heather: An awesome girl who could do pretty much everything. Throughout the weeks she played all the games, worked with the wee ones, worked with the older ones, figured out harmonies with us. On top of all that, she is a wonderful sister in Christ, and someone I look up to a lot.

Heather, I miss you a ridiculous amount!

Jules: A very dramatic girl whose funny personality touched all of the americans. The way that she was so welcoming and open right from the start. The way that she poured her heart into the wee ones.

Jules, I cant tell you how much I love you!

Sami: An absolutely amazing girl who has pretty much become my sister over the past few months. We laugh, we cry, we fight, and we learn guitar.

Sami, I can't believe I haven't seen you in like two weeks!

(What's up with that?)

So, the point of this blog is to tell you girls how much I love and miss you, and how much I value your friendship. I will definitely, and I'm sure Sami will too, be counting the months till we can come back to you all in Northern Ireland.

But Until then, know that you are in my thoughts, in my prayers, and in my inbox on facebook. I love you girls so much, and am blessed to have you as sisters in Christ.

YES...

2009-08-15T14:05:00.000-07:00

So, pretty much. My Mom Rocks.

Since I didn't get to pet a sheep in Ireland,

she brought the sheep to me!

To Julie-Anne...

2009-08-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

As we got off the mini bus, the first of many times, in the parking lot of Mourne Presbyterian Church, Julie-Anne Gordon, Emma Jeffrey, Hannah Skillen, Nicola McKee and many other Northern Irish teens. After I had shook hands with Emma and Hannah, my new friends, I turned to Jules and gave her a big hug. I felt as if I already knew her through the facebook videos and messages and hearing all about her. She was just as beautiful as I had heard. I loved the way that she just says what she wants, and the way that she was so excited to meet new people.

All I can say, is that this trip was incredibly amazing, and Julie-Anne, you played a huge part in that. You made the beginning of the trip a very un-awkward time. Thankyou so much! Thankyou for your constant loving and happy attitude. I will miss you so much over the next couple months and I will be praying for you a lot.

Love you SO much!

~Regan

Gospel Citizen

2009-03-15T20:55:00.000-07:00

Grant talked today about what it means to be a Gospel citizen.

What does that mean?

Well I took it to mean that you, as a christian, act like one. You are a fragrance of Christ, you are obedient to the Father, you are humble in the talents that He gave you, you truly believe that Christ is your saviour,

I'm sure I could go on.

This got me asking, 'Am I a Gospel citizen? Do I show the work of the Lord in me? Do I walk down the hallway at school, and people automatically know that I live my life for the Lord?'

No...

I want so badly to be able to say that I do, but that wouldn't be the truth.

I wish that I thought about giving the glory to God in everything that I do and say, but that wouldn't be the truth.

I want so badly to be able to say that I'm content with who I am as a christian, but that wouldn't be the truth.

In reality, I'm a horrible sinner that doesn't deserve any forgiveness at all.

But because of the amazing thing that Jesus did, I am forgiven.

I'm forgiven from everything that I've ever done. For how stupid I've been when I give in to the prideful thinking that Satan pushes on me.

Because God the father sacrificed his own, precious son, I can enter into the gates of Heaven.

That's absolutely mind boggling.

Two weeks ago Grant talked about the perspectives of the cross. And I started thinking about how I feel when I sin. If I even do anything tiny, I feel so guilty and horrible. Then I thought about how Jesus would have felt on the cross. As he hung there, suffocating, he was bearing the entire worlds sins. The entire world, universe! Billions of times worse than anything I or anyone else has ever had to deal with. This realization kinda gave me a new, greater respect and love for our saviour.

I don't really know the point of this post, but I thought that I should share what's been going through my head lately.

-regan

Wow...

2009-02-03T12:15:00.001-08:00

The things that people will do for show-business...

:(

2009-01-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

Beau's leaving again...

Am I ready for this?

Good, Bad, Old, and New Memories

2008-12-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

My Family and I went to see the movie, "Marley & Me," today, and it was really good! The whole movie is about life. Throughout it, there is an insane, hungry dog named Marley. He chewed up everything, and all this different stuff. Without giving away the whole movie, it really reminded me of the dogs that I remember having. We had a black lab mix that I don't remember at all, but I know that for the first couple months when I was born, she didn't like me very much! She would growl as she

walked by, :) We have it on tape! But I don't remember her at all.

And then we had Gracie. Her full name was Grace Unleashed Walsh because she was never on a leash. She was the best dog. She would let you lay on her as much as you want. I vaguely remember laying on the Kitchen the kitchen floor just petting her. We only had her for about a year. Sadly the one thing that I can remember, clearly, about Gracie was the night she died. It was the day before Beau's Birthday. Someone from church came to drop somethin

g off at our house and was standing in the doorway talking to my parents. Gracie slipped past him and ran to the neighbors yard

to sniff their

garbage. By that time Beau and I were at the door helping my parents call her. But she didn't listen. She ran across the street just as a truck was passing. We all saw the tire go right over her neck. I can still picture it a little. I watched Dad, Mr. Boyd, and the man who hit her load her into the truck to take her to the vet, but she was already dead... The place ended up being closed so they had to leave her in front of the building. She was a really great dog. We were pretty depressed that night. In fact, we were so out of our minds that we went to the breeder

the next morning and picked a little Yellow lab pup. This was probably not the best decision :) He was cute at first, but he was a monster! When we first brought him home, we sat on the kitchen floor while he nibbled mom's fingers. It was cute because

he couldn't hurt her, but we hadn't seen anything yet. Soon he was grabbing socks and dish towels and ripping them to shreds! He would grab something and have so much fun as we angrily chased him around the dining table. We officially named h

im Jake Takes the Cake Walsh. Luckily, I don't really remember Jake's Puppy days. The memories that I have of him were the good ones. I remember swinging on the tire swing out back with a stick in my hand, and he would try to get it. I remember laying on the floor with him, even though I knew how annoyed he got when I did that. And I remember how I loved to sit and laugh while Dad wrestled with him! But most of all, I remember my last night with him. I didn't know that he was going to put down until that day.

I sat out on the porch and took pictures him.

Later that night Mom and I went to say goodbye.

I'll never forget the look of "Leave me alone, I'm trying to sleep.":) The next morning he was gone. I felt like I was loosing everything, well only three things really. The Tree with my tir

e swing had suddenly got elms dise

ase and was cut down. They

didn't even ask us! That tire swing was the place where I would go after another day of tension at nova. I went there after anything that happened that made me mad, sad, etc. The other thing was that my best friend was moving. To the other side of the US. That made everything worse. Then all of sudden my dog got put down! That month was one of the worst months I've had. We went without a dog for 2-3 months. It was torture for me. I'd never not had a dog.

I got used to it after a while, but it was still so different. Throughout those 2-3 months, we looked online for our new dog, and every once in a while throwing out names. We finally narr

owed it

down to a Brittany or a Lab. We had to go with a lab. We went to see the breeder that had the soon to be ours puppy. We got to hold all of them! I loved it. We all found one that we liked a lot that day, and we think

that it was her. We had to wait a couple more weeks until we could really pick one and bring her home. We knew that we wanted a girl, because we did not want to risk having another Jake. So those few weeks were full of research on girl dog names. When we were on our way to get her, we still hadn't picked a name. We started talking about them again, when the name Autumn came up. Then Dad said, "How about Audie for short?" Beau then exclaimed about how he had said that the night before. We all liked it, but I was little iffy. At the time it wasn't my favorite. When we got there, the lady had already put the litter in a little pen outside. I jumped in the pen and started petting them all. Some ran away, but there were a coupl

e that seemed pretty interested in us. One in particular kept coming up. And we decided to go with her. Beau and I brought her over to a small picnic table near by and pet her. Sitting at that table we knew that she was nothing but an Audie. We put her in the kennel we had brought in the trunk, and went home. She slept the whole way, curled up in a corner of the kennel. Beau and

I couldn't stop turning around to look at her. On our way home, Beau sent out a mass text telling everyone her name. We had to explain to a lot of people that it wasn't Audi like the car. When we got home we let her run around in the new sod that replaced our tree. In no time she was prancing around like a deer!

It was so cute. When we were inside the the four of us sat down in the kitchen and played with

her. She ran around to each of us in turn, and then did it again, and again. She has grown a lot since then, but she is still amazing. She is the only dog that we've had that can entertain herself with her toys. And she has more privileges at 17 months than Jake did at 5 years old. All this to say that "Marley & Me" is a great movie, and I think that you should go see it.

Because of all my past experiences with dogs, I laughed, cried, and enjoyed this movie so much.

Interpretation

2008-11-29T17:12:00.000-08:00

I really hate it when people interpret events in the wrong way.

It puts everyone in a bad mood, and usually makes someone feel horrible...

Like when you forget to tell someone about something, and they see it as intentional forgetfulness, when really you just forgot.

Or, the other way around, when you do intentionally forget, and they forgive you because they thought it was an accident, and then you feel horrible!

Either way, today I learned that I just have to deal with it.

One of my friends told me that no one can interpret something the same way as someone else. So when they are seeing something, your seeing something else.

It makes me a little better that this kind of stuff happens to everyone.

But it still doesn't make me feel any better about the situation.

All I can do now is pray that God will resolve everything.

...Ugh, I hate it when people interpret events in the wrong way...

1 Peter 2:9

2008-11-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

This verse has popped up about five times in the last month.

1 Peter 2:9

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

First I picked to read that verse for worship one night, then three times one of the youth leaders talked about it, and then last night, Kempton talked about it.

So I finally decided to look more into it, maybe figure out if God is telling me anything.

My dad got the new ESV Study Bible, so I looked in there and found this.

"God's grace rather than human choice is the ultimate explanation for why some people come to faith and others do not. God has elected ('chosen') some to be his people, therefore no one can boast of being included. Peter views the church as being a new Israel, for he picks up what is said of Israel in Ex. 19:5-6 and applies it to the church. The church is a royal priesthood and God's holy nation. As God's chosen ones, Christians are to proclaim the excellencies of the one who summoned then from darkness and ushered then into his marvelous light."

This really helped me understand why this verse might be helpful to me. Lately, one of my friends at school has been asking about Heaven, and what I would do, being a christian, in her situations. I realize from this that I have to be really careful with what I tell her, because I really don't want to boast about being a christian.

Also it touches a little on my last post! It says that some are chosen and some are not. So I'm guessing that the people who are not chosen, just can't understand why they would even need God. Even though it helps a little, its still weird to think about.

One last thing. If anyone was at church wednesday night, you probably heard me talking about my neck problem. Well, I went to the doctor today and found out that I have shingles...

I don't know much about it, but I know that it is a virus directly caused from chicken pox. I had chicken pox when was 2 or 4, but apparently lives in you forever, and shingles could pop up at any moment. And of course, it pops up just when I have a concert at my school tonight.

The rash/scab thing won't go away for a couple weeks, and the discomfort won't go away for maybe a couple months. So please pray for me!

New Presidents and Non-believers

2008-11-10T19:18:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama...

Hopefully all of you know that Obama was elected on the night of November 4th, to be our next president...

Some may call it a victory but I call it a loss.

I turned on the TV and saw the words,

"BARACK OBAMA ELECTED 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!"

but instead of what I would've expected to think, the first thing that came out of my mouth was,

"Its all in your hands God."

Thats what started me thinking about how non-believers live. Being a christian, I am able to say that God has a magnificent plan when things go wrong.

What can Non-Christians say?

How do they get through all the hard times that the world pulls them into without God?

I really don't understand!

I can't even imagine my life without God, and they can't imagine their life with God.

I really hope that we, as christians, can pray for those non-believers, because they NEED God!

I really encourage everyone to pray for the country in the upcoming years, also.

Pray that God will give Obama wisdom in his presidency,

and pray for all those who were for McCain. A lot of Republicans have been talking about moving to Canada or Australia. Obviously thats over exaggerated, but it means that people have already started giving up, and its not even January yet! So pray that God would give those people hope!

Romans 8:28

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

Short Visits

2008-09-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

Beau came home this weekend with three friends.

Sam, Amber, and Tyler.

They were really nice and it was really fun! But it was way to short.

They left about an hour ago, and I already can't wait for Thanksgiving when I get to see Beau again.

It hit me harder this time when he left, that it's going to have to be like this, whether I like it or not. Right when Beau was in the door, it felt normal again. I was so happy that I didn't even think about the fact that he was going to have to leave again. I didn't think of it till today.

He's leaving, he's gone, and he won't be back for a while.

I keep telling myself that I have to get used to this, but its really hard...

By the way, school is going very well! It seemed like it would be better than last year even on the first day! Thank you so much for your prayers!

School...

2008-09-07T09:44:00.001-07:00

School starts tomorrow.

And I have finally decided that I am not excited.

Last year was fun and I love the school, but its not a christian environment, and since I came in second semester, I didn't make very many friends at all. Which was really hard for me. Ever since 5th grade, I've always had some sort of group around me, and close friends. My best friend at school last year was a senior and so she's not there any more...

I don't really know how its going to go. I have to get up at 6 every morning and take a 1/2 hour bus ride. I've been praying that I would make friends with the new kids quickly, that I'll have an actual group of friends like I'm used to. But I don't know...

Luckily I have church on Wednesdays and Sundays! Last year, I lived through every school day just for church. And I'm pretty sure that thats what will happen this year to.

Ugh, School starts tomorrow...

College...

2008-08-28T18:50:00.000-07:00

From the perspective of a teenage girlwhose brother just left home, College sucks...

Saying goodbye to everyone else was hard, really hard.

And I knew this would be harder.

And I was right...

If you haven't guessed by now, we just finished moving Beau into temporary housing.

And now I am sitting in the car on my way home.

It seems really odd that Beau won't be coming home for about three weeks, and he's leaving again. That's how long he was in Ireland! I missed him a lot then! But I knew he was going to come home, and now I just have to get used to it. Its going to be really weird...

and quiet :)

So, to sum up my day,

I left my house this morning at nine-ish,

Drove 2 1/2 hours to Duluth,

Beau moved in,

we went to Applebee's,

checked out the area a little,

said goodbye,

and now I'm an only child...

October 5th, 2002

June 17th, 2004

I'm going to miss him a lot...

Happy Birthday Dad!

2008-08-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

Thank You!

For everything that you've done for me,

For all the Canoe Trips,

For all the Classical Music education! :)

And for being an amazing Father!

Love you!

Happy Birthday!

Its Hard to Say Goodbye...

2008-08-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

Last night was the last time before school that everyone went swing dancing. It was really fun, but also extremely depressing. I had to say goodbye to the seniors, and Scotty.

After dancing, we all stood out in the parking lot to say our goodbyes. We ended up in a big circle praying for a long time. During that time, I finally had an, "Oh my gosh, they're actually leaving..." moment. I had always thought about when they were going to leave, now they were actually Leaving. It was the last time I would see any of them till thanksgiving, or even later.

That night I was thinking about how now that the seniors are gone, and once Beau leaves I'm going to feel so alone and left behind. Amazingly enough, I was listening to Mainstay...

You went down the darkest roads

And I know just how it feels to lose your home

But don't give up on everything

When everyone has given up on you

And feels like everyone has left you

You're not alone

I hear your call

I've been waiting here for you through it all

You're not alone

Come to the Cross

Let me show you where your heart belongs

You're not Alone

I will never leave you

Come back to open hands

To the only love you need

That gave me a sense of hope, that after all our friends and family leave us, we still won't ever be alone. God is always there for us.

Deuteronomy 31:6

"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you."

Michael, Gabby, Luke, Elise, Scotty, and Alli...

You guys have been such a big part of my life for the past couple years, and I am going to miss you all so much. I pray that you will find strong christian relationships, and will keep in touch.

Musicals

2008-08-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

I watched Singing in the Rain last night. Probably one of the best movies of all time! Great cast + great plot + great songs = Amazing movie! I wish that life was a musical. In musicals, things are so much easier to say! For example, in Singing in the Rain, when Don is trying to tell Kathy that he loves her, he can't say it, so he sings it! :)

The other thing is that when you watch these videos, listen to the tapping, and watch their feet. Its hard to see with such bad quality, but its incredible! What God given talent! I wish I could do that. They should make more movies like this. Good, clean, fun, amazing movies!

Guess what I'm getting on thursday?????

2008-08-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

Braces... Something that I need, but really don't want. If this had happened a couple years ago, I might have been excited. But ever since Beau had his, I'm definitely not looking foreword to it. Beau had this reaction thing that did not seem pleasant, I really don't want that. The other thing is that I have all four wisdom teeth, and I'm really afraid of going under and having surgery. I don't know why. I've never been put under before, but it sounds pretty scary. But there is still the possibility that I might get to keep them. (I've been praying for that solution) I know that I shouldn't be scared about either braces or going under because God is in control, but I'm still not happy or excited about it. I know this will help with my smile, so I guess I have to go through with it.

Ugh...

Creation

2008-08-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Audie and I went on a walk to the falls. We do this all the time, but for some reason this time, I was very aware of my surroundings. Its simply amazing how God takes a small ordinary thing, like a bush, and make it beautiful by putting the sun in the right place, and having a butterfly fly by. I was noticing how much of an artist God really is and that we should be thankful. And then I thought of Heaven. If I thought that this was beautiful, Heaven will be absolutely amazing!

Favorite Quote

2008-08-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

"Religion says I obey and therefore I am accepted by God,
Christianity says I am accepted through christ therefore I obey."

~ Tim Keller

Living Prayer

2008-08-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

Alison Krauss has an amazing song called A Living Prayer. It talks about how we would have nothing in this world if it weren't for God. The chorus is the best part.

In Your love I find release
A haven from my unbelief
Take my life and let me be
A living prayer, my God to Thee

My main goal in life is to live for God. One reason why I love this song is because it reminds me that in order to have the courage to live that way, I need help from God. Its encouraging to know that I have someone there to hold onto.