Fluently Sassy

Proactively creating well-rounded students not standardized test machines. Amidst another school shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck Highschool, my heart is in agony. I feel it aching in my chest as I process why these shootings continue to occur. It truly hits home as I will soon be spending thousands of hours inside a school building and have experienced a shooting at my own school, Seattle Pacific University. I get lost in all of the details, but each time a shooting happens it grows more and more astonishing. I can't help but ask the question  why?  Of course, the over-arching explanation is that the shooters are mentally ill, or have unstable homes. Some people will point to violent video games and television shows. Others will point to the decrease of religion in our schools or easy access to guns. But, the questions still remain. Why do students feel so unheard and so unloved that they choose to bring a gun to school in order to hurt their fellow classmates? ...

First of all, HI! I haven't written a blog post for over a year now! I can't really tell you why, except for that I have been taking time to think more and write less.  This summer I have been taking Lucky, our 1 year old labradoodle, for walks every night just about the time the sun starts to go down. While I am walking, well actaully, while he is walking me (and it's less of a walk and more of a "walk, jog, run, bolt, zig-zag, and wrap his leash around my legs" thing ) I can't help but notice the beautiful sunsets and country scenery around me. And of course, being the "capture every moment" kind of girl I am, I quickly yank Lucky to a stop and try to seize the immaculate colors and  beams of light   streaming across the sky. When trying to snap the picture, I am often frustrated by the iPhone's innability to capture the beauty of God's creation in the way I want it to be captured. Now there are lots of things wrong with that previous...

Such a great article. Couldn't have said it any better. Jen Hatmaker - In the Basement

In watching the news this morning about the terrible tragedy in Colorado, I found myself reassured by my Heavenly Father. Reassurred that He is bigger then all of this, and can turn it around for His glory. Reassured that in the midst of tragedy HE is my only hope. Reassured that my life rests in His hands, and that my future is secure in Him. Reassured that while the Devil has his hand in many of the things that happen here on earth, OUR GOD is the one who rules this earth, who created this earth, and who has a plan for this earth.  My heart and prayers go out to the people affected by this horrible, obscene, and evil tragedy. I cannot begin to fathom what has happened, what people may be thinking, and what the families of the victims feel at this moment. It feels unreal.  I am thankful that my Heavenly Father loved me so much that He sent His only Son to die on the cross so that I can spend eternity in Heaven with Him. I am thankful that when I think of deat...

Pharaoh, Pharaoh, whoa baby let me people go, ooh ah. Ya, ya, ya, ya. Sorry, I just had to! There are many things that have hit home for me in this story, but I will spare you and only share a few. The first, as many of us have probably heard before, is how Moses complains to God that he cannot in fact talk to the Pharaoh because he is "a clumsy speaker" (v. 6:30) Now, if any of you know me, I literally cannot talk . I stumble over my words ALL OF THE TIME, and it makes me look like a complete idiot. So, I know where Moses is coming from here. But to think that Moses actually argued with God that he wasn't capable of doing what God was asking of him makes me think of what I am arguing with God about. What am I refusing to do, because I am scared that I will not be able to do it well, or that I will look like a fool? Basically, Moses was denying God the power to move in Him, he was telling God that he didn't think God had the power to change him, and to use him. Now,...

Well, I haven't been able to write in a while, not because I have been too busy, but simply because I have been enjoying life and the last couple of weeks I have here at SPU with the amazing friends God has blessed me with, the amazing Church He has placed me in, and the incredible city He has surrounded me with. God has been teaching me to enjoy the season of life that He currently has me in. We often get so caught up in where we have been, and where we are going, that we forget to enjoy the present. We forget to learn what God wants to teach us, we forget to enjoy the people He has placed in our lives, we forget that God is the Great I Am, and has us right where He wants us to be. Forgetting is not really the correct term, more like ignoring, whining, and stomping around like a 5 year old wondering what's next, why we are going through what we are going through, and why we are where we are. Take comfort in knowing that God is the GREAT I AM. He has a plan for you. He knows ...

I just had a revelation, rather, I just stopped lying to myself and owned up to the will God has for my life, to the person He created me to be. As a college student I have been battling what in the world I am going to do with my life! Frustrating, exhausting, and stressful would be the words to describe this process. Of course, it would have been much easier if I had just accepted who God created me to be. But no, I had to go through the battle of "I want to make lots of money. No, I want to be a missionary. Yuck, I would not enjoy being a missionary, I want to be a teacher. No, I want to make lots of money. No I don't. Ugh!" I have been afraid to own up to the person I was created to be because I was scared and did not want to hold myself to those standards. It is quite amusing that I have such a hard time trusting God, the creator of the UNIVERSE. He has brought me through so many things. He has blessed me abundantly. He has provided for me, and gotten me to where ...