The trees. (: Hehe.

I absolutely love to travel. Some of my family lives in Texas and so we travel over here a lot(I'm in Texas right now). I could stay in a car forever. As long as I have music of course and a pillow to sleep on. (: Often when we travel though I tend to look at the trees... It's the funniest thing because everytime I look at the trees I fall more and more in love with God. I sit there and look at these enormous trees that have been there for years and years... and I think, my God is BIGGER and has been here LONGER. He creates the wind that sways these huge giants. My God is mighty. Wow. So next time you travel, look at the trees. ;)

A love letter from God...(:

Hey there,
I am writing you a letter to let you know that you are BEAUTIFUL. (Psalms 45:11) You are my lovely child. I want to let you know that the world will put standards on your image. The Devil is using those stick thin models and that girl who always gets all the attention from the guys in class to put you down. But I am begging you. Please don't listen. I made YOU just the way you are. I adore you. You are precious. I am telling you now that a "special someone" will come into your life and then break your heart. You will feel ugly, self conscious, and worthless. Be prepared. But cling to me. I will let you know that you are mine. You wont listen for a little while. You will let the Devil beat you down over and over again until your so weak that you fall on me. I wish you wouldn't but you do it everytime. Why can't you just see how special you are? Why do you judge your "likeability" and Image on whether you have guys/girls swarming around you all the time. YOU ACT LIKE I AM NOT ENOUGH. You have heard me tell you how great you are over and over again. It hurts me when you just disregard that. It hurts me when you don't listen to me. You push me away time and time again. The World will never see you as beautiful if you are with me. The world hates you. Yet they are attracted to you. Because you have me.
The world will push you to go beyond my standards. They will say things like it's okay if it is true love. But the world DOES NOT KNOW TRUE LOVE. (1 John 4:7) Do not stretch the standards I have given you. Remember,TRUE LOVE waits.(Hebrews 14:3) I am very pleased with you when you obey what I have commanded. When you do, you make me smile. The world will tell you that it is necessary for you to date. But if I say NO, you can't. Even though you may disobey me and break my heart, I will still love you. I will convict you and break you and gently put your heart back together. And you will fall in love with me again. (Matthew 22:37) If you follow what I have told you, in the dating world, You will stand out like a lily among thorns. In the end everyone will see that YOU ARE the most beautiful. Don't you know that I love you.
You. Are. Beautiful.
I love you,
Your Heavenly Father

*I am in no way claiming to be God or even close to being Him. I just want to encourage you with some things He has been revealing to me. God and I just want you to know that you are beautiful. (:

A Facebook Fast.

Tessa + 1 month without Facebook = Interesting outcomes.(:

So God gave me a challenge at the end of January: To take a whole month off of Facebook. I realized that Facebook had become an addiction in my life. And though it's hard to say... A god. Everyday after school I would get on Facebook and stay on for hours. I would think about Facebook during the day and wound up talking about it with other people through just simple conversations. In effect to that it cut into my family time, God time, and just my thought process of what God needed me to think about.

So has a month without Facebook changed me? In a way, Yes. God has used this sort of "fast" in bigger ways than expected. I no longer am captive to the Facebook monster. My goal through this? Well, that is to tear down EVERY wall that could block my view and communication with my heavenly father. So. I am starting to do that in my life. Not just with Facebook. But with words, relationships, movies, shows, thoughts, well, Just everything! I want to live above just a lukewarm Christian. I want to live life to the Holiest possible way I can. Not saying that I could ever be perfect, cause I can't. But if I am trying to live my life purely. My prayer is that I can please God.

In no way am I saying that Facebook is a sin, because it's not. God can use your Facebook in HUGE ways!! Just let Him. And if He is telling you to take a break. Do it. He can use that as well. Who knows. He could change your life. (:

Alright. Love you guys, TESSA<3

And these students... They're gonna change the world.

WOW! What an amazing night at Choudrant High School. So what happened was we had a 6 on 6 dogdeball tournament, a guest speaker, free food, worship, and door prizes. All free. But more than anything that night many lives were transformed. My fellow students were broken by a God who saves. That's exactly what He did tonight!!! Not only that but many of the students were called to a higher level of Christianity, that is to live life selflessly, and always worshiping the savior in EVERYTHING!

As for me. God stirred my heart in a way only He and I can understand. But honestly God showed me His power. Students He had laid on my heart months earlier gave their lives to Him TONIGHT! He is working. And He is answering prayers!!

Please pray for my fellow students. May they stay strong when life hits them hard.

With love, Tessa(:

And our freshman maid is...

WHOA!! So I was recently on homecoming court at school. I'm sure most of yall know. What a crazy and overwhelming adventure! From start to finish. NEVER would I guess that I would be on homecoming court. But I was. And I'm grateful.

My prayer is that I was not put on a pedestal but that God was through this whole thing. I pray that my name just brought God glory. That was my prayer. So I just thought I would share some picture.(:

I'm thankful for my classmates. I love them soo much! Thank you for everyone who came.(:

Here they are:







With love, Tessa

And this... is REAL.

Tonight I wanted to write something inspiring. But you see. I don't know how to just sit down and write something and it automatically is great and honorable. I can type what is real though. But real isn't pretty. Real is hard. Real is:
A mother loosing her baby.
A soldier going off and never returning home.
A student getting bullied at school.
An abused wife.
An abused... Child.
A motherless baby.
A widow.
A shattered family.
A broken heart.
A house fire.
A drug attic.
Real is a homeless man.
A single TEENAGE mother.
A laid off worker.
A poor family.
A WORLD totally neglecting the fact that there IS A GOD.

REAL things bring us to our knees. REAL things keep us broken. REAL things keep our attention. They keep us awake. And alert. Real is also:
A happy marriage.
A steady church home.
A LOVED child.
A pure teenager.
A promise.
A friendship.
A GOD.

REAL is good too. REAL is love. REAL is loving one another. It takes you by the strings of your heart. And it shakes you. You see. God. He is real. I can promise you that. The REAL things that I listed first. They can't be fixed by a fake thing. Only a REAL thing can comfort or protect or fix or mend real things. And God is REAL!!

Maybe this is completely random. Maybe this blog doesnt make sense. But if you happen to be something that I listed in the first list. God can TREMENDOUSLY improve your situation. He is here. His love is mighty. And His LOVE IS REAL. That is the absolute truth.

If you feel hopeless right now. And you feel like you can't bare an ounce of anything else. Come to a God who is real. Not a statue. But a PERSONAL SAVIOR. Come and embrace His undending love. Need help? Well that's what I'm here for. I love you. I really do. Talk to me. Okay. Bye.

With love, Tessa.

This whole thing called religion...

God has POUNDED something on my heart lately. This is something that is surrounding our churches and disturbing our spiritual walks... It's this little thing called RELIGION. Yea. It's kind of unexpected to be described like this. But the fact is God does not want us to have religion, He wants us to love and live for HIM!

Religion sets this standard of doing this thing at this time. Or it tells you to act this way and only this way. I find that sometimes when we just focus on religion and its rules we lose sight of what God is trying to tell us at that moment. It completely shuts our mind out. Often religion causes us to place ourselves higher than others. Feeling like we are more Holy. Ha.. For us to think we are more HOLY! God clearly spoke about humility and to place our selves among the 'Tax Collectors' and 'Prostitutes'. So why do we feel like we have the right to think we are more holy? I think this is what turns people off from Christianity the most. Sometimes we are just a bunch of stuck up religious people!! And most of the time we don't see anything wrong with it!!

I myself am trying to overcome this religion. Don't get me wrong. I love Jesus with such a strong and passionate love. But I want to have a relationship with Him. I mean thats what Christianity is. I want to love the people who don't know Jesus. And I don't want to feel like I have a greater right to His Kingdom.

Christians... Join me in trying to prevent religion from creeping up in our hearts. Join me in praying for a solid relationship with the one who ADORES us and wants us just to listen to Him. With open hearts and open minds. I will be praying for our churches may we hold fast to his love and not get caught up in this kind of religion. (:

With love,
Tessa.