25 Days of Cheryl

          Well this is a little late seen as how the 25 days of Cheryl started two days ago, but better late then ever. The 25 Days of Cheryl is the celebration days of my Birth. For those who don't know my Birthday is June 25. Hence the 25 days of Cheryl.
          This time is a time to celebrate. I celebrate my life. I've been BLESSED to be alive almost 23 years now. For those of you who know a little bit about my life you know I have dodged a few bullets so to say and by the grace of God I'm still kicking.
          During the 25 days of Cheryl I have chosen things to do each day to celebrate. Some days serving others, some doing things out of the ordinary and some just for fun. I will post on Facebook/Instagram what the days task will be and hopefully you all can join in on the fun and snap a shot of the fun.

hashtag: #25daysofcheryl 

|Let the FUN begin|

About TIME.

I know it had been what seems like forEVER since I have blogged about anything and for that I'm sorry. But when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. You don't write about how you can make lemonade so that my friends is my excuse.

Today I'm not writing an update on my life, [But one will be coming VERY SOON] but I am writing to share a verse that I read this morning that is a Psalm that David wrote and I long to have his heart in this.

The LORD is my Strength and my Shield; My HEART trusts in HIM, and I am Helped. 

My heart LEAPS for Joy and I will give thanks to him in song. 

Psalm 28: 7

I'm beyond thankful that I serve a God to is FOR ME and wants to be my STRENGTH. He wants to shield me. 

Today I've been praying about my future and what God wants to do with it because I learned long ago that HIS plan is ALWAYS better than mine. And this morning it hit me that even though I know that God has my back and has a plan, does my heart trust that every day? I find my self praying for the future a lot but why am I not praying for the moment right now. And finding JOY in that. I've always been a planner and I tend to dream BIG and Dream FAR ahead but I'm learning now about PRAYing and PRAISing the LORD for the moments today, as well as the future but I don't want to forget about today!

As my Dad often reminds my, "Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each Day has enough trouble of its own."[Matthew 6:34] 

Today my HEART trusts in the Lord and his plan and I am SO THANKFUL. 

He>I

      He > I. This small sentence holds so much. He is Greater than I. Than ME. It's hard to even say sometimes that something is better than we are. And it is not even that it is better but it is GREATER. It's been a while since I have posted and I'm gonna be straight, I have had NO time and the time I did have, I have not been feeling my A game. That being said this has been a lesson I have been learning. He > I.
     It sounds simple enough but when I look at my life and some of the choices I have made, it doesn't really reflect that term. When I look and think back was I thinking or believe that  He > I? 
     This past year has been a TRIP. Literally. SO much has happened and changed that I could not have told you a year ago that I would be anywhere near where I am right now. Times have been good and times have definitely been less than good. But all in all God has shown his provision through it all. HE has been in around thru on top and under every situation. A verse this morning at church really hit a chord again with me. Now it's a verse I've heard probably a million times but when I sit back and look at this past year I'm shown again and again how true it is.
     
     But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
          2 Corinthains 12:9
     
     Christ's power is made PERFECT thru MY weakness. So when I look back thru the last year and I see more "weakness" I realize that that is exactly where God wanted me. He needed to take me to that place so that I could see him through it. Now don't get me wrong. This past year has been GREAT but it has also had its fair share of hardship. But in the end I can see, know and believe that Christ's POWER has been made perfect through my weakness. HE > I.

Little Victories.

In the past month or two, finding time to update the blog has been far and few in between. My life is going CRAZY! But I love it. This is how I always pictured my time going. Busy doing things that I love. Now I'm not saying it hasn't been a hard, tiring couple of months but God has TOTALLY blessed it. He's given me the strength to make it through and he continues to show he faithfulness everyday not always in the big ways that I hope but in the little victories that he shoots my way. It's funny how He has the power to change your perspective when you are willing to SURRENDER it to him. This season of my life has most definitely been a year of surrendering my plans and seeing what God does with it.
Today has been one of my "little victories", my first FULL day off since Thanksgiving,[besides Christmas]. Off from school and work. I was able to do ANYTHING with my day. I slept in till 10[12 hours of sleep might I add], then had lunch with a friend, went to the gym and now am being artsy. When you have all the time in the world you don't appreciate it. I can say that now that finding time to do things like sleep in or work on my art projects does not come often enough. So we those times do come I make the most of them. It's the little victories that makes the days go by!
Today I'm celebrating the little victories.

Gung Hay Fat Choy. 2012 COME at ME.

     I love celebrating ANYTHING and tis the season. We just got done celebrating thanksgiving then Christ's birth and now the NEW YEAR. I also add in that I'm celebrating Chinese New Year cause let's be real if I can celebrate it, I WILL. So GUNG HAY FAT CHOY to all of YOU! Or HAPPY NEW YEAR to those of you who aren't Chinese or speak Chinese. [You are welcome on the free lesson]
     2011 has been an exciting, FABulous, crazy, scary, frustrating, BLESSED year. Looking back at my year it's been great to see all of what God has been doing in my life. I constantly forget how he KNOWS me and yet STILL he loves me. This year is yet again more proof of his GREAT love and protection in my life.
     I sometimes feel like God doesn't hear me when I call or he doesn't make things happen that I think should happen and then I just think he just doesn't answer me. But that's the thing, he ALWAYS answers me, it's just not what I want. That's a problem that most people have to day is that we live in a country that demands instant gratification. Well God doesn't work with that. He does GREAT things in HIS timing because HIS timing is PERFECT. I went to a conference this last year and the speaker was talking about God answering prayers. She had said God answers with either, Yes. No. or Wait. This is something that I have totally seen in my life. God always answers it's just not always what we want to hear. But his plan IS PERECT.
     This last year my world was rocked. I moved to a beautiful place. Got to live with some BEAUTIFUL Godly Women who just blessed me with there love. Worked with AMAING students and Staff at Bethany Church. Started going to a community college for the first time. Had BRAIN Surgery. [I just had to put that in cause it still BLOWS my MIND] Worked for HUME as they embarked on an adventure to the East Coast. AND finally STARTED Cosmetology School. 2011 you have DONE ME GOOD.

     2012 is already 1/12 of the way through and I know that it is going to be a FANTASTIC year. 

2012 COME AT ME.

2012 COME.AT.ME.

Hey Ya'll,
     I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything but you know, that's what happens when life gets a little CRAZY! Don't worry though, it's been a good kind of crazy. The end of the year LITERALLY came out of NOWHERE. Last thing I remembered was the aftermath of Thanksgiving food comas then all of the sudden I was celebrating a new year. It's amazing to me how times just fly's away.
     This year has been good tome for sure. I will fully update you when some more time comes my way. As you must guess my time is less then limited and when I get it, it just seems to slip away with out me noticing. RUDE. I know.

I hope Your holidays were swell and You are enjoying the beginning of the NEW YEAR!
2012 COME.AT.ME.

NEW Adventure!

          Well, I got a NEW JOB!! Gah. I never thought it would happen but it sort of fell into my lap! Funny how God makes EVERYTHING come together when you are in HIS will. Only a week after I started school I just went into Lane Bryant with my sister-in-law Tamara that it randomly came up that the girl working was about to be moving so they would be hiring. I turned in my application, checked back a week later and was hired the next week then just finished my first day TODAY!! It's been crazy!
          Like I said, God has a funny way of showing us he has it COMPLETELY under control. I feel like sometimes too even though it's totally not in the character of God to be like I told you so, but in his loving he was he totally does just say, 'Now isn't this better than anything you could have come up with?' He's funny like that!
          So now, not that my life wasn't already crazy enough, I will be going to school full time[40 hours/week] plus homework, a part time job and commuting. Yep. Nice and busy. Just the way I like it!