Saturday, January 7, 2012

What's God Doing In Your Life? ~ Lexi's Story

Hi everyone, my name is Lexi. I am a seventeen year old - freshman in college – photography crazy - pretzel loving - girl whose full ambition in life is to love the Lord with all I’ve got and make the people around me know how special they are.

I’m what you’d call a dreamer. I read. I write. I laugh. I strive to live out each day so that I look back with no regrets. I mess up. A lot. But I know that I’m here for a purpose, something that’s bigger than my mistakes, fears, and insecurities.

This post will only take minutes to read, but I hope it will be a post that will leave an impact that lasts far beyond the boundaries of this blog. In these moments I have you as my audience, I don’t want to try and prove myself/anything to you. I don’t want to share what’s bugging me about today’s culture. I just want to be REAL and leave you all with a piece of the girl whose writing this.

I’m only 17 years old, but my life has been flipped, flopped, and scrambled more times than I can count. I’ve had really bad days. Days where all you want to do is crawl in bed and pretend that when you come out, all the wrong will suddenly become right. Days when no matter how bright the sun shines, your heart still feels like a tattered mess. I hated those days. I still hate those days. But one of the main reasons why I hated them so much is because I never had the courage to face them. Confront them. Tell them to “get the heck out of here because I wanted a good day.”

About a month ago, I realized that one of the biggest problems in my life was that I put off confrontation. With just about everything. Mostly, I was insecure. I wanted those things to change themselves because I didn’t believe I had the ability to make anything better. Recently, through a lot of prayer and a really hard decision, I realized that I DO have the ability to make a situation better by simply being in it. I can’t change people. I can’t change fate. But I can change how I deal with the problems I face and make it a GOOD day by first changing myself. I only have the power to change me. And you know what? That takes off such a big load that I was trying to carry for so long! It’s not easy to let go of, and it certainly takes time/discipline/and a whole lot of God’s help – but trust me when I say that it’s worth it. Oh so worth it.

If you are currently struggling with a heavy load that you should not be carrying, I know this sounds so incredibly cliché, but LET GO AND LET GOD. Seriously! I’m not even kidding you; it really does work. Your insecurities, the problems you face, the words people throw your way, the situation you are living in – none of it defines who you are and what you are capable of accomplishing. God gave you this life. He wants you to enjoy it and make the most of it for His glory. He didn’t make a mistake when He made you, and even though we all doubt it every once in a while… He honestly did not make a mistake when He put you where you are. Yeah, it can be 100% difficult and draining, but it is for a purpose…maybe one we’ll never completely know or understand until heaven.

But even on those yucky days that I hate, I want to live them out like days that I LOVE because in everything I do I want to make sure that I’m living, and not merely existing, in the best way that I can. With no regrets.

"And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

~Romans 5: 3-5

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Visit Lexi's personal blog at I Got Sun
and her photography blog at Alexis Nicole Photo.
Thanks for sharing your story with us, Lexi!
If you'd like to share what God's doing in your life,

7 comments:

  1. Great post Lexi! Tessa, I love this idea of people telling their stories in the blog, hope there will be more posts. kisses

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  2. Woww....if you're reading this Lexi, you are an incredibly talented writer!! and what you are saying is sooo true! Sometimes, i think the stuff that keeps us from having a good day is just not facing it with God's help of course. i recently had a let go let God moment. there was something in my life that i had been dealing with for sooo long and was hurting sooo bad from it. for awhile, i couldn't put a finger on what that hurt was, but eventually it all hit me in the face. i knew i couldn't deal with it anymore....i couldn't carry that burden so i gave it to Jesus and even though life isn't much different than before i have hope knowing that Jesus is with me through every step of the day :)

    Again, ah-MAZ-ing post!!

    ~Chelsea<3

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  3. Tessa, Thank you so much again for letting me be apart of the "What's God Doing In Your Life" posts! I think it is such a great idea.

    Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
    Lexi

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  4. Lexi, thank you for sharing your story. You are wise beyond your years. Many adults never learn this lesson.

    Blessings and love,
    Debbie

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  5. That was a beautiful post Lexi! Thanks so much for sharing your story! Going over to your blog right now... :)

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  6. This is such an encouraging post! Thank you both! And to Lexi,if God has given such an understanding at such a young age, I can't wait to see what He'll continue to do through you. Just keep trusting and REST in Him! GOD BLESS!

    Tell the World

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