I Wanna Say "Thank You"

Thank you God for every moment, every stage, every place, every memory, every person, and every time of growth in my life. Looking back over the past 18 years, I am in awe of where You have brought me and everything that You have blessed me with!


Memories of Sanibel Island, learning to swim, the beginning of my love for the beach, island bike rides, Dairy Queen stops, IBC root beer, and endless movies. Sweet, sweet May days.



Places of love, joy, and childhood. Moving to 214 Crestmont Drive! Building our play house. Endless summer hours of fun with my sister. Playing house. Growing up.



Raking leaves, goofing off. Losing my two front teeth. Building snowmen. Survivor family nights. Playing in the rain.













Moving to Florida. Private school. U.S.'s largest public high school. Teaching His Princess to 5th and 6th grade girls. Dancing. Writing. Starting to blog. My Sweet 16. Times of growth: becoming me.
















Moving to Ocala! First job--lifeguard at the YMCA! Senior year, memories, homecoming, friends, sleepovers, late-night talks, texting. Different stages and new memories.
















Places I love. Spots that make me remember. Memories of truly getting what God was trying to tell me. Standing in awe on a mountain looking at the ocean below. Beauty defined.


High school swimming. Work outs. Races. Meets. Times. Disqualifications. Injuries. Coaches. Teammates. Banquets.


Brio Girl Top 4 Finalist 2008. New friends. Stage that God placed me on. Priceless memories. Photo shoots. Interviews. Makeovers. Long flights and layovers. Meeting my role models and writers I absolutely love. Watching a movie in Susie Shellenberger's house. God opening a door.















Family. Team Cummins. Times of growth, love, and mostly hope (and some delayed gratification mixed in there too!). Endless memories. Vacations. Thousands of miles with the top down. Road trips. Inside jokes. Crazy. Fun. Deep. Us.

Prepping for surgery (10 days from now!!). Journey to learn confidence in Him alone. Stages. Places. Moments. Memories. Growth. Pain. Worth it all. Seeing the end in sight.

So many different friends. Ohio, Pennsylvania, Miami, Ocala, Virginia, Oregon, PNG, Colorado, and beyond. Moving on to college. New. Old. Thankful for each and every one.

My first car! Man, God blessed me. Words can't even begin to describe this one!

Graduation. 2009. Family around me. Friends. Goodbye & hello. Forest. Cypress Bay. HCS. Homeschool. My journey. AP Tests. SATs and ACTS. Last first day of high school. Baccauloreate. Growing into me.

Finishing my first semester of college! CFCC. Ambassadors. Rotaract. Classes. Studying. Starbucks. New friends. Road trips. Exams. Papers. More studying. Sonny's. Sweet tea. FCA volleyball girls. Sleepovers. College Bible study. Pictures. Running. Thunder storms. New stage in my life.

They say a picture can describe a thousand words. Each of these pictures and the words accompanying them describe just a few of the MANY things that I am thankful for today. Last night I was looking through old pictures and couldn't help but thank God from the bottom of my heart. He really has taken me so far. He has blessed me beyond measure. How He has grown me amazes me beyond mere words. Each moment, stage, place, memory, person, and time of growth that He has brought across my path has helped shape me into who He wants me to be--simply emily.

Take All of Me

Today my eyes opened up to something that God has been trying to teach me for a long time. For the past few months He has been trying to show me through different circumstances and relationships that He needs to be the One in control, not me! Too often I think that I can conquer my fears, defeat my giants, and overcome my weaknesses. Point in case: I really can't. Every single time I think that I can do something on my own apart from God I get discouraged, defeated, and frustrated. Why? My focus isn't on Him--it's on me.


Part of that problem goes back to my post, Frizzy Hair, Spidery Long Legs & a Magnifying Glass. When we learn that it is a choice to shift our focus in order to dwell on what is true, noble, right, pure, and lovely it changes our perspective. Thoughts no longer stem from feelings but from what we choose to think about. So definitely one big rock to put in our lives is to consciously choose to put Jesus at the forefronts of our minds.


What about the other stuff? Doesn't overcoming obstacles and weaknesses deal with me personally choosing to overcome them? Kind of--but not really. Trust me, we can't do this thing called life on our own. I can't even follow through on choosing to eat healthy without having my parents keep me accountable by hiding the chocolate in our house--literally! Today at Church of Hope , one of the things we learned was to expect the best when loving people. "Best" is what God determines for me. When I live trusting in Him, I can live and love others no matter what is going on around me or what is happening to me. The root of this is a five-letter word called TRUST. Trusting God has to come first in our lives. When we trust Him and literally give Him everything, all of me, then He can do the life change inside of us. We can't change on our own. Only Christ can change me from the inside-out. I can't love the people who have hurt me by myself, but in trusting Christ, I can extend love towards anyone--no matter what they have done to me. I can't conquer my fears alone, but in trusting Christ I can overcome all fear. I can't turn my weaknesses into strengths, but in trusting Christ I know that He has the power to transform me into the woman He wants me to be.


My prayer is simply this, "Lord, take all of me. Take everything that I've created, everything that I can be. Take all of me. Finish this good work you've started so I can be exactly what you've planned for me to be. Take all of me." I want Jesus to take all of me--my heart, my thoughts, my strengths, my weaknesses, my dreams, my hopes, my fears, and my future. I want Him to be in the driver's seat of my life because I know that that is where I will find true peace and hope. And that is where I will learn to truly live.

Leading From the Second Lane

One of my favorite parts of being a lifeguard is working when the swim team practices. Why? Because I get to watch my sister practice! (KT always makes me smile!!) During tonight's practice, Coach was doing individual goal meetings with each swimmer. While he met with an individual swimmer, the team was supposed to be doing a workout that he wrote on a white board for them to do. Naturally, several people started goofing off and over a matter of five minutes nobody was doing the workout--nobody that is until I saw one girl start swimming laps, back and forth, all by herself until one-by-one every single swimmer on the Wahoos swim team was also accomplishing the written workout. I couldn't help but smile as I thought, "That is my sister!"


KT led a team of fourteen people without even saying a single word. She led by example. Her teammates respected her enough that when they saw her dedication and commitment to practicing, they couldn't help but want to start swimming to. She didn't beg or plead people to swim so they could make Coach happy. She just started swimming. That is the true art of leadership--leading by example. People won't respond to your begging or pleading attempts to get them to do something. There's something that is just more motivating when your followers see you actually doing the work--living the life you are encouraging them to lead.


Leadership begins with you. Leadership is influence. Will you choose to start swimming?

Frizzy Hair, Spidery Long Legs, and a Magnifying Glass

I just feel so ugly. I mean just look at her hair! Mine is nothing compared to hers. Seriously! How could my frizz of a mess even begin to compare to her long, perfectly curled ringlets?! I mean, they even bounce when she moves and the wind blows in just the right direction when she walks! She looks like a model! And that's not all--she even has spidery long legs! And she has a perfect complexion. It's no wonder she is a boy-magnet! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!!!!


Have you ever felt this way? I know I have--on countless occasions! I can't even begin to count on one hand how many times I felt this way this past week! It is so easy to feel inferior, not good enough, unworthy, and insignificant. Why?! Because we allow ourselves to dwell on what is not true. Yeah, yeah, yeah---I know you are thinking that I am probably about to sound like your mother right now, "Oh honey, but you are beautiful! From the inside-out!" (It never seems to help when our moms say this for some reason...it just makes us feel more ugly! I mean...she's our mom for crying out loud!) Well, I am not going to go there! (Yes, you are beautiful because Jesus says you are, not because your mommy says it!) It is very normal to feel just "blah," but those feelings are literally dwelling on what is not true. Why? Well, the Bible says so!

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. Philippians 4:8-9, the message remix

God's Word says to think on things that are true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious, the best, the beautiful, praiseworthy, and excellent. Do these words describe any of the thoughts above? I don't think so. The thoughts above reflect a girl who sees what's missing, ugly, unsatisfying, unnoticed, and definitely not praiseworthy. Yet, it moments of weakness, when you and I do feel inferior, what in the world can we do to begin thinking according to Philippians 4:8-9? We have to choose to shift our focus.

1. First Priority. Jesus must be our first priority. He created you and created you beautifully! You are a work of art! Psalm 139:13 says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Song of Songs 4:7 says, "You're beautiful from head to toe, my dear love, beautiful beyond compare, absolutely flawless."
2. Open the Communication Lines. Begin praying NOW! The awesome part about God is that He is accessible 24/7/365. He is never hard to get a hold of. He wants to be invited in on your deepest moments of pain so He can fill you with His breath of confidence.
3. Choose to Shift Your Thoughts Immediately. The word choose is a verb--verbs require action. Choosing to shift your thoughts is not a feeling. If there is any big paradigm shift at all in this principle it is right here. You may not feel gorgeous or confident, but you can choose to actively walk in God's unending beauty and confidence. Why change our thoughts? William James says it perfectly, "Why should we think on things that are lovely? Because our thinking determines our life."
4. Understand the Shift & How to Guard Your Heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." So we realize that God is our first priority, talk to Him & ask for His help, choose to shift our thinking.....then what?! We need to realize, truly realize, what this shift in thinking means. Trust me, this is hard stuff! I am learning to live it right now, in this very moment! As we shift our thoughts, we must rely on God and guard our hearts from those same lies we allowed into our heads in the first place. I know for me, this means not reading fashion magazines. Hard? Oh yeah. I love going into Barne's & Nobles, grabbing a cup of coffee, and sitting down with a stack of the latest mags. They are fun for about fifteen minutes until I feel like a fat, ugly whale. So what are my action steps? Don't read fashion magazines. Then I will be guarding my heart from falling prey to untrue thoughts.
5. Stay Locked into His Gaze & Never Let Go. Philippians 4:13 says, "Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am." Jesus makes us who we are. If we know that, why would we not want Him in our every minute? Philippians 4:4 says, "Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!" Simply put: worship Jesus. Sit at His feet and worship Him. In my own life, I do this by singing my favorite praise and worship songs, talking out loud to Him as I drive, reading His Word, and sitting on my back porch looking at the stars. He leaves me speechless in His presence--just in awe of His beauty and majesty. I can never walk away from Him depressed or feeling ugly. He makes me feel exquisite.

This stuff easy? Not really. Changing our thoughts is probably one of the hardest things we could ever do. And you know what? We can't master it either. This is a day-by-day choice to shift our focus.

You attention amplifies everything. Focus your attention on a moment, an event, an emotion, or an aspect of a person’s personality, and whatever it is you’re focusing on will become more detailed, and this detail will attract still more detail, and all of this detail will come to dominate your thinking. Marcus Buckingham