repetition, repetition, repetition... repetition.

So it all began with Clayton King, who is an author, and one of our campus pastors at the college. He has been teaching on generosity in campus church on wednesday nights and how it is important to be generous with the things God has blessed you with. I took a lot from his message the first wednesday, November 3rd. It was awesome and had to do a lot with action and how we can be generous easily because we are so rich in Christ and in Spirit. 
Then the wednesday before I left, November 17th, Clayton spoke a second message on generosity and specifically from 2 Corinthians 9:6-11. He spoke primarily about how we are to bless others to spur them on to bless more people in the world, and how we are God's stewards of His finances, and His time. Then again, at home this time... my home pastor, Bill McCready spoke on the EXACT same passage. 2 Corinthians 9:6-11. He took a different approach, not opening with generosity but opening with the idea of leaving a legacy to be remembered by, then he led into generosity about how generosity and good deeds are the two key factors in a lasting legacy. And THEN.... this morning, November 23rd, I opened my devotional, which has just been going day by day for a while now and right there the title states, "A Lasting Legacy." 
Obviously God is trying to show me something. 
So I thought I should share a little about this with you. 
People are watching us, and will continue to replay our lives over and over again throughout history. The mark we make on this world is important and it is our responsibility to manage that impact. I, personally, have been blessed beyond my means. God continues to give to me and I try to obey by giving as much back as I can, trying to bless others around me with my time and also with my money. Sometimes I get weary though, I think it might be easier if I just kept the money for myself, for a smoothie later, keep the time for myself, in order to have some "me-time," i can always bless others later, right? Wrong. 
We should always be looking for ways to bless other people around us and seeking opportunities to further the Kingdom of God. To leave a lasting impression on the world, not of us, but of Jesus Christ. 
In Psalm 78, David states, "What we have heard ad known, what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done... so the next generation will know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands." 
As it is shown in this passage, we are to be proclaiming God's great works he has done through his children all throughout history. We are simply the pages of tomorrow's history books. We have a calling to make an impact, so let's do it. As the body of Christ, let's all join as one and make movements in this world that we never could have imagined on our own. Trust God and have faith. 
"...but if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." -Matthew 17:20


God has trusted me with so much in this life, and he doesn't give any one of his children more than he can trust us with... I ask myself today, "how can I use what I have today to further the legacy of Jesus Christ, to be a testimony of his awesome power in my life?"


My God is so good.

True overexcitement...

“Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him! So shall it be! Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’” –Revelation 1:7-8

How awesome are these words? How amazing is the promise God has made to us that his son Jesus will one day return again!?

As I sit here, on an airplane, anxiously awaiting my arrival at my home, to see my family who I haven’t seen in 3 months, I begin to think that there honestly is no larger excitement that I have ever experienced in my life. I am honestly overjoyed right now at the concept of seeing my family in less than an hour! As I focus and watch the minutes pass slowly and try to keep myself busy so the time passes quicker, God began to reveal some things to me.

I am so excited to see my family, who I have an amazing relationship with and I love them so much. Then God really convicted me, why am I not anxiously awaiting Christ’s return with the same jubilance and excitement each and every day? As a believer I should be constantly filled with joy and excitement for the return of my Savior or for the opportunity to return to my permanent home, in heaven.

This whole concept reminded me of a song by Carrie Underwood, many of you have probably heard it, it’s called Temporary Home and in the lyrics Carrie states, “This is my temporary home, It’s not where I belong. Windows and rooms that I’m passin’ through. This is just a stop, on the way to where I’m going. I’m not afraid because I know, this is my temporary home.” How amazing is that attitude! As a Christian I should be always awaiting my return to heaven and also be preparing for that change in my life.

So often I find myself worrying about small things in life and becoming stressed out… It’s like somehow I forget how BIG my God really is. How can I do that? My God is greater than any problem on this earth and I should always be awaiting his miraculous return and I should be preparing myself always for that day. Just as I would pack in preparation for a trip home and print out my plane ticket, I should have my bags packed and ready! Awaiting the return of my Savior, my King.

 “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” – Zephaniah 3:17

My God is so good, he is so amazing.

I await his arrival with joy in my heart, with excitement, constantly in anticipation of his return for his children!

Please be blessed today, find your joy in the Lord and in his awesome powers and in his magnificent glory! 

But if you'll really hold me tight, All the way home I'll be warm

I just drank the best cup of hot chocolate I think I have ever had in my life. Today, its raining and I walked back up to the dorm after a lovely lunch with Breanna. I am so encouraged by what God is doing in my life and how he is using people, and using little, seeming meaningless things, such as a cup of hot chocolate to brighten my life and lift my spirits. 

It is so easy to go through life complaining, being upset when things don't go my way, and just trying to change every little detail of life around me, but that is so pointless, so meaningless. 
I love taking in the little things in life, like the flowers, like the cool breeze on a hot day, or a warm cuddly blanket on a cold rainy day such as today. 
God is so refreshing, so renewing each and every moment of everyday. 


"But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever. I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints." - Psalm 52:8-9


God has blessed me so much and continues to bless me. He is so worthy of praise and thanksgiving, he never ceases his blessings on his children. The book of Psalm is so full of praises, so filled with David's cries out to the Lord and of God's mercies on him. I love how honest David is with God, and how clearly he states his requests and his motives. I want to talk to God like David does. I want to always come to God with my praise and with a heart that is thankful but also be completely honest with him. Because He really is soooo amazing, he knows our deepest thoughts but he still cares to hear about what is going on in our lives. He has put us here for a purpose and I am so amazed by the way he speaks to me so gently.


"The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever - do not abandon the works of your hands." - Psalm 138:8


God has provided so much for me in my life and so often I walk right by blessings as if somehow life just lent me a hand, but it is always Him! It is always GOD who blesses me, and I need to continually thank him. 
This reminds me of a time when I was sitting in the courtyard with a friend, we were simply talking when a guy walked out of one of the hallways. He had a huge smile on his face, and knelt down in the grass next to the building and proceeded to pray, I assume he was thanking God for whatever had just happened. How awesome is that? How beautiful is the testimony of someone who goes through life thanking God for the good, but also thanking God for the bad!? 
We deserve NOTHING in this live. We deserve death. A miserable death... but we don't get it! We will never have the death we deserve! God has redeemed and restored! All because of how much he loves... He loves us soooo much.


As I was sitting here on this chilly day, I began to think about cold weather and I thought of a song which is sung around Christmas time. I usually wouldn't dare mention Christmas before Thanksgiving but I thought it seemed appropriate. The song is "Let it snow," which I'm sure you all have heard. Well, in the song, it is obviously talking about a man and a woman and how it is cold outside, but one line of the lyrics goes "but if you'll really hold me tight, All the way home I'll be warm..." 
Now if you take that out of context and think about what it is saying, how awesome would it be to sit in the arms of our Heavenly Father every single day on this earth!? How amazing could it be if we just would lean back and feel the warmth of his unfailing love, clinging tightly to his glory and his mercy until we arrive at home. I am getting a glimpse of the majesty of that moment as I continue to seek him more and more. He fills me up and warms my soul, he comforts me in every way and gives me the warmth to make it home, to heaven, safely. My Heavenly Father is so majestic but He is also so personal. He holds me, as his child, as his princess, in his arms... He comforts me, He gives me an indescribable joy about life and about all that surrounds me. I am so blessed. I am so honored to be called a child of God. A daughter of the Most High. How amazing... 




Psalm 150-
"Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."

When the light is yellow, please DON'T speed up.

1 Corinthians 10:11-12 (MSG) 

"These are all warning markers - DANGER! - in our history books, written down so that we don't repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel - they at the beginning, we at the end - and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don't be so naive and self-confident. You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence."

God is so faithful and he has set out warnings in our lives to warn us of what to be careful of, ways people can easily get off track... I find myself questioning why I don't more clearly listen to these warnings. Why I don't more clearly seek the advice of my Heavenly Father in his word!? Everything is so clearly laid out, so specifically set forth, all we have to do is pay attention. 

I love the way the Message version lays out those verses so blatantly. Its amazing how sometimes we simply need a "God-smackdown" because we get so far off track! 

This passage continues in the NIV as "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." 

How amazing is our God!? He truly is faithful! He has the reputation for it, he can get me out of anything he puts me in! He is trustworthy, completely trustworthy. 

I need to trust in his warning signs and trust that even though it might be more convenient or make more since at the specific moment, in my brain, to speed through the yellow light or to take a shortcut clearly marked "DO NOT ENTER" it is NOT smart. Obviously. 

God has a clear and perfect plan for me and my full desire is to follow it intensely, not wavering away or thinking that I am "above temptation," because I clearly am not. No one is. 

Again in 1 Peter 5:10, Peter tells us, "The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make your strong, firm and steadfast."

He is so good, and his plans are perfect. 

These passages are exactly what I needed today and what I need to cling to throughout times of trial. He is forming me into the woman that He wants me to be, not who others want me to be. I'm so amazed by how he has blessed me and how he continues to show me the right paths to take, while closing the doors on others. 

One of the most important things that I need to realize and that I feel everyone needs to realize while they are going through trials is that the enemy knows we are more vulnerable when we are removed from our support systems! You wouldn't go into a battle alone, would you? Then why are we trying to fight alone?! Our trials, and the temptations we are facing in this world are not just ours... Others are struggling, and others need encouragement as well. Cling to one another and spur each other on towards good works. 

As it says in Proverbs 27:17, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

The trust and honesty of good friends is becoming so real and so valuable to me. I am so amazed by how God is using people in my life to encourage me and to help me through difficult points in my life. I am so thankful for all He has blessed me with and all he continues to reveal to me.

Be encouraged but please be wise, the growing pains you are feeling now will soon cease and you will be stronger than you ever thought was possible. 

We stand together in this battle, we are all as one. 




Some more encouragement I found this morning is found in Matthew 7:7-8, Revelation 3:19-20, and 1 John 5:14-15.
God is so good. His lessons and his love is new every day!

When you jump off of a mountaintop, it hurts.

I feel it now too, 

I'm in the valley, the other side of the mountain top. I've arrived. 

It's not a good feeling, looking back at the mountain top, and i feel like I simply jumped off. 

I didn't slowly walk down the mountain, the high point in life, no. I jumped. Jumped high, with only one place to go; down. 

I was warned, over and over. but then again, i asked for this. i want to be broken, i want to be refined. and refinery hurts. so now i'm in it...

God is trustworthy. 

He has my life planned out and knows exactly what he is doing. 

So as James says, "consider it pure joy..."

Joy isn't happiness and I always overlook that. Joy is only found in God, and when walking with God, happiness will not always be accompanying me. 

As the verses go on, James reminds me that testing of my faith will develop perseverance. 

The Oxford English Dictionary defines perseverance as a "constant persistance in a course of action or purpose." I love how when God needs to teach me something he always gives me the strength to endure whatever tests he wants me to complete. Jonnie Moore also talked about this in campus church yesterday. God needs to test me to make me ready for my mission, to prepare me for the ultimate task that I will complete for His glory. 

I also turn to 2 Corinthians 4:16, where Paul is telling the church not to lose heart. Basically not to give up, not to be discouraged because this time will pass. 

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

I am so encouraged by this small passage because it is so true. Although all of this does matter, it actually doesn't. Not in the big scheme of things... My seemingly "huge" problems are nothing to God, and my small problems are even less, like a tiny little ant hill on the driveway of heaven. 

"May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as your follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." -Romans 15:5-6 

no noise, please.

I need somewhere to vent, I need someone to talk to. I need to be able to fully express myself and for someone to completely understand what I'm talking about.

I sit here, on my bed, with headphones in my ears. soundproof headphones. no music playing. nothing. just no noise... nothingness. 

I feel like I can't even hear myself think these days, I have 800 different opinions filling my brain. 

I knew who I was when I came here, and I thought I was continuing to grow, change, and mature into the woman God wants me to be but it seems I have hit a roadblock. This stinks. My quiet times are rushed and filled with wayyyy too many requests. I continue to plead with God instead of listening to Him. I want Him to show me so much, I want to be in his will so bad, that I'm over-thinking everything. I always over-think everything. 

I don't know how to stop. I think too much about thinking too much. how does that even make sense!!!? 

My name should be Cathy, Chatty Cathy, because I have felt the need to talk soooooo much. Maybe it is because yesterday and the day before, I was sick, and I didn't talk that much... well yesterday, I didn't really talk at all, until last night when I wasn't sleeping. Talking isn't bad, itself, but it's when you keep talking about stupid pointless things that you think too much about and then you stick your foot in your mouth... yeah that has happened multiple times today. many times. quite a few. dumb. 

Life is getting so complicated. Or maybe I just make it overcomplicated? 

I think I need to chill out. 

Take a chill pill. 

Maybe I just need a vacation.

A vacation from my brain!

Ah ha! YES!

I'm sorry to whoever is reading this... I really probably should get a journal, so I'm not wasting your time. 

Also, in a journal I could write down specific things that I need to vent to myself about. I guess having a journal makes sense. Ahg. I just don't think I'm the type to journal. I mean i would, but i can't.

I've already talked about why I can't journal. so i'm not going back into that. Read my earlier posts if you are curious. 

Wow, it's really nice, just having peace and quiet in my head. I love these headphones right now, they are really allowing me just to escape the world. Oh, and I just remembered that mom got me ear plugs! I think I'll start using those during my quiet times... :) 

Anyways, back to what God has been showing me... I rely WAY too much on what other people think about me and being a people pleaser. I let people completely walk over me and I don't ever say anything about it. I let other peoples opinions rule in my life, not necessarily in what I actually think, no, I never let another's persons opinion actually change who I am, but I do allow it to change the way I act. I think that it's easier to be who people want me to be rather than be rejected for who I am. that is NOT good. Not at all. I hate that I think that. I am Jaime Skilling, and I need to be who God created ME to be, not who all these random people in my life want me to be! I'm so done with this. 

So to all you people out there who want to control my life, tell me that you know God's will for my life, try to explain to me the right thing to do, how to act, what to say, what I'm doing wrong,

STOP! 

I have been hurt too much, too deeply by you. You can not control me any longer, I will not believe the lies that you have instilled so deeply into my head. Your words are nothing in comparison to what my Heavenly Father thinks of me! I am a precious child of God and my Father can and will protect me and keep me through anything this world throws at me. 

I am going to be above these thoughts, Satan can no longer use your words to hurt me, to bring me down. 

From now on, I am going to stand above others thoughts of me, I am only going to turn to God's opinion and His alone. I will seek wise counsel, but I will not be affected by the negativity and discouragement of this dark world. I am God's princess and I need to start acting like it. 

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior... Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life; do not be afraid for I am with you..." -Isaiah 43:1-5