McDreamy

Okay... Imagine your dream guy (oh yeah, dudes - this post is aimed more to the girls, but take it as you please).

Imagine the guy that you would want to spend the rest of your life with. The guy that you would want to be your other half, to talk to every day, the man you would want to fall COMPLETELY in love with.

In general, I think there are some prerequisites we all have for our own McDreamy (I hope you like that name… you’re about to see it a whole lot more), and this list doesn’t include handsome… though it never hurts, of course. I’m talking about character, here. The type of man we ALL need.

Situation #1

Let’s say you are going to the movies with McDreamy and a bunch of your friends. But after your movie, your friends want to sneak into a movie you didn’t pay for, but McDreamy says “No, we didn’t pay for that.” That’s no fun! So you leave McDreamy, run off with your friends, and sneak into the movie. Well, the movie theater police (that’s not even a thing, we’re just pretending) finds you, makes you pay a fee, and escorts you out of the theater.

Lucky for you, McDreamy is waiting for you outside with the car cranked, air conditioning on, and door open.

Situation #2

When you get back to your house, you look in your purse, can’t find your phone, and realize that you must have forgotten your phone at the movie theater. “MCDREAMY! HOW COULD YOU LET ME FORGET MY PHONE?! YOU SHOULD HAVE MADE SURE I HAD IT BEFORE WE DROVE OFF!”

Lucky for you, McDreamy saw your phone sitting under your seat when you ran off with your friends, so he picked it up and is now handing it right back to you.

Situation #3

Later that night, you realize how sassy you have been to McDreamy all day. You start apologizing, you get a little teary, you apologize again, you burst out in a flood of tears, you apologize some more, and you finally ask McDreamy to forgive you for leaving him in the theater and for blaming him for something he didn’t do.

Lucky for you, McDreamy smiles, and opens up his arms for a big hug.

Situation #4

The next day, you meet McDreamy at McDonald’s (because HAHA). You are both sitting at an outside table because it’s a beautiful summer day, and you are about to eat a french fry. Right before the french fry reaches your mouth, McDreamy knocks the fry out of your hand and onto the ground. “McDreamy, what was that for?”

Lucky for you, a bee was on the french fry... and McDreamy knew you are highly allergic to bees.

Situation #5

You and McDreamy then decide to walk downtown for a little while and go into a few shops. You are waiting at a red light, and you’re waiting for the crosswalk sign to give you the signal to walk. It has been a solid minute, and the signal still hasn’t changed. You don’t see any cars coming, so you start to walk across. All of a sudden, a car comes around the corner headed straight towards you.

Lucky for you, McDreamy sees the car, runs after you, and pushes you out of the way… right in time.

What if I told you that there IS a McDreamy in your life? You may not see him as someone you have a romantic relationship with, but OH - this man loves you more than you could ever imagine. I think you may be getting my drift, so go back to Situation #1 and replace “McDreamy” with a name like... oh, I don’t know, “Jesus.”

*rereads, replacing “McDreamy” with “Jesus.”

I’m not gonna lie, I giggled many times whilst reading this over. A few of my personal favorite sentences were:

“JESUS! HOW COULD YOU LET ME FORGET MY PHONE?!”

“Later that night, you realize how sassy you’ve been to Jesus all day.”

“The next day, you meet Jesus at McDonald’s.”

“Before the french fry reaches your mouth, Jesus knocks the fry out of your hand.”

Even though we don’t go to the movies or McDonald’s with Jesus, in all seriousness - He does these things for us everyday. He forgives us when we leave Him for sin. He forgives us when we blame Him for our mistakes. He listens to our cries. He protects us. He gave His life for us, when we didn’t deserve it.

He does these things because He is madly in love with us.

I was reading Psalm 116 tonight... I was just so humbled and thankful and ashamed and loved and in love and at a loss for words. The only words that came to mind during my prayer were “thank you.” Over and over. Isn’t that weird? I can spit out a 1,000 word blog post in 20 minutes, tell a story without leaving out ANY details in 5 minutes, and sing all 50 states in alphabetical order in 18.05 seconds (believe me, I just timed it). Yet, Jesus can completely overwhelm me with pure thankfulness, and make all other words and thoughts in my head disappear. I don’t know about you, but THAT’S a McDreamy. THAT’S a man I want to spend the rest of my life with. THAT’S a man I want to be my other half. THAT’S a man I want to talk to every day.

That’s a man I want to fall completely in love with.

I am constantly amazed and constantly in AWE of His beauty. Thank you, Lord.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

-John 3:16-17 (NIV)

11 Lessons I Learned By My Senior Year

The day finally came. The day that is both an ending and a beginning. The day that finally made all of the essays, busy work, homework, sleep deprivation, cold classrooms, equations, and bad school lunches pay off. The day that all of my teachers, peers, family members, and friends have been talking about for THIRTEEN DARN YEARS.

High school graduation.

Like I said before, it is an ending and a beginning for everyone. We are all together from the time we are five years old to the big eighteen years old. Where I live, everyone knows everyone (along with all of their business), we are in classes with the exact same people every semester, so we basically grew up as a family. It’s my favorite thing about Franklin County. But the strangest feeling has been realizing that we aren’t ALL going to be together again! It’s an ending to the wonderful memories we’ve all made together. But, it’s also a beginning to our future. We will all go our separate ways, and we will take on everything that life is going to throw our way. Four years ago, there’s no way any of us could go out into the real world and live the best, most awesome life we could. Thankfully, high school has taught me a few lessons, and I am forever thankful for them...

1. People will surprise you.

As teenagers, we sometimes have some harsh first impressions. First impressions aren’t avoidable, of course, but we are constantly being compared… therefore, we compare ourselves to others. The funny thing is, almost 90% of people I’m close friends with now are completely different than I expected them to be after the first impression. You may think one girl is snobby, but really she ends up being the sweetest person you know. At the same time, you may see her as a kind, innocent person, but you find out she’s cheated on her three boyfriends, stolen $300 from a gas station, and is part of a gang (I am NOT speaking from firsthand experience, people). Get to know someone before you make assumptions, you will find your true friends!

(None of those assumptions were about anyone pictured here, these are just some of my true friends!)

2. Make a point to say “yes” to fun things.

I will proudly admit that laziness has gotten in the way of me making some awesome memories with my friends over the past four years. I have seriously stayed at home because “I had homework,” or rather… I didn’t want to change out of my pajamas. Once I started getting out of that state, my life was 30,000 times happier! Just say YES, and you will get a whole lot more out of this little life.

3. People are much more kind to each other than expected.

Our generation is so much more accepting of people, whether they are black, white, gay, straight, atheist, Christian, drug users, non-drug users, drinkers, non-drinkers, WHATEVER. We don’t always agree with everyone else’s lifestyles, we just accept each other as people. That’s the beautiful thing I love about people my age - we are more kind than we are given credit for! We just love each other, no matter our beliefs. Ironically, this is what God asks us to do in the Bible… He asks us to just LOVE each other!

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

-John 13:34-35 (NIV)

4. Fully ENJOY the people that make you happy.

Listen to them. Talk to them. Laugh with them. Sing with them. Go to Zaxby’s with them. Agree with them. Tell jokes with them. Go camping with them. Hug them. Make videos with them. Make s’mores with them. Compliment them. Pray with them. Have a Walmart scavenger hunt with them. Go bowling with them. Dance with them. Be stupid with them. ENJOY THEM!

5. Participate.

I’m not talking about extra-curriculars, even though those are awesome, too. But just participate in class, in assemblies, in volunteering opportunities, in clubs, anything! Get involved with your school. It makes you feel more connected and “in the know” with what’s going on! It’s fun to have a group of people who are involved in the same thing as you, don’t let that opportunity slip by!

6. Take a class you wouldn’t normally take - just for the heck of it.

I took a healthcare class last semester, just because I wanted to... and a little bit because my boyfriend’s mom taught it. I had thought about becoming an occupational therapist, but I still had other options. I didn’t want to have a career in the big time medical field. I don’t like blood. I just thought, “Hey, this’ll be interesting!” At the end of that class, I had met all sorts of interesting people and I’m not opposed to a medical career at all! I’m set on occupational therapy now, but my two backup jobs are now BOTH medical-related. It’s all thanks to a class I took “just for the heck of it!”

I also took a Psychology class for fun, I met all sorts of interesting people...

7. Tell everyone how much they mean to you.

The class of 2015 at lost three guys that meant the world to everyone. All three losses were so unexpected, and the entire school was incredibly shocked and of course, devastated. It made us all so much closer, because we had to be there for each other when we were hurting. It made us all realize that we don’t know when it’s our time to go, and we all learned to tell each other how we feel. Never take anyone for granted.

8. Do what you love.

If you aren’t doing the activity that makes you feel that overwhelming sense of joy, then what’s the point?! It doesn’t matter what other people think - I mean, I do DRAMA. Drama people are WEIRD. But who cares?! I am happy on stage, and I’m surrounded by people that have the same passion as I do.

9. Be bold and stick up for people.

Don’t let bullies bully. It’s that simple. You will feel better about yourself, the person who is getting bullied won’t feel alone, and the bullies will feel bad about themselves and they will stop. Break the chain!

10. It’s okay to change your mind.

At the start of my freshman year, I was set on NOT going to the University of North Georgia… just because my parents went there! I wanted something new and different, and I had been to Dahlonega enough to not feel like I was in a “different” place. But once I visited the campus my junior year, I fell in love. I felt at home. As much as I hated to admit it, my mind was basically made up that I was going to be going to the ONE school I didn’t really even want to consider! But it’s okay. As long as you feel like you’re doing what’s best for you, it doesn’t matter what has happened in the past. Hey, it means that you really should be changing your mind, if you went from an absolute NO to an absolute YES!

11. Trust that God’s plan is better than yours.

No matter how hard we try to convince ourselves that we know what the best move is: God knows how our life is going to play out and he will take us on the most rewarding path to get us there. There have been situations in my high school life (whether it’s a class, a relationship, or a friend) where I have gotten so ANGRY because things don’t play out how I (emphasis on “I”) would have made it work. But, now I’m seeing where some friendships or relationships fell apart so others could fall together. Only God knew that would happen, and that’s shown me that I just have to TRUST HIM. Trust what He is doing and all will be well!

As you can tell, most of my high school career was focused on the people around me. That’s what high school is though, it’s the people. So, my overall advice: Be a friend to everyone. I will try to remember my own advice next year at college, but I wouldn’t definitely mind if anyone reading this would say a prayer for me! The past four years of my life were unbelievable, and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me in the future!

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

-Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”

-Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.”

-Proverbs 16:3 (NIV)

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

-Proverbs 19:21 (NIV)