Not Conforming

Although you may think I am "conforming to the ways of this world" by becoming a blogger, I'm not. Romans 12:2 says "Do not conform to the ways of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." That's exactly what I am doing. I am not going to use this blog to write about aimless subjects or treat it as my diary that rants and gushes over every ordeal that plagues my life, instead I am going to be sharing how I am overcoming my "past life" and learning to love, all with the help of my God.

Before I begin, you may want to know a few unessential facts about me:

1. I sing, I dance, I perform. I read, I aspire, and I am my own person.
2. I live life for the beauty, I love because it's hard, and I learn for fun.
3. I'm extremely opinionated, I don't like to be wrong, and I'm stubborn.

Now for the more important things:

1. I am a born again Christian who is saved by the power of Christ's blood sacrifice on the Cross! If you want to know more, feel free to ask me about it.
2. I was born and raised in Utah and I am proud to say that I plan on living there when I'm older.
3. My life is being insanely rocked by God, and I love it!
4. There are so many new ideas and beliefs that I've never been exposed to, and now that I'm on my own, I'm truly beginning to form my own opinions separate from my parents. It's quite wonderful.
5. I have a heart for missions, especially in Africa. I'm majoring in Cross-Cultural Studies w/ an emphasis on TESOL (learning to interact cross-culturally so that I might teach english to speakers of other languages) in hopes of someday working in Northern Africa/Mid East to little Muslim kids, or in Central Africa at an orphanage or refugee camp in the middle of a war-torn society (or the "bush"). Although this has been in my plans for quite some time, I've begun experiencing changes in my plans (because they're God's plans, not mine). Utah is my home. I love it there. I love the people there. I honestly feel God pushing me "home," in a sense, to be a missionary/light in a culture desperate for God's overwhelming love.

My goal for this year is to learn to love others like Jesus loves them. There's a song (that I don't really care for, but the lyrics are interesting) that says, "Jesus loves the losers." Prior to my pursuit of a relationship with Christ, I never took the time to love the losers, the broken, the creepers, or the pompous. I loved those that were like me and those that were easy to love. As John 13:34 says, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." I'm not sure where I heard it, but: the old commandment said "love your neighbor as yourself," therefore the standard was based on much you loved yourself, whereas the new commandment's standard is based on how much Jesus loved.

Another lesson that I try to apply to my everyday life is Romans 12:21: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." I've always had this picture of the person I wanted to be, and finally, I'm going to live up to it.

These two goals are the reason I've dubbed my blog the name "Overcoming and Loving in My Brain." I will compile all my recent headway in reaching my goals and how they apply to my life, but also talk about what is on my mind.

For my first blog, I don't think I did too awful of a job. I hope you stay in tune for the next episode, and the one after that, and so on. My hope in creating this blog is to inspire others to challenge their own lives and live a life of love and life that overcomes.