the only reality

I'm a twin who needs her own space...which, you'd understand if you were a twin as well, is next to impossible. At least for me. I love to write, I love to share my opinion. I'm committed to God, and He's my direction. God ain't some big proud god who leaves you in your bad times, or some big God who thrives on rules and regulation like everyone says. God's a joy, He makes me so happy. He's got a sense of humor, and a sense of pushing you to do what He's calling you to do. Let me tell yah, what he's calling us all to do is for Our benefit, and what He's calling us to do is to 'mazin things. :) I'm obsessed with pinterest and all that diy. I love fashion, blogs, cooking & the food network, I dream of living in a city someday with maybe even a single brick wall in my house Lol. I'm in love (and i mean in love) with Jack Johnson. Additionally, coffee houses, Frank Sinatra, lazy chic, and bread and olive oil = perfect [for me].

[j-elisestarr]

2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and control. 

BAAM. We don't need to go on worrying. That's needless

No we need to first believe it, that we've got power, love, and control on the inside of us. And then we have to reach in and put it into practice. We don't have to worry, zilch, none, zero! Dude. We gotta believe that we can have control and go on boldly, loving others and loving ourselves and loving God. 

[j-elisestarr]

Jack Johnson how i love you <3

She's just waiting for the summertime

When the weather's fine she could hitch a ride out of town and so far away from that low down Good for nothing, mistake making fool with excuses like, "Baby that was a long time ago" But that's just a euphemism you want the truth he was out of control

But a short time is a long time

When your mind just won't let it go

Well summer came along and then it was gone

And so was she but not from him 'cause he followed her just to let her know her dreams are dreams

And all this living is so much harder then it seems

But girl don't let your dreams be dreams

You know this living is not so hard as it seems

Don't let your dreams be dreams

Your dreams be dreams, be dreams

[j-elisestarr]

                                                   -- Mumford & Sons - roll away your stone

Roll away your stone, I'll roll away mine  Together we can see what we will find    Don't leave me alone at this time      For I am afraid of what I will discover inside              Cause you told me that I would find a hole            Within the fragile substance of my soul          And I have filled this void with things unreal        And all the while my character it steals      Darkness is a harsh term don't you think?        And yet it dominates the things I see       It seems that all my bridges have been burnt     But you say that's exactly how this grace thing works   It's not the long walk home that will change this heart  But the welcome I receive with the restart     Darkness is a harsh term don't you think?       And yet it dominates the things I see        Darkness is a harsh term don't you think?          And yet it dominates the things I've seen       Stars hide your fires     These here are my desires    And I won't give them up to you this time around   And so I'll be found  With my stake stuck in the ground,

 Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul But you, you've gone too far this time   You have neither reason nor rhyme      With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine

-- this song is all about God. --

[j-elisestarr]

[allthingseurope]

Stavanger, Norway (by heavenuphere)

[j-elisestarr]

Someday...

[j-elisestarr]

Way too late at night

I take showers way too late at night.

Midnight, nbd.

Bob Marley, Jack Johnson, & John Mayer + late night showers = how i spent my friday night, #lonerstatus 

[j-elisestarr]

Going Old School

the things i love -- 

going to a city, lined with stores, & going out there with an old camera, swagged out like a photographer, and taking pictures on a patio that plays Dean Martin. 

Did that today, best feeling ever. 

I love photography, I love art, I love old music, I love being alone in a big city. 

{regardless of how dangerous that last one sounds, i love it}

One Night With You - Elvis Presley 1968 . Best song ever, I'm telling you <3

[j-elisestarr]

Somewhere

Under the stars, we lay

My hand's over yours, and

Maybe you might

Even want to 

Rest here forever with me, too

[j-elisestarr]

Curly hair, don't care

[j-elisestarr]

All I Can Do Is Look Up 

for i know the plans i have for you ... plans to prosper you, not to harm you, ... plans to give you hope and a future. ... then you will come and pray to me, and i will listen to you. 

                                                                            `` Jeremiah 29 : 11 - 12 

your life ain't just an emotional roller coaster, love. i can guarantee you that 

[floralls]

[j-elisestarr]

I am a lady in Spain

I'll sing a haunting refrain

I am a lady from Mars

And I can unscrew the stars

I can be anything that I see

I can be anything that I, anything that I see

[j-elisestarr]

I’ll tell yah something….I love this girl.

Most genuine comedienne there ever was

She was dang hard working and never stopped striving for the place in which she belonged

Never settled, never quit, even endured a cheating husband!

But, everyone should appreciate the woman she was

[j-elisestarr]

I looooove this, inspiration to the max

[j-elisestarr]

Hey hey hey

What, then, shall we say in response to these things?

If God is for us...who can be against us

He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all

how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things ?

Who will bring  a  n  y  charge against [us] (I mean...God  put  us  on  this  earth, He wouldn't leave you there alone, He won't)

It is God who justifies. (Whatever happens to you...whatever is taken away...He will a l w a y s bring it back to you in some way, some shape, some form.)

Who then is the one who condemns?

No one.

Jesus who died -- more than that, who was r a i s e d to life (from the death and experiences He suffered, He was brought right back up...& given a  f u l l life). -- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Who then would ever take...any of  what Jesus died for, away from any of us...)

Shall trouble

or hardship

or persecution

or famine

or nakedness

or danger

or sword? 

...

(Nothing -- nothing we go through even when we feel like God just 'hates' us because of the things we're going through -- He l o v e s us with everything He's got in Him. He can bring you right back up)

No in all these things we are <more than conquerors> through Him who loved us (on that cross, and still loves us, forever)

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, neither angels nor demons, 

neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 

neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ. 

{ R o m a n s  8 : 31 - 39 }

[j-elisestarr]

take your focus

and put it where it really needs to be ; 

don't focus on whether or not this guy/girl likes you, or on stupid reasons.

'cause if you are, time's not being added, it's being wasted while you worry

look and trust what's more important in times like that. don't waste your time; when you really focus on what's more important, and you stop yourself from worrying about these needless things in your life, you'll travel so much more of a distance 

don't worry about...what you will eat or drink; or about your body and what you'll wear. ... Why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ... So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat? or 'What shall we drink' or 'What shall we wear?' ...  don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. 

                                                          { matthew 6 : 25 - 34 }

what i do when i worry sometimes? I trust God in times when i worry. if you put trust in Him really, He'll be like 

hey, this girl really is looking to Me. she's trusting me, knowing that she can't rely on herself to fix her problems. she needs Me, of course I'll help her. 

instead of worrying, or relying on ourselves to fix these problems, just look to Him. try it out; see what changes. we'll waste way less time if we do

:)

[j-elisestarr]

Love is everything

I've realized something today.

>Today was life changing, and i learned so much<

Everything that i learned was from today's experiences, and God proved Himself in so many ways today i can't hardly stand myself

I realized; Love is everything.

So ; 

my best friend Lily, who is two years younger than my sister and myself, lives in a verrrry strict household. Because of that and other reasons, Lily deals with self confidence issues sometimes, which affects everything about her [this i've been able to pick up on]. 

Well ; 

today we all decided to walk on over to Dunkin Donuts and get both of our families some DD stuff! we were feelin' pretty generous. 'cause i mean usually, we'd probably be like..ain't nobody got time for that. I mean we were like, walking through some pretty heavy snow. After this Nemo Noreaster, the snow's getting pretty high. So yah, feelin' generous. 

[takes a good hour & twenty minutes to get there -- three minute car ride vs. 80 minute walk..yikes]

So halfway there, my sister decides to bail, so Lily and I continue on. We get there, get our 24 dollar order and all, and head back home. We get to my house, and Lily's on the phone: Yes ma'am, i had no idea i'm sorry, we weren't hurt or anything, i'm sorry. I'm like, what's going on? So, Lily's in trouble because we left for this journey to DD, but we didn't call Lil's mom to tell her. The whole calling thing is a huge deal in their fam, but it got worse when Lil's brother was worried and was the one who called their mom telling her we've been out for an hour and a half. And when Lily's mom called six times [literally...six times, explains why her mom was getting scared since we didn't pick up and we've been out on this journey to the close-by DD for over an hour -- not a huge deal or a huge situation in my opinion, but since i'm not a parent, i wouldn't understand. plus, her parents are protective, but hey they really care about 'er. they probably thought we got hit by a car], she was wondering what the heck was going on. 

and Lily. is. freakin' out. 'cause she doesn't know what's gunna happen when her mom walks through that door! she's scared, i probs would be too. I mean it's not a huge deal, but like it was for them. so we literally, spend hours planning out what we should say to them, and half the time we talked about the situation being ridiculous. but we're not parents, so we don't see it like them. so -- we literally clean the whole house. everything. and we say hey, Lil, be totally honest with her and listen to what she has to say too. we prayed to God cause Alexa (my sister) and I were throwing out ideas of our own, let's just see what God wants to say.

so we prayed: 

hey, God, just show us what You wanna do. It all comes down to what you say we should do; how this situation should plan out, how we should react, what we should do, and what we can do to fix whatever's happened. 

Right after that, we zoomed through and cleaned the house. We came to the decision of calling her mom while she was at work [not the greatest idea], we felt like God was saying just try it. So we do, it doesn't go too well at first but Lily stays calm and is like, taking the conversation well [which, if you knew her, doesn't always happen hehe]. Then her mom eases up, it's a short conversation but she eases up a little and i guess her mom noticed a change in how Lily was talking to her. Right before her mom is about to say good bye, she says: 

hey, wait are you going to Jackie and Alexa's youth group tonight? 

we were like -- what? Ah! we didn't even think her mom would let her go. but we were like hey, God you've got something planned so let's go along with it. So we get to youth group, and the message is about....what?

Strong. Families.

God you're amazing

first thought! we asked God to speak to us about the whole situation, he gave us a  whole message . God's awesome. We got a whole lesson, about what we should do. I mean what? Aha, God like what is this? It's something you have to experience to really feel the excitement we did. We got home, all me Alexa and Lily talked to her parents and it was the funniest conversation, we were laughin' and having a good time but we like also talked about the responsibilities we overlooked. It was good, they saw Lily's responsibility. God did a work. He eased up the parents, they got to see how strong and responsible and diligent their daughter really is, and we learned something immense. I mean, God, really? Aha, you're amazing.

Lily has her weak points, sensitive points, self conscious points, and low points all together. But, her family needs a connection. A Godly connection, something to bring them together. I feel like God...is calling little old Lily -- the sometimes self conscious girl who can't always prove herself strong, although she is -- to 

anchor

the family. 

to pull them through, to lead by example, to help them come together, to help them grow closer to God, to give them footsteps. I feel strongly that that's what she's called to be at the age she's at right now. 

And sometimes she loses motivation easily to grow with God. Alexa and I have come to the conclusion; we need to do it together. i feel like God's called Alexa and I to lead Lily, motivate her and keep her going with God. That starts with being there for her, and loving loving loving loving loving her. Showing her she's worth it. showing her the amazing thing that God's called her to do. Showing her love. 'cause sometimes, we get tired of Lily Lol. flat out truth. and we're not always the nicest. but we need to face the fact that not everyone's perfect, and love Lily and be there for her. So then, she grows. Then, she becomes strong, confident. Then, her family sees it. Then, that motivates the family. Lily will learn, and learn how to love them with all her heart as well; and that will bring the family together. And that will help the family grow. And that, will be the foundation for them all. 

Love is everything. It all starts with love, and all comes down to love. You'll be surprised what it starts, and what it can do.

[j-elisestarr]

God's not dead, He's surely alive, He's living on the inside, roaring like a lion #newsboys