Enjoying Winter

Michigan winters can get quite long. And cold. And dreary. And I often find myself hating the weather from January to March. Working at the barn is ten times more difficult when its freezing out and everything is buried in 3 feet of snow. At the beginning of this winter, I realized part of my hatred of winter might be partially because there was nothing I looked forward to about it. Nothing about my life becomes better once the snow begins to fall. I then decided I wanted to try and find a winter activity that I enjoy.

Since the last time I went skiing ended up with me on crutches and a torn ligament, that was  immediately out of the question. I've tried ice skating before. It was fun, but I got bored pretty quickly just skating around in a circle. Then I realized that I've never tried snowboarding! I've heard lots of horror stories about people that have gotten hurt, people that couldn't even stand up and of people going stumbling down the hill in every direction. But I decided that I wanted to try it, to take a risk and just put myself out there.

Earlier this week my sister, Lindsay told me that her friend Amy was coming to visit this weekend and that she wanted to go snowboarding. Lindsay didn't seem to excited about the idea, but I freaked out when I heard that they were going. Since Lindsay had never gone either and Amy had gone once nearly ten years ago it was the perfect opportunity! We were all going to be equally terrible and we could all try to learn together and laugh  at with each other!

When we arrived at Pando we were all feeling pretty nervous as well as excited. After renting our boards and struggling to get the boots on we began out trek to the "bunny hill" (although I'm convinced that "Bunny slight incline" would have been a more accurate name). I'm sure we were quite the sight as we struggled to determine which way of the board was the front and how to attach the boots to the board. Once we were all strapped in, thanks to the help of a nice dad, we had to conquer our first task, the tow rope. After some instruction by the same dad and lots of hesitation, Amy grabbed on and headed up! I was next but wasn't quite as good at the tow rope. In fact, I fell twice before even getting to the top of the "hill". The brave one of the group, Amy was also the first to go down the hill. Followed by Lindsay then I we all managed to make it down with all of our limps attached, but certainly not without falling! Within just a few short hours we all made vast improvement! Although we never moved off the bunny hill, I feel good about our accomplishments. To go from not being able to identify the front of the board to successfully making it down the hill without falling is pretty good, if I must say so myself.

Even though I have muscles that are sore that I didn't even know existed, I am so glad I went! Yeah, I fell, a lot. Yeah, I embarrassed myself, a lot. Yeah, I have a lot of bruises. I also laughed, a lot. And I smiled, a lot. And I had fun, a lot of it.

Lindsay, definitely the most natural! 

Amy shredding it up!

Me!

This was a pretty common place for me

falling off the rope...

the 3 of us

I did it! I went snowboarding and I can't wait to do it again!

Used

    When I hear the word "used" I instantly picture bad things in my head. I picture used, dirty, shrunken, faded shirts donated to the local Good Will,  I picture girls my age crying themselves to sleep at night because they were used by another boy, I picture the pain that usually comes with being used and the used, dull crayons that are left laying at the bottom of the art drawer. Recently, my perception of the word used changed. I know realize that sometimes being used can in fact be a good thing. That being used by God can be a life changing experience.
     A few short days ago, I was used in a very positive way. Looking back on that evening, I realized how nothing made sense that night. I had to go clean stalls at the barn and I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to attend youth group that night but I wasn't terribly upset, I figured there's always next week, right? Well somehow time seemed to have stopped while I was a the barn. I cleaned 3 stalls in less than 40 minutes, a job that normally would have taken me near an hour and a half. When I got to youth group, I saw my friend there and I was pleasantly surprised, I never would have guessed she would have come to my youth group. When the message was over, I approached her and talked to her and that was when I noticed that things just didn't seem right. I hugged her and then carried on with talking to my other friends. Then I got home, logged onto Facebook, checked Twitter and all of a sudden felt an urge to text my friend, to ask her what she thought of youth group, to check in on her and remind her I was there for her if she needed anything. That nudge ended up being the Holy Spirit. Although I'm not comfortable sharing the details over the Internet where who knows may find them, God used me to help someone.  After lots of texts back and forth, many tears and praying, I said good night to my friend. She was going through even worse things than I had imagined and if I hadn't texted her, if God hadn't asked me to text her that one night I'm not sure if things would have turned out the way they did. Even my friend said herself "Katie, you are someone sent from God". At the mere age of fifteen, I never would have guessed I could have had such an impact on someones life. I am just truly amazed at how once I opened up and allowed him to, God used me for something so important, so good. I have no doubt in my mind that God was in control of everything that night . Everything was just too coincidental for it to have not been him.
  
   Have you ever been used in a positive way? If so, I'd love to hear about it!