30 Days of Change eBook Available for sale

If you're looking for the 30 Days of Change challenges- you will no longer find them on this website.

They're now published- and released to the public!! :)

Available on kindle....
of course if you have a kindle you will be able to read - but also if you have the kindle app for your smartphone or tablet- you also will be able to read it! :)

Feel free to share with others!!

This is a 30 Day devotional written to help you become closer to God, by changing things in your life.

Purchase 30 Days of Change on Amazon

Visit my other site

I have moved..... blogs that is.

I will no longer be writing on blogger.com (on this blog)  I am moving to my own little 'official' spot on the internet....

Please see me here:

http://taylorornellas.weebly.com/


Thank you blogger & blogger people!
I hope you will still continue to follow me over there!!

-Taylor

So long - blogger!

Now that the 30 days of change challenge has completed- I hope that you guys enjoyed it and got alot out of it.
If you have not finished with it- please make sure you do -- it WILL be taken down on Thursday- yes, this thursday, OCTOBER 31, 2013.
I will be deleting all of the 30 days of change challenge posts. - Why??
- Because on Friday, November 1, 2013 it will become published work.
Yup that's right.
I will be self-pubishing the 30 days of change challenge into a devotional - for now it will ONLY be available in eBook format, via amazon. - so you can read it on kindle, iphone and such. SO exciting.

In other news- this blog on awake my spirit has come to an end, and I will be writing on my website.
Yup. I've got a website.

http://taylorornellas.weebly.com/

this one will still be up with my other posts - but all new content will be written on my website. :) So go on over to my webpage and "bookmark it" so you can see it easier. :)

thank you, blogger... it's time for me to spread my wings and grow :)

All kinds of exciting news

I have been on blogger for a few years, doing several different blogs. But I do hate to say - My time with "blogger" will be coming to a close. Being that I found a different and better internet blog platform:weebly.

It is still under construction but in the coming weeks I'll be finishing it up and it will be fully published. You can go ahead and check it out here: http://taylorornellas.weebly.com/

Also I wanted to say that I have been thinking and praying on publishing an ebook. and I have decided to go ahead and publish an ebook. I am SUPER excited to be announcing this. -( i mean c'mon this is the girl who was super excited about these blog posts ... surely you remember my video blog and you could see my excitement for the blog.... ) So yeah, imagine like a million times more excited.... got that picture? yeah. that's me.

So here in the next few weeks (after I have completed the 30 days of change challenge online...and I will need some time to go over and make sure everything looks all nice and pretty and make some minor adjustments....) I will be (self)publishing an ebook via amazon. (get those kindles handy!) and be prepared for a 30 days of Change devotional.

Now I know you must be asking "why would I BUY the devo when I can just hop on your blog and read it. - Well here's the deal- before the devo is released I will be deleting all those posts. thats right. all of these posts that I've been writing and you've been reading here will be deleted. I haven't quite decided of if I'll keep this blog along with my new website. (I doubt it) So everything that I have done on here will more than likely be all deleted. (take it all in while you've got the chance)

I also plan to add some additional information as well in the ebook.than what I've been doing in the blogs.

those who wanted to continue the devo challenge - and didnt get to - then they'll be out of luck --- BUT they can purchase it when it is released on eBook. 

A definite date has not been figured out. I'm anticipating though sometime around November 1, though. yep in just a few weeks EEEEKKKK!!!!!! 

IMO mega excited. stay tuned. until then - get out your kindles and dust 'em off, they'll be a new devo in town.
Due to funds - and print books being more expensive to publish - is why im holding off on real books at this time- however - i want to know if you would really prefer a print book over an ebook.

POLL:
Would you prefer a ebook for kindle... and such or a print book - a real book??? (Comment below on what you want.) 

MIdnight Owl worrywart

It's midnight. I'm still awake. Sure, I layed down for awhile and I could not fall asleep. I normally fall asleep, oh about 10 seconds after my head hits the pillow. not tonight. My brain has been working in over-drive.
a bit of worry.
a little stress.
more worry.
yup. stress.
wondering what to do.
worrying more.
stressing more.

I decided it was time to pray.

so i did.

these worries and stresses and thoughts and wonders lifted. I felt as if God was saying to me.... "Shhh... shhh... shhh..... everything's fine, you know I've got this."

yes, oh yes how I KNOW he's got this.

Confession:

It's hard for me to let it all go.

Yes, i trust Him, but WHY do i feel like I am SUPPOSED to be stressed with these worries???

I KNOW God has a plan in the end. but WHY do I feel the need to keep continuing on feeling stressed & worried?

I know that God has  plans for everything. I have to let these things go. the worry needs to vanish. The stress(es) need to go away. I know that God will handle everything, because there is nothing else I can do.(tonight)
I know that I'll have to take steps tomorrow to go where God leads.

but now that I have begun to type out how I feel, the worry, the stress and thoughts are going away, and my eyes (finally) have begun to get heavy and my yawns are becoming more frequent.

*Thank You, God for taking these burdens from me, and for reassuring me that you have me covered. I know that you will provide a way. And I know that you have a plan for everything.*Amen*


PS,  Readers, my launch date for the 30 Day Challenge will be announced soon!! :)  (thank you for being patient!!)s

Move by MercyMe

Sign language song - Move by Mercyme. Signed by me. :) 

I stumbled  upon this and thought I would share. .... Good song. :) 

Being forever changed, even when it is difficult

About 2 months ago, or so, I decided  to move a few of my plants I had in my garden. I knew that this was probably not a smart move, since it is summer time and very warm here in Texas, I did it anyways. I moved two  lantanas first. (later this fall I'll be moving all of them, because they are very crowded where they are right now, when the landscaper put them in, they were very small, and perfect for just being on the edge of the flowerbeds, they've grown.  I cut them back on a weekly basis, to keep them nice, but you still cant really see behind them. anyways...) so i chose out my "guinea pig" lantanas, and I found a spot for them (just 4 feet or so back in the flowerbed, they have  good sun and will have room to grow...) I got the new holes dug,  and then carefully took out the lantanas and then put them in the new holes and watered the holes and everything- as they were being covered up with the dirt, I could see the leaves already wilting.  I watered it, and hoped that over time it would come back....

I went ahead and took a bougainvillea out of the garden. I read somewhere that bougainvilleas really don't like to be spread out- like placed in just the ground. well they'll be fine, just they wont flower. ... and c'mon, that's the most beautiful part about a bougainvillea. ....

**this is not our bougainvillea, just a photo I found....

So I read that they do well in pots. they like their roots to be as compact, in order to bloom. 

So I grabbed a spare pot from the garage 

anyways so off i went to dig that sucker out and put it in the pot... and again, when I did it, just like the lantana, it began to wilt (although not as quickly, i did realize that about after an hour of it being transplanted it was wilting.) 

At this point with both I began to try a few different things with both plants.

I realized that they were (hopefully) just going through "transplant shock" 

So i watered (and somewhat limited the watering to the bougainvillea -since they don't like alot of water) I moved the bougainvillea into the shade at one point, and then put it back in the sun. I moved it all over the yard, I trimmed them both way back to limit the energy (probably something i should have done when i first transplanted...) bottom line, it took a few weeks, but they are doing good!! no droopy leaves. the lantana has begun to bloom (a little)  no blooms yet on the bougainvillea, but maybe next year.

ok. so i do have a point with all of this. I didn't just want to tell you how to garden.

So i noticed a little analogy. 

We have to make changes in our life to be closer to God. We have to change ourselves to not be wrapped up in worldly things. We have to change in order to grow. We have to understand that we have to get used to a new way of living, to be with God. We cannot think that we can still participate in activities that God has forbidden us to do, and still think that God will be OK with it (confess your sins, He'll forgive them... but we must understand that we have to change our ways.) 

After some time though, we will flourish. We have to get our bearings after we give up the things that God has said that we cannot do, and we will flourish in ways that will please him. 

Even though the lantanas & the bougainvillea weren't "sinning" We just placed them in the wrong spots of the garden, we knew that they needed to be in a different place so that they can flourish... sure they didn't look good at the beginning, they were in 'shock' that something different has happened to them,  but the lantanas have already begun to flourish, because it has the space to flourish, and I don't have to cut it back, i can allow it to grow, and produce all of the blooms that it desires. The bougainvillea is getting there... I think we'll have blooms on it next year (spring/early summer) we'll see though. 

How is the world making us think?

We are living in a world that is not by any means a "Christian world" - we are living in a dark world that is full of filth and horrible things that attack us and that try to get to our spirit.
I have been sitting here for a while, typing, retyping, deleting, retyping again, and then I finally figured out the way I wanted to approach this.
We need to change the way the we think, in order to help out the rest of the world. We have to be reminded that as Christians, God has set us apart from the world. We are to be different than the filth that we've seen. We have to change our way of thinking before we can go out into the world and try and change other people.
The world has lost the sense of morals and values. The world has changed what God has told us in the bible of what to do and what not to do. The "world" has said that we don't need the Bible. - the words are worthless... its old text, it doesnt matter now. The "world" has told us things so that we would become distant from God.
The world is trying to tell us (through media & the way people live) that it is "OK" to do things. ... BUT THESE THINGS ARE NOT "OK" BY GOD.

some examples.. THE (DARK) WORLD SAYS:
hey, it's ok to prance around on a stage wearing hardly nothing on a televised show, promoting sexual things.... after all "you're expressing yourself"
"It's ok to live with your boyfriend/girlfriend.... It's ok to have sex before you're married... why not? after all what's the big deal about making it special? It's not that big of a deal.  Hey, while you're at it, why not go ahead and have a kid, or two? Oh, and nah, you don't have to marry that guy that knocked you up. The kid will be fine without a dad. The dad will be better of moving along,and knocking up another girl. Just don't get married, after all, you are strapped down for good, and wont be able to have any fun anymore.
oh yeah, go to that party. yeah, it's fun. keep the drinks coming, after all, its fun getting drunk.People have more fun when they drink.
Yeah, go ahead, wear that low-cut top, and short skirt, let those guys want you. Keep on tempting them.
"Be jealous that your friend got that awesome new car, they don't deserve it."
"Yeah, go ahead, have an affair with that married man, after all it is fun sneaking around avoiding your husband and his wife... lets see how long it takes before you get caught.
"You should kill that guy, after all your wife was the one who had an affair with him.

Those are things that the world says.

God has intended us to be set apart from the world, therefore we are to ignore what the world is saying, and obey the commands that God has for us.
We have to be mindful of the decisions that we make, and we have to make sure that we do not fall into the traps of satan. Satan uses all kinds of techniques to get to us, so that we stray from God.We cannot give in to satan.

The world needs to change its thinking. It needs to understand that God did not intend these things. God has given us rules and things to follow, that way we know of what path to take. We have to take the lead and set an example first and not fall into the pits of satan, and we must try and help those who are in the midst of the rubble of the world.

If you are one of those people who has fallen into the pits of Satan, first and foremost, I'm glad you are able to see it. If you are ready to change your life around, and get rid of the filth. First give up and let go of whatever filth you are dealing with. Pray. read the Bible. find a church, go back to church, or speak to someone at a church. Find a mentor, or a good Christian friend to help you out, and pray with you and keep you accountable.
Don't be ashamed if you have been in the pits. Trust me, It will be fine. You just have to start somewhere of recognizing of where you are, verses where you need to be.
I hope that this helps in some way. :)
Thank you.

Speak Love by Annie Downs

Speak Love.
It's a book that was released today. it is by Annie Downs. I pre-ordered mine, and thanks to Amazon, mine arrived in the mail yesterday.
I read 2 1/2 chapters last night. They're short chapters.
this book is geared towards teen girls. considering Im in my mid/late 20s then I am not in that age group, however -I fully believe that all age groups can get a little something out of it though.... i really do.
anyways...
If you know a teen, or are a teen girl, or even are curious about it, I highly suggest this book... like I said only 2 1/2 chapters in... but so far so good. :)
As I read I want to post my thoughts and just things that I get from the book....

Some thoughts I have so far on it... just evaluating my life and such...::::
Speak Love.
Simple as that.
We are to speak love in this world.

How in the world do we reflect God when we speak of gossip, jealousy, negative thoughts....

But when we speak love- then we are reflecting God. Afterall, God is Love.

think about what you are saying to others.
THink about what you are saying to God.

A DIY (Do It Yourself) lifestyle

How to:
Stain your own cabinets..... make a cake with candy popping out,  make your own cleaners at home, make a mosquito trap using plastic bottles,make decorations foryour own wedding ---

Those of us who use, or browse pinterest, or even facebook have been faced with the reality that we can do almost anything ourselves. with the help of some glue, and some paint, or a few items from the grocery store or whatever- we can do it all.

As some of you know, I did make the majority of my own decorations for my wedding myself. ... (plus the help of a few family members) It was a HUGE task. I painted picture frames, i painted vases and votives, i made burlap banners (well would up buying a few) I made ribbon banners, i made the escort cards and the place cards.... and of course put it all together..... with a crew of about 10 people to help put it all together (and take it all down) I was determined to do it all "myself'. We wanted a wedding that reflected both of us, not a wedding that you would see in a magazine, or pinterest, or whatever. A wedding that was "us."  All in all, we did do it all "ourselves" and it was absolutely perfect. the decorations and set up was nice, not overbearing, but gave the right touch to the venue.

Going through it all and staying up late at night to cut escort cards or ribbon or whatever, I thought of how we cant do EVERYTHING ourselves in life. Ultimately we are to depend on God for everything in our life. We do things with God right by our side. Life is not a "DO IT YOURSELF"" life --- We have to realize to call out to him when we are struggling with everything and we have to recognize that sometimes we have to rely on Him more than anything in the world. We think that we are supposed to do things all on our own or we seem weak or just cant handle it all... we cannot handle it all. That's why we have God.

We are faced with many challenges here on earth and we have to follow God's path and we have to trust in Him.

Saved by Grace, Not by Works

A local radio personality, passed away over the weekend. In the midst of all of the facebook posts there was one that really stuck out to me - it said that he must be in heaven, since he founded a foundation to give trips to special and medical needs children & their families.
Granted it is a very nice thing to do, and extremely humbling for so many. It is important to reach out and to help others.
However, just because you do good works, does not mean that you will go to heaven. You can do good things for your whole life, it does not mean that you will get into heaven. 
 Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.


In order to get into heaven you have to have your faith in Jesus Christ.  

Just because someone goes to church, sing songs, and does good deeds does not mean that they are truly a Christian and will get into heaven....

Just as if I go to a golf course, take some swings of a golf club, and maybe even make the golf ball go into a hole, does not mean that I'm a golfer. 

you have to truly believe with your heart that Jesus died to be your savior, confess it with your mouth. Then you'll be saved.

Romans 10:9

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

God has instructed us to do good things, and be a faithful servant. we are directed to serve others, however just by serving others does not merely get you into heaven, it takes just a little more than that- to believe and declare with your mouth that "Jesus is Lord" and truly and deeply believe in  your heart that God raised him from the dead.

not just say it, but believe it with your whole heart.

It does sadden me to see some people to do so much good and help others and such, but you know that deep down (or not so deep) they are only doing good so that they can be recognized (when they are not to be boastful about the good deeds) or they are doing it because they think that "oh, God would like this, and this will help me be on his side..... and I'll get into heaven, even though I don't completely believe that He died for my sins..."
It is sad to see.
We must recognize it though, and God told us how we can get into heaven - we just have to do it, and believe it. ..........
SO i must ask you,
Do you fully believe? or are you just putting on a mask for others (or even yourself) to think that you are a Christian?

We cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

We cannot fathom what God is doing in our lives. 

God has made EVERYTHING beautiful.

NOt just some things.

You may be going through a tough time in your life, where you feel that things just are not going as you had thought/hoped....

when we go through those times of our lives, we have to recognize that God is still with us. We may not know why he is doing this to us, why he puts us in those situations, but we do need to recognize that within that time, God is doing beautiful things. 

We have to remember that we are not to be so absorbed in these things in the world, because we were made for eternity.

In my NIV Bible - I have some commentary at the bottom.

here is what it says about this verse:

"The chapter summarized: God's beautiful but tantalizing world is too big for us, yet its satisfactions are too small since we were made fore "eternity" (but cf. NIV text note), the things of time cannot fully and permanently satisfy."

The things in this world are temporary satisfactions......

Cars ... money.... houses... eating sweets.... sexual immorality... gossip... jealousy....

the list could go on.

things that may make you feel good for a temporary time.

However when we are with the Father, then we have a satisfaction that will not just last here on earth, but will last for eternity - beyond this life we have on earth.And we cannot even comprehend of what that kind of relationship will be like, being that our relationship with God is so much extraordinary than any kind of relationship that we have on earth.

IN process.........

Going where God leads

Wednesday was the last day at the office that I had been at for 2 years and 7 months.
I took the job figuring that it would be a short term job just to get me by for a little while, while I searched for other jobs, went to school and was still trying to figure out what exactly God had planned for me.
I did not gain a whole lot of skills while there, however I know that God had me there for a reason. My job was pretty simple. I ran errands, I scanned, shredded, and later  on helped out in the accounting department with a few little tasks. It was definitely different than my past experience and not using hardly any skills that I had learned. My first job that I had, I was trained greatly with doing administrative assistant type work and wore many hats in a small company. I was 19 at the time, and I was learning a lot. eventually I was laid off, and found myself folding clothes in the Juniors department at Dillard's Department store. eventually i found a job doing some data entry work for a large company, which eventually I bounced around from department to department, as a receptionist, performed surveys for customer service, I assisted the sales team, I was a marketing assistant, I went back to inventory and helped out with the inventory team ( I was "laid off" but they gave me the option to either join the inventory team or to take my severance and go..... I took the job.) after I was in the inventory I was asked to be the Legal department administrator, where I learned a lot, in a few short months, and then I was laid off again, this time for good. a few short weeks later I had two interviews, one to a local University, the other was to an office. I didn't get the job at the university, but i was offered the runner position at the office. I felt a calling in my heart a few months after I began working there to get into ministry. I began to realize that there are so many people in the world that really are so incredibly involved in the world and worldly was. And they do not believe in God, or maybe they do 'believe in God' but they do not follow through with demonstrating how Christians are intended to live. It began to bother me to great lengths. It was placed on my heart, around a year ago to write a book.
A book directed towards young adults that are involved in this world to such great extent. A generation who's faith has become stagnant, or non-existent.
I am extremely excited about the endeavors that are ahead of me.
I do know that God has been leading me in a fantastic direction, and I cannot wait to see where this goes.
I want to help people to know Christ, or have a better relationship, or something, instead of thinking that there are other things in life that are more important.
I cannot wait to see where God leads me.

aftershock

I had worked so hard on planning the wedding - a "DIY " wedding - I made the table runners, the centerpieces, hanging decorations- i made votives and vases and all kinds of glassware to look like mercury glass - I bought more candles than anyone could know what to do with - as well as too many napkins, and extra "just in case" items. I stressed over the color of the napkins for a few days - beceause they didnt 'exactly match' I stressed the last few days before the wedding because of the chance of rain - both my rehearsal dress and wedding dress got too big for me - (i lost quite a bit of weight because of stress - i was hardly eating-) i wasnt getting enough sleep - i would stay up late working on projects /ideas - waking up early continuing and then going to work.
my body was handling it well . i didnt hink anything was wrong.

the wedding was beautiful. better than what I had imagined. everything looked gorgeous. I was so thankful i had hired a wedding coordinator to handle the stresses that I could not take care of when i was trying to gt ready for the wedding... like oh - there was a thunderstorm and everything was getting wet- including the dance floor that i had rented. apparently there were other things that 'happened' while i was inside getting ready - and didnt know a thing. which was great. (i had time to focus on getting ready - destressing and just prepping myself for a wonderful evening)

my dresses were ready the day before the wedding - which was a relief.

we had a blast- it was a small wedding- only 60 people- it was perfect. I was able to visit with everyon for just a little bit - everyone had a good time visiting and enjoying the weather- it cleared off just in the nick of time for photos and for guests to begin arriving - to the point where we all needed sunglasses- basically!!! it completely cleared off after dark and a big full moon arose from behind the trees. Everyone danced and danced-
one more stress arose when we were about to head out - Steve didnt know where his keys were -- so we had to have a few extra songs played while steve looked for his keys --- all the while they were in his car - we had a sparkler exit that was sooo much fun to see - and it was just incredible. it was a wonderful evening.

Steve and I stayed in downtown at a very nice hotel for our wedding night it was wonderful. we woke up the next morning to have breakfast with family - and we were purly exhausted. we wound up going back to our hotel and just relaxing for a few hours before heading out. I wanted to sleep but my body wouldnt let me. after saying goodbye to family - we headed home where we just relaxed at home. that night i began to have a scratchy throat -- but i took some medicine and went to bed.
the next morning i woke up early and my throat hurt so much. and it did so for a few days. Steve took care of me- I had to take a few sick days from work - and i even went to the dr - who wasnt sure what it was - she gave me some antibiotics- well i went home that day - and wound up sleeping for a very long time, and then got up, and naped the next. After it all - i figured out that all the stress that i had - really had built up over time - and my body did not know how to handle it -so when wedding was done - and stress was lifting - my body freaked out... ( i think ) and so i needed some sleep- my appetite came back  and i've felt fine since.

between the time of the wedding and honeymoon (a week and a half between i pretty much just rested to make sure not to over do it to get worse - because at this point i did have a cold...)

we left for our honeymoon to costa rica - which we spent 9 days filled with adventure and a little bit of relaxing by the pools and beach.
we had a wonderful time, and already decided to go back in a few years.

for the past week and a half (or so) we've been getting in a routine (or trying to ) and trying to get wedding stuff sold and out of the house- and trying to get my things organized.

Ceremony

The Grand Entrance

Steve & His brothers

Me with my brother

Father of the Bride speech

dance

 Father of the bride Dance

everyone dancing under the tent

Groom and "man of Honor" (Steve and Daniel)

Dancing

Sparkler exit

Just being a proud sister.

My brother is graduating this week from college.
It kind of hit me this week - now that i've been thinking about the trip that we'll be making to see him cross that stage.
over the past couple of years I've seen him cross the High school stage for graudation, and I've seen him cross the floor for his Associates Degree (they didnt have a stage) Speaking of his associates graduation - he spoke during a good majority of it- he had a very nice speech to talk about the Baptist Student Ministry mentors, and spoke so well at the graduation. While he was in school there he helped out a lot with the Baptist Student Ministry (BSM) He and some buddies would get together and fish and hang out.
Daniel went on to West Texas A&M University, in Canyon, Tx (outside of Amarillo)  he started off as a nursing student, and somehow wound up going for a Health Science degree. Daniel began taking care of Joshua, who is a boy with autism. Daniel watches him for many hours throughout the week. Daniel began to really help Josh to do tasks like to turn out the light and such. Daniel has helped josh (from my understanding.) This past year Daniel began taking care of a girl, named Erica. Erica has Cerebal Palsy. Daniel would hang out with her, and take both her and Josh to therapy and he would take Erica to some places with him, such as the softball games and whatnot.
Daniel truly is an inspiration - (well to me at least) to really look out after others- it really isnt all bout us- and these kids simply enjoy the company of being around others and getting that special attention.
Daniel of course has been super busy this past semester with preparing to graduate, working and of course all of his free time with his buddies-
He never did get into the 'party scene' that so many college students get involved in... and he has gotten I know of at least one compliment from another student he recieved.
I am saying all of this because I look up to my little brother.(literally and figuratively) Dan has a good head on his shoulders and truly has been a blessing in my life. I know im his sister... but ---

So this week i've just been thinking on all of this, since im his big sister I have just been thinking on the past and just things that Dan has made me proud...
This has been a change of thoughts for me, considering that im about waist high --- or higher in doing wedding stuff and im finishing up this quarter for school - I have only been thinking about what is going on in my immediate life, and not really taking a good look around at those around me and the things that they are going through. So this week i've just been trying to make a point to not be so insanely engrossed in the wedding planning to make sure i soak this all in.
Dan's graduation is a big one. I am super excited for him, and really can't wait to see what God has in store for him.
Daniel will be standing beside me as my "Man of Honor" on my wedding day in a few weeks  i could not be happier to have him to be at the altar with me.

-- bottom line -  I think we really need to be there for one another-be there for those especially who need us. and make sure to pause in our busy days to check on someone - or see what is going on to stay connected. Also make sure you don't let life slip before your eyes- really soak everythign in as much as possible.

Since my lil bro is growin' up....