Juliana Elizabeth Travis

            This past year has been a rough, heavy load for me.  I had controversy with my best friend, went through a tough break up, prayed for recovery of the people closest to me, lost loved ones, and struggled with my own emotional stability.  Over the past few months, a key phrase that I have spoken over my life continuously is "Focus on the Good."            About 6 months ago, I fell into a depressed state where I just couldn't find a reason to be happy.  I overthought everything, I skipped meals, I laid awake in bed at night wondering where everything went so wrong. I got to a point where I didn't really want to wake up and struggle through the next day. I wish I could tell you that things have changed and I am better now, and while some things have gotten better, I am still in the pit of depression. I struggle with insecurity and I let my negative thoughts and the unkind words of o...

          Sometimes it seems like we have unrealistic ideas about what a relationship with God consists of.  Many people see it as "Oh, I'm saved now, my sins are forgiven, I have a fresh start, I can do what I want and nothing bad will ever happen to me  again."  However, this statement is wrong in so many ways.            God says, "Come as you are. Bring your brokenness, your sin, your shame, your guilt... bring it all to Me and I will give you rest."  Sounds easy right? But God also says that it will not be easy. In order to follow Christ,  the Bible says, "We must deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him."  We must give up everything to truly submit to His ways and this is extremely difficult.  God says in John 16:33, "I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation.  But take heart, I ha...

          I've seen this quote many times and have never really understood the exact meaning behind it, and as I was scrolling through Pinterest today, it hit me.            In a hallway, there are usually many doors that open into different rooms. In this scenario, think of a hallway with two doors, one behind you and one in front of you. Both doors take you to different places in your life. The door  behind you is something from the past that you're still hanging on to, even if it's just by a single thread. The door in front of you goes into your future, however, it has not yet been opened for you. The hallway is representative of the testing place for God to see if  you are truly ready to follow Him.               Now here comes the true test: Will you wait for God to open the door to what he has greatly planned for your future, or will you turn back to t...

        These 4 statements are a few that are constantly being questioned.  Many people struggle with believing that these are facts. The reality is, every single one of the statements are true.         Even when it feels like no one loves you, I can promise you one person does. And that person is God. God is love, and God is in you, so how could you not be loved? You are loved more than you will ever know by someone who died to know you. What greater love than that?          "But God demonstrates His own love for us: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." -Romans 5:8         You might feel like you're not important. You might feel like no one cares about you. God loves you and thinks you are important. He  cares more about you in a minute than anyone could in a lifetime. God has a plan for you to do great things and spread  His word. Long before you told God,...

Take a glass plate.  Drop it on the ground.  It shatters.  Beat it with a hammer.  Hundreds of pieces.  Pick up the pieces.  Now put it back together.  You can't, can you?      Trust. By dictionary definition, trust is the belief that someone or something is reliable, good, honest, effective, etc . Building trust with someone for the first time isn't really all that hard... but once it breaks, it's one of the hardest things ever to get back. Today, trust is practically nonexistent. You think someone will keep a secret, but then they go around showing people your messages and telling everything you've said. People you thought were your bestfriends are suddenly going behind your back spreading things you didn't necessarily want people to know about. You lose friends, you lose relationships. Everything changes. TRUST BREAKS.       The plate represents the trust between two people. It's reall...

     "Who am I really telling this to?” I ask myself as I send a text saying they “seriously need to rethink their relationship with God.” As I journey through the tough teenage years, I sometimes find myself less in touch with the Word and more in touch with the world. High school is a difficult place to build a strong relationship. With anyone honestly. There’s so much distraction. Temptation, gossip, relationships, even school work; it all distracts from what’s really important. Taking difficult classes and trying to keep my grades up along with all of my extracurricular activities I find it harder and harder as I get older to keep my faith strong. I have very little time to study His Word besides at church and youth group.       Every summer I go to church camp(s) and it always lights a little fire it my soul. It usually lasts until about the time school rolls around and then the fire slowly dies out. My biggest problem is that I always try to c...