"Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:8

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I didn't really plan on doing any special "love" themed Bible studies around Valentine's Day, but it just happened.  Sometimes God just sends you the greatest things when you least expect them.  I love this love (for lack of better terms) and the indesribable feeling that it fills my heart with, so I want to share some things that came to me on the love subject around this time.

 

However, love is something that we should embrace 365 (or in this case 366) days a year.  God's love is here with us and never changes no matter what the day, time, or situation. That is something that can't be said about any one else.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear."  1 John 4:18
This verse actually wasn't where I started, but it's where I was led.  During a Sunday School lesson at church, we were talking about fear and respect of God and His power to keep us from sinning (Exodus 20:20), then I thought about how fear drives a lot of what I and many other people do.  We fear disappointing others, losing something good, getting a speeding ticket, failing a test, getting embarrassed, forgetting something, getting sick, and soooo much more.  Think about it.  Do we do more things to prevent something bad or just to do something good? 
Fear does not feel good.  It makes us anxious and paranoid.  Our minds can't rest.  We constantly fret and worry about whatever it is.  That's not how we should feel!  These emotions drain so much of our energy that God has given us to use for postive things.  They distract us from Him and His plans.  This verse goes on to say, "because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love."  There is a simple solution to this problem.  God.  God is the love that drives out all this fear.  Now, it's hard to get rid of something if it isn't replaced with something better.  When we fill ourselves with Christ's love, these fears and sins just melt away!  God is love (verse 19), and He can't exist in the same place with fear and sin. 

I captioned this, "If you're in a 'crunch,' do what Snoopy would do, and simply love."
When in doubt of what to do, think of the loving thing.  Whenever Jesus or others writing in the Bible are talking about the overarching thing to do to live a life serving the Lord, love is the action they use.  (1 Corinthians 12:31 and 13:13, Matthew 22:36-40, Romans 13:9-10, 1 Peter 4:8, Colossians 3:14, and many, many more!)

There were also some songs that came to me in various places: my phone, church, the radio, or just got stuck in my head!
One of those was Remain by Royal Tailor  (*I've linked the lyrics to these songs if you want to look at them)
It reminded me that no matter how crazy things in our life get, God's love never leaves us.  Days will keep passing and the seasons roll around, we'll get older and things will definitely change in our lives.  Sometimes we feel alone and like things will never get better, but there is one thing that stands through it all:  God's love.

Oh how thankful I am for His mercy and grace!  Your Love Never Fails by the Newsboys just makes me want to dance!  I mess up a lot, but He always gives me more chances to get it right.  Some days seem like nothing goes right, but He always gives tomorrow to start again.  Things are challenging and sometimes crazy, but He calms the storm.  He makes all things work together for my good.  (Romans 8:28)  His love never fails.

The third song that really stood out to me was One Thing Remains by Kristian Stanfill.  We sang it at church, and I just can't put words to how good it feels to know the truth of these lyrics.
So I'll just repeat them.

Higher than the mountains that I face
Stronger than the power of the grave
Constant in the trial and the change
One thing remains

On and on and on and on it goes
It overwhelms and satisfies my soul
And I never, ever, have to be afraid
One thing remains

Your love never fails, never gives up
Never runs out on me

I am so thankful for all the love I am surrounded with from my friends and family!  But why do we love each other?  Yes because we're family, and yes because we're friends, but deeper than that "We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19).  If it wasn't for that, this feeling/emotion/choice, wouldn't exist.  "Dear friends, let us love one another because love comes from God...God is love...since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another...He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.'"  (verses 7-8,11,21)  The Bible calls it a command, but it doesn't seem so "commanding" when you are first filled with His love. 
Love leads to more love.

Knowing that I am loved this much and being able to rest in that makes life so much better.  It's freeing for your soul!  Every day seems better because God's satisfaction beats out anything that the world can give.
"Because Your love is better than life, my lips will praise You."  Psalm 63:3

 "This is love:  not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."  1 John 4:10

 

After all these things and more came together to me, I think of the word love a bit differently.

Blessed with the Best

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My friends are amazing.  They know me so well; it shocks me sometimes.

One of my favorite cross country races ever since middle school is Trailblazer in mid-October. It is also where the high school region meet for us is, so I got to race there twice each season!  It is a really fun course (in my opinion), but it's tough. You literally start at the lowest possible point and finish at the highest possible. At Daniel Boone High School, they have a big area in the back dedicated to their agriculture classes where they have all kinds of cows, donkeys, and goats!  I love to run past them. Farm animals are my favorite.

I've made it tradition now to always go back there after the race and pet on them and take pictures. This year I had several friends go with me!

Katlyn also wanted to be in a selfie with the donkey. 

They're so pretty.

Now how many friends would do this?

I've started a trend!  I'm curious to see if this time next year I'll be receiving texts and snapchats of farm animal pictures from the girls who are still in high school. 

I'm so thankful to have friends who know my weird favorite things, but totally accept it.

A pumpkin pinata.  I could totally make this right up my alley with some custom fillings...marshmallows and dark chocolate maybe?  Fruit?  Popcorn?

Abbey also had a fun day with me on my birthday!  We went to the heritage festival at Panther Creek, where they had all sorts of autumn and local activities.
She also got me a Chick-fil-a giftcard!  A wonderful surprise that will be put to good use.

Sometimes I do some crazy things. But I'm glad I have friends to go along with me. Abbey wasn't sure about this, but I had my heart set on roasting marshmallows. When we got there, they were all out of marshmallows. Considering we were in a campground, I thought surely someone in there had some marshmallows!  So I led us around asking people at their campfires if they had marshmallows, and we found some who were happy to help us!  They even had some of my favorite dogs, so I got to let them--even more than I had expected--marshmallows and puppies!

What is fall without at least one campfire and roasting session?

These were also the biggest marshmallows that I'd seen in my life.

 

Now this is an awesome friend. Not only did she give up her Saturday to go to the park with me, but she also came to visit my grandmother who has a birthday the day before me!  

BUT--that's not all!

She even goes to visit her on her own like she is family. That's such a special blessing to Granannie. I'm so thankful for Abbey's heart for others.

Mom gives me good gifts too!  She got me not one, but a whole set of Snoopy Christmas mugs for my birthday so that I can share them with my friends who come over during the winter!

 

She also got me this cute new shirt!

Abby and I have been buddies ever since we were in Wee School together at First Baptist. In 5th grade that's where my family started going to church, and the two of use have grown closer ever since!  What's even cooler is that we share a birthday!  So we're nt just sisters in Christ, we're almost like real sisters!  I'm blessed to have her there to pray for and encourage me through all that life throws.

Grace, I'm glad you think I'm so blazing.  That is a great adjective.  This tweet made me giggle.

Caroline, I'm glad that I got to be a senior for you as a freshman on the team!  Unfortunately, this was our only year together, but you are definitely in the family.

My Mighty Mite.  We are a force to be reckoned with.  Thanks for being small with me, Jessica!  Even though you're a lot taller than me now, you're still little.

Megan-Right back at ya!  Minus the birthday part...but you are sweet and a blessing to me as well.

Erika, I've missed you!  I really appreciate that you took the time to tell me happy birthday even though you're living it up at UT!

My other big sister, also gone to college.  Even though we don't get to see each other much any more, I am also so glad that you are in my life!  Without you, there would be some really boring years.  I mean, do you remember those beach and basketball trips?  Were we on drugs?  Drunk?  Delirious?  No, I don't think we ever did anything illegal, but that's the best kind of fun.  Thank you for being there to remind me how to be a crazy kid! 

 

 

These birthday tweets were so sweet!  They made my day. Just saying happy birthday is one thing, but these girls added a personal touch. I can't explain how thankful I am to have this family of runners. We go through basically every day together and know each other's best, worst, struggles, and successes. We pray together, feast together, and can talk about literally anything. Thank you all for becoming so special to me this past year!

Danny is an awesome dude, too!  Since Chantal and Cherie went to college last year, I've had to do a lot more running on my own. Luckily, Danny came to the rescue!
He also surprised me with a little birthday gift, too!  The best part of it-fancy Mexican dark chocolate!

Ever since a race in September when he came on a cool down with me, we made the plan to do a morning run and make breakfast one morning over fall break. And that's what we did!

The twins would come down sometimes since they live in my neighborhood, and then we would run and make breakfast. Danny lives in my neighborhood, too, so he could do the same thing!  I was so glad to have a new bRUNch buddy!

I'm also so glad for all the encouragement he has given me this season. It was great to get to talk to him and encourage him, too!  He also even beat me to posting my hashtag.

These were flavored with my new PB Lean, amaretto caramel chocolate hazelnut!  myoatmeal.com is one of the coolest sites that I've used to order food from thanks to Vanessa, a running and faith friend!  She is always there praying for me and sharing information and encouragement to me and so many people around her.

 

My friends know that I like to be creative with my cooking, hence #KenziesCreations, but I love for them to be able to share it with me!

More family photos!  This time, it was celebrating Emily's birthday which is just a few days before mine. Of course, we did something involving food!

And how lucky are we to have Miss Bailiff to join our team this season as an assistant coach. She is tons of fun, great encouragement, and just great to have around as another girl!

And frozen yogurt!  We runners tend to share the same loves.

Also since the twins are gone, I usually don't have anyone to do my breakfast runs with. However, I can sometimes find others to meet me!

By the way, Java Garden has some amazing coffee. Any flavor or combination you could imagine!  Just tell them what you want and however you want it, and they'll do it. This is a gingerbread coffee with whipped cream.

The Saturday morning of my birthday party, Kayla and Brooke met me at the Java Garden!  It was so much fun eating and talking with them!  And thank goodness Kayla drove me back home!

At my parties, we Just Dance while we wait on everyone to arrive. It takes special people to Just Dance in front of without being embarrassed. They don't just watch; they join me.

We also love to "put [our] hands together *clap* and pray to The Lord!  HUH!"

I've also had an annual cross country birthday party because they really are most if who I would invite to a birthday party anyways. Each year I've done a different food. First spaghetti, then chili, last year finger foods them TCBY, and this year grilled chicken salad bar!

We pull out the fancy table cloth and candles even though we eat on paper plates.
Obey the napkin.  Give thanks.

 

Traditional smiling picture.

Traditional eating picture.

Ice cream buffet!

Two of my favorite things: chicken salad and ice cream. We had all kinds!  Vanilla, chocolate, tcby's white chocolate mousse and Andes mint pie, pumpkin pie, an ice cream cake that Rachel brought, cool whip, and toppings!

Action shots of everyone digging in and making their own creations

I had to get some of everything.

Jessica tried to roast her marshmallows over a candle.

Miss Bailiff put me on her snapchat story. Definitely not the first or the last time this has or will happen!  I'm used to it by now.

After eating we headed downstairs to turn on the tv (as background noise basically) while I opened presents then we played a game!

I can't even say how perfect my gifts were. Pretty much everything can fall into these categories: food, faith, and running. Or a combination. 

Here are some examples:

Peppermint chocolate Luna bars

Granola and cereal

Flavored popcorn
pumpkin flavored stuff
candle
Nike spandex

Socks

A devotion book

Snoopy coloring book

Homemade cards

A Bible verse coloring book

Stickers

Nike running hat

Running belt to carry things in on my fun runs

Homemade snacks

Pretty journals for all my writing

Grace is original. And that's why we love her.

 

 

>>Now on to the Christmas gifts that make my heart smile!   

The first gift of this year came from the teacher of the class I peer tutor, which was a total surprise!  Chocolate truffles. Yum. 

Julia, my little sister in sub debs and the girl I got to drive to practice every afternoon, caught on to my love for Christmas and socks!

Emily got me several great things that fit my tastes, literally and figuratively, but this one is perfect.

More journals!  And this one is so beautiful!  I love just looking at it!  This and some new colorful pens are from my secret sister, who is still unknown to me right now. Thank you so much if you are reading this!

Chantal and Cherie have always been about the best gift-givers of all my friends. This isn't all they got me, but these two things are the core!  Combine Christmas, pugs, Peanuts, and you have my heart right there. 

Another winning combo they included: coffee chocolate. (And some other yummy snacks)

Grace is so creative with her gifts, too!  I mean, check out what she made for me last year for my birthday!

Christmas joy is, well, Christmas joy!

This one was a total surprise!  It came in the mail from a friend I have made through running just in the past year. Niamh is going to be a superstar!  She still has another year in high school, so I can't wait to see how she does. I'm so thankful for her friendship, prayers, and encouragement. Even in the short time that we've known each other, she got me a winner: dark chocolate and scripture!

I also have the best neighbors.  They've been there ever since my dad bought the house before he even met my mom, and they are like family to me.  I literally consider them my grandparents.  They've always gotten me birthday and Christmas gifts, and great ones, too!  Just today I was surprised with a giftcard.  They've always taken care of me!

The friends that I've made through running hold a special place into heart. We can understand things that other people just can't. We can talk about things that are just awkward for others but totally normal and amusing for us. God has really worked in my heart over the past year, and I've become really sentimental!  I have developed a deeper love and appreciation for my friends/family and all the times we have. This has been the best year of my life, and I just want to keep all these memories forever!  God has blessed me with more than I could ever imagine, and I definitely do not deserve it. But that's grace. God's gracious gifts are everywhere. I'm so glad that He has opened my mind and heart to see more and more of how He is working in my life each and every day. Each person in my life is there for a reason, and I'm so glad that each one is here. There is still a few months left in Morristown with these folks before I'm off to college, but these bonds will outlast the distance.