The Blessing of Temptation

If you can't discipline yourself, you will ALWAYS struggle to stop yourself.

"Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death." -James 1:14-15

Hannah Belle turns 4!! :)

Hannah walking that runway!

Mandi and Aunt Pam

Me and Chad; Our tradition!


Me and Mandi of course :)

We had so much fun at Flips Gymnastics! And the cake and cupcakes that my mom made were delicious! I stole a lot of them before the party too! haha

It was a great success for my mom! ;) lol

Never stop praying.

I came across this tonight when I opened my Bible to 1 Thessalonians.

"Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Just thought I'd share that with you. God was obviously trying to encourage me tonight :)

Just thought I'd do the same!

"Unbreakable"

A few weeks ago I went to Michaels and bought a new sketchbook and this is my first drawing I did.

It's called Unbreakable.

I was feeling inspired to draw something with meaning and to me trees have so much meaning. They're so huge and great and if they could talk just imagine all the stories they could tell us.

Trees are kind of a reflection on our lives in a way. They've seen so much and been through so many storms, and sometimes a branch may fall off, but until they're cut down for good they stand strong in all they're beauty. There are so many ways to draw trees so many different trees to draw but I chose this and the colors because usually when people draw things they want to make it beautiful and bright, but that's not reality. Things aren't always beautiful and bright, but we get through it no matter what with the help of God.

And with God in our lives we're Unbreakable :)

Gotta love my mom...

So on Friday after work my mom told me I needed to clean my bath tub... Which didn't make me very happy. To be honest I don't like to clean and I have to do enough of it at work ugh... BUT this she made me do.

AND as you can see she thought it would be so funny to take a picture of the torture she was putting me through and she threatened to send it to everyone in her phone if I didn't finish the whole tub...

But afterwards it seemed pretty funny and now that I'm over it I decided to show the world :)

Haha

Beautiful

I'm in love with this song and I just wanted to share it with everyone else.

It sends a strong message about how God makes everyones life so much more beautiful than it would be if you're without Him.

Enjoy :)

Long time no blogging :)

WOW, I haven't blogged in over 4 months!!
Well I'm back, and I'm sure you'll get tired of me sooner or later :)
I have a lot to share with the world about what God has been doing in my life so as always ENJOY!

Summer is here and I found a great job working at the wonderful Applebees here in good ol' Waco, Texas. It's fun and I'm a people person so I love being there. Going off topic a little bit, over the past couple months I went to school for criminal justice just to try it out and see if that's what I wanted to do, but I decided it's not. God gave me the talent of singing and I'm going to continue to pursue that dream.

I had the pleasure of talking to the Pastor of the New Beginnings Church that my lovely mom attends, and he said they are looking for a worship leader for the youth, so I am definitely praying about that and if you don't mind go ahead and pray too! I need the prayers!

Also I've been listening to Preston Morrisons online podcasts, for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, he's the Pastor of the Gateway Church in Dallas, TX. The podcasts are from a little service for college students and new married couples and it's called Seven. Let me just say this, it's amazing. He's one of the best speakers you'll ever listen to. You can find the podcasts on itunes if you want to look it up. It's life changing!

Hope you guys enjoy my blog :)

-If you MUST understand what you CAN'T understand will always kill your progress-

XOXO - Torry

Something to think about...

I make A LOT of mistakes... and in the past I've made some mistakes that I thought would be unforgivable... My mom is very religious and spiritual, and no matter what she always influences me to do the right thing.

I guess what I'm trying to say is Thank God for forgiveness.

And the reason I wanted to share this with you is because this video that you're about to watch kinda made an impact on me this morning... I just came across it somehow and these things dont just happen, it meant something :)




Isaiah 1:18 – “No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as sand.”

PINK TOWELS!

My sister Tosha and I went shopping around today and she wanted to go in Burlingtons and we came across hot pink towels FINALLY!! Unfortunately they didn't have the whole bathroom set like the rugs and stuff to go with it but I think it looks great! The rugs we have are black but black goes with anything so it looks really good. I just had to blog about it because I was so excited to finally find pink towels! The bathroom is finally done and we finally got the beautiful magazine rack on the wall! Let me know what you think!

-MUCH LOVE! <3

Looking Back (2009)

In my life 2009 was a year of loss. That doesn't mean it was all bad, but life has its ups and downs. I brought in the new year with a new relationship and spent the next 4 months being in love, which is always amazing. My high school experience came to an end and so did my perfect relationship and everything else I thought was wonderful in my life. My sisters and I lost a grandmother, and my mom lost the magic in having her own mom. It was one of the most difficult times in my family's life.

When summer came I tried to spend as much time with my friends as I possibly could because I knew I would be going back and forth from Abilene to Waco most of the time. Eventually my friends and I had to say our goodbyes and start to college. At first it was a great experience moving into an apartment with my best friend but it didn't last.

I personally went through a rough time in my life which led to me dropping my classes and figuring out what my heart really wanted. It wasn't an easy time for me, there was a lot of pain involved and I was struggling to make the right decisions. Of course my family took it hard because I am the last child and they want me to succeed and do things the right way, but everyones life is different, and with them not knowing what I was going through made it hard for everyone to understand. (Some people reading this blog may want to ask me about this time in my life, and I'm really not comfortable talking about it at all so I ask that you PLEASE respect my own personal privacy and just don't ask. What I've already said is the most info I want to give.)

Everyone goes through life not wanting to have regrets, but deep down everyone has their own. I look back on everything that has happened in my life this past year and yes there are some things I now wish I could take back, but as Robert Frost says, "In THREE WORDS I can sum up everything I've learned about life: IT GOES ON." So my biggest New Years Resolution is to live in the moment, soak up every amazing thing going on around me, and to remember that life really does go on.

I'm finally at a point in my life where I'm at peace with the choices I've made in the past and I'm ready for what's to come in the future. Family hasn't always been the most important thing in my life but now I'm so thankful I'm closer to my family and we're all together, and I know no matter what happens my family will always be there for me and we will always have each other.

"Life isn't measured by how many breaths you take,

it's measured by how many moments take your breath away."

BRING ON 2010!

NYE! :)

I was SO happy that I made the decision to stay in Waco and bring in the new year with family. I was kinda sad that my mom had to work and was sick so she couldn't spend new years with us.

(Mandi it won't let me comment on your blog or I would. Thanks for the pic!)

We had so much fun playing Whoonu and Pictionary, drinking champaign and throwing streamers haha, I was very happy being with my family and friends :)