Writer Wednesday Book Review: Jesus>Religion by Jefferson Bethke

I just stopped crying. It's a long story but it all started with one simple question from my sister in a not-so-nice tone of voice, What work do you have to do?

I've struggled for years with a fear of not being good enough. Recently, it's been magnified by the relationship with my family. Like I said in my last blog, they treat me as if my work doesn't matter, doesn't count for anything at all because most of the stuff I do, I do for free.

This isn't going to be a blog about all that I do because this blog isn't about me. Like I said, this blog is a review of the book, Jesus > Religion by Jefferson Bethke.

I've always struggled with the fear of not being good enough. Not good enough to my family because I don't have a paying job, not good enough for a guy because I have high standards that include not giving everything away on the first date, not good enough for a job because I've already spent eleven months without a part-time job and still haven't been offered or hired by one since my skill set for a normal job is a bit lacking in the conventional sense of the word. Not good enough for people who decided to walk out of my life or stop making an effort in our friendship. Not good enough for social media because my selfies never get retweeted.

Jefferson Bethke is one creative follower of Jesus I greatly admire and knew that his book would not disappoint. This book made me cry multiple times because with each page, I came closer and closer to leaving a religious mindset behind and came face to face with the real Jesus.

The Jesus who doesn't want what we do but just wants you. According to Bethke, in order to meet Jesus, we have to stop trying to be good enough and just go to him as we are: "I had a feeling of utter quiet and peace. I din't hear those words in my ears, but felt them whispered into the depths of my bones. Immediately, relief and the epiphany that I hadn't surprised God rushed over me. I hadn't caught him off guard. When Jesus went to the cross, he saw all I'll ever be, all I'll ever do, and all I'll ever want outside of him; but he joyfully came and got me. He looked down and said, "I want that one."

Bethke even talks about how there should be no major separation between sacred and secular anymore because everything that God created in this earth is good. (Genesis 1). Therefore, there should be no reason that a Christian always must listen to Christian music or only a select group of secular songs. Everything in art, politics, food, animals, plants, and trees are all good in and of themselves.

Everything we do can be done for the glory of God. It can be anything from writing blogs, making videos, doing PR work, cooking, cleaning, working on cars, being a CNA, being a singer, and even writing stories. All these jobs matter to God. The only thing we must take into consideration is that we shine with a borrowed light that is meant to be a beacon pointing the way back to Jesus and God. For example, Bethke points out that even the moon shines with borrowed brightness.

I'm so grateful that I have Jesus because he sees all that I do and doesn't ever remind me of something else I need to do for him in order to be happy with me, he just loves me. He just pursues me. He just comes and sits with me just the way I am: a creative chick with a destiny for greatness. The only reason I am able to do these things is because all talents come from God. And I'm so grateful for mine, and even more grateful for the fact that no talent is greater than any other. Every talent is a beacon of light pointing back to the Maker of Talents, the Great and Powerful One.

So please check out Jesus>Religion by Jefferson Bethke. It's not at all a waste of your time or like any other Jesus book I've read. If I had to liken it to anything, it's like a letter from an old friend that arrives just in time. One that reads:

I see you.
You matter to me.
I believe in you.
Don't give up.
I love you.

Until next time, remember:" I may not be as tall, as tan, or as talented as someone else, but that's okay. Nobody will ever be a better me. I'm anointed to be me. I'm equipped to be me. Not only that, it's also easy to be me."-Joel Osteen. Be You, Ladies and Gents. Jesus wants you to know that by being YOU, he calls you fearfully and wonderfully made.

Love Times Infinity,

Chelsea

xoxo

God Bless!

~Just Keep Swimming~

Writer Wednesday: What It Really Means To Be A Writer

Ok, so here I sit; Starring out at the sun halfway set glinting off the water in my pool, the sounds of nature really speaking to me. It's a weird concept to think about but really does anyone truly know what it's like to live the writer life. I thought, who better to talk about the writer life, than me, a writer.

Being a writer is the greatest job in the world. Half the time, I could be writing this naked and you wouldn't even know. I just made this awkward. I'm sorry. Let me rephrase that. Nine times out of ten, I write these things in the bummiest clothes I own. My spellcheck just said that bummiest wasn't a word so I added it to my computer's dictionary.

Yet, it's the most misunderstood job and the hardest to endure. Why? Because everyone assumes that when a writer is "writing," they are surfing the web, staring off into space, or in my dad's case, looking at porn. I have no personal comment on the third idea but the first two I darn well know I'm guilty of. And the saddest part of the matter is that a lot of young people today don't even read anymore. Apparently, the only thing they read is their social media newsfeed so if you are irrelevant by social media standards, you are irrelevant in their eyes, period.

For example, my family has always misunderstood me when I announced at the age of fourteen that I wanted to be a writer professionally. I heard things like:

There's no money in writing.
You can't just be a writer.
Does that mean you can write all my school papers for me free of charge?

Yet, these things didn't stop me. I've known since I was a young fourteen that writing was going to be the key to my greater destiny, my calling, the job where I could go everyday doing what I love and it would never feel like work.

The problem with the writer life is that, although it seems like a magic act, the job is an incredible amount of hard work and study. Since my creative writing class my freshman year of high school, I have studied the craft because I still don't believe I'm the best writer out there. One day, I will be. And no, it won't be when my book becomes a NYT best-seller. I will consider myself the best at my craft when people stop treating me like being a writer isn't my job.

Sure, my writing hasn't all been published yet or made millions but hey, I'm well on my way. Don't ever throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Every time I sit down to write, I get this feeling of intense butterflies, and if it's a good day of writing, the words just flow, and before I know it, I've written 2000 words.

Yet, the scary part about being a writer is not the writing part at all, but the revision part.

For example, the memoir that I'm currently writing is the most personal piece of writing I've ever worked on yet I constantly am nagged by an inner voice that it's not good enough.

I've let some trusted writing friends and non-writing friends read it through, and I just finished the first draft editing. I ended up cutting a good seven to eight thousand words out of the whole thing.
Granted, my current word count the last time I worked on it was over 67,000 but still, the scary part of writing is getting feedback on your work.

In a recent interview with the Writer Magazine, Ladette Randolph, author of  Leaving the Pink House, a memoir, states that she has "only three enemies: self-pity, false guilt and fear."

I don't always have all the answers but writing is how I make sense of the world. I feel better expressing my thoughts, feelings, and emotions with the world, even if later, I end up getting rejected for those same thoughts, feelings, and emotions. I guess all I can say about being a writer is that writing choose me, I never chose writing. Besides that, I've faced so much rejection in my personal life I guess I owe it to myself to stare rejection in the face on a daily basis and say, No matter what or who approves of my job title, I'm not giving up until one person has their life changed by the words that I write. 

You know what I mean? It's the same reason people save their books from their childhood because those words grabbed them by the shirt collar and spoke to the inner parts of their soul, and at the same time, sung them a lullaby. If, like me, the child suffered socially, then those characters in those books, such as Nancy Drew, Laura Ingalls, or even Peter Hatcher became the friends they wanted so badly to have every day at school in real life.

Now that I'm an adult, people are a little less judgmental in the sense that they judge you because you prefer books over partying. I've found a good group of people who are also word lovers.

Another aspect of every good writer's job is going on random adventures. Last week, the reason there was no blog post was because I was out with my sisters on the open road. To see more of our shenanigans, please Click here.

The day after the road trip, in all spring break spirit, I hit up the beach for a few hours with my sister so I could get a little Vitamin D.

This past weekend I went to see Boys Like Girls in concert so basically I think it is absolutely important for a writer to have a plethora of different experiences in order to write about this thing called life in a natural flowing way.

In essence, writing is much like the red cardinal that was peaking in at me through the screen cage on my patio. As a writer, I become the red cardinal, looking in on the world, and seeing it from multiple angles. The trick is to use just the right words to infuse atmosphere into the story or piece I'm creating; all while keeping my trademark tone of voice that I believe I bring to each and every fetus that is conceived within the confines of my mind and imagination.

Next time you see a writer, please remember to thank them for what they do, no matter if you understand it because one day, you may find yourself in need of the words they arrange like a symphony of sounds on a blank page.

Until next time, remember: "Try to be more yourself, not less yourself. It's a very hard thing to do. I don't want to apologize for being a dorky, nerdy, offbeat person. I'm not looking for the broad path. I'm looking for my path." - Ladette Randolph

Love Times Infinity,

Chelsea

xoxo

God Bless!

~Just Keep Swimming~

The Joy in Having an Adventurous Spirit

I've recently discovered a dilemma. You see, I really wanted to go to Tampa Pro this year. Why? Well, Tampa Pro is the best skateboard contest I've ever been to. And I say that completely biased but it really is. The sights, the sounds, the smells. It's a skateboard contest that is a thriving atmosphere for inspiring a literary artist like myself. The actual sound of a skateboard's wheels coasting on concrete or wood is music to my ears. Yet, the dilemma I'm facing is not my passion for attending this year's Tampa Pro, but the fact that I have no adventurous friend who wants to attend with me. 

I don't really know why I thought this year would be any different. Over the past two years, I've cut a lot of people out of my life. Yet, this year, I posted a status on social media asking if anyone wanted to go and shockingly, no one wanted to join me. They either already had plans or they just don't care for skateboarding. 

Now I'm not posting this blog in hopes that someone will volunteer to join me. I am even willing to go alone just because I love being at the Skatepark of Tampa during Tampa Pro weekend. It's so colorful, vibrant, exotic. It feels like my home away from home for me.

I even talked to God about it and when I prayed, "I don't know what to do, Lord." He spoke to me through my daily Bible reading:

And with that simple statement, I've let it go. There's always next year, right? :) Plus, I can still watch it in my pjs from home on StreetLeague.com so it's not the end of the world.

Yet, the reason I share this with all of you today is not because I want you to feel bad for me, or feel obliged to take me to the live event, I share this information because I don't entirely need to go to Tampa Pro to feel that as a writer, I've had my little adventure to experience life in order to write about life more naturally. The point I'm about to make is that life with Jesus is always an adventure.

For example, yesterday was National Pancake Day:

My family and I headed out a little after 11 o'clock to get our free short stack of pancakes from IHOP. Because I had trouble sleeping the night before, my dad offered to buy us a pot of coffee for the table. I thought that was really nice of him considering a pot of coffee at IHOP is now almost $3 a person. 

We walked into IHOP to find a slew of people, both waiting outside the restaurant and within the waiting area. Wearing my pink shorts and an old t-shirt claiming "I brought sexy back," I was struggling to even be awake despite that it was near the middle of the day. Once seated, we enjoyed our pancakes and coffee, and donated to the Children's Miracle Network, and left. I thought we were going to head home after that.  I was in for a big surprise.

  

 Every time I go out with my family, it's "the stops" that stop me from going out with them again. haha. Yesterday was no exception. After IHOP, Dad asked that we make a quick stop within the garden section of K-Mart so we hopped in the car, and headed next door to K-Mart to go look at the flowers. Then, one of Jayde's friends wanted to use her Iphone charger and his phone was about to die while he was busy working, so then there was that stop. Mom then announced we needed to drop some books off at the library and she had to pick up pool chemicals at the pool store. Then, I ended up with another set of books. How does anyone walk into the library or even a bookstore, and not a get a book? :

Before we stopped home and got my sister's charger, we picked up the pool chemicals. While her friend charged his phone, we stopped at the mall so she could get her eyebrows threaded. Then, went back to Steak N' Shake and picked up her charger. 

After all this, we headed home because it was time for lunch.

I asked God for an adventure and he provided one, free of charge. God is so merciful.

This got me thinking, what other adventures would I love to have:

1. I'd love to visit NYC, San Clemente, CA, and Los Angeles for a week at a time.

2. I'd love to just drive and end up sightseeing.

3. I heard there's a cruise that just sails around the world. That sounds interesting. 

4. I want to travel and see every site I studied while minoring in IHT (International Hospitality and Tourism). 

Until next time, remember: To live will be an awfully big adventure. -Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie)

Love Times Infinity,

Chelsea

xoxo

God Bless!

~Just Keep Swimming~

Day 30: Write a letter to your future mate saying whatever you want to say

Happiness is a form of courage..This is it. The post you've all been waiting for. The final 30 day blog challenge post. I never did it last year when I did this challenge because I was still in the process of getting over someone who was not even living up to the standards I'm about to set with this letter. Why did I wait? Mostly because I'm a little afraid of putting this out there. It may scare a huge amount of guys away...but I guess, the ones that are left standing are the ones worth taking a good look at. Without further ado, here goes everything I have wanted to say for so long:

Dear Future Husband,

Just those three words have triggered the memory of the melody of a popular song by someone who isn't afraid to lay down the law when it comes to men, Ms. Meghan Trainor.

Yet, I'm not here to talk about her today. I'm here to talk about me, and you, Mr. Mystery. A guy I may have met or have yet to meet who I will one day marry.

With that word, many guys will have exited this window, and found themselves clicking onto Instagram or Facebook looking for pictures of scantily clad women.

Being that you are still here reading this, you've shown some great potential. And now I can trust to share what's really on my mind.....




Dear Future Husband,

Thanks for sticking around this long.

I don't know where to start really because no one has stuck around this long before.

Hi, My name is Chelsea DeVries. I don't know if you've had a chance to look around this blog, or you've been to this blog before, but I'm a writer. Words mean the world to me.

Matter of fact, I had to read a book once for a class I didn't really want to take in college but it was about the language of love and there are five specific ones. You'll have to read the book to know them all but mine turned out to be a big surprise: words of affirmation and quality time.

This means I like when people encourage me with their words and give me their time. Quality time doesn't just mean they spend five seconds listening to me talk and then tune me out for something more interesting...Quality time means that the person looks me in the eyes and listens to what I have to say genuinely. The right way to love me, according to this book, is offering me encouraging, heartfelt words and making me feel that what I have to say is of value. I'd say that  I have to say should and does matter to me, and I hope that it makes a difference for anyone that reads what I write.

Since I know that it's already a lot for you to read this all the way through, I'll save you a little work. If you want to know your own love language, Click here now.

Anyway. I'm a writer because when I was younger and growing up, I was always a shy, soft-spoken child. I became this way because I always had a sunny demeanor on life, and naturally, my peers saw it as a threat, so they bullied me. Which caused me to feel as though if I spoke too loud, I may get stopped, pushed down, yelled at, argued with, rejected, left without a friend.

Needless to say, I've got a lot of trust issues. I've overcome a lot of the bullying and learned that being true to myself is the only way I'm going to stay happy, and I've decided to be the bold, fearless young woman I always knew I could be, and over the past two years, I've learned how to love that person in a healthy way. Writing is the only way I've ever gotten people to pay attention.

Therefore, now that you're here this long, I'm guessing you think you can handle me despite what I've faced in my past and that's a really good sign.

Yet, I'm going to need someone who understands the following:

I'm always going to love Jesus more than you. He was the first man I ever met in this life that died in pursuit of my love. I'd say that takes the cake. Now, of course, I don't want you to die for me to prove that you are worthy of my love. I just want you to be willing to do anything for me in the same way Jesus died for me, thinking of me the entire time.

I love dogs more than people. I love people; yet dogs have always loved me for me. They've never left in search of anyone better, betrayed me, or intentionally hurt me in any way.  My best friend is in fact a dog. If you don't love Jesus or dogs, now is the time to walk out. We have no future if you don't love either.

Now that this is settled, and you are still here, I'm really intrigued. There may be something happening here that is greater than the both of us.

I'm a Leo so I'm going to have my moments of serious pride, and I'm going to lose my temper too quickly at times.

If you can't handle my sass, then you don't deserve my ass. lol. I don't know if anyone has ever said that, but I just did. What what?!

I'm not going to list a bunch of dealbreakers because as much as I believe in setting standards, relationships develop more genuinely if you don't start them by saying things like:

No Albanians
No guys with a gap between their teeth
No guys with tattoos

This is the 21st century and we live in a society where pretty much anything goes so I don't expect you to be perfect; I just expect you to be reasonably sane and in good mental health.

It would also mean a lot if you respected the things that make me me:
a tendency to streak my hair with purple hair dye, the tendency to curse like a sailor because I don't care, and a fervent love of street skateboarding, broadway musicals, and choreographing dances to my favorite songs. Oh, and I like to practice singing different songs in the shower. It's the only place where I can find out what genres fit my voice best. I also have a tendency to tell my mom everything because I admire her so much.

Now that you've been debriefed, and in all honesty, let me just say thanks for reading this. I was really quite nervous writing this. I mean it. Ask my family. I had a spontaneous rash appear on my neck while I was writing this. #AwkwardTimesforaRash

I cannot wait to meet you. Or reunite with you. You, young handsome man who loves Jesus and dogs, and one day hopefully me.

Until we meet again, I'll be singing this song loud everywhere I go

Love,
Chelsea
xoxo
~Just Keep Swimming~

Lyrics from Meghan Trainor's song, Dear Future Husband❤

Dear future husband,
Here's a few things
You'll need to know if you wanna be
My one and only all my life

Take me on a date
I deserve it, babe
And don't forget the flowers every anniversary
'Cause if you'll treat me right
I'll be the perfect wife
Buying groceries
Buy-buying what you need

You got that 9 to 5
But, baby, so do I
So don't be thinking I'll be home and baking apple pies
I never learned to cook
But I can write a hook
Sing along with me
Sing-sing along with me (hey)

You gotta know how to treat me like a lady
Even when I'm acting crazy
Tell me everything's alright

Dear future husband,
Here's a few things you'll need to know if you wanna be
My one and only all my life
Dear future husband,
If you wanna get that special lovin'
Tell me I'm beautiful each and every night

After every fight
Just apologize
And maybe then I'll let you try and rock my body right
Even if I was wrong
You know I'm never wrong
Why disagree?
Why, why disagree?

You gotta know how to treat me like a lady
Even when I'm acting crazy
Tell me everything's alright

Dear future husband,
Here's a few things
You'll need to know if you wanna be
My one and only all my life (hey, baby)
Dear future husband,
Make time for me
Don't leave me lonely
And know we'll never see your family more than mine

I'll be sleeping on the left side of the bed (hey)
Open doors for me and you might get some kisses
Don't have a dirty mind
Just be a classy guy
Buy me a ring
Buy-buy me a ring, (babe)

You gotta know how to treat me like a lady
Even when I'm acting crazy
Tell me everything's alright

Dear future husband,
Here's a few things
You'll need to know if you wanna be
My one and only all my life
Dear future husband,
If you wanna get that special loving
Tell me I'm beautiful each and every night

Future husband, better love me right

Love in Hot Pursuit: A Valentine's Day Tale

Happiness is a form of courage...Recently, I took a social media cleanse. I did because well, I was going through some stuff within my family that I didn't want to share with the world. I'm basically training myself how to be a better PR professional. Celebrities rarely take to Twitter to post tweets about different people they aren't particular fond of at the moment because that's petty and immature. It took me awhile to learn that basically anyone can see what I post online and it could resurface anytime, so I'm careful now with what I post.

     Anyway, the first day of my social media cleanse. I watched a well-known movie. The movie I watched:

Most everyone young and old knows the story but this time, I wasn't watching the movie for the parts I always loved since I was little. Sure, I sang along to my favorite song A dream is a wish your heart makes but I realized something profound.

Cinderella may have been a servant girl but she never saw herself as a servant. And no matter how absolutely evil her "family members" (her stepmother and stepsisters) were to her, she killed them with kindness. As much as she could have sassed them out, (we all know Cinderella could have told them to sit the heck down and shut up), Cinderella kept quiet and had this silent confidence that shown through when she met the prince. 

The greatest thing about her meeting the prince was that when she walked into the ball, she just wanted to dance. She never even focused on meeting the prince. She was just there to have a good time. She was living in the moment. Not at all looking for the prince to sweep her off her feet and expect that after that happened, she would think about being happy. No, no matter if she met the prince or not, she was just happy to be there. Ladies, did you hear me? Prince or no prince, She chose happiness.

Then, after she meets the prince, and they float across the dance floor to "This Is Love," midnight strikes, and she loses her glass slipper. Instead of being a total diva about it, she nonchalantly just leaves the party. Doesn't ask for the prince's number or Twitter handle. She just leaves because she came happy, she's going to leave happy. Did you catch that? Her happiness had to do with her, not the prince. What a concept, am I right?

The prince ends up literally breaking every royal law in hot pursuit of finding the girl who lost her glass slipper. The prince didn't fall in love with her because she wore glass louboutins or she was thirsty for the prince to notice her. She honestly was just herself and even though she worked as a servant girl, she knew that this was just a stepping stone to her greater destiny: being a princess♥

In the same way that Prince Charming was in hot pursuit of Cinderella from the moment she left the ball, God is in hot pursuit of me. I realized this while watching Cinderella and I realized it again over the past few weeks. His ultimate goal for me is that I know every day that he loves me. So every day, he pursues me in that love. That beautiful unmerited love that just heals all forms of hurt and pain, and every broken part of me.

Yes, it's nice that I love him but he wants me to remember above all, that He loves me unconditionally. Now, go ahead, read that next part out loud: "God Loves Me."♥

This Valentine's Day with this truth washing over me and warming me like the Florida sunshine on a cloudless day, I chose, instead of searching for people to be good to me, but opportunities to be good to others. This year, I made Valentines for strangers I didn't know. Local elderly in my area. And you know what? It was so much fun to give love to others whether or not they deserve it. And with the knowledge of God's love for me, I was able to truly love others. How profound is that?

Until next time and this Valentine's Day, remember: You are loved and you matter!

Love Times Infinity,

Chelsea

xoxo

God Bless!

~Just Keep Swimming~

This Valentine's I treated myself to a new dress from Bethany Mota's spring collection only at Aeropostale. To purchase from her exclusive clothing line, visit a local Aeropostale store or visit Aeropostale.com 

New VLOG

Happiness is a form of courage...

http://youtu.be/gOkPI2FS1CM


Please be sure to bookmark www.dailyselectblog.com and stay up to date with all my articles.

Lessons Learned from a Short but Sweet Social Media Cleanse

Happiness is a form of courage... You may not know this but I'm not popular. Not in the traditional sense of the word. The only power I have is with my words. My greatest source of influence is with this blog. Here, I surprisingly reach 200 people per post. Recently, I have been getting upset over social media. It's changed and not what it once was. Thanks to the new algorithms they started using, I feel as though hardly anyone on my social media sites can see my posts, and that includes my Tweets.

Personally, I always felt drawn to Twitter just because of the idea of reaching people you don't even know, and getting their attention with a 140 character little blurb of just the right words (and now emojis). I also loved how you could instantly tweet your fave celebs and they would reply right back. It was like a dream come true for a girl like me who loved writing fan mail letters to her fave male celebrities. Plus, I loved how on Twitter your posts were seen by everyone regardless. There was no minimum number of likes you needed or shares or comments. You just got to express yourself and somebody somewhere who either followed you or didn't would start a conversation, retweet your tweet if they agreed, and well, I always thought the favorite tweets were reserved for the really cool tweets you got back from that one celebrity you never thought would see your mention, etc.

Up until 2012, I had like 15 tweets in my favorites. Most of them were replies I got from my favorite authors or skateboarders.

Like for instance, this tweet. I was the first fan that Ryan ever replied to. (All those fan letters did aid in my favor).

Yet, now Twitter has become a competition of who can get the most retweets and favorites on each tweet. I started getting upset because my own sisters were not supporting me on social media. Then, there was the people on my TimeLine on Twitter who got like 30 favorites and 50 plus retweets per Tweet. For example, on Christmas, I was on Twitter and Ansel Elgort posted a tweet and within 7 seconds he had 617 retweets and 538 favorites. IN SEVEN SECONDS. There is no fault in them stars there. ♥

Anyway, I'm not someone who has ever begged for attention because I always leave it in God's hands and if something is meant to reach people, God will see to it that it reaches the people that need it or need to see it.

So this past Wednesday, I was fed up (once again) with social media. I also was dealing with a ton of family drama that I didn't want to vent to social media about (I'm training myself on being a better PR professional). My social media cleanse would include all social media (Facebook, Twitter, and I couldn't even stalk my fave celebrities instagrams). It went from Wednesday January 21 at noon to Monday January 26 at noon.

Surprisingly, I found that even though I wasn't posting on social media, I still heard from people. People even sent me texts to check up on me. It was incredibly wonderful. Yet, I learned something about myself from this whole experiment:

That and I MATTER to the world much more than RTs, Faves, Likes, Comments, or Algorithms can define. 

Albert Einstein once said, "Don't strive to be a success; strive to be of value."♥ 

As much as I would love to have my phone explode because my Tweets literally shut down Twitter, or to get that blue check mark that means you are Twitter Verified, I like me and my social media the way it is. I mean, I use it to connect with people. Not to market myself first, to become famous, or even to make money. Those are nice ideas but they don't impress me. My life goal is and always has been to be an inspiration to young people everywhere and to connect with people on a personal level. So yeah, I may tweet about personal matters sometimes but that is because it keeps me aware that at the end of the day, I may have accomplished a lot of REALLY AMAZING, GREAT things so far in my life but I'm still ordinary Chelsea. And I don't ever want to change that no matter who verifies me or chooses to support me.♥

Some people you just have to follow on Twitter have some wise words I love seeing in my Twitter Timeline:

Follow her at @MissMandyHale on Twitter

Follow her at @Emitoms

Mandy Hale aka @TheSingleWoman recently posted a short blog on comparing your life with others.

Lastly, do I think this blog will make me popular? Maybe, maybe not. The truth is I had fun writing it and I'm just happy I have a place to share my thoughts with those who care enough to read them. 

Emily Thomas just tweeted something that I think concludes this blog rather nicely:

Until next time, remember: "Jesus made himself of no reputation...We all want to be well thought of but to be free, you have to be you." -Joyce Meyer♥

Love Times Infinity,

Chelsea 

xoxo

God Bless!

~Just Keep Swimming~