South Carolina!

I'm baaack! I honestly forgot that I even had a blog :/ I really thought i'd use this a lot more! Haha. I thought that since it has been so long, I would try and catch everyone up (all 12 of my followers lol) on what has been going on in my life in the past 6 or so months. 

I currently live in North Augusta, South Carolina. I am attending Victory Baptist College and am truly having the time of my life learning about ministry and growing in the Lord! I've had my ups and downs here just like I would have anywhere else, but God has been so good to me. I am about 20 hours from my home and family and Kansas, and it's definitely a weird feeling not being able to just drive home for a weekend like so many other students can do. I've faced some discouragement while trying to find a job. I've had a handful of interviews and most of the employers were not able or willing to work with my schedule. But God is faithful and has provided all that I need! I see a job on the horizon and am looking forward to seeing the Lord work it out :) I go to Victory Baptist Church and it is probably the most exciting church i've ever been in! There really is no way to describe it, you'll just have to visit ;) 

It wasn't in my plans to be here for college, but i'm sure glad I listened to the Lord and walked through the open door that He revealed to me. He often times takes us in directions that we don't expect, but I have realized that that is what makes life exciting! Scary? Yes. But i'm learning to hold His hand and trust His heart when I can't see what's ahead. When He leads the way, it will all turn out how it is supposed to turn out! All we have to do is just follow Him in faith. 

I'll try my best to keep everyone posted on what happens around here. You are sure to get some good laughs when you hear what goes on in my crazy life! Have a great day! :) 

Wow! I haven't posted anything in SO long. I don't know why, either! But i'm doing it right now so that's all that matters. ;) I just wanted to share with everyone something that God brought to my mind as I was in the Word last night. I started reading through the gospels a few weeks ago and last night, I go to the end of Matthew. I read Matthew 27 and 28, which talk about Jesus' crucifixion. In chapter 26 and 27, I was reading about all that Jesus suffered through before He was even on the cross. The Bible talks about how the soldier's stripped Him and put a crown of thorns on His head. They mocked Him and spit on Him and the Bible says that they smoke Him which means they struck Him. As I was reading this, God took me back in my own mind to a few weeks ago when I was out witnessing downtown with my college class from Broadway.
One of my friends and I were sitting in the square, sharing the Gospel to a guy and his girlfriend. About 10 feet away from me, another one of my friends was witnessing to a man that was from Kenya, Africa. He barely spoke any English, and he was drunk and homeless. I was just sitting there, watching my friend share the Gospel with him, when all of the sudden, this random guy comes up to the man from Africa, accuses him of taking his hat, and then punches him right in the face and knocks him to the ground! There were a few other guys around that were laughing at what had just happened and making fun of the man that had just gotten punched. Automatically, my heart broke for him. I was also instantly angry at the man that punched him in the face! I wanted to like stand up and say, "Are you kidding me??!!" He had done nothing to them and they hurt him and laughed at him and made fun of him. Tears were forming in my eyes and my heart sank because there was nothing I could do.I would've probably gotten punched in the face too if I tried anything lol. I'll never forget how bad it made me feel to watch somebody get hurt like that. I can still feel the same emotions I felt that night when I replay that scenario in my head.
Like I said, as I was reading, God brought that memory of the man downtown into my mind. And then He drew my attention back to the story about His Son. He caused me to think about the fact that the same thing happened to Him. Cruel and angry men hit my Jesus in the face and punched Him and beat Him and hurt Him. And He had done nothing to them. That thought, that image in my head of Jesus going through all of that, broke my heart. But then I thought of something else. He went through all of that for ME. He was being beaten and mocked because of Amie Leigh Schroder. With every hit He willingly took, I was on His mind. It was my sin that caused Him to endure all of that. It was my sin that nailed Him to the cross. And after that thought, my heart shattered. He willingly bore my sin and my guilt and my shame on His shoulders, even though He knew that I would spit in His face and reject Him and mock Him. Not only did He take my sin upon Himself, but He took my sorrows and my grief. (Isaiah 53:4-5) Every hard thing that i've ever had to face in life and will ever have to face, He already faced it for me. He already endured if for me so that He could walk through it with me.
I wasn't doing an in depth study in the Word last night, I was just simply reading. But it's amazing how easily I forget who I really am, and what God has done for me. I am humbled and amazed that Jesus knows how filthy my life is and how wicked my heart is, yet still looks at me with mercy and compassion in His eyes. Just like the song says, He looked beyond my fault and saw my need. He knew I needed someone to rescue my lost soul, and that's why He sent His Son. I was and still am unworthy, but to Him, I was worth it. What a thought. He not only did that for me, but He did it for you, too. He suffered it all....because He loved me.
- Amie

Just a Thought :D

This year is flying by! In just a few weeks, i'll be 19 years old :) I never thought i'd see the day that I would be able to use the phrase, "Back when I was in high school..." in a conversation. I never thought i'd see the day that i'd be buying my own groceries and cleaning my own apartment. I never thought i'd see the day that my friends that are my age would be about to get married or engaged or having kids! It always felt like those times in life were so far away, but now they are here and I find myself wishing time would slow down a little bit. Since I was in like middle school, I wanted to be 18 so bad! I wanted to be on my own and independent. But now that i'm at this point in life, I find myself wishing I was just a kid again. I'm excited for the things that are ahead in life, but I also miss the things that are now behind me. Life is changing so quickly, and i'm having a hard time keeping up with it all! In July, my sister will turn 22 and will also be moving to Lima, Peru to be a missionary for 2 years. Talk about a HUGE life change for her, and for me! I've had a great time living with her this year. We haven't killed each other yet ;) And my little brother, Colton...he's not so little anymore. He is turning 15 in June! I can't believe it. The other day he stood up for a kid that was getting literally beat up at the YMCA. Colton threw the guys that were hurting the kid off of him and helped him up. My heart was so proud of him :) all the wrestling and fighting we have done all these years has paid off! He'll be a sophomore next year and he is one of the greatest guys I know. And then that leaves me. Who knows where i'll be next year! Maybe in college, maybe not. I don't know what the Lord has for me right now but I do know and trust that He will show me exactly where He wants me and open all the right doors at the right time. I'm just rambling today but I just want to encourage anyone reading this to enjoy TODAY. Don't wish for tomorrow, for it is not guaranteed. Love your friends and family with all of your heart and enjoy each minute, second and hour that God gives you, no matter what you are doing or where you are at in life :)

THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.

Wow, it's been almost a month since i've posted something! I have literally tried to write a new post like 3 different times but every time I started to type, my mind would go blank. And so would the computer screen because I would delete everything that I started to type. I don't know why I couldn't put anything together! BUT, tonight I read a new blog posted by a friend and I knew exactly what I needed to write about!  (You're my inspiration, Reece lol) I want to tell you all about THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.
The best day of my life was June 15th, 2010. That is the day that I stopped rejecting the Lord. For years, He had lovingly told me to let Him come inside of my heart, to REALLY let Him in, and for years, I ignored Him. But the moment that I said yes to Jesus, He broke through all the chains of sin that had me bound and burst through the door of my heart. He had waited for that moment for years, the moment that I finally let Him come into my heart of hearts and change me from the inside out. I'll never forget that day.
I sat before a campfire, my sin filled heart pounding wildly in my chest. I had just heard a message at teen camp about hell, and feeling the heat on my face from the fire that was before me made the reality of it come to life. I had doubted my salvation for years, but I didn't want to admit that. Wasn't the prayer that I prayed when I was five years old good enough? What will people think of me if I admit that I don't think i'm really saved? These kinds of questions tugged at my heart over and over and over again. And over and over again I didn't do anything about it. I tried resting in the fact that I was a good person and I didn't really sin "that much."
But on this starry June night in 2010, in front of a blazing campfire, I admitted to myself for the first time that if I died in that very moment, I was going to go straight to hell. The moment that I admitted that was the moment that I realized how truly wicked and sinful that my heart really was, and how badly I needed Jesus to save me and rescue me. I realized that I needed Him and Him alone. It didn't matter how good of a Christian that I claimed to be and that I desired to do right and be a Godly girl. What mattered is that I couldn't be the person that I should be unless I had Jesus living inside of me.
After the campfire that night, I made my way down to the place at the church camp where my Pastor and his wife were staying. They were already getting ready for bed, but I walked into the room and said,  "I need to get saved!" They kneeled with me by the side of their bed and that is when I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I admitted that I realized I was a sinner and asked for His forgiveness. I told Him that I believed in what He did for me on the cross and that I wanted Him to come into my heart and life. He came in my heart that day and He is still there and always will be.
I have had a lot of great days in my life, but no day will ever beat that one. Jesus cleansed me from my sin with His precious blood. He took my sin upon Himself and took the punishment that I deserve. It will forever blow my mind that He died for ME. I am nothing. I am nobody. Why, oh why, would He die for somebody like me? Because...He loved me.

Introduction :)

Sometimes, it’s been hard for me to understand why God has allowed certain trials and situations to happen in my life. The past year and a half or so has honestly been the most challenging time of my 18 (almost 19) years on this earth! I have faced things that I never thought I would have to face. In the midst of the storms, I found myself asking God many questions and I found myself wondering where He was in the mess of it all. Looking back on all of it now, I can see His loving hand of protection around my heart and my life, even when I couldn’t understand why He was allowing the hurt. I can now answer one of the most common and bothersome questions that my heart held onto so tightly, and that question was: Why. Why did the Lord allow my heart to break, my dreams to be crushed, and my own little world to be shaken? The answer is…because He loved me. He loved me too much to let my own dreams and plans get in the way of His. He loved me too much to let me go through the rest of the year, or the rest of my life, without knowing His true character, without experiencing Him for who He really was, not just what my mind made Him up to be. He loved me too much to not show me just how personal He was, how real He wanted to be in my everyday life. All the hurt, all the trials, everything I went through, was so He could reveal His love to me in a way that I never imagined.

When I first decided to start a blog, I was obviously trying to think of a name for it, and the name "Because He Loves Me" popped into my head right away. I didn’t think it was a very good name, so I tried to come up with other ones, but that one stuck. The more I got to thinking about it, the more I realized how fitting it was. My daily life involves situations here and there that test and stretch my faith. No matter how big or small the situation is, I’m realizing more and more that everything that happens to me, happens, because He loves me. He loves me too much to leave me the way I am and that’s why I face challenges that cause me to want to change and cause me to cling to Jesus more and more. Because He Loves Me will include things that are on my heart, and reading that one sentence right then probably made you want to click the X on the top right hand corner! They may bore you to tears, Lol, but I can guarantee that I will thoroughly enjoy sharing a piece of my heart and life on here! I want to glorify and magnify the Lord in all the things that I say on this, so…here I go! Follow me if you’d like.