Hola! Thank you so so much for stopping by and allowing me to share the next season of my life with you! Here I will be sharing openly about my life and what God is doing from now until my world race journey is complete next year.
When I was thinking about this first blog and what I thought was important for you to know about me, there were two BIG things that came to mind that I feel are the core of who I am. Then there are a lot of other things that stem from the inside out. The two big things are:
First, I am down to earth and the real deal. With me, what you see is what you get. I will be honest and transparent in my feelings and what is happening. I am not perfect, and will never claim to be. But I do believe with all my heart that God is capable of using my imperfections quite perfectly. And so I pray that the things I share will be an encouragement to you. I pray that the Lord will always be the driving force and my mouthpiece and that with each word written you see Him.
Now second, though this really is the MOST important: I don't play the part of "Christian". I AM a Christian. To me what that means is I believe in who God is. I believe in what He did, what He can do, and what He will do. I know I am a sinner and need the Lord's grace and mercy EVERYday. I not only NEED Him, but WANT Him in my life and to lead me in everything I do. My life is to be lived for His service. I will go where He says and do what He wants. And as scary as that can sometimes be – I trust Him completely.
That is the core. Now for some other random tidbits about me and seeing as we have this whole theme of "11" going on. I will start by sharing 11 things about me:
I laugh…easily and A LOT! I just have a lot of joy all around
2.
I love…fiercely and devotedly
3.
I am a worshiper. I do this in many ways but believe I have a calling for musical worship
so I sing & have played a little piano & guitar in the past
4.
I have a nephew and a niece whom I love dearly and am seriously going to miss them
and my whole family while on this trip.
5.
I am 30 years old
(I will have my 31st birthday not long after departing for the World Race on Jan 10, 2014)
6.
One of my aunt's nicknamed me "Stina" when I was young.
What's funny about this nickname is that it would always resurface
no matter what new school I attended, city I lived in, or friends I made.
Most people in my life, without being told otherwise, always chose this same nickname.
"Stina" is completely acceptable 🙂
7.
I hate spiders…
and bees…
and roaches…
oh, and mosquitos.
Everything else I can handle fine.
But with these four things…
oh Lord, give me grace…
and brave teammates to rescue me from them! 🙂
8.
Boricua!
Now, though I am Puerto Rican, I have never been there,
nor do I speak much Spanish, BUT I am still very proud of my Spanish heritage.
I come from a big, loud, amazing Puerto Rican familia on both my mother and father's sides
& am quick to correct anyone who wants to cast me off as something else…lovingly of course 🙂
9.
I believe ice cream can cure everything.
Oh, and rainbow sprinkles.
10.
I currently live in Virginia, and have for awhile, but I was born and raised in New York
and a good piece of my heart remains there.
It is still my favorite city in the world
…so far
11.
When I was younger the first thing I ever wanted to be when I grew up was
a champion figure skater, just like Michelle Kwan.
So I actually trained to be a figure skater all throughout middle school.
I won a 1st place trophy and a silver medal in two competitions.
That's right!
So there you have it! That's me…or part of me anyway 🙂 I would really love it if you would stick with me throughout my journey! Please feel free to SUBSCRIBE to this blog. And if you should feel so led to support me financially, I would really, REALLY appreciate it and you can do so HERE (make sure "For Christina Martinez" is somewhere in the memo line".
You can also find me & follow me on these other social media sites:
Twitter: @ChristinaJoyM
Instagram: StinaJoy
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/stinajoy83
(For Facebook make sure to click "Follow" to receive all my public posts)
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!
It means more than you know and I hope that you will join me as I continue on…
