• Faith,  Life

    God’s Still At It (Part 3)

    January 13, 2016

    This is apparently becoming a little series that I think God wants me to document here and it’s becoming quite exciting to say the least. This is a continuation of sorts of basically my life lol but really what God is doing in my life.

    I first wrote about what God was doing here (part 1) when I wrote about how God showed up in a huge way and started leading Tommy down the path of working with his dad, learning to weld. Then I wrote again in September on this subject here (part 2) and shared about when Tommy actually ended up working at the quarry with his dad at night! And now I’m back to share some more news on the subject because God is just too good and I need to make sure I never forget how He answered our prayers.

    All that to say that Tommy’s dad let Tommy know yesterday that he should be able to start at the quarry at the end of the month! The waiting and praying is almost over and Tommy will finally be able to work full time with his dad (instead of just sometimes at night).

    This is super exciting because now Tommy will be able to do something he really enjoys while also allowing us to save more money for the wedding. I can’t believe the first time we really talked about this was all the way back in July and it’s now finally coming to fruition. I’ve been praying for open doors since then and I’m so happy to see how God really cares and answers our prayers.

    I’m so excited for Tommy to start on this new journey at the end of the month. If you wouldn’t mind, please pray for him to do well and to glorify God in the midst of the circumstances. We’re incredibly grateful for what He is doing in our lives.

    PS. I thought I posted this yesterday but just found it in my drafts haha so enjoy 🙂

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  • Faith

    But First, Jesus

    November 17, 2015

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    You guys! I actually woke up extra early today to spend time reading my bible! A true miracle if you know how much of a morning person I am not. I even started this post after I spent time reading because I was so proud of myself and wanted to share. However, my day went quickly downhill after attempting to finish that post.

    I have a confession- I thought that I was being so good waking up early to spend time with Jesus. I thought that I deserved a good day after going out of my way to really put Jesus first and I’m ashamed that I let myself think those things.

    This morning, after I almost finished typing my blog post my computer froze and wouldn’t let me post what I wrote, I thought I was going to have so much time (since I got up early) and almost was late to work, I was extra cranky from being up at an earlier time than my body is used to (and am NOT a morning person, did I mention?). I started feeling guilty for expecting a great day after spending time with Jesus first thing in the morning.

    You see I have to admit, I haven’t been spending time reading my bible like I should be or as much as I wish I was. I desire to know Jesus more but seem to always have too many things to do to really sit down and study His word. I could feel things in my life shifting because of this too and I have been meaning to make it more of a priority. I had been thinking of getting up early and spending time with Jesus first thing in the morning for about a month now but what I didn’t realize was that part of me was doing it because I wanted a better life. I heard of people saying that spending time in the Word at the start of your day sets you off in a better mood. While I am sure this is true a lot of the time- I kind of forgot that Jesus isn’t here just to make my day better. That’s not His purpose at all actually.

    I’m the one that needs Him and it’s not to make my day better, although that usually is a byproduct of spending time with Him. I need Him to reset my desires for my life- to set my heart on Him and what He wants for my life. I need Him to remind me of how much He loves me because my weak unfaithful heart forgets that more times than I’d like to admit. I need Him for so many things and if I reduce Him down to just spending time with Him to “make my day better” I’m missing out on so much else He has in store for me.

    Just because I got it wrong this morning I am not going to give up. I do desire to put Jesus first in my life and a very real way for me to do that is to pursue Him first thing in the morning- to ensure that He is the first of my priorities. But the desire isn’t going to be because I want Him to make my day better. Jesus never promised us that. He promised us exactly the opposite- that we would have troubles in this life. But spending time with Him makes those troubles seem less significant and more manageable because I am reminded of His great love for me.

    I’m interested though- do you spend time with Jesus first thing in the morning or maybe right before bed? I don’t think there’s necessarily a right or wrong time to do it but I’m curious to know what you think about this topic.

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  • Faith

    You Have Already Arrived

    September 19, 2015

    Do you ever catch yourself wishing your life away? Not in a way where you wish your life was over, but in a way where you aren’t content with what life has given you now? Maybe it’s by always wanting the “new things” the world has to offer. A newer car. A newer phone. The latest fashion. Or maybe it’s not materialistic at all. Maybe you’re wishing for that next step of your relationship to finally happen. When will he finally propose? When will we ever be financially ready to have a baby? Or another baby? Or a bigger house? Why is it so hard to just stay content where we are? Isn’t that what Jesus calls us to do?

    I struggle with this more than I realize. It starts out small, one day looking at something someone else has on Instagram and feeling that little pull in my heart towards whatever that may be. For me, I struggle with being content where I am in my relationship – no matter what my relationship status is. When I was single all I wanted was to have a boyfriend, now that I have a boyfriend, all I want is to get married. So it starts out small, I see someone else’s blog who seems to have a happy marriage and I start desiring that. But the longer I dwell on their marriage and wanting it the more I find myself discontent with what I have now. It’s like I can’t focus on enjoying what I have because I feel that if I had more or something else then I’d be able to enjoy that more. It’s frustrating too because I want to be happy with where I am and I want to wait for God’s timing so why does this have to be so difficult?

    Just this morning I was sitting on my deck and I felt God answer this question and it was only then that I realized that I had done it again. I had been desiring to push forward and go ahead of him rather than just sit and love where He has me.

    So I made a list, for myself and maybe this will help someone else out too – of ways to be content. Ways to make sure that I can keep my heart in check and not run ahead of where He has me. Because my fear is that once God allows me to finally have whatever I think will make me happier then I will just set my heart on something else and continue to strive and desire for that and be discontent all over again.

    1. Seek His kingdom first- when we put God’s will over our life first, He promises to work everything else out for us and we don’t have to worry about earthly things because He tells us that it’s His job to provide that for us. If you are seeking God’s will for your life then what you’re experiencing is God’s best for you.
    2. Dwell on the good things you have- When we wake up with a grateful heart, it’s hard to keep wanting more because we’ll be too busy enjoying the things we do have. Every good gift comes down from God.
    3. Remember this life is short and temporary- We’re only here for a short period of time when you think about how long eternity is. I don’t want to be someone who is striving for the next thing when it’s all going to be taken from me eventually anyway.
    4. Spend less time on social media- Every once and a while I try to take a social media break because I can feel it in my heart that it can be where my discontentment comes from. There are even statistics that show how the more time you spend on social media, the more unhappy or discontent you tend to be. It’s hard not to want what others have when everybody posts about how great their lives are and how happy they are that they now have whatever it is that they’ve got.

    I’m starting to notice that the closer I get to the next season of my life is the time I struggle the most with not being content. When it’s so close but so far away, it’s hard to not to wish for the next thing. And I don’t think think that it’s bad to just wish for something else. I think it’s good to keep striving for things and reach our potential but I think the problem comes in when we start to want something more than we’re enjoying what we have at the moment. I think it’s important to always remember that everything we have is God’s and that even if we feel God is leading us towards something to allow Him to work and not hold anything too tightly.

    I named this post “You Have Already Arrived” because if you’re a Christian then you already have it all. Jesus should be our biggest desire and we should set our heart on striving to love and be more like Him, not wanting and wishing for more things. The things we’re wishing for will never truly satisfy like only He can anyway. You’re already here, there’s nothing more that you need to live a complete or happy life. God’s already given you His best.

    Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

    But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it. 1 Timothy 6:6-7

    Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desire of your heart. – Psalm 37:4

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  • Faith,  Marriage

    Why Marriage Is Not The Happily Ever After We Thought It Was

    September 17, 2015

    Now I’m not married or even engaged for that matter so I’m not sure if I’m truly qualified to even write this post but I’m going to attempt it anyway. It’s obvious based off my other posts that Tommy and I are pretty serious and that we even have been talking about getting married a lot lately. We both know that we want to marry each other, it’s just a matter of time and letting the details work themselves out. As with anything new that I am about to embark on I have been reading AS MUCH as I can about marriage because I’m the type of person who always wants to be prepared. My parents are also divorced and I want to learn as much as I can how to have a healthy, happy marriage since it’s not what I grew up around or know much about.

    The Most Important Thing I’ve Learned:

    Marriage is not meant to make you happy. Wait, what? Isn’t that what’s taught – no drilled into our heads since we were old enough to talk? Isn’t that what every Disney movie (with the exception of Frozen – Hallelujah!) is about? If you search hard enough, or wait around long enough, prince charming will come find you. And when he does, it’s going to be glorious and there won’t be anything left to worry about. You’ll have your happily ever after and everything will be perfect.

    But what happens when you wake up in the real world, next to a sinner – like yourself – and your prince charming does something you never would have imagined he would do? What happens when you’ve run into an issue in your marriage just two weeks in and you’re arguing all the time? Do you just give up because this isn’t what you thought married life was supposed to be like?

    I hope not. I hope you choose to fight more for your marriage than you fight with your spouse. I hope you are able to swallow your pride and apologize when you’re wrong. But more than that I hope you forgive – I hope you forgive even when you don’t want to, even when your spouse did something you thought you never could forgive them for. Because isn’t that what marriage is truly about?

    God gave us the gift of marriage to show us the beauty behind His love for us. It’s not meant to make us happy, it’s meant to make us holy. When we choose to get married, we are choosing to put someone’s needs before our own and sacrifice ourselves for another person. We’re choosing to put their happiness ahead of ours. We’re choosing to become more like Jesus. No wonder marriage isn’t the happily ever after we thought it would be. This is no easy task – I struggle with it already and I’m not even married yet.

    The most amazing part of marriage to me is the grace were expected to give to our spouses. When we say “I do”, we’re committing to extend grace through anything, no matter what. We’re expected to stare straight at our spouse’s weaknesses, the same weakness that have hurt us and say “Nope I refuse to leave, I’m staying and I’m still choosing to love you”. And the greatest part of it all is that we’re expected to do all this because Jesus has already done it all for us – and more!

    He’s looking at you right now saying “You – the messy, broken you that you don’t even like.. I want you. I want that part of you. Bring it to me and confess the brokenness – only I can heal you and I WANT to, more than you want to be healed. Come to me and I will give you rest.”

    This is why marriage is so glorious! Because we were made to reflect that beauty. We get to show that grace to another person – that even though you’re messy and even though you hurt me – I still love you and I still am staying no matter what. We’re set up in the perfect place to really put on display Christ’s love to not only our spouses but to the world around us and this is so so much better than any happily ever after the movies display for us.

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  • Faith

    Something I’m learning (The Hard Way Of Course)

    September 15, 2015

    Spending time by myself. For some reason lately I’ve forgotten that I need to spend time alone. I forgot the joys of having absolutely no commitments and just relaxing. Of watching a funny TV show or going for a random drive by myself. I forgot that this is what gives life to me.

    You see, I’m an introvert in the truest sense of the word. I crave time alone to process my thoughts and check my heart and desires. I’m realizing now when I don’t give myself this time, I let certain sins take control of my heart. I need alone time to weed out the bad desires that I don’t realize are there.

    For the past month or so I don’t think I’ve had a full day when I’ve had no commitments. I’ve wanted something so badly that I’ve set this desire in my heart and have been striving for it over God’s will for my life. It’s been coming out in little ways – getting really irritated when things don’t go my way, getting upset when I have had time to myself because I didn’t see this as beneficial to “my goal”. I didn’t even realize and now that I do I feel awful.

    When I spend alone time, for me it’s like filling up my car’s gas tank. It fills me up with joy and gives me the ability to love others well. What I’ve been doing lately has been like running on E and it’s been difficult. I’ve been cranky, and have been getting upset with everyone around me way too easily.

    The problem comes in because I don’t like the idea of how it sounds to have a day to myself. It sounds like punishment to be honest and so I’ve been avoiding it at all costs. Filling my days with as many “things to do” as I can. And maybe the reason I’ve been doing this is because I’m afraid to stop and listen to what God really has to say. I’ve been waiting on Him to answer a prayer that I’ve been praying for for years and the closer it seems to happening, the more anxious I get because I’m worried that it just won’t. (No idea if that makes sense but it seems that’s what I was believing.) I think by avoiding the alone time with God and myself I thought I would get to pick how things went and they would happen on my timeline. It’s kind of painful admitting all of this because I didn’t even really notice I was doing it until now but I’m thankful that God is still in control and doesn’t let us have our own way even when we think we know better.

    So I decided to make a list of things that fill me up and allow me to love others well so next time I notice that I’m feeling burnt out I can make sure to do some of these things. Or better yet, I will start to incorporate these into my daily schedule to avoid burnout all together 🙂

    • Read a book
    • Go for a run
    • Watch How I Met Your Mother
    • Write
    • Read other people’s blogs
    • Spend quality time with Jesus

    I’m thankful for a God who doesn’t give up on us even when it seems our true desire is not Him. I’m thankful that He is patient and waits until we are able to hear His voice again and is there waiting with open arms for us to come right back home and I’m thankful for His ability to set our hearts right again and on it’s true desire – Him!

    Has anyone else experienced this type of burnout? If you have, do you have any tips on how to make sure that it doesn’t happen again? Btw how adorable was Tommy’s guest post – if you missed it, you can check it out here. He makes my heart so happy.

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  • Faith,  Life

    Currently // Blog-tember Day 12

    September 12, 2015

    D A Y  1 2

    So today is day 12 of the blog-tember challenge and what I’m learning is I’m more awful at following this blogging plan than I had originally thought I would be lol but I’m back today and the topic is a “Currently” post.

    Currently…

    Reading: The Mingling of Souls: God’s Design For Love, Marriage, Sex & Redemption by Matt Chandler. Matt Chandler is such a great pastor, I listen to him online sometimes and this book has been just as great. He has a way of writing in a really interesting way, and the topic is something that’s very interesting to me. He’s going through Song of Solomon and it’s been really helpful.
    Playing: catch up on sleep. Two weekends ago I traveled home from an airport that was 6 hours from my house and last weekend I was in Maryland and woke up at 4 AM to drive home on Monday morning because Tommy had to work so not having any weekends to just relax and recuperate has really taken a toll on me.
    Watching: Bates Motel. This is the show Tommy and I have started watching since finishing Friday Night Lights and it’s insanely suspenseful but kind of freaky and weird sometimes so I don’t think I’d recommend it to anyone unless you like that sort of thing lol I didn’t realize it was like that until I started watching so now I’m hooked and can’t stop
    Trying: to start eating healthy and start working out regularly. We’ll see how this goes
    Cooking: nothing at the moment. I keep thinking about getting up to get a bowl of cereal though
    Drinking: a nice cup of coffee 🙂
    Calling: I was just recently on the phone with my cousin, confirming plans to hang out later
    Texting: Tommy, of course 😉
    Going: to get up soon to get ready to go for lunch
    Loving: the season I’m in with my relationship with Tommy and that fall is upon us! I went hiking yesterday and the leaves were so orange and already starting to fall, so exciting
    Hating: the stress that I’ve been experiencing lately. I feel like God’s trying to teach me to be content in all circumstances, even when things that I thought were going to happen actually don’t. This has been super hard for me because I love knowing what’s going to happen and having a plan for everything and tend to get pretty cranky when things don’t go as planned but with God’s grace I’ll learn to be content even when they don’t – knowing He knows best and His plans are better than mine anyway
    Discovering: how sinful I can be but how amazing God’s grace is in those moments
    Thinking: about how this is taking me longer than I had thought and that I really need to get up to get ready lol
    Feeling: a million different things. anxious, excited, happy, confused, all of the above
    Hoping (for): a more peaceful week
    Celebrating: that this is the first semester I haven’t had to go back to school!! so much more free time
    Ordering: a case for my Kindle. I’ve been just keeping it in my purse and I’m really worried it’s gonna break

    So this has been what I’ve been up to currently. I really am going to work on posting more regularly, I hope this will serve as a little bit of excuse as to why I haven’t really posted all that much (If not, I’m sorry). I am still planning to write a post about my Bahamas trip. I just want to really have a lot of time to do that to make sure I really show how awesome it was and I think there’s even a day in this challenge that it will fit in with so maybe you’ll just have to wait till then to hear about it 😉

    What have you guys been up to lately? Anyone dealing with anything I am or have any tips for dealing with stress or being content in all situations? Also how do you manage to post regularly, I could use some tips on that too. I would love you hear from you 🙂

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