changes.

changes, changes. may 13th seems so long ago, but yet it's really only been 13 days since my life has taken a complete 180. i am no longer an undergraduate student, moved back home for a little bit, a mommy to a sweet, little 4 month old puppy [we have our first training class tonight! so excited! having a puppy is really like having a child, its hard work at times & cost you money, but it's completely worth it!!], unemployed [but diligently searching!], signed a lease to move to a new city, single, & changed my hairstyle & put some blond in for the summer. even though some of these may seem like some really minor changes & some of them are really huge, it's definitely been different.

however, what i have learned from this whole experience is to rely on the LORD, COMPLETELY for all of my plans to come together. the Lord is shaping my life every single day & it's crazy to see all of these things just come together right before my eyes. the Lord has really pushed me the past few days to push myself to find my niche & to know that i am worth SO MUCH to Him & that i have great things i will do in life. even though i may not get the job i want when i first make it out in the workforce, i know that everything is happening for a reason. i am meeting new people so i can show them the unfailing love the Lord gives us. & I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THAT!! i'm almost speechless [even though i'm ramblingggg...].

i have really clung to some scripture during these times of change. even though change can seem scary, we have to go on with life. take every hardship & every struggle & not let the devil get the best of us. Philippians 4:6&7 say: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer & supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. & the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts & your minds in Christ Jesus." also, Lamentations 3:24 says, "'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him.'" i have learned to let the Lord overtake my feeling to control things & to let the Lord handle it. it's amazing how freeing it is too! :]

the excitement i have of the life ahead of me cannot really be expressed in words. all of this change has made me excited to see what the Lord has in store for me. i'm excited to read, bake&cook, new Bible studies, studying the Word on my own, new friends, new experiences, new job, etc. there are so many things to be grateful for during this time in my life. my hope is in the Lord who will provide for me & keep me strong in times i may feel weak.

complaining vs. thanking

recently it seems all i can talk about is how i don't want to be in school anymore & how much i want to be done with all of my work. however, i'm really looking at the big picture here to see that the Lord has provided me with a family who will pay for my schooling, a servant's heart to lead, & the opportunity to attend college. some people would kill for the opportunity i have in front of me. i have 3 possible opportunities in front of me for post-graduation & all i am doing is worrying & complaining every single second.

my worst day of the week is wednesday. it's long & boring. i don't look forward to it. once wednesday is gone, i feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. last night i was reading Ephesians 1 about thanksgiving & prayer. i went through today as a normal day. i was complaining a lot because i wanted to be done with school...& then....it hit me. i thought of just how lucky i am to be here. how lucky i am to be on this earth & to have the opportunity of gaining an education to have a job to someday help support a family.

so, my challenge for all of us is to be thankful. when we are complaining about how the world is completely against us, God is completely FOR US! thank the Lord today for making you His creation. don't complain. thank HIM!

balancing grace & truth.

this past weekend, a huge incident happened to me. instead of having grace for this person i immediately began pushing them away because i was so focused on the right & wrong way to handle the situation. however, after some great Godly counsel, i began to view the situation from a different perspective. sometimes if we step away from a situation and look at it with different eyes we can really do ourselves some good. i have realized that i really need to be aware that i need to have a balance of grace & truth in any situation i am facing. sometimes in the heat of the moment it's really hard to see the other side because we just want to think we are right ALL THE TIME. which we aren't always right, but that doesn't mean we are always wrong either. i challenge you today [& from now on] to look at situations from another perspective other than your own. we all think differently and people don't always have to agree with what we say. so, have grace on those who think different from you. however, also make sure you are putting truth into your perspective as well. to put truth into our perspective we must seek the Lord to have the truth ingrained in us. spending time with the Lord every day is vital. take 30 minutes out of your day today to be still before him & spend time sitting next to him & talking with him.

sounds like a great plan to me! :]

Trust in the Lord.

hello followers! & hello to those who read my blog that i don't know about. i know there are some of you out there. ;) so, lately i have been feeling distant from the Lord. however, i am praying to Him every day for me to realize the times i could spend with him. even though i feel completely consumed with schoolwork, applying for jobs, and making sure i have a plan after graduation, i have not sat down once to THANK HIM for opening & closing doors that are paving a way for my future. He is to be praised for everything that is going on throughout my life. He is to be praised for the job i get when i graduate. He is to be praised EVERY SINGLE DAY. i am trusting in Him for my future.

today i freakedddd outttt because i had an interview. it was my first interview....ever. so, afterwards i felt all bummed because i felt like i bombed it even though he asked for more references. but, i doubted myself because i was only relying on myself to get me through that interview. i prayed before the interview, but i felt as though i was trying to do it on my own. then, this afternoon another interview opportunity opened up for me at another company i completely forgot i sent my resume to! GOD IS GOOD.

the Lord is sovereign, and i need to ask for HIS help EVERY SINGLE DAY. i should wake up and praise Him & i should go to sleep praising Him. satan wants me to feel distant from God. no. satan will not rise up over me. i will praise Him for HIS FAITHFULNESS. because "He is faithful in all He does." (Psalm 33:4, NIV)

oh, James..again!

i have been going through a tough time with the Lord lately. okay, maybe not actually with the Lord, but i feel very distant from Him. & i was going through my followers latest twitter posts & REVRUN (that's what i call him) PICKS ME UP ALL THE FREAKING TIME. he's great. follow him, for reals. & the scripture was out of James, who knew ;)

In James 4:8 it says, "Come near to God and he will come near to you." (NIV) i spent a while wednesday night just praying & wanting to feel the Lord around me. for me, it's not easy to be patient. but, it's what the Lord wants from us. He wants us to wait on him to show us how much we need Him. my prayer is that i lean on Him to give me strength to get through this time, and i want to be patient to see what He wants me to learn from this.

taming of the tongue.

the Lord has taught me many things over the course of this past month. about myself. about others. about life. but, He has also taught me that James is a very wise man. James in the Bible that is. the taming of the tongue seems to be one of the hardest things for all of us to do. we gossip, argue, and lie with our words everywhere we turn. we are all guilty of not taming the tongue. i guess i just became aware of how much i did not tame my tongue this past month. i can think of instances time after time. however, God's grace for that is sufficient. i am healed from that.

now that i am healed, i must ponder on ways to understand the meaning of why not to do that. it is not just to make a law to be the bigger person. it is for me to realize the reasoning why it is wrong and just how hurtful they can be. one of my good friends says how she "word vomits" all the time. words come flying her mouth and it is too late to catch them. how many times do you "word vomit?" maybe vomit is not the best way to really say that..ha :) how many times do we not tame our tongue? how many times do you gossip in a day? how many times do you say something you did not mean to say? how many times do we break people down with our words..?

we should be mindful of our words and what they actually mean to others. different people will perceive things differently than others. i am a very blunt person when i get to know you. however, i can not just expect people to be okay with it. i do not like to sugar coat things if i am trying to say something else..but, i do need to be mindful of others feelings and what it might actually look like if i was the other. maybe this is just a jumbled up mess. but, it is food for thought. read James 3 on taming the tongue & look at it from different points of view.

slackerrrrr.

can you say slacker? i have definitely NOT lived up to my goal of doing a Psalm a day. i have definitely had time with the Lord and some of it has been in Psalms. but, not for this blog. i believe what i'm going to have to do is update on what the deal is, what is going on in my life, & what the Lord has taught me for that day. sound like a plan? well, i sure hope so.