The Foundation of Victory- Christ in YOU

"And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

-Ephesians 6:18

Over the past few months, the topic of prayer has been at the forefront of my life. I joined a bible study teaching us how to develop powerful prayer live. Ever since the study started, prayer has been as prominent as a flashing neon light. At first I thought it was just a sensitivity of the Holy Spirit acting inside of me because of this study. Now I am starting to understand that it is so much more than that!

This morning, my sweet husband was asked to lead our Sunday school class in our lesson. I bet you'll never guess what the topic was on... yup... prayer! It has been a slow progression, but as each day passes, the Lord has been teaching and showing me just how dire and important prayer is, not just in our daily walks but also in being victorious in fighting our daily spiritual battles!

Justin spoke this morning on the verse above in Ephesians. But before I begin speaking of this truth, I want to put the previous verses into light as well. Stick with me... its quite a few verses: 

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 

Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God" - Ephesians 6:10-17

Praying on the full armor of God. Something many believers are very familiar with. A metaphor used to illustrate our daily battles against the evil one and our strength and victory in Christ! As this is very true, it wasn't until recently I discovered just how powerful and deep the root of those verses truly stems! The beginning of Verse 19 states to "Pray in the Spirit." We can't obtain the power of the full armor without prayer! More importantly, we can't obtain the power of Christ without prayer in the Spirit. 

To put it simply, Prayer is the heart and soul of our relationship with our Lord. It is how we are connected to him, how we to speak to him and how he speaks to us (John 15:7). Prayer is power (John 14:12)!

In breaking down the verses above, there is so much richness in the truth that flows from those words! There is one word, however I want to focus on specifically. That word is Spirit. At the end of Ephesians 17, Paul tells us to take the "sword of the spirit" and in Ephesians 18, Paul says to "pray in the Spirit." The Spirit? What does that mean exactly? These two verses, being neighbors, are conveniently interconnected by the answer to that very question "...the spirit, which is the word of God." In this section, not only is the word Spirit repeated but it is clearly defined! Out of all of the the list of armory, the Spirit is the only part that is clearly stated like this. That is how truly important it is!

When we accepted Christ in our hearts, we were filled with the Holy Spirit and all its power! (Ephesians 1:13, Acts 1:8, Acts 15:8) It is so vital to understand that Jesus didn't die just to take us to heaven, but to indwell and empower us here on earth! In order for us to successfully do this, it requires us to pray. We aren't required to just pray any prayer, but prayers of the spirit, prayers of the word of God.

1 Peter 5:8 says "be alert! Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour!" We need to remember this! Satan HATES us! Look at the word choice used here: devour. Satan doesn't want to make us stumble or trip us up, no, he wants to be annihilated, and completely destroyed. We should remember this daily and be encouraged that through Christ we have the power to victory! 

The foundation to this victory over the evil one is praying in the spirit, as Paul says in Ephesians. He gives us a picture of the full armor to allow us to visualize God's strength in this battle we are in. In the book of Judges, God gives an impossible victory to Gideon against Midianites (300 vs thousands). With the gospel, we receive the Holy Spirit, we individually and intimately obtain the incredible power over the enemy as God provided to Gideon and his small army! All it takes is learning to pray Spirit filled prayers! Praying scripture, the literal words of God.

In my bible study, one of the leaders painted us a very helpful picture regarding the sword of the Spirit. Imagine standing in battle, fully clothed in heavy armor. Attached to your hip, a sheath, to hold the sword of the Spirit. When we dive into the word, spend time with the Lord in intimate prayer, memorize scripture etc, we are filling that sheath with an a weapon of limitless invincible strength. The more of God's word we fill in our hearts, the larger and stronger our weapon will be against the enemy! With this your are invulnerable! If we do the opposite, try to fight the enemy without spending time in God's word, our weapon is going to be small and weak. We will be walking into battle completely vulnerable!

Paul concludes verse 19 encouraging us to be alert and to pray for all of our brothers and sisters!

I just want to conclude this blog by saying that the presence of the enemy is very present in our fallen world. As believers and threats to the enemy, we need to be alert for ourselves against temptations and lies but we also need to pray for our fellow brothers and sisters. We are all in this fight together! We need to support each other, encourage each other and most importantly pray for each other!

I am learning moment by moment how powerful prayer in the Spirit truly is. It is something I struggle with daily. I find peace in knowing that I cannot do on my own power! It is not on our strength but on his. We surely can't do it on our own and Praise God for his faithfulness and unconditional love for us to step in and fight in our stead! As Jesus said in John 16 :33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."







God Bless.

New Beginnings.

“But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through.”

-Francis Chan, Crazy Love 

It's been a year since I made the move. One whole year since I packed up my stuff and moved 700 miles away from my friends, family and established life. I was now standing up from what I was building and starting all over. New state, new community, new chapter in my book.  

I know many people may look at this change as a grand adventure. I know I sure did! God was calling me to something greater! It was going to be greater, or so I kept telling myself.

It's taken me a whole year to somewhat grasp a sense of what God is doing in my life. Oh yes, I got married to the love of my life and am loving every second of that! What I mean, however, is in regards to what God is doing in me personally. 

I stumbled upon this quote by Francis Chan, not too long ago. God was talking. I didn't have the usual "aha!" moment, I didn't even have the occasional "oh wow I totally understand!" moment. No, it was a foreign "yeah, that makes sense" moment. 

To avoid a glob of unnecessary details, this past year has been rough personally. It would definitely land in the top list of hardest years yet. So many wonderful, wonderful blessings filled the year but some how I was struggling day to day. I had to literally fight to keep moving forward every morning. "Why did God call me to move here? Why couldn't he work through my relationship from where I was.... comfortable?" Ah! That word... comfortable.  Hold onto that word for a little bit.

“But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through.”

I was in the midst of a fierce battle. Part of me longed for what I had, had;  for the comforts of the established life I'd made. On the opposite, the other part of me was reaching, searching to follow the call I had heard God make. Literally I would go back and fourth each day. There were days I felt triumphant and strong, ready to take on this new adventure. Then there were days I felt completely defeated and alone. It was chaos. 

God doesn't call us to comfortable. God doesn't call us to comfortable. God doesn't call us to comfortable. The bible is riddled with stories of people who God called out of the comforts of life to follow him and his way! The stories are encouraging, uplifting and down right inspiring. We want to be Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace . We want to be Paul sharing the gospel to all the nation. We want to have a life worth living in his name! But, when given the chance we (I) run back to the rock in which we clung to before. Why is that?! Why is letting go of comfortable so difficult?! 

It was easy for me to persnally cast blame. I am an introverted person. When I felt alone, lacking community, or missing my life back home, I immediately blamed me myself and I for not being more outgoing. The beautiful personality God blessed me with was starting to look ugly and wrong. I felt helpless and insecure. I was listening to the lies of the evil one. His lies were demeaning, belittling and hurtful and I believed every one of them. I was so uncomfortable that my longing for those comforts grew and grew! 

However, I look back at this year and can only praise God. I praise him for his patience and faithfulness. In my weakest moments, I know he felt the pain and hurt I was feeling, but he held strong for me. He kept picking me up and pushing me forward. I know now that this past year was for nothing. God was working. God was refining me. 

This past week was my first week going back to school. I was terrified. Immediately insecurities of my age and now marital status overwhelmed me, I was sick to my stomach! "I'm not supposed to be here." I kept telling myself "I should have graduated last spring!" But from some sweet encouragement from my husband, I took a deep breath and jumped in head first. I think God used that week to show me a glimpse of how he has been working in me. He showed me a confidence I had in me I never thought I would get back. He showed me kindness and grace. 

With this he filled me with the confidence to take it a step further. I joined a woman's bible study...by myself...without Justin! My heart was literally overflowing. I was almost in tears. I still can't believe I did it! 

Oh, how my heart longed for the comforts I had left. I had, had a sense of community, I had, had a sense of confidence. But in following the Lord and his call away from comfortable, he has proven to me what these character traits truly do look like! He proved to me qualities I had never imagined achieving myself. 

Each day is still a battle. I fight the temptation of falling back to those helpless pity parties. I fight hearing the lies the evil one tries to tell. But I know that if God got me through that refining period, he will get me through anything. Each day he grows us, he grows us stronger!

It's been a year since I made the move. One whole year... I packed up my things and moved 700 miles to follow a call that has no only forced me out of my comfort zone but has pushed me farther into the arms of a loving, merciful, strong heavenly Father.

In the midst of pain and hurt it is almost impossible to see the light at the end of the tunnel. No matter what we go through or are going through, God is with us. He doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called. We go through boot camps to be refined for his work for his kingdom and praise God we do.

As Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:12
"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service."

We all need work and fine tuning. Praise God for loving us enough to be patient with us to consider us worthy for his calls.

So if you are like me. Be patient, be strong and cling so tightly to our heavenly father, he is right there with you, every step of the way. 

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

-Joshua 1:9

God Bless.

Newlywed Life- Our first place!

A sweet saying that brings so much warmth into the hearts of so many. Home sweet home. A place of comfort, love and rest. A place of many moments, experiences and memories.

One of the many dreams I had going into marriage was one where I finally got my own home sweet home. A place I could not only call my own but make my own, or in this case our own.

After Justin and I got married we moved back into his condo. Fully furnished, unlimited AC and water and more space than we knew what to do with. The condo did more than what we needed. However, after housing boys for the past 4 years, a feminine touch was more than lacking. I did my best to add touches here and there, but no matter what, I always felt as if I was attending a long term sleep over at my husband's place. Words cannot describe how ready I was for August to come and for our lease to start.

* Insert glorious happy music here* The day finally came. MOVING DAY! I have never been more excited in my life... okay, that's not fully true, but I was pretty stoked! We were finally making our place, OUR place!

Now, if I could submit a small short for a Seinfeld episode, our first week in this house would be worthy.

So lets just keep in mind, Justin and I are newly married, but we are also fresh out of (even still in) college. As most young married couples, we are starting off with very minimal amounts of green in our piggy banks. The house we stumbled upon and now call our own, is a small older house; the type of home that embrace a very quaint and simple essence. In my mind, it is the perfect first house for a couple!  

Back to our first week. Me, being the busy body that I am, was determined to be unpacked and have the house decorated by the following week! Note to self: don't be so determined next time. Justin and I were able to get our needed necessities unpacked for our first night and then immediately crawled our exhausted selves into bed. Ah, nothing like a warm cozy bed to crawl into after a full day of moving and unpacking. Except, when the warm cozy bed just makes you uncomfortably hot because the AC isn't blowing cold air. Absolutely the worst.

My whole self just sank because I feared that we would be fighting a few months of hot nights due to our sub-par AC unit. As we started to sweat, I crawled out of bed to check the thermostat to see what was going on. The temperature gauge read 57 degrees. THERE IS NO WAY THAT HOUSE WAS 57 DEGREES! I am naturally just cold all the time, I would have been frozen, the cold definitely bothers me anyways... Elsa. At that point I decided to turn the temperature down so we could sleep and give my dad a call the next morning. Luckily, the temperature gauge was just calibrated a few 20 degrees off, requiring us to do a little math when we change the temperature. Mind stimulation. Always healthy.

The day Justin and I moved in, his sweet family came to help us. It's just a rule of thumb, when parents come to visit, they take you out to dinner. Justin and I were lucky to be treated our first night in our house, giving us a slight delay in using our state of the art kitchen! No worries, we were able to use it our second night when we attempted our first meal in our first house!

Our sweet little house is old, I think I've mentioned that before. With the passing of time usually comes the updating of technology and oh yes, kitchen appliances. Our kitchen is fully equipped with a gas powered oven and stove top, a refrigerator dating hip about 30 years ago and a non existent disposal or powered dish washer. Now, we knew this going into the rental agreement with our house. A simple kitchen, how fun! Or so we thought. The fun lasted about 10 seconds. After Justin turned on the oven, our kitchen transformed into the towering inferno! I swear it was literally 100 degrees in that room! Turns out the hinges on the oven door were a little outdated allowing our oven door to stay open a slight bit.In door sauna? I know you have to be pretty well off to have one of those in your house, we got one for free! ( Pictures below for the full effect!)

After those long and hot summer days, a little bit of rain always does us some good. I think God thought Alabama was too hot, so he sent a monsoon. Rainy days at our house are awesome. Our windows are big and bright, giving us full access to experience the coziest of weather. We also hear a pretty legit pitter patter of rain... unfortunately some of the rain decided to come inside, through our roof. Our first roof leaks! Aww. It is in the moments like this that I am grateful for living in a house with a man. A man who doesn't mind going in the scary attic to scope out the damage. Thankfully, the leak was very small and is easily fixed. Even more thankfully, the house is rental and the fix isn't out of our pockets! whew.

Sitting here, recapping these little stories is definitely and thankfully now bringing a smile to my face. In those specific moments, I remember thinking how I wish we were back at the condo or in some updated apartment. I was so irritated and frustrated, nothing was going how it should. However, I also remember thinking how incredibly blessed we both have been these past years. Justin and I both lived in very updated, very nice places while attending college. Our parents helped us pay for our bills and rent, allowing the burden of reality to sit light while we focused on our studies.

With getting married comes the cold plunge into life and all its responsibilities. These stories are small compared to what they could be and thankfully we are renting the house and the fixes are not our full responsibility. We are only a few weeks into living into our house and already Justin and I share some pretty great memories.

I believe God didn't bless us with this little house because it was deemed as the perfect house for newly weds. I believe God blessed us with this house to teach us and grow us. We now have a greater appreciation for what our parents and grandparents have blessed us with growing up. The quality time we spend together is sweeter and more personal because of the lack of modern amenities. We share memories and moments that we will carry with us from now on.

I have always been told that the first years of marriage are the sweetest, to cherish them. I think God has definitely had his hand in helping us do that very thing.

I love our little house. This little house is our little house, quirks in all. This little house is the one we call our own and have made our own, for now at least.

A few pictures of some of my favorite parts thus far:

God Bless.

From a daughter to a mother

 

For sometime, I have wanted to write about this incredible woman in my life. When I think about my hero, she is it. I've tried to sit and write but words just seem to not do any sort of justice. Recently i've been so overwhelmed with words to say about my mom that I was inspired to use this incredible day to say a few words to her. 

 

Happy Birthday Mom!

 

Hey Mom,

 

Where do I even begin?! I guess I should start at the beginning..

 

 

 "Blessed is the man (woman) who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." James 1:12  

 

"God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day" Psalm 46:5. 

 

 

When I read these verses, I immediately think of you. Life is definitely not a walk in the park. However, as far back as I can remember, you always persevered, you always pushed forward, strongly! I thank God every single day for you, not only as my mom but as a kindred spirit. I am grateful for your wisdom and guidance, but also for you support and love. You have seen me through some incredible trials and heart break, some a girl should never endure. You didn't look down on me but got down on my level and walked with me. No matter how dark things seemed to get, you always told me to never give up, lean on the lord and to have faith. 

Thank you for teaching me good taste in clothes and interior decorating. For teaching me how to not only get over heart break from a crush but to grow strong from it. Most of all, thank you for introducing me to the greatest relationship I will ever know. For teaching me the gospel and allowing me to experience the greatest love of all. "Those who look to him are radiant" Psalm 34:5. Your face shines so brightly of his love. When I see you, I see Christ. When I feel you love on me, I am filled with the Holy Spirit. 

My most favorite memories are from when we were little and living in our sweet little apartment. I remember waking up in the mornings with the doors open, allowing the cool air to come through and the occasional kitty to poke its head in. I remember playing on the golf course and the pool. I remember the sweet moment I got my own bed. The pink comforter and the horse picture hanging on the wall. I also remember how scary it was to be in my own bed so I still slept in yours. I remember, most of all, dreaming. I remember getting poster board, dreaming about my dream room and having you draw it out for me! My favorite thing about you! Your dreams! "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" You taught us to always dream big, there is never a too big! God is bigger than anything we could dream of and look at where we are now?!

 

I know some see adversity and trials as a temporary downfall.  I mean hard times are to teach us lessons for the wrongs we have done, right? But to you, you don't ever see it like that. When the flesh gets tired, I get down, I feel like you just never get a break. I don't understand God's plans and sometimes have such a hard time with that. I wish the whole world was at your finger tips but I know God has called you to an extraordinary mission. You are a Paul. You find comfort knowing God is in control. You trust that even though you don't fully understand, he loves you and has called you. You find pure joy in the midst of chaos and pain. You always have a smile on your face. When my faith is weak, you always are strong for me! You, inspire me to pray constantly, to humble myself daily and to love unconditionally. 

 

 

Aside from all the hard times that are easy to view, we can't forget those incredible little big happy moments! Laughing so hard that we cry and our sides hurt. Always knowing that laying out in the sun is good for the soul. Finding those ways around expensive treatments for awesome home remedy's! Always knowing that you can't eat popcorn without a glass of orange juice, or start the day without a cup of coffee... or two. Kitties are the silliest animals! But, we love all animals and always pray for them! A Shooting star is God waving at us and Dr. Pepper is God's gift to us ( one of many of course). 

 

Mom, you are my rock and my hero. Thank you for always being there for me! For always dreaming with me and allowing me to dream with you. Thank you for listening to my rants and for making big deals out of those that seemed so huge at the time but were really small. Thank you for dropping me off at school every morning. For being a single mom of 3, working full time and managing to be a super involved PTA mom. Thank you for picking me up from school and dropping me off at golf and orchestra practices every day. Thank you for my phone, car, clothes and room. Thank you for giving us 9 dollars even though you only had 10 in the bank.Thank you for driving to hillsboro to meet me during my first homesick weeks of college. Thank you for attending my bid day, even though I rushed a different sorority. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for allowing me into a special part of your life and introducing me to that special part, for showing me an example of what a true man after the Lord looks like. Guys like that do exist! :) Thank you for meeting and taking a chance on my Justin. For never doubting our long distance relationship and helping me believe that With Christ all things are truly possible. Thank you for trusting me, letting me move 3 states away for my sweetheart. Thank you for helping me drive and move all my stuff 3 states away! Thank you for always supporting me and loving me. Even now that I am off and married, thank you for showing me that our relationship has changed but in such a great way. God has bonded us stronger and tighter together. 

 

 

I look at the new chapter in my life with excitement. I love walking a long side of you and appreciate you always taking my calls, no matter what.... even if it is every day :) I just pray and hope that the Lord blesses me with a little girl. I pray that if he does, that I am able to not only be as incredible of a mom as you are but to have the incredible bond that we have as well. 

 

Thank you for always being there for me! Your good morning hugs are always the sweetest and good night texts are full of protection and prayer! 

 

 

Today is your day! (Even though I know its physically impossible for you to celebrate yourself!) 

 

I love you mom and all that you do! 

 

Your baby girl, 

Hannah

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 things about that first month of marriage... that really do not have any life changing power.

The newest trend in the blogging world seems to be posts that are short, sweet and to the point... literally!

I've always wanted to write a blog with a strong opinionated subject and then a number of bullet points to back up the said subject.

As I have been suffering a major case of writers block (Darn you Tim Howard) I finally decided to take a leap of faith and just write! I mean after a whole month of being married i'm just swimming with wisdom to impart on the world right?! Haha nah, just kidding. After a whole month of marriage I am no expert and have no wisdom that will change the world! BUT I did come up with my very own stew of random information that I have collected and saved just for this very moment.

My 10 things about the first month of marriage that really do not have any life changing power but I found personally helpful or insightful:

1. Everything you think you know about Sex is wrong.

Okay so that's a little dramatic and probably not 100% true but still very worthy of being mentioned! This was the first and scariest thing that my new husband and I jumped into together as a married couple. It was new to both of us and we had no idea what we were doing. To prepare ourselves we did read some very good books on the subject (which I recommend to every engaged couple)! The books, however, left out some key details that I feel you only discover when in the moment. Sex, unlike how the movies portray it, is individualistic to each couple! I wish I would have realized this going in.

Having expectations going into something you don’t know much about should be avoided. Sex is the union God set between two individuals. I like to compare it to our personal relationship with Christ. No two people have the same relationship, connection or experience with our creator. I believe he intended that with us and with this institution. Everyone is different and will have different experiences. It is not just the physical act that brings the two together; it’s the emotional and spiritual bond that is developed during this growth.

Don’t get devastated if it takes a while to get the hang of it. Similar in our spiritual walks, we didn’t start out strong in the faith when we first became Christians, it took time and growth. Same with this! Just know, no matter what, God is the creator of sex and he is sovereign in all things.


2. Going to church as a married couple is AWESOME!

It took me and Justin a few Sundays until we finally made it our home church. We were both tired but so ready to be back in our home. Already feeling a sense of joy, we hardly expected it to be doubled. There is just something about it. I'm not quite sure how to explain it. Going out in public sporting our new bling is fun but blinging in Church was even more fun! Definitely not in a boasting way but it is so cool to be celebrating something Christ gave to us in his house! :)


3. Going to other peoples weddings is a lot more fun than your own wedding.

We got to experience this very soon after our wedding. A dear family friend got married the weekend after we did. Since our honeymoon destination wasn’t far from the wedding, we decided to take a small detour and celebrate! Let me tell you! It was so nice to go to a beautiful wedding that I could literally enjoy! I wasn’t in charge of any details. I didn’t have to socialize with everyone and I COULD EAT THE FOOD!!! It was wonderful. I loved my wedding but I love other people's weddings too!


4. My previous obsession with wedding decor has ever so sneakily transitioned into an obsession with Home decor.

This one isn't much of a surprise. It was inevitable. With my mom being a professional interior designer and my grandmom pinteresting before it was a thing, I was destined. I see it as a nice transition to continue to take routine shopping trips to Hobby Lobby and monogram everything!!!


5. Getting pregnant before your ready is a legitimate fear…. Despite how protected you are.

Kids are a joy. I absolutely love babies and melt whenever I am in the vicinity of one! However, when dreaming of having my own a nice shiver of fear is sent down my spine. There is no way I am ready to be a mom, I am way too selfish and lack some important financials. Despite the protection we have been blessed with using it is still scary because no matter what, God is in control and greater than all. Its a humbling thing to surrender control and accept that if it is in his will to have a baby then Praise him for that! However, also praise him for his perfect timing. Despite accepting it or not the fear sometimes likes to creep in and is legitimate. But God is good always!



6. Some days it really takes God to love your spouse

I don't think I will ever forget the conversation I had with Justin where we both agreed this statement was incredibly true. No matter how hard we try we cannot personally love one another without Christ. It is because he loves us that we love others. There are days where our selfishness and our flesh take hold of us and we aren't very pleasant. There are things that Justin does that can one day make me laugh and then the next annoy the living daylights out of me! It’s incredible and humbling to realize that the love shared in this marriage is not conditional but unconditional. Loving from the flesh results in a disappointing love. Love from our creator results in a cherishing, committed love.


7. “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy”

Well this one hit me pretty hard after the wedding. I was even inspired to write a whole blog about this one topic/verse. No matter what life event we are experiencing if we put our guard down for one second, Satan is right there ready to destroy us. 1 Peter 5:8 says the evil one is like a prowling lion waiting and looking for someone to devour! He waits until we put our guards down on our insecurities and then attacks! After the wedding, I felt like I was on cloud 9, nothing could touch me! I got a blunt reminder that, that type of lackadaisical thinking is as deadly as walking into battle unarmed.


8. Happy Wife = Happy Husband however Happy Husband = Happy Wife! :)

One of the top pieces of advice I received during engagement was "A happy wife = A happy husband." While I totally agree to this, I also think we need to add on. "A happy wife = a happy husband AND a happy husband = a happy wife!" The door swings both ways. Being able to bless each other is such a blessing in itself. We both have very different love languages and learning those languages and how to speak them is exciting. I love when Justin goes out of his way to bless me but I love it even more to see his Joy and happiness when I am able to bless him!



9. You never have to do anything alone!

I’ve never been the type of person that enjoyed doing things by myself… It may just be a girl thing. I mean there is no so such thing as going to the restroom alone. It doesn’t exist, unless it just has too! While Justin and I were dating I loved always having a date, yet I still felt a sense of independence with handling my “things.” Now that we are married, our individual things have become joined. We not only run errands together, which is nice, we also share expenses and bills! Money has always been a major stress-er for me; there is so much comfort in knowing that I am not alone anymore in paying bills or buying what is needed.  I love having a buddy to share things with!



10. It’s all about the little things

This is my favorite lesson of month one! Every morning, Justin and I try to wake up relatively around the same time but it never happens. He leaves an hour before I do. As much as I try, I am always over taken by sleepiness and just have to sneak those few extra minutes of snooze time! By the time Justin leaves, I usually convince myself to get out of bed. Just like clockwork, I zombie my way to the kitchen to find the Keurig on, a coffee cup in place with the sugar and an accompanying spoon set. All I need to do is press the size cup I want and fresh coffee will come spilling out. This has been going on for over a month now and every morning it fills me with so much joy!

With the wedding season we are so bombarded with an excessive amount of “big moments.” It’s hard to not get used to all the attention and praise from friends and family. It’s nice to have things revolve around us every once in a while. I was definitely one of those girls who really loved the attention and actually started to get used to it. Unfortunately with a high there is always a low. When the wedding season ended, so did the continuous big moment streak! I hit a small phase of self depression but was able to wipe away the fog from my eyes and see from a new lens. The big moments in life are so great and should definitely be celebrated but we should be careful not to get so caught up in them that we forget the even more important little things/ moments that make up the in between! You know, those moments that you can’t share via social media, those laughing fits, those feelings when you are blessed, the feeling when you look in his eyes and can see how much he loves you. The list is endless.




I hope that if you who are reading are currently, have been or will be one day in this stage of life that you will be inspired to make a list of silly random things that made you smile, think or even caught you off guard!  God created us all uniquely and uniquely we shall enjoy his gifts and blessings to us!

God Bless!

Advice from a pastor

Well today marks less than two weeks until the wedding day! *insert insanely excited happy dance* I can not even find real words that describes how excited I am for this day to be here! Things were coming together a few months ago. Now things are actually put together, the details are all set!

To any and every person on this planet with any ounce of patience, two weeks is really a short length of time. Along the road between now and the engagement, my patience took a vacation without me. I am like a little kid anticipating Christmas and birthday all at once! Two weeks just seems like forever away!  I told Justin I can't let myself get fully excited yet because I would be so worn out by the time the wedding came! Like a marathon, i'm pacing myself!

 With this subtle growth in excitement, also grows the anticipation of wanting the wedding to be here, for the day to be over and done with. Now I know you may be thinking, "This is the happiest day of your life, why would you want it to be over, don't you want it to last as long as it can?!" I ask myself this all the time. Why am I so anxious for it all to be over and done with?! No more wedding details to decipher, no more checks to write, no more count downs? Shouldn't I be taking it all in? After all, this is a once in a lifetime event.

Lets take a small detour real quick. So this past Monday, Justin and I met with Pastor Steve, our officiate for the wedding ceremony. We were both pretty excited to be having this meeting. The final details of the ceremony were being put in place officially! Talk about a reality check! The meeting itself went so well, better than ever expected. After all of the details were ironed out and set, Pastor Steve looked at Justin and I and gave us one bit of last minute advice. He said "Don't anticipate the end." Simple right?

God is funny how he relays what we need to hear isn't he? It wasn't until that moment I realized I was doing exactly what he was advising us not to do. Pastor Steve then went into more detail, giving meaning to his words. In the beginning of the meeting, he asked me to tell him about how Justin proposed. Of course, I gave the long, drawn out, super detailed version of the story. Why not?! I remember every single bit of it! The pastor then used this as an example to support his advice. When I was getting engaged, I wasn't worried about the end, I wasn't worried about the after party or the attention I was going to get on social media. 9 months later (aside from having it on video)  I can perfectly recount my emotions, my reactions and thoughts. Why? because I was so fully in the moment. I wasn't anticipating the next. I was able to process and encrypt the moment.

A wedding day is a once in a lifetime moment. An incredible joyous institution The Lord has blessed his people with. Planning a wedding is stressful nonetheless.  After 9 months of it, the light is getting brighter and brighter at the end of the tunnel. I was ready for the day to be here so I could be free from it all! I mean it's always greener on the other side right?

The pastor told us that when we look for an end, our minds are so focused on what is next, we forget to enjoy what is right in front of us. The next thing we know, the wedding is going to be over and we will be left standing, wondering where the day went. When we put the stress aside and not look towards what is next we are able to focus and enjoy the blessings of the now. We aren't even promised tomorrow (Matthew 6:34) why anticipate it?

As spring comes to an end and summer to a start, wedding season is in full swing. I think this may be the best advice I have gotten this whole year regarding the wedding itself. Enjoy every moment leading up to the wedding and during the wedding day. Take in every thought, emotion and feeling. Pictures are beautiful reminders but nothing is quite as good as remembering how those specific moments felt, whatever they may be. We may get stressed and try to imagine the greener pastures on the other side but its just a thought. We have to take a deep breath, relax and take in the moments we have right in front of us. In the wise words of Relient K's Matt Thiessen "Nothing will ever be as good as here and now"

God Bless

"I have found the one whom my soul loves" Song of Solomon 3:4

I was driving home from work today and started thinking to myself about my blog. Its been a while since my last post. These past few months, my blog has encompassed a common theme.

After my fiance proposed to me in August, I was inspired to write a series based on what the Lord is teaching and showing me before getting married. A lot of what I have previously talked about was based on pieces of truth I had learned from books and pre-marriage counseling. However, there is one topic I have been putting off that actually inspired this whole series, the topic of sexual temptation.

Growing up in the church, the idea of sexual temptation and sin was engrained in us. The bible talks heavily about the sin of sex before marriage  (Hebrews 13:4) and refraining from enticing sexual practices before the set time of marriage (Song of Solomon 2:7). I had a simple understanding of sin. I knew what the bible said, what Jesus did on the cross and how living a life with the Lord was living a life of mercy, grace and forgiveness, no matter what.

Although, I feel like I could write an endless amount on this topic regarding what i've learned from pre marriage counseling, books, friends etc.... I think what really caught my attention, was how wrong and narrow minded my original ideal was on the topic of sex, especially now being engaged.

I fully agree with the purity talks I had the privilege of hearing growing up, however they instilled a somewhat terrified sense into me. Sex = Sin. Done. I'm not going to lie, I am a human and yes i've had my fair share of struggles with desire and temptations, who hasn't? I hated it, I thought having those thoughts, those desires, were completely wrong and needed to be confessed and defeated... imagine how I felt when I got engaged and those desires skyrocketed!

I was out of my mind with confusion. I am engaged to be married, sex is okay after you're married, but not before you're married, but.... i'm preparing to get married... right after I get married, we have the wedding night... which is scary because I don't know what to expect, so maybe we should talk about the wedding night before it happens? But I don't want us to have those thoughts and temptations because they are impure and not okay! right?  Back and fourth, back and fourth.

In the beginning, I really worked on trying to not go down that road, avoiding temptation completely. I focused on other things, wedding planning and work. For a while, it went well... then the inevitable happened... my natural instincts kicked in *gasp.* As the months passed, Justin and I were growing together, learning more and more about each other. The closer Justin and I grew to each other the more I found myself desiring him... Naturally.

It wasn't until I had a simple conversation with my mom that changed everything. She asked about desiring my soon to be and dealing with its temptations.  I told her it was a struggle and didn't know what to do. She immediately reassured me that those thoughts and feelings were completely normal and actually necessary. She told me she was actually beginning to worry because I had never brought it up before hand.  I'm probably the only one who was completely blown away by this new information.... It was actually okay to feel this and talk about it? What?!

Looking back on this moment, it makes perfect sense. Justin and I talked about being engaged before actually becoming engaged. He and I talked about where our hearts where and how we felt the Lord really blessing this idea. Justin and I also talk about getting married before marriage (obviously.. we aren't married just yet! eeeks, so close!). Being engaged has allowed time to plan, it has also allowed us time to learn who we really are and what being married biblically looks like. So doesn't it make perfect sense to talk about the wedding night as well?! To not be ashamed or feel guilty of these desires before the night, but understand what it is and that it is created by God.

We are built to desire our significant other in this way, it is the Lord's gift to us. The difference is how we act on these desires. We shouldn't be completely on one side or the other (being terrified or jumping into premarital impurity) but have a healthy middle. We should be able to talk about these things with our future significant other openly and honestly. Trust me, they are going through the same things, if not worse. It always helps to know you're not alone.

If I had to sum up the biggest blessing regarding my time of engagement, this would be a top. Saving sex until the wedding night is still our top priority. Understanding that these desires are of God, has allowed us to be able to freely talk and prepare our hearts for God's gift after marriage. We don't really know what to expect but knowing where each of us stands, our fears, anticipations, and expectations has allowed us to be on the same page. Knowing that sex isn't just a feeling, but the sealing of a covenant made between us and our loving God.

So to those who are engaged, about to be engaged or who are in a similar boat,  just know its completely normal and okay! This is something the Lord has put in us. Being able to talk out, pray, and be on the same page is such a blessing. I firmly believe that God uses the time of engagement to shape our hearts in all aspects for marriage, including the wedding night. I mean, I think its a really good sign if you're attracted to your significant other ;) These desires are glimpses of something incredible strictly between you and your spouse. It was created by our God to combine two into one united body (Gen 1:22-24).

That being said, from what I have concluded, the temptations during engagement are a lot different than in a dating situation. Refrain from giving into the thought that you are going to marry this person anyways, what does it matter to wait? God created this for the wedding night. Don't jump his plans. Be open and honest with your future spouse, commit to surrendering it all to the Lord until the intended time. The desires seem to become stronger, but don't give into it. I can't stress it enough, save it all for the wedding night. That is when God intended it. Justin and I still struggle and have to enforce limitations to avoid these temptations, especially so close to the wedding date. However, we know it will be worth it when the time comes. ( I recommend a short engagement ;) )

I suppose this was just a small tid bit of a very large subject, but one I really wanted to share. God is a God of forgiveness, love and mercy. No matter what point of temptation we have fallen into, it is never too far to be made clean and pure again. If this is an area of struggle, be open and honest with your significant other, have accountability and lean on the Lord for strength, He loves us and is our refuge. ( Psalm 46) Aside from how this gift has become perverted by the sin in the world, it is a gift from God nevertheless and is good when used as he has intended, in marriage. (Song of Solomon)

We have read a few books including our pre marriage book that have given us incredible biblical insight and really explained what the wedding night means, here are the links to them. I highly recommend reading them!

1. Meaning of Marriage, Timothy Keller

2. The Act of Marriage by: Tim and Beverly LaHaye


God Bless