Valentine's Day

Despite a lot of people not liking celebrating a day dedicated to love and relationships, I LOVE Valentine's Day for that exact reason! I love LOVE, and I think it should be celebrated every day!

And contrary to popular belief, you do not have to have a significant other or be in a relationship to celebrate love!  

You can show love to your friends, your family, your classmates or coworkers, or even to strangers.

And not only on a day "dedicated" to love!  We should strive to show love to others every day.

I also hope that you know how truly loved and valued YOU are!  You are a joy, you are a treasure.  You are beautiful inside and out.  This world is brighter because of you!  You were fearfully and wonderfully created by the King of Kings, who sent His Son to die for you and me so that we may have eternal life with Him!

1 John 3:16 says:

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How sweet it is to know what love is from Love himself!

I love you and I hope you know how many other people love you too!  

One of my favorite things to do for Valentine's Day is to bake and decorate cookies, and I was so thrilled that some of my friends could come over last night to help! We had such a fun girls night full of cookies, popcorn, giggles, and girl - talk!  How thankful I am to have such lovely friends.  

Xo, love,

Merry Christmas

It truly is a wonderful and glorious time of the year! This season is full of warm and cozy feelings, family and friends, and the celebration on the greatest gift of all, Jesus!

Something that stuck with me from my church's annual Christmas Eve Candlelight Service is that while the earthly view of Christmas can change year after year, whether with loss of loved ones or even the feeling of sadness of families growing up, change taking place, and traditions changing, we can always rest assured that the spiritual view of Christmas is constant, with a joy that never fades, and the gift of Jesus that is never ending!  I pray that you will find peace knowing that Jesus is the sparkling light, and that His mercy, grace, love, and forgiveness will never waver or change.  

Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

Matthew 1:21 "She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins."  

What a great day to celebrate the birth of our glorious Savior.  Happy Birthday Jesus & Merry Christmas to you all!

Love,

Recap via Pictures

Life lately has been full of fun, joyful events.  I've been reminded daily how blessed I am to be surrounded by friends and family who are so loving and supportive.  Here are some snapshots from from of my most cherished and favorite moments (that were photographed) from the past couple months!

To give you a little rundown, this semester has flown by.  It's been fun and rewarding.  These pictures include Delta Zeta recruitment and Bid Day, girl’s trip to Curtis Apple Orchard and Pumpkin Patch, EIU Homecoming football game, teaching 4^th grade students about the importance of kindness and encouragement, my 2^nd triathlon (with two of my friends!), fall photo-shoot, Luke Bryan concert, visiting my best friend in Chicago (and going to the Cupcake ATM), KDP banquet with two of my besties, turned 22!, ran my first 10 K (and beat my goal time,1) went to a barn dance, had tons of fun with friends, had the BEST classmates and professors of all time, and taught 3rd grade for the past 4 weeks (so so incredible and rewarding!).  Not to mention, I've seen two of the most beautiful sunsets & had to include those pictures too!

Never forget to reflect upon your life and all God's blessings!

Xo,

Happy December!

December is here! First of all, I can not believe that this semester is almost over and classes are wrapping up (welcome, finals). Secondly, I am very excited for a nice, long Christmas vacation!

Although I am not a huge fan of cold, blustery weather, I really love December and the Christmas feeling of coziness that this month brings.  All the sparkly and festive decorations, lots of time spend with family and friends, and the fact that everyone seems to be much more cheerful this time of year!  

If you're not quite in the Christmas and holiday spirit, I put together a little compilation of fun ideas that can help get you into full Christmas mode:

Another way to prepare your heart for Christmas and the true meaning of the season, (Jesus!!!) is to do an Advent study or devotional.  I have never done one of these, but one of my Facebook friends posted one the other day, and I am excited to do the daily readings and spend time in reflection of Jesus, the best and ultimate gift. Here is the link if you're interested! 

Lastly, sorry I have not been posting lately!  Hopefully I can get back into it while I have some time off school.  Maybe I'll do a recap of what I've been up to lately, soon!  

Enjoy this day, and make it GREAT!

Xo,

Fall Bucket List

I am soooo excited because my favorite time of year is here - FALL! With the crisp cool weather, beautiful and colorful leaves, pumpkin spice everything, and so many fun festivities to attend, fall is by far the best season in my opinion!  (It also doesn't hurt that my birthday is in November!)  I think it's always fun to make a fall bucket list & strive to partake in all the joyous thrills that fall brings! Here is my list of things I want to do this fall:

What's on your fall to-do list?

Hope y'all enjoy this beautiful day that the Lord has made!

Xo,

Triathlon

This past weekend I took part in my very first triathlon! I enjoy running, I adore biking, and although I don't have a lot of experience with swimming, I love the water.  I decided somewhat on a whim that to sign up for a local triathlon and set a goal of finishing under 1 hour and 45 minutes, and glory to God - I exceeded my goal and finished in 1 hour and 30 minutes.

But, that's not the point of this post.

The point is that wow - God is so incredible.  Psalm 139:14 says, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well." How amazing of bodies did He create that can "run and not grow weary!" (Isaiah 40:31) 

I definitely could not have finished this race without The Lord.  He is the great provider and provided me with strength and endurance throughout.  What a pure joy that we are able to rely on the Lord in all things, and how comforting it is to know that He will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 3:16).  He cares so greatly for you, for me, for all of His children, and He wants us to call upon His name. Psalm 50:15 says, "Call upon me..., and I will deliver you."

One of the coolest things about partaking in this race, is that I had 13 miles of biking and 3 miles of running, so I had 16 miles that I dedicated to 16 different things to pray for.  Roughly an hour and a half just to pray.  I was somewhat worried that I would run out of words, but wow, at the end of the race, I wished it would have lasted longer so I would have more time to pray. I encourage y'all to go for a walk, a run, a bike ride, a swim, a drive, or just go somewhere with no distractions and pray. Just talk to God, and enjoy peace in His presence, because there truly isn't anything like it!

The Lord is so so so good! I love each of y'all so much!

Xo,

What if...

On Sunday morning, two of my best friends and I were on our way to church when we were hit by a drunk driver.  Glory, praise, and thanks be to God because He is Good and He is always with us.  My car was totaled, but we are blessed because we walked away from the scene with minor bumps, bruises, and one broken nose {prayers for the cute little nose of my best friend, Carley!} 

In all reality, I believe that God allowed for this accident to happen, and that it was a blessing that He put us there at the exact perfect time.

What if my car hadn't stopped the drunk driver's truck? 

He could have ran straight over the curb and into the home of a precious family. 

What if I had left my house yesterday morning 5 seconds later?

What if I had been going a tiny bit faster?

What if I would have paused at the stop sign a little longer?

He likely would have ran into the driver's side door, making things much much worse.

I was thinking about these things last night, about how different and how much worse this accident could have been.  Through His Word in Jeremiah 29:11, God reminded me, "For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." And then Proverbs 19:21, "For many are the plans in a person's heart, but the Lord establishes his steps."

Through the good, the bad, the highs, the lows, the pretty, the ugly, and everything in between, God has a plan and He establishes our every motion.

There are so many "What if..." statements we can make about literally every situation in life. And sometimes it's only after the fact that we are able to see God's hand upon us and how much better His plan is than ours.

Even in scenarios when we pray so hard for something, God only gives us, His children, what is best.. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ‭‭ask Him!" Matthew‬ ‭7:11.

I love this truth:

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When He tells us "Yes, this is My will and My plan," do you ever think back to the times he said "No, I have something better prepared," or "Wait, My timing is perfect and you are not ready for what I have planned for you," and just sit in pure awe of how glorious is plan and timing truly is?

Maybe a relationship didn't work out and you're in the midst of a heartbreak, but then when you meet the person that God has chosen for you to spend the rest of your life with, you can see how much better His plan is.

Maybe you were required to take a class that you really didn't want to take and maybe it even hurt your GPA, but you then you meet someone in that class who ends up being your very best friend.

Maybe a tragic situation happened, but because of it, you are able to be a witness to others and grow the Kingdom of Heaven in Jesus' name.

Maybe, like Job in the Bible (read his story here), we are experiencing pain and suffering and The Lord is severely testing our faith. Will we be drawn to the Creator, Author, and Perfecter? Will we allow the suffering to bring us closer to God and gain a deeper sense of His power and splendor?

God doesn't promise an easy life, in fact He tells us that we will experience hardships in this life.  John 16:33 says, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

I believe that, if we allow it,  God can and does use every situation to bring us closer to Him, and to allow us to see Him, His love, and His plan clearer. And maybe we won't always understand why God has us go through what we must, but someday we will. Just as Jesus says in John 13:7, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand."

To paraphrase 1 Corinthians 10:13, if God brings you to it, He will bring you through it. He is the God of hope, He is our good good Father, and we are called to have faith in Him and trust fully in Him.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."  Cling to Jesus, love Him above all the things of this world, and He promises a life according to His perfect plan!

I love y'all and I truly hope and pray that regardless of any circumstance, you will trust in God and hold fast to Him!  He will see you through whatever you are going through.  He is ever present in every situation, and He loves you so much!

Love,