Wow! Has it seriously been a year? Yep, it’s true. One year ago today I sat staring at my first post, wondering if I was ever going to click the “publish” button, but I’m so glad I did! God has been so faithful and what I have learned over the last year astounds me.
I thought it would be fun to go back through all of my posts and compile a “What Have I Learned” list. Some of you have been with me from the beginning, others joined us along the way, but regardless I think you will enjoy taking a look at our journey over the past year. I am humbled and honored that you are here with me and have decided to let me and my story be a part of your lives.
These are my favorite snippets from each post. The first word has been linked back to the original post if you would like to read more. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your life in this way. I absolutely love writing to you! This verse I read this morning really sums up my heart right now and why I take the time to share with you:
“For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people
it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 4:15
1 year. 33 posts. Countless blessings…
Just act.
Checking off my Bible Study tasks from a list does not equal intimacy with Jesus. (also, I love art.)
I was made to be in love with God.
The more you practice this, practice intimacy with Him,
the more you will find yourself desiring it.
Art: the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, PRODUCING WORKS TO BE APPRECIATED PRIMARILY FOR THIER BEAUTY OR EMOTIONAL POWER….Take a few minutes and reflect on times of emotional power or beauty in your life, and start to notice your role in “producing these works of art.”
When I turn my focus on Jesus instead of the anxiety-prone questions that crush me like dead weight, my perspective changes and it becomes about my calling in that moment.
If there is one thing I want to convey through my words, it is that we have hope in Christ and you are not alone.
Let someone in, and be amazed at what blessings are set in motion.
Whatever situation you are in or what ever struggle you are facing God sees you, He knows you, and He is with you.
His “how” changed to a “why” when he took his eyes off Jesus.
God loves to bless us, in big ways but I think He gets a special kind of pleasure out of the small ones.
No matter how many desires I had, they were nothing compared to the desires God had for me…The more I lean in to Jesus, the more I take my desires and place them in his hands, the more His desires for me BECOME my desires.
God wants us to flourish! He loves us more than we can imagine. If we let that thought permeate our mind this season, the anxiety will melt away, we will rest in His power and we will thrive!
Contentment is found not when you resign yourself to the way things are, but when you align your heart with God’s and the future He has planned.
My obedience has made an impression on my son. As I have set out to be a “faithful influence”, and teach others what I have learned, I am inherently influencing the people the closest to me, including my own children.
Sharing with you has lightened my load and changed my perspective.
The more you spend time with God, the more you get to know him.
The more you get to know Him, the more you fall in love with Him.
The more you fall in love with Him, the more you trust him.
The more you trust Him, the more you surrender to Him.
The more you surrender to Him, the more you will have the peace,
freedom and victory that only comes from Him.
I stopped running and I faced God. I faced Him and I surrendered, yet again. We never run out of chances with God.
There is love, but there is also selfishness.
There is compassion, but there is also impatience.
There is occasional peace, but it continually gets drowned out by anxiety.
There is humility, but the battle with pride is real.
There is a desire for order, but it is easily derailed by procrastination.
There is a willingness to surrender, but a drive to control.
There is a creative soul, but it is inhibited by fear.
…there is imperfection and weakness, but God.
I don’t have to do everything ALL the time.
It was then that the seed of faith was planted in my 10 year old little heart and I knew that nothing was beyond the power of God.
My heart began to melt at the personal attention Jesus was giving me.
Right now it feels like somedays I just want to close my eyes and wish it all away. But do I? Is that what I really want?
PERSPECTIVE. The one thing that keeps it all from swallowing me up.
The tears started to fall, accompanied by feelings of remorse, and guilt, not for anything I had done but for Who I had left out.
Prayer takes us straight to the heart of God. It is what connects us to His plan already in progress. It takes our out-of-control life and brings it increasingly under the control of our Father, our Father in Heaven.
Circumstances are constantly changing, but God is constant and unchanging.
A good relationship with your teenagers doesn’t start when they are teenagers.
Mother’s Day is hard and it hurts. There is no way around it. But that doesn’t mean you have to do “the hard” alone.
God is calling you to be a faithful influence, and trust me, if you answer that call the only thing you will want to do is more.
I don’t know what that life would have looked like, but this is the life God chose for us and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
5am isn’t so bad after all.
This is where strength of heart is born, not in anything we do, but in who we trust.
This blog is really my heart laid out for you to see. You have been so responsive and it blesses me to no end. This is only the beginning. I can’t wait to see what God is going to do in all of us!