Monday, February 24, 2014

Oceans.

Happy Monday y'all!

I am obsessed with this song. THIS message will carry you through your week lovely people!









Thursday, February 20, 2014

Restless


I posted a bit back about Restless & IF: Gathering.
I am telling you. All of this is just getting more and more exciting!

For those of you seeking; as I am. There is now a daily devotional that was birthed out of IF. It has been so nice to have a place to go daily.


& now; there is a Restless online book club

For those of us that have a hard time being vulnerable in public; especially with other women that you think totally have their lives together (hand STRAIGHT UP in the air), and for those of us that can't get a sitter to actually go to a book club even if we wanted, for those of us that have never been to an actual book club, & for those of us that want to start a book club but are unsure if they REALLY want to commit…THIS is perfect!

Check it out would ya?

I keep hearing this common tension among women. It's funny because we are a generation that is so advantaged. We have more than our parents have … most of us have more schooling, bigger houses, we have every privilege, luxury even, and advantage. We've been given so much and we are so blessed, and yet I keep hearing over and over, "I'm restless. I don't know what it is, I don't know what more I could possibly want, what am I missing? How could I still feel at all dissatisfied with this happy beautiful life that I have been given?
Jen Hatmaker - preface to Restless

"As I stared at the ceiling, I saw scrape marks. Right after we had moved into our first house, Zac, my husband, scraped off the popcorn-textured ceiling. You'd think that would be something you'd never really notice, the ceiling, but it was something I stared at every afternoon. I stared as my newborn son slept. I had nowhere to be. Nothing to do.
I would lie on my beige sofa and stare at the marks that had been left in, trying to make something perfect of it. And in the quiet, surrounded by everything I thought I'd ever wanted, I felt like everything I'd ever wanted was strangling me."

Man oh man, have I felt that! I still do somedays. Completely strangled. Why?? Well, pretty sure its because God has more out there for me! The beauty of this book is that it; along with a pretty amazing group of women that are taking this journey with me is that I am going to figure it out.
What if the things I; you loved to do collided with the plans God has laid out for us to do!?

Pretty sure He loves us that much people.

Pretty sure he loves us enough that if we choose to follow Him our lives our not going to be boring and miserable. He gave us passions for a reason. He gave us dreams for a reason!



Happy Thursday everyone!


Friday, February 14, 2014

HE loves us.

Today I am thankful for perfect love.
I am thankful that He was born to die for me so that I could be with Him forever and ever.
I am thankful that His love never disappoints.
I am thankful that I am truly free in His love.
Oh, how he loves us people.
How amazing!
Happy Valentines Day!







Monday, February 10, 2014

Oh, Monday...



You know how I know that God is moving? He gave one woman a vision 7-years ago and this weekend over 30,000 (I do not even know the final numbers, pretty sure they are well above 30k) woman gathered live in Austin, TX & locally in their homes, churches and workplaces to hear what God wanted Jennie to share.
Also, I know that the messages that our pastor, the book I am soaking up each night & the powerful messages that each of the woman at the conference this last weekend have COLLIDED!! These messages have collided and at moments I do feel like I have been in a physical car WRECK as my muscles are sore and my heart hurts, yet at the same time my heart and soul are overflowing with divine peace, excitement and urges for more of Jesus!
Folks; I did not want to go to this conference on Friday night. The week prior was rough. I screamed at my daughter daily, I was a horrible mommy and it had me down. I was tired & by 5PM Friday I wanted to get in my sweats and sit on the couch with a glass of wine. (lets be honest here) I prayed, I dragged myself to the church up the street & I prayed some more.
The only person that could carry me through this AMAZING 2-days with the amount of struggle that was going on in my head, in my heart, in my body is Jesus.
Now; what will I do with all of this on my heart? Yikes(!!); that is one heck of a mission for this Monday morning!



Hebrews12:1-2 (MSG)
Do you see what this means…all of these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running…and NEVER quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race that we are in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed…that exhilarating finish in and with God…he could put put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. THIS will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

This verse was a thread that ran through the weekend. I do love how God compared life to a race. He knew what life was like. He knew there were times that it would be easy, that there were times that we would feel out of breath, that there were times that we literally would think our lungs were on fire, that there were times that we would not feel our legs and times that we would HAVE to sit on the sidelines…
BUT if we keep our eyes on Him... we can do this people. 
Lets run this messy race together. We do not need to have our act together. We do not need to have our lives perfect before God, we do not need to have all of the laundry done, the dishes but away, the meals planned, or the children bathed! All of that is in fact a PART of our race. Our race is in which attitude and to whom are we really doing all of the messy things for?!

I will start with loving the heck out of God, I will ask Him to help me love His creation; me & I will continue to beg Him to help me see others as He does and love the heck out of them.

The link to parts of the IF:Gathering can be found HERE. They will only be up until midnight TONIGHT. Check it out if you wish. You will want to start with the video at the bottom of the page and work your way up. Buckle up. (do not say I didn't warn you)

Happy Monday everyone. Love you!



Friday, February 7, 2014

Digging out.

I realize I have not been here in a bit so lets do some catch up!
Please excuse my soul searching in this post; but Gods gotta do what Gods gotta do! ;)
I am desperately trying to life a life on purpose otherwise I am one floundering mama, wife, friend, sister, daughter…Lets face it when my eyes are on Him life just makes so much more sense & even in the midst of life making NO sense whatsoever the peace is still there.

Thankfully in the last few weeks I have found some awesome resources to help me along the way.




What I want to read:
What a cool bible study! Restless is on my book wish list.








What I am reading: 
My soul is drinking this up!







Where I am going:
Kinda a full circle sorta thing. Jennie Allen, whom I found a few weeks ago led me to the Angie Smith book and then both of these ladies led me to this IF: GATHERING happening TONIGHT & TOMORROW!
I am headed out (solo) to a church up the street tonight to see what God has to share with me.





 What are you all up to this weekend?
What are your struggles, what are some of the resources have you found along the way to pull yourself up?