23 joyful days.

I have decided to choose joy.

My good friend Melissa and I wrote 23 joyous things to do for the next 23 days. As in, starting tomorrow March 5th. We would LOVE for you to join in! To keep each other accountable we are going to document everything on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, or just one if you don't have all three! 

For all you that take on this list use #twentythreejoyfuldays

Melissa and I are not going to do everything in this particular order, but we have committed to having it all finished in 23 days. 

I am so excited to start this... 

1. Read Psalm 100

2. Exercise in your favorite way for 20+ minutes.

3. Call a family member you haven't talked to in a long time. 

4. Cook something new.

5. Spend 2 hours outside. (For Lissa this should be easy since she is the lucky one in Tampa, but surely we will get a pretty day in the next 23 here)

6. Buy yourself some fresh flowers. 

7. Buy someone else some fresh flowers. 

8. Sing in the shower. (I used to be a mega shower singer and sadly I stopped, I am picking up the habit!)

9. Go on a date with your favorite human. (For me this is J, for you it could be your mom, dad, brother, or best friend)

10. Paint a picture. (NO ARTISTIC ABILITY HERE! But I think it will make me happy)

11. Write a letter to a missionary. 

12. Play with sparklers. (They may be the happiest things on earth)

13. Visit your favorite spot... where you live. (My all time favorite spot would take about 26 hours on a plane to reach so, I will have to settle for my favorite spot here in NC)

14. Pray without ceasing, literally, I want you to pray all day long. 

15. Eat a cupcake, or two. 

16. Organize something in your life. 

17. Have a conversation with someone living on the street. 

18. Pay for someone behind you in the checkout line, wherever you decide necessary. 

19. Forgive someone, and pray for them. (Melissa gets all credit for this one, she is the greatest)

20. Take a risk in talking to someone about God. (Family member, friend, coworker, classmate. Show them the love of Jesus)

21. Leave and inspirational quote for someone to find. 

22. Leave 4 quarters in a vending machine with a nice note.
23. Bake something to take to work/class.


Did I mention I miss this Melissa girl.

Anyways, that is the challenge. You don't have to do these in any particular order. Some will take no time and some will take a lot of effort... but I think everyone should take the chance to choose joy.

Happy Tuesday!

insert picture from 2011. 

(:

quit calling it single awareness day and get out there and love somebody.

I have always hated the hate that people have for Valentine's day.

I totally understand that it could sting a little bit if you just broke up with your significant other, you have never had a significant other, and a million other reasons.

I also hear the complaint of "well shouldn't you show love to people everyday".

My answer to this is always, "well shouldn't you celebrate the birth of Jesus, his ressurection, your countries independence, and blessings you have in life every day?"

I encourage you that if you don't have a significant other, get out there and love someone anyway. Go out of you way to show love to a mom, dad, brother, sister, child, grandma, grandpa, dog, cat, best friend, co-worker, enemy (whoa, I know that is touchy). This valentines day I think we should all try our best to love everyone we see, because that is what Christ commanded us to do. We should love the waitress at the restaurant, the teller at the bank, the grumpy target worker, and everyone inbetween.

This valentines day I think we should show some extra love for our God, because he ALWAYS shows extra love for us.

I didn't want to go to church.

Yesterday morning I didn't want to get up and go to church.

I know, how unspiritual of me.

Anyways, I was tired (and cold) and wanted to snuggle in my bed. I normally am excited about going to church and have no problem getting motivated to get myself ready. Yesterday I had to roll out of bed and make myself get ready.


Once I got to church I was still feeling tired and wanted to go home (turns out I was sick), but decided to stay anyway.


AND THANK GOD I DID.

During choir I noticed a young couple just a row in front of where I normally sit. They looked like they were teenagers and were sitting by themselves. I sat behind them during the service and the entire time I felt like I needed to pray for the boy in the rugby styled shirt.

Weird, right?

Wrong.

See, God knew that he wasn't saved and that he needed the courage to walk to the front after the service to ask someone to show him how he could be, and God used me.

God has worked in my life in many ways before but I don't know that it was ever so humbling as it was yesterday morning. He could have easily had someone else pray for him, or just given him the courage on his own to walk to the front, but instead He had me (the girl that didn't even want to go to church that morning) experience the blessing of watching someone you just spent an hour praying for walk the aisle and trust Christ as their Savior.

let it go.

sometimes you worry.

sometimes you worry so much that you cry yourself to sleep at night.

all the time, you should do this instead:

 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. -1 Peter 5:7

 

 

 

 

 

 

just let Him have it.

just let it go.

 

goals, resolutions, what have you.

I am not a huge fan of resolutions since most of the time people don't follow through, but I am going to set some goals for this year... which is pretty much the same thing.

anyways, here are a few things that I am going to strive to do this year.

+get ready in the morning. I am so bad about waking up just early enough to put my clothes on, brush my teeth, and make coffee. along with this I want to learn some fun tips and tricks for makeup because I am not makeup savvy in the least bit. I love makeup but I need to learn how to apply it. I plan to soak in what Meg Livingston says in her new beauty blog. win.

+cook more meals/pack more lunches. working a full time job and being a wife is hard. I really love my job though, and the financial aid it brings, so for now I will have to find a way to balance both. also, having your office inbetween Chick-fil-a and Cook Out can be expensive. I need to make more dinner so I can have more leftovers. two birds with one stone.

+finish our Dave Ramsey baby step 3, which is a fully funded emergency fund. (e-fund definiton: 3-6 months of your income in a savings account that you can access easily) we are in the process of buying a house and trying to finish this step up, but I think we can do it.

+a few months ago I blogged about being a missionary. well I feel like I know where God is leading and it's something I can do from right where I am. I don't want to give to many details because I will be unveiling it via this blog within the next month or so, but it's a goal to have it up and running and ready for presentation in October for the annual Help Conference.

+have a yardsale. because we have too much junk.

+stop biting my nails. I say this every year. never works. oh well. try, try again.

+read five new books.

+go to Australia in September. J and I have set this goal together and we are hoping we can still accomplish it with some unexpected expenses that came up.

+move into our new home. right now we are going throught the home inspection process and loan approval and it is a lot of work, but I can't wait to get into our house! we plan to completely renovate the kitchen right away but more on that later.

+love J, my family/friends, and Jesus more.

sad, angry, and annoyed no more.

I have made a decision to love. 

I am not going to lie and tell you that EVERYONE I meet I instantly love and no one bothers me in the slightest. That would be untrue. And quite frankly I don't know of anyone that is truly 100% like this. 

We are all hurt, dissapointed, let down, and even annoyed by others. I feel that lately I have let these emotions get the best of me. I was allowing others to mold my attitude and spirit. 

I just recently realized how much this affects a persons spiritual and emotional condition. And I am tired of it making me sad, angry, and annoyed. 

I know I will not be best buddies with everyone I know, but I am commanded to love them, and I believe that to truly love someone you have to look past their faults. Whether they honestly hurt you or they just do things that get under your skin. 

I do things that hurt God every day but I have never had to worry about Him letting it affect how much he loved me. 

I want to be like that. 

So, from here on out I will simply love.

And pray that God gives me the strength to do that. 

Missionary.

I was called to the mission field in 2006, a year after I trusted Christ as my Savior. 

At that point I assumed that would mean I would marry a man that was called to be a missionary. In July I married a state trooper. 

I had and have absolutely no doubt it was God's will for me to marry J. He is exactly who God had for me and I am exactly who God had for him. (Is that not the coolest thing ever or what?!)

Also he is being super supportive of all that this post is about and I couldn't thank him enough.

But needless to say I did begin to wonder how and where I would serve on a mission field. 

This week at our church we are having missions revival and Sunday morning when my dad preached arguably the most stirring, thought provoking, beautiful message I have ever heard. (Seriously y'all, he knocked it out of the park) You can listen to it HERE. 

Anyways, during this message I could not help but wonder "What is it that God has for me?"

I haven't had peace about a career in anything. I have changed majors and schools what seems to be 100 times and have never felt that any of these changes were God's calling for my life. I love photography and will forever cherish my camera but don't believe for a second that that is what my sole purpose is. The past four years I have longed to know what career path I was supposed to take and where I should finish college, but Sunday morning I realized that I have been searching for something that I discovered in 2006. 

Now don't get me wrong I have a job right now that I really enjoy doing and will stay here until I am sure what direction God is leading, but selling wedding dresses is not my mission field, at least not in the long term.

I sobbed last night while talking to my dad and husband about how I am so ready to know what my mission field is. I have some ideas, but I also know that when God presents it to me it will be so clear. I am trying to be patient as I await this presentation. And I can not even explain how excited I am about it. 

I want to know right this second what it is and for whatever reason God is telling me to wait. I don't know if I will find out tomorrow, next month, or 5 years from now, but I wouldn't trade this sweet communion I am having with God for anything. 

During my last two years of high school and my first semester of college I was running from this calling. I wanted to be a nurse, and then a teacher, and then a journalist, and then a business owner, etc. When in the back of mind I knew what God wanted me to be. If I could take back those three years I would. I would reconsider my choices and maybe make new ones. 

But thankfully, I am hear now. I have been struggling with what mission field God was calling me to since last years missions conference and it feels so good to have finally shared with my family what has been heavy on my heart. 

I am so grateful for God's grace and love. And I am so grateful He decided to use people to spread his Word. 

I am not sure of the exact direction my life will go but for now I will be the best dress consultant I can be, I will be the best church member I can be, and I will be the best photographer I can be. These will be my mission fields until God is ready to show me a new one.