Year two anyone?

Last October I took part in a super exciting 31 days series. Some of you may remember my topic was music. Well, it's that time again and I've been looking forward to this. For those of you who have been around here for a while, this year has been all about change for me.

God's done some amazing work in my life, allowing me to strip off old labels I'd worn since childhood. Giving me the courage to place new labels, His labels on to myself. Even if I haven't fully come to understand or believe them yet.

My goal for the month of October is to highlight the transforming power of His love and grace. Taking one label the world loves to place on people and shedding His light on them. Fighting them tooth and nail with His truth. That we might become more secure in who He made us to be, and strip off the ugliness of who the world thinks we are.

I'm going to ask for grace, encouragement and support this month. I'm praying that this will re-ignite my love for writing and deepen my understanding of my creator. As well as reconfirm who I am in Him. This journey is also one I look forward to helping with my life-long struggle with chronic insecurity.

I hope you'll join me for....

Day 1: From New to Old

Day 2:  From Worthless to Priceless

Day 3: From Captive to Free

Day 4: From Rags to Royalty

Day 5: From Loner to Connected

Day 6: Musical interlude

Day 7: From Broken to Whole

Day 8: From Dead to Alive

Day 9: --No Post--

Day 10: From Good to Grace

Day 11: From Heartbroken to Hopeful

Day 12: Whatever You're Doing

Day 13: From Forgettable to Memorable

Love Impacts

I've been scarce around here lately. It's not that I haven't wanted to write, because believe me...there has been plenty on my heart to write about. No, the issue has been due to the exhaustion that crept back up on me. Hit simultaneously with the start of the third trimester. With that being said, there has been two songs lately that I hear all. the. time. Each time I hear them I can't help but stop what I'm doing and focus on these songs.





So...if those two songs didn't make it clear enough and emphasize that my life needs to be a reflection of His love. This morning, I read through the end of week 5 of the Kept Study from the Hello Mornings gang. The point to ponder at the end of the week was:

"I cannot love like He loves unless I follow Christ's example and die to self."

Ohh kayyy... I think I get the point. Just maybe. Then again...this seems to be one of those lessons that just keeps coming up. One of those I have to learn, re-learn, and then have it taught to me again.

The challenge I set out for myself is to look for ways each day, hour, minute to be a better display of His love to those who are around me.

Seeing the beauty {Multitudes 121-145}

Up until last week, this pregnancy has been fairly easy. Not too many of the negative symptoms and enjoying the bliss that is known as the second trimester. Then the third trimester hit, along with muscles ache (primarily in the back and legs) as well as major heart burn. Couple that with a long, stressful, and behavioral week at work, it makes for a tired mama.

Now, even though I know in the end, it will be worth each and every thing that may seem annoying right now. Sometimes it's hard to look through the forest for the beauty. Which is why I love this practice on Mondays of counting the gifts given to me on a consistent basis.

121. New challenges
122. Baby movement
123. Steps in the right direction
124. Cool mornings
125. Bright cloudless skies
126. Fall temperatures
127. How the grass shimmers with dew
128. Kevin’s curiosity about Andrew
129. Peaceful mornings
130. God’s energy that  carries me
131. Boldness
132. Books that challenge me
133. Friends that do too
134. Daily grace
135. Perspective alignment
136. Confirmation (repeatedly) of call
137. Deep conversations with my love
138. Spirit movement
139. Our double-wide chair-perfect for cuddle time
140. Shared interests—especially unlikely ones
141. His vision for us
142. Registering for baby Andrew
143. New beginnings
144. A sweet, yet stubborn dad
145. Commitment

Won't you join all of us who take part in the community? All you have to do is jump on over to Ann's place and link up with us!

Five Minute Friday: Graceful

It's time again for one of those weekly link-ups that many of us love so much.
Dare we be so bold as to write for a solid five minutes without second guessing ourselves?
Today's prompt?

Graceful

How is it that so shortly after just studying about a very topic, we forget that it's meant not only to be taken into my heart, but also poured out onto others. It almost never fails that on the days that we're prompted to study or write on a subject, it's that very subject we're tempted with.

To be graceful is to show grace just like our Father has shown to us. How can it be so hard for us to freely give to others what was freely given unto us? Is it because we so often think that the grace we have been given falls on us because of something we have done? Forgetting that it's a free gift that HE gave unto us. Unto me.

Can we stop trying to earn it, and just let it fall on us. To allow it fill us to the point where it just naturally just pours out of us onto others? To be full of grace is to be full of God. For at His very core we'll find grace.

Father,  Forgive me when I fail to show grace to those around me. Forgetting that you have given me grace, free without condition. May I learn to extend that same grace to others. In Jesus Name, Amen.

STOP

Need a reset?

Sometimes we all need to simply hit reset every now and then. That's precisely what's taking place over at Must Love God. With the start of a new school year often means a similar refreshing of priorities as January 1st brings about. We thought this would be the perfect time to re-prioritize our lives by looking at the four key areas of life that need to be in a constant state of evaluation anyway.



We had the intro post a few days ago. Then yesterday we had an amazing post about how to read the Bible effectively  especially if you don't feel you understand it thoroughly enough. Today, yours truly is sharing on ways to better process what we read in the Bible.

I hope you'll join us for the rest of this reset. I cannot wait to see what transformations God's going to do through this reset! It may hurt, but I know in the end it will be worth it!

Five Minute Friday: Change

Time again for one of my favorite things! Five minute Friday linking up with Lisa-Jo and hundreds of other writers. Today's topic is change. With how my brain is today, the result is bound to be interesting. So let's jump right in.

Change

Everything in life changes. It always does. It's what this world was designed for. Changes are often the result of suffering. No matter the type of suffering, whether it's major suffering, or minor suffering, change is bound to happen once we're through it.

Change. I feel it coming around me. There's a sense of impending change in the air around me. No matter where I look, it's there. While I'm sure there will be good change, I can't say that it will all be good change. Some of it may be more challenging and hard to deal with before I am able to see the sweetness that comes out of such change.

Change is a scary word, to many people. Myself included. Perhaps the scariness of it is the fact that we don't know what will happen at the end of it. At least, not completely.

Uncertainty. Yes. That is what we can see coming from change. Uncertainty of where we'll end up. If we'll get there in time. If the change will ultimately be beneficial for us in the long run.

However, we are promised in Scripture that if we trust wholeheartedly in Him, then we will never be disappointed in the change. In all reality we are changed into a new creation each day. Whether it's all at once or little by little He his changing us to be the person that He created us to be. The person that He needs to complete His will for this world.

The question isn't what will the change bring about, because if we're looking to Him, we know it will all result in beauty. Maybe the real question is, will we trust Him enough to open our hearts up to the change He has for us? Believing that His will is greater than our desires? Giving Him the complete control to change the traits in us that only He knows needs to be changed in order for us to be more like Him?

STOP

There we have it friends. Now, won't you jump on over to Lisa-jo's place and join us in this challenge? It's simple, just write for 5 minutes flat. Without worrying if it's just right or not. No editing, no back tracking. Just a raw, heart felt 5 minutes.

What Went Wrong {& gifts 106-120}

Friends, have you ever had one of those nights where you feel like you could just break down at any second, for no particular reason? As I sit here tonight I'm feeling very heart broken. And to be totally honest, I'm not quite sure why. All I know is that I see a brokenness in the world around me and I feel it in the deepest parts of my heart.

Maybe it's because the "normal" brokenness we see in the world around us has started continued to seep into my family and close circle. Perhaps it's because as I find myself plunging into 1 Peter with my hello mornings gang I am starting to see more about the world around me that is less than appetizing. However, it could be due  to the raging hormones of pregnancy. Although somehow, deep inside I think it's a mixture of the first two with just twinge of the third. When I look around, I can't help but wonder,

what went wrong? 

Then I look at the traits that God created us to represent. Love. Peace. Respect. Hope. Kindness. Joy. Grace. Him. Then I look around me and I have a hard time seeing these. More often we see hate, rage, disrespect (or lack of respect), hopelessness, disdain, bitterness, Satan.

When we stop yearning to look like Him, we cease to be able to accurately reflect these traits. When we stop reflecting these traits, those around us cease to see even a fraction of who He is. When we stop searching after  the God who created us and stop reaching for the characteristics He wants us to have, we fall hard. We fall prey to Satan. We fall right into his traps that are set up for us.

I see vicious cycles floating around in the air around me. Cycles that I try with all my might to avoid. Honestly, I've found myself trapped in these cycles most of my life, because that's all I had ever known. Until He guided me into relationships with other believers that helped shed light on the true issues in which they were rooted.

Now, it is only by His grace that I do not fall into those cycles (as often). I'm not afraid to admit that at times I still fall prey to them. Now I stop and ask myself,

what can I do?

But I have found the key to avoiding many of those major traps. Daily worship, scripture reading, and prayer.

 

So as I sit here tonight, something of which I'm not totally sure the origin, weighing heavy on my chest. I can sit back, take a deep breath in, exhale some of the heaviness and TRUST that my spirit is conveying the prayers that my brain doesn't know it needs to be saying. Not only that, but I can trust that God is already at work in my heart to show me the steps I need to take to help the heaviness.

 

*Because I know that one of the best ways to come out of a mood like this is to count some of these...and after all it is still Monday...

106. I love feeling the strong kicks of my little boy. Although I might not think they're as sweet when he gets on the outside...
107. Brokenness
108. Beauty in brokenness
109. Circumstances that bring about
110. Friends who pray at the drop of a hat
111. The ability to be Switzerland
112. A job that challenges me
113. A very active baby boy
114. 1 Peter
115. Challenges that make this life worth while
116. 31 parties that allow me to get to know other women around me
117. The good days at work
118. Quiet time in the morning
119. My desires for a family that is a-typical in today’s society
120.A husband who has the same desires for our family