No Regrets

Yesterday’s post was short and simple. Do it with passion, or not at all. Shortly after posting that image I received a link via email to a dear family friend’s blog. This blog is both heart wrenching and inspiring.  How can a blog be both of these things? Well, picture this- a 30-year-old lover of Christ, husband, father of a precious little girl, battling cancer who still finds joy through the Lord. Can you imagine? His post yesterday was about living with no regrets, loving and living well, and living passionately.

I am sharing this with you for a two reasons.

1.)  Life is short, make the most of it. You aren’t promised tomorrow.

2.)  I would love for you to join many others and me in prayer for Andrew, his wife Bailey, & their daughter Ellie.
(Even if it is a one time prayer right now)

Read Andrews blog here and Bailey’s blog here. You don’t want to miss their encouraging words during this difficult time. Their joy is inspiring.

Do it with Passion

 

Pick Wisely

Be Blessed in 2013

Happy Sunday!! Can you believe how far into January 2013 we are? I can’t believe it! I am so excited to see what the Lord chooses to do this year. One of the biggest blessings in my life last year was my prayer journal. I love recording my prayers and rereading them to see how the Lord chose to answer them (even when He answers them in ways I wasn’t expecting). While I like to pretend that I have a pretty good plan for my life, ultimately I know that His is better- so He can answer my prayers however He chooses.

I want to encourage you to start a prayer journal this year. Make it a goal to write your prayers in it at least twice a week. And every once in a while look back and be amazed. I like to highlight my answered prayers. What a blessing it is to flip through and see all of the colored highlights. This year my husband and I are writing down all of the big blessings in our lives and putting them into a mason jar. At the end of the year we will reread them together and reminisce.

 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen.
For by it the people of old received their commendation.
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God,
so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
Hebrews 11:1-3

All of our blessings are going into a white mason jar. I may put fake peonies in it so it is decorative as well.

Teaching for the Future

My Family {before I met my husband}

My story is not very different from most other Christians. I was raised in a Christian home by two wonderful parents who love each other deeply and love the Lord with all their heart. I grew up learning the “stories” in the Bible and had a true “head-knowledge” of who Jesus was and how He saved my life. But it wasn’t until college that I got it (or rather, began to get it).

After graduating college my husband and I began attending the Kanakuk Institute where we spent the first 3 months walking through the Old Testament. If I am being honest, I never really liked the Old Testament. Yes I enjoy the stories, but history has never been my thing. But over the course of those 3 months the history of the Old Testament began to come alive. Now I wish that I had grown up not only learning the stories, but learning the history that went along with it. The stories are SO much more incredible once you know the history. Sadly, the history aspect is just not taught well to young kids.

At the end of the first semester at the Institute we were given a project. We had to cover the entire history of the Old Testament in 30 minutes in front of some of the leaders. This presentation could look like whatever we wanted. Being the visual person that I am, I decided to make a kids book. {And again, being honest- sometimes I think simplifying things into kids terms makes these stories & history much easier to understand… even for adults. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy googly eyes and other 3D visuals and interactive books?}

Going into the presentation I was terrified! But leaving the presentation I was inspired. And now I am currently working on a kids book that teaches a lot of the things that I wish I had learned when I was younger. The book will be broken down into chapters so that your children (and you) will never be overwhelmed with two much information at once. One of my goals for 2013 is to have either self published this book or to have begun the publishing process with a publisher by the end of this year.

Do you have any suggestions for the book? Anything you would like to see in it or learn from it? I would love your input and your help!

Here is a sneak peak from my original project:

{The published book will have better graphics 😉 }

Dream On

Happy Friday!! If you allow it to, today will be a beautiful day! Make it your goal today to do everything to the best of you ability, be positive and dream big!

A Masterpiece

Have you ever had the chance to see a beautiful sculpture? A few years ago my parents blessed my brother and I with the opportunity to go to Italy. While we were there we spent some time in Florence and went to the Accademia Gallery where we got to see Michelangelo’s sculpture of David.  While I was excited to see all of the other pieces of art there, I was most excited to see David.  The entire time we were there I was eagerly searching for the one sculpture. Silly me didn’t realize that David was so grand that there is no way one could ever walk into a room and miss it. Standing at about 17 feet tall David is massive and a beautiful masterpiece.

I recently learned that when Michelangelo was asked how he created David his response was simple. He stated ‘I chipped off everything that didn’t look like David.’  I love that. Could you imagine if we took Michelangelo’s same mentality and chipped off everything in our life that doesn’t look like Jesus? We too would become an even more beautiful masterpiece that stands out in a room.

I know that I have many things in my life that I need to chip off and this year, regardless of how tough it will be, I want start chipping those things away. What are a couple of things that you need to chip off in your life?

{2013}

I am aware that we are almost half way through January, but I still haven’t shared my goals for this year with you guys. It may just be a mental things but I think that if I share them with you then it is like having a plethora of accountability partners. And who knows, maybe one of my goals will encourage one of you! Do you have any goals for this year that you think that I should add?

Something New

Remember how a couple of days ago we were talking about doing something new by the end of the month? Well guess what? I already did it! I have wanted to try Zumba for quite a while and finally had the chance to try it on Saturday. Yes I jumped on the bandwagon of clichés and decided to get fit this year.  In an attempt to do so I am doing my best to limit my carbs to one meal a day, allowing myself one sweet a week and attempting to find a regular workout routine. I know it has only been a couple of weeks but I am already feeling great! A group of girls here at the Institute have begun working out together by using the Nike Training app (it is free and SOO worth checking out. I guarantee you will love it) and by doing Zumba (so excited that one of the girls here was a Zumba teacher!). I love the accountability of working out with others. Actually, I love having accountability in every area of life- but that is a rabbit trail for another day.

Cheers to a healthy and exciting year!

I have been {somewhat} following this calendar & have begun following Tone It Up again!

Trinity

Last week was our first week back at the Institute from our Christmas break and we dove headfirst back into our studies. My head is still spinning trying to comprehend all of the information that we learned (or in my case, still reviewing and still learning). Overall, here is a glimpse into what we learned.

First, it is important to understand that Trinitarianism is a form of monotheism.  Monotheism means that there is only one God. While there are many religions that believe in monotheism, Christianity is the only religion that believes in Trinitarianism.  Trinitarianism says that there is one God that is made up of three parts.  Yes, if you were raised in a church you have probably heard of them- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each of these three members have their own separate characteristics yet they are all part of one God.

So why is it important to understand the Trinity? Well for me I want to really know my Heavenly Father and to have a relationship with Him; therefore, I must do my best to learn who He is. I want to know what I believe and I want to know how to worship Him properly.  He created me, He died for me, and He dwells in me today.  Why wouldn’t I want to know Him more?

Furthermore, some individuals who are outside of the Christian faith see our belief in Trinitarianism and begin to see Christianity as a polytheistic religion. So it really is our duty as Christians to understand God and all that He is.  We must know what we believe in order to share Him with others. I want to confidently know that what I am speaking is truth.

Glenn Kreider (our speaker from last week) did a wonderful job outlining it for us. He made these simple statements:

 

There is one God

The Father is God (eternally)

The Son is God (eternally)

The Spirit is God (eternally)

The Father is not the Son or the Spirit

The Son is not the Father or the Spirit

The Spirit is not the Father or the Son

 

He also have us a visual (thank goodness- I am a very visual person)

 

As much as I would love to fully understand every detail of the Trinity and our God, I am kind of glad that no human can. His immensity just proves how almighty He is and how little we are. How great is our God?