You are loved.

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What would happen if I told you, "You are loved."  Would you believe me?  Would you laugh at me?  Would you try to redirect my acceptance of your flaws, transgressions, and failures?  Would you turn away and seek lesser love?

Then why is it, that we treat God's love for us with the same disregard?

In a moment of vulnerability that thought hit me HARD today as I doubted my worthiness to receive such love.  Not the devotive love that our parents or dearest friends show us, but a much deeper love.  I shriveled at the idea that someone would choose to love me.  Could they still love me if they knew that I have failed?  That I don't always wear makeup?  That I'm more often Martha than Mary?

But . . . then a small voice spoke, "You are loved."  Really, me?  How, why?

"Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven. (1 John 4:8-10)

Wow.  There is so much hope that comes from knowing the love the Lord has for us.  To understand that my worth is not found in me, but Him?  Whether or not I understand the capacity, I am loved.  On days when I wear makeup and on days when I don't.  I am loved, not for something that I did...but because something that was done for me.  Nothing I do could change His mind.  I didn't have to earn it.  It won't be taken away if I falter.  Every moment of every day, I am loved.  And there is good news for you, too.

You are loved.  Notice that period that ends that statement...it stands in the way of continuation.  There is nothing further that God needs to add to that statement.  There is no need to use a colon to list parameters of our worthiness.  There is no question mark that requires a defensive answer--to put our past up for consideration that could change His mind.  God means that statement--that as you are, sins considered, "You are loved."

I pray that wherever you are today, that you are reminded of God's love for you.  I pray that you can fully experience the grace extended to us.  May the love that is shown to you, be shown through you.  As you walk through low valleys and mountain tops, that you never doubt your worthiness.  Praise be! 

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beauty for the taking

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if there is one thing that i have just began to understand, it is that God made everything beautiful.  whoa, say what?!?  for serious though.  yeah it is easy to see the beautiful trees, feel the beautiful breeze on a sunny day, or hear the beautiful laugh of a baby, but to look in the mirror and see beauty: doubtful.

and that is something that i have personally struggled with for the past...five years.  five years of my life have been wasted away thinking that i'm not pretty enough, i'm not rich enough, that i'm not enough.  well, enough IS enough!

it's time that we take responsibility for what we are and what we are not.  for me, this means flushing out the lies that have been told to me and start listening to the truth.  it means, stop doing what i don't want to become.  it means start following the dreams that i've been dreaming.

a lot of who i am today has been shaped by the things that God has began to show me.  it says in His word that He has made everything beautiful in its time {Ecclesiastes 3:11}.  and with that being said, my time--YOUR time--is now.  God has made YOU beautiful for this time, so...

do not let your adorning be external--the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear--buy let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. {1 Peter 3:3-4}

inside you is a beauty so precious, so gentle, and so quiet that sometimes we can't even see it ourselves.  but even though we can't see it all the time, God does.  this reminds me of my favorite verse, found in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 16-18:

therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

beauty is out there and it is also in you.  it is there for the taking.  so what? five years of my life have been wasted away...to be honest, my whole life is wasting away at this moment.  but each day i am being renewed by Gods love and grace.  and by fixing my eyes on the things unseen, i have begun to truly understand the promises of God.
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monday pinspiration

Happy Monday!  Hopefully by now you're feeling a little more into your routine.  Today I'm starting the worldwide 12-week BBG challenge (follow my Insta for updates)!

Here are a few of my favorite pins from my weekend Pinterest binge!

       

       

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Release

It's finally the first Friday of 2017!  I wanted to hop back on the blog today to reflect on the first week of 2017, and share my goals for this next year!

As of currently, I have chosen Release to be my word of the year.  I want to release tension, doubt, fear, and worry.  As I graduate, I want to release myself as an arrow...forward.  I love the reality of an arrow -- at first it is pulled back with great force, until it is let go.  It flies forward with even greater release, as it travels forward.

This week was long and slow and boring and restful.  I chose to leave my part-time job at the conclusion of 2016, so that I could better prepare and focus on fieldwork and graduation.  It was a hard reality to face in leaving a relatively steady, albeit small, income -- but I knew my mind needed the break.  So, this week I had a lot A LOT of free time on my hands.

I wanted to start this year in a new way -- so I purchased and dived into Make it Happen, by Lara Casey.  Chapter one has be hooked!  Also, I was lucky and fortunate to get my hands on some Powersheets from Cultivate What Matters.  (They have since sold out on both yearly and 6-month editions ... follow them on Instagram for updates on a potential mid-year restock!)

My first goal of the year is to complete Kayla Itsines 12-week BBG guide at least once!  I've tried it previously, but did not make it past the fourth week -- so this time, I'm joining the worldwide challenge which begins next Monday!

I am so looking forward to the adventures this year will bring!  Front and center on my vision board are two other BIG goals: graduate college and pay off my student loans (< $1,800 from WSU and $0 from WITC!)  From there, it's all dreams: go on a real vacation, upgrade my vehicle, move to a different state.  It's going to be a good, sweet year!

But, there is also not as fun stuff to look forward too: filing taxes, taking my board exam, being unemployed for six-months.  But, for everything there is a season friends!  And with the good, often comes the bad too.  I won't complain too much as this year looks to bring a lot of promise to it!

I'm off to accomplish one other goal I have for this year: spend more time with my cat!  Call me cray, but I love that ball of fluff and until someone hunkier and funnier comes along, he's my main guy.

What are some of your goals for this year?

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Small.

It's starting to get cold in Wisconsin.  Nighttime temperatures are in the low 40s Fahrenheit.  Now, you can probably imagine that when my mom asked me to take the dog out at 10:00pm, I apathetically agreed.  Sure.

So I am out with the dog--the dog that didn't even want to leave her blanket to go outside.  We walk down the long sidewalk to the tree line where she usually sniffs around for a moment, finds a spot, and squats.  But not tonight.  Instead, the dog sniffs around a bit, pauses, and stares off at the trees.  After some encouragement, I get her to start sniffing again.  She does so reluctantly.  Even she didn't want to be outside--forced away from her warm blanket in the house.

But as she sniffing away, I'm sure trying to find a spot she never peed on before, I glance up.  And on that cold evening when neither the dog nor I wanted to be outside, the stars appeared.  It was one of those starry nights that pictures cannot adequately record (not that my iPhone could even attempt).  So I let the dog continue sniffing until she found her spot as I continued to stare above us.  Breathtaking.

I have always had a thing for starry nights.  Maybe four (or five?) summers ago, I was on a leadership retreat with my college ministry group.  It was one of those weekends where you don't remember the details, just the laughs and fireworks (no, true story!).  We were in the middle of nowhere in Wisconsin...closest city like 20 miles away.  And we took a dirt road to place I could never find again.  We shut off the van lights and found ourselves in an open overlook somewhere in a field.  The sky was black, and the stars were far and wide.  We only stayed maybe thirty/forty-five minutes, but counted well over fifty shooting stars.  A breathtaking night sky, uninterrupted by city lights.

So on that forty-degree night, waiting for the dog to go, I couldn't help but feel so small.  In a world that is constantly go-go-go, I felt peace in that one fleeting moment.  Soon, the dog was ready to go back inside, and I aptly agreed.  We walked back up to the house, and left the night sky outside.

He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.

Psalm 147:4 tells us that God knows all of the stars by name.  While I didn't necessarily count the number of stars that night, I don't think I could--yet He knows them all.  And in a way, we are the stars.  God knows us each--our troubles and triumphs--and calls us by name.  He knows what lies ahead and just like the night sky, guides us through the cold, dark nights.

The next night, I again agreed to take the dog out.  Not because I wanted too, but because I needed to see the stars again.  So, off we walked down the same cold sidewalk to the tree line.  This time, she apparently knew where she wanted to go and sniffed and squatted quickly.  But in the single moment I had out there, I peered up to the sky to find it covered in low clouds.  I couldn't see the stars.  Disappointed, I walked back inside.

We don't always see the stars, but that doesn't mean they are not there.  But it again reminded me that moments are fleeting and it's important to take them when we have them.  The night sky helps ground me and remind me that I am one of Gods stars.  He knows my name, He knows my trials, and He knows my purpose.  He sees me when I am covered by clouds of doubt, or shame, or fear.  He walks with me every day, and night, as a child of His Kingdom.

And even on cloudy nights, I will always be know.

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