Living the Answer

I came across this quote that I found on a magnet (of all places) and thought I would share....I will be writing more later! I am up at 4 am and cannot go back to sleep!! So frustrating!! Ok...so here's the quote...

"I beg you..to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer..."

--Rainer Maria Rilke

Habakkuk...never thought to look there!

Often times I find myself usually reading out of books of the Bible that I know pretty well, you know, the major ones. I am for sure always looking/reading out of the New Testament, but this morning in church, I came across a verse in a small book in the Old Testament and it made me realize, "Maybe I should start reading in the Old Testament more". Reason being because of this verse from Habakkuk. It says,

"Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay." (2:3)

This morning in church, Brother Steve happened to make a reference to Habakkuk. He didn't ask us to turn there, but I did instead and I'm SO glad I did. This is a verse that I definitely needed to hear and God knew that. I know a lot of us may struggle with not really knowing or understanding God's will for our lives or at least in certain situations. Sometimes we don't understand why He puts us where He puts us, but the truth is HE DOES and that should be enough for us. A lot easier said than done, right? This verse is about God's timing and that He works in HIS time, not ours. He is basically saying, "Be patient! I will work out my plans in my perfect timing." Just like that was God's answer WAY back then to Habakkuk, it's the same answer He would give us, today. And this is a verse I know I can cling to; that even though I don't understand why I am in certain situations or He isn't bringing me out of certain situations, I can rest in the fact knowing that He is in control. He sees the big picture and ONLY has my best interest in mind.

When There's A Hole in Your Soul

Over the last week, my daily devotionals have been about having a "hole in your soul". She defines a hole in your soul as a "deep, dark well that resides in the core of your being. And the harder you work to fill it with stuff, the bigger the doggone thing gets!" She talks about how we tend to fill it that "hole" with other THINGS such as clothes, romance, status etc. We think we choose the right things to fill the hole in our soul, but OUR choices end up being sinful choices and cause more harm than good in the long-run. He knows what's best for us.

She also talks about how we can have a hole in our soul because we feel that we've been cheated. Cheated out of a happy childhood, cheated out of a loving relationship, cheated out of the wonder of motherhood, cheated out of good health..the list goes on. We start to blame the people who hurt us or the ones that didn't come to our aid when we needed it..sometimes we even blame God. The question she asks is "Have you let your anger and disappoinment fester into bitterness that is now eating a hole in your soul? Will you let the past define your future? Will you continue to fill your hole with stuff?" Sometimes the only way to find peace is to forgive. Being bitter is not fun and makes life miserable. Joel Osteen once said,

" Forgiveness is a choice, but it is not an option."

All the bitterness you let build up starts to eat a hole in your soul, so let forgiveness work as your antacid. Sometimes our unrealistic expectations of others can eventually cause us to have a hole in our soul. I know this one convicted me the most. I often times have expectations of others or expect certain things out of others and in the end, I'm the only one being let down and it's only hurting me. It's twisted of us to think that when we do a favor for someone that we expect something in return. She defines it as a "loan interest", not an act of kindness. When you don't see a payback within a short amount of time, you begin to wonder why you're the only one sacrificing...but eventually...that sort of thinking turns the good deed that you did, sour. She says, "many times those who most need our kindness are incapable--due to worry, fear, grief, confusion, exhaustion or embarrasment--to respond to it all. I finally figured out that it's not an issue regarding their poor manners. It's more of an issue regarding the condition of my heart."

Expecting gratitude turns your good deeds sour.

We set ourselves up for a lifetime of dissapointment when we create rules and expectations for OTHERS to live by. We must be willing to give unconditionally. I know this is certainly something I NEED to work on. Of course being a nurse allows me to give without expecting anything in return, but I must admit that sometimes I would like for my patients, my managers, my co-workers to notice the good things I do and acknowledge them, but I have come to realize that those things aren't always going to happen. Sometimes I will get a patient that I do everything in the world for and for whatever reason, they will never show how grateful they are because they either don't know how or think that they deserve to be treated well. I just have to know and get the satisfaction from knowing I've helped someone and that should be enough.

"You have not lived today until you have done something

for someone who cannot pay you back."

--John Bunyan

Our sunday school class has started a study at night called "Love, Sex & Lasting Relationships" by Chip Ingram. We had the first session last sunday (Valentine's Day) and I must say that I was impressed. The speaker gave some really good points and I am extremely excited for the rest of the study. The first session was basically comparing Hollywood's formula (or the world's view) of lasting relationships vs. God's way of how to make a relationship last.

Hollywood's view is this:

1.)FIND the right person.

2.) FALL in love.

3.) FIX your hopes and dreams of future fulfillment on that person.

4.) If FAILURE occurs, repeat steps 1-3.

God's view is this:

1.) BECOME the right person.

2.) WALK in love.

3.) FIX your hope on God and seek to please Him through your relationship.

Let me tell ya, #1 on God's list was INCREDIBLY convicting for me. I never thought about becoming the right person. I'm always praying for God to prepare my husband for me, but I never think to take a look in the mirror and see what all I need to work on. Sure, lately I know God has been working a lot in my heart and revealing a lot of things to me and this is sure one of them. In this time of singleness, I need to grow in my walk with the Lord because it will not only help me to become a better person, but to be able to WALK in love as well. True and unconditional love ONLY comes from the Father above and until we know His love, we won't be able to truly give and receive any kind of love. That's just a little snippet of what our first lesson was about....more to come! Something he said during the talk that really impacted me was this:

"Love is giving the person what they need the most, when they least deserve it."

Snow....FINALLY & Zumba Love!

So...I have to write about the SNOW DAY we just had! I have to be honest and say I really thought the weather man was telling us another lie, but he actually came through this time!! Can I just say...I LOVE SNOW!!! I don't know what it is about it. I guess it's probably because we NEVER have snow, so when we do, it's just a big deal. I'm sure most people who live up north absolutely HATE the snow. I am such a kid when it comes to snow. It was snowing when I walked out of the hospital from work Friday morning and I just couldn't believe it, I was so excited. On the drive home (45 min drive), the snow stopped right before getting into Auburn, so I was a little worried that the Auburn/Opelika area wouldn't actually see the snow. I went to bed and slept for a few hours and when I woke up, I immediately looked out my window and I see TONS of snow and it's coming down really hard! I got all wide-eyed and excited just like a kid on Christmas. I got to play in it, but not nearly as much as I wanted to. Here are some pics from the day.

Needless to say the snow was a success and I hate that it's already gone today. I guess there's always next year right? (Since we only seem to get snow MAYBE once a year).

Today at the Sportsplex there was a Zumba Love Benefit for Haiti Zumbathon.

It started at 1:00 and ended at 3:00. We seriously did Zumba for 2 hours straight and it was SO much fun, but my body is sure feelin' it! It was open to the public and all you had to do was bring certain items or donate money to the relief for Haiti. It was for such a good cause! Jessica, the Zumba instructor at the Sportsplex headed up this event and she taught the class for the entire time along with other instructors from Health Plus. If you don't know what Zumba is, you should definitely check it out!

Before Zumba....

After Zumba.....



Had such a good turnout!


Robyn gettin' down Zumba-style

I will leave you with a quote I just found that I really like.

"You are unrepeatable. There is magic about you that is all your own."

--D.M. Dellinger

Living a Life that Causes Heads to Turn & Footprints!

WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW!!! It has been another awesome morning with God revealing Himself to me! It's so encouraging to know that when we start to feel down, God always has a way of picking us up! Whether it's through a simple song, reading His Word, through advice and encouraging words of a faithful friend...all these things, He uses to pour out His love on us and remind us that He never leaves or forsakes us.

My devotion for today was really convicting, yet really good at the same time. She has been talking about living intentionally, with a purpose. Today in the devotion, she asks,

"How much time did you spend yesterday thinking about how someone hurt your feelings? How much time did you spend yesterday thinking about how unjustified that situation was? How much time....etc.." Then she went on to say, "How much time did you spend collectively last week thinking about how you could encourage someone? How much time did you spend collectively last week about how you could show love to a neighbor?"

That really makes you stop and think, right? Well, she goes on to talk about how we should never underestimate the impact we have on others, positive or negative. She' says "Nothing is neutral--you make a mark on someone's life today. Did you inspire or motivate? Did you leave that person more confident than when you found them? Did you extend kindness and mercy? Did you make someone laugh?"

We come in contact with many different types of people everyday. It may be the person that checked you out at the grocery store, it may be someone at work (for me co-workers and patients), someone attending your church for the first time, someone who simply stops and asks for directions...you left something....what did you leave?

Her words were SO convicting! We all need to be more conscious of how we are presenting ourselves, not only to people we know, but to people we are meeting for the first time. I know for me, I want to be a light. I want people to be able to look at me or meet me and see how much joy and love I have in my heart and think "Where does that come from?" and I would have to say that it ONLY comes from my Father in Heaven and Jesus in my heart, because if it wasn't for Him, I would be a total mess. This devotion reminded me of a verse that I always try to stay conscious of. It says,

"Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

--1 Peter 2:12

In my Bible I had written next to that verse from a speaker I heard that said, "Live a life that will cause heads to turn because of Jesus in your heart." THAT is what I want, right there! I want people to see me as different, I want to stand out, I don't just want to blend in. A new song I found today was so encouraging to me and part of it says,

"Be strong in the Lord and never give up hope. You're going to do great things,

I already know. God's got His hand on you, so don't live life in fear.

Forgive and forget, but don't forget why you're here.

Take your time and pray. That's what I would say....from one simple

life to another...."--Sidewalk Prophets

We are called to hold each other accountable and be encouragers to one another. "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." (Hebrews 3:13).

Are you leaving someone with a smile or a scowl on your face? Are you saying something uplifting or are you choosing to gossip? Remember to "Be kinder than necessary for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle" (Anonymous). You may be the only smile they see that day, you may be the only word of encouragement they get that week or the first hug they've had in months.

Are you living a life that causes heads to turn?...

"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can

do him absolutely no good."--Samuel Johnson

On a completely different note. This past week, I have felt led to start volunteering for The Footprints Ministry.

Their mission is:

"Walking in God's grace and Sharing His Love with families in the

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit."

This ministry is there to support families who have babies that are born extremely early or are extremely sick and have to stay in the hospital in the NICU. This is really close to my heart because although I don't work in the NICU, I work a lot on our High Risk OB unit which has lots of moms who end up having babies early and their babies end up in the NICU. I get so close to a lot of these moms, hence the reason this is close to my heart. The ministry gives each family a gift bag which has a bible, a camera (for the family or nurses to take pictures of the baby),gift cards to local restaurants and stores, a burp cloth monogrammed with footprints, a scent blankie with poem attached for the mother to sleep with and return to the baby, toothbrushes, prayer request cards, pens/notepads, kleenex, baby magazine. There are so many opportunities to volunteer with this ministry and I can't wait to get started! They are having a "Footprints to the Finishline" run/fundraiser this month on the 27th. Although I can't be there to be apart of it, I am sending my entry fee as a donation. If anyone is interested check out their website. It's for a GREAT cause!

God Saves the Best for Last

I decided that since my last post was just about my birthday, I would let this one be more about what's going on in my heart, so I'm going to go ahead and apologize if this post gets a bit lengthy; just please bear with me. I mentioned in my last post that over the past month I have come across things or heard things that I would think to myself "Man! I really want to write about that!" but just never found the time to sit down and type it out...well, now I am.

First and foremost I feel like I started the year 2010 off the right way. I have not only been in church REGULARLY but in the Word regularly as well. My very good friend Kristin, gave me a devotional book to start for the new year and I must say, I have read it everyday (almost everyday) and it has had really good tid-bits of inspiration.

I think it's so neat when I have moments where I just happen to be flipping through my Bible and something happens to jump off the page at me. It may be a verse or something that I've written down from a sermon etc. But that's when I KNOW it's something God wanted me to hear in that moment. It's something I obviously NEEDED to hear. I pray for those moments all the time because I sometimes wonder if I am actually hearing Him and getting what I need, but those moments are just reassurance from my Heavenly Father above saying "Here my darling, this is something specific I want to tell you today". It's so awesome when that happens! Something I came across a few weeks ago that literally jumped off the page at me was something I had written down from a sermon of Brother Steve's at church over a year ago. It boldly stated,

"Sin gives you FUN at FIRST and makes life HARD LATER.

God's way is HARD at FIRST and BETTER LATER.

God saves the BEST for LAST."--Bro. Steve

I LOVE the way Bro. Steve put this because it's SO true. So many times we just give into sin or to what WE want because it's the easiest or the most "fun". But if you think about it, it really does make life harder later. It's kind of like the law of the harvest. Not only do you reap what you sow, but you reap later than you sow and more than you sow. God's way is usually hard at first because normally it's us having to WAIT for something/someone. Believe me, I am the world's worst at waiting (I'm getting better, God is definitely working with me on this one), but most of us today are all about instant gratification. We want what we want, when we want it and how we want it. We don't care about the outcome, we just know that we want it NOW. I'm quickly learning that I HAVE GOT to start trusting God more because He sees the BIG picture. He sees everything, while I'm only seeing what's going on right now simply because I'm living right now. When something doesn't work out or go the way I want them to, I usually get down and wonder what I did wrong or why it didn't work, but truth is, (as brought to my attention by a very dear friend) that instead of seeing it as a bad thing, I need to see it as a RESCUE. I'm being rescued by my Father from something that He could see was totally wrong for me when I thought it was so right. When I start to think of it that way, it starts to make me feel better...starts making me feel like even though it's something that seems so good and so right, RIGHT NOW; God is saving the BEST for LAST.

Another point when it comes to waiting that I came across in my bible is that,

"God's delays aren't necessarily denials."--Karen Scoggins

Mrs. Karen said that during one of our sunday school lessons and that really hit home with me. God is constantly preparing us. Just because He doesn't give us something or something we want right when we want it, doesn't mean He is saying "no", He may just be telling us to "wait". There's that ugly word that starts with a "W" again! But it's the truth! Often times we THINK we are ready for something and we really AREN'T.

"But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."

--Romans 8:25

A couple of weeks ago in sunday school, we had a time of sharing our testimonies. I was not one of the ones that shared (I didn't feel led to at the time), but the ones who did share, gave some awesome testimonies and shared some very good points with the class. One point that someone shared that really hit home with me was,

"I wanted God in my life, but I didn't want Him in my business."

How true and convicting is that statement?! That person hit the nail on the head! So many times I think we want God to be in our lives and we want Him to be apart of our daily living, but there are certain things that we DON'T want Him to be a part of. There may be certain areas of our lives that we have totally surrendered to Him and other areas that we continue to hold on to. Those are the very areas that God himself is trying to get you to let go of. Just like in the story of Abraham and Sarah, where God wanted Abraham to sacrifice his only son, the son that they had prayed and waited for, for so long. The minute Abraham finally decided to give his son over to God, God saw what faith and trust Abraham had and said to him, "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." (Gen. 22:12). This is exactly the place God wants us sometimes. He wants to bring us to the place of total surrender where we say, "Ok, God, it's yours." What would you do if the thing you're waiting on, God says, "Place it on the alter"? Could you without hesitation?

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's

purpose that prevails."--Proverbs 19:21

I was reading through Proverbs the other day and came across this one and it is quickly becoming one of my favorites because it is SO true in my life right now. Lots of times we make our own plans or decisions without even considering what God wants, but truth is, God's plan will always prevail. Just like the verse I've shared before from Job says, "I know you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted." (42:2). We can try everything in the book to make things go our way, but God is WAY bigger than us, so we really need not even try.

"Never underestimate God. He works in mysterious ways. Keep

believing He can instead of He can't. You'll see. I've seen

Him do so much and He's always there."

"Nothing happens by "chance", but God is always behind the scenes, working

all things together for the good of His people (Rom. 8:28). There is no

such thing as "luck" or "fate" for believers." --John MacArthur

That last quote came from a book I recently read called, "Twelve Extraordinary Women" by John MacArthur. It was a really great book about 12 women in the bible and what God did with and through their lives.

I guess to end my post, I will leave you with some great songs I have come across over the last month (since I'm constantly finding/looking for new music). Definitely check them out if you have a chance!

1.) By Your Side- Tenth Avenue North

2.) Hold My Heart- Tenth Avenue North

3.) Trust You- Brandon Heath

4.) I'd Need a Savior- Among the Thirsty

5.) Forgiven- Sanctus Real

6.) Your Hands- JJ Heller

7.) Rend- Jimmy Needham

8.) Umbrella (Christ Mix)- Coffey Anderson

9.) Wait and See- Brandon Heath

10.) Washed by the Water- Needtobreathe

11.) I Will Rise- Chris Tomlin

12.) Never Let Go- Matt Redman

13.) Lay Em' Down- Needtobreathe

They Say It's MY Birthday!!

I just realized it's been a while since I last posted anything. Funny thing is, I have had things happen or come across things in the past month that I wanted to write about, but didn't really find the time to actually sit down and write them. So now, I can't seem to remember all that I wanted to share! ah! First of all, I just had a birthday (the 29th) and it was wonderful (besides the fact that I turned 26 this year). My wonderful, awesome roommate, Natalie started my day off RIGHT by making me a straight-from-heaven-breakfast.....

and also organized a surprise party for me on my birthday at Cock of the Walk. I was SO surprised and so glad to see the wonderful people who came. It meant so much to me! It was a good time to hang out, eat some good food (and cake). Here are some pics from the night:

And Kristin also took me to Birmingham to shop and out to eat at P.F. Chang's for my birthday. It was my first time ever eating there, but I had heard it was SO yummy and always wanted to go. It was great and I already can't wait to go back!!

In the middle of January, we also had a Progressive Dinner with our sunday school class. In case you don't know what that is, it's where you go to a different house for appetizers, salads, main course and dessert. Natalie, Robyn and I were in charge of desserts. We had at least 200 mini cupcakes (different kinds of course). It was such a fun time with GREAT food at each house!

"Be thankful. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Thankfulness is much more dependent on attitude than circumstance. When you feel the lack of what you don't have, thank God for what you do have! At any time, there is more going right in the life of a committed Christian than there is going wrong. It's just that the wrong makes a lot more noise than the right."--Jim Stephens