Blessed mornings.

Today I am feeling uninspired.
Maybe its because I keep listening to the same song on repeat?
Maybe its because its a wednesday?
Maybe its because the weather has changed from rain, to snow to sun to snow and back to rain?

No matter what the reason is, I'm feeling it. Or better yet, not feeling it.
However, I have had a great week. Just feeling the blessings of Jesus. I have a new shift at work. 4:30-9am. Its super early, but incredibly enjoyable. I love the members that come in during that time period and love that I get off so early!

BUT, the best part of my morning is that my dear friend Carissa Cunningham and I both work at the same time. So in the mornings we read the devotional from Jesus Calling (if you don't have that book go buy it. Right now. Get off the computer and go buy it) and pray over our works and our days. Its probably been the biggest joy and blessing of my mornings. It also holds me accountable so that I am not late :)

How has the Lord been blessing you?

This is the little cutie. If you feel like getting to know this precious gem (CRI) you can find her either in the secret place with Jesus, at Starbucks either working or on an encouraging coffee date, or at the gym. She is such an athlete. :)

Dreary days.

Today was one of those days.

dreary. dull. lifeless. bland. monotone. dismal. oppressive. 

So what to do to bring the mood up? 

Well after doing the spiritual thing by seeking the Lord, I sat on the computer and watched youtube videos. Obviously that will cheer me up! And it did! 

A dear person in my life showed me this HILARIOUS video about a year ago and anytime I need a laugh I watch it. Specifically, I watch from minute 2:47 until the end on repeat. several times. many, many, many times over again. times three. and then a couple more. 

Please enjoy this little nugget of joy. Hopefully it will bring some laughter to this dreary. I know it did for me!

What do you do on dreary days to keep your spirits high?

Sunday Bliss.

Currently I am sitting in one of my favorite places.

Powell's.

From that you can infer that I am in Portland. I LOVE Portland. I am sitting here next to my best friend Marissa on a little Bethany Birthday Retreat! I will blog about my birthday later though (hopefully tomorrow, but realistically later this week!). 

This morning Marissa and I visited Solid Rock. Both of us had been so excited to go all week, and when we woke up this morning neither of us wanted too. However, we didn't voice these feelings thinking the other person still wanted to attend. And praise the Lord neither of us said anything because man oh man we needed to hear that message! 

The message i heared was the third in a series on Work. The main focus today was on our calling and how to live it out the way that God calls us too. 

My first thoughts, "I don't have a calling, I'm 19 for goodness sake! What does he mean by my calling anyways? My Job?" and lastly "what even is my calling? I'm a student?" 

Quickly these questions were answered. 

When biblically talking about work and callings we obviously talk about Jesus. His work was being a carpentar and His ministry was saving souls, dying on the cross and then rising 3 days later. Easy peasy answer. But how does that apply to me? 

God has a specific calling for each of us. Callings aren't only for those that are pastors, missionaries, leaders, worship team etc. We are all called. "But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 

Okaaayy...so obviously He called me. I didn't read in there anywhere "He called you by our gospel, but only when you turn the age 45 and have finished school, have a family and a stable career." But what I did hear was that I am CHOSEN and I am CALLED. But my purpose it to bring glory to God. 

Alright now how do I do that? I'm pretty set in where i am at, I am a student, an employee and Charis resident. Where is my calling in all of this? I have been wracking my brain. Asking, "What am I doing? Is there any purpose to this? I feel like this is meaningless!" And then I remembered....

I don't have to know the answers yet.

Wait, WHAT? God has a plan even if I don't know it?! Then how does this message even apply to me?! 

Well, let me tell you. We are supposed to be living our lives in a way searching for our calling, living out our purpose. Right now, my calling it to be a student, employee and Charis resident. My calling might change, but this is where God has me right now. And in these things I am to be living purposely-- bringing glory to God. 

So how do i do this?

I live my life FOCUSED. Only concentrating on the things HE has put in front of me and saying no to the others. I really need to learn that small word. no. 

I live my life in EXCELLENCE. Striving for greatness in the things HE has put in front of me <<Colossians 3:17>>. Always setting the bar for myself as high as I can. Jesus was perfect in everything He did. We need to strive for perfection. Obviously we will never achieve it, but we need to try as hard as we can for it. Our attitudes and the work we do show Jesus. If we are slacking and not putting our best effort, is that showing Jesus? In school, work, housing, friends, family etc. We are to strive for excellence. 

I live my life MOTIVATED. God's goal was to save every soul <<1 Timothy 2:3-6>>. God's motivation was unconditional love for you and me <<John 3:16>>. Whoa. So what should my motivation be? As Christians, our motivation is to bring glory to God and to pour out His love on others. Wait, that's too simple, is there a catch? Yup. Its hard. But other then that, no catch.

So bottom line is that we are all called. Its okay to not KNOW your calling yet. However we are to live our lives FOCUSED, in EXCELLENCE, and MOTIVATED. Jesus was the best savior because He had you and I in mind. We are to bring glory to God in all things and love all with the same love that He loves us! Easier said then done. But its a process. 

Trying to find your calling? here are a couple questions SR asked to help. 

What are you good at?

What are you passionate about?

What are the needs in your world?

What doors are open to you?

What is God blessing?

What do other people say?

What is the Spirit doing in your heart?

Womens Retreat 2012.

Friday at 5:30 pm I loaded my car up with 4 lovely Charis ladies and embarked on a expedition towards Turner, Oregon. In Turner resides the beautiful Aldersgate Resort where the Lord radically changes lives and empowers women.

As I signed up for the womens retreat and was immediately excited. I KNEW that the Lord was going to move in my life and was positive He had a massive work to do. After all, I have been a mess these past couple weeks. I was ready to just be poured into by the single adults, mothers and grandmothers. I seriously couldn't wait to spend time with all the lovely women of calvary! My excitement grew when i learned the theme of the weekend: Identity. I was even more delighted when I heard that! I was ready for the Lord to rip my heart into piece and recreate it into something beautiful.

Friday night:

When we arrived on Friday night I was surprised by how many women I knew that were there. Mothers whose children I babysat for, their kids are in the middle school group or women who are friends with my mother. It was a welcoming and great environment. The first session was about overcoming insecurities with anxiety and depression. It was about how one lie can consume your whole life and become so crippling. But with the Lord we have hope. His timing is perfect and we do not need to fear with Him. Lies that consume our lives are holding us back from the full potential we can have in Him.

Am I living in the fulness of what God has for me?

Who or What has control over me?

 Saturday:

One of the sweetest times of the womens retreat is the mornings. We have a "fast of silence" until 10am. That just means silence and no talking until brunch at 10am. I love this time because I was just able to shower, get ready and spend my morning in the presence of the Lord. Glorious time. Currently in my quiet time I am doing the read-through-the-bible-in-a-year plan! Its been a joy and I am so blessed by the little nuggets [Cindy RogerIsm (CRI)] I am finding as I read through His word.

That afternoon our session was taught by my dear friend, sister and charis cook, Heather Rogers. She spoke on confidence in hearing from the Lord. Its hard to sum up all the gems (CRI) that she spoke but I will do my best. Heat encouraged us in the fact that tuning our ear to the Lord is a process, it takes work <<1 Samuel 3>>. We need to anoint ourself with the fragrance of Christ so others can smell His sweetness radiating from us. When we surrender to God we have a peace that the world can never offer <<Philippians 4:7, John 14:27>>.  It's easier for us to walk in our destinies when we have tuned ears to the Lord. We need to abide in the Lord always << John 15:4-11>>.

Another major thing Miss Rogers touched on is how we can have confidence in Christ! That isn't just a christianese thing to say! But there is biblical proof backing up our confidence! SWEET! << Acts 28:31, 1 John 3:20-21, 1 John 5:14>>

Do I know the Lord as my good Shepard? What does it look like to hear His voice? Do I have confidence? What is holding me back, am I putting a wall up? Am I abiding in God? Do I spend time in His presence?

That afternoon I spent drinking coffee, chatting and laughing with some of my favorite ladies, Maggie Saunders, Haley Barnes (soon to be Nunes!) and Roxanne Weiner. The four of us went on a wonderful drive sharing our hearts, where the Lord has taken us and things He is doing in us. We listened to worship music in the car and ended up driving to Silver Falls. It was magnificent.

That evening another women spoke telling about the Lords redemption in her life. I was praying through the teaching just asking Him what is going on with me. Where are my insecurities and asking all the questions that I stated earlier in this post. However I just felt like the Lord was telling me that right now I get to just bask in His presence. I get to just enjoy resting and spending time with Him. I am so used to God just needing to mold and reshape me that I don't really have time to rest in Him the way I did this weekend. I was amazed! The Lord continued to show me my identity and just instill in me confidence in Him. God gave me pictures of dancers just telling me He wanted to dance with me and gave me the freedom to do so. He reaffirmed the different names He had already given me and it was like no other retreat I had ever been too. Just enjoying the presence of the Lord. God also told me that He has adorned me. << Titus 2:10, 1 Peter 3:5>>

Sunday:

This day was so relaxed. We had breakfast at 9, and then went in for a worship time and enjoyed a cool session of card board testimonies with the women who were changed that weekend. For those of you who don't know, card board testimonies are were on one piece of the card board someone write the lie they were believing and on the other side they write the truth that the Lord brought to their life. Here is a link to the cardboard testimonies done at Calvary a couple years ago so you can better understand what I mean!

http://www.calvarycorvallis.org/video/misc/CardboardTestimoniesHi.html

What lies are you believing?

God moved in my life this weekend and taught me so many things that I wasn't expecting. I was surprised by the type of work He did in my life and was reminded to never box Him in and to always expect from Him but not expect in my own realm on thought.

Here are some fun pictures from this weekend!

Thanks for reading! I am sorry my post was so long, I just couldn't help it! I challenge you to meditate on the questions above written in red. 

Just Do It.

Recently I have been really missing blogging. Honestly I don't know why I don't consistently blog, I think about it enough I should JUST DO IT. So, I decided I would take Nikes slogan and roll with it. I'm just doing it!
One of the funny things about blogging for me is that I all the sudden reevaluate everything I am about to write. I think to myself, what kinda people are going to be reading this? How do I want to come across in this post? Do I want to be silly? Do I want to be serious? Do I want to only write about the Lord? Or do I also want to write about fashion, music and my life? Then I realized. These are ridiculous thoughts. I need to just write about myself. The things I know. My favorite bloggers are those who are just real on their blog. Its not as if there is some formula on how to properly do it! So here it goes....

The Lord is doing a lot in my life right now, I am ecstatic about the places He is taking me. He is teaching me so many things and putting me in a place of complete reliance on Him. I have recently come out of a hard season and now I am feeling so blessed to just be in the presence of the Lord and not feeling broken and like I needed to be fixed. However I am just enjoying His company. 
These lyrics just keep running through my head as I just sit in the presence of God:

"there's no place I'd rather be than here in your love.
Set a fire down in my soul that I can't contain, that I can't control.
I want more of you, God."

Random Thought: Does it disgust you to open an envelope? I can't help but think about the person who LICKED it closed. Gross.

I've decided its time to get healthy! Its not as if I wasn't really healthy before, I just want to make more of an effort. Working out regularly and fixing my dietary needs. I already have a more restricted diet since I am allergic to gluten, but things like soda, candy, chocolate and ice cream need to be a little more controlled. I have successfully kept up my "Warm-For-Your-Form" (WFYF) workout for 2 weeks and loving it! If you don't know what a WFYF workout is I will explain, its a thigh butt and ab work out. But I will continue to post on my progress so all of you will be up to date! haha

Also, i dyed my hair. I think I mentioned that. I just added blonde, but its fun!
 Because I am just doing it, and blogging I decided to add a new section that I find enjoyable!

THINGS I GET AWAY WITH AT WORK:
For those of you who don't know, I work at Timberhill Athletic Club. And I love it. I work Monday, Wednesday and Friday 5:30-11am. Early right? I love it though. Favorite time of the day. I also LOVE the members that come into the club in the morning. There are moments where my job is my favorite place, but those times are rare. I really do love my job.

So today while at work I found some bubble wrap laying around and asked my boss if I could have it. He gave it to me exclaiming that I am like his 6 year old daughter. I agreed. I then took the two sections of bubble wrap and made myself into a blushing bride! Proof! The members got a kick out of it and I thoroughly enjoyed strutting around the club in my new outfit!

 One more little work story for today. Each month a group of members throw a birthday party for any birthdays in that month. It just so happens that my birthday is this month so they kindly invited me! I wasn't able to make it for that long since I was, ya know, WORKING and all. But the dear members dropped off a little plate and a card for me on their way out. I felt incredibly blessed.

I didn't have the heart to tell them I am allergic to gluten and can't eat any of the food! But it was so sweet of them!

What ways have you been blessed this week? Are you enjoying meditating in the presence of the Lord?