Don't Give In

It's so tempting...

...to give into the lies when you're hurting, angry, afraid, depressed, or all of these at once.

Don't do it!! I understand, the heartache, feeling like...you're lost. Feeling useless.

These are lies, and you know it! If you have a hard time recognizing the lies, you need to spend more time with The Lord. Dig into the Bible, you will find that the King of kings says you are precious to Him, and He loves you oh so much, more than any mortal man can ever comprehend!

Here is truth: you are beautiful and kind, you are strong. You are important, you are loved. You will get through this. 

After you've spent some time with Him, go do things that you enjoy! Hang out with friends and family! Laugh again, laughter is the best medicine!

Alright, now that you've got a few ideas to get you out of your slump, here are a few verses to lift you up before I go:

"Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious."

~ 1 Peter 2:4

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid!"

~ John 14:27

"Let not your hands be weak. The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

~ Zephaniah 3:17

Go in peace and love, knowing you are important, and you make an impact on the people around you! 

XOXOXO,

Random fact #15- In 1567, the man said to have the longest beard in the world, died after he tripped over his beard, running away from a fire!

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment box below! :)

The Cinderella Syndrome

Don't be a victim of the Cinderella Syndrome.

I have never liked the story of Cinderella for three reasons:

1. She whined about where she was in life and yet did nothing to change it

2. She waited around for some guy to rescue her...really?? 

3. She allowed people to use and abuse her

Sadly I know so many women waiting around for someone to change their lives. 

They whine about their life constantly. Let me tell you something, do not whine about your current circumstances unless you are willing to do something to change them.

Don't wait for some guy to come in and rescue you. Actually, there's a guy that already has, His name is Jesus. He paid the ultimate price to save you: His life. Your future husband is not meant to complete you, nor rescue you. You are meant to complement each other, and to help each other walk purely before the Lord.

Christ said to turn the other cheek (Luke 6:29), He did not say to lay on the ground and let everyone trample over you. Be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:9), stand up for your faith and for yourself.

XOXOXO,

Random Fact #13- The creator of the iPod first shopped his idea (without success) to Philips and RealNetworks before Apple agreed to market the device.

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Broken to Beautiful

Let me just start with this:

Guilt is from the devil.

Is that a little too bold for you? Perhaps you think I believe we should never feel bad for anything we do. That is not the case. But-

There is a difference between repentance, and guilt.

The one is combined with God's great love and forgiveness, the other hopelessness. If you know of a sin you committed, repent and accept His forgiveness.

Why do we hang on so tightly to guilt? Because we feel we deserve it, and you're darn right. In fact, we deserve Hell. But guess who loves us too much to leave us to our own stupidity? You guessed right; our Heavenly Father.

What does this deserved guilt get us? Do we get brownie points for extra humility? No. Our own guilt rips us away from the arms of our Lord! We end up feeling like we can't enter His presence until we're good enough. If that's what you're waiting for, then you've condemned your own self to Hell. 

Newsflash:

You can never be good enough, in your own strength!

That's when something beautiful happens! Jesus took our guilt on Himself, we are clean! Unfortunately it took me years to figure out just exactly what this meant.

You know how after a while, the paint in your room gets chipped and scratched? Maybe even stained, permanent marker? Some sort of food? So what you do is paint over it, you just cover it up. That's not what He did! He tore down that disgusting wall, and constructed a whole new one! No dings, scratches, or stains! Perfect, blameless.

Last week this information, finally, traveled the 18 inches (or in my case, 10 inches!)  from my head, to my heart. Believe you me, the effect was...boundless!

I AM GOOD ENOUGH.

Let me say that again, You are good enough...through HIM!

He re-built you, He bleached you, He scrubbed every inch of you until you were squeaky clean!

Share the hope!

Tell people about that ugly wall, and when they see the new you? They'll want what you have! Share with fellow Christians too! It is always so exciting to see God work in others lives!

Take this away with you today:

Let go of the guilt, and let God.

XOXOXO,

Random fact #11- The length of an elephant is the same as the tongue of a blue whale!

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Forgiveness

Forgiveness doesn't just happen. The bitterness and the hurt feelings don't just go away overnight.

Choose it! God already forgave them, by refusing to forgive, you're pretty much saying that your opinion and feelings are higher than God's.

And who are you really hurting with all this bitterness? The person that hurt you? Nope.

It really hit me the other day as I was listening to the radio, a Matthew West song came on called forgiveness. The lyrics went like this:

"Forgiveness; it'll clear the bitterness away,

it can even set a prisoner free,

there is no end to what its power can do.

So let it go and be amazed,

by what you see through eyes of grace.

The prisoner that it really frees is you."

Surprise!!

I know...such a little thing, yet it made a world of difference.

So remember, by choosing to forgive, you are only doing yourself a favor. And if you reaalllyyyy can't come to forgive them, ask God to be your forgiveness. Believe me, He comes through EVERY TIME. Where we are weak He is strong, and that's a promise. :)

"The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace." 

Psalm 29:11

Go in peace and strength, with a smile on your face and forgiveness in your heart. Be a light to this world!

XOXOXO,

Random Fact #5- The first movie to gross over $100 million was Jaws.

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