Laughter truely is the best medicine!

People are put into our lives for many reasons. Some are put in our lives to challenge us, to encourage us, to teach us, and my favorite, some are put in our lives to make us laugh. There is nothing more that I love than sitting with friends and laughing, sometimes for no reason at all, but just to laugh. Those are the types of people we should always keep in our lives. So for all those who make me laugh, THANKS!!!

Saying No to Insecurity!

Fear + Future = stress
Fear + Future + God = Security

“[She] will have no fear of bad news; [her] heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. [Her] heart is secure, [she] will have no fear; in the end [she] will look in triumph on her foes.” Psalm 112: 7-8

“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come” Proverbs 31:25

The future intimidates us. When we think of the future there is so many “what if” scenarios that we sometimes let our minds wonder and that can sometimes cause stress and fear that does not need to be there. When we trust in our Lord Jesus Christ and place our futures into hands and know in our hearts that he has the control life will not be perfect but you will be happier. We sometimes think we can’t handle the worst of our fears but Beth Moore gave us an idea…. Take your worst fear and play it all the way out in your mind for example I’ll give you one of mine….

Being single forever. This is one of my biggest fears… so I let it play out in my head. What would happen if I never found my perfect love and never had that Cinderella wedding I dream of someday having? To go even further, what if I never get that perfect first kiss?? I mean God come on seriously??? Hehe So I let my head wonder…. And you know what I found out. Life wouldn’t be any different than it is today, and I will be just as content as I am right now. I love being single although sometimes lonely, its fun! I get to do crazy and wonderful things. I get to travel and meet all kinds of people. I look at Paul’s life and his life was amazing! And the best thing is I’ve truly already found the perfect love…Jesus Christ!!! It doesn’t get any more perfect than that! I’m not going to lie, I want to get married and have a family, but right now my main focus is to not let that take away my insecurity. Being single you have a lot of dumb stuff that goes through your mind that makes you insecure, much like married women, ours are just different. Like…

I must be ugly
My personality must be that of a snail…boring!
What is about me that repels men?

See many of these awful things cross your minds, but I’m telling you these thoughts cannot own you (me)…. Want to know why? Because we are clothed with strength and dignity because God gave us this amazing secure heart that is ours for the taking we just have to grab it. This past week I’ve been testing this advice in Beth Moore’s book and wow oh wow can I see a difference in only a week. My prayer is that I can take this advice and hold onto it!! My security is for me to take and hold onto. No one can take it away and when I feel that it is starting to come back to tell my heart to trust in GOD and keep reminding myself over and over again.

Again, if you haven’t got this book yet go and get it!! Everyone woman should read this book. I pray that God can use this book to touch lives for women all over the world. I’m sad to say that I am done with this book, but my blogging days are not over because I think I’m a little addicted to blogging. I know no one reads these but its fun to get my thoughts out there in the world so they don’t get stuck in my head….they need out!

Math?????

Almost everyone who knows me knows that I am horrible at math, but this quote from Beth Moore just goes to show another way I'm really horrible at math...

"It's our insecurity that makes us so poor at math. It constantly leads us to draw wrong conclusions. If security says 2+2=4, insecurity says 2+2=9. In other words, she is this + I am that = I'm a loser. Or just as often we might come to the opposite conclusion: she is this + I am that = she's a loser. The insecurity equation can play out any number way of ways. Consider a few others...
I tried to talk to her + she seemed really distracted = she hates me
She's really gorgeous + she gets a lot attention that I don't = she must be conceited
She's got this + she's got that = I've got nothing
Look what she's got on + look what I've got on = I have the fashion taste of tsetse fly."

I've thought this way a thousand times!! Sad, but true. It amazes me how much we really do have this inner conflict in our hearts. We sometimes think we have it all together and then we meet someone who we think has more and our hearts crumble in a moment. When in reality we have no idea what that other person is going through. On the outside they might seem they have it all together, but if we dig deeper we might see this inner turmoil that she is having. Us women have to stick together, not judge and criticize. We need to look to each other for support and encouragement. God made girlfriends for just that reason in mind. He wants us to have women we can talk to in times of need and when we feel the lowest of the lowest who will build us up and give us Godly words of encouragement.

Photography is one of the most competitive fields out there because there are so many wonderful photographers. I sometimes look at other photographers websites, and I get discouraged because their photos are so much better than mine, and I think that is what has been holding me back all these years. God gave me this amazing talent that I should not be wasting it so with this thought in mind. I've given God my insecurity in this part of my heart!! I'm going to trust God with my talent and strive to be the photographer he wants me to be, because I AM A PHOTOGRAPHER!!!!! :) ( also some wonderful women give me such encouragment in the part of my life that I wouldn't have come to this conclusion without them, another reason we need girlfriends! :)

Women all over the world need to stop judging, competing, and whatever else and start looking at each with our eyes and hearts wide open because the woman sitting, jogging, behind you in the supermarket, or working next to you who you think has it all together, but is really in need of some serious God loving girl talk. I'm not saying go talk to her, but pray for her right there in that moment you feel yourself start to say, man I wish I were that skinny or man she must be stuck up, instead pray for her and lift her up in your mind because her heart might be falling apart. God made us Lovely in his image and we are clothed with strength and dignity!!! He made us in his image and we are his treasures so really why are we insecure.

Another quote from Beth Moore, I only have three more chapters, but I might have to read again!! :)

God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4

"Did you hear that? We have this treasure!! We are aflame with God's glory and radiating with the light of His knowledge in the exquisite face of His Son, JESUS CHRIST. And we're insecure???????" Beth Moore

Life is Better in a Ponytail!

If you have ever had long hair then you know that life is so much better when you go all day at work and your hair is down and your wearing make up and looking nice, but nothing is better than getting home putting on a great pair of pjs and putting your hair up in a ponytail. It just feels so great!

I think that is all for today! Only that I would have not gotten through today without my living savior!! Thank you God!

I AM FREE!!!

"Do Not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised." Hebrews 10:35-36 "Throw on your God-Given dignity. Walk with your head up in your God Given Security" Beth Moore Only God can give me strength and dignity. It is a 11:00pm on a Thursday night and I cannot sleep because my brain is in overload at how much I didn't trust God to make me secure. I thought I had to change who I am and be secure in myself but forgot that God has given me security and I just have to take it. Its mine for the taking!! God wants me to be secure in Him and trust in his purpose for my life. That also means I need to start walking the walk with my head held high and know that I'm going to mess up, embarrass myself and look at other people's life and think they have it all together, but I don't have to own my insecurity. I have a choice and I can choose to not let it get me down and depressed, and it cannot define who I am. If I embarrass myself which I am so good at, I can laugh at it and God will be up in Heaven laughing with me and know that I am OK and trust God will turn it into something good. If I fail its because I think I failed, God thinks I'm perfect and sees my failures as a passage to something new. God has some new things in store for me and one of them is owning up to my insecurity and making a choice to saying "You cannot take or damage my security. It's mine to keep. You cannot have it. For my God says that I am clothed with strength and dignity Proverbs 31:25" He will give me the strength tomorrow to wake up to a new revival in my heart and security in my soul!! I love you, Lord so much and I thank you for everyone and every circumstance you have placed in my life for without those people and situations I would not be the woman you want me to be. This video I'm adding is just a little touch of humor and embarrassment on my behalf!! :)

Insecure, such an ugly word

Insecure is such an ugly word, but yet I'm realizing just how insecure I really am. Yesterday, I made it my goal to pay attention to how insecure I am. I realized I am insecure about everything!!!!! Even to the point when I was thinking of what to write on my facebook status. I was hoping that what I wrote would be profound enough that people would actually read it and when I put new photos I wanted people to comment because in my head if people commented that meant they liked them and I accomplished something. Then when I was reading other people's status I felt dumb because mine was not cool or funny like theirs. What is wrong with this picture???? I mean come who really cares. And then I started to feel insecure because no one texts me. Do my friends really not want to hear what I say? or is it because they think I'm to boring to even text to?

These are just a few of the insecurities I felt yesterday and they kept growing until this morning when reading chapter 7 I realized I'm not alone in my insecurities. We all have them, we just have to fight them. There is a God who loves us so much and has so much faith in us that we can overcome this thing called insecurity. He gives us a fighting chance!!! He knows what wonderful future he holds for us we just have to see past our insecurities and place them at the feet of the cross and trust in his fighting grace!!! His grace fights for us! He wants us happy and secure in the believe and trust we have in him. This give me courage to get off my butt and take the leap of faith and walk in his grace. I love you, Lord and thank you so much for this book and realizing that I can be secure in who I am. God made me just the way he wants me to be, I just have to wake up to my insecurity and fight to be secure!

I leave you this quote from Beth...

"God knows we're insecure. But we do not need to be. And He will not leave well enough alone. He has enough security for both of us, and for those of us who call Christ Savior, He slipped His own secure Spirit within our simple jars of clay. It is in you to be secure, dear one. Do you hear what I'm saying to you? You have it in you."

Rejection

I am a girl who is almost 28 years old and have never really dated, and I think that is because I have this since of fear of rejection. I have seen so many people hurt and scarred by this fear. I've seem them drown themselves in relationship after relationship just so they could feel loved. I've seen women who engross themselves in sex because they think that will bring them love. I've seen women, mainly myself, who drown themselves in romantic comedies and fantasies of that most incredible man that will come into their lives. I know that God has this most amazing God-filled man out there for me, and yet I continue to doubt that and lose myself in these stories that only end with heartache, mine. I think I've romanticized this relationship in my head that I know is doomed to fail, because it won't come true so I take the pressure off of reality and focus on imagination.

Why do I do this????? I don't know. I know God loves me and wants to see me happy and I think in order for this to happen I have to let go of my insecurities and doubts and trust in the one who holds my future in his hands.

I hold onto this job that I hate because I'm scared of what the real world will do to me if I leave. I fear that I will fail all those who love and inspire me. Wow it felt good to write that!!!! I'm scared of failure, as many of us are. So we let this fear engulf us into staying unhappy when in reality if we just let go and see where life leads us, we might actually be happy.

To end this blog I'm going to quote Beth Moore...

"The truth is, God uses change to change us. He doesn't use it to destroy us or to distract us but to coax us to the next level of character, experience, compassion, and destiny. I hate to display such a firm grasp of the obvious, but how will we ever change if everything around us stays the same? Or what will ever cause us to move on to the next place He has for us if something doesn't happen to change the way we feel about where we are? God is thoroughly committed to finishing the masterpiece He started in us (Philippians 1:6), and that process means one major thing: change.

I can't wait to see what changes God has in store for my life.

I am Chosen!

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:11-12

Truth in what we believe. I believe that each and everyone of us was born (predestined) for the glory of God. We were each created as individuals for the purpose of praising and serving God. We all have our own stories to tell. God wants us to live our life stories for His glory. So that when we walk down the street, hang out with friends, grocery shopping, working, whatever we are doing throughout our days we should take moments to praise our Father who is in Heaven watching and loving us. He wants to hear from us and remind us every waking moment that he is in control of our lifes.

Lately, I've been struggling with the idea that God wants to talk to me I always talk to him, but lately I started to question if he is listening, but through out this past year so far, I'm seeing him at work. Before we left for Passion 2010 I was praying for God to speak to us and show us what he wants us to do for him, and Passion 2010 blew me away. My friends came back on fire and ready to change their lifes and live with purpose of making Jesus famous!! I came back renewed and on fire for Christ, but since then I've felt my body and heart tearing apart and letting my thoughts run wild and doubting what brought that fire in the first place. It was the love and blood of Jesus!! He makes me what to live a better life and start my life new and fresh so I'm starting over!! I'm surrendering my brain and heart and trust to the one who gave me life!!

I need to be silent and listen. I struggle with that because I want to live in this world of make believe and tune out to watching TV. I need to learn to turn on the TV and just read and listen and hear what God wants me to hear. Today I bought the book So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore and I am going to learn to turn off the TV and read and blog while I go through this book.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart my be enlighted in order that may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. Ephesians 1:18