Being Genuine | Living With a Purpose

Well. It's been about a month and I've finally decided to put these thoughts I've been thinking together and try to make sense out of them. 

It's so cool to me when something is suddenly on my heart and then it seems that every verse, song, lesson, etc.. that I hear after that is like little messages from God telling me "Hey, I put that on your heart for a reason." 

I brush it off a lot, but when I stop and put the pieces together, he teaches me some pretty cool things. 

Lately He's been teaching me about being genuine. Genuine in my faith, friendships, relationship.. In everything. To stop just merely getting by day after day, and to live with a purpose. 

A few weeks ago I was reading Romans 12 before going to sleep one night. The thought of being genuine had already been on my mind and the first part of verse 9 really stuck out to me. 

"Love must be sincere." 

So short and so simple. But extremely hard. It's so easy to get caught up in all the "important" things that go on in my own little world that I forget to be genuine. My faith becomes a routine. Sure, I go to church every Sunday. I read my bible everyday. But am I truly seeking and thriving for Him in everything I do?  Or just.. Simply doing what I've always done. It's easy to play the part. But I want to be 100% real. I don't want Christ to be only a part of my life, when He IS my life.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

When I became one with Christ, every single part of my old life died. Which means I am now to live FULLY in Christ. I can't only give him parts of my life. He doesn't want my hour of worship on Sunday mornings or my 15 minute bible study before bed. He wants ME. 

My whole life is nothing but an instrument to be used for His kingdom. Nothing else.

In my nightly prayer journal, I end every prayer with "May all that I am be pleasing to You" 

But so, so many times I've written that and continued living to please myself. I want to live intentionally, not habitually.

Once I realized that He wants me to work on being genuine and intentional. I had to figure out just how He wanted me to do that. 

To start, I realized I needed to fall in love again. 

I needed to seek God in every aspect of my life. 

Recently I also read Jeremiah 29:13 

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart."

ALL of my heart. My whole entire life. My every action, word, thought.. my every single second of existance is to seek Him and to make His name known; and the best way to make His name known is to start being 100% authentic in my faith.  Not just a Sunday morning thing but a give Him every ounce of my time and energy kind of thing. 

I read this quote on Pinterest (quoting Pinterest once again.. :P ) But it was really fitting with what's been on my mind. 

After I read that two verses immediately came to mind. 

Matthew 6:21 and Luke 6:45.

Matthew 6:21 says "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." 

Luke 6:45 says "...For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." 

If I seek God with all my heart, then my faith is going to be genuine. When people are authentic in their walk with God, it's noticable. They're set apart. People will be curious because there's something different. They'll want to know more. 

So if we're going to share His love with others, we have to be genuine. 

People can sense when we're fake.. and there's nothing attractive about that. Simply playing the part isn't enough. We have to truly act on our beliefs. 

There's a piece of paper I keep in my bible of a prayer I wrote almost 2 years ago. I don't like sharing things I write down on paper. I usually keep them safe in a journal for only me to see. But I want to share this prayer. 

"I am not my own. My life is not my own. My every breath is a chance; a chance to make a difference. To be a light in a world of darkness. To be a reflection of Him. Him, the source of my light, my hope, and my joy. 

No day is just another day. Every day I want to choose to live for Him. I want to be joyful and bring joy to others. I want to be BOLD. I want to let go of every fear and knock down every barrier. I want to simply let go. My God is in control of everything, so I will do anything for Him. With all that He's done for me, there is nothing I wouldn't do for Him. He loves me; regardless of all my selfish sin. The love He has for me is the love I want to have for others. I want every single word I say and every move to reflect Him. He is my only reason to live, so what's my life if it's not FOR Him? 

Even in the darkest of times, my soul is at peace. When the world hurts me, He heals me. When the world takes hold of me, He sets me free. When the world tells me I'm not good enough, He tells me I am HIS. His, the One who spoke everything into existance. The world will never accept me, but HE accepts me. He wants me. He chases after me no matter how many times I run away from Him. He is my everything to me, and my everything is His." 

No matter how faded and torn up that prayer gets folded up in my bible, I hope to keep it forever as a reminder to myself to always live with a purpose. To be genuine, authentic, real. It's so easy to get swept away in the day to day routines. Every now and then we all just need to stop and remember the real reason that we're here. 

I haven't posted in mOnThS but God has been teaching me this lately and I wanted to share. 

I hope you enjoyed and God bless.❤️

Loving on God's Terms

Loving on God's terms.

 I'm going to explain what exactly that means to me here in a bit. But to start, I'm going to talk about the OPPOSITE of loving on God's terms. Loving on OUR own terms or somebody else's terms. Out of the two, I think it's pretty safe to say the second is usually the most common.

When we love on our own/somebody else's terms, we allow the way another person treats us, to affect how we treat them. They give us attitude, we give them attitude back. They speak harshly, and we spit cruel words right back. We offer the same unkindness that is handed to us right back to them. We love based on their emotions towards us, and our emotions towards them. 

Sometimes it comes naturally in the heat of a moment, and sometimes it's a series of anger and bitterness built up towards an individual that causes us to mistreat them. We allow them to determine how we're gong to treat them, instead of choosing to love them regardless. 

Now that you get the idea of loving on the opposite of God's terms, you probably are starting to get what it means to love on His terms. 

Loving on God's terms, is not loving with emotion; which seems to me to be the most common form of "love"

Loving on God's terms is CHOOSING to love, whether our emotions want to or not.  

Loving on God's terms is doing our best to extend the same love to others that Christ extended to us. 

The world has lots of it's own ideas of "love" and what it should look like. But we have already been given the perfect example of love by love himself.

"Let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves, has been born of God and knows God. For God is love." (1 John 4:7) 

Love is from God. Love IS God. What the world tries to convince us love is, is counterfeit. It seems to serve the same purpose, but in the end is worth nothing. But loving on His terms will never leave us empty. 

Romans 5:8 says that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. 

NOT "why we were making Him happy, Christ died for us." 

He died for all the times we knowingly deny Him. He died for every time we hurt him and disappoint him. All the times we choose something else over him. All the times we claim to know him, but let hate drive us, instead of love. Instead of Him. He CHOSE to love us. No matter how we made Him feel. Because of who HE is, not because of who we are. 

We should love because of who we are through Him. Not because of who anyone else is to us.

1 John 4:9 "We love because He first loved us." 

Tremendous love was extended to us. Love that most wouldn't even think possible. A love so strong that NOTHING could overcome it. 

The greatest love the world has ever known. 

Now who are we, to turn around, and choose not to keep spreading that tremendous love based on our own human emotions? It's quite pathetic for us to do that, actually.

I have always loved this quote from Martin Luther King Junior, and I think it fits perfectly:

"Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, 
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

Love can overcome any darkness. When firing back that hatred and unkindness only drives the darkness deeper. Why would you choose to increase the darkness?

No matter how anyone else treats us, we are to CHOOSE to love them. Because God chose to love us. He loved us at our very lowest point.

"Let us not love with words or tongue but with ACTIONS and truth." (1 John 3:8)

In my very first post, I wrote about "joy" and how God taught me that joy isn't a feeling. It's a choice. For the longest time, I struggled with thinking that some people were just too hard to love. That no matter what I just couldn't bring myself to love them. But He has taught me that love also isn't just a feeling. No. it's a choice as well. I emphasized the word "actions" in the above verse, because it's proof that love is not just a feeling. We are called to love through actions.
I may not want to be around someone, I may not like the things they say to me, I may not even necessarily "like" them. But I can still show love to them through my actions. By choosing to speak kindness and love instead of returning the unkindness.
Regardless of anything it is my job as a child of God to choose to love them. Because my God chose to love me.

I know my blog is all about choosing joy. But I encourage you to CHOOSE LOVE. Because when we choose love, we are showing the world Jesus. Even the simplest choices to show love can reveal Him to others. For wherever there is love, there is God. For God is love.

Choose love today, friends. :-)

Joy in Confusion

I'm sorry to say I have decided not to do the 365 challenge anymore. So I hope you enjoyed the first two weeks. (Sorry, sorry) 

Life is so very busy these days, it's hard to keep up with the photo challenge posts and also have regular posts as well. 

Since I haven't done an actual blog post in a while, I think I will tonight. I've been wanting to write about "joy in confusion" for a while, but I have been thinking of the right words to say. 

No matter who you are, I know you've had experience with confusion. Whether it be in something minor, or maybe huge life changing situations. 

Sometimes life throws things at us we just don't understand. We try our hardest to understand, and we make ourselves sick trying to grasp things that I think, maybe, we just aren't supposed to grasp. Maybe never, and maybe just not right now. 

So I want to talk about where to find the joy in that confusion. Or, where I find the joy in my own confusion. 

One thing I'm learning right now, is to live life one day at a time. 

Last night at youth, one of our youth leaders was talking about stress and worrying, and he talked about the verse from Matthew (6:34 if you want to look it up) 

"Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." 

I know He will give me the strength to endure each and every day as it comes. I don't need to worry about tomorrow because my God is already there, and He will grant me the strength for it when it arrives. 

•Already There• (Casting Crowns) 

"From where I'm standing
Lord it's so hard for me to see
Where this is going
And where You're leading me
I wish I knew how
All my fears and all my questions
Are gonna play out
In a world I can't control

When I'm lost in the mystery
To You my future is a memory
Cause You're already there
You're already there
Standing at the end of my life
Waiting on the other side
And You're already there
You're already there" 

"The hands that bled for me, are the hands that cradle the stars."

Those same hands are holding me, my future, and holding my hand through my every phase of life. 

Yes, there are some things that I don't understand. (a lot of things if we're being real here) 

Sometimes confusion can hurt, it can be scary, and it can really start to weigh you down. 

But it can also strengthen you, and lead you closer to the One who holds you. For when we don't understand, we need someone who does. And we serve an all knowing, all powerful God who is able to do IMMEASURABLY more than all we could ever ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:23)  

I find joy and beauty in the mystery He is unfolding little by little right in front of me. 

When I am scared, I only need to readjust and remember, I am not in control. I don't need to know. 

For when I don't understand, I only have more reason to cling even tighter to my Jesus. To allow Him to teach me, to guide me, and to hold me through out my every move.

He reminds me to be still and know that He is God. (Psalm 46:10) 

I will be still, and I will trust Him. Even when I don't understand. 

  

•365• (4/6-4/12)

•365•

4/6/15 Monday

This week is going to be crazy busy. (Yay for grown up things like responsibilities and a job) 

So instead of the usual journal, I've decided to take my photos this week, and add quotes to them that I find fitting. :) 

So, here we go:

 

"Time stands still best in moments that look suspiciously like ordinary life." 

4/7/15 Tuesday

"A flower doesn't think of competing to the flower next to it, it just blooms."

4/8/15 Wednesday 

"Life is unpredictable, it changes with the seasons. 

Even your coldest winter happens for the best of reasons,

And though it feels eternal, like all you'll ever do is freeze

I promise spring is coming and with it brand new leaves."

4/9/15 Thursday 

"The darkest night WILL end and the sun WILL rise" ~Victor Hugo 

4/10/15 Friday 

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around every once in a while, you might miss it." 

4/11/15 Saturday 

"Keep your face always to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you." 

4/12/15 Sunday

 "Be always blooming" 

As you can see, I really enjoy nature photos. :P Have a blessed week everyone!

•365• (3/30-4/5)

3/30/15 Monday

Another Monday has passed. Today was a great day. :) 

I wanted to post a picture that was more representative of my day, but I couldn't resist posting this picture of our cat. 

I'm actually not a cat person at all, but I will admit she is quite the pretty kitty. 

Today I spent the day at the fine arts academy we attend. (More on that in another post later on) 

But something that stuck out to me today happened this evening as the day was coming to an end. My family and I watched a couple "Ted Talks" 

While were watching the one entitled "How To Talk So Will People Listen."

In case you haven't seen that episode, he was talking about the things people do/don't like to hear. 

Then he gave an acronym for four things to remember during your everyday conversation. The acronym was "HAIL" 

H-Honesty. A- Authenticity I- Integrity L-Love. 

Four very important keys to conversation and simply everyday life. 

I challenge you this week to do your best to live out the "HAIL" acronym. 

Be honest, be authentic, have integrity, and most importantly.. love.

"Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin." (Proverbs 13:3)

May your words and actions always be inspired by love. (: 

3/31/15 Tuesday

Today was another lovely, lovely day. I could tell you all about my day, starting from 7AM workouts, to sitting here watching a show with my family before bed.

 But I'd rather only tell you about one hour of my day that meant the most to me. That was while I was sitting outside having my quiet time with my Jesus. I was sitting my backyard laying in the grass with my bible and the book "Crazy Love" I mentioned in last week's post. (Great book, READ IT.) 

The chapter I read today was "Profile of the Lukewarm" 

More specifically, it was talking about lukewarm christians. It was talking about how comfortable we get. How we make room for God, instead of making Him our absolute everything. In this chapter he gave multiple "Lukewarm people profiles" I want to share two specifics with you that I'd like you to think about. 

First: 

"Lukewarm people say they love Jesus, and He is, indeed, a part of their lives. But only a part. They give Him a section of their time, their money, and their thoughts, but He isn't allowed to control their lives." 

Second: 

"Lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, or friends. They do not want to be rejected, nor do they want to make people uncomfortable by talking about private issues like religion." 

So my challenge for you is to start or to restart your process of falling completely in love with Him. Allowing Him to completely transform you, take over, and control every aspect of your life. Not just what you set aside for Him. 

To fall so much in love with Him that you can't even help but talk about Him and what He's done for you everywhere you go. 

I challenge you to defeat the Lukewarm.

4/1/15 Wednesday

The moon is so beautiful. Especially tonight. :)) 

Today I realized something I believe God has specifically been trying to teach me lately, and that is to love on His terms. Meaning, to love people regardless of how they treat me. Not loving them based on my own feelings or their feelings towards me, but loving them because that is what I am called to do. 

His terms, not my own. Which is MUCH easier to say than to do. One of my favorite reminders is the quote I mentioned in last week's post, "the chain reaction of evil must be broken."

Be the link that turns it around. Return their insult with silence or a friendly smile. Overcome evil with good. :-)

4/2/15  Thursday 

AGH, IF YOU DON'T KNOW THIS SONG LOOK IT UP AND KNOW IT. IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL. 

I may or may not have written this five or six times on our pavement today. The lyrics to this song are also my lock screen on my phone. 

Once again, I spent so much time outside today. I listened to this song while laying outside just looking around at His beautiful creation. Music with inspirational lyrics always relax and comfort me. It's late and I need to get to bed, but if you don't know this song, look it up. It's beautiful. 

Goodnight world :-)

4/3/15 Friday

Spending this week in a hotel for LTC 2015. I captured the above photo while sitting outside by the pool with friends. In honor of Good Friday today I'll share this quote my mom showed me today.

 "Jesus didn't just die to take your place, He died so He could give you His."  Today was a very busy day and I am super mega ultra tired so I don't have much to write. But I thought I'd share this verse (another one of my favorites) that goes along with today.

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” – 1 Peter 2:24 

By His wounds we are healed and by His wounds we are set free. My Jesus is amazing. 

Saturday 4/4/15 

Oh man, what a weekend. Great, but very exhausting. These two pictured above were a huge part of it. We competed in LTC with our church. I think it's safe to say we enjoyed exploring the hotel more than the events. :P 

I am so blessed by these two young ladies. This weekend was quite fun. 

I am exhausted so I'm heading to bed. Nighty night :-) 

4/5/15 Sunday

Happy Easter!!!❤️ 

So thankful for a fun day with family and friends and more importantly remembering and worshiping our Savior. What happened this weekend many years ago, is the basis of everything we christians stand on. 

Love Came Down came on today and it couldn't have been a more appropriate song for today. "Love came down and rescued me, love came down and set me free." 

I hope you all had a fun day in your nice Easter outfits, celebrating and visiting with family, but most importantly, I hope you remembered the real reason why you were celebrating. 

We serve a living Savior and we are made new every single day because of Him. By His wounds we are healed. 

Happy Easter, friends! 

•365• (3/23-3/29)

So today is Monday the 23'rd of March. I have decided to do the "365 project" 

Simply put, the 365 project is where you take a picture and journal everyday, from whenever you start the project for 365 days. I'll be posting my pictures and writings from the previous week on Sundays. 

Monday, 3/23/15 

Today was such a lovely day. I posted this picture on my Instagram with the caption as "It is up to you to see the joy of everyday things" 

I've mentioned quite a few times now that dandelions are one of the tiny things I find joy in. 

Today, after the usual Monday routine, I found some dandelions in my yard following a beautiful sunset. 

Since today is "day one" I thought I'd share a song that is currently stuck in my head called Day One by Matthew West. 

"Wherever my yesterday may find me, I don't have to stay there. 

...Every morning Your mercies new.

Every morning, I will fix my eyes on you.

It's day one of the rest of my life."

Besides the little bit of joy from the everyday dandelions and sunset, He brought joy to me today in reminding me that every morning His mercies are new. As I was looking at the beautiful sunset, I was reminded that when it comes up, a new day will have begun. A new day with new mercies, new opportunities, and another day to fall more in love with my Jesus. I'm thankful for the joy He continues to show me.

3/24/15 Tuesday

Another beautiful, beautiful day. Spring makes me sooooo happy. :D I love days where I somehow find myself outside almost all day long. 

A few minutes before the above photo was taken, I found a nice little spot in my yard to have my bible and journaling time. Today I read Romans 12. Verse 21 has always been one of my favorites. 

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Underneath that verse in my bible I have "The chain reaction of evil must be broken" 

One of my most favorite quotes ever I heard while hearing "Rachel's Challenge" with my youth group. 

Just spend some time thinking about that. Challenge yourself to break the chain reaction of evil. Overcome evil with good. 

3/25/15 Wednesday

Today's picture is a line from Francis Chan's book "Crazy Love"  that really stood out to me. As my Junior year is soon to come to end, I keep getting asked all the usual questions. "Where do you want to go to college?" and "what are you going to do?"

(You've probably asked or been asked similar questions yourself) 

Right now, my answer is always "I'm not sure." I feel embarrassed with that answer. Especially hearing people my age talk with such confidence about their future's when I feel as if I have no idea about my own. 

But the chapter in Crazy Love that I read today went straight to my heart. 

It was all about praising God where we are. In the known, and the unknown. Trusting God and letting go of all our stress and worry. Oh how easily we forget just how small and insignificant we are. 

Thank God we are weak, fragile, and not in control. Because that's when we realize we need Him. 

I may not know exactly what to do, but I know He'll put me right where He wants me. I can have confidence in the unknown, daily trusting and allowing Him to shape my life. 

My God's got me, yo. 

2/26/15 Thursday

I love quiet time with my Jesus. The sun shine filling my room. I feel so at peace. 

Today I read Psalm 121: 

"I lift my eyes to the mountains- 

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from The Lord

the maker of heaven and earth." 

Is that not just super encouraging? I love His constant reminders of His help and His strength. 

I had a lovely day with my family, filled with quality time and laughter. Days like today remind me how wonderful the gift of life is. 

Have you thanked God for waking you up today? 

3/27/15 Friday

This is Cailey Lyné. My beautiful little sister. My goodness, she is growing up so fast.

 It took me too long to realize just how big of a blessing sisters are. We've had our many, many quarrels. But we've also had our many, many smiles, laughs, and "sister moments."

In the car today, she caught my eye while she was fixing her hair in the front seat. Right then it hit me just how fast the time passes by. 

Along with a little guilt for not always being the best sister, and a realization of just how much I have learned through her. She is so kind, gentle, loving, caring all things sweet. 

My baby sister will be a teenager this year, and I can't wait to see the beautiful flower of a lady she blossoms into. :) 

3/28/15 

One reason why I love photography so much is because it captures moments that can never be captured again. 

Sure, I may have lots of pictures of similar things/times. But the exact moment I took the picture will never happen again. But I have that moment saved to return to as many times as I'd like. Pictures can be very special keepsakes if you think about it.

The picture above is of my two younger siblings, one of my cousins, and a friend all laughing together while watching a video. I love the sweet, silly, child like joy this picture displays. A moment I'm glad I not only got to experience, but capture to keep.

Today we had a nice dinner at our grandma's house. Her beautiful newly remodeled house, I must add. My grandpa spent lots of time working on their house before he passed away this past November, so once he passed away a lot of work was put in to finish the house in honor of him. 

Now it's close to being finished and we all had a lovely time celebrating it together. 

I missed him a lot today, but thankful for the smiles that family brings. 

3/29/15 Sunday

Today was a "meh" day. I know you know the type of day I'm referring to.

Ya know, the ones that aren't necessarily bad but aren't just all that grand either. I was only home for a total of 20 minutes almost all day, and I forgot my camera anywhere I went. But this evening I looked outside at the perfect time to see a lovely sunset that made all of today worth it. I love the soft colors peeking through the leafless trees.

To quote one of my favorite twentyonepilots song: "The sun will rise and we will start again" 

Tomorrow will be a whole new day of a whole week full of new mercies, opportunities, and falling more in love with my Jesus.

I'm ready for ya, Monday.

May you all have a blessed week and never forget to smile. :-) 

Soul Link '15

This past weekend I attended a retreat in Houston with my youth group called Soul Link. 

We were supposed to leave right after lunch on Friday, but Friday morning we woke up to a lovely white blanket of snow and ice causing our trip to be delayed until 3. 

(Nothing really changed but we were all determined to make it)

Because of our delay we missed all of the activities on Friday night. But our day began early Saturday morning.

The main theme of the weekend was centered around John 15

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even  more fruitful.  

...Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself: It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 

I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.."

I forget the man's name that did the lesson (whoops) but looking back through my notes from this weekend, one thing he said really stood out to me.

He said "bearing fruit is not something we do, it's something we ARE. The command is not to bear fruit, it's to abide in Him."

When he said this, I immediately thought of when Jesus says the whole law can be summed up in one command, love.

We aren't commanded to bear fruit, we are commanded to LOVE.

 When we love others and Jesus with all we have, it's going to show through our actions even without us trying. 

The command is not to bear fruit, it's to abide in Him. 

Another thing he said that really stuck out to me was "you will spill what you're full of" 

If his words are in us, we will bear good fruit. 

He also quoted the verse from Romans 15:13 

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope."

What we fill up with is what will overflow from us. 

What are you filling up with? 

••••

Aside from the lessons, I loved the worship. 

I always love praising Him through song, but there's just something about hearing close to 1,000 teens singing out to Him together that I don't think I can even say with words. 

(Imagine 1,000 teens singing this together. All that we are is His.)

All that I am is His. 

HE is the true vine.

Apart from Him, I.can.do.nothing.