Trials

It's taken me a long time to come to terms with the fact that not every season of life will be easy. If it was, it wouldn't be the life that God has intended for us. He places trials in our life to test and strengthen our faith. I am in one of these seasons right now, and I am finding such joy in it. Through the pain, I am finding so much love from Him. The only thing that gets me through is spending time in the Word every day and faithfully praying. I know the power of prayer because I have seen it, and so I know that He will get me through this time. Until then, I'm letting Him strengthen me and I'm trusting Him with everything that I have.

P ray
U ntil
S omething
H appens

"Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." - Isaiah 41:10

The One

He is the One...
My Prince Charming...
My Knight in Shining Armor...
My Rescuer...
The One who will fight for me...
The One who will chase after me...
The One who loves me unconditionally...
The One who loves me just as I am...
The Perfect One for me...
The One who completes me...
The One who makes everything better....
The One who knows me the best....
The One who understands...
The One who listens...
My Happily Ever After...
The One who will never leave...
The beginning...
The end...
He is the only One that Matters.

I will never again reject  the the only One wholly incapable of rejecting me. "I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God." -Isaiah 41:9-10

One Life

God has really begun to put something on my heart lately. The truth is that we only have life to live...Am I living the life that I'm meant to live? Am I standing out in this world or have I conformed to the point that I fade into the background? The desire of my heart is to truly live everyday for Christ so that people can see His love through me. The tragedy of life is not the sin that we commit, but the life we miss out on living for Him. God created every person with the potential and the talents to do something of value for Him. We are called to live in this world, but not to become a part of it. So the question I'm beginning to ask myself is...what am I doing to live the life I'm called to live? I've begun to make a concious effort to live everyday like it's my last chance to share His love with the world. I am nothing without Him. I can do nothing on my own. He is all I need, and at the end of the day, He is all I truly have of value.

"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." -John 16:33

He is all I need

A friend gave me something about a year ago that has helped me through some of the loneliest times that I've felt.

Everyone longs to give themselves completely to someone
To have a deep soul relationship with another,
To be loved throughouly and exclusively.
But God says to a Christian
"No, not until you are satisfied, fulfilled
and content with being loved by my alone.
With giving yourself totally and unreservedly to me.
With having an intense personal and living relationship with me along.
Discovering that only in Me is your satisfaction to be found.
Then you will be capable of the perfect human relationship
That I have planned for you.
You will never be completely united with antoher
Until you are united with me;
-exclusively of anyone or anything else,
-exclusively of any other desires or longings.
I want you to have the best.
PLEASE allow Me to give it to you.
I want you to stop planning and wishing and allow Me
To give you the most thrilling plan existing,
One that you cannot imagine
I want you to have the best so just keep watching Me,
Expecting the greatest things and
Listen and learn the things I tell you

You just wait...
That's all,
Don't be anxious.
Don't worry.
Don't look around at the things ohter have recieved
or that I've given them.
Don't look at the things you THINK you want.
Just keep looked to Me or you'll miss what I want to show you.
And then, when you're ready, I'll surprise you with a love far more
wonderful than any you could dream of.
You see until you are ready,
And until the one I have for you is ready,
(and I am working even at this moment
to have both of you ready at the same time).
Until you are both satisfied exclusively
With Me and the life that I have prepared for you,
You won't be able to experience the love that exemplifies
Your relationship with Me and enjoy materially and concretely the everlasting
union of beauty, perfection, and loved.
Know that I love you.
I am God, know it, and be satisfied!

God loves me more than anyone will ever love me. I have the perfect man in my life already. He'll never leave me, he'll never forsake me. He is jealous for me and wants my full attention. How can I not want to do everything I can to give it to Him? The Creator of the Universe loves me and is jealous for my attention. So I am done wishing for something that God knows I am not ready for. I want nothing less than the plan He has for me. So I will wait, and be patient. His timing is perfect. He is all I need, and I'm giving Him my whole heart, because He will always keep it safe and never break it.


"But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:37-39
.

New Day

I woke up this morning and did not want to get out of bed. I was tired, cranky, and stressed out. I dragged myself out of bed, got ready and headed out the door. As I began walking down the stairs to my car, it hit me. Today was a new day. A new day to spend living for the creator of the universe.
As I started my car, the radio came on, tuned to K Love. The first words I heard almost brought me to tears: "Better is one day in your house than a thousand elsewhere." What a way for God to show me His amazing love. It never ceases to amaze me how God always gives me exactly what I need to hear. He always knows just what to put into my day to remind me of how wonderful He is and how much he cares for me and loves me. No one will ever love me like He does. No one will ever fill me, complete me, and make me whole like He does. Nothing I face in my day can be worse than living a life without Him. No bad hair day, hard test, or embarrassing mishap can bring me down if He is on my side, because in my weakness I find His strength.

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." -Philippians 4:13 (NASB)

The Beginning

As I write this, I'm sitting out on my balcony taking in this beautiful, 61 degree, starry night. The smell of fall is in the air, and it makes me excited for the upcoming months. OU football season is the best time of the year!
I had the idea to start this blog tonight, and I decided to go for it since writing is a huge part of my major. I only seem to enjoy it though when I get to write about things that are of my choosing. To understand the point of this blog though, I must first explain how I got to where I am now.
I grew up in a Christian home with two of the best parents. My dad is the leader of our family and one of the funniest people I know. No one seems to make me laugh and forget about my troubles quite like he does. I want to marry a man just like my dad. Someone who makes me laugh, loves me for who I am, and encourages me in everything I do.
Then there's my mom. Over the years, my mom has become my best friend. She's seen me through everything. She has laughed when I laughed, cried when I cried, and celebrated with me through every time in my life. She understands me better than anyone that I know, and she helps me face things when I don't want to face them. I thank God for both of my parents everyday because they have helped me become the person that I am today.
I also have an older brother. There is seven years difference between us, so needless to say we haven't always been close. I mean, what high schooler wants to hang out with their little sister who is in elementary school? As we've both gotten older, I've seen our relationship change, and I respect and love him more now than I ever have.
My brother married a beautiful woman that changed him into the man that he is today. She's very sweet and I'm glad that God placed her into my brother and my family's lives. I have the cutest nephew in the whole world (everyone says that don't they?) and he makes me smile everytime I see his cute little face. I can't wait to watch him grow up and hopefully become a great man of Christ. In about 8 months, I'll have another little niece or nephew (I'm praying for a niece) and I can't wait for another little Garrett to enter this world.
I have great friends that make me laugh and have helped me through some really hard times. Every person that God has placed in my life has taught me new things and helped me grow.
Having said all this, there's one thing in my life that is due for some change: My relationship with my heavenly father. I've always believed in Him, ever since I accepted Him into my life back in elementary school. I never really gave Him my all though. I attended church and went to camps, coming back and being on a "spiritual high," ready to change my life and really live for Him. I was involved in my Youth group in High school and attended church every Sunday morning and met with my small group, but I never spent quality time invested in His word or building my relationhip. I came to college with my "relationship" with Him as a I'll call on you when I really need you, but I can handle the rest on my own. This soon turned into "this is the time of life where I'm supposed to have fun, and I can pick back things up with you when I'm done living the life I know I shouldn't be." Needless to say, that didn't make me happy for very long. I tried several times to convince myself that I was finally ready to give Him my all and really live everyday for Him, but somehow I ended up falling right back into my old habits.
Recently, God has really begun to open my eyes to the life I've been missing out on. I've tried replacing Him in my life with boys, friends, material things, and none of them have fulfilled me like I know He can. I truly am ready to make the lifelong changes to live for Him and give Him everything I have. So here's the point to this blog: it's not about me...it's about Him. Noone may ever read any of what I write, but what if they do? What if people could begin to see God's love and his majesty and grace through my story? I'll share it to the world if one person could come to know the love I'm just beginning to understand.
So this is the beginning. The beginning of the life I've been missing out on. The beginning of the many blessings I know are in store for me. The beginning of true happiness. The beginning of falling madly, deeply, and truly in love with My Savior.


"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so netiher can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." -John 15:4-5 (NASB)