What Christians Need to Know About 'That Guy'

So I wanted to share a little something that really touched my soul today at church:

I felt really spiritually moved when my Pastor told this heart wrenching story of a family who continually tried to get pregnant, but kept having miscarriages. The breath of life had been taken away from those babies. It's an experience I hold very dear to my heart. They finally got pregnant for the fourth time and this time the baby is thriving and growing beautifully. The point was, this pregnancy from the beginning felt different. Something was going to be different, and it was. 

2015 is going to be different. 
We can feel it.

______________________________


I have had my fair share of being called a hypocrite and being judged because of my faith. It has been this way since the beginning. Even the Pharisees called Jesus out on numerous occasions. We are human beings, we will make mistakes. However, there's a difference in doing it on purpose just because you're saved and can be forgiven, and doing it out of anger or retaliation in the heat of the moment. You can't manipulate God's grace. He knows your heart. So in this new year I wanted to give some friendly, Christian comedic advice, in the nicest way possible, about who to watch out for to avoid getting mixed up in a confrontational situation. Because let's face it... Social media can be your worst enemy.
You are not obligated to debate or argue over anything you don't feel comfortable discussing. All we need to know, in light of anyone displaying ignorance, is that God loves us and to love and pray for your enemy. Turn the other cheek.

Before you keep reading, this can be a guy or girl, and this is meant for those who are blatantly trying to show disrespect because they know you're a Christian. This is not meant to be offensive... well, unless you're that guy... ;)
With that being said... Enjoy!


1. The guy who bashes Christianity through memes on social media.
 
2. The guy who rolls his eyes when you say, "Have a blessed day."

3. The guy who purposely says curse words in front of you to get a rise.

4. The guy who tells you inappropriate jokes to see how you'll react.

5. The guy who comes to tell you they don't believe in God to see what you'll say.

6. The guy who purposely shows you inappropriate pictures on his phone.

7. The guy who always tries to purposely hug you for too long.

8. The guy who says, "Praise Jesus" or "Hallelujah", sarcastically then gives you the side eye.

- So don't get crazy when we finally say, "I'll be praying for you!" :)

xoxo

What Does Mommy Really Mean?

What does being a mom mean to you?:

Wow... I have never been asked this question at all since I became a mom, but boy have I felt it's impact. I think subconsciously as moms, we think about this question every day. Whether it be when baby needs a diaper change, to be nursed to sleep, or just to have Mommy hold him and kiss him when he falls. There's no room for selfishness, even if we wanted to make room. Your children will always come first, you will protect them no matter what. If they ask for something with sincerity, they will most likely get it. We feed them before we feed ourselves. We put a new outfit on them before we even get dressed (not to mention putting on any makeup). We change diapers first thing in the morning, while doing the pee dance because we have yet to go ourselves. We forget all about our problems, and who's trying to reach us by text or call. We are happy just laying in the floor, playing toys with our babies and seeing them light up with their scrunchy grins. There's no where else in the world we would rather be in that second.

It's a privilege and an honor for God to trust us with tiny souls. -My Mom

I am so honored that I'm baby Levi's mommy. My heart has grown enormously since I first laid eyes on him. My whole world changed yet it was finally complete. I truly believe that if we raise our children to love the Lord that it plants a seed that will always be there, even if they get older and want to investigate. That's my goal, that's part of our purpose as parents. Don't bring children to love things, you can't serve both God and money. Children are smarter than we think. They pick up on the things that their parents hold close to them, and they start to love those things as well whether we realize it or not. I am living proof of this theory. No matter what I got myself into, I never once wanted to run away from God. I have always longed to know Him. It's almost as if He was engraved on my soul. That's what I want for my Levi.

"Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." -(Proverbs 22:6 NIV)

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." -(Matthew 6:21 NIV)

"Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." -(Matthew 19:14 NIV)

xoxo

 

Cleaning Out the Cup

2014... you were incredible!

I can't believe Christmas is already over and it's New Year's Day of 2015! I feel like we just made it to December yesterday! Time really does fly when you have children. I talked a little bit about a few of my resolutions for the new year in my Mommy Monday post for the week, but I wanted to share all the ones I have as of today. I know they can seem very cliche, but since I've become a mom, I feel like it's important to set goals and to try your hardest to follow through with them. Not only to better yourself, but also to set an amazing example for your children. I was really very proud of our family for accomplishing everything we set out to do for our Christmas activities. It makes you feel like your time with your family hasn't been wasted, and you enjoyed everything to the fullest. 

I always told myself I would be nothing like my mom, HA! Don't we all? It's kind of inevitable, at least for me. But to be real, my mom has been a wonderful example and influence on my life as a woman and a mom. I'm not "exactly" like her, but we share a lot of the same values and characteristics. I want Levi to be able to say the same about his mommy. I want him to know that I loved him so much, and tried my hardest to set him up to be a light and have the ability to change hearts for Jesus.

First I wanted to list some of my favorite memories of 2014:

1. Gave birth for the first time and had my precious baby Levi, and became parents.

2. Celebrated our one year anniversary.

3. Had my first real surgery, got an organ taken out and got put under for the first time.

4. Started my breastfeeding adventure.

5. Started my blog back up with a bang! All thanks go to God!

6. Turned 24

7. Lived up our first Christmas with Levi to the absolute fullest! And watched almost every Christmas movie!

8. Celebrated a lot of firsts for baby Levi, our first year as a family was incredible!

9. I really found my voice and diminished my fear of not speaking up.

10. Accomplished cutting off some social media for a year!

Father... You are good.

With that being said, here are my 2015 DAILY resolutions:

1. Finish reading the whole Bible by December 2015.

2. Spend more time in prayer.

3. Find more opportunities to share His Word.

4. Focus on the gift of giving.

5. Fall more in love with my husband.

6. Start yoga again

7. Breaking Addictions (such as caffeine and sugar)

8. Give it to God  - Be more kind, judge less, love more, have more patience, and block out stress.

9. Let it be known that I'm not ashamed, embarrassed or afraid because of my Christian beliefs. 

10. I will rise and stand tall in God against anyone who persecutes us.

"Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel." -Jeremiah 18:6

xoxo

Presents Galore

Welcome to Mommy Monday! 

I did a few changes to the Mommy Monday page tab, because I don't always go all out and talk only about Mommy stuff lately.

So I have a little dilemma I've been trying to figure out, maybe some of my Mommy readers can give me some advice about this. Matthew and I decided to start a three present Christmas tradition, then some Santa gifts, with Levi because not only did Jesus get three, but also because Levi's birthday is less than a month away from Christmas Day. My sister, Tosha, also has a son with a birthday in early January. I asked her on Christmas how she does it, and she gave me some funny advice, "Don't tell them what day their birthday is on, just surprise them a few weeks later with a present."

I just have a feeling this is always going to be a stressful time for us to jump from Christmas right to a birthday. Of course it can always be done, but does anyone else have this similar situation? Any good suggestions or ideas? What do you do for presents? Maybe some small presents on Christmas and then one big present from Mom and Dad on their birthday? This might make me seem like a mean mom, but I really don't want Levi to have one of those rooms that is overflowing with more toys than we know what to do with. And I want him to understand later on that it's not always about getting things, more of the time it's also about giving.

I know a lot of my readers don't have Google accounts to leave comments below, so if you're viewing this on Facebook feel free to leave a comment in the Facebook link of any suggestions you might have. Thank you and have a wonderful rest of the week!

xoxo

A Generous New Year

 Part 1

I'm in our truck in the parking lot of one of our favorite restaurants as I'm beginning to write this, waiting for Matthew to come back with the little buzzer to tell you when your table is ready. It's freezing here and the restaurant is pretty packed, so we decided to wait in the truck. I want to tell you how we got here tonight, but for me to tell you please understand I'm not telling you this to brag or anything of that kind, and Matthew doesn't know I'm writing about this either... that is until he reads it when it's published. I want to tell you because it's God's good works, and I would like for all my readers to have the chance to experience some of God's magic and blessings, if your heart is in the right place to do so.

I recently started reading The Blessed Life by Robert Morris, and our lives have already changed within the few short weeks I've been reading it. Robert Morris is one of my favorite Pastors to listen to on podcasts or their Gateway website. In his book, he brilliantly breaks down everything you need to know about tithing and the gift of giving. If you don't already know, we are a young family in every aspect of our lives. We are in the thick of figuring out all of the highs and lows of this economically challenged world we live in today. Yet we are not intimidated by it. We live by our faith and that God has put us where He wants us for now. We have already reached some spiritual maturity in the area of giving since learning more about it, and sincerely doing it with your heart rather than thinking it's something you have to do.

The story starts at Matthews work on Christmas Eve, where they were doing a raffle drawing for two Christmas turkeys. Matthew took a ticket but my mom had already purchased our family turkey. Matt ended up winning one of the turkeys, but he knew we didn't really need it. So he gave it away to someone who really did. Soon after that the same day, a coworker came to Matthew and gave him a very generous gift card for our favorite restaurant. That's how we ended up where we are tonight. God told Matthew to give that turkey away, and in return He gave us double, a full meal. You can't out-give God. This thing we call money is not ours, everything we have, God has given us. It's all His in the first place. So if you're not already tithing, I really would like to encourage you to start. And to make sure you're doing it right, if you're confused about it I highly recommend reading Pastor Morris's book, and reading the scriptures about it as well in the Bible. Our churches need their body. As we ring in the New Year, I wanted to tell you this story so you might decide to set a goal for giving in 2015. Trust me, your life will be so blessed for doing it. I also recently started the One Year Bible and I'm ahead on my readings for January. One of my resolutions is to be able to say I have read the whole Bible by the time I turn 25 years old. Have you set some wonderful resolutions yet? 

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and have a very blessed New Year! 

____________

I'm also going to send out a prayer request for my readers today. When we got home from the restaurant last night, we didn't know one of our neighbors houses was on fire. One of their other close neighbors called the fire department and three different ones came. The fire got big but they worked until 2am putting it out. We thought they were going tell us all to evacuate but they got it contained. We have a lot of trees around where we live and the wind was blowing last night. Luckily no one was home but I was told they had some birds inside. The family is in Mexico visiting for Christmas except for one girl, she stayed because she had to work but she's safe and staying with her aunt. They had seven family members living in the house and I think pretty much everything is ruined, and we don't think the house was insured. We know the family, and our whole community is devastated that when they come back from Christmas vacation they won't have a home to come back to. Matthew and I went out and talked to people last night and we are all going to do everything we can to help. Please pray for this family, please pray very hard. Pray that somehow we will find a way to get them a home. My sister, Tosha, drove over last night during the fire and she has a terrible cold, but she still came and she had tears in her eyes but she said the most beautiful words, "I know I'm sick but I came because we are the church, we should be here." 

We are the church.

If you're not already giving, please do with all your heart. Rise up, and be that light people see when they're lost. Be the church.

Here's a tiny piece of a story from the Bible that I've really fallen in love with, about Mary using a very expensive perfume to anoint Jesus. -

"Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages. ” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.'” (John 12:2-8 NIV)

 Part 2

 Christmas with the Valentine's! 

Levi didn't like the flash too much.

 Opening his first present! 

He was so excited to finally get to tear into something!

 Our Christmas at Nana's house!

This is the only good picture we could get of him in his first Christmas outfit by himself, he wouldn't hold still.

-I hope everyone has a very Happy New Year!!
xoxo