heres to blogging.

well.... i've said it over and over, "i won't get a blog", and here i am writing my first post! i'm not sure what all this blog will entail but through it my hopes are to encourage, inspire and challenge those who stumble upon this thing. :) the plan is to touch on topics like recipes, diy projects, things the Lord is teaching me in my walk, home updates and whatever else comes to mind.  

btw- i have no idea what i am doing, so please forgive me as i learn this template and layout thingy. 

lets start with some lessons the good Lord has been wrecking my heart with...

sunday we visited city church international with some friends. it was wonderful. very, very different than the structured, picture perfect church i've known my whole life. m and i walked away with alot for our heart to reflect on as far as our view of church and what church is supposed to look like biblically. the speaker was a student from dts and the words the Lord laid on his heart to speak came at me like a huge spotlight was shining down! for those who don't know me well, failure is something that i have been blessed not to have experienced very much this far in life. until lately.... {now i am being very raw/vulnerable/transparent, whatever you want to call it and i am finding it tough to type this} anyways, i graduated college in may 2011. for whatever reason i changed my degree to psychology my sophomore year. so upon graduation i could do nothing, zilch, zap with my degree. wahoo!! {intense sarcasm!} so i kept working at the place and i was and tried a new position. needless to say, i wasn't feeling it. i moved on and nannyed for a few months, that wasn't fulfilling my gifts either. then i got this wonderful teaching job at a mdo program so close to my house. i have loved every second of it!!! however, it is only two days a week. this would be perfect if we had kids, but we don't. common sense tells me that while we don't have kids i should work as hard as possible {meaning a full time job} until the day comes that we start a family. this is where failure has come in and hit me like a ton of bricks. never did i think i would be the college grad that couldn't find a full time job in a field that i like. so this has been a tough, guilty filled journey lately. all that to say.... here are a couple of quotes and passages that the lord used to wake me and shake me on sunday. i hope they encourage you as they have me!

"our worst fear should be not failure, but succeeding at something that doesn't matter."      Dwight L. Moody

"patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. then you will receive all that he has promised." hebrews 10:36 

moving from a small arkansas town 5 years ago to a big city definitely has changed my view on several things- both good and not so good. living in dallas has opened the doors to way more distractions. i have never seen more focus on cars, houses, business titles, clothes etc. than i do now. boy does that quote from Moody come to mind. success will be measured by our heavenly father, not by staying up to date on the latest fad or the largest fortune 500 company. my challenge to you and myself is to stop and examine what you are seeking out to accomplish. is it ultimately for further the kingdom of Christ? will this success make an impact on individuals lives for the better? 

and lastly- the verse from hebrews talks about patient endurance. personally i feel like this is much easier said than done. endurance can be tough, especially when you aren't faced with failure often. join me in praying for more patient endurance...