true beauty

Something that God has put on my heart recently is the whole concept of beauty. God is beautiful and everything He has made is beautiful- even if not so beautiful to the human eye. God has made everything with a purpose and with beauty. We are beautiful because the One who is beauty has crafted us by His own hands. The fact in itself that I was created by the most beautiful being there is makes me feel beautiful, even on days when I physically don't feel all that pretty. The world's definition of beauty and God's definition of beauty are not the same. In the world's eyes, to be beautiful you have to weigh 100 pounds, have pretty hair, wear lots of make up, and dress according to the latest fashions. Physical beauty is only temporal- it is fading and doesn't last. 

Proverbs 31:30 says: "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."

We are beautiful in God's eyes no matter what because we are His creation. Just like a mother thinks her new born baby is the most beautiful thing she has laid her eyes on- that is how God views us. Even when I mess up- I am still the apple of God's eye because He created me. God finds even the most intricate details of each of us to be beautiful to Him. He adores us.

Psalm 45:11 says "The King is ENTHRALLED by your beauty."

I'm sure everyone has heard the saying of "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." In this case it is very true. We are beautiful because God sees us that way and He declares that we are beautiful. True beauty is found in the Lord. The only way for us to get a glimpse of how beautiful we really are is to let the Lord show us. He is the only one who defines true beauty- not the world. 

one of my favorite books says :

"A woman in her glory, a woman of beauty, is a woman who is not striving to become beautiful or worthy enough. She knows in her quiet center where God dwells that He finds her beautiful, has deemed her worthy, and in Him, she is enough." -Captivating

where does your beauty come from?

He loved me FIRST! :)

Hello wonderful people of the world!

Love has been a heavy subject on my heart lately, so I decided that I'm going to write a little bit more about God's extravagant love- maybe from a different angle than most people look at it.

I like to call it The Great Romance- because that is what it is! :)

Imagine all of those fairy-tale movies where the prince is on a conquest for his princess. This prince does everything he possibly can to save his love and win her heart. It is the ultimate act of love and pursuit, seeking after his lover's heart. The depth of the heart and the depth of the prince's love for his princess is displayed truly through this all-out battle; and it is all to obtain the single most important thing to him- the desire of his heart.

Well, God is God and doesn't have needs, but He sure has desires of His heart as well. Even before time was created God had a desire to have a relationship with us. That is why He created us. God certainly created us in His image. God is love, so therefore we have love in us because we were created by love to love.  God wanted to love and to be loved. 

Here is one of my favorite Bible verses:

1 John 4:17-19 (The Message) "God is love. When we take up a permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgement Day- our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Perfect love banishes all fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life-fear of death, fear of judgement- is one not yet fully formed in love. We, though, are going to love- love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first."

I find that there are many different aspects of love. Romance is surely one of the biggest aspects of love- in my opinion. 

God new we would fall. He knew that it would take something extraordinary- something extremely romantic to save us- and win us back. His desire was to love us- have a relationship with us forever. God was willing to do whatever it took to win us back- to bring us back into His open and lovingly out-stretched arms. Just like the prince and the princess- God knew He has to perform the ultimate act of romance for us. He wanted us -and wants us- that badly. He came to this earth- suffered the most excruciating, humiliating, unimaginable death to save us- His love. There is nothing that God would not do to be re-united with His love, the apple of His eye- US! Usually the princess in these fairy-tales does something to mess up- something to get into the circumstance she is in. Something that requires her prince and her love to come chasing after her to free her- so they can finally be together. We messed up and became separated from our love, God. He came running after us to bring us back to Him. He chased after us, battled it out, payed the price, and romanced us to no end to free us and join us with Him once again.

I always find it so romantic when the prince dies for his love. I mean, if someone died for me because they loved me- it would be the most romantic thing ever. And, that's exactly what God did for us. It doesn't just end there- He is daily pursuing and romancing us still!! Even for those who curse God's name every second they get- He is STILL chasing after them, pursuing them, and romancing them.

In romance and love we get to choose- choose who we love- free will. God chose us first. He spilled his heart- literally on the cross for us- HE TOOK A RISK- a risk that even though He loves us and chose us- that we might not choose Him!

God already chose us. He loved us first. The choice is now ours- to be with Him and love Him forever and to ride off into the sunset with Him- or to reject Him and try to find that one-of-a-kind romance somewhere else.

My heart has been captivated and overtaken by the amazing love & romance of God through Jesus. I will never search for that kind of fulfilling love elsewhere- there is a place in my heart that only God can fill. oh, and there is a place in HIS heart that only YOU can fill.

God's romance simply cannot be topped- and it has no end!! :)

hmmm... Love!

So, I've decided to just write. Write about something that has to do with everything. One word, four letters, many skewed ideas of its meaning, but only one true definition. Love. Too simple of a word, or too complex? Simplicity, yet complexity all at the same time. Love, love, love. Overused, maybe? Not used enough? or even used in the wrong context? It is a word used every day that most of us understand, well kind of. And it is often a scary, yet exciting word. But let's define the word anyways- from the world's eyes. okay? let's!

Here's the Wiki Definition:

Love is any number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection. The word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure ("I loved that meal") to intense interpersonal attraction ("I love my girlfriend"). This diversity of meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states.

hmm! Okay, so let's sum it up in a few words. According to Wiki, Love is : a feeling, state, attitude, intense, complex, inconsistent, and an attraction.

hmm. haha, okay I say that a lot! Anyways, I'm no expert, nor do I know everything, but love is definitely not solely based on a "feeling." 

Here is what I have concluded about Love:

The word "Agape" sums it all up pretty much. Agape(pronounced uh-gop-ehh)  is the Greek word for Love, meaning: charitable, selfless, unconditional, and altruistic. It is parental love, seen as creating goodness in the world; It is the way God is seen to love humanity, and it is seen as the kind of love followers of Christ aspire to have for one another and for all people. Most of all, God IS love!

1 John 4:7-8 says: " Dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love!"

John 3:16-18 says: "For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."

1 Cor. 13:4-7 says:  "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not  envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres." 

I strongly believe that those scriptures above truly do the meaning of love justice. God is love! I believe that no human being can ever TRULY love like we were created to love without understanding God's love for us. The love that he showed and poured out for us on the cross through Jesus. The dying, sacrificial, and unfailing love of Jesus! I believe that the BEST demonstration of love this world has ever seen was displayed on the cross by Jesus!

I believe that no human being can ever fully understand the true meaning and depth  of love, EVER. I know that ever since the day I was filled with God's love, that I have never experience love so passionate and true as His. I strongly believe that the love of a human being is very much limited! I believe that a human being's love is not as limited when they love with the love of Christ! I know that my God's love is infinite and can never be topped. I know that His love has never and will never let me down! I'd choose God's love over a human being's love ANYDAY! :) My heart is overwhelmed by and overflowing with the love of God! I have so much love to give! It is the deepest and strongest passion of my heart for the world to truly know & experience TRUE love- God's love!! I know that God's love can change this world- and I mean REALLY change this world!

I strongly believe every word of this scripture about love: 

Ephesians 3:18-20 "And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think!"

The truth is, we all desperately NEED love to survive- God's love!! It is one of the innermost needs of every human's heart- TO LOVE AND BE LOVED! :) God is the only one who can truly fulfill that need & desire!

The truth is that I am in love with love! I am in love with the one who IS  love! I am in love with my creator and truest love who has loved me first! He loved us first, since He is love! I have a passion and need for love. Love is what brings me life. God's love is my deepest need. His love brings life to me more than the next breath of air that I am about to breathe!

In all honesty, my first intentions of writing this blog  were to write about a human, about a boy, maybe. But the truth of the matter is, my heart is so overtaken by God's love- that His love is all I need! I mean, yes I desire for earthly love, but God's love is so powerful that when the topic of love comes to my mind- He is all I can think about! I can hardly put to words what I mean by this! I am so love-struck by God! It is a whirlwind- a good one! A crazy and romantic love! 

I could go on forever about God's love, but I must stop! :) I can't believe I've written this much!

I take absolutely no credit for this- this was all seriously an inspiration from God!

So, I'll leave you all with an awesome scripture!

I pray that each and every one of you will be completely overwhelmed and filled from the tips of your toes to the top of your head with the AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL love of Christ! I pray that this love will inspire you to go out and LOVE a hurting, desperate, and lost world! I pray that God's goodness would follow you all the days of your life!! AMEN!

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take!"

Numbers 6:24-26 "May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; and may the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace!"

I love you all so very very much! :)

God Bless! <3

Pursuit of the Un-eternal

Day in and day out we're always so busy; we fill our lives with activities and things that we think will lead to our happiness. It is an accurate assumption to say that we all want to find true happiness and the true meaning of life at some point in our lives. Ultimately, our lives lead up to one final thing- death. Not trying to be depressing or anything, but we all die at some point. All that we have done in our lives and everything in time leads up to the final state of our earthly existence. At this moment there is nothing we can take with us but ourselves, our souls. All of the possessions, relationships, and activities from our life stay behind. None of those things last or are eternal. These things may satisfy you on earth temporarily, but none of them are forever. Lately I have found myself so consumed by earthly things that don't truly bring me ceaseless joy. Facebook, food, television, material possessions, and relationships are just a few of the habitual things that I have been trying to fill my life up with lately. I know from the present and past that these things don't even begin to fulfill my deepest, truest, and innermost needs of my heart. Only through the matchless love and relationship with Jesus Christ do I find myself at peace and complete fulfillment. It is what life is truly about- a relationship with our creator. You and I were created to be intimately and personally connected with our Creator- The Creator of the universe- and The God of everything. Through Jesus Christ that relationship is established and only truly fulfilled. I know this, I really do. But you'd think that if I knew where my downfalls and weaknesses were- that I'd go running into the arms of my Strength, my Source, my Life, and my Savior. Why don't I? Maybe it is something about the familiar and comfortable that sucks me back into what I know just makes me feel emptier than I was to start. Relationship with Jesus does take some risk- but God meets me more than half-way. He is the ONLY one who is CONSTANTLY pursuing me even when I'm pursuing things of this world. I need to break my unhealthy habits. I can't do it alone. Only through Jesus Christ can i live the life that I'm called to live and can I be the woman of God that God has called me to be. Earthly things are something that i have struggled with and am still struggling with. Why not break the old, bad habits and create good, life-fulfilling habits? 

I dunno, just food for thought.

As followers of Jesus, we are (called to be) more than conquerors!

1 John 5:4 

Every God-begotten person conquers the world's ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the world's ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.

Have a Blessed week everyone! :)

it's been a while.

It's been a while since I last blogged, but one of my new year's resolutions is to start blogging again. Another one of my resolutions is to spend less time on face book and more time with God. A friend of mine pointed out a very good point; that we keep wishing for more time, but the time that we do have is often wasted on unproductive things, such as face book. I may do a fast from face book, but I'll be blogging too. Anyways, new year, fresh start. This year is going to be full of God's surprises and blessings. There also will be many challenges, but I'm ready to face them and rock them. haha. Time goes by so fast! So, I'm deciding to give my time, energy, and everything else all to God this year. I want Him to be first in all my days and all my time. I want to change the world for Him, so that more people come to know Him. 

I've got some homework to do, so I'll blog more another time.

Here's my top 5 songs for the week:

1. Annie - Safetysuit

2. Believe in Me- Demi Lovato

3. Apology- Safetysuit

4. I'm Singing- Kari Jobe

5.  Love More- Ryan Edgar

Here's a good verse to start out the new year-

Revelation 4:1

peace, love, and God Bless! :)