I have never been a huge Valentine's day person.  In fact, I think I more often make fun of the holiday than I think of it's sweetness.  I think we should be recognizing the love we have for each other every day, not just on a day that is full of over the top flowers, candy, big gestures, etc.  But this year, I decided to get over my distaste for the holiday and just dwell a little bit on the love that the Lord has blessed me with through my husband.  With that said, I have to share a little story with you to give you a taste of the love I share with my husband.  

Two and a half years ago, before my husband and I were even engaged, he was getting ready to go back to graduate school (across the country from me) and he said that he wanted to give me something. He warned me that it was in a jewelry box, but not to get worked up because it wasn't THAT piece of jewelry.  Not knowing what to expect, I opened the box and found this beautiful opal necklace on a delicate gold chain.  I noticed that the box was a bit dusty and that it creaked when I opened it, which was a bit odd- but I did not anticipate the story that explained this mystery.  

When my husband was 12 years old, he went on a trip to Australia with a student group.  Among many activities, they visited an opal factory.  The factory explained how these are not the same as the opals you will find in the U.S.- that they are of a higher quality.... okay, let's be honest I can't remember the rest of that explanation, but it's not the point of the story.  My husband continued this story telling me how he knew he was going to buy a necklace for his aunt (because his uncle asked him to), and his mother, but then he told me how he wanted to buy a third one for a more personal reason.  He decided that he wanted to buy another opal necklace to give to his future wife some day.  umm.. WHAT?!  So he bought three necklaces, took them home, and hid the last one in his closet.  And 12 years later he dug out the necklace and gave it to me.

My jaw dropped when he finished the story and presented me with the necklace.  I could not get over how sweet that story was.  I mean seriously, what 12 year old boy would think that far ahead, with no particular girl in mind, just thinking to himself 'hey, that'd be great to give to my wife someday!'  Needless to say, I am a lucky lady.  

Thinking about that story gets me every time.  I am seriously amazed at the way that God provided for me with my husband.  He loves me in such a beautiful, caring, selfless, wholehearted way that it seriously throws me for a loop sometimes.  And what I really appreciate is that he gives me a glimpse of the way that God loves us.  It is hard to imagine that God loves us in an even grander, more perfect way than we could ever experience here on earth.  I am so so thankful that the Lord has blessed me with this sweet, sweet man to spend the rest of my life with and to remind me of the One who loves me even more.  

Okay, my moment of mushy gushy, cheesey lovey dovey-ness is over.  Hopefully you made it through without gagging ;) But in all seriousness, my hope for you today is that you might know that you are truly loved.  Even if you don't feel it at this moment, I promise you- there is One who loves you much more than you can possibly imagine.  

xoxo

Happy Valentine's Day!! As promised, here is my new manicure in honor of the day of love!
Polishes I used were: Essie (Fiji), Essie Luxe, Stripe Right (black, white, and silver) and Seche Vite topcoat.  This manicure was a lot of fun to create, but also a challenge coming up with something different for each nail.  I am definitely a bigger fan of my left hand than my right, but I suppose that goes without saying to some extent seeing as how it is the easier hand to paint.  :) I hope that you had a wonderful Valentine's day and felt loved and appreciated!

Xoxo

Had a little fun with my nails while watching the Grammys.  Pinterest inspired, nonetheless.  Check out my "Nails I need" board on Pinterest to see where I find my inspiration.  Come back in a few days to see what I've come up with for my Valentine's Day Manicure.  

Xoxo.

The moment that I first read this statement, I found myself in a place where I was pretty certain that I was not "in love" with my life.  A friend posted this image on her Instagram feed and I'm really glad she did because it got me thinking.  

I decided that there are two ways to attempt to make it true in your life.  You can choose to have a joyful attitude, regardless of what is happening around you- resulting in for the most part, being more in love with your life.  -and/or- You can choose to surround yourself with the things that you love, the activities, the people that truly make you happy, give you joy in life.  

The attitude change is more of a no-brainer.  It totally makes sense to just simply change perspective and decide to put more effort into enjoying each moment.  In my most recent work experience, I was very challenged to do just that.  

As I have explained in earlier posts, for the past year and a half, I have been in a land of in-between.  This place of in between led me to a position much different than my ministry assistant role at a church- I was now a sales associate at a women's clothing boutique.  My experience working at the boutique was a mixture of "I love this!  Fashion! How fun?" and "Oh my word, I'm so bored- could I possibly organize scarves for another minute?"  I tried SO hard to simply change my attitude, to be okay with where God had me for now, and enjoy as much as I could.  But day after day of trying to be positive I found myself asking the questions: Do I just need to change my attitude? Or is that not going to cut it, and it's really just an unhappy, stressful situation that I could easily cut out of my life?

But the choice of surrounding yourself with things that you love, is a bit more difficult to process.  On one hand I think it is a smart thing to do- cut out the things in your life that make you unhappy, or don't encourage you, replace with something you do love- and as a result you'll love life more.  But on the other hand, can we really live life that way?  Is it really fair or possible to just cut out the things that are uncomfortable or that are difficult?  I don't think it's very realistic in most scenarios.  But is it?  

In my situation, after much consideration and effort to change my attitude- the right choice for me was to move on from the position at the boutique.  It was such a tough decision, but I realized that the position was causing more frustration than joy most days and therefore it just wasn't worth it for me.  I understand that I won't always be in a position where I can just on a whim cut out the bad from my life to make myself more happy.  I am in a unique position where my husband supporting me financially gives me a little more freedom than the average bird.  I get that.  But what I am thankful for is, through this situation- thinking about how to be more joyful, to be more in love with my life, it really helped me gain perspective on the choice that we have to be happy.  

It is so easy to get stuck in a rut, especially when the winter blues hit, and think- ugh, I am stuck in this unhappy place and there's nothing I can do about it.  Sometimes I know that I am perfectly capable of just changing my attitude and being more joyful, but then I'm just too dang lazy to do anything about it!  So instead of being happy- I remain melancholy, lazy, with a bad attitude.  It can be so frustrating!! 

As I've thought more and more about this topic, I have decided to, challenge myself to be more in love with my life.  This post, this idea, has been brewing in my mind for the past 3 weeks and I am so thankful that it has because through it, I honestly think that I have experienced more joy.  In John 10, Jesus says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Notice He doesn't say, to have a mediocre life, or a life that's boring or lame- He says, "have it to the full."  We live in a world that is full of darkness and heavy things and sadness- all things that threaten to take away our joy.  But God doesn't intend for us to live a sad life!  Through Christ we are given the opportunity to live life to the full- to find Joy in Him.  

A couple in church a couple weeks ago wrote a song with the lyric that said, "Sometimes I find that gladness is a choice we make to step into the light and turn our backs on darkness once again."  What a great illustration!! I love this idea that not only does choosing gladness result in more joy, but it also means that you are turning your back on darkness.  So that is what I am challenging myself to do; to choose to be glad and turn my back on the darkness in this world.  And I challenge you to do the same!  

It all starts with a choice.  Maybe sometimes it will be truly cutting something out like my boutique position, or maybe it will only be a choice to choose to be happy.  Either way, it is so worth it.  If you made it through this lengthy post, I commend you.  And I want to encourage you to take a few moments to dwell on this idea in your life as well.  Perhaps it will be life-changing, who knows! 

xoxo

  

These are probably my most favorite nail art creation yet.  I was inspired to create these after being invited to an arcade night at a friend's house.  (Her boyfriend had 10+ arcade game in his basement!! SO fun!!) I grew up playing and loving Pacman so I couldn't think of a better design for the occasion.  After a few hours (it's putzy work man!) I came out with these!  I like the left hand designs a bit better than the right, probably because of it's cleaner look.  But I was very happy with both.  Enjoy!

It's been awhile since I did anything fancy to my nails so I decided to try something new.

Lately the world has felt a bit darker... Whether it be shootings, or loved ones being lost, people sad, and hurting- it has felt as if there is a heavy cloud that has been sweeping in over the area. It's times like this where I find it especially difficult to remain joyful. It's not that there aren't things to be happy and joyful about, because there most definitely are. But for some reason, when things like this happen, it is hard to not just stare straight at the darkness and feel its weight on our shoulders.

This is something that I have been working on since I first started feeling the heaviness of the world a couple weeks ago, and something that I know I need to continue to work on. It is so easy to, in times like these, allow ourselves to be taken over by the sadness and fear of the world. One day I was thinking about the darkness and just feeling really fearful. I started to think about how, if I wanted to (which I never would) I could seriously be afraid of EVERYTHING. In fact, the more I thought about it, it made me want to find a little hole or room where I could block everything else out! It is such a scary phenomenon, is it not? The world can be a very scary place. But this is not where I want to keep my focus. I do not want to live in fear! Fear sucks! Fear inhibits our ability to find joy, our ability to trust, to live life to the fullest as the Lord so desires for us to do. Therefore, this is an area where I need to challenge myself.

A phrase that is often on my heart when I feel afraid is "Even the darkness is not dark to you, for the night is as bright as the day!" This phrase came from an opening ceremony at a mission conference that I went to, but comes from many different places in scripture- one of them being Psalm 139:11-12. It says, "If i say, 'surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, ' even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for the darkness is as light to you." This is the reminder that helps me to blow away the cloud of fear that tries so often to settle in over my world. Through Jesus Christ's death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead- He defeated the devil. He took the weight of the world, the sins of all on his shoulders and died an awful death... but then he did what the devil was not expecting- he Rose again... meaning that He defeated the power of evil! As a result of Christ's sacrifice- with Him, the darkness can have no power over us.

This is a really difficult concept to grasp, especially when we see darkness around us each and every day on this earth. Unfortunately that darkness will continue, it is something that we are going to deal with for the rest of our lives. But I think the important thing is that, we need to realize that we have a part in not letting that darkness rule our lives. And one of the ways that I am going to try to keep the darkness from having power in my own life, is by working on controlling my thoughts, controlling the fears that I have.

I am going to be thinking about this a lot this year, I can feel it... but for now I am going to start with the challenge to redirect my thinking every time that I experience fear trying to creep in. For me, a way to redirect my thinking, to squash the darkness is to think of that verse "even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day." It reminds me that the Lord has defeated the darkness and with Him, His light outshines any heaviness, any pain, any fear that I may have. It's like the verse I wrote in my last post. 

 "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me- put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

Directing our thoughts to those things, will wipe away fear and replace it with the peace of God. That is how I will be challenging myself this week.