Lord, is this Your Will?

      Yesterday the blog Spiritually Single posted something that I think I really needed to hear. The title alone cause me to become intrigued, it was called When God says No to Something that Seems so Right.

Interested? Yeah, so was I.

      Do you ever feel as though something in your life is just perfect? It feels right. It makes you happy. To say the least, it's pretty awesome. But did you ever stop to think about whether or not it's God's will for you?

     Shayla, the wonderful author of Spiritually Single, writes "sometimes we get so caught up on how good something feels that we neglect to simply ask, 'Lord is this your will'. A simple yet powerful question, that can possibly save you years of grief and regret. Something that looks like a set-up can very well be a set-back."

     I'm not saying that we should re-examine all those good things in our lives, but sometimes we can get so wrapped up in ourselves, and maybe the easiest solution may be to turn to our Heaveanly Father for his providence. I think Shayla coupled the perfect verse to this dilemma. We have the advantage of having a Father that has told us time and time again that He's got out backs.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." 

(Provers 3: 5-6)

       The beauty of this all, is that no matter what, God has promised us that if follow Him, He will steer us in the direction that He has designed for us to go. It may not be the path we sought out for ourselves; it may not be the easist, or the most convenient, but we can trust the path, because God is our troop leader.

lead me to the rock

Hello friends, it's been a while.

{Source}

        This past week I started my LAST semester of my undergrad. Oh. My. Stars. I can't believe it, four years have flown by. But can i just say...this past week has slapped me across the face.

It's been tough. 

It's been stressful.

It's caused me to cry.

It's caused me to scream.

It's caused me become more organized.

and above all else,

It's caused me to pray.

        Friday was especially rough for me. Things did not go my way, and when I tried to roll with the punches, it still was not turning out how I planned. Driving to school that afternoon was frustrating to say the least. The whole way there I bawled my eyes out.

Why am I telling you this? Because God placed people in my life that day that blessed me - whether I knew them or not.

      So there I am driving to school and I had to stop to get gas. Still upset and with tears in my eyes I got out of the car to begin filling the gas tank. An older, kind woman, seeing that I was crying, came up to me and asked if I was alright. She was so lovely about it. She did not know me, I did not know her, but she saw a person in pain and chose to show God's love towards me. I may never see this woman again, but I am thankful for her kindness.

   Not that I do this often (and I'm sure no other student out there does this either), but while in class on Friday, I may or may not have been on Facebook -- anyway, a friend of mind posted something that I desperatly NEEDED to hear. She said:

"...When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I..."

       That is exactly what I needed to hear. After reading that I fell to God in paryer, and almost immediatly He settled my heart.

What do you do when you have bad/stressed out days?

a new year, a new adventure

Welcome 2013! 
I sincerely hope all of you had a blessed Christmas and wonderful New Years.
I sure did.

        Christmas was pretty low-key in our household, as usual (but just between you and me, that's how I like it). My sister and brother-in-law camped out at our house for a few days and we got to spend many-a-days having wonderful family fun (and in our house that usually means family game night!!).

       I got to spend some time with my wonderful friends who all traveled home to spend Christmas with their families. Since starting our adventures in the post-secondary world, we have found it very difficult to get-together (as we frequently did in our younger years), so we started having a Christmas party/gift swap a few years ago. This year we had a themed party - "As Seen on TV" - where all the gifts had to be ones sold through infomercials. It was quite fun! Check out some pictures here.

{this has got to be my favourite from our Christmas day}

       This Christmas was also filled with some loss. My family said goodbye to my great-aunt only a few days before Christmas. She was an amazing woman and left an extraordinary legacy behind.

      I have only a couple more days before I return to school for the final semester of my fourth year of university. Scary. Has it been four years already? That's insane. My days have been filled with reading novels (I rejoice in the times where I can read something other than textbooks and study notes) and knitting up a storm.

{some recent projects}

{I love a good knit bow}

{Just a little iPhone cozy}

That's just a little update of my life the last few weeks.
Now to what I really wanted to say.

       Last year I wrote a post entitled Dating Jesus, about my New Year's resolution to spend 2012 devoted to learning more about our Heavenly Father. And what a year it was! God is amazing, and I truly believe that in making my vow to draw closer to Him this year He has enriched my perspective. My learning process was somewhat summed up into a post I published a couple weeks ago, disregarded emails in which I spoke about a few of God's characteristics that He has showed me over and over again this past year. There are countless terms that we can use to learn more about our Father as He is bountiful in attributes. I was looking back at a post I wrote in March 2012 called 3 Month Check-In where I wrote down some more of these traits.

God is patient (2 Peter 3:9). It must be frustrating for Him to watch His creations make mistakes and screw up constantly.  Yet, He sticks with us.

God is enough (2 Corinthians 12:9). Through all the storms and trials we may face, if we cling to the rock that sustains us, He will carry us through. "My grace is sufficient for you"

God is supreme (Colossians 1:17). He holds all things together. Need I say more?

So there it is, a year in review. 

2012 was a year of spiritual growth for me...which makes me wonder...what will 2013 bring?
I can't wait to find out.

Blessings friends,