always love

Hey guys! So I've been a bit missing in action lately, I haven't written a post in weeks! God has recently blessed me with an amazing new job at a bakery and school just let out. Hopefully now I can fall into a little bit more of a routine and keep this more up to date :)

Anyway, I just wanted to share something that was on my heart tonight.

love.

There's so many different definitions of love out there, everyone seems to have their own little spins or ways that they think love should be. Love is getting lost in someone's eyes. Love is those butterflies in your stomach when you see them around. Love is ...

I grew up and to this day still am a romantic dreamer. I will pick the romance out of a movie and immediately follow only those two characters for the rest of the plot. I can still (with much embarrassment) tell you the name of every boy I had a crush on or thought I was in love with at some point in time. Some might call me a hopeless romantic.

So I've probably read 1 Corinthians 13 like... a thousand a million times.

And I'm pretty sure every time I read it God shows me something new.

Today I got in a fight with one of my best friends. Fighting is the exact opposite of love. It's no fun, and I always regret it.

So I read 1 Corithians 13... again. (make that a million and one times ;)

And this jumped out at me:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient... It does not insist on its own way... Love never fails."

I only picked a few of those out, but honestly looking bad at the passage it hit me all over again: love is the opposite of selfishness.

No matter what you do, it means nothing without love.

Had I been thinking of my friends well being, I would have loved. I would have spoken in such a way that was full of grace and caring, and most of all humility.

I finish this post today challenging myself to remember what love really means. :))

"There is no greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Selflessly.

the King is glorious

"All you have made will praise You, O LORD; Your saints will extol You." Psalm 150:1

If the voiceless skies can praise Him, how much more could I?

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all or troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share our sufferings you also share in our comfort.

Praising God for His comfort, peace, strength, salvation, patience & joy today. He is near :)

redemption

in You I trust, O my God.
Do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
No one whose hope is in You will ever be put to shame,
but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.
Psalm 25:2-3

Found this in my drafts and it was actually almost complete. Praise God for the words He speaks to our hearts!

This is the second verse of one of my favorite Psalms (or used to be, just cuz almost all of them are pretty much my favorite. ;) It's a cry for direction, mercy, forgiveness, and ultimately a declaration and assurance of the promise we have in God: never alone, never hopeless, and always forgiven. :)

Verse two begins with a placing of trust in the only God David knows can save him. He alone is God, and David recognizes and humbly accepts this.

Verse two ends with a plea for protection, protection from shame and defeat. Two different, yet also similar things depending on how they are defined. I'm going to define shame here, victory is down at the bottom. Keep reading! :)

Shame- 1. feelings of guilt over something done wrong;
2. feelings of embarrassment.

I think David was asking for both when he said "Do not let me be put to shame."

He did want to be embarrassed by a defeat, nor bring slander to the Name of his God. "For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great." v11

He also longed for the forgiveness of sins that would wipe the shame off of his face. I know I can relate. When you finally lay your pride down and admit that you've sinned or hurt someone, one of the things you want most is forgiveness&redemption.

"Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins." (verse 18)

He longed for his sins, all of them, to be taken away. And in Jesus, hallelujah they are. Forever forgotten, never to be brought up again.

Not to mention David figures this out by verse three, as he boldly asserts that NO ONE who trusts in God will ever be put to shame.

The beauty of God's justice and promise of protection is found in the end of verse three, guaranteeing that those who do evil for absolutely no reason, persecute the innocent, they will be put to shame. They will not triumph over us, for Jesus has brought the victory and overcome the world.

What an amazing God we serve. He brings victory over sin, reigns over the world and still loves us all the more!

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? Psalm 8:3-4 <3

life is short, we only get one turn

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. Psalm 39:4

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

Words escape me, but I feel the need to write something. How quickly and easily I can forget the preciousness of life.

A Lafayette senior from my class died just yesterday morning.

Words I never thought I’d say; words that seemed like they belong to some other place. But not here, not now.

Words that have left me in shock.

A family has lost a son, a young adult his future.

The article on lex 18 is here, and a memorial service is being held at Lafayette Sunday at 9:30 pm.

I know a lot of y'all I went to high school with knew Austin more than I did. My heart goes out to you and his family. Please continue to pray, I know I will be doing the same. God is a big God, a healer in these times of heartache.

Let's remember how precious life is before it takes a tragedy to awaken us and open our eyes. You never know how much time you or the people around you have, let’s make every moment count.

Live to love, make a change today.

Addison Road, Don't Wait

God is near <3

MercyMe, The Hurt and The Healer

story behind the song lyrics