Through the Bible in 90 Days Challenge: Day 1!

I am very excited to begin a new journey to read the Bible in 90 days. It is a commitment I am making over the course of the summer to commit to reading God’s word. My prayers is that I learn what I have never learned before and that who God is becomes that much more real to me. I want to learn as much as I can. As a result of my journey, I will be blogging about what I get from the reading each day. I would encourage anyone to join in with me. If you’d like to let me know! I ideally would like to blog everyday, but when that isn’t possible, I will still be reading and will catch up the blog as I can.

Day 1: Genesis 1:1-Genesis 16:16

CH 1: As I read the account of creation, I can’t help but marvel at our amazing creator. The intricacy of his design is enough to point men to a savior. I love that when he talked about creating the animals and other things he said to create an “abundance”. You can see Him as a master creator with a vision for His creation. When he begins to talk about creating man and making him in His image, I can almost hear the excitement and love in His voice. Charles Stanley’s study Bible points out a life principle during this passage,

“Our intimacy with God – His highest priority for our lives – determines the impact of our lives.”

How true this is! His desire for intimacy with his most prized creation is clearly seen in this account of creation found in Genesis. It is essential that we deepen that intimacy more and more. Our impact in this lifetime for the kingdom is directly correlated to the level of intimacy we have with God.

CH 2: How awesome is our creator that he knows our ever need and deepest desire. He saw Adam’s need for his missing piece. The relationship God forms in this chapter between man and woman is a beautiful thing. The account of God taking Adam’s rib reminds me of a quote the pastor said during my best friend’s wedding ceremony, “God did not choose a piece of Adam’s head, so that woman would be over him; nor did He select a piece from Adam’s foot, so that he would step on her. Rather, our loving Creator chose man’s rib, so that woman was taken from his side–to be his equal…from under his arm–to be protected by him…and from near his heart–to be loved by him.”

CH 3: One thing that caught my eye in this chapter is that the end is the first time we see “woman” given a name when Adam names her eve. This deception by Satan shows his very nature. He looks for our weakest moments (Eve was alone) and uses our deep desires (Adam and Eve sought knowledge and perfection) and uses them to draw us into sin. I see Eve’s reaction when God finds out about her sin to be much like many of our own’s. She automatically blamed someone else. Isn’t is so easy to say “The Devil made me do it.” rather than dealing with the issues at hand and our own failures before God.

CH 4: I have heard the story of Cain murdering Abel my whole life, growing up in Sunday school. It is so easy to say how awful and unfathomable his actions are, but when I stop to think, I am reminded that without daily walking with God and resting in his grace, I could quickly find myself doing things I never thought I would do. My sins are no worse in the eye’s of God than Cain’s were.

CH 5: I used to think geneologies of who begat who were beyond boring; but when I take time to look at it and really pay attention, there are many things to learn from it. Here we see the family lineage of Adam, which includes Noah himself, future boat enthusiast

CH 6: My favorite quote in this chapter, “Noah walked with God.” If God were to have written about us in his word, could that quote apply to our lives? Would our name be able to be placed where Noah’s is and the word of God remain truth? Now that is something to strive for!

CH 7: Fact, it wasn’t two of every animal that went into the ark. 7 of every clean animal, and 2 of every unclean animal. However, they did enter two by two How excruciating must it have been for a Creator to destroy is beloved creation. How gut-wrenching must it have been for God to look down and only see “wickedness continually” What do you think God is thinking as he looks down at us now, during our generation?

CH 8: I love this beautiful picture of God taking care of those who serve Him. In the midst of a world in chaos, God hand delivered his faithful people. How encouraging!

CH 11: In these geneologies, I learned that Abraham and Lot were descendants from the lineage of Shem, Noah son.

CH 13: What I find interesting about Lot’s decision of which way he wants to take his herd is that it was based solely on aritficial appeal. He did not seek counsel, but rather made a decision on the plains of Jordan because they looked good. Looks can be deceiving though, as we will later see that Sodom and Gommorah, home of so much wickedness and evil, was a part of the land Lot chose.

CH 15: I love what God says to Abram at the beginning of this chapter, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” Those words are wonderful to me, and much needed at this moment!

CH 16: Sarai’s actions in this chapter show a tendency I feel many of us struggle with from time to time. She got to impatient to wait for God to complete His work in her, unfolding his perfect plan in His own time. Rather, she decided to take matters into her own hands, not trusting God to take care of things for her. Many problems start from this choice. I do it so often, I forget that there is a sovereign savior in control of every aspect of my life. There is not need to worry about tomorrow or try to work it out myself, God is already there and has everything set just the way he intends it to go if I will just follow Him and trust.

Wow, day 1 of this challenge was incredibly. I have a heavy heart about a situation, and there is nothing more encouraging than digging into God’s word and reading stories of provision and promise of God to those who trust in him. What a blessing.

Slow Down to Speed Up

Wow. . . its been a while since I posted. Life is so beyond nonstop and I find it hard to get a spare minute for anything these days. Its funny how quickly life moves, it seems like just yesterday I began dating my boyfriend and next week will make half a year. The best half a year I could ever wish for.

I get to these times in life where I am so flipping excited about the future and all of the things I truly believe my future holds that I can hardly wait for it to get here. At the same time though, I am so in love with my life and I love this season of life too. Its this strange back and forth. Time passes so quickly, more quickly than we realize or really even wish it too. We turn around and wonder where the time has gone. How did I let it get this long since I've called that friend or visited that family member. When was the last time I just stopped? let the hussle and bussle of life just fall away?

We get so wrapped up in life that i passes us by. I want so much to live this part of my life to its fullest because I am a truly blessed person. At the same time, when I look at me future, the people and the things that make my future, I am so incredibly happy and blessed and some days I wish I could fast forward.

I guess what I am saying is no matter how bad some days or weeks are, I have a wonderful life full of wonderful people and I am blessed and happy.

Eye Opening. . . . .

If you start reading this, please finish it. . . 

So, here's the thing. In light of recent conversations I have realized that as much as I was aware of the way people perceive weight and the way that affects relationships and getting noticed by the opposite sex, I really had no clue the severity of it. 

I guess it's because to me it doesn't matter. They way a person treats me and the heart they have are what matters. You can say I'm a liar if you want. You can say that it's not possible to really not care about looks but I know the truth. and it doesn't matter!

To hear the way guys think explained by a guy was shocking to me. It like how in the world is a woman supposed to be comfortable with who she is when she constantly has to worry about that. I am the girl who has struggled with it. I'm the girl who changes outfits about four times every day before she leaves because I think I look terrible. I'm the girl who always has her arms crossed trying to hide. On some days, Im the girl who overanalyzes everything she puts in her mouth because I am terrified of gaining weight. Literally, not a day goes by that I don't worry about it. I try to be rational and say it doesn't matter, but from the things I've heard in the past few days, it so obviously does matter. 

It makes me so angry because there are girls who have it even worse. Girls who hurt themselves because of it. I fought against those things and thankfully am able to keep myself from doing that. But the constant insecurities have the power to wear anybody down. 

I did not write this blog so I get 500 text message and 20 phone calls of friends yelling at me and telling me I'm fine the way I am . In fact, if you read this please don't talk to me about it. These are personal thoughts I am venting out. 

However, I am writing this as a challenge. If you tell yourself that it's only natural to judge others on their outward appearance, if you use the copout that you are a guy and your mind just works that way, give it up. Choose to be better than that. I don't believe that people have to be that way. I don't believe that all the hurting and insecure girls out there have to feel these things so determine to be different. Be the change. 

I am tired of the media and society telling girls that if they aren't a certain size or weight they aren't beautiful or they aren't normal or they don't deserve and won't get a boyfriend. That is pathetic and I don't buy it. 

I don't care if you are a size 2 or a size 20, you're beautiful as far as I'm concerned. . . . .

I am so frustrated about this topic so if anyone has insights i'd love to chat about it, just not anything about me personal that I may have shared in this blog post. 

Your Everything :)

I found this beautiful song the other day and thought I'd share. 

Enjoy. . . . 

The first time I looked in your eyes I knew That I would do anything for you The first time you touched my face I felt What I'd never felt with anyone else.  I wanna give back what you've given to me And I wanna witness all of your dreams Now that you've shown me who I really am I wanna be more than just your man.  I wanna be the wind that fills your sails Be the hand that lifts your veil Be the moon that moves your tides The sun comin' up in your eyes Be the wheel that never rusts Be the spark that lights you up All that you've been dreamin' of and more So much more I wanna be your everything.  When you wake up I'll be the first thing you see and when it gets dark you can reach out to me I'll cherish your words and I'll finish your thoughts I'll be your compass baby, when you get lost.  I wanna be the wind that fills your sails Be the hand that lifts your veil Be the moon that moves your tides The sun comin' up in your eyes Be the wheel that never rusts Be the spark that lights you up All that you've been dreamin' of and more So much more I wanna be your everything.  --- Instrumental ---  Be the wheel that never rusts Be the spark that lights you up All that you've been dreamin' of and more So much more I wanna be your everything.  I wanna be your everything.  I wanna be your everything...

Always Coming Up Short. . . way short.

There is something funny about life. The way we try so hard to be everything for everybody. The way we try to be the best at everything we try to do. The sad thing is that isn't possible. We'll always come up short. We will fail, many times most likely. 

I was sadly reminded today what it feels like to not be good enough. Its not enough anymore to do something because you love it or because its fun. If you aren't the best at it then whats the point. At least thats most people's view. I get so frustrated with all the pressure to succeed and to meet people's expectations. I'll never be perfect. I don't want to be perfect. I just want to be surrounded be people who love me for me, imperfections and all. Because imperfections make us who we are. Our failures are what teaches us how to succeed in the future. 

I want to be able to do things for me, like sing at the top of my lungs and not care who hears, but I don't think thats possible. The experiences of our past and the people that have told us we aren't good enough will always be in our memory telling us we can't.  

I guess thats just life. 

Updates on my life. . .

Well, 

It has been a very long time since I have blogged. Its funny, i had forgotten I even had this thing until my sneaky boyfriend got bored at work and found it. Who knows what kind of interesting things he found in some of my older post. lol. 

Well, alot has happened and changed for me in the past months. There have been some really hard learning experiences and just some really great moments. Overall, life is wonderful and I can't complain. 

My friends are truly amazing. I know everyone thinks they have the best friends in the world but I am pretty sure mine actually are the best ever :) I have the privilege of living with my best friend. We have seen each other through so much in the past months and I am just so blessed to have her. She is truly my sister and I can't wait to be those women walking through the mall with their strollers side by side. haha we decided our kids will be best friends. I have so many other wonderful friends as well and I just have had such a great time in the past few months and summer has just begun. So thank you to you guys for making my life so worth it. Every day is new and fun and exciting. 

As for my family, we are the same old Bristols. We'll never be perfect but I feel like we are in a good place. The transition of leaving the nest was a hard one to make and relationships were definitely tested but all in all we have come to a peaceful place. I cannot wait for our family cruise to the Bahamas one week from today!!!  I just want to take a little moment to say how much I love my grandfather. I have found it sooo hard to give him all the time he wants with me. I do my very best and at times I feel like I fail him but its hard with my busy schedule. Its amazing to me how I can be in the worst situation, life can be crazy, i can feel completely hopeless but walking through his door brings me home to comfort, protection, and love. He is the reason I am who I am and I have made it to where I am. He's truly my rock.

Lets see what else is new. . . .

I am so excited to be an official UCF knight. Its all so exciting. Nervewracking, definitely, but amazing thus far. Also, I am very thankful for an awesome boyfriend who just gives me a reason to smile pretty much all the time :)

Well, now that I have been reminded of my blog I feel addicted again. I will definitely be updating this all the time :)

Thoughts from the Road.

Well, i spent a very long time in the car riding to Tennessee. It gives a person a long time to think. In my case, thats not always good. I have a lot of things on my heart and mind lately. They are burdens I know only the Lord can help me handle, but I am also at a very happy time in my life. I am thoroughly enjoying my new place and newfound freedom and responsibility. However, I do think it is funny that as soon as I don't have to ask to do things, I have spent everynight holed up in my apartment with loads of homework. Oh well, such is life. 

I am about to leave the hotel to attend my beautiful and amazing Aunt Fawn's viewing and then tomorrow is the the funeral. This is going to be harder than I want to realize and I would very much appreciate prayers for my family, especially my Uncle Ralph. I suspect the services, as they always do, will make me think alot about life and its value, about making the time I have count. I am sure it will inspire another blog. 

I am off. . . I will blog again soon. After all, there is nothing else to do, stuck in this hotel room. 

like the new Rascal Flatts song. . . i guess, Here Comes Goodbye. :(