Brave

Hi ya'll!

I never say "ya'll"... but today is a new day!

Anyway, I wanted to talk about being brave.
Personally, I can be a big chicken sometimes. 

BUT, 
I'm sick of being a wimp. 

I want to be brave. 
And we all can, if we really want to. 

Something that reminded me of being brave is the story of Esther. 
She was an orphaned Jew that was chosen to be queen of Persia. 

At first, she didn't know why she was chosen,
but she trusted in God nevertheless.

Later, it was shown that she could be used to be the voice of the Jews and save them all,

if she was brave enough, and if she trusted in God.

And she did.
God used her to accomplish his plans. 

It's amazing, really. 

I hope that one day, I will be as brave and courageous as Esther,
AND be used as God's helper in whatever I do. 


You can read the book of Esther here if you'd like: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther+1&version=KJV

OR if you prefer movies, I love this version of the story of Esther (I watched it today actually :P)
One Night With the King (2006) directed by  Michael O. Sajbel

Maybe it'll inspire you too :)

Blessings

Sometimes, I get discouraged. 

And when I get discouraged about one thing, 

it's kind of a domino effect with the rest of my insecurites. 

I've been trying to look past my little trifles and persevere with God's help. 

I have to remember how much Jesus Christ loves us all.
He loves us so much that He died for each of us. 
He knows all of our names.
He even knows how many hairs we have on each of our little heads.
(Matthew 10:30)


I have to remember that he knows what He's doing. 

With that in mind,
Maybe our trials and struggles are meant for our own benefit in order to get stronger. 
Let's think of them as opportunities for growth. 
When it seems like your struggles are making you overwhelmed,

have more faith in God, and keep moving forward. 

It's funny, 
I feel like when I get discouraged, 
God gives me a nudge of encouragement to keep going. 
Like today, actually. 
I've been feeling down so I decided to turn on the radio on Pandora. 
The first song was "Blessings" by Laura Story. It was a perfect reminder of how our struggles can actually be blessings. 

We all sin.
I have to remind myself that it's okay not to be perfect. 

We're not alone, though.
God is always there,
like a loving father, 
encouraging us always.

We just have to listen. 

God Made Butterflies

I believe that God made butterflies in order for us to understand life in a deeper way. 

Now you might be thinking, 

how in the world can I learn something deep from a butterfly?

Well folks, you can, indeed. 

I heard a story recently and would like to share it with you all:
Once, there was a farmer.
The farmer noticed a butterfly trying to free itself from its cocoon.
For hours the butterfly tried and still could not get out. 
The farmer felt bad for the butterfly so he opened up the cocoon to help,
But once the butterfly got out, it fell and died because it wasn't strong enough to fly yet.

The struggle to get out of the cocoon strengthens butterflies order to fly. 

If the farmer let the butterfly struggle a little bit longer, 
it could have flied on its own...



I am a lazy person. 
I don't like to struggle.

But I have to remind myself that with no struggle,
there's no reward. 

So cheer up, my friends. 
And keep struggling, 
Because if we all keep trying, one day we'll all be free from our cocoons, become butterflies and fly.

 

Cinnamon Roll

Well folks, sorry about not posting in a while, 

but have no fear!

Observant Girl is here!

...that sounded better in my head, but let's focus!


My loverly sister made some cinnamon rolls the other day (I had five in three days). 

They were DEE-licious. 


Now when I eat cinnamon rolls, I love to unwrap it and eventually get to the middle (the best part in my opinion). 

But my brother just likes to eat it by biting into it. 

Now stay with me, there's a point to this. 


I realized that much like having different ways of eating a cinnamon roll, there are different solutions to problems in life. 

Sometimes in frustrates me when people won't do something my way, but in the end, the job gets done anyway.

So what I've realized is that you can't get frustrated when someone does things different than you.

It's just their way of doing it. 

And that's what I learned from a cinnamon roll.

Dessert is deeper than you think. 
 

Bloglovin'

You can find me on Bloglovin'! Enjoy :)

http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13087519

Overcoming

Sometimes in life, 

you get bumps in the road.

And you have to decide whether or not you want to stop your laziness. 

When you decide to stop your laziness (hopefully), you have to put some effort in jumping over those bumps. 

Today, I was thinking that sometimes there are tiny bumps in our lives that we can jump over easily, 
but those aren't the bumps that have the potential to get our legs stronger by jumping over them.

Still with me?

You see, I'm talking about those big bumps. 

The ones where you have to muster up all your courage and faith and stand up to that obstacle. 

Show 'em who's boss!

Be courageous!

Jump over that bump with some faith!

And you'll conquer that obstacle. 

Let's reflect: 

Do you think you got stronger by jumping over the small bump or by jumping over the big one?

I think we both know the answer. 

It's hard, but have faith. 

"All things are possible through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

Perspective

In my art class,

my teacher puts an object like a vase or a skull or anything really to draw,

and everyone sits around it with our large sketch pads and charcoal pencils.

And we draw. 

But eventually as we see different people's drawings,

they are all a little bit altered from the one you looked at beforehand. 


And it made me see something deeper in this: 

We all look at life in a different way,

but sometimes we get self-centered and only view situations in our perspective, 

but if we just walk a couple steps, sit where the person next to you was sitting, and "put yourself in their shoes," you can see a whole new perspective to where they're coming from and have more understanding for that person's situation.

And with that, we will hopefully judge less and be more loving towards everybody overall.


Now this is either genius or just a bunch of baloney. 

What do you think?