87 Days Until Happily Ever After!

It is now officially less than 100 days until our wedding!!! 87 to be exact :) We are so in love and so thrilled with all that God is doing in our lives. Things are quite busy with us attempting to balance school responsibilities, dance/track, campus ministry, my practicum, preparing for a wedding and marriage, and the job search. Essentially, we are preparing for three major life changing events and they are all happen in the same month - graduation, getting married, and moving to where God calls us into ministry. God has truly blessed us in each of these areas and we are so thankful to Him for His goodness and faithfulness!

In between the craziness of our lives, Alex and I also are enjoying the amazing blessing of being engaged! I love him so very much and just have to share about what amazing man he is (be prepared for a sappy post)! There is such peace and joy in being in love with my best friend. He is so supportive in all that I am doing, loves me for who I am, makes me laugh, listens to me, and cares for me. He takes his role as my future provider and protector seriously. He strongly desires to seek and serve the Lord with his whole heart and life. I am so proud of the man he is and so thankful to call him mine. He has most certainly been worth the wait :)

Our beautiful engagement pictures by Kris Johnson

Lessons to be Learned

Lesson 1:
Every New Year I get in this cleaning/organizing craze! I get rid of the useless things I've accumulated and organize the things worth keeping. Sometimes, God needs to do this in our hearts. At the beginning of each semester, our school has Spiritual Emphasis week which consists of extra chapels in the evenings. At one of those evening services, I allowed God to clear out the clutter of my heart. I had been been feeling overwhelmed with fears, insecurities, and feelings of failure. I wrote down (a rather long list) of each of those messy, unwanted, useless feelings and allowed God to speak His truth into my heart. I asked the Lord to do His cleansing work, to throw out the junk until my heart was like an empty, clean room. I then asked Him to fill that room in my heart with the things of Him. God's pretty awesome at "housekeeping"our hearts!

Lesson 2:
I find it interesting that one of the first words we learn as children is "no" and yet it is one of the hardest words for me to use as an adult. God has been teaching me lately that there are many awesome opportunities in this life, however, sometimes it is healthier to say "no" to something (even when it is very good), than to clutter our lives with so many things that we can't even do anything well! Simple lesson; hard to practice. I'm working on it though...this week I said "no"...to one thing, but hey, I said "no" :)

Lesson 3:
Let's just say, I've been a little overwhelmed lately. Overwhelmed with those messy, unwanted feelings (mentioned above), overwhelmed with the wonderful, but many, responsibilities/opportunities I have, and overwhelmed with the effects its had on me. Admittedly, it took a bit of some health issues for me to realize the stress I was putting myself through. I'm in recovery from the stress and praying through how to deal with it all. The writer of Psalms 28:6-7 puts it well " Praise the Lord! For He has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust Him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of Thanksgiving." I certainly need His mercy and peace, but more than that, I'm recognizing the need for His JOY. It's so easy to get bogged down with the clutter, the busyness, and the stress of life that we focus on those things instead of focusing on the joy He gives us as we allow Him to walk with us through life.

Truth be Told:
Just so you know, these lessons are in the process of being learned; I don't have it all figured out. However, I'm so very thankful God cares enough to be my Teacher. I pray you have a blessed day and know the peace of walking in His joy!