Now Rejoice: In L's Words

Today I am so excited that that you are getting to know L. We knew each other before Influence but now are real life friends. I am so thankful for her friendship. Enjoy getting to know her & hearing her heart today.

Ladies,

I can’t even begin to tell you how honored I feel to be able to share with you here on Brit’s blog. I just love her heart and the way she cares so much about all of you guys.

Who is this girl who has taken over....sorry I should introduce myself, well my name is L and I blog at All Glorious Within. I share things the Lord is teaching me in the hope of encouraging others who might be in similar situations or learning similar things. I love the community here in the blog world and really love the idea of accountability/sisterhood where ladies feel encouraged and inspired to live their lives set apart for Jesus seeking to honor Him with every area of life. I am currently doing a 31 days series on thankfulness, which has been so much more mind blowing than I ever thought imaginable. God has been so good in teaching me some seriously awesome things through a simple idea. Check it out here.

So grab a coffee and sit with me as I share a little more with you guys.....

Many years ago, I sat in the pew of the church shaking a little as I listened to my summer camp group leader talk about what it meant to love Jesus. What it meant to become a ‘christian.’ I read through the little booklet in my hand and wondered what there was to question as I understood the bullet points it had.

•           I believed that I had done bad things in my life
•          I believed that God was perfect
•           I Believed Jesus had died on the cross for me to restore relationship with God as I had done these bad things
•           I wanted my life to change, to live my life for Jesus instead of me

I told my leader I wanted to pray the prayer that followed as I understood and wanted to make the commitment. I tried to make it not a big deal, but I sensed there was something big happening. She prayed with me and together we signed a date. 

I was only six years old at the time.

I was so fortunate to have grown up in a Christian home. I had two parents who introduced me to Jesus, took me to church and youth group. They were pretty strict about the upbringing of me and my sister and showed us we were loved. I never doubted the existence of God as a child, He was real to me. Looking back, I believe that I really did understand all those bullet points in the little booklet at six years old. But I still did not understand that last one. I signed that booklet and yet continued on as though everything was the same.

It wasn't until I was thirteen and realising how much I had tried to live life in junior high for my friends and for the acceptance of those around me, that I truly started to understand the concept of living for Jesus. 

That daily choice of choosing to do something to show His love to someone, instead of doing something because it makes me look good.

So one night during worship at youth group in a new city, with new people all around me, in a new place...this realisation came to me and I signed a commitment to rededicate my life to Christ. 

To Live for Him this time instead of me. 

At first it was effort to worry less about what people thought, to walk down the halls of my school and realize that as long as I was following Jesus, I probably would not be popular here. 

And over time that became ok. 

The Lord gave me an incredible sense of His love and peace. He brought friends into my life who shared my love for Him, friends who encouraged me and challenged me to grow in my walk with Him. Not many of these in my school setting.

Finally after a relationship with a guy that I desperately wanted to happen didn't work out towards the end of high school, I began to truly fall in love with Jesus. I began to no longer see him as just a good friend or a father figure to rely and depend on. I began to see Him as my first love. I made a commitment in college to read through the entire Bible, and His word came alive to me during those days as I read about his faithfulness in the Old Testament and his love through the sacrifice of His son in the New Testament. Graciously I even read through the book of Numbers and came away in awe of God and His character. If you've ever read that book, you’ll see how that must have been a God thing. 

The more I read about Him, the more I understood who He was. He became an incredible constant in my life, a foundation for my understanding of love. Even though once again I was surrounded by people who didn't know Him and didn't love Him, the Lord provided several people to encourage me, to challenge me....often these sweet friends were in a different geographical location to me. 

To this day, I am thankful for that challenging situation where a relationship with a guy I truly wanted, didn't work out. (At least not in my timing)

Because God had bigger plans, plans to show me how much He loved me first. Living life for Him is hard, but we don’t have to do it alone.

So friends, if I could encourage you in any way today. I would want you to know that no matter what situation you find yourself in, there is a person waiting to comfort you. He knows you and loves you so much! (see what he thinks of you)

Run into His arms and begin to fall in love. You won’t ever regret that decision.

Much Love,

L

A Sunday Social

Today I am guest blogging on Danette's blog, All of My Love for All of My days.

If you are not familiar with her you MUST head over & read her blog. Also follow her on twitter. She is just the sweetest person & if you are looking for a blog to sponsor hers is one of the best. Also, today I thought it would be fun to join in for,  Sunday Social Link-up.

1. What is currently on your wish list?

a kitchen aid & a hutch for our kitchen. something kinda like this.

2. Share a new iphone, droid, ipad app you have recently discovered that we all need.

I just found one called, Over. You can write text over your photos & well that is super fun. 

 Obviously I love Instagram. 

3. What is a new Fall TV show you have added to your DVR?

Um, we love Parenthood & the Voice. 

Other than that I watch Friends all the stinking time. I DVR it & watch the episodes over & over again.

Ha. I have issues.

4. Share your Social Media links for us to follow you on (pinterest, twitter, facebook, etc) Tell us which is your favorite and why.

Facebook - Instagram - Twitter - Pinterest 

5. What is a TV series or Movie or Song you could listen to or watch over and over and over and never get tired of?

Click here to hear the song I have on repeat lately. I love Michael Kiwanuka's voice! I'm also loving this incredible band I just discovered last week called Monsters Calling Home. Check them out!!

Movie? I can watch PS I love you over & over as well as a little movie called, Music from another room.

Linking up with Sunday Social

Happy Sunday!

~Brit

Meet my Sister!

Today I am excited to introduce my sister, Jen, to you! She has the sweetest little family & I'm very thankful for her! 

Hi there friends of The Happy Times, my name is Jen and I ramble to a handful of friends and family over at honestly every so often. I have been married to my sweet husband for 5 and half years. We have a 2.5 year old little girl named Abbey and an almost 8 month old baby boy named Tucker. I spend my days taking care of the little people and learning of my need for Jesus more and more. 

I'm also Brittany’s older sister so it’s extra fun that she’s asked me to be a guest blogger while on their mission trip to Haiti. Plus, “guest blogger” feels pretty fancy for someone that doesn’t necessarily consider themselves a “blogger”. 

I’ll be honest; I never really gave much thought to how I’d be at domestic things as a wife. I think I just assumed I’d be pretty decent at it. Over the past five years of marriage I have learned many, many things about myself and one of them is that I’m probably not as concerned about things being neat and tidy as I always thought I was. A few months ago I was visiting my parents for a few days when I began to realize just how many things I do differently than my mother around the house. Maybe it's a personality thing, maybe it's generational or maybe I'm just lazy :)

• I do not separate laundry. This came up when my mom was folding laundry and made sure to reassure me that she did in fact wash the underwear and the towels she was folding in 2 separate loads. You know, so I wouldn't freak out over the thought of the two mixing in the wash. Um, I don't separate underwear and bath towels. In fact, the only sorting of laundry I do at all is to ensure that clothing and underwear are not mixed with any kitchen towels. Occasionally if I am washing a bright colored item for the first time I will be careful with what I throw in along with it.
• I stack towels on the floor while I fold them. Evidently this is quite controversial. I don't have a laundry room or any other place to stack clothes while folding. Plus, I like to use it as down time to watch t.v....so the floor works. 
• I use sponges and not dishrags to clean dishes. I know, sponges trap germs but dishrags get gross so fast and I can't be washing 4 loads a week! I microwave the sponges and switch them out often. Nonetheless, I know this fact makes my mother cringe. 
• 99% of the time I vacuum my hard surface floors instead of sweeping them.  It's just easier.
• There is no such thing as non-dishwasher safe kitchenware. Now, if we are to ever obtain kitchenware of any real value I am sure I will change this. Right now, everything we have is super cheap and I can't say I'm too worried about the damage my dishwasher may be doing to it.
• I put almost all my "dry clean/hand wash" only clothes in the washing machine. Does this really need an explanation? 
• I make my bed about 3x a week not every day.  This has definitely been one of things that has come as a result of having children. I used to make my bed every morning. It only takes a couple of minutes after all. Now, I typically don't wake up until I absolutely have to and have just enough time to visit the bathroom and brush my teeth before going to rescue my kids from their rooms. 

So there it is. My confession of laziness. Feel free to bring your disinfectant and clean towels when you come to visit if it makes you feel better :)

But, just so you don’t you get the idea that I'm all carefree and laid back about everyday things, I will confess to a few things that I kind of obsess over.

• Dirty dishes in the sink. This makes me CRAZY. The dishwasher in our house has been broken since we moved in a few months ago and we have no plans of getting it fixed any time soon. SO, I wash dishes all.day.long. I absolutely cannot stand to wake up to dirty dishes in the sink. It stresses me out. I wish I could let this go.
• The shower curtain should be closed at all times. Really, it doesn’t need to be open so the shower can dry or to hang a towel over the rod to dry. Just close the shower curtain. I do not want to look at the inside of the tub. 
• On that note, I have to rinse the shower out before I can get in it. This really just means I run the water a little before hand and move the nozzle around so I can make sure the tub is cleaned out before I get in.
• Toys. Oh toys, how I wish we could make it through life without you but you do serve a purpose unfortunately. It really bothers me when the toys are all mixed up with parts that don’t go together. We have bins for the toys that live in our living room. I can’t handle seeing puzzle pieces mixed in with baby doll accessories. It just isn’t right.

So there you go. 

Anyone else feel like sharing their non-mom approved habits? Or the little things that you just can’t stop obsessing over?

•