march 2023: what GOD is teaching me

Hey everyone.... soooo this month might be my favorite one so far !!!!! GOD is so faithful and so so good--- He has been moving and growing and teaching-- I am so excited to reflect on HIS teachings this month! You were prayed for friend, who is reading this. May God encourage you and you find JOY in HIM!!

SO MANY THINGS- THANK YOU LORD!

first off, there are some simple truth I wanted to write. one night this month I was typing out the words GOD has spoken to me all jumbled into a paragraph. I'm going to share that and some i will share a little more on. Sometimes God might be teaching us several things, not just one main thing and thats okay too :) It might not make a whole lot of sense, but i hope by sharing this in reflection, God will remind me of the tears, fear, decisions, and lessons surrounding these truths from HIM. amen!

---Christ died our death so we can live His life. learning to love + support + celebrate life with others, even in the places where my heart hurts. God is love-- in 1 corinthians 13, reminds me that love is patient and kind, it doesn't envy. we should bring everything to the Lord. God desires obedience, repentance, and surrender. i should praise the Lord for where I am right now, I am exactly where He desires for me to be--- even if my desire is someplace else. his word tells me to delight in the Lord and He will give me the desires of my heart. not what i want. i first must delight in the Lord. as i delight in Him, He will shift and mold me into who He wants me to be, then my desires will align with His + He will give them to me, because they're what He already has planned. sharing the Gospel is very important + what my goal in life is. the great commision tells me to go. God will fulfill His purpose for my life- to bring Glory to God. i am not powerful enough to ruin His plan. my God is the way, the TRUTH, and the life-- i can see Him, He is the truth. i desire to seek Jesus and be very near to Him because I love Him and my hear wants to serve Him so badly. I want to do my best to love others and point them to Jesus. teach me and discipline me to draw near to you. i cannot pour from an empty cup, please fill my cup father, so can overflow. you have my life in control. i can trust you. you've always been so faithful and good. may i reach the point to look and see God's hindsight's of faithfulness. running and prayer walks are good for the body + soul. more than my outward appearance, God cares about the spiritual condition of my heart (1 samuel) God's word is fun to read. the stories of the Bible are amazing. God is never early or late, but exactly right on time! God is faithful in answering prayers. He is so good to us, even in the sweet blessings poured out from His kind heart, that He does not have to give. we can ask God to search our hearts + see if there is any offensive way in us + for His help to fix those parts that don't honor him. a man plans his ways, but the Lord directs our steps. Our Lord is awesome.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." 1 Corinthians 13: 4-5

sometimes things do not go the way that we wish, pray, hope, or desire for them to go. why is that? well its simply resting in the promise + fact that we know that God's plans for our lives are better for us than the ones we could come up with. I really struggled and still do often with this, but there was a period this month where I began to really allow the enemy to steal my joy through comparison of other's seasons. I felt discontent, sad, and even worse, jealous-- which is not a pretty color on anyone. I noticed these feelings in my heart and had to ask God to help me. I want to celebrate and encourage others, even if I felt they were living out what I desired to have. I want to be the kind friend, the content friend, the joyful, and loving friend. but inwardly and sometimes outwardly, i battle these emotions. If its God's plan, one day I might get to live out those things. It seems like a big cycle: someone may desire what i have in my life and season, while i may want what someone else has who is in a different season than me, and same for her. we must break this cycle of discontentment and i must learn to be content exactly where my sweet Lord has me :) God reminded me of the scripture above. Love does not envy. I needed God to help change my heart from this!

"Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

Psalm 37:4 --someone (I don't remember exactly where I saw/read it lol) but they shared a nugget of truth about this verse that God has not let me forget it. this verse tells us to first delight ourselves in the Lord. to delight means to find great pleasure, joy, satisfaction. His promise tells us to delight in HIM, and He will give us the desires of our heart. If we are delighting in the Lord, He will set and change our heart to be more like His and therefore give us the desires of "our" heart, because it will be truly of HIS!

Runs + Prayer Walks

This month God has completely grown my love and given me a joy for running. It is a special time with Him, to get my body moving, and to honor the Lord with exercise. Its a thing He is still teaching me today and I am enjoying it. He shows me when I call to Him and need strength to keep going, He is always there to help me. Even in running, God can push me to keep going. There have been days when i tried to set a goal and God helped me reach it. "I can do all things, THROUGH Christ who strengthens me" -Philippians 4:13 -- "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever" Psalm 73:26

Dnow- answered prayer

this month i was honored to be apart of a dnow with some of my sweet friends from mississippi. i got the blessing to lead the middle school girls along with my new sweet friend gracie. it was such a blessing how God taught me so many things through leading that dnow. in another blog i will share what all the Lord revealed to me-- but here in the monthly recap, i just want to say how faithful and king God is. A desire of my heart is to serve the Lord, and I've ALWAYS wanted to do so as a dnow leader, but because of my age, i have not been able too yet. And so kindly I was asked to and I praise the Lord for that. Such a wonderful time.

God is so faithful to us. in the hard times, in the good times, in the dry times, in the times where were dancing in the rain.... He always is working things out and working things together for HIS Purpose. What a Love. thank you lord for another month of your goodness. I love you all so much! and most importantly, Jesus LOVES you more friend!