I Am All He Says I Am

"Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes." Ephesians 1:4

 

 

Just the other day, my friend Avery and another girl wanted to do a little photo shoot with us girls! So we all meet and headed to our first spot!

 

The first spot, was a little abandoned house next to our new favorite place, The Coffee House! This house is adorable inside and out, and it was a blast taking pictures there! Here is a few pictures:

 

These girls really are my sisters in Christ! I love the fact that I can honestly say, that this summer has been the best summer. Why? Because not only have I grown closer to these awesome girls, but while growing close to them, I have grown significantly closer to God!

 

A favorite verse of mine recently has been 2 Timothy 2:22- " Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." It is like this verse is exactly talking about this group of girls! We are all running towards God with open arms and pure hearts! I would not trade these girls for anything! It has been the best experience being able to share "little nuggets of joy", that we find like on Pinterest, with each other, and share verses that have touched our hearts!

We all have our different personalities and likes, but we for sure all share one thing, we are all hand-made by our precious Father, and we are made Just the way He wants us to be! In all the pictures from the photo shoot, you can kind of see each of our personalities come out- In our smiles, our eyes. It is amazing to capture God's beautiful creation and Avery and Alli Jeffers did such a great job doing that!

God has given each of us our own light to shine, and as we grown closer with each other, we will help build each other up and we will all shine our lights brighter, together!

 

I am working on having a light heart and a happy spirit, and a verse that encourages me while working on this, is 1 Peter 3:4.

"Instead, [your beauty] should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gently and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's eyes."

 

"Don't shine so others can see you. Shine so that through you, others can see Him."

-C.S. Lewis

 





It's the Little Things...

1 Chronicles 16:32-33

" Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!

Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth."

 

I write this post from the beautiful Savannah, Georgia on vacation! The trees are beautiful, the ocean is marvelous and big, and the history is breath-taking!

 

 

My family decided to take an RV on this trip, so I was able to sit in the back and look out a small window as we went down the road. Now some people may see this as no big deal, but it was an awesome experience for me.

Why?

Because I began to see God in the little things.

 

(This pic is mine:)

The first "little thing" that I have recently learned to love, is sitting outside or by a window with a breeze blowing against me, and being able to just take a break and sit there! I first noticed the peace I got from doing this, on my way down here to Savannah! We were leaving our campground (which had NO service) headed out, and we had all the windows open, and I was sitting by an open window. I had looked down to see the texts that I missed from having no service, and I was reading a text from my sweet friend, Avery. She had sent a text to my friends and I about acknowledging God when he appears like the sun and the rain (Hosea 6:3). After reading her text, I looked up/out the window, and I saw the sun shining through the huge trees that reached way up into the sky! Trees were all around, and out of every window, all you saw were these trees! In this moment, I was overcome by a peace that I only feel when God touches my heart by something. I stopped where I was, and opened my Bible and just read, and prayed to God thanking him for that amazing "little thing" that he blessed me with.

(Not mine)

 

My next favorite "little thing" also has to do with trees, it is just taking a walk/hike through nature!

Walks with just me, myself, and God are the best kind! All you can hear are the sounds of the trees moving, animals talking, and your own thoughts. In the middle of nature talking to God is one of the most precious things I love to do with Him! I absolutely love to talk to him, and in the middle of his creation makes it even more wonderful!

 

(Not my picture)

My last one for now, is picking flowers!

My favorite thing to do with the flowers that I pick, is to put them in my Bible! I usually put one in my favorite passage at the time! Recently I have put one in Isaiah 43 for verses 18-19.

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."

Flowers are beautiful to me, not only for their color and brightness, but just a thing I guess, that God and I have, is when I see flowers, I think of "new". When we accept Christ, we become new and even more beautiful in God's eyes. Like the Gungor band sings in Beautiful Things- "You make beautiful things, You make beautiful things out of the dust", we once were dust, but with Christ, bright-shining, happy flowers come out of us!

Do you ever just look at a flower and marvel at how amazing God made them! How intricate they were made, and how its like the color and shape fits it perfectly?

I do!

Don't you think that's how some non-Christians view us as Christians?

They just sit there and watch us. They watch us grow and they see who we become.

 

I know, that when I think about being watched, I present myself in the best way I can! And when God's name is on the line, that makes me want to really show those people who are watching me, that God really loves us, and He wants us all to be his children and to follow him!

 

So, when people see you, do they see God's light and your joy that you have in Him, or do they just see a reflection of the world in you?