selfish prayer.

It came to my attention that when my family and I sit at the dinner table, we pray. However, if we are more relaxed and sit on the couch, we don't pray. Why is this? Shouldn't God be apart of our formal and informal lives; we shouldn't plan a time for God, we should talk to him throughout our day.

I would really hate it if the only time my family and friends talked to me is when they would need a haircut. It would make me feel used and eventually, I would become angry. Do you think it is the same way with God? Do we only talk to him when we need something or feel as if it is the right time and place to talk to him? Praying to God should be a privilege and we should yearn to do it, as Christians we should feel so blessed to know that we have a powerful God that CAN hear us continuously.

I am almost embarrassed to think that I have given up so much time for worldly wants rather than spending a little time with God. It is so selfish of me to pray when a situation comes up that I am uncomfortable with; yet I forget to praise God for my everyday blessings. I am so quick to point out all of the downs and beg for peace; if I trusted him a little more, I would realize that peace is actually within him. God knows our hearts and our minds; our hurts and triumphs.

Praise him first. Thank him often. Joy will come.

Romans 12:12

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer

lose the 'tude.

Bad moods are seriously overrated.

I think that a lot of times we forget how blessed we are to wake up.

To see, to feel, to smell, to love and be loved in return. Pretty sure that is a lot to be thankful for.

Over the past few weeks, I have been able to wake up with a smile. I have felt God with me saying today is good, I've got this. I believe it with my whole heart now. With this new found attitude, it has made everything so much better, my bad moods have gone from daily to very few. 

I thank God for this because without him, I'd be conformed into whatever the world says I should be.

Find the Joy within our God. Find what makes your heart happy.

Don't waste anymore of your time fretting over petty things, that is not why we were created. 

Life is too wonderful to be upset about small things. God created too much good to not notice and be happy about it. Sing a little louder, dance a little bigger, and share your life with others.

worldy things are not forever, relationships are.

embrace that.

Psalms 144:15 Happy the people to whom such blessings fall! Happy the people whose God is the Lord!

people watcher.

I tend to enjoy watching other people, if I know them or not, it intrigues me to see the way people interact with others. I started going to a new church a few months ago and because of this church my life has significantly changed. I no longer consider a church just a building; a church is definetly the people and the hearts of the people that love the Lord. Each Sunday, I have been able to watch believers lives and attitudes towards others and I have seen more love and compassion in this building than I have seen in so long. How refreshing.

There is one woman in particular that I enjoy seeing each week. The way she interacts with others definetly reflects her walk with God, she is caring with every word and genuinly loves other people and more importantly, loves the Lord. We do not really know each other very well, just a few hellos and always exchanging smiles but, she has made a huge impact on my life. Thankyou for being real.

I think that God is a "people watcher" that sees the way we interact with others, kindly or not, he sees. I hope that when he is watching me, I am pleasing to his eyes.

 Kind with my words. Compassionate with my eyes.

Pure with my thoughts.

"For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens" (Job 28:24).

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts.

Pretty sure I am the nut of the family.

They love me anyhow.

I have been blessed to have a wonderful family that loves and supports me through every challenge and victory I go through in life. Without my family, I would be lost because they have given me a Godly foundation in my life.

I've been gone a lot lately and I realize it has taken a toll on communication between my parents and I. A quick "hello, goodbye, I love you" just doesn't really cut it. I take for grant it so often that my parents will always love me and accept me and be there when I need them.

Thankyou momma and daddy for always loving me.

Same thing goes for God. Even if we don't spend hours with him, he is always going to love us. However, imagine how great it would be to have a relationship with him that is as strong as a best friend. We should want to spend time with God. He sure does want to spend time with us.

Revelation 4:11 "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."

sticks and stones.

"Sticks and stones my break my bones but words will never hurt me"

I don't agree with that saying at all and like most things, we use it as a cover up so people cannot pinpoint our weaknesses. Words are such a powerful weapon and we have the choice on how we will affect our peers with our words. Such simple things you say can affect a persons whole outlook of themselves and even the world around them. Words can hinder a relationship with God, family, and friends. However, Words can also lift up, praise and be used to rejoice with each other. We have the choice.

We are so quick to point out flaws and punish mistakes that we overlook the wonderful things going on around us. We have forgotten how to speak with love and compassion, the way the God intends us to speak to one another. Is it really easier to point out a flaw than to say "good job" or "I'm proud of you."? I sure hope that our hearts can start to change so we can see others in a more positive way; thank goodness that God does not point out all of our mistakes. He sees everything we go through yet he still lifts us up and praises us for all the good in our life.

Choose to speak kindly. Choose to speak Godly.

One kind word can make a harmful word dissapear.

“An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.” (Proverbs 12:25)

prayer on paper.

A dear friend of mine and I were talking about writing letters to God, not to really show anyone or to send to anyone, just to sit and write down your praises, worries, and discomfort and "send it" to God. Obviously I write a lot, but I have never put it the way he did, just praying on paper. It is as simple as it sounds and has been very refreshing for me. There is no feeling like you need to impress anyone by praying aloud and using big words to one up the person that prayed before. It is simply to spend a little time with the one who should be our best friend; God.

Thank you friend for being so open and honest throughout our friendship. I admire how strong you are and pray for you daily. You remind me to love the little things in life. Never stop writing. Never stop loving with all your heart. Never stop being you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

"Hi, how are you?"

Working in a salon, I hear that simple phrase over and over again. It is pretty basic and is usually answered with "I'm fine, you?". Our small talk is very generic and I can usually guess what kind of conversation I will have while doing a person's hair before they even sit in my chair.

It makes me a little bit sad that most of the "Salon Talk" I have with my guests has no meaning at all. Usually it is about crazy Arkansas weather or American Idol, every now and then I hear a sad break up story.I sit here and think about my responses, usually I am to the point with simple answers and brief small talk.

I feel like I should make each visit to the salon a time of comfort and peace for my guests. Not a place to gossip or feel as if you have to chat about something; just a place to get away from life struggles.

God has given us brains to think, ears to listen, and mouths to speak. We need to use them wisely and kindly. If you ask how somebody is,  truely be interested in how they are doing and answer honestly when asked. I think it is time we start caring about each other and that starts by caring about God first.

It is time to bring life back into conversations. It is time to bring God back.

You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Ephesians 4:29

5 minutes about me. Read it. Don’t read it. No big deal.

I grew up in a strong Christian family. I cannot ask for a better family , they get me.

I cannot think of enough ways to thank them for having me grow up in church because without that foundation, my life would be a wreck. God should always be number one.

We moved when I was a sophomore in high school from the town I loved more than anything, away from friends I considered family and from a school I thought I would graduate from. That seriously broke my heart. I would like to say that I made the best of friends and loved it in the new town we moved to, however, I wished to be somewhere else every day. When we moved away from Lamar, I blamed God and was very mad at him. I felt as if he ruined my life by taking me away from the place I knew for so long and put me in the unknown and challenged me each day with new struggles. I lost the ability to trust others and worst of all, I lost my joy. I got so discouraged and truly did not want to live anymore and I let saten have control of my thoughts. I wish I could say that this was so long ago, however, it was only a couple of years ago and the wounds are still healing from the pain I went through the last few years of high school. I started to depend on other people, boyfriends and “bffs”, to get me through the days and to fill my needs, my worldly needs. For so long I fell in and out of love with God. I am tired to that life.

If you read all of that very closely, you will see one word that repeatedly shows up; “I”. That is all my life was about, just me. I didn’t care about anything or anyone else because I thought I was the only one who was ever treated badly in high school and went through some hard times. If God would have been number one in my life, “I” would slowly start to go away and his presence would have been the only thing I needed. My heart would have hurt more for others rather than myself and my worldly wants would not have amounted to such great measures.

My life is changing right now, suddenly I am seeing the beauty in everything and trying to look at the world from a Godly heart. I hope others see this change in me because it is happening quickly and I have the joy God gave me so long ago. God has made me whole again. I can trust again. Hold me accountable to make my life more about you and less about me.

J-Jesus.

O-Others.

Y-Yourself.

That’s what life should be about. Joy.

Recharge.

A daily habit of mine is getting to the end of the day and realizing that my phone and laptop are completely dead. There is nothing left to them and I ALWAYS realize this when I actually need to use them. Of course, I scramble around the house trying to figure out where I left my charger, I usually don't find it.

It never makes sense to me why I do this day after day. I know that my phone is going to die but I just don't charge it until it is too late and there is nothing left to it; not even a light.

As christians, we must stay "plugged in" all the time or we will slowly start to lose our light as well. We go through life only needing God when the bad times come along or when we know we need a little extra help.

By recharging our relationship daily with God we have the potential to do great things and never lose the light we have been given. 

Think about it. process it. and change.

John 12:46

"I [Jesus] have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness."

Coke Zero.

This is unlike any sort of Coke, it is diet, calorie free so there are no guilty feelings and it also has the taste of a real Coke; What more could you want!?

I look at my life and I know that I have been a "Coke Zero" on many occasions, trying to be something I am not and able to decieve others to think I am the real deal. How sad it makes me to think that I had the ability to pretend to love God when my heart was in the wrong place, I was not what God was wanting me to be. Is it really that easy to live a guilt-free life when there is nothing but guilt coming at the end?

God wants us to give him our everything or nothing at all.

I am pretty sure that if Jesus went to Sonic, he would ask for a regular Coke.

Be real.

Revelation 3:16

So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

delete.

I find it very freeing to know that I have the ability to delete friends, pictures, and comments on facebook. I can pick and choose what I want my life to be perceived as online and I can make changes to anything that is not to my liking. If I take an ugly picture, I can delete it and not a single soul has to see it or if I say something silly, I can take it off and pretend it never happened.

I know that in my life I have said some unkind words and done things that I wish I could take back, however, this is not facebook; there is no refresh button.

As I think about this, it scares me a little, to know that every word I say, is said, I can never take it back and a single word can hurt more than a thousand.

Our thoughts become words and words become actions so, if we change our thoughts to more Godly thoughts, our whole world will be changed.

That is such an amazing reassurance, to know that as christians, God can "delete" our mistakes and give us the second chance. We have the opportunity to start over, no matter what challenges we have faced, our God is so much bigger.

Look at your life and see if there is anything you need God to delete for you, it is an amazing feeling to know that your past can be wiped away no matter how big or small the situations are.

take a little time to think about how powerful that is.

"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more" (Isaiah 43:25).

"It is possible for the Lord to look at us without seeing our sins because when he forgave us, he removed our sins as far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12).

joy.

Say it.

Just ask yourself, "Am I happy?"

I don't mean having a simple smile on your face to please others but the true happiness that everyone longs for. I mean being genuinly estatic about life. Not worrying about small worldy struggles but simply embracing this wonderful thing we have been given. Life. Why waste it with ruining a day by being mad or upset. I know that I have wasted so many days being sad, however I am now a God seeking woman because I want what everyone wants; Joy.

I honestly believe that as christians, we are the only ones that can recieve pure joy in our lives. What a wonderful peace that should give us, to know that we will be living in heaven someday! Why is it though that we waste our earthly lives on such strange worries that are not Godly at all. He is in controll. I also think that being a happy person is somthing that you have to work at; everyday. Wake up and say "Thank you God for giving me lips to smile with." A smile can change a wounded soul with just a quick glance; that's our God for ya. When we start to turn our hearts from the worldy things and focus on God, we will be rewarded with so much more than we deserve. Find that joy within you. Find God. He's got what we need.

-He must become greater; I must become less.-