Right at the beginning of The New Testament, we were given some of the most important advice, in Jesus’ words…

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This beautiful line comes from the story in Genesis when Abraham’s wife Sarah is blessed with a child in her old age. I originally just wanted to make this image because I loved this line for any joy we may feel from God, but I suddenly decided to do it today and I realized I was choosing to finally share it on Mother’s Day. I thank God for giving me the inspiration and opportunity to share this today, giving it a whole new and beautiful significance….

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My mother and I read some of the Bible every night, and we have recently started over for the third time. At least three stories in the beginning of the Old Testament have become familiar enough to me by now that I knew what to expect before it happened. It is just like when I’m watching my favorite tv show over and I’m like, Oh good, so and so is coming up! I was so excited when I realized I had done this, because it means:

The Bible has become such a big part of my life now that it is as familiar to me as tv shows, books, and movies that shaped my life before becoming a Christian.

The more familiar I am with the Bible, the more I can understand and remember its messages in my daily life. This is a stepping stone to becoming stronger and more at peace.

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Many people say that marriage is meant to glorify God, and that we should see our marriage as Jesus‘ covenant with the church(his bride). This implies that we are supposed to place that much importance on our relationships and treat them accordingly. The great love that can come from a Godly marriage is an extremely powerful force for good. Imagine all the joy and grace that can be shared with the world from the two individuals in a thriving, healthy, and Godly marriage. Both people will be stronger than they ever have been and, because of that, able to give so much love and mercy to others.

Whatever you want to call it, Evil, Satan, the devil, or something completely different… there is an evil force in this world that is also very aware of the power of marriage. He or it has devised so many ways to combat happy marriages, and the battle begins long before you get married.

Each individual grows up with their own personal set of troubles that the devil can use to gnaw away at all of our happiness, including our potential or existing marriage. Society brainwashes us from infancy that we have to be beautiful, perfect, sweet, smart, with just enough bad to make us interesting… fill in the blank, because there are many false qualifications the world has placed on us… We think if we aren’t some perfect magical combination of qualities that we don’t deserve love, but God doesn’t expect perfection in any other aspect of our lives. He uses these billions of imperfect people on this planet to bring His glory to the world every day.

We put all this responsibility on our shoulders to look right, act right, and always be perfect. Even worse, we also put that same unrealistic expectation on our partner! They have to look and be exactly what we want and need, and all the time! No human beings can ever achieve that goal. This means we are bound for unhappiness from the start. It may not guarantee that we can’t find love or that we’ll have a miserable marriage, but it will guarantee much more unhappiness and trial than God intended for us to have.

So, what is the answer to this? Taking the earthly limitations off of our relationships. In this world there is too much lust, greed, anger, cruelty, need, and pain. If we expect our relationships to thrive on that battlefield, we are setting ourselves up for needless pain. We can’t beautiful, sweet, or perfect our way through singleness, dating, and marriage. Not successfully or happily. We can put our relationships in God’s hands. God guide me to the one who will help me glorify Your name. God give me the words and deeds to be a good girlfriend/boyfriend and eventually a husband/wife. God, give me the peace to enjoy and use this blessing You have given me through which I can spread Your grace in the world.

Our relationships aren’t a guilty pleasure, a reward for good deeds, or a detour on the path of life. They are a responsibility God gives us that, because of His wisdom and mercy, can also be really enjoyable. So tonight, give thanks for your partner and yourself. Because of exactly who you are and exactly who that person is, God is giving you a unique responsibility and blessing to share with the world. You are incredibly important, but the responsibility is not yours alone.

For the single people like me, this time is part of the responsibility. God is helping us and our future partner to become the people we will need to be to bring Him glory together.

No matter how much we want to listen to God, it seems there is too much static in the way that blocks us from His message. To be honest, I drive myself a little crazy worrying about even this. I can’t even listen to God right! Well, thankfully after a terrible bout of that again today, God, in His mercy, gave me this message… Listen more than you think. Relax more than you plan. Pray more than you speak. Makes so much sense right? We can’t hear when we’re too busy running our mouth. We can’t give God a chance to tell us what He wants for us, if we are too busy planning, or at least not without Him having to run our planning train off the rails.

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God is so wise and merciful that I believe He recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of each individual and adjusts His lesson plan accordingly. For months, I have struggled because I felt I had to understand. I could try to elaborate on that, but I think any way that I could do so would lessen the meaning. I prayed often, begging, for God to help me know something so that I could have peace. At some point, I got enough of an inkling to realize, or more like remember, that the whole point of having faith is to have peace without having to understand or know. That helped a little, but not enough.

Since then, God has given me little signs to sometimes let me see or feel His plan. Something would happen that would only have meaning to me, that for a time would let me glimpse the path I was walking on. This was not happening as often as I would have liked, and it was always about the same issue. Thankfully, God has mercy even on my picky and hard-to-please mind.

Yesterday I kept singing a line from a Christian song without any known reason. That night I found myself worried, and I had the idea floating around my head that I could prevent that worry by remembering the phrase, “Does it bring God glory?” Then my mother asked me to play MercyMe’s Bring The Rain and at first I couldn’t even remember which song it was. Then I realized it had been the very song I had been singing part of all day. It seemed like a theme. I felt comforted and excited by this.

This morning I woke up to discover another theme. My mother and I were talking about a problem, and she gave me advice. I read my devotional with the exact same advice. She then turned around and found the exact same message on Facebook. So then I got to start today with another theme.

I had the feeling that God was giving me a little something extra to make me feel Him nearer. He knew I needed to see the path and feel His hand. God understands that each individual has limitations in certain areas. Out of His love for us and the plan He has for our lives, He will tailor the lesson plan to help us overcome our personal obstacles.

I pray that with each passing day I can become less needy for things like this. Thankfully, God is willing to work with me in the meantime.

In relationships, we tell people how they should treat us and even how much they should love us, by how highly we value ourselves. If we allow people to mistreat us, don’t take care of ourselves, bad mouth ourselves, and date people who are bad for us or aren’t even what we really want… we are telling ourselves and that person that we aren’t worth what we truly are. Each person is priceless. Treat yourself as such, and you can receive love from someone else who knows you are priceless.

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Over the last year, I found my definition of beauty naturally changing due to this blog, a relationship, and a great need for improvement in that area. I began to recognize a beauty image I wanted, and I made a Pinterest board to celebrate it. Instead of being drowned in a daily diet of the media’s idea of beauty, I have a place I can go to remind myself of how I see beauty and the image I want to project to the world. I would highly recommend this to any man or woman who wants to reinforce their own sense of self.

To fully understand what I’m suggesting, here is a link to my board –

People, even men , are complicated creatures. You might like rugged, long haired guys with beards while your best girl friend likes clean shaven, exec types. Where you drove your last boyfriend crazy by wanting to cuddle with him a lot, some guys have never known a girl who wanted to share enough of this simple affection. A person known for their quirky personality may have a hard time being popular, but another person may just fall in love with their unique sense of humor. Don’t worry that your “imperfections” will keep love from you. The things that make you you are just directions to navigate the sea looking for the right fish.

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We all know that advertising, brand names, logos, and marketing are very influential mediums. Businesses are trying to sell their product, which means they are trying to sell you an appealing idea. How do they do it? It says a lot about the business and about their intentional market how they choose to do that. I found myself asking the other day, just how far have we sunk as a society if someone thinks they can sell, and must be selling, a product because it is “sinful”? Women want to be sinful? Now, I know it’s just a word. It’s just a brand name. Just because you want to wear a nail polish, doesn’t mean anything. But does it?

Thanks to crossfire at stock.xchng

So the question here is, what statement do we want to make to men, to companies, and to ourselves? Why do we want to be attractive? We are supposed to be a society who admires strong women. Why aren’t they selling nail polish with words that celebrate this ideal? It could be something along the lines of powerful woman, influential woman, smart woman, or hard to get woman… Wouldn’t we much rather be attractive for our brains or character, than whatever the word sinful implies…