High Five For Friday ~ Girlfriends Come In Any Age And In Every Season

High Five For Friday Number One ~

What a busy week..... I'm just glad it's Friday!!!!!

High Five For Friday Number Two ~

Prayer Walk is tomorrow and I'm so excited and touched to be a part of it this year!  I'm taking photographs for it and I'm really excited to see what God can and will do in our city!!!

High Five For Friday Number Three ~

This week was really busy but filled with so many blessings.  I was able to really enjoy some one on one time with one of the ladies in my Thursday morning Bible study and it was truly a gift.  All of the ladies are between the ages of 50-80 so it's an honor to be in the presence of such amazing women of God.  Their wisdom just astounds me!  Getting to know them one on one is a goal of mine and I'm so excited to grow closer to these amazing women of God.

High Five For Friday Number Four ~

We all know how precious friendships are.  Life is so fragile and let's face it, with busy schedules and busy lives.....we tend to overlook special people in our lives.  Life long friendships are hard to come by.  Just like any relationship; friendships take work and patience.  We have to be able to love big, share much, and be able to forgive and learn to be humble when we need forgiveness.  It was a blessing to spend some time with my sweet friend Margo.  Margo and I have been super duper close girlfriends since Jr. High and needless to say, we have been through A LOT together.  Time and schedules and anything else you want to throw in put some distance between us but we finally found some time to be able to sit down and have lunch, talk, and have a few giggles!  I'm very thankful for the lunch date and we have decided to make girlfriend lunch a priority!  Same place same time next week!

High Five For Friday Number Five ~

Work is going great!  My hours are better and I'm getting much better at the job.

Things are looking up!  God is good!

Love Is Jesus Christ

"Love like this cannot be fully understood."

Christ died for us, for our salvation.  He died for people who would reject Him and His love over and over again.  Think about how many people throughout your life who have rejected you.  Would you die for them?  Would you even die for somebody you "loved".  The answer is probably "no" to the first question and "maaaaaaybe" to the second question.  Yet, here is a man who died for you and for me.  How many times have you rejected Him?  I'm not going to lie, I have several times.  Even as a Christian, I have rejected Him.  We reject Him when we lie, gossip, ignore His calling in our lives, when we choose to be selfish instead of giving, and the list goes on. We reject him all of the time yet Christ died for us and loves us THAT much.  Love is Christ.

"Nor can love like this be earned."

This gift from God is free.  Eternal life for believers is not something to be earned.  Only faith can get us there.  Works will not give us eternal life.

Loving like Christ means loving when it is not being returned, loving imperfections and flaws, and being God's instrument to love others.

"In His love and in His mercy He redeemed me." Isaiah 63:9

What I'm Loving Wednesday ~ Pretty Little Liars and Fall

I'm loving that I'm almost done with Season 4 of Pretty Little Liars.... almost caught up!!!

I'm loving Texas Tech plays home this weekend!  WOOT WOOT!!!!!

I'm loving the fallish weather!  If you have kept up with my blog, then you know that I LOOOOOVVVEEEEE me some fall!  Seasons changing are my favs!

I'm loving life and loving LOVE!!!!!!!

Love Without God Is Impossible

"Like it or not agape love isn't something you can do.  It's only something God can do." The Love Dare

Have you ever taken time to ask God where you stand with Him?  I started a journey to learn more about love and in that journey, I stopped and asked God that simple question.  "God, where do I stand with you?"   When you ask God a straight forward question, be prepared for His answer.  Let's just say, it wasn't what I thought it would be.  I was not standing with Him where I thought I was or HOW I thought I should.  He wants so much more from me.  So, I took my love journey and turned them into days of seeking how to stand with Him where HE wants me to stand, I also began to fully understand about the three things God asks for us; giving, praying, and fasting.  So, I started seeking more about fasting, I realize that fasting is the threefold cord that is needed in a spiritual relationship with God.

"A threefold cord is not quickly broken."  Ecclesiastes 4:12

Giving, praying, and fasting.  Over the years I have learned a lot about fasting and have come to realize that fasting brings a miraculous provision, favor, and a closeness with God like no other.  As I'm getting this fasting thing, I start to think about my love journey and how true it is, love IS impossible with out God.  I started to think about people in my life who aren't saved or have no desire to have a relationship with God and I have realized that I do not love them right.  Sure, I pray for them but I pray more for them to take notice of their "faults" and to change but I never pray for their salvation.  I never love them enough to pray and fast for their hearts to be totally touched by the hand of God because only when we truly have the power of God in our lives can our hearts truly change for the better.  

Finally a breakthrough, I realized that to truly love somebody is to give, pray, and fast for their salvation.  To pray that they too will be able to feel the amazing feeling of loving THROUGH Him and not through ourselves.  When we love through only our own understanding of love, it tends to become jealous, selfish, thoughtless, mean spirited.......impossible.  To love through God we can share a pure, selfless, thoughtful, and precious love.  

"This is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

Message Me To Book Your Fall Shoot

Alphabet Me

Ambition:  Live Laugh Love

Bad Habit: drinking soda

City: Lubbock, TX but looking forward to leaving Lubbock in the dust one day! 

Drink: Starbucks Hot Chocolate and Darin's hot tea 

Education: Texas Tech University, Ashworth College, and Colorado Christian University - All for Psychology and Christian Counseling - want to specialize in pre-marital counseling  

Food: anything homemade by my momma! 

Guilty Pleasure: sodas, junk food, and trash tv

Hometown: Lubbock, Texas

Ice Cream: chocolate dipped coned 

Jonesing for: a closer relationship with God and happiness!

Kryptonite: love

Look-a-like: I've been told Lindsay Koreman soap star .....my friends used to call me Theresita (her character in Passions)

Movie: 13 Going on 30 is my favorite girly movie 

Nickname: Crys, Cryssie, CG, Li'l C, Pickle

Obsession: Golf when I get to play

Perfume: VS Dream Angels Heavenly and Prada Candy

Quirk: germs

Regret: none really

Starbucks: hot chocolate..... duh

Thrift Find of the Year: golf bag 

University: Guns Up for my Red Raiders!!!!!

Vacation: BEACH!!!!!

Wine: yum

X: boyfriend?  they are ex's for a reason.....not really sure what this "X" is for haha

Years: 36 AH, I'm getting old but I feel so young! :)

Zen: when I'm in prayer and in God's Presence! 

What I'm Loving Wednesday ~ New Season and God

I'm loving the new season of life that God is bringing me into.

I'm loving that God is showing me who He is in my life. He is my protector, my healer, my best friend.... He is my everything and He has really been going above and beyond to show me this lately.

I'm loving that fall is here and loving that today is the first day of October!

I'm loving having a wonderful man by my side who has truly been every answered prayer.  I had no idea somebody could love me as much as he does!

I'm loving working from home and all it's perks!

Most of all, I'm loving His amazing grace and love for me!

Love Seeks To Understand Your Mate

How much do you know about your mate?  How often do you talk?  How often to you ask questions?  How often do you attempt to understand them?  How well do you really know them?

"Good understanding produces favor." Proverbs 13:15

The one thing about really learning somebody and understanding their beliefs and thoughts is that you start to become in sync with their way of life.  You understand why they do and say certain things.  This can even at times save you from an argument.  Sometimes we tend to take things the wrong way with out understanding the root of it. Whether it's an action or words.  When you truly understand somebody it becomes second nature to "get them" and to understand their actions and words. 

Love should call you to dig deep and really get to your mate's soul.  Love calls you to draw out all that you can so that you can learn them and understand them better. 

"By wisdom a house is built , and by understanding it is established ; and by knowledge it is filled with all precious and pleasant riches." Proverbs 24:3-4

It is important to know your mate's fears, dreams, goals, and anything else that drives your mate to live each day to the fullest.  They need that constant support and to know that you are their biggest cheerleader and comforter through all!  

Dare to understand.....seek it!

Love Intercedes

My most favorite thing to do is to pray for somebody.  We all need prayer and I know that there have been lots of somebodies out there praying for me over the years.  I wouldn't be where I am had there not been.  Love intercedes and if we can all capture this thought and live by it every day.....I think this world would be a better place.  Our relationships with others would be better and our relationship with God tighter.  

We can't change people but God can.  We can't change situations but God can.  If we give God the lead, He can do ANYTHING in our lives!  Trust me, I've witnessed it......I have lived it! 

We cannot change somebody but we can be "wise farmers".  A farmer cannot force a seed to grow into a fruitful crop.  He cannot manipulate it or whine it to bear fruit.  However, a farmer can plant it, water it, feed it nutrients and wait for God to grow it.  

While we are waiting for God to move, we must pray.  We must intercede on our loved ones behalf and pray for growth and amazing change and have FAITH that God WILL do His part.  It might not happen as quickly as we would like or even as we think it should but God is always working behind the scenes.  He is always doing what is good for all!  His will shall be done if we give Him the reigns to lead.  

"Prayer really does work. It's a spiritual phenomenon created by an unlimited, powerful God.  And it yields amazing results."

Pray instead of quitting.  Pray instead of nagging.  Pray instead of demanding.  Pray instead of manipulating.  Allow prayer and the hand of God to bring peace to your storms, answer to your questions, and change to your desires.  

One of the most loving things you can do for a loved one is pray for them.  

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find it; knock, and it will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7

Start off by praying for three specific areas where you feel that God can work in the other's life.  Is it that they aren't a believer?  That's obviously the first thing you should seek God's help in.  Do they lack balance?  Do they have unforgiveness in their heart?  Give it to God and ask for guidance and ask for a breakthrough!  Be specific in your prayer.  God wants us to be specific.  He wants to make sure that the desires of our hearts are aligned with His and we must be specific with Him.  Sure He knows our every thought and our every wish and every secret we have buried deep down but He wants us to seek that closeness with Him, to build that trust with Him. 

Bring Honor Into Your Marriage

"To honor someone means to give them respect and high esteem, to treat them as being special and of great worth."

I love the word honor.  It is the one word that describes exactly what love is and should be.  It describes the loyalty and respect that comes with love.  There is no such thing as to love somebody and not honor them.  Honor is the word that describes what earthly love should be AND what our love towards God is.  That is why this word brings chills to my spine.  We honor our amazing God and He expects us to honor our spouse!  Honor is such a noble word used to describe the full extent of treating somebody well!  When you love somebody, they should always know how you feel because of how you treat them, because you HONOR them! 

"But there's another word that calls us to a higher place, a word that isn't often equated with marriage, though its relevance cannot be understated.  It's a word that actually forms the basis for honor - the very reason why we give respect and high regard to our husband or wife.  The word is 'holy'." 

God wants our mates to become "holy" in our eyes just as we are in His.  When somebody becomes "holy" to you, that person is sacred to you.  No one can rival in your heart.  The person will always be honored, praised, and defended. 

That's what love dares to do - to say, "Of all the relationships I have, I will value ours the most.  Of all the things I'm willing to sacrifice, I will sacrifice the most for you.  With all your failures, sins, mistakes, and faults - past and present - I still choose to love and honor you."

The beauty of honor is providing an atmosphere of love.....an atmosphere that has room for mistakes and failures.  It should be the atmosphere that we can be ourselves and know that we will still be loved. 

Love is honorable!