grace
Tag
Cultivating a Heart of Praise
Do you ever feel like God gives you more than you can handle? Do you sometimes feel like, “wow, God, what are you trying to do to me? Another trial, another hardship?”
Recently, I’ve gone through one of the most trying time periods of my life. I say “time period” because just when I thought one trial had ended, another one began. There was a point where I was scared of something going right because I kept having a feeling that something would go terribly wrong if it did! Long story short, my puppy ran away, got hit by a car, (she’s better now), baby Nolan, (who was 4 months old at the time) and I got in a car accident and my car was totaled; I was out of a car, had back pain, a minor fracture in my wrist, stress, anxiety, the baby was teething, Dylan and I weren’t sleeping, we were easily upset, and a multitude of other issues all happened within a month. I was in and out of doctor appointments every week it seemed like.
I was scared. I was tired. I felt lost.Have you ever felt this way?
Did We Kiss Before Our Wedding Day?
Hi ladies,I want to finally address a topic and the most prominent question in my inbox since I began my relationship with Dylan. Dylan and I actually wrote this article together and would like to share it with you all so that you know this is coming from both of us!So we started praying about beginning a relationship in September 2015 and by November 7th we knew that God wanted us to be together and start dating/courting.
I (Lisa) dropped off of the blogging community when this happened because I take my writing very seriously and it’s sort of like opening my diary to you all. When I started dating Dylan I wanted it to be private and special and I didn’t want a ton of opinions to be swirling around in my head during this amazing time in our lives. Ever since then I’ve been very quiet on my blog and I apologize for that. I think that once I write this article and say everything I’ve needed to say that I can be more active with my writing on A Lovely Calling.
We got married a little over 2 years ago, after a year of dating and then being engaged for three short but beautiful months! When we got married and during the entire time that we were dating I was flooded with questions of whether or not we were saving our first kiss for our wedding or if we were being physically pure while dating ect. I (Lisa) remember the same month I first met Dylan I wrote an article called “Kissing Before Marriage: Yes or No?” I know this article may have inspired a lot of my readers and I got quite a bit of feedback on it. So when I started dating Dylan I had at the forefront of my mind my original conviction to save my first kiss for my wedding day no matter how in love I was or how badly I wanted a kiss.
What Won’t Change When You’re Married
As a young child, I could hardly wait for my twelve torturous years of school to be over. I would count down the days until I would no longer be chained down by paper and pen. I would finish each school day with the exciting thought that someday soon I would graduate. I would be an adult, and this tiresome time of lessons and homework would all be over.
Yet now that kindergarten through sixth..
The Lies in the Mirror
The car pulled in the driveway, I got out and walked into the house and went up to my room. I looked in the mirror at myself and let out a heavy sigh. How could I have left the house looking that way?
Why are my legs so big?
Why is my hair so flat?
Why can’t I keep a clear face?
The list of what was wrong with my image ran through my mind a million miles per hour. I couldn’t stop judging myself..
Why Do Some Girls Act Better Than Other Girls?
We’ve all experienced it. The girl who makes you feel like dirt. The girl who makes you feel like all of your efforts to try to fit in are worthless. The girl who makes sure that she gets all of the attention while you agonizingly watch on the sidelines. This is the girl who makes you feel like she is better than you.
First of all, I would like to say that you aren’t the only one who has..
I Don’t Want a 50/50 Relationship
Because I’m a young single twenty-something, people often offer me advice about relationships.
They tell me to make sure I’m not being taken for granted.
To make sure I’m getting something back in return.
To make sure the relationships I enter into are two-way streets.
To make sure that I’m appreciated. That my gestures are reciprocated.
I brought you a cupcake at work. Now it’s your turn to bring me one.
And I appreciate all of you people giving me this advice. I know it comes from love. It comes from wanting to see the person you care for valued in her relationships. It comes from being protective. But I have news for you:
I don’t want that 50/50 relationship you’re talking about…
Is Modest Truly Hottest? From a Guy’s Perspective
Rhymes don’t always chime…err…a rhyme isn’t true all the time…umm…living by rhymes can result in fines?
Okay, those are all lame. Allow me to just use blunt prose. Is modest truly “hottest” as the catchy expression goes? Actually, no. Not at all.
I’ve always had a couple major issues with this slogan, and I don’t think it actually helps cultivate true Biblical modesty.
By definition, modest..
When Looking Hot Gets You More Attention
I was thirteen years old and heading in for my first experience with the well known photography company Glamour Shots. My mom and I were on a special girls trip to Dallas, Texas to celebrate my birthday. Obviously getting my hair highlighted, nails manicured and pictures taken was a must for this girly girl.
I loved every minute of the Glamour Shot experience. The makeup. The hair. The clothes. The looking at pictures. The compliments. I felt beautiful and accepted.
Confessions of a Broken Heart
I couldn’t do it anymore. I was tired of pretending that everything was “okay”. I was tired of faking to have a good relationship with Jesus. I was tired of looking and acting like a good Christian girl. I was giving up… It had been a long hard 6 months. I was scared, lonely and tired of pretending. I wanted to run into my room, shut the door and never come out.
We all have times in our lives when we feel distant from God. We hold our feelings in because we are scared of feeling like a horrible person for not trusting that God is good all the time. We don’t even want God knowing about our lack of faith in Him. So we go on pretending until we are tired out and simply can’t pretend any more.
Beauty From Brokenness
How do you feel about yourself right now? When the lights go off and you’re all alone, when you can take off the mask and stop the big pretend, how do you really feel about yourself?
Some people are amazingly confident and full of hope. But the rest of us resemble a crumpled piece of paper – worn out, tired, rejected, regarded as useless and an all-round complete failure.
We pretend, tell lies and try to laugh through our pain, there’s no point reaching out to anyone to tell them how you feel, they won’t get it. We struggle with feelings of permanent despair, fear and discouragement. Sound familiar?