Unfiltered

Social media. Have we ever stopped to think about it? I mean really think about it.

What is the purpose? What is with the flood of hashtags, memes, selfies, ecards,etc? It is all so shallow if we stop and think about it. It's easy to make our lives look put together in an instagram post. But in reality, that was the one day we actually did our hair, the one clean room in our house, and the only 5 minutes our kids weren't bugging us or having a fallout over a missing toy. Valencia filter anyone? It creates an unrealistic image of reality and for what?  So we can have a "me" centered attitude and find our sense of value in some dumb post. We have all been there. You know the time when after a status has been up for a few hours and it has 1 like and you contemplate deleting it. Was what you had to say not clever or funny enough? And on that note why are we second guessing ourselves based on the number of likes online. It's sad really.

Social media also starts the comparison game. Why does this girl get 100+ likes on her posts and I get 5? What does she have that I don't? If only I had more money maybe our family could do things like that. I wish my kids would sit still long enough for craft hour. I wish I wish I wish...and the dissatisfaction with the life God has blessed you with sinks in.

And don't get me started on how social media isn't really social at all. Why does our generation supplement snap chat for real company and why do we substitute emoji texts for being taken on real dates. The kind of dates where they call you and ask you out and you spend hours getting ready for it. The kind where when they pick you up, they don't just text here. They come to the door to get you and you spend the whole night talking and laughing and enjoying each others company. I am just so sick of all the lol's and #realtalk #blondeshavemorefun #wearesocool.

What if we started actually living life instead of trying to find the perfect filter? What if instead of worrying about the likes on our posts we started worrying about the hurting and the homeless in our community. What if instead of taking a picture of our dinner plate, we were serving it to someone who could really use it. Because believe it our not starvation is happening right here in the U.S. No, it's not just happening overseas, it is in our backyards. Cheers to educating ourselves. To finding hobbies. To being concerned with things bigger than ourselves.

Wonder

  There are no poetic words for the past two years. From fall of 2013 to the current day, I have been struggling with depression, anxiety, doubt, fear, and completely questioning the existence of God. I have experienced thoughts I have never had  before, letting satan win. I was held captive in my own mind and feeling there was no way out. I had been in a spiritual drought for months, I thought it would never end. Slowly God has been helping to find who I am in Him. I am starting to feel him again like I did before. I feel like a child again-rediscovering God as Lord of my life. The song Wonder by Bethel came on the other day as I was spending time in prayer and reading. It describes exactly where my heart is right now-reigniting my wonder and awe. How often do we truly grasp how amazing our God is? The God of the whole entire universe wants to have a relationship with US. He longs to guide our every step and whisper His perfect plan in our ears. He wants to show us His unconditional love. He sent his Son to die on the cross so we get to spend an eternity with Him. Do we ever think about this, not just as a bible story but as truth. As real life. It is completely MIND BLOWING.  I am elated and so filled with joy. God is so good. The chorus goes something like this..this is my prayer for each of you today..

May we never lose our wonder

May we never lose our wonder

Wide eyed and mystified

May we be just like a child

Staring at the beauty of our King 

-Ivys momma 

 

Imperfectly Perfect

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
-2 Corinthians 12:9-10 

How often do we allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough they we boast about our inadequacies and imperfections? We all struggle with things at times, yet those are the things we avoid conversation about the most. Nobody wants to air out their dirty laundry-yet scripture says we are to delight in our weaknesses. I don't think this means we are to stay in our hard place, but it is just a reminder of how undeserving we are and yet how much God gives us grace all the more. It's when we realize that we can't do anything apart from God, when we humble ourselves enough that we can admit our short comings, that God is able to use us and transform us and bring glory to His name. What are your hardships today? Give them over to Jesus because his grace is sufficient. 

It's A New Season

       It's been awhile since I have written-I actually forgot about this blog altogether. Life does that to you sometimes. But, there is something I love about pouring the things God has placed on my heart on a forum for not only myself but also for others to be able to read. I have always been a transparent person about where I am at. 
      To be honest, if you would have told me a year ago that I would be married and have our sweet Ivy Ruth, I would not have believed you. This past year has been filled with many joys, but also many anxieties as I am searching for what my new normal looks like. There are days where I feel completely inadequate to have such an important role as a helper to my hubby and a mommy to my ever so sweet Ivy. I am learning to take comfort in knowing that God has placed me in this season of growth and change for a purpose. I know that his plans are always greater. It is so easy to make it all about my own needs and how maybe I don't get enough "me" time anymore, or how it's a rarity if I get to take a shower without also hearing a crying baby, and how it just isn't fair. 
      But, there is so much good in this season. I have such a huge opportunity to serve my family with the joy of the Lord in my heart. I get to love on and show my daughter what it means to be a woman of God and what it means to be a wife. She looks to me, I am the first glimpse of Jesus she will see, in a world full of people pulling her in all different directions. I also have an opportunity to be the best helper and mate to my husband as I can possibly be. Being married is challenging but also one of the single best things to happen to me. Who doesn't want to have endless sleepovers with their best friend? I get really excited to see the way God will use us to further His kingdom. 

       So, through all of my anxieties as things are in this new season of life, I am choosing to see the good, the beautiful, and the present. Because I know Jesus has me here for a reason and I can't wait to see all that he does. When anxious thoughts arise I am constantly taken back to this verse, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 "The weapons we fight are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have the divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we TAKE CAPTIVE EVERY THOUGHT to make it obedient to Christ." Everything we need can be found in Him. We can choose what we let consume our minds-set it on the eternal. 

-Ivy's momma