Change

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! I hope you had a beautiful weekend! We sure did. How blessed are we to have so many brave men and women who have served and protected our country selflessly? So blessed. Thank you.

It's been awhile since I have had the opportunity to write, so I'll do a quick recap of our life!

Kevin had a meeting in the Cities last Friday, and we had a few graduation parties and friends to see in Marshall, so we decided to make a whole road-trip weekend out of it! Well. I decided I would tag along so we could spend more time together--it was so worth it! Spending 8+ hours in the car together is certainly something special.

As we pulled into Marshall last Friday night, Kevin took a deep breath and said, "I just love it here." I sighed and said, "Me, too." Marshall has been home to the both of us for the past 5+ years. We love it. 

We got to meet up with good friends, eat good food, and play good cards. We stopped at HyVee for five minutes to grab a few things and ran into at least ten friendly and familiar faces (and received lots of hugs!) It's seriously like Cheers! Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. Marshall is so familiar and so cozy.

We got to enjoy lots of good food and fellowship as we celebrated a number of graduates. We were filled to the absolute brim and were overflowing with love and joy from being with our Marshall family. Our weekend was so rich.

Sunday morning came and we headed to church--late. per usual. We walked into worship to our familiar seat and joined in song. BOOM. it hit me. I was sobbing. What the heck?! We just got there! I know that my emotions often move when the Lord is tugging at my heart or the Spirit is moving, but we hadn't even been there for three minutes! Tears. lots of them. streaming down my face. I started praying and questioning this radical/strange reaction, and then it came to me--this is home. this was home.

Victory Christian Church.

This is where I really grew in my faith. This is where I was broken. This is where I was built. This is where I was mentored. This is where I was loved. I had spent the past five years learning, seeking, discovering, receiving, and rejoicing in Jesus. This is where I really experienced freedom in Christ.

I was grieving.

The Lord so sweetly and so clearly spoke to my heart and said, "You have and you will experience freedom in me outside of these walls. Your identity in me does not exist solely at VCC. You are ready. You are going to live free, worship free, and serve free." (ironically the mission for our new church in SD)

--insert more crying here--

I don't want to leave Victory. I don't want to leave Marshall. but it's time. God has called Kevin and I away. Will we get to go back? maybe. maybe not. But we do know that we are called to be in Sioux Falls at this time, and we are so excited to be a part of the Lord's vision for this new season in our life. I needed that reaction/word on Sunday to confirm that we are in the right spot and doing the right thing.

We have been praying for a church, praying for fellowship, and praying for people who enjoy games just as much as we do, and the Lord has been blessed us with all of these things. (Praise God!)

We found a church. We found fellowship. And we found friends who really love games.

This past week we were able to connect with a beautiful group of people who have welcomed us with open arms. We got to know one another, play games, share stories, and laugh really hard. We found people who embrace us (like our friends in Marshall) and have already shown so much love towards us. 

I am literally giddy to see what the Lord has planned for this next season of our life. God has so cleverly and intentionally formed such specific relationships in our life right now. People who encourage us but challenge us. People who are radically seeking the calling that God has placed on their lives--and it's infectious. God is doing big things, and I want nothing more than to be a part of it! 

I don't know if you're in some sort of transitional period yourself or not, but I am praying for you and this new season whatever it may be. I pray that you would look deep within your soul and recognize every good and perfect gift that God has blessed you with. I pray that you would find your affirmation and self-worth in who God says you are and not who the world says you are. I pray that you would be encouraged to take a step of faith and surrender your fears, failures, and weaknesses and allow God to take control of them. Turn to the Lord, be still, and rest in the peace and steadfast love that He gives us. Allow him to give you freedom and then relish in it.

Just a few...

Kevin and I are heading on a little road trip for the weekend, but before we left I wanted to post a few pictures of our perfect day! I will be putting the rest of our pictures up on facebook next week, but I couldn't resist and sharing just a few today!

I hope you all have a very blessed weekend!

**Photos taken by Danielle & Roee from Bellagala Photography

Authenticity

I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't love expensive things. It's like I'm drawn to them... I think I get it from my mother. As I walk through stores my eyes will catch the most beautiful things that trigger my "have to have" sensors, but every time I glance at the price tag--I die. I wouldn't say I'm cheap, but I am reasonable, which prevents me from spending money on a lot of unnecessary things. (a good thing). I call it an "expensive taste," while my husband calls it "ridiculous."

Why am I telling you all of this?

Due to my cheap reasonable shopping habits, I can sniff out a sale within a 5 mile radius--I have honed my shopping skills over the years and have developed efficient tactics as I sort and sift through racks of clothing and other goodies. These years of practice, paired with my love for ridiculously priced items, have lead me down an interesting road... foax avenue. fake street. false boulevard. forged circle. feigned road. Things that look real and expensive, but aren't.

My sophomore year of college a few of my best friends and I took a trip out East to visit one of our favorite ladies who was playing basketball in Connecticut. On our trip we ventured into the heart of NYC, and we hit the pavement running as a whole new world was opened before our eyes--one of the world's largest counterfeit shopping districts. You can only imagine how ridiculous this whole scene was. A couple of Midwest sweethearts buying "designer" goods for a fraction of the real cost out of suitcases--IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER. As we boarded the plane to head home, wearing our 
"I <3 NY" shirts, Coach purses, fashion glasses, and doused with fake couture fragrances, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves and our purchases. that is. until our things started falling apart. The bags we bought for $20 out of trash bags weren't exactly "authentic." You certainly couldn't tell at first but eventually it started to show. It didn't take too long before the leather on our new bags started to crack, the zippers broke, and the handles fell off...

Our faith and our relationship with the Lord can be a lot like these bags--artificial.

Sometimes we can get so caught up in routine and going through the motions that our faith looses purpose. Sometimes we piggy-back off of other people's faith and it never really becomes our own. And sometimes we put up a front to disguise the hurt and anguish and true lack of faith that is going on inside of us. Eventually, like the faux bags, we are going to start falling apart.

We have been conditioned in today's society to talk the right way, walk the right way, and look the right way--portraying the "perfect Christian lifestyle." We know all the right things to say and the right prayers to pray at the right time, but sometimes we do it without heart and without faith. 

We aren't authentic.

A real designer Coach bag has multiple seals distinguishing its authenticity; not only hand bags, but baseball cards, diamonds, and dollar bills, too! They all have certain signs to prove they are the real deal.

In the New Testament, Jesus practically begs the people to get away from this forgery of faith. The Pharisees and the Sadducees had plenty of "seals" to show that they were holy, worthy, and important, but Christ continued to call them away from this form of thinking. Jesus shared parable after parable and taught lesson after lesson on the significance of genuine faith, but hardly anyone understood him. 

He calls us to trust in Him through faith and respond to His love.  

Our authenticity doesn't come from the number of bible studies we attend or teach, how many verses we can recite, or how many WWJD bracelets we have on our wrist; instead, it comes from our heart. God has put a seal of love on every one of our hearts, but our response to this love is really what activates our authentic faith.

"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave..."

Song of Solomon 8:6

"And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."

2 Corinthians 1:21-22

"In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."

Ephesians 1:13-14

Are we accepting the gift of God's son, Jesus, and the salvation He offers us? 

Are we responding to the call that has been placed on our lives and putting faith in Christ to guide and direct our daily lives? Are we earnestly seeking relationship with Jesus by reading the Word and communicating with him through prayer?

 Rather than getting so caught up with trying to be perfect "christians" and trying portray our "perfect faith," we need to focus on our hearts. Our thirsty and hungry hearts that long to understand the love our heavenly father has to pour into us. Once we can begin to grasp this authentic love that Christ has for us, we can then pour this love into other people and other ministries and start actively living out our authentic faith.

After years of buying faux bags and having them fall apart one right after another, I finally decided it was time I invested in the real deal. I saved my money, and I bought my first real Coach purse. It had the official seal. It was sturdy. It was reliable. It was beautiful. It was authentic. It was worth it.

The same can be true with our faith and relationship with Jesus Christ. Only you know if your faith has been authentic or not. Is it time to stop pretending and portraying that you have everything together? Is it time to dig deep and start saving your time and energy and investing it in the Lord? 

The seal is already placed upon your heart. How will you respond?

Is your faith authentic?

It's worth it.

The First

I am so excited to begin my "blogging" career, and I can't think of a better time to start writing about my life adventures than now! I originally created this blog as a way for our friends and family to keep up to date with our new lives together as "newly-weds." I'm not sure if I will have any readers at all, but I'm looking forward to sharing my stories, my insights, my adventures, and my heart with YOU--whoever you are! It is my prayer that this blog would do nothing more than to bring glory to our heavenly father. As I have been praying and pursuing the Lord's vision and will for my life, I feel like I am taking a tiny step of obedience as I begin to write. (I look forward to sharing more about this later). I pray that you will find some sort of comfort and encouragement as I get real and embrace a certain vulnerability through the words that fill this page.

Lilly Moscovitz was disappointed when she found out her cable show only reached twelve households, but if I have more readers than my very loving, over-supportive and encouraging parents--I'll be completely content!

Content. 

The Lord has been teaching me A LOT about contentment right now. 

What more could I possibly want? 

If you know me pretty well, then you're aware that I just got married to the man of my dreams. A man who loves me, supports me, serves me, prays for me, and makes me laugh more than anything else in this world. I am blessed. Some of you may also know that I accepted my first teaching position with an amazing school district in South Dakota. I will be teaching 7th grade English Language Arts this fall, and I couldn't be more excited! I have a husband, I have a job, and I have a heavenly father who loves me more than anything. I have everything I need.

But let's get real... No matter how great everything is, it's really easy too easy to look around and find things to be discontent about. My relationships, my time, my wardrobe, my attitude, my body-image, my two-bedroom apartment, my purpose, my schedule, my desires, my self-discipline... Must I go on??

In chapter four of Philippians, Paul urges us to help one another, to rejoice in everything, to release our anxiety, and to trust in the Lord and find the peace that our wonderful God has to offer us using all sorts of"whatevers" as a guideline. BUT. Paul also teaches us to be content in any and every situation. 

Easier said than done. 

The Lord has been teaching me in this season that even the little things belong to Him--He is continuously working on my heart. It's so easy to loose sight of the bigger picture and purpose as we get bogged down with insignificant details that wiggle into our daily lives and plant a seed of discontentment.  Indulging in these silly attitudes and pointless desires only waters this ugly seed, causing it to sprout into more discontentment. It becomes even more noticeable not only to ourselves, but to others as well, as we work, buy, and stress our way to "happiness." We are not called to be people who are always seeking and searching for earthly things to fulfill our fundamental needs. We are called to be people who are seeking and searching the heart of our heavenly father! We are called to find all of our worth, purpose, happiness, and contentment in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. 

More than ever I have been aware of the choices I have. I can choose to have a positive attitude. I can choose to say kind things. I can choose to see the best in everything. I can choose to actively love my husband. I can choose to be content exactly where I am. It's amazing how freeing this concept really is. To embrace the wonderful things around me--the perfect gifts that God has blessed me with! I hope if anything, after reading this post, you are able to look around and recognize the many things you have been blessed with. 

How do you remain content in this crazy world that insists we always need more?