Forever Beloved

Faith, Love & Truth

19 Years Ago

19 years ago today, my life changed. I can still remember getting ready…doing my (big) hair, putting on my jeans and flannel and lacing up my boots. Little did I know that night I was about to meet the one I had been praying for since I was a little girl.

I wasn’t quite sure what to think of this long hair and tattooed guy. He was basically the exact opposite of anyone I had dated prior. Which made my heart quietly sigh a hallelujah! He was funny, oh so funny. We would laugh for hours at absolutely nothing. He was a little wild, which my Mama didn’t quite care for. But most of all, he was so sincerely nice and he treated me with respect.  What an absolute breath of fresh air that was.

Our paths had crossed numerous times before that night. I can still remember the first moment that I saw his face…staring at me…from behind the pizza counter. And I turned to my friend and said “what in the world is this guy staring at”. I then promptly gave him a sassy look, rolled my eyes, spun around and left.  Time after time, we ran into each other.  Until finally, I quit looking past him and looked directly in his eyes.

He stole my heart and our life journey began.

That first night we went to Pizza Hut and hung out with friends. I remember it like it was yesterday, from the butterflies in my stomach to laughing non-stop all evening. And from that day on we spent as much time together as we could. One month later we were engaged and four months later we were married ♥

Meal Planning Monday

Monday – Tater tot casserole

Tuesday – Chicken pie…this is, without a doubt, one of my FAV meals!!!

Wednesday – Subway

Thursday – Creamed chipped beef on toast…an old time fav, I can remember my Mama making this when I was little and how much i loved it

Friday – Million dollar spaghetti and garlic crescent rolls

Saturday – Out to dinner with my love ♥

Sunday – French dip beef sammy, bacon cheese fries and homemade ranch…at the request of my youngest little, this is her FAV…

10 Truths For Every Teenage Girl

We are raising daughters in such a difficult generation. A generation that is all about ME. A generation where the world and the media scream to them the most important things are power and beauty. As a mother of a teenage girl, I sadly see how young girls long to be popular. In the process, they claw their way to the top. And those they tramp on? Mere causalities. They lose focus of who they were created to be. Like you, I’ve been there myself.

They are inundated with messages through the internet, television, and magazines that remind them of how they don’t measure up to perfection. All you have to do is look around a bit while you are in line at Walmart. Nearly every magazine will have a big breasted, perfectly thin, half naked woman. What message does that send them? It says to be beautiful, to be attractive, to be wanted and to be worthy you MUST look like that. And if you don’t, well, you’re outta luck.

Every year, girls are engaging in sexual activity at younger and younger ages. In fact, 23% of all 14 year old girls are already sexually active. There seems to be this huge surge of girls aggressively pursuing boys sexually. Yeah, that makes this mama gray.

How can we help the hearts of our precious girls? There are some super important things we must tell them.

1. Purity is cool. {although the world would never tell you that} When you fall in love, it’s natural to want to express your love in physical ways. But you also know God wants you to remain sexually pure—in both your actions and your thoughts. Sometimes it’s a tough balance, but showing love for another and remaining pure is possible. Respect yourself, respect your partner but most importantly respect God. And remember, you’re a lady! Make him treat you as one!

Purity is beautiful. Valuable. Precious. An amazing gift given to us by God to give to our spouse. There is a much better way, Gods way. His plan is certainly better than any we could make! God loves you and thinks you are so precious! He absolutely treasures you. He wants you to save your body and your heart for the one person you will spend your life with. The one person you will enter into that amazing covenant of marriage with. Think of what an amazing gift you would be able to give your future spouse on your wedding day. Not only would you be giving them your whole heart but you could also give them your whole body as well. What an awesome gift that would be!

2. The girls in the magazines don’t even look like the girls in the magazines. And just know this, your worth isn’t based on your appearance!  You are beautiful. Period. Not because of your lip-gloss shade or your expensive jeans. Not because you have on a sassy outfit and super cute new boots. Your worth is never found in your appearance, ever. You are beautiful simply because you were created in the image of God. You are a daughter of the King!

3. Boys are visual. It’s the way God made them. And when you dress immodestly, it makes it super challenging for them. Time after time I’ve saw a girl wear a low cut shirt then complain about boys looking down their shirt. While you may have worn it because you felt you looked hot, let’s be honest here, you also wore it for attention. But that’s the absolute wrong attention. This goes hand in hand with our next truth.

4. Modesty. God gave us, as women, the gift of softness, femininity and beauty. It’s our responsibility to convey those without showing our sexuality. Allow your appearance to reflect your pure and virtuous heart. Know your worth and reflect it on the outside. Your body is a gift from God, honor it as such. I love this quote by Jessica Rey “Modesty isn’t about hiding ourselves, it’s about revealing our dignity”. We can absolutely dress beautifully without being out of fashion or immodest. The search might be a little harder but it’s not impossible. You will probably have to look past the racks they place at the front of the store but I promise it’s not an impossible task.

5. Boys are not the begin all and end all. I know this time in life is hard and confusing. You’ve had a lifelong circle of friends…then enter a boy. Yeow, can this shake things up. Just remember this, your friends were there before him and they’ll be there after him. Let’s face it, chances are you won’t be marrying him. And once your relationship ends, it’s your friends who will be there to pick up the pieces. So try to treat them with respect and remember it’s hard on them as well to not spend as much time with you.

6. Have a servants heart. It is so so important to love with a servants heart, to have empathy for those who are lost and hurting. After all, Jesus did say the second greatest commandment was to love your neighbors. Reaching out to others, being the hands and feet of Jesus, is one of the greatest callings we have in our faith. Not only does it show the love of Christ for the world, it’s also an opportunity for us to worship God and for us to grow more like Jesus. In today’s world, there is such a focus on self and it is a daily struggle to instead turn our hearts away from self. Take time. Be humble. Keep on. Love.

7. You were uniquely designed you to be YOU. You are His perfectly perfect creation, handcrafted by the same hands that made the stars. Jesus skillfully crafted the body, mind and soul of each and every human being while she was in her mother’s womb. So the next time your self-esteem is lacking or you feel not as pretty, thin, popular, etc. as the next person, just smile and thank the God who made you, died for you, and wants the best for you.

8. Honor your parents. I know, I know. I say this and all you hear is the Peanuts teacher in your head. Blah blah blah. But this is a big one girlies! God gave one commandment to children, obey your parents. This is more than just obeying them, it’s treating them like important people. It’s treating them with love and respect. Sometimes we are asked to do hard things that we don’t understand, don’t want to do, don’t feel like doing or that anger us. But remember, when we obey God we always know that He will bless us!

9. You will never be perfect. You will never be perfect.  God does not demand our perfection to get His love. Wow, isn’t that a relief? God knows there is no possible way any of us could ever be perfect. Ever. But if you’ve put your faith in Jesus and received Him into your life then you’ve been declared righteous. Let’s say that again, if you’ve received Jesus into your life you’ve been declared righteous! You are covered under His grace, declared righteous and are precious in His eyes and you are held in the hand of His care. You are HIS and he loves you unconditionally.

10. Guard your heart. You are to keep your heart safe and guard it from attack. Just a quick little side note…because everyone else is doing it is not a good excuse. There is a real war going on right now over your soul. Every single day satan prowls around and looks for an opportunity to pounce on your heart. You must be a warrior princess, put on the armor of God and guard your heart against attack. You need to be on guard about the occult, sexual sin, vanity, envy, greed, sassyness, gossip, lying, anger and pride.

I’m raising a daughter in this crazy world. I won’t always be there to protect her (oh how I wish I could) so I will tell her the truth. I can’t change the world, but I can prepare her for it.