i love pinterest.

a few of my most favorite recent pins:

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Will I Still Be Okay?

Last night, as I was doing my quiet time, the Lord began asking me a few questions. They were some really hard questions, and I still don't know my answer to them. 

My devotion was on living with an eternal purpose in mind, which is something I've been hearing a lot in the past few days. Matthew Henry writes, "It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our last day." Do we live in a way to make every moment count? Chris Tiegreen, the guy who wrote my devotional, writes, "Understanding life's uncertainty can lead to a remarkable shift in values." Are my priorities lined up in such a way that I'm showing how uncertain every day is to the people in my day-to-day life? 

Tiegreen ends yesterday's devotion with this challenge: "Begin living in the light of eternity, and understand the life God has given us." Am I really living in the light of eternity? Am I living with an eternal perspective? 1 John 2:28 says, "And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming." 

Did you catch that last part? "we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming" Last week, I went to church with Caroline in Auburn (actually in Opelika, but that's not the point). The pastor preached on this verse. I want to live every day so that I am confident that if Jesus came back that day, I wouldn't be ashamed at how I was living. I would be so excited, and I could say, "Here I am, Lord. Take me." 

Last night, as I was doing my devotion, I was thinking and praying about all these thoughts. That's when the Lord starting asking me questions. Like one that I tweeted last night. At the end of the day, are we willing to be okay with the fact that God accomplishes the desires of our hearts differently than we imagined?

Am I? Am I okay with that? Will I be content? There are some desires in my heart that are huge. Like getting married. Being a mom. Meeting my BM. But what if the Lord accomplishes those desires in ways that are different than I imagined? I'm currently reading this book about a girl who had some of those same desires, and the Lord is using her in different ways than she imagined. Is that what the Lord is going to do?

At the end of the day, will I give all the glory to Him if He does it differently than I want Him to? I sure hope so.

Christmas is in a MONTH!

YAY! I am SO excited for Christmas this year. I think I'm really excited about it because I have my own house that I got to decorate and because of the awesome parties that will take place in this house. But, before I get too carried away with Christmas, I need to write about Thanksgiving.

I really didn't think this Thanksgiving was going to be that eventful. It was our second annual Thanksgiving at Leah's house, and there weren't many plans for a crazy Thanksgiving. We got there, took our group picture without too many complications, and then we all spent the rest of the afternoon eating and talking. I was probably a bit upset about the fact that there wasn't any ham there. (We had a TON of food, two turkeys, and lots of dessert. Yet there was no ham. I was a bit disappointed, yet I've learned to be okay with that when none of my family and few of my friends actually like ham.)

Well, the day got a little crazy when Leah's cousin's dog got out and half of us went looking for him. (I may or may not have been the reason why he got out.) After knocking on a random neighbor's door, traipsing through some people's yards, climbing over some rocks and up a hill, and Leah going under some barbed wire, my dad called to say that the dog was found. I'd say that was a little eventful. Then, we got back to Leah's house, and what was there? Oh, just her sister and two horses. What did I do? Oh, just rode one in the front yard. No big deal. Check out Leah's blog to see the pictures!

That night, Leah and I were some of the crazies that took part of the Black Friday shopping. We got some AMAZING deals! Even though we had some really awkward moments, I'd say the night/early morning was a major success. I've also come to the conclusion that me + Leah + event will more than likely always end up in us having some sort of crazy story and that we shouldn't be surprised when it happens.

Back to Christmas...my house is DECORATED! Ah, I love it. I really am enjoying this whole decorating a house thing, especially when it comes to Christmas time. Leah put some pictures up, and hopefully the next time she's over she can take some more. I'm looking forward to the Christmas parties that are going to take place in my house in the next few weeks! Also, I'm seriously almost done with my Christmas shopping. Thanks, Black Friday Specials! I've knocked out four people already, and I've made a dent in a few others.

I'm spending the rest of my Thanksgiving break reading this:

and getting really excited for Christmas by pinning things like this: 

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I really love this picture.

So grateful for these girls!