NEVER GROW UP

Galatians 6:1-5 The Message (MSG)

6 ^1-3 Live creatively, friends...^4-5 Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

In today's society, we are asked from a young age what we want to do with our lives. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" has been an anthem in many of our lives as young children. "A firemen." "A nurse." "Car salesmen like my daddy." "A teacher".... or in my case, there were two things that I can remember, "Miss America and a mommy." Over the course of my 29 year old lifetime, dreams have been discovered and dreams have died. Growing up is not something to look forward to but to escape from and although I am not a mommy yet nor Miss America and never will be, I do believe that those two things play a particular role in who I am today. I am the daughter of God which means I have an eternal crown and a mother signifies someone who gives life, which is what I hope to do today by inspiring someone to jump out of their cages and boxes and freefall with Jesus into His will for their lives.

Matthew 18:2-5The Message (MSG)
^2-5 For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. What’s more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it’s the same as receiving me.

 

I have a 2.5 year old niece and the other day as I was making pipe cleaner crowns (because my Father is a KING), I was facetiming with her and told her I was a princess as I wore my crown and she was also a princess. "Pincess". Her eyes lit up. "Pincess."  It's in every little girls hearts. Eternity with the King. Kids are great because you can tell them anything and they trust and believe you when you tell them something. Caylor, my niece, now believes that she is a princess. And I hope that she never forgets it. Her sister Cora is as well and so is every single woman on this earth. Every man is a son of a King. Whether you choose to live as royalty is your choice. Sidenote: Parents, you have the greatest privilege on earth. Speak life over your children and confess God's truths over them daily. The world will often tell them everything they are NOT. The truth is what God says they are and that is something they should hear every single day. I cant wait for the day that God gives me children and when I get to celebrate daily what a beautiful and powerful creation God made in them when he put them on this earth.

 

"You are almost 30. It's time to grow up. You can't live the way you do forever. When are you going to grow up?"

 

This is something I am asked on a daily basis. As a very young adult, I had dreams to be an Oscar award winning actress. I moved to NYC at the age of 20 and went to a 2 year acting conservatory at the cheap cost of $60,000. I moved to California and at the age of 25, after a near death experience and a miracle, I realized that all of my pursuits were because I was looking for the worlds acceptance and saw fame as the way to be accepted and loved. I began to realize that God wanted me to tell stories but on paper and not on the screen. It might be both one day. It's all gonna be HIS way and by HIS will.

It's not been easy. I am ridiculed daily for my choices to follow God's call and not to conform to society's model of a normal everyday career path. "An artist's lifestyle is so unstable", they say. "You need to get another job." "It's not paying the bills." Okay I get that we have to pay our bills. But I also believe that the world's so-called "stability" is not really stability at all. It's comfort. Because you could lose your job any day. The stock market could crash. Something could happen that could rock your world so far upside down that what you thought was stable was anything but stable. There is only one stable thing in this life and that is THE rock, Jesus Christ.

So here is to all the artists and misfits and people who feel the pressure to "Grow Up":

God was the ultimate creator. We are made in his image. Jesus was a carpenter. He made things. The dream to create and explore and make things from nothing and to write and sing and dance and find beauty in the small things is a GOD THING. You might seem like you are low on the totem pole on this earth but if you are listening to God's voice and letting his voice paint the stories of your life, "YOU WILL RANK HIGH IN GOD'S KINGDOM." You are not a starving artist. You are a commissioned artist from God. He has made you for such a time as this. His heart is that creativity will start to soar in the hearts of his children and His sons and daughters become the leaders in the greatest innovation of the arts. Keep your heart open to what God wants to do with you. You are not used up goods and it wasn't your time before but the TIME IS NOW. God has been preparing to for the spotlight. Little kids never judge their creations. They just do it. Dancing. Singing. No inhibitions. Most of the time, when they draw a picture, they cheerfully hand it to their parents and shout, "Look what I made for you!!!!". Their parents will smile and say, "Thank you! It's the most beautiful photo I ever have seen. I am putting this on the fridge." And then their parents put their work on the fridge for all to see. God is doing the same thing with all of the artists in the world. All that He is asking is that you LIVE CREATIVELY. You do the work and he will be the one that puts it up for everyone to see. My prayer is that you are encouraged today to live with a childlike spirit, a relentless pursuit for His Kingdom, and that you begin to see that not growing up isn't so bad.

Beautiful Scars

 

 

It was Valentine’s Day 2009 and I was waitressing at this southern restaurant in NYC owned by Justin Timberlake. We were having a singles ball and guess what?!! I was single… and also 22. YES. This was gonna be my night. Anyways, we had a uniform which consisted of jeans, boots, and a tank top with the logo. We could wear a plaid shirt over the logoed top if we wanted. I chose my cowboy boots and a pair of leggings that were not jeans because I like to break rules. There were a few celebrities in the place and as I was walking through the crowd shaking my rump, all of the sudden, my body did a dance move I have never done which would be considered a ‘banana peel’ and my feet slipped out from under me. My body came off the ground about four feet and then crashed down hard on the floor. Onto a pile of broken glass. Ouch. Thank God I didn’t hurt myself. Whew.
 

I quickly got up and looked around to see if anyone had noticed my fall. Nope. Just the girl I was training… I got up and dusted the dirt off my shoulders and bum. “Wait. This feels odd. Why do I feel like I have a**less chaps on?” I thought to myself as I glanced at my hands. They were wet but the liquid was not clear. It was RED just like… BLOOD?!!!!!!  I am bleeding!!! From my butt. This is not good. The poor gal’s face who I was training had a look of disgust and worry. I quickly ran down the stairs and just sort of stood in one spot in the basement just holding my cheeks together. Another server ran down the stairs to see if I was okay and calmly stated, in her exact words, “Yeah, you are going to need stitches.”

 

STITCHES? On my butt? On Valentine’s Day? Nooooooo, this can’t be happening. I know this is a lot of information but, for the record, the wounds were like on both sides of my crack. Yes. My butt crack. I know you can’t believe I would share this story for the whole world to read but they have already seen my butt so why not talk about it? My sense of shame walked right out that door with my perfect 22 year old scar-less bum.

Here was my problem. I don’t have eyes in the back of my head and the wound was out of my line of vision.  I couldn’t see it but it was definitely there and it was bleeding. A LOT. I never thought someone could bleed that much and not die. Well, folks, a little blood isn’t going to kill you and apparently a lot won’t either. I went to the bathroom to try and see it but right as I was about to get a good look, the co-owner of the restaurant knocks on the door and asks if I am okay. My response? “Yeah, totally fine. Just a little cut.”  I open up the door and ask him if he wants to see it. He says no but I show him anyways and then he proceeds to tell me he is taking me to the hospital. I am like okay fine, if you say so… it must be pretty bad if you are going to leave Justin Timberlake and Leo to go to the hospital with me.

We walk up the stairs. I am holding my hands on my butt like I pooped on myself and I don’t want anyone to see. People are staring. Whatever. Worry about your own hands.  We go outside and he starts to flag a cab. “WAIT. What are you doing? I can’t sit down. What if my butt just decides to crack all the way open and I have a giant butt crack for a butt instead????!!!!!” These weren’t my exact words but absolutely my thoughts. Also, the cab driver wouldn’t be very happy if we left what looked like a murder scene behind when we jumped out at the hospital two blocks away… so what did we do??? We walked, VERY slowly, to make sure it didn’t split more. I was holding my butt the whole way. Every couple that we passed, I wanted to punch in the face. So in love. Walking hand in hand. And my hands were being used to firmly hold my derriere together. No hand holding. No I love you’s. No kissing. No red hearts. Just red blood. We would pass people and then they immediately would do a double take followed with a horrified look. Like come on. Have you never seen a girl hold her butt together because she fell on glass? It’s every girls Valentine’s Day dream come true.

 

 

We got to the ER and the lady at the front desk was a little confused until I turned around and then she goes, “OHHHHHHH…..” Ohhhh? Yeah that’s right. Oh. This girls crack is cracked! This is whack! Better get her in a room ASAP! (Sorry nothing like a little triage rap). I was escorted to a room immediately and then waited. And waited. It seemed like forever but really was like five minutes. I went to the bathroom. I faced my rump towards the mirror and moved my hands as I glanced over my shoulder. OMGGGGGGGG. It was bad. My perfect 22 year old butt now had two giant 2.5 inch cuts on both cheeks. This would be my life. I text my mom and sister. Their response? “Yeah right. Send a photo to prove it.”

 

Ummm. NO. Why not? Because I don’t have someone to help me take a selfie of my bum….because I don’t have a valentine… because I can’t take a picture because I am too busy holding it together to keep it from turning into a giant grand canyon!!!!! You have got to be kidding me. On to more pressing matters as I looked at it again in the mirror. WOW. It didn’t really even hurt. Like at all. But it sure was bleeding and it was big and VERY, VERY open. Okay. Better go back to the room.

The doctor followed me in. He says “what seems to be the problem?” HMMMMMMMMMMM???? Let me lay down. Wait. Face down. Ohhhhhh. He says “You are going to need sutures. When was the last time you got a tetanus shot?” First of all, DUH, yeah I am going to need sutures. Second of all, what the heck is tetanus? I text my mom. “When was the last time I got a tetanus shot?” She calls me back right away. My little sister is in the background saying “You can’t be serious.” No, I am making it up. Like a Valentine’s Day fools joke. OR this is really my life. Oh yeah. This is the cup the Lord has given me and it is running over. Rather bleeding over. My mom replies that it has been a long time since I got a tetanus shot. Well like how long? She doesn’t know. So the doctor says he will have to give me one along with a numbing shot. He will be right back with a nurse to put me back together. At this point, I am like whatever keeps me from having to hold my white humpty dumpty behind together. Just put it back together. After the doctor consultation, graciously, the owner of the restaurant decided to let me experience this humiliation on my own. How kind of him?! Can I get an amen?!!

 

Ok. Next….I pull my pants down to my ankles and belly flop on to the examination table. “Well Rachel, this is rock bottom for Valentine’s day so it can never get worse.” Whoever made up that saying about looking at the bright side has never been laying down on an examination table face down about to get their buns sewed together. He comes back in a few minutes with a two syringes. Okay this might burn a little. “You guys always say that”, I thought to myself……whththjguehsfjhfheiujhrwfeuhfujerueh!!!!!!!! BURN???!!!!  This feels like you injected a tiny demon into my butt to eat my soul one cheek at a time. Are you kidding me? OWWWWWWWWWWW. I screamed. I cursed. I yelled at cupid. “It’s all your fault!!!” as I winced in pain. (As I recall this story, I am sure that the owner thought I was screaming at him. No wonder he was apologizing so profusely when we left.) Apparently, the burning demon that was injected into me was novacane. I didn’t feel anything at all after that but those few seconds were like slowly setting your butt on fire. Or lowering just your backside into a volcano and letting lava eat it away. It hurt. Next up was the tetanus shot followed by the stitches.

 

“You will feel just a little bit of pressure here as I put everything back together.”  I’ll take pressure. I just want this day to be over. “Alright all done!”. Awesome. So glad you are so enthusiastic about sewing my butt together. “How many stitches?” I asked. 52. Just kidding only ten. Four on one side and six on the other. The doctor comes in to examine and then gives me papers. No medicine? “Nope and don’t drink alcohol either”… “Oh. I wasn’t planning on drowning my sorrows away in a bottle of vodka.” Except that I was. Dang it. Valentine’s Day was officially over. It was past midnight. No valentine. No medicine. No alcohol. I had one other option. Go home. So that’s the short version of Valentine’s Day 2009. Sweet, sweet memories.

 

The healing process was like, oh so fun. Sarcastic.  I don’t know if you recall but when you have a nasty cut, it starts to itch when it is healing. OMG. No really. OMG. Why would God do that? Like it’s getting better but DON’T TOUCH IT!  It’s a little uncomfortable to heal. When we are healing, it is so tempting to scratch what’s going on or get temporary relief but we need to feel the uncomfortable. Temporary relief is just that… temporary. It actually makes the healing process longer and can even infect a wound and start the healing process all over. No way Jose.

I had a plane ride to Tennessee a few days later and the stitches were still there and let me tell you. The MOST uncomfortable ride ever. In the history of evers. Sitting is a little hard when you have ten stitches on your shaker. “It would feel so good to scratch my butt. Let me just shift to one side. NO!!!! DON”T TOUCH IT. But it would feel so good. NO Rachel, it wouldn’t feel so good. It would mess up all the healing and you might have to get stitches again. And that SHOT. Heck no. I am good. Don’t need to scratch my butt. I’ll just shift uncomfortably for two hours and make the passenger to my right think I have really bad gas.”

 

The best part about stitches is when stitches comes out. It’s a relief I can’t explain unless you have had them. When stitches are ready to come out, it is because the skin has fused together and there is no longer a need for the thread holding it together. Skin to skin. Or in our spiritual lives, hurts fused to God. Give it to God. He will make it beautiful. I have two pretty ugly scars on my bum and have always wondered why God let me go through that particular experience on Valentine’s Day but as I type this, I am seeing before my very eyes how he turns our scars into something truly beautiful. He really does give beauty for ashes.

“By HIS stripes, we are healed.”

A scar is a result from a HEALED wound. They are addictions that have been overcame. They are lifted prayers and answered prayers. They are breakups that God has mended. They are families that have been reconciled. They are things that were meant to destroy that propelled people into their destinies. They are restored marriages. They are abused people made whole. They are lost people who are found again. They are unloved people who recognize that they are loved and who are able to love in return. They are lies that are overturned by truth. Every single scar has a story. Each one represents a fight and battle that we WON. A battle that God won. Our scars are not ugly. No. Not at all. They are a sign of the power of God’s healing love. Scar tissue is stronger than normal tissue. They are a sign of strength.  Beautiful strength. Beautiful scar. “I might have been hurt but I didn’t stay hurt and I let God heal me. I didn’t try to do things on my own or try to scratch my way out of the pain but I let God do it HIS way.” Whew. Bring on the scars.

 

 

Colbie Caillat: “You don’t have to try so hard.”

Colbie Caillat: “You don’t have to try so hard.”

Colbie Caillat has released the lyric video for her new song ‘Try,’ the single from her EP ‘Gypsy Heart Side A.’ I love the message Colbie promotes throughout the song, “You don’t have to try so hard…You don’t have to change a single thing.”

The lyric video for “Try” is a celebration of natural beauty and features Caillat, her fans and other famous faces — like Miranda Lambert, Hayden Panettiere, Sara Bareilles, Lady Antebellum‘s Hillary Scott, Natasha Bedingfield, Katharine McPhee and more— appearing without makeup in an effort to spread the message that beauty truly is on the inside. "It's exhausting being a woman," says Caillat. "This song is not to say that we should never wear makeup, but to say that, sometimes, it's okay not to."

The video opens with the following message from the singer-songwriter:

This lyric video is filled with photos of friends, fellow musicians, entertainers and my amazing fans. I asked everyone to shoot themselves wearing little to no makeup – whatever they were most comfortable with. Myself included. – CC

Pictured: Colbie Caillat posted this photo on her Instagram to encourage her fans to submit a bare faced selfie for ‘Try’.

The song was written after Colbie wrote a full record last year and her label wanted her to keep working and see if she got anything better. She was told to return to the studio and find a “new sound” for her fourth LP." "To be told that your work isn't good enough -- to do better, to be more like those pop artists out there that dress sexy and use Auto-tune on their voices -- to be compared to someone so different, it hurt," she says.

"Try," was co-written by R&B legend Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, and resulted from a "venting experience" for Caillat, who translated her disappointment about her rejected album into a message of self-love geared towards women. "While we were writing, Kenny told me, 'Stay true to yourself. You don't have to try," Caillat remembers. "It was such an amazing thing to hear from him of all people. I thought it was a great point, and I started singing the chorus with the words, 'You don't have to try.' I told him how exhausting it is for women. There's so much we have to do in order to make ourselves beautiful so we feel accepted in the public eye. This is an anthem for women to accept who they are and be comfortable showing it and not hiding it."

In an interview originally seen in the Huffington Post, Colbie explains her vision behind the video:

Colbie Caillat: For the lyric video I wanted to have everyone send selfies, because right now selfies are so out of control; everyone does the duck face, and they make sure they have the best angle on the way they take their pictures of themselves. So I asked my fans and some of my celebrity friends if they would be brave enough to send me a picture and put it out to the public of them looking "au natural." You'd be surprised how difficult that was for me to get those pictures of everyone. Even if they said yes, they'd still have some bit of makeup on, or they'd put a filter on the lens if they wanted to look cooler, or they'd use that app Facetoons if they wanted to cover up a zit, or they wanted to wait until their blemishes went away. It was so extreme that no one could just let it be as it is. And that's really my whole point of the song is that we all have it--we all get a zit every once in a while, we all fluctuate on weight, and we know everyone's going to go grey at some point, so why are we so badly trying to hide it from each other?

Colbie Caillat 'Try' Lyric Music Video

Watch Colbie and her entourage go au naturale above, and grab “Try” on iTunes. (Added perk — it’s this week’s free Single Of The Week.)

Original interview by Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ragogna/conversations-with-colbie_b_5476882.html?utm_hp_ref=entertainment&ir=Entertainment

Breaking News: Kathy Caylor Greene wins first ever People Mom of the Year Award

KATHY GREENE- This is a just a name to a lot of people. To a lot of other people, it's a woman who many have called mom, a woman who makes people feel good when she is around them, one of the funniest women they have met, and the most generous, hospitable person you have ever met. I have the pleasure of this woman being my mom. From some of my earliest memories, I remember seeing people always coming up in church to hug my mom. I now realize that everyone loving someone is not normal. I mean EVERYBODY loves her. She was always cooking or doing something social and generally the life of any party. But she is good one on one as well. She is my best friend and the closest confidante I have. I honestly hope that I never have to live a single day without her because I just don't even know how I would ever go on. 

Mom won most funny in high school. She is funny. So funny I have had boyfriends who would call me to ask, "Is your mom home?" "Yes" "Okay good, I am coming over." Then they would proceed to talk to my mom the entire time as she paraded us with her stories from her past and present. She has been the source of a lot of very funny moments in my life. My mom is a boss. She has been kicked off an airplane (I mean besides Justin Bieber, who can say that?), jumped from a boat into our backyard because she got locked out of the house when she was out and then her high heels staked into the ground to save her fall...this was four years ago), the same night decided to go to the restroom on our extremely steep driveway only to roll down the hill with her drawers down, and even dressed up like the KKK one time to scare her little black friend (He was her friend and it was a JOKE, our family loves black people). Her stories make even 2014 sound like a G rated movie. She's the best. 

But the best thing about my mom is the way she makes you feel. It's hard to put into words. She was a mom to a lot of people who weren't her kids. I asked several people who have known my mother over the years to describe her or any memories they had of her- You will see that she has touched lots of lives and given us a laugh or two!

Emmaleigh Camera TravisI just remember all the nights we spent with her at your house, how drastically different (in a good way) she was from my mom, how we could be ourselves and talk about boys with her! And makeup and jewelry and whatever else we wanted! Introducing boys to her for approval, I loved your mom!
Chad HeatherlyI have so many wonderful memories of my mother. But what it makes so great and heart felt is I honestly can't touch on one but each day the memories and how much i love her grow and continue to build. She gave me life and two beautiful sisters. Our family is growing which is adding to the memories that started with my mother and her mother before her and so on.
Kristen LanningSpending Sundays with her when I would go down to Tennessee was always my favorite  we would spend all day watching football and sometimes go to shoneys
Christina Rae GrazianoWhen she took us all out to that restaurant at seaport! Then we hit the town and partied like rock stars!!
Paige SlusherI only have one memory with her so far but def her generosity and hospitality : )
Kristin KeithBella spazio!! Nuff said there was alot of oh hells being thrown around 
Ashley NieporteMama G did my makeup for freshman homecoming! She taught me tips and tricks she learned and I still use them today! I spent basically all of highschool inseparable with the you guys and she always treated me like her own! I'm pretty sure during the Myrtle beach drive Mama G was the one that hilariously suggested how to cut back on potty stops lol I don't remember if it was Julie or Bek that was the brave one to do it! Always the coolest mom 
Lauren BallardI remember how she was basically a second mom.. Especially when we used to get in trouble!In high school
Bekah MorrisMom has the biggest heart of anybody I knowAnd we used to make her rate who had the best dive in the pool which was super annoying and she never once complained haha
LeAnn NealOne of the many best memories of your Mom is when we dressed up in our leather pants and went to the Tina Turner Farewell Tour concert. We had a blast. I couldn't imagine sharing that with anyone else. Her zest for life is infectious!  You just want to throw caution to the wind and act a fool without a care in the world and you laugh SO hard that you cry every time.  I always know I will smile, ear to ear, when I get together with her. I guess you could say she taught me how to let go and dance in the rain.
Veera JohnsonI ain't got no daddy! Enough said!! Your mom was like oh hell! That might be one her favorite phrases!
Jessica Kohler HeatherlyThe very first time I met your mom I was 7 months pregnant with Jayce and my ankles were swollen bc of the Tennessee humidity and a 24 hour car ride. Within 20 minutes of meeting her, she was rubbing my feet and legs to help the swelling go down despite the face that her hands hurt now. She rubbed my legs for like an hour and it was the best I had felt in a long long time. So her care and love for everyone is what I love the most.

My mom accepts everyone as they are- she is the most Christlike person I know. No judgements. As you are. She has always encouraged me to be me. Not another version of someone else. From the time I was a little girl, as you can tell in the above photo, she was encouraging me to dance, be goofy, to sing. When not another person on this earth has understood me, she has stood in the gap and said "I'm your person, I get you." She has encouraged my happiness above all else and always embraced her weird little girl. Kathy Caylor Greene, from the bottom of my heart and with every bit of love I have in my heart, I am so very thankful God chose you to be my mom. I love you and so does a lot of other people! XOXO

Hey guys. I wrote an article for sheismore.com. It's a love letter from God. http://sheismore.com/will-you-be-mine-love-god/ is the link. Hope it speaks to your heart! XOXO

Guard your heart

The ring was gorgeous! It was everything I had ever imagined. I was planning my wedding and getting married... Except I wasn't. Jake (name changed) had sent the ring via text message after "meeting" me 24 hours earlier on facebook. This should have been a warning sign that this guy wasn't going to be very careful with my heart but I didn't listen. Something about rings and weddings makes my heart beat a little faster as I am sure it does a lot of you unmarried gals. I gushed to my sister about this perfect man I had met and since she is the logical one, she thought this behavior was nuts and warned me that in the past, this kind of guy did nothing but destroy my heart. But I just brushed her advice off. I decided to drive to meet the guy 8 hours away so I could meet my future husband. He was going to be my husband, he was already looking at rings after all. I had a fairy tale weekend with him. I had butterflies more than half the weekend. He did everything right. He said everything right. And when I went home...nothing.

Everything changed. As a woman considering a long distance relationship, it is a necessary feeling that there is commitment in the relationship. But guys move slow. But I was confused cause the ring was moving fast. I expected a commitment after all the hours we had spent on the phone and the marriage talk and amazing time we spent with each other. He should know by now that I was the one. But somehow he didn't. He didn't want to commit to me. He didn't want to give me up but was okay with me seeing other people. I, on the other hand, had a sick feeling in my stomach to think of him going on a date with another person. And this imbalance of what the other person wanted resulted in me pushing him away as men hate pressure but women need commitment. I started behaving like an insecure woman and the (un)relationship ended.

My heart was not okay. Although I had only known the guy for a few weeks, I had already begun dreaming of our wedding. Because I am in my late twenties, I am very serious about marriage. I have a husband list and this guy exceeded everything. My heart had became attached to the idea of being Jake's girlfriend and maybe even wife. I was already in a relationship that had not even begun yet. I started to feel those heart pains that you feel when you know something is ending. The anxiety set in. I began questioning who I was. The enemy sure knows how to sneak his way in when you are feeling down. Don't let him. Fight back! But the great things about being a woman of God is that if you pour your heart out to God and lay your feelings on the altar before him, he always works things out for the good of his children. Always. So looking over that season, your heart is so valuable to your life. It is what pumps life through you not only physically but spiritually as well. GUARD YOUR HEART.

So here are some ways to Guard your heart:

1. Have realistic expectations at the beginning. It could happen but more than likely, no man is going to be madly in love with you in a few weeks. Feelings take time to develop. Yes, you are amazing and it is easy as woman to decide you want to be with someone but men need time. Give love a chance to grow.

2. Be aware of warning signs. A guy that says "I have commitment issues" has commitment issues. Most men do but if a man knows that and is warning you about his stuff, believe him. They are probably pretty bad. He is telling you for a reason. Another warning sign is a guy who moves too fast in the beginning. A guy who is so sold out about you without knowing you will probably slow down a little further down the road and as women, we have a natural tendency to fight that slow down of relationship pace. A man of God needs to be a man of his word so if he is making promises he can't keep or saying things that he doesn't mean, what kind of husband will he be?

3. Don't give all of yourself over to someone so soon. Let him discover who you are. If you share so much intimate talk and time with someone very quickly and it ends, you are left with a hole that shouldn't be there. Slow down.

4. Give them space. I say this but I am the worst at this. I know the few times I have been successful at giving space, it has worked tremendously in my favor.

5. Keep your dignity. You are a woman of God. Don't compromise the things you want in a relationship. If they aren't there, let him go. As women, it is easy for us to love anyone but let's be good to our hearts and only really risk them for someone we could see a future with. If the relationship does end, be filled with grace and dignity. Don't say things you don't mean. Wait a few days if you have to to get your emotions in check.

6. Keep God above everything. Make sure that he is still the keeper of your heart. Ask him for advice. Read his word for guidance. Surrender the guy over to God's will for both of your lives. You ultimately want to end up with the guy God chose for you so let God have his way!

I hope this encouraged someone. God bless!

Being a Finisher

Has anyone ever felt stuck in their life? You want so badly to move forward and be the woman of God you know in your deep gut you are but there is something holding you back? That no matter how hard you press in, you are still in the exact same place you were last month. I have felt like this recently and been really discouraged. I was praying to the Lord to move forward in my life and he gently gave me a reply- "Because you aren't a finisher." Ouch. Ok God. How do I become a finisher? 

"What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly 

extravagant generosity of God." (Acts 20:24, MSG) 

1. Be faithful in the small things. I realized that I start tasks and do a lot of talking about my dreams and goals but never actually do anything about any of them. Even housework being half finished. So I made my bed. I started to do the dishes as soon as I used them. I didn't wait to take out the garbage three days later. I finished the last two minutes of my workout because I told myself I would do an hour of cardio and I am going to finish that hour of cardio. I started answering emails and texts as soon as I got them that would normally sit for a day before I would respond. It's not that waiting around to do these things is bad in itself, but the Lord has taught me and is teaching me that he is preparing me for a great future filled with advancing his kingdom, and if he can't trust me to finish dishes, how can he trust to use me to heal the hearts of the broken?

2. Make a daily to-do list. It sounds so simple but it is a great feeling when you can check things off that list. Go one step further and make a list of life long goals. I have a several long term goals that include my spiritual, personal, family, and ministry goals. It also is amazing because looking over that list, I am able to see how much God has moved on my behalf to help me accomplish those goals.

3. Tell people about your goals. Ask people to hold you accountable. It can one thing to fail yourself but to fail others is a different story.

4. Do everything you do as you are doing them unto the Lord. When I find myself trying to half-do something, I remind myself that everything I do can be worship to the Lord and to finish for him.

5. Remind yourself that Jesus was a finisher. The last words Jesus spoke on this earth before dying on the cross were "It is finished" (John 19:30). Not only that but he is continuing to do a good work in us that will be completed upon his return. Come on, the person you most want to be like is an amazing finisher!!

Be encouraged to keep running the race and not only running, but FINISHING!