{Gratefulness} pictures from my week

Gratefulness makes for a beautiful heart. You can see way I think giving thanks breeds joy here and the importance of it. :) 

But here are a few of the things I counted as gifts this week!

Seeing God's beauty through His creation

Sister date with the best sista evaaa!!

Having friends with the coolest job...blessed by Lizzie and her passion for adoption. You can learn more about Together For Adoption and follow them on Pinterest. 

For fun shoes

For chacos and giving my toes freedom ;)

Babysitting three beautiful girlies :)
Their sweet new kitty, Rock Star

The honesty that comes from a 5 and 3 year old...funny and challenging 

Make overs, playing in the sprinkler outside, eating jelly sandwiches, and watching Barbie Christmas in July...I love these girls! 

{Guest Blog}

Hello.

For the longest time I thought I was a “good person.” I was living a moralistic life and I thought the Lord was pleased by it. In fact, I thought He was happier with me than He was others because I hadn’t fallen into those “sinful” activities. I also thought He was prouder of others who were more spiritually mature than I. I thought that once I reached a certain level of maturity He would love me fully, but until that point, if even obtainable, His love wasn’t complete. This mindset left me judgmental and enslaved to sin. And broken. And hardened. And legalistic. I was tangled in a lie straight from the pit of hell!

Thank goodness for the Lord’s constant desire for His daughter’s heart. He saved me. 

         The day I realized how entangled I was I remember feeling so refreshed. How is it that I don’t have to work for love, but rather it’s already given? Jesus, that’s how. I was so wrapped up in being a good person that I wasn’t living and walking under His grace, which is dangerous and sinful. Deep down inside I was subconsciously focused on how I could earn His love, but praise Him that we don’t have to work, because if so, I’d fail miserably.

            God has been so faithful to reveal himself to me and show me what it looks like to walk in freedom; I’ve been set free and my chains have been broken. That’s a beautiful picture. He’s shown me that He loves me no more or less because of what I do, but His grace covers me and it is enough. I am His daughter. I’m not subject to the law. I’m an heir to the thrown, made whole in His eyes. He loves me just as I am.

This week as I was reading through Ephesians, I was brought to tears and overwhelmed with Christ’s love for ME. It was a beautiful reminder that I belong to Him. He loves me a whole heck of a lot and I’m eternally grateful, simply offering a heart that’s been mended and ready to love. And that’s it. And He’s okay with that.

What a sweet season of life it’s been for me. I praise Jesus for the Lord’s constant pursuit of my heart and affections. He loved me enough to reveal the Truth to me and break me of my bondage. It’s peaceful resting in that, knowing I don’t have to do anything but love, listen, and be obedient.

Okay, that is all.

-Danielle

{Gratefulness} throughout this week

Counting gifts everyday is something I love to do...read why here.

Here are some of the gifts I counted this week!

Visiting friends in Dallas and dinner outside

A large Pearl Cup latte...just the greatest coffee ever!

A morning walking around and sampling local produce...yay for local farmers!

Fresh bingers

Rain and road trips...sometimes pair nicely together

Road trippin' to South TX with Momma

South Texas

Seeing horses just chillin' by the road

Pumpkin scone and Starbucks coffee...a little piece of fall on a hot summer day

Funny little sayings reminding me I'm southern

New hair cut and fun Velcro rollers

:) ... need I say more

one thousand gifts

Family, friends, a roof over my head, food on the table…those are the things I normally thanked God for blessing me with.

Then I read “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp. Until I read that, I honestly didn’t realize or ever think about all the gifts God has given us. Yes, there were those days I would be in an extra grateful mood. But rarely did I go through the day with a heart of gratitude towards everything.

Like many others I talk to, I get so caught up in the day. In life, I forget to be thankful.

Ok, so to be honest, I only started reading this book because the cover of the book is really pretty (yes, a communications major who studies about marketing strategic fell victim of one!) and I got it half off. It wasn’t on my must-read-list.

(Now, I tell everyone about it. And that they must read it!)

Then in the first chapter Voskamp wrote: “Joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped. God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: joy.”

Think about that for a while. Reread it.

I had to stew on it for a long time!

If you haven’t read this book, I encourage you to do so. Voskamp writes that she was learning to be joyful in life. But how? Jesus tells us to be joyful. Sometimes it’s hard with different situations, with life really.

When something came up in Voskamp’s life, like she started feeling overwhelmed, stressed, anxious or if someone was really pushing her patience to the limits, she would simply start saying thanks.

If it were a stressful situation, she would give thanks for things within the situation. When someone was really getting under her skin, she would say thanks for that person’s qualities.

It’s hard. But when giving thanks, the stress melts away. When giving thanks, that person turns out to be an asset (a gift) not an annoyance.

Giving thanks to God, being grateful, for the gifts God’s given helps us unwrap joy.

“Joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped. God gives gift and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: joy.”

Try it. I started giving thanks for the things I normally wouldn’t have given a second thought. I started counting gifts in the middle of panic attacks and stress, in the impatient moments, in the times when joy wasn’t present.

I’m going to post every Sunday some of the things throughout the past week that I counted as gifts.

At first this was a hard task. But try it. Don’t give up on it, and soon you’ll realize you count gifts, give thanks, like it’s a normal thing.

Don’t you think God, our Creator, gets excited when we thank Him? Glory to His name for the gifts He blesses us with and the joy He gives!

Leave a comment if you’re going to count gifts with me!

{Guest Blog} Veggie Tales and Superfoods

What’s a Superfood?

Think of them like nutritional superheroes.  They fight disease and give antioxidants!! Making our bodies a better place.  Remember Jr. the Asparagus from Veggie Tales?  Ya, think of him. He always fought to do the right thing. And he’s a vegetable.

Anyway. Broccoli, blueberries, almonds, and black beans are common (and they are good), but there are many more rising superheroes! Here are some superfoods that you may not have heard of.

If you like broccoli:

Try mushrooms—Researchers found that the two most commonly purchased mushrooms, portobello and crimini, are high in antioxidants and strengthen your immune system. They fight off all the bad germs inside. HiYa!

 I like to marinade Portobello mushrooms in light Italian dressing and place them on the grill!  Serve ‘em up with chicken and rice.

If you like blueberries

Try Rasberries—they are the main berry source of ellagitannins, which are a type of antioxidants that are said to fight cancer. See, told you we are fighting for good! I like to toss a few frozen into my smoothies.

If you like Almonds:

Try Walnuts—Walnuts have omega 3 fat that is a good fat. (Ya, those exist.) Walnuts have the super-power of increasing brain function, memory, and mood. That deserves a hallelujah!

If you like black beans:

Try Red Beans—Black beans are good, but read beans have the highest amounts of phytochemicals found in most beans, and are number  one  in antioxidants among 100 foods recently ranked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Threw that stat. in there for my cousin J She’s the ag gal…)

Now, enjoy your new superfoods. Or nutritional superheroes. Let’s fight for “world peas.”

-Kate

Deep Breath

Have you ever had that moment where you can just take a deep breath because everything has finally calmed down? Settled into place?

Maybe you’ve been stressed or anxious about something for a while and it’s finally worked out. It’s such a good feeling to just take that deep breath.

Well, I’m waiting on my deep breath. For about a year now I’ve known that I would be graduating Texas A&M in this coming December. Being the Type A person that I am, I quickly started planning my next steps in life. (This might be a foreign concept to some people. But not for me. I write and plan out everything, including my life.)

I wrote and planned: Graduate in December then graduate school in January getting a Masters in Public Relations/Marketing/Communications, land a cushy job at a Southern magazine firm or an agriculture cooperation, after working a few years and getting settled and married to a Southern gentleman we would start the process of adopting our sweet children from Africa.

It was done. Planned. All I had to do was follow the next steps.

So I took a deep breath right before going to bed last October when I had written this out (literally written out in my journal). The deep breath wasn’t that deep though.

The next day I woke up and realized that something in my plan wasn’t right. I look at it again and took the week rethinking everything. Maybe I was supposed to teach Sunday school somewhere in there. So I added that. Deep breathe…no.

The plan just wasn’t right.

That October is when the Holy Spirit started slowly working on my heart.

I didn’t know what the problem was. Why wasn’t I ok with this perfect plan I had? I was certain that this is how my life should go.

Slowly I realized I had never once in my life truly and completely asked the Lord that His plan, His will, be done, not mine.

If you know me, you know I’m a control freak. To the max. Like reload-the-dishwasher-if-I-didn’t-load-it-control-freak.

So giving God total control of my future was anything but a deep breath. It was hard to turn over my “perfect” plan. But when I did, it felt so good. Total freedom.

Since that day in October, my trust in God had been strengthened, many tears have fallen, and numerous Internet searches for seminaries and ministries have been made.

The plans God has for me He knows, not me. I think it’s that way so that out trust is strengthened, out faith increased.

I’m still waiting for my deep breath. For my plan to come together and know what’s going to happened. It may just come in small pieces. Not the “ten-year plan” like I’d want. But rather the steps that God wants me to take next.

But for this Type A, waiting for the deep breath means strengthened trust and a whole lot of prayer.

These are two of my favorite songs that have encouraged me during this time of waiting. The book of James is a great encouragement of believers in a waiting or weary time…enjoy! 

{Guest Blog} Independence Day...You are free!

Yay for the Fourth of July, cookouts, flag cakes, fireworks and anything red, white and blue! So before you set out on your day of freedom festivities, take a couple minutes to read this post. You won't regret a second of it!

It is the blogging debut of Danielle Elizabeth Barr (DBarr, my buddy). You will love her writing. She lets you see right into her crazy wonderful life and beautiful heart.

Hello.

I’m not good with words. Or grammar. And my posts probably won’t be long. But I do love Jesus and want to share that joy and what He is doing in my life.

REDEEMED. Go take a gander at that up in Webster’s and prepare your brain. Now apply that to yourself and be blown away. You’ve been redeemed by the King of the Universe – bought and paid for in full by the blood of His son. Yes, YOU. DANG. That goes hard when you think about it and it’s almost overwhelming.

I was in awe when I really studied what it meant to be redeemed. I had always heard the word, but never really understood it. How could the Lord of Lords love a consistent sinner like myself enough to die for ME. And THEN to think I’m complete in Him and that my debt is done away with. I cannot do anything to earn His grace or approval, but it’s been given to me as a daughter – His daughter, whom He is jealous for. Wowzers. Stew on that for a while.

Okay, that is all.

~Danielle