Life is change. Growth is optional.

The earth around me is covered in snow today. I had to wake up and leave early from visiting some friends before the roads got bad.  As I set out on my 1 1/2 hr drive, I had one of those moments where I was absolutely mesmerized at how beautiful snow is.  It was all coming right at my windshield-  It felt like I was in another galaxy with stars racing past me! It's a shame the majority of people at this point in the season are sick of snow and just want it gone. I had been catching this attitude when I had my peanut butter moment in the car today and I felt like it was the first snowfall! You know, that excited feeling you get when your world turns white in the start of winter and all of a sudden you want to watch Elf, build snowmen, and sit in front of a fireplace sipping hot cocoa? I didn't necessarily want to do all these things but I just couldn't help but smile at how pretty the snow coming at me was.  I even rolled down my window and let some fall into my car! The burst of fresh cold air felt so good. Every season is filled with so much beauty and so many new exciting things to do. I want to enjoy every minute of each season- in weather and in life.

 #peanutbuttermoments #ecclesiastes #beautyineverything

"Hallelujah we are free to struggle, We're not struggling to be free!"

{ Freedom }  - personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery

Isn't it incredible how easily we hold onto the chains that have been broken? Jesus Christ DIED for US.  He has set us free from the bondage of Sin.  We were once slaves of sin but now we have been set free!

For so long, I have lived under this 'bondage' that was never really there. Sometimes we put up our own walls and think we can't break through them when we simply have to take our finger and push them over. We stand inside a jail cell when the door is wide open.  The bondage of comparison, judgement, self-hatred, pride, and passivity have ruled my life in the past.  They have kept me from being myself around people, from trusting in God and believing the truth about who he says I am, and living a life in reckless abandonment in the midst of God's will.  In a split second though, I now realize you can choose to walk out of the cell, to turn to God's truth instead of comparing myself to others, to be obedient to God's will, and to trust that what he says about me and who he created me to be is perfect.

It's a choice in every moment; every thought across your mind, every decision made, every action taken,  to live in the Freedom Christ has bought for us. It takes effort to begin with but once we understand and believe the truth about who God says we are and walk confidently in that, we will know our freedom in Christ.

I saw this hanging on someone's dorm room door the other day. I really liked the quote and it made me think- every action, every thought, every word spoken has an impact.  So often we dream big and want to change the world, which is great! But I think it's easy to forget that the smallest of things that we choose to do can have incredible impact in our world. Even a simple smile across the room can touch someone's life. What if we chose to start with the small things? What if we functioned out of a place of selfless love? That would change the world.

As we were looking out the window into the alley way of the Brothels in India, Dr. R asked each one of us to find beauty in what we saw. The streets were filled with trash. The houses were painted but faded on the walls that were covered with cracks.  There were bars over every window and tattered clothes hanging from every porch above. This place was dark and the smell of sweat, trash, and perfume mixed together made you pull up your scarf and take a deep breathe to hold in. What was beautiful about this place?

As I sat there staring into the alley, I asked God to reveal his beauty to me. I took a deeper look at the things that once made this place dark and suddenly the things that were dirty and old were beautiful to me. The houses were painted with so many different pretty colors like pink, purple, and green (something we don't do in America).  And the walls that were cracked and appeared to be falling apart brought the history of these Brothels to mind. The bars that protected the windows each had a different design within them and the clothes hanging out of them were so colorful and the patterns on them were all different. Suddenly, beauty was everywhere. Sometimes you just have to look beyond first glance to see it.

I've been learning to look for beauty in every situation.  Even in things that you can't physically see. God makes beauty from ashes and God knows my life is filled with ashes.  Instead of focusing on all the ugly and torment though, I'm starting to see how God heals and redeems. God makes beautiful things out of us- we just have to be willing to let him. To fall in love with him a little deeper each day and know that he has created us beautiful.