The One and Only Matchmaker

Many young people ponder a lot on the subject of marriage and courtship, so I thought that writing on the topic might be a way to encourage others while we wait for God's perfect timing for our lives.

We need to remember that it is God who decides who our future spouse is going to be, when we will meet, where it will happen, and how we meet.  As a single young woman, I truly do understand how it feels when we think about meeting the "the right guy" someday.  We all get tired of waiting, but when the question whether God is remembering us and whether he will provide us with the right person to marry someday comes into our head, we need to stop, re-focus on the life around us, and trust God that He will bring our future husband, (or wife) into our life at the right time- when we are both ready.

I know that I have still have a few years before even considering getting married, but sometimes others may act hastily and take matters into our own hands.  I have to remember that God is love and He created love in the first place.  He also created marriage and He should be the one who decides who we marry, when we marry, or if we marry.

I want to encourage all of you with examples from the Bible.  I found beautiful love stories in the Bible and I think we all can learn from their stories...

1. God knows when we are lonely in this world.  ""And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." ~Genesis 2:18

2. God has already chosen the one for us before we even lay eyes on them.
Abraham's servant sought out the Lord in prayer to guide him to the right woman to marry Isaac.  God brought Rebekah unto the servant and she accepted the servant's request for her to follow him and marry his master.  Isaac also allowed the Lord to bring him the right woman.  Both of them had strong faith in the Lord and they hadn't even met each other yet!  When they did meet, he loved her.  She was definitely the right choice for him.


3. We need to be spiritually prepared, concerned for others and focused on God first before he brings the right one along.
Ruth was a widow and had such love and care for her mother in law that she followed her to a strange land.  Ruth had her mind on the affairs of others.  Ruth met Boaz and they both were spiritually ready.  They had matured in their faith with the Lord and were spiritually prepared for a marriage.  Ruth was very virtuous. They also had a pure courtship that was undefiled.  God blessed their union as man and wife too.

4. Sometimes we have to wait for our mate for awhile, and sometimes it may be different than what we expect.
Jacob fell in love with Rachel immediately when he laid eyes on her.  He worked for her father in exchange for her hand in marriage and offered seven years of service.  He was actually willing to wait a long time to become her husband. Waiting and getting to know each other is a wise idea, because you don't want to jump into a marriage too quickly.

5. Trust in God's will for your life.
Mary was a handmaiden of the Lord and she was very a very godly young woman.  She mediated on God and stored these things in her heart.  When God called her to be the mother of the Savior, it almost made Joseph leave her!  Can you imagine all the dangers of stoning and persecution in her village for being found pregnant before marriage?  God wanted Mary and Joseph to be together and be a part of God's great plan for the world.  Mary trusted in God and Joseph came to trust Mary and the Lord.

God has already chosen the the right person for you.  Even before you were born, He had chosen your future spouse.  It's just a matter of timing for you both to meet.  When it's in His time, he makes all things beautiful.  We're to make good use of this time as we are single, so that we will be spiritually ready for marriage.  Marriage is a huge responsibility and too many marriages nowadays have fallen apart.  God designed a spiritual purpose for a husband and a wife to fulfill each other's needs and create a family.  Let us grow in this area and be ready when God brings him in your life.

I hope this has been an encouragement to you, and please remember that you are not alone!  God always has time for you and He is always there to listen to your thoughts and dreams as you wait patiently on Him.

Happy Memorial Day!

This post is dedicated to all of the people that have served and are serving our country right now. 

(including some of my own family)

I can’t do much for all of you, but right now…

I want to say “thank you” from the bottom of my heart for sacrificing your lives for America.  We would be living in a very dangerous country right now, if it wasn’t for all of you. 

I’m so thankful for all of you.

Let us always remember to tell our solders how much they mean to us, and to say “thank you” for serving our country and keeping us safe.

{Picture is from Google Images}

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." - John 15:13 

Never forget the men and women who gave their lives so that we could have our freedom in America.

Lots of Random Thoughts…

{1} First off, the winner of the contest is:  Sarah-Anne!!  Congrats! You answered the most questions correctly.  Please let me know if you want to guest post on my blog or if you want me to send you a surprise package in the mail.  The rest of you did a great job trying to answer the questions.  I hope you had fun trying to see how well you knew me.  It was really hard trying to choose the winner because ya’ll did so good at your answers.

{2} American Idol—First and foremost, Scotty McCreery won!!!!!!  I know, I am celebrating late, but...yay!!!!  I always thought he would win the whole thing.  Oh, and goodness gracious…when he found out that he won, did you HEAR the touching thing that he said?!

"I want to thank the LORD first.  I couldn't have gone anywhere without Him.."

Ahhhh!!! I’m just so excited for him!  He has definitely worked for it.  Katie and I were literally screaming when we watched the results last week.  Haha!  It’s so exciting to have an American Idol from North Carolina.  *sigh*

Oh, and did I tell ya’ll that I get to go to the American Idol Summer Tour in July??!!!  Yes!  We’re going to see Scotty and the rest of the contestants sing in person!!  So very excited about that.  Sarah-Anne and her dad are also coming with us.  It will be a night to remember and I can hardly wait. {3} School is officially out for the summer!!!!! Goodbye, 11th grade… It’s time for some fun and relaxation. It’s really strange to think about when I start back to school, though. I’ll be starting my last year in high school! It’s bittersweet.

{4} Peter Rabbit came to visit us the other night and I took a few pictures of him while I was outside. I’m sure I looked pretty funny while I was skipping around the yard trying to get closer to the cute little rabbit, but I was having lots of fun trying to get a good picture of him… *Ahem* Maybe, a little too much fun? =)                            

{5} I really…really…REALLY want to go to the beach.  I might have an opportunity to go with my cousin in July, but I’m not quite sure about how it’s all going to work.  I’m crossing my fingers, though!  =)

{6} Have you read this post from sweet Sarah?  You should click right over HERE and read her post on Femininity.  It’s a really great post and I think you would enjoy it.

{7} Did you know that Jesus loves you?? <3 =)

{8} I’m trying to make a list of things that I want to accomplish throughout the next couple of weeks while I’m out of school.  I’m definitely going to be reading a lot and working on some sewing projects, but I haven’t decided what else I want to get done.

{9} Mom is having some difficulties with her health right now and she would appreciate any prayers right now.  She just doesn’t have much strength and she is extremely tired.  She wants to be able to do more, but she gets worn down very easily.  Please be praying that we can figure out what is wrong and that the doctor can help her feel better.  Also, please pray for her to continue to have the “fight” in her because this trial is really making her feel discouraged.

{10} I’m going to have a HUGE giveaway soon, but before I can… I need to get a few more followers.

The more people that follow, the faster I can start the giveaway.  Let’s make that number go to 300, okay?  Please spread the word about it and click that little button over there that says… “Follow”, okay?  Thanks, ya’ll!

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Sweet dreams, my friends…

Thanks for staying up late to read my random thoughts and updates.

Much love and hugs. =)

My Wonderful 17th Birthday…

Last Friday, (for those that don’t already know) I turned 17 years old…

I woke up at my “regular time” (*Ahem*…7:30ish) in the morning with lots of bright sunshine coming through my windows, the birds singing in the trees (Perhaps, their “Happy Birthday” song?), and the sound of a very quiet house while everyone else was still fast a sleep.  I still had to work on some schoolwork the morning, but I wanted to check a few things on the computer first.  I also like to have my quiet time in the morning before getting dressed and eating breakfast. 

I checked my Facebook, and G-mail before getting a shower that morning (around 8:15ish) and was extremely surprised when I already had several people send me birthday messages!  It continued throughout the entire day and I felt so very special.  Thank you to everyone that sent me an email, wrote a note on my Facebook, messaged me through Twitter, left a comment on my blog, called me, wrote me a special blog post, sent me a card, or said “Happy Birthday” to me in person.  Every single thing that ya’ll did made me feel special.  THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!!  I feel so blessed to have people like you in my life.  =)

I spent the rest of my morning getting ready for the day, eating my delicious birthday breakfast (made by my awesome little brother), doing some schoolwork, and then later that afternoon I went outside on the porch and painted my nails on the front porch. Yes, I brought along my faithful camera.  *wink* Who doesn’t like to take pictures of nail polish and their freshly painted nails?!  It’s called a “photographer that likes to experiment with anything and everything” around them.I love getting pretty birthday cards in the mail!!

                     

Now, my birthday has never happened like this before, but half of my family wasn’t home for my “birthday cake” celebration.

Yes, it was kind of sad, but we had already celebrated my birthday with family the night before.  Katie had to go to work that night, and Andrew had another birthday party to attend that night.  I didn’t want him to miss it, so we just celebrated the night before with my “birthday supper” and some awesome Chocolate Chess Pie.  Although, I’m a sucker for birthday cake on your actual birthday, so Katie was sweet enough to make me a wonderful lemon cake with vanilla icing.  Thank you again, Katie! The cake was delicious! Earlier last week I asked mom if I could invite some friends over to celebrate with me and possibly have a sleepover on Friday night.  She ended up saying yes and I invited a few friends.  Sarah-Anne was the only one that was able to come over, but we still had a good time together.  Soooooo, Mom, Dad, and Sarah-Anne enjoyed the cake with me that night after they sang “Happy Birthday”…

Oh, and did I mention the funny part about the very sensitive candles?  Haha!  I could hardly even breath without them blowing out, so I blew my candles out twice.  Yep, I’m not sure if that’s something I should be telling people… Does it count for something when you blow them out twice or is that bad?  Haha!

Pictures by the lovely and very talented… Sarah-Anne.  Thanks again for taking the pictures and for making my birthday so awesome, SA! I had so much fun with you that night and I will always remember our crazy conversations and awesome singing videos.  Haha! =)

Anyway, I ended up having a wonderful birthday this year and I feel so incredibly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life to help me celebrate another year of my life.  Much love!! =)

P.S. Thank you to my awesome family that made my birthday so special too.  The cards, the birthday messages, the cake, presents, everything that you did for me.  I love you all so much!

Hello Monday {4}

{Hello Monday}

{hello big thunderstorm that woke me up this morning}

{hello breakfast}

{hello shower}

{hello pretty sunshine and blue sky}

{hello WOL QuietTime, and a lesson in Algebra 2}

{hello lunchtime}

{hello running outside to the mailbox – Ahem…and jumping in a few little puddles} =)

{hello more schoolwork}

{hello working on the big mountain of laundry with Katie}

{hello sewing projects} 

{hello blogging and emails}

{hello dinner and clean up}

{hello spending time with my awesome family}

{hello getting ready for bed}

{hello sweet dreams and fairytales with castles, fancy balls, and Prince Charming}  *wink* =)

This post was inspired by my sweet friends, Sarah-Anne and Lisa Leonard. If you want to participate in {Hello Monday} too, then please give credit to Lisa in your post. She is the first one to start this weekly blog series.

Today is my birthday!!

Yes, my sweet friends…today is my 17th birthday!!!

I honestly can hardly believe it.  17 years old already?!  Oh my goodness.

I’m afraid the big “Sweet Sixteen" has come to an end for me…

It’s time for a new year, a new number, and a bunch of new dreams!!

I’m so very thankful for the wonderful 16 years of life God has given me and I can't wait to see what He has planned for me over this next year! =)

Also, here are two pictures of me on my 1st birthday!

Wasn't I adorable?  =)

“For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”
~Psalm 100:5

~ Much Love and Blessings~

What I Wore Wednesday {#4}

Today I’m linking up to Lindsey’s What I Wore Wednesday blog series! Every Wednesday she (and 150+ bloggers) post their outfits from the past week as encouragement to get dressed and show off your style to all of your blog readers. Many of my blogging friends (Sarah-Anne, Gussy, Kim, Moriah, Lisa Leonard, and Lindsey) have been linking up for a couple of weeks now, so I’ve decided to participate as well. I might not do it every week, but I thought it might be fun to do every once in awhile.

Yay!  I’m so excited to be doing another WIWW post this week!  It’s been so much fun looking through my closet and finding new outfits to share with you all.  I’m so glad that I actually remembered to take some pictures of my outfits this week!  I always think about taking pictures in the morning after getting dressed, but then the afternoon comes around and I start doing random chores, projects, baking… Well, let’s just say that everything else that I do during the afternoon gets put on the “priority list” instead of taking pictures of my outfit.

Although, this week is different because I have two outfits to show you!!  I will try to do better, ya’ll… I know you like the What I Wore Wednesday posts as much as I do.  School is almost out for the year, so I’ll have more free time to get creative with my outfits and pictures in the next couple of weeks.  Oh, what fun!  =)

Monday

Outfit Specs:

{Pink Shirt- JCPenny}

{Blue Jean Capris- from a friend}

{Earrings- Belk or JCPenny}

{Shoes- Rack Room}

Tuesday

Outfit Specs:

{Blue and green sundress- JCPenny}

{White Cami- Walmart}

{Necklace- from an adorable Etsy shop that I can’t remember at the moment…(I won it in a giveaway)}

{Earrings- made by yours truly}

{Shoes- Rack Room}

Don't forget to check out all the fashion inspiration over at Lindsey's What I Wore Linky Party.  There are so many cute ladies and outfits to inspire you to try something new!   Have a wonderful evening!

Field Day 2011

We went over to a friend’s house the other day for a small field day, so I decided to bring my faithful camera along and snap some pictures of the little kiddos.  Here are a some of my favorites… =)

        

                    

Lots of games, smiles, laughter, fellowship, and just plain… FUN was had that afternoon.  We finished playing all the games before the rain started too. Thanks again for hosting the get-together, Mrs. Lori!!  It was another successful homeschool event. =)