For the last couple of weeks I have been going through Leviticus and Hebrews together and the Lord is really speaking to me through both as they really seem to tie in together! I know Leviticus can be a daunting book of the Bible to read but I encourage you to read it along side of Hebrews! 

The other day I read Hebrews 10 and this is a chapter I have read before but on this particular day it just really jumped out to me and spoke to me a lot so I just want to share with you what the Lord showed me because it's just too good not to share! 

If you haven't read Leviticus, let me give you a quick recap as it will help you understand our text a little more. We as people and since the fall of man are naturally sinners, we can't help it! We are a fallen people who are ruled by their flesh over the Spirit. Knowing this, God gave His people the law that you will find in Leviticus. The law given is very specific, graphic, and takes sin seriously as it should be. God required sacrifices for sin and so there were a lot of animal sacrifices that happened in the temple. In this temple, the Spirit of God dwelled in a section called the Holy Place and it was behind a veil and only the high priest could go to pray on behalf of his people. This law is apart of the old covenant and there is now a new covenant found in the New Testament and that is where the book of Hebrews is written. 

In Hebrews 10 (please read it before continuing on with the rest of this post and follow along if you want to), the first thing you will read is that the law is a shadow of what is to come. Now, that Jesus has died for our sins, when reading the book of Leviticus, you can see the resemblance between the law and what Jesus has fulfilled for the forgiveness of our sins. The sacrifices in Leviticus could never fully take away our sins. Whenever someone made a sacrifice for sin, it was only a cover up or a bandaid for their sin, it didn't fully take away sin in general because the next time they sinned, they would have to make another sacrifice. This law was given until the Messiah would come to forgive sin, past, present, and future, once and for all. We can be thankful for that because we no longer have to make these sacrifices for our sins and God doesn't see our sin, He only sees Jesus blood on us and He sees us as a perfect, forgiven work. 

9. "then he added, 'Behold, I have come to do your will.' He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." 

14. "For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified."

In the Old Law only the high priest could enter into the Holy Place but now because we have been given the Holy Spirit, we can worship Him wherever and whenever we want, and not rely on someone else to pray for us and our sins. We have direct access to God! 

Since we have access to God through the blood of Jesus, we can draw near to God with a confident faith because He who made this sacrifice for us is faithful. We can have confident faith in Jesus' sacrifice and that He saved us from sin and from being cast to hell and that He will return for us because He who promised this is faithful. He not only sacrificed Himself for our sin but He fulfilled prophecy by raising from the dead and ascending into Heaven where He Himself prays on our behalf to God! He is our ultimate and perfect High Priest. Where as before in the old law we needed a flawed human to do this for us in the temple and now our perfect Lord does this for us. 

This is such great news which is why so many people follow Christ and are in love with Him because He did what none of us could do and because of that, we are thankful, because of that we choose to serve Him with our lives, and because of that we should encourage others to follow Him and to continue to do so. 

24. "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25. not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

I think it is more clear than ever that Jesus is coming back soon! Just look around at all that is happening. The earth is screaming wake up and turn your face to Jesus! 

This sacrifice that was made once and for all in forgiveness of all sin does not mean we have free access to sin all we want because it's been forgiven. If we do that, it is as if we are spitting on the sacrifice that was made for us and choosing our sin over the fact that we can living in freedom, we can turn away from our sin and choose to resemble Christ as best we can. I know we aren't perfect and God knows that too but Jesus sacrificed Himself so we can walk in victory and freedom. The bible says: 

26. "For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins"

I  want to point out the word "deliberately" because we all sin, it is our nature and that is what Christ died for but when we are living in sin and we remain in it knowing it is sinning, that is when we are taking advantage of His sacrifice for us and not walking in freedom, we have then become victims to our sin. When we live in sin it is as if we are saying "I do not agree that Your way is the best way." I know that we as Christians have seasons of being on fire for the Lord and we also have seasons of drought but don't lose your confidence in what Christ has done for you. Don't choose your sin over His sacrifice. Now more than ever we need confidence in our faith to be our endurance to finish the race and receive what was promised to us; eternal life. 

35. "Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  36. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.  37. For, 'Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;  38. but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.'  39. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls."

I encourage you today, to live in confidence of what Christ has done for you and express your thankfulness of His sacrifice by living your life to Christ so that you may live eternally with Him. 

pray:

"God thank you so much for sending your son Jesus to take on my sin, entirely and sacrifice Himself for me. Thank you for the love you have for me that you would willingly die for me so that I can live with you for eternity. Father, thank you that you have created a new covenant and that we don't have to go on sacrificing for our sin but you have already taken that on for us and now we get to live in your freedom. We are no longer bound in chains to our sin but we are free in you! I am so thankful and I want to express that thankfulness toward you, I want others to know they can live in freedom too. Give me the confidence to share and to encourage others. Lord I know you are coming quickly and I know the enemy comes to seek, kill, and destroy and he would love nothing more that to enslave me to my sin but God I choose to live in confidence of your sacrifice and the promise that you are coming to bring your people home. I look forward to that day that I get to see your face. Thank you Jesus. Amen" 

Hebrews 10 Study... Mind Blown!

Words

For the last couple of weeks I have been going through Leviticus and Hebrews together and the Lord is really speaking to me through both as they really seem to tie in together! I know Leviticus can be a daunting book of the Bible to read but I encourage you to read it along side of Hebrews! 

The other day I read Hebrews 10 and this is a chapter I have read before but on this particular day it just really jumped out to me and spoke to me a lot so I just want to share with you what the Lord showed me because it's just too good not to share! 

If you haven't read Leviticus, let me give you a quick recap as it will help you understand our text a little more. We as people and since the fall of man are naturally sinners, we can't help it! We are a fallen people who are ruled by their flesh over the Spirit. Knowing this, God gave His people the law that you will find in Leviticus. The law given is very specific, graphic, and takes sin seriously as it should be. God required sacrifices for sin and so there were a lot of animal sacrifices that happened in the temple. In this temple, the Spirit of God dwelled in a section called the Holy Place and it was behind a veil and only the high priest could go to pray on behalf of his people. This law is apart of the old covenant and there is now a new covenant found in the New Testament and that is where the book of Hebrews is written. 

In Hebrews 10 (please read it before continuing on with the rest of this post and follow along if you want to), the first thing you will read is that the law is a shadow of what is to come. Now, that Jesus has died for our sins, when reading the book of Leviticus, you can see the resemblance between the law and what Jesus has fulfilled for the forgiveness of our sins. The sacrifices in Leviticus could never fully take away our sins. Whenever someone made a sacrifice for sin, it was only a cover up or a bandaid for their sin, it didn't fully take away sin in general because the next time they sinned, they would have to make another sacrifice. This law was given until the Messiah would come to forgive sin, past, present, and future, once and for all. We can be thankful for that because we no longer have to make these sacrifices for our sins and God doesn't see our sin, He only sees Jesus blood on us and He sees us as a perfect, forgiven work. 

9. "then he added, 'Behold, I have come to do your will.' He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." 

14. "For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified."

In the Old Law only the high priest could enter into the Holy Place but now because we have been given the Holy Spirit, we can worship Him wherever and whenever we want, and not rely on someone else to pray for us and our sins. We have direct access to God! 

Since we have access to God through the blood of Jesus, we can draw near to God with a confident faith because He who made this sacrifice for us is faithful. We can have confident faith in Jesus' sacrifice and that He saved us from sin and from being cast to hell and that He will return for us because He who promised this is faithful. He not only sacrificed Himself for our sin but He fulfilled prophecy by raising from the dead and ascending into Heaven where He Himself prays on our behalf to God! He is our ultimate and perfect High Priest. Where as before in the old law we needed a flawed human to do this for us in the temple and now our perfect Lord does this for us. 

This is such great news which is why so many people follow Christ and are in love with Him because He did what none of us could do and because of that, we are thankful, because of that we choose to serve Him with our lives, and because of that we should encourage others to follow Him and to continue to do so. 

24. "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25. not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

I think it is more clear than ever that Jesus is coming back soon! Just look around at all that is happening. The earth is screaming wake up and turn your face to Jesus! 

This sacrifice that was made once and for all in forgiveness of all sin does not mean we have free access to sin all we want because it's been forgiven. If we do that, it is as if we are spitting on the sacrifice that was made for us and choosing our sin over the fact that we can living in freedom, we can turn away from our sin and choose to resemble Christ as best we can. I know we aren't perfect and God knows that too but Jesus sacrificed Himself so we can walk in victory and freedom. The bible says: 

26. "For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins"

I  want to point out the word "deliberately" because we all sin, it is our nature and that is what Christ died for but when we are living in sin and we remain in it knowing it is sinning, that is when we are taking advantage of His sacrifice for us and not walking in freedom, we have then become victims to our sin. When we live in sin it is as if we are saying "I do not agree that Your way is the best way." I know that we as Christians have seasons of being on fire for the Lord and we also have seasons of drought but don't lose your confidence in what Christ has done for you. Don't choose your sin over His sacrifice. Now more than ever we need confidence in our faith to be our endurance to finish the race and receive what was promised to us; eternal life. 

35. "Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  36. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.  37. For, 'Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;  38. but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.'  39. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls."

I encourage you today, to live in confidence of what Christ has done for you and express your thankfulness of His sacrifice by living your life to Christ so that you may live eternally with Him. 

pray:

"God thank you so much for sending your son Jesus to take on my sin, entirely and sacrifice Himself for me. Thank you for the love you have for me that you would willingly die for me so that I can live with you for eternity. Father, thank you that you have created a new covenant and that we don't have to go on sacrificing for our sin but you have already taken that on for us and now we get to live in your freedom. We are no longer bound in chains to our sin but we are free in you! I am so thankful and I want to express that thankfulness toward you, I want others to know they can live in freedom too. Give me the confidence to share and to encourage others. Lord I know you are coming quickly and I know the enemy comes to seek, kill, and destroy and he would love nothing more that to enslave me to my sin but God I choose to live in confidence of your sacrifice and the promise that you are coming to bring your people home. I look forward to that day that I get to see your face. Thank you Jesus. Amen" 

Read more »

Friday, July 03, 2020

Wow it has been a while since I have written anything for my blog. I relaunched my blog with a new look and then got very caught up in church planting here in Mexico City which is why I want to write this post and explain what that means and why Mexico City. 

Before this move, my blog was mostly about fashion and beauty and occasionally testing out product to review for you. I now live in a country where I am not getting brand deals or products, I am not the most fashionable and I don't often get "done up" like I did in Vegas and a lot about my life has changed. I really didn't know how to make that transition in life AND on my blog so the blog kind of took a back seat during this time. 

Now, all I really want and all I really can do is write on my life experiences and growth. I am not sure anyone will even be interested in what I have to say but I am writing this post because I know it will help me process and I hope that just maybe it will speak to someone in some way! 

I always want to be as honest as I can and that is appropriate because I LOVE when I find a woman sharing her journey without the fluff. That is what I intend to do here. 

This post is just to explain what we are doing in Mexico City. I am sure this will be one of many posts explaining "church Plant Life". In fact, check out my Honest Reaction to Moving To Mexico City post to know the back story and how hard this move was for me. This is now my life and this is all I can write on and hope what I am going through, good bad and ugly, will be used and will be relatable. So here we go! 

Why Mexico City? 

We come from a church in Las Vegas and for a while our senior pastor has had Latin America on his heart. We have a church planting training center in La Gloria Mexico and we have done crusades in Mazatlan and Mexico City. David and I were apart of both crusades which were a MIRACLE of God and we got to witness it first hand. When our pastor was praying for the crusade in Mexico City, God also put it on his heart to have a church plant there, our pastor LOVES church planting and that is one of our main focuses at Calvary Chapel Las Vegas. 

When David moved to Vegas, he had just come from that Training Center in La Gloria and the Lord put Mexico on his heart but he really wanted to go back to his home in Hermosillo in Sonora Mexico. David's heart for church planting started in 2015 though when he was at a church in Philadelphia and God just pressed it on his heart more and more over the years. 

When he moved to Vegas and we were pursuing each other, he knew I would not be down for Mexico so he started thinking about North Las Vegas where there is a huge hispanic group. I was all down for that plan! I loved that plan! When we started to get serious, he had a meeting with our senior pastor and he told David that he was praying for Mexico City to be put on Davids heart. When I heard that, I told David "I am 99% sure I am not called to Mexico." I am laughing from where I am standing now at that statement. 

Mexico City ended up getting put on Davids heart after a few dreams he had and he knew God was calling him there. As for me, you can read my reaction in the post mentioned earlier. 

We believe and by "we" I mean our church and ourselves that Mexico City is the epicenter of the country. Anything that happens here influences the rest of the country and there are some strongholds in this city! 

So why Mexico City? We believe God has a heart for the Latin culture and wants to see them freed from their sin and strongholds. We believe that if we can bring the gospel to the epicenter of the country we can see a revival in the country. Of course that is a HUGE task but our God is good and we know He can do it and we are just vessels for Him to use to do that work. 

What does Church Planting Mean?

Church planting simply means starting a church from scratch. David is the senior pastor of our church, Brasas, here in Mexico City. We moved here, started meeting people and telling them that we are here to start a church and invite them to join. 

On September 6th we had our first bible study at the house and we honestly didn't know what to expect. We thought that maybe 10-15 people would come if that and we ended up with 30 people in our home the first night! It was already time to start finding a building to use. 

Now, we rent out a preschool every Sunday and we hold our church services there until the Lord opens a door for us to have our own church building. I lead worship, yes in Spanish and David teaches the Word. We have an amazing congregation that volunteers every week and even during this quarantine, we have been meeting online with them.

How long have we been here?

We have been here for almost a year. We have been fortunate and blessed enough to take many trips to Las Vegas to see our family and church family within this year which I am thankful for because the transition has not been easy for me at all.

We have a 2 bedroom apartment that we have made feel like home, we have a very cute and stubborn German Shepherd named Luna who has not made the year easier but we also love her so much! We have started church and have a congregation of about 35 people which is unheard of in your first year of church planting, we have been blessed to be in the area we live in, it is called condesa and it is an amazing part of the city that many tourist come to visit, and I am learning Spanish which is easier said than done! 

We don't know how long we will be here, until the Lord tells us to move on which is sometimes a scary thought for me which I will go into more detail on that in a later post. God is showing me how to trust in Him. He is teaching me that it is no mistake that He called me to this man who wants to church plant in Mexico and that I am the girl for the job no matter how unequipped I am and feel. As I have heard many times in my life "He doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called." 

Well that is all my brain can think up for this post. I hope to write more soon! 

Thank you for reading! 

What are We Doing In Mexico City

Lifestyle

Wow it has been a while since I have written anything for my blog. I relaunched my blog with a new look and then got very caught up in church planting here in Mexico City which is why I want to write this post and explain what that means and why Mexico City. 

Before this move, my blog was mostly about fashion and beauty and occasionally testing out product to review for you. I now live in a country where I am not getting brand deals or products, I am not the most fashionable and I don't often get "done up" like I did in Vegas and a lot about my life has changed. I really didn't know how to make that transition in life AND on my blog so the blog kind of took a back seat during this time. 

Now, all I really want and all I really can do is write on my life experiences and growth. I am not sure anyone will even be interested in what I have to say but I am writing this post because I know it will help me process and I hope that just maybe it will speak to someone in some way! 

I always want to be as honest as I can and that is appropriate because I LOVE when I find a woman sharing her journey without the fluff. That is what I intend to do here. 

This post is just to explain what we are doing in Mexico City. I am sure this will be one of many posts explaining "church Plant Life". In fact, check out my Honest Reaction to Moving To Mexico City post to know the back story and how hard this move was for me. This is now my life and this is all I can write on and hope what I am going through, good bad and ugly, will be used and will be relatable. So here we go! 

Why Mexico City? 

We come from a church in Las Vegas and for a while our senior pastor has had Latin America on his heart. We have a church planting training center in La Gloria Mexico and we have done crusades in Mazatlan and Mexico City. David and I were apart of both crusades which were a MIRACLE of God and we got to witness it first hand. When our pastor was praying for the crusade in Mexico City, God also put it on his heart to have a church plant there, our pastor LOVES church planting and that is one of our main focuses at Calvary Chapel Las Vegas. 

When David moved to Vegas, he had just come from that Training Center in La Gloria and the Lord put Mexico on his heart but he really wanted to go back to his home in Hermosillo in Sonora Mexico. David's heart for church planting started in 2015 though when he was at a church in Philadelphia and God just pressed it on his heart more and more over the years. 

When he moved to Vegas and we were pursuing each other, he knew I would not be down for Mexico so he started thinking about North Las Vegas where there is a huge hispanic group. I was all down for that plan! I loved that plan! When we started to get serious, he had a meeting with our senior pastor and he told David that he was praying for Mexico City to be put on Davids heart. When I heard that, I told David "I am 99% sure I am not called to Mexico." I am laughing from where I am standing now at that statement. 

Mexico City ended up getting put on Davids heart after a few dreams he had and he knew God was calling him there. As for me, you can read my reaction in the post mentioned earlier. 

We believe and by "we" I mean our church and ourselves that Mexico City is the epicenter of the country. Anything that happens here influences the rest of the country and there are some strongholds in this city! 

So why Mexico City? We believe God has a heart for the Latin culture and wants to see them freed from their sin and strongholds. We believe that if we can bring the gospel to the epicenter of the country we can see a revival in the country. Of course that is a HUGE task but our God is good and we know He can do it and we are just vessels for Him to use to do that work. 

What does Church Planting Mean?

Church planting simply means starting a church from scratch. David is the senior pastor of our church, Brasas, here in Mexico City. We moved here, started meeting people and telling them that we are here to start a church and invite them to join. 

On September 6th we had our first bible study at the house and we honestly didn't know what to expect. We thought that maybe 10-15 people would come if that and we ended up with 30 people in our home the first night! It was already time to start finding a building to use. 

Now, we rent out a preschool every Sunday and we hold our church services there until the Lord opens a door for us to have our own church building. I lead worship, yes in Spanish and David teaches the Word. We have an amazing congregation that volunteers every week and even during this quarantine, we have been meeting online with them.

How long have we been here?

We have been here for almost a year. We have been fortunate and blessed enough to take many trips to Las Vegas to see our family and church family within this year which I am thankful for because the transition has not been easy for me at all.

We have a 2 bedroom apartment that we have made feel like home, we have a very cute and stubborn German Shepherd named Luna who has not made the year easier but we also love her so much! We have started church and have a congregation of about 35 people which is unheard of in your first year of church planting, we have been blessed to be in the area we live in, it is called condesa and it is an amazing part of the city that many tourist come to visit, and I am learning Spanish which is easier said than done! 

We don't know how long we will be here, until the Lord tells us to move on which is sometimes a scary thought for me which I will go into more detail on that in a later post. God is showing me how to trust in Him. He is teaching me that it is no mistake that He called me to this man who wants to church plant in Mexico and that I am the girl for the job no matter how unequipped I am and feel. As I have heard many times in my life "He doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called." 

Well that is all my brain can think up for this post. I hope to write more soon! 

Thank you for reading! 

Read more »

Thursday, June 04, 2020

Man, these times are crazy am I right?! Who ever thought 2020 would look this way? Not me, that's for sure!

I am sure we are all a little bit freaked out right now so I want to start this blog post off by praying for you!

Father God, I lift my sweet sister up to you right in this moment, I pray you will pour your peace over her body, her mind, and her soul and take any fear from her. God we KNOW you are the God of this universe and this virus is nothing to you. We are open to what you have to teach and tell us during this and I just pray agains fear and I pray for your peace and wisdom to fill us in this very moment. AMEN!

I know that there are real reasons to fear during this time, but I want to tell you that there are even more real reasons to trust Christ. He has been faithful and has never let us down, and He has this situation in His hands.

In todays post I want to give you some ideas of what you can do with all this extra time to get your mind off the outside and to occupy your day and how you can make good use of your time rather than just binging Netflix for the the next few days or weeks.

Don't get me wrong I love a good binge and have already delighted in it since all this has broken out but I am quickly getting tired of it. I am reminded of what summer break felt like before having a car. Waking up, eating, watching tv, eating and repeating it the next day, it gets old quick am I right?

So here are a few things that you can do to make good use of your time:

1. Spend Time with the Lord/ Pray for Others

I know, you saw that coming, but I can't be the only one who wishes I had longer than 20 minutes in the morning to dig into my word and pray to the Lord. Now we have that time so don't miss out on what the Lord wants to show you. Right now more than ever He is speaking and He wants to speak to you!

Also use this time to pray for those who may not have Christ, who have poor immune systems, those who are losing their jobs, those directly affected by the virus etc. There is power in prayer and God hears our prayers and intercession. 

Find a "You" spot to spend some time with Jesus. Now, what do I mean by that? The last two mornings I have gotten my coffee and my bible and went up to my rooftop to sit in the sun and worship with my favorite jam "Victory is Yours" and just listen to nature and have my ears and heart open to hear from Jesus. When I was in Vegas my spot was my front porch and Red Rock, I just love being in or as close to nature as possible, it really helps me feel connected to the Lord. 

I know that spending time with the Lord could be daunting if you don't do it often so find a devotional some of my favorites are Jesus Calling, Red Sea Rules, Delight, and the Gospel Activity Book. 

Especially now, God is waking up His church because the truth is, this is what happens in a world where God is cut out of it, it turns to chaos and God is calling His people to wake up so I encourage you to be open to Gods voice. 

2. Stretch and Workout

Now is a great time to get your physical health in good shape! You don't need weights and equipment just use your body weight and you will feel the burn I promise, plus instead of coming out of this with a quarantine 15 you can come out of it with some muscle!

There are tons of free resources to working out these days which makes it so easy. Some of my favorite free tools to use is the FitOn App, Whitney Simmons Videos, Ashleigh Jordan Videos, and Sarah's Day Videos. 

Working out and stretching will not only help you physically but mentally as well. As Elle Woods said "Exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy." 

3. Clean & Organize

I just know that we have all said something like "man I wish I had an extra day off to organize my closet" or "organize my kitchen drawers" well now is that extra day off girl! 

You have no excuses but to organize you life and you will feel 10 times lighter after you've done so. You got nothin better to do! 

4. Create Something

I know we are not all creatives but we all have some kind of creativity in us so let it flow! Right now my friend Tony is calling all creatives to a challenge and I am calling everyone to this challenge, not just creatives. 

His message is to call everyone to spread hope and love through our social media by art, music, writing, photography, whatever it may be, it doesn't have to be super pretty, draw a tree or rainbow, but to spread hope rather than darkness and more fear. If you want to follow along, check out Tony's Challenge Here

So grab those crayons, paint, and printer paper and draw your heart out! If you aren't into that, than go out and grab some paint and paint a piece of furniture, a wall in your house and do some DIY's. 

My favorite DIY people are Lone Fox, Ashley Petrone, and Sarah Randall.

5. Catch Up with Loved Ones

We are all going through this together and we all have some extra time on our hands. I know that it is really encouraging and refreshing when I get to Facetime my mom or bestie and know your friends and family would love a call from you! 

Use the time you talk to your friends and family to be a time where you encourage them, show them love, and talk about the good right now rather than the chaos, we all could use some hope. 

I hope that these tips helped you in some way and if nothing else, I want you to know that God is still almighty, He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow and He holds your life in His hands. He has a plan and solution for all of this and as my COVID-19 anthem song said "When trials unleash like a flood the battle belongs to our God as we cry out in worship." - Victory is Yours by Bethel

If this post helped you, please share to your loved ones and on your social media! Lets spread hope! 

5 Ways To Make GOOD Use of Your Time

Words

Man, these times are crazy am I right?! Who ever thought 2020 would look this way? Not me, that's for sure!

I am sure we are all a little bit freaked out right now so I want to start this blog post off by praying for you!

Father God, I lift my sweet sister up to you right in this moment, I pray you will pour your peace over her body, her mind, and her soul and take any fear from her. God we KNOW you are the God of this universe and this virus is nothing to you. We are open to what you have to teach and tell us during this and I just pray agains fear and I pray for your peace and wisdom to fill us in this very moment. AMEN!

I know that there are real reasons to fear during this time, but I want to tell you that there are even more real reasons to trust Christ. He has been faithful and has never let us down, and He has this situation in His hands.

In todays post I want to give you some ideas of what you can do with all this extra time to get your mind off the outside and to occupy your day and how you can make good use of your time rather than just binging Netflix for the the next few days or weeks.

Don't get me wrong I love a good binge and have already delighted in it since all this has broken out but I am quickly getting tired of it. I am reminded of what summer break felt like before having a car. Waking up, eating, watching tv, eating and repeating it the next day, it gets old quick am I right?

So here are a few things that you can do to make good use of your time:

1. Spend Time with the Lord/ Pray for Others

I know, you saw that coming, but I can't be the only one who wishes I had longer than 20 minutes in the morning to dig into my word and pray to the Lord. Now we have that time so don't miss out on what the Lord wants to show you. Right now more than ever He is speaking and He wants to speak to you!

Also use this time to pray for those who may not have Christ, who have poor immune systems, those who are losing their jobs, those directly affected by the virus etc. There is power in prayer and God hears our prayers and intercession. 

Find a "You" spot to spend some time with Jesus. Now, what do I mean by that? The last two mornings I have gotten my coffee and my bible and went up to my rooftop to sit in the sun and worship with my favorite jam "Victory is Yours" and just listen to nature and have my ears and heart open to hear from Jesus. When I was in Vegas my spot was my front porch and Red Rock, I just love being in or as close to nature as possible, it really helps me feel connected to the Lord. 

I know that spending time with the Lord could be daunting if you don't do it often so find a devotional some of my favorites are Jesus Calling, Red Sea Rules, Delight, and the Gospel Activity Book. 

Especially now, God is waking up His church because the truth is, this is what happens in a world where God is cut out of it, it turns to chaos and God is calling His people to wake up so I encourage you to be open to Gods voice. 

2. Stretch and Workout

Now is a great time to get your physical health in good shape! You don't need weights and equipment just use your body weight and you will feel the burn I promise, plus instead of coming out of this with a quarantine 15 you can come out of it with some muscle!

There are tons of free resources to working out these days which makes it so easy. Some of my favorite free tools to use is the FitOn App, Whitney Simmons Videos, Ashleigh Jordan Videos, and Sarah's Day Videos. 

Working out and stretching will not only help you physically but mentally as well. As Elle Woods said "Exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy." 

3. Clean & Organize

I just know that we have all said something like "man I wish I had an extra day off to organize my closet" or "organize my kitchen drawers" well now is that extra day off girl! 

You have no excuses but to organize you life and you will feel 10 times lighter after you've done so. You got nothin better to do! 

4. Create Something

I know we are not all creatives but we all have some kind of creativity in us so let it flow! Right now my friend Tony is calling all creatives to a challenge and I am calling everyone to this challenge, not just creatives. 

His message is to call everyone to spread hope and love through our social media by art, music, writing, photography, whatever it may be, it doesn't have to be super pretty, draw a tree or rainbow, but to spread hope rather than darkness and more fear. If you want to follow along, check out Tony's Challenge Here

So grab those crayons, paint, and printer paper and draw your heart out! If you aren't into that, than go out and grab some paint and paint a piece of furniture, a wall in your house and do some DIY's. 

My favorite DIY people are Lone Fox, Ashley Petrone, and Sarah Randall.

5. Catch Up with Loved Ones

We are all going through this together and we all have some extra time on our hands. I know that it is really encouraging and refreshing when I get to Facetime my mom or bestie and know your friends and family would love a call from you! 

Use the time you talk to your friends and family to be a time where you encourage them, show them love, and talk about the good right now rather than the chaos, we all could use some hope. 

I hope that these tips helped you in some way and if nothing else, I want you to know that God is still almighty, He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow and He holds your life in His hands. He has a plan and solution for all of this and as my COVID-19 anthem song said "When trials unleash like a flood the battle belongs to our God as we cry out in worship." - Victory is Yours by Bethel

If this post helped you, please share to your loved ones and on your social media! Lets spread hope! 

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Saturday, March 21, 2020