Getting Back.

When the school year started this year, I was lost and broken... then I listened to the quiet voice of God telling me it was time to move on and start a new venture. This was one of the most compelling/scary times of my life thus far, and the closest I've been to my Creator. You see, I was clinging to His word and every whisper I heard, I learned what true faith was. Hebrews 11:1 never rang truer...I knew that everything that was happening was happening because it was God's will for me and that made it not so scary! I knew without a doubt in my heart that I had to jump and trust that God was going to catch me! Boy did/has He!

This has been a favorite of mine for a while and I love how it's the perfect definition of FAITH.

So from September-November I trusted, prayed, obeyed and rejoiced as one by one His promises rang true for me and new doors opened at the right time.

This verse was sent to me by a sweet friend that was in my bible study and knew how long I had been struggling at my job.

I loved the verse when she sent it, but it wasn't until I came to a church here in Fort Worth that this verse came back up and I decided it would be my 2014 Verse! I love it and 2014 is truly all about new things and relying on God and seeing where He's going to take me!

I haven't gone to church the past two weekends and almost didn't go this weekend. Bad weather yesterday and then having to work today which meant I'd have to go to the 9:30am service...ICK! But I went and am so glad I did! We just started a new series on Pneumatology, which is the study of the Holy Spirit. I'm excited to see where Pastor Jeff takes us! So many Christians balk at talk of the Holy Spirit, but let's face it He's around to stay. Our Pastor said something today and I loved it! He said that when we accept Jesus into our heart, the Holy Spirit is there tapping us on the shoulder saying, Hey! I'm here to help you from now on! How cool is that!?! It's His voice that we hear and it's Him who helps us out on behalf of God the Father and Jesus...even though they are all one person...hard to wrap your head around I know! :)

So I've been basically word vomiting because since I moved up to Fort Worth, I've become distracted and have fallen away from God. It took me a while to find a church I loved and now that I have I need to get back into the swing of things. I need to be praying daily, digging into the Word and listening to and following what He has in store for me! When I worked at the school, I'd spend my commute praying every morning for my day, the kids/coworkers I would come in contact with and for friends that were in need of prayer. Now, I'm on the road the majority of the day, in traffic...and I'm doing anything but praying. I'm grumbling, waving my hands {not in praise} and frustrated most days. I'm going to start using the beginning of my days to pray again and make sure I'm focusing on God and my relationship with Him daily above all else! I need to involve Him in my daily doings. Looking back, it's strange to see how many situations could've been different had I prayed about it/listened to that quiet nudge!

This has been lengthy and I'm sorry, but it's been on my mind and I needed to get it out!
Hope y'all have a had a great weekend and have a wonderful week!

Don't forget to take time to look for the little blessings and rejoice in them!

xoxo,
SamanthaDiane

Love letter

So last Saturday my church's Women's Ministry put on a brunch entitled BLOOM. Because of my work schedule I usually have to miss the events and it makes me so sad! This one worked out and I got to attend it before I worked three baseball games. I fixed my hair, put actual real make up on (instead of the quick few staples I usually do) and wore a dress with heels...had any of my athletes seen me when I got to work they would've not recognized me...I don't get to "be a girl" very often. I wear wind pants, sweats and short with t-shirts and sweatshirts to work daily. I know, I know...lucky me. It gets old, trust me! I'd love to be able to dress up (although, I'm sure I'd get tired of that too), however if I ever did I'd never hear the end of it at work...coaches are tough...being around male coaches ALL.THE.TIME is tougher! I'm "one of the guys", which is fine, I've always been that way...I get along better with guys because I just don't deal with girl's drama well and I can't stand attention seekers.
So back to Saturday, we had this lovely brunch where everyone was looking beautiful, the setting was spectacular and the conversations were so filling and uplifting!!
Sandy, our pastor's wife and leader of us women had such an inspiring and heartfelt message. It really hit home! She is so real and I love that!! That's one thing I love love love about my church...these are REAL people who let you in and are not afraid to let their guards down and be REAL! I don't know about y'all but I've always held my pastors, the leaders in my church and their families up on a high podium and I feel as if they can do no wrong and have everything together. I am so wrong...hellllloooo they are human too, just like I am and they have flaws and problems and insecurities. Sandy revealed how the Lord spoke to her about the word BLOOM being our theme for the year for the Women of Journey Church and I think it's such an amazing word. Dictionary.com defines BLOOM as: a flourishing, healthy condition; the time or period of greatest beauty, artistry, etc. WOW! This is exactly what the Lord is going to do through the women of Journey this year! Each of our events is going to further expand on the theme and I cannot wait to see what's in store. At the end of her message, Sandy read Psalms 139, all 24 verses out loud and with such passion it hit me so hard! I've read it probably several times but never heard it out loud...man!
I've put it here for you...but I really want y'all to read it aloud. I was trying to record it for y'all but I can't figure out how to put a sound clip in and I am SOOO not video okay right now lol...I videoed myself but I just cannot do that yet.



Psalm 139

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

¹ O Lord, you have examined my heart
    and know everything about me.
² You know when I sit down or stand up.
    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
³ You see me when I travel
    and when I rest at home.
    You know everything I do.
⁴ You know what I am going to say
    even before I say it, Lord.
⁵ You go before me and follow me.
    You place your hand of blessing on my head.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too great for me to understand!

⁷ I can never escape from your Spirit!
    I can never get away from your presence!
⁸ If I go up to heaven, you are there;
    if I go down to the grave,^[a] you are there.
⁹ If I ride the wings of the morning,
    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    and your strength will support me.
¹¹ I could ask the darkness to hide me
    and the light around me to become night—
¹²     but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
    Darkness and light are the same to you.

¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.

¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me,^[b] O God.
    They cannot be numbered!
¹⁸ I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
    you are still with me!

¹⁹ O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
    Get out of my life, you murderers!
²⁰ They blaspheme you;
    your enemies misuse your name.
²¹ O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?
    Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
²² Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
    for your enemies are my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

How  awesome is that?!?! Our God knows EVERYTHING about us...and still loves us and cares so deeply for us. The whole morning and then these verses really got me thinking that I need to focus on myself more! Not in a selfish way, but yes, kind of selfish! I need to work on me and be okay with me...I need to BLOOM! I worry about others and try to please others when I really need to be pleasing myself and God. Obviously God first, but I think that if I please Him, I will please myself  because I am pleasing Him. The only approval I need is His. I've been very frustrated lately with a lot of things and have felt unfulfilled so Saturday morning was exactly what I needed to hear! It's amazing how God knows what we need to hear and when we need to hear it! So if you're still reading, kudos to you and thank you! I've also learned that I may not have time to pour over the Word and study it for hours a day but as long as I'm getting even A verse to meditate on daily that's okay! It's not about quantity it's about quality and honestly, I have a serious running dialogue with the Big Guy Upstairs...I love that He never tires of hearing me! So my goal is to BLOOM!

Hope these verses speak to y'all as they've spoken to me! I plan on doing something with them and posting it somewhere in my house because it's something I want to be reminded of daily!

xoxo,
SamanthaDiane

Helllo Friday!!

I don't know about y'all but goodness I LOVE Fridays! The majority of them I'm still going to have to work some kind of sporting event, but there are those glorious Fridays that I'm off and ready to start the weekend! Unfortunately this Friday is the latter...I'm working three soccer games and then tomorrow morning I have a track meet! So yes, my weekend is going to be short {I'll really only have Sunday completely off} but I do not care!! I'll be leaving the track meet a bit early to go watch one of my former athletes play baseball at Rice University! This is my FAVORITE part of my job, seeing my former athletes succeed it just makes my heart swell with such pride!

Okay enough with the sappiness! Let the above read that I'm super excited for the weekend even though I'll be working the majority of it and am quite excited to watch some good college baseball this weekend! {Baseball is my absolute favorite sport!}

 

So I've been blogging for 4 days! I started reading The Small Things Blog every day after finding Kate's awesome hairstyles on Pinterest! I'm sure you've heard of/ seen her blog/pins...she's pretty awesome and I just love her blog! So how excited was I when I went on yesterday morning to see this post?!?! It's perfect for me and I cannot wait for the second part b/c I will be absorbing every bit of it!

I really can't wait to see how my blog grows and changes! {Please notice that I've had about a million changes already as I try to figure all this out, and get my blog just the way I want it to look!!}

 

I leave you with what has been weighing on my heart and mind this week. I talked about it in my previous posts, but want to again. I've been starting my days by opening up to the Lord and talking to Him just as if He was sitting next to me! I listen to KSBJ every morning while I'm getting ready and on my way to work, I find that it helps me prepare for my day and to focus on God first thing in the day. The whole way to work {which is only about an 8 minute commute} I pray and acknowledge God and give Him the worries of my day and also tell that pesky devil to get out of my thoughts and give my day to the Lord. Almost every morning has started off hectic with me rushing {I'm not sure what's going on with that} and by the time I get to work I'm refreshed and renewed, all because of my little one-on-one with my Heavenly Father!

 

I really like The Message version of Proverbs 3:5-7:

"Trust God from teh bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your won. Listen for God's voice in everythind you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who wil keep you on track. Don't assume you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil!"

This verse is like a breath of fresh air! Run to Him because he is already standing there ready with arms open and willing to listen!

 

Hope y'all have a weekend full of fun!

xoxo,

SamanthaDiane

New adventure

Hello!! I'm not sure I'll ever get many readers, but I figured I'd give this blogging thing a try since so many of my friends do it, and I LOVE blog stalking reading various blogs about so many things! I'm hoping to use this blog as a way to keep myself motivated and forever striving to become a healthy Godly woman. I plan on sharing recipes, workouts, bible verses that have been on my mind.

Last night I started my new LifeGroup with my church, we are going throught the book: A Woman after God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George. I've read the book before and it was awesome! However it was either in high school or college...either way it's be a long time! Going through it again it's so cool to see things I highlighted then compared to now! In my group I'm the youngest one and the only one that is single! I feel like I am going to learn so much from these ladies and I can't wait! One of them told me last night something she was told by another lady when she was single, she told me I needed to enjoy this time b/c this was the last time God would ever have me to himself!! Once he blesses me with that perfect man and we have children I'll forever be juggling all of the challenges of daily life and trying to have a relationship with Him. This really hit me and made me think. Goodness I need to stop saying "oh poor me, I'm single and don't have a special someone", I need to thank God daily for this time and use it to grow closer to him every day!!

So in the book's first chapter it talks about having a heart devoted to God...which is where I came up with my blog's title! Martha and Mary were sisters and Jesus and his disciples came to see them and Martha immediately went into panic mode! You know this mode..."oh my goodness I have so much to do!" You're running around trying to make sure everything is perfect. Martha was doing all this and her sister, Mary, went and sat at Jesus' feet, listened and worshipped Him. Martha goes to Jesus and says to him "Look at Mary! She's not even helping me! Don't you care that she's doing nothing?" He replied (and this is my favorite part and the verse that I'm going to meditate on all week): "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42

So many times we get all bent out of shape over things we have no control over or things of the world, when all we need to do is look to God and thank Him for all we have and the many blessings He's bestowed upon us! Such a big tap on the shoulders from God to me! He's saying, "Hello!! Samantha! I'm here, please give me your all and everything and I will take care of it!"
So that's my goal this week! Acknowledge Him in everthing I do, and take everything to Him!

This is quite a long post for my first, but as soon as I started typing I realized I really did have a lot to say! :)

I look forward to talking about so many different subjects! I've recently started re-started my healthy lifestyle! Making sure I'm eating healthy and exercising!! Now, to add spending time with God daily in His word to that!

2013 is the year of ME! I'm working on bettering myself, mind, body and spirit!

xoxo,
SamanthaDiane