This Is Gonna Make You Stronger.....

Have you ever had a hard day?

A day where you just feel a little under appreciated, a little under loved, and just a little bummed about how your day went?

Have you ever felt like God doesn't care about you?

I know I have. Not recently, but over the course of my life there have been many moments when I felt like God could care less about me. I wasn't good enough, I wasn't worthy, He must hate me to make me go through such a touch experience right now...

If you've ever felt this way, then this post is for you.

Because let me tell you this: God DOES love you.

No matter what. He loves ever single person on this Earth, from mass murders to 2 day old babies.

We all make mistakes, of course.

We all go through trials.

God will test our faith in Him....

But True love endures any hardship.


So love God! Be faithful to Him. When you make a mistake, ask for God's guidance. When your at the end of your rope, hold on and pray.

God doesn't allow hardships into our life to make our faith weaker, but only to make it stronger. 

He tests us. But just believe, just hold out, and all will be well!

Hold steadfast under trial.


God doesn't allow any hardship to last forever.


No matter what your going through right now, no matter how hopeless you feel, know this: He is with you! Always and forever, no matter what.

Nothing can shake Him. God is your rock. Lean on Him when you aren't strong enough to stand up by yourself.

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him." {Psalms 28:7}

Praise God in all things, good or bad. In the end, everything will work out for the best. God will put you through trials, but he'll always be right there to help you out if you get stuck in the middle of this crazy obstacle course we call life.

In the end, all of life's trials will have been worth it. Because

"Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!" {Psalms 126:5}

Just believe in Him, and all things will work out for good. I promise! 

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." {Jeremiah 29:11-14}

Blessings to you, sweet friend! Whatever challenges your facing right now, you CAN handle.

You just gotta have faith. :)

I CAN Do It {So Can You}!

One of my goals for this summer was to grow spiritually.

First and foremost? I wanted to start reading the Bible everyday.

I know, *shocker*! There have been many days when I simply haven't read my Bible at all. It's not because I don't want to. I do want to. It's just that I'm always so busy. I  get caught up in life, and I forget to set aside time for Bible study. Or I'm deep into some other project and I can't be "bothered" by my Bible.

One day last week, I actually wok up early for a change (I love waking up early. Love it. And I hate sleeping. I really do. But, it seems I have to sleep and since I always stay up really late, I end up sleeping in. Sigh.... You should have seen how happy I was when I woke up at 7:00 and 7:37 this past Wednesday and Thursday.). I made time for my Bible reading that morning. I randomly opened up my Bible and landed on Romans Chapter 5. I read for a little while. It was a fabulous way to start out my morning!

I've been praying about this a lot. I've had this goal to read through the entire Bible for a while. I am hardly familiar with the Old Testament at all! I set this goal, but I knew that without some serious help and guidance from above, I wasn't going to be able to do it.

"Trust in the Lord, and lean not on your own understanding." {Proverbs 3:5}




By some act of grace, I was led to a post on Mom's Toolbox:

Official Bible In 90 Days Sign-Up: July 2011 Session

As I read on, I was so grateful to have stumbled across this post. Just reading the first few lines, I knew this was the answer to my prayers:

Have you ever wanted to read the entire Bible?


Now is your chance to do it and get encouragement all along the way.


You are invited to join hundreds of other readers in the Moms Toolbox community as we make our way through the entire Bible, cover to cover, just like a novel, in just 90 days. The reading begins July 11, and ends October 8.


Yes, you CAN do this. I’m going to be honest with you, though: It’s not easy, but it is simple.

Finally. The post goes on to explain more about how the program works and what the benefits of the program are. I couldn't sign up fast enough.

Everyone gets placed into accountability groups, and you some people will even get their own mentor for encouragement throughout the program.

What a blessing!

I can't tell you how excited I am about this program. I realize that it will be intense: We are trying to absorb all of God's Word in only 90 Days! Each day, you have to read 45-75 minutes. That's a lot! Amy, of Mom's Toolbox, encourages us to start praying about how we can clear that time from our busy schedules now. And I certainly am! The fellowship though, the community and the encouragement, that's what makes this worth it.

I'm praying that I actually go through with it this time! I CAN do this. I CAN read the Bible in 90 Days.

I'm asking God to help me prioritize my life, cut out the meaningless things, and make more time in my "busy schedule" to take in the breathtaking Word of God!

This program starts on July 11th, and you can sign up anytime before then. And I would really encourage you to do this. It's a big commitment, but it's not impossible! The rewards will be huge. I'm really excited to maybe finally find just the kind of accountability and motivation I need!

My motto going into this is one of my favorite Bible verses:

"Do not fear, only believe." {Mark 5:36}

I'll be praying for you if you decide to embark on this adventure, sweet friend, and I hope that you'll pray for me too!

Inspiration By Song

Hey Sweet Friends!

Happy Sunday! I hope you had an amazing day today. I know I did! My uncle, aunt, and adorable 20 month old cousin are in town until Wednesday, so we had a pool party at my cousin Julie's house today. Though I didn't swim (It was a little windy... And the pool was cold... And even when it's 100 degrees outside, somehow, whenever I swim, it always ends in me shivering. Go figure.) I still had so much fun visiting with everyone! I hope your day was a beautiful as mine was. :)

Today, we are getting our inspiration for the week from Mandisa. I don't know about you, but I am addicted to Mandisa. I will seriously go on Youtube, add a few of her songs to my playlist, and listen to that replay for hours.I never get tired of it! Her songs are amazing.

Even though I know I've already featured these songs before, why not? There's nothing wrong with a refresher. Really listen. Behind all the seriously amazing catchy and upbeat music, take in the words. Mandisa is what I call empowering.

"Hey, heard you were up all night

Thinking about how your world ain't right

And you wonder if things will ever get better

And you're asking why is it always raining on you

When all you want is just a little good news

Instead of standing there stuck out in the weather

Oh, don't hang your head

It's gonna end

God's right there

Even if it's hard to see Him

I promise you that He still cares

When the waves are taking you under

Hold on just a little bit longer

He knows that this is gonna make you stronger, stronger

The pain ain't gonna last forever

And things can only get better

Believe me

This is gonna make you stronger

Gonna make you stronger, stronger, stronger

Believe me, this is gonna make you ...

Try and do the best you can

Hold on and let Him hold your hand

And go on and fall into the arms of Jesus

Oh, lift your head it's gonna end

God's right there

Even when you just can't feel Him

I promise you that He still cares

'Cause if He started this work in your life

He will be faithful to complete it

If only you believe it

He knows how much it hurts

And I'm sure that He's gonna help you get through this

When the waves are taking you under

Hold on just a little bit longer

He knows that this is gonna make you stronger, stronger

The pain ain't gonna last forever

In time it's gonna get better

Believe me

This is gonna make you stronger."

"I was so helpless

Where did the light go

I had no hope left

Deep down in my soul

I was watchin'

I was waitin'

I was prayin'

I was stayin' down on my knees

That's right where You found me

My Deliverer, You rescued me from all that held me captive

My Deliverer, You set me free

Now I'm alive and I can live

So every moment I will give you praise

My Deliverer

Ooh my Deliverer

There's no pretending

I can't do it myself

I'm so dependent

Lord I need Your help

I'll be watchin'

I'll be waitin'

I'll be prayin'

I'll be stayin' down on my knees

That's right where You'll find me

My Deliverer, You rescued me from all that held me captive

My Deliverer, You set me free

Now I'm alive and I can live

And every moment I will give you praise

La la la la la I need You

You know whatever I'm goin' through

I'll be watchin'

I'll be waitin'

I'll be prayin'

I'll be stayin' down on my knees

That's right where You'll find me

My Deliverer, You rescued me from all that held me captive

My Deliverer, You set me free

Now I can live

My Deliverer, I'm no longer captive

My Deliverer, You gave Your life that I might live

So every moment I will give you praise

Yeah my Deliverer

I'm gonna give You praise

I'm gonna give You praise

My Deliverer."

Such powerful and encouraging words! I love how relatable they are: We've all been in a position like ones that she mentioned in these songs, and every single time, God is there! To lift us up, to empower us, to keep us going. He is always with us!

Now, I would LOVE for you to suggest a song for next weeks Inspiration By Song! Let us be inspired by your favorite song! I want to hear the music that empowers and encourages you! Please add a link to a song you would like to see in an future Inspiration By Song to the linky at the bottom of this post. I promise that I will feature every single song that gets linked up, 2 at a time!

A {Scrapbooking} Giveaway!

Hey Friends!

Today, I'm so excited to share with you about My Memories Suite.

My Memories Suite is a digital scrapbooking software. I've always loved scrapbooking in real life, but I'd never tried it digitally before.

It's amazing. There is so much fun stuff you can create! My Memories gives you tons of different papers and even some free digital scrapbooking kits to get you started.

I just loved how easy this digital scrapbooking software was to operate. Though I'm a Photoshop guru, I'll admit, Photoshop can be hard to figure out. With My Memories Suite, you won't have to spend hours trying to figure it out. This software is one of the most simple ways to create the cutest scrapbooking pages!

They have pages and pages of different layout templates, so you can create anything you might possibly desire. They even have a feature among many others, which I think is just fabulous: You can integrate not only sounds, but videos!!

How cool is that? If I wasn't completely sold on digital scrapbooking before I discovered that, I am now. I still love traditional scrapbooking, but when you can make a scrapbooking page with pictures of your 20 month old cousin, and actually integrate a video of him talking (or eating an apple. Have you ever seen a baby eat an apple whole? Taking actual bites? It's amazingly cute. And now I can save that memory forever!)

When your finished creating you scrapbook, there are tons of ways for you to share it with friends and family. You can print the pages out individually, get your scrapbook made into a hard cover book, or even (my favorite) get a DVD or CD made with your scrapbooking creations on it so you can share it with anyone, anywhere!

Here is what the product page has to say about My Memories Suite 2.0:

"My Memories Suite version 2 software is a complete digital scrapbooking solution that provides a powerful set of creative tools and multiple sharing options that no other software can offer. Its intuitive workspace and enhanced time-saving features are perfect for a beginner to build an entire album in minutes, or to empower the design pro to build a scrapbook album masterpiece."

Guess What? My Memories wants to give one of my amazing readers their own copy of the My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software Version 2.0!

To Enter, it's simple: Just visit the My Memories website, check out their digital scrapbooking kits, and leave a comment with the name of a kit that you like!

For Extra Entries (Leave a comment for each one you do):

Like My Memories Suite on Facebook

Follow My Memories Suite on Twitter

Follow Faithful Always via Google Friend Connect

(Of course, if you already do any of these things, that counts too! So please leave a comment. :)

This giveaway will end on next Sunday (July 3rd) at 11:00pm, and the winner will be announce on the Fourth of July!

I know whoever wins will just love My Memories. Good Luck! :)

Oh, Christmas Tree...

Today, is June 25th.

Anyone know what that means?

We have exactly 6 months until Christmas!

I doubt anyone else took note of this "monumental occasion", but with me, Christmas is always on my mind.

Maybe that's because I still have my Christmas tree up...

There. I said it! If you want to call me certifiably insane, go ahead. :)

I adore Christmas. Not for the presents (honestly, I was never very interested in receiving presents. My parents always had to beg me to think of Christmas ideas. They would make me sit down and think of 10 things I would like for Christmas before I could get up. No joke.)

When I was 12, I started buying Christmas gifts for my family, with my own money. I loved that fact that by doing something as simple as spending $20 on a DVD or a toy, I could make someone happy.

Growing up, I would always beg my parents to put up the Christmas tree early. Really early. Before Halloween early (this actually worked out, and even became the "norm" for our family, believe it or not).

There was never a year when I didn't beg my parents to keep the Christmas tree up. At that time, it was mainly because I hated having to take off each and every one of the ornaments, find the boxes, and put the tree in the basement for another year.

Lazy. But wait...

So, this past Christmas, I decided to go for it. We put away the "big" Christmas tree from our living room around the time we always do (New Years). The weekend after Christmas, I went to Walmart and bought one of those cute mini Christmas trees I had been wanting for a long time. (Keep in mind, it's already 2 days after Christmas.)  I set it up and decorated it with maybe 12-15 ornaments, Done.

That's how it's been ever since! I'm sitting here now, in the early early morning, with just the light of my Christmas tree. I didn't leave this Christmas tree up just to give my bedroom a little sparkle, though.

I think of the Christmas tree as a reminder. During the November/December season, everyone is thankful. Thankful for each other, thankful for God's grace, appreciative of others, etc. People are happier, people are renewed. It seems that during the Christmas season, people become totally different.

And I just love it.

Christmas is a reminder for people to slow down. To take the time out of their busy schedules to think of others and to do something for others. It's the season on togetherness.

It all goes back to one of my favorite Bible verses:




"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"  {Acts 20:35}

Christmas reminds me to give. It reminds me that life is not all about me, and that my purpose is not to do just what's right for me. My purpose in life, and all of our purposes in life, is to serve others, bless others, and love God.

Simple, but so easy to forget. So that's why I feel like having my little, 3 foot purple Christmas tree lighting up my bedroom in June, is a good thing. It's really a blessing in disguise. It's not like I wake up every morning thinking about Christmas or anything.  In fact, I don't really even notice the tree. It's just there. But sub-consciously, I'm always reminded of the Christmas spirit and attitude even when Christmas is 6 months away! :)

Plus... I mean, the tree is so cute!

Two Holidays In One!

Today, I'm wishing my Dad, Grandpa, Uncles, Friends, any and every dad out there a very happy Father's Day! I love my Dad, and I'm so blessed to have him! We had a wonderful day, and my dad even got to go so a movie he wanted to see (Green Lantern) with my mom and sister, while I happily stayed home baking a cheesecake. :) He had fun, and then we spent the rest of our day at my grandparents house because in addition to being Father's Day, guess what else it was?

My Grandma's 62nd Birthday!

My grandma was actually born on a Father's Day, as well. She is so fun to be around, I love her, and I'm wishing her many more happy happy birthdays after this!

Today was a really great day for me. I just realize how blessed I am to have such wonderful family and friends! I love you guys!

Summer officially begins on Tuesday. Tomorrow is the last day of Spring! I'm a little sad, because I have to go back to school SO soon (August 10th!), but I'm just embracing every moment and living it to the fullest!

I so excited, because on Wednesday, my uncle, aunt, and 20 month old baby cousin, Hunter, are coming in for a week from Virginia! I've only ever seen my cousin twice (his first Christmas and his first birthday last October), and I didn't want anything to do with him. I was anti baby, seemingly anti everything for so long. I'm done with that! I'm a new me. I'm a changed person. I now realize that babies are precious gifts, and I can't wait to embrace every second of time I get to spend with Hunter.

I hope you all had wonderful days as well. Praying for you today!

Yay! It's Summer! Fun Stuff and Opportunities!

Hey sweet friends!

First off, do any of you remember way back in the day (Well, not really. More like a month or 2 ago. ) when I used to post something everyday?

Well, I sort of fell of the bandwagon.

April and May were crazy months for me! Not bad or anything, just insanely busy. In April I did alright, but in May I only wrote 13 posts! Just 13.

I don't force myself to write a post everyday. I did it because I sincerely love writing and sharing my heart with you all! May is just the wrong month to blog. I was finishing up with another year of school, plus I was crazy slammed with blog design orders at Forever After (Still am, actually, but now it's great because I have so much more time to work on blog designs and I can fit more people in! Like you, if you want! 50% of your money goes to bringing Nasira and Niles home. :)

Anyway, I could not be more thankful that it's now SUMMER TIME! I am so excited. I'm really hoping that this will be the best summer ever. I want it to be a time of spiritual growth, lots of fun, and lots of blogging! I will for sure be back to posting every single day now that I'm home every single day. (Have you caught on that I'm really grateful to be in college so that I get summer break?)

In addition to the return of awesome daily blog posts, I have some super fun opportunities for everyone!

Be the Change Giveaway

My first surprise is that in less than a week, we will have a giveaway starting! This giveaway will include tons of fun items (no spoilers!) that you will love, but this isn't just any regular giveaway. It's a giveaway with a purpose. Our purpose being to raise money for Nasira and Niles, my Reece's Rainbow 5/5/5 Warrior cuties! By donating just a little bit of money to one of them, you can be entered to win a sweet prize. More on this later!

Bible Study Group


One of the main reasons I started this blog in the first place was to keep me accountable. I had been journaling for a while, but it didn't last. I had no way of being accountable! I would skip writing because it wasn't like anyone else would know if I wrote in my journal or not, so I just sort of slipped out of the habit. With my blog, I'm much more accountable (usually...) because I have all of my sweet readers encouraging me and I want to write for you!

Well, the same thing goes with Bible Study. I have never read the Bible all the way through. I want to. I've set that goal as my New Year's resolution, as my "Lent resolution", and finally I've realized: It's not going to happen on my own, I need someone to be accountable to, or I just sort of slip off the bandwagon and never climb back on.

For that reason, I've decided to start a Bible study group! I'm looking for some sweet girls to do it with me. I haven't exactly figured out all the details, and I'll definitely want your input, but it should work really well. We will have so much of the Bible to read everyday, and then we will meet at least once a week (maybe even on Skype!) to discuss, share our favorite verses, pray, etc! It will be laid back, but enriching, and we will be able to hold each other accountable. Plus, getting to chat with each other every week and grow spiritually together is an  added bonus.

If anyone at all is interested, please don't hesitate to join in! Even if your a new reader, we would love to get to know you. Just drop me an email (faithfulalwaysblog@yahoo.com) or leave a comment and I'll get our group together!

Magazine

This one I'm really excited about.In the past, I've had a newsletter, but it only lasted for one issue. It's not that is wasn't fun, but 1. I got way too busy, and 2. I wanted something more. I wanted room for fin pictures articles, devotionals, everything! So now, I've decided to start a magazine. A real magazine! Well, an e-magazine. Our free e-magazine will come out each month and it will feature tons of inspiring, uplifting, and encouraging content! (Plus, with the help of my graphic design skills, it will look like a REAL magazine. With a cover, and everything!) I don't have all the content worked out yet, but I know at least a few of the things we feature will be:

-Devotionals
-Testimonials
-A Christian Blogger Feature (I'm really excited about this one!)
-Even crafts, recipes, time management, and many other featured sections on living a balanced Christian lifestyle!

If you would be interested in contributing anything at all to our new magazine, again, please email me (faithfulalwaysblog@yahoo.com) or leave a comment! We'll need lots of wonderful women to help pull this off, and I'd love the chance to get to know you better!

That's it for now. I'm so excited to be able to share all these fun new opportunities with you. I hope to hear from you really soon, and in the meantime, just be blessed and enjoy this glorious season. :)

One Step At A Time {Plus Inspiration By Song!}

I am a contemporary Christian music lover. 


That's basically all I listen to!Well, that and Sara Barielles, Michael Buble, Jason Mraz, Ingrid Michaelson, you know. It's so uplifting! I love Christian rock, Worship and praise songs, anything of that nature. 


That's me, though. My parents, my sister? I don't think they've ever listened to a Chris Tomlin song in their life!  My mom loves 80's rock, my dad loves Elvis, 50's, 60's, 70's rock, and more recently he's had an obsession with country music (bleh. HATE country.) My sister is a teenager so she loves all the popular music, like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Kesha, etc. (a.k.a all the artists I can't stand to listen to, because almost all the lyrics and videos are just so inappropriate!)


I've learned to just deal with listening to the music my family likes, because none of them are interested in Christian music in any way. Today, I was with my dad and my sister and I heard a song start. This song was not anything I'd ever heard my sister listening to. As I took in the lyrics, I realized it was a Christian song! A very contemporary Christian rock song. And I loved it! During the commercial break, I found out that we were actually listening to a Christian station. The next song was even more amazing! 


After those to songs, our car ride was over. I was so pleasantly surprised. I don't think they even realized we were listening to Christian music, but I did and it made my day. All of my family is Catholic, but basically that's just a title. If someone asks what religion they are, they can say, "Catholic", but my parents or my sister don't even go to church. I'm the reason for that. I pushed away God and religion so much as a child that I pushed it out of our lives for good. I would cry when my parents wanted my to go to church, and one year for about a month, church became punishment. My parents wanted me to change my attitude so they made us start going to church for a month, at which point I convinced them to stop. When, I was 13, everything changed for me. I accepted Christ into my life, and it's been that way ever since. I know that I'm the one who drove my family from God, and I've always regretted that! You can't force someone to believe in God, so I haven't. I've gone on becoming a "Strong Christian" while my family has just stayed put.

I've always prayed that they would eventually embrace this aspect of their lives again. So maybe the Christian music we listened to today was just a coincidence. Probable even. But with our God, ANYTHING is possible. So maybe this was more than just coincidence. I like to think of it as a step in the right direction, toward my family becoming a strong, close-knitted, Christian family who prays together, worships our glorious God together, and even goes to church together! Here's to new beginnings. :)


One of my favorite verses ever: 


Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! {2 Corinthians 5:7}

For our inspiration by song this week, I'm sure you can guess what our 2 songs are. Yes, listen to the 2 songs that I heard on our car radio today, and that just might be the first few steps of a wonderful journey. 

Be blessed on this beautiful day, sweet friend!