Sweet Southern Pearl

One of my downfalls is seeking the approval of others - of caring too much what others might think about the decisions I make / of wanting someone to tell me what THEY think I should do because I feel like an objective opinion is better sometimes. Granted, I seek this advice and approval from spiritually like-minded friends, articles and books by Christian articles, etc, but the main source of my guidance and approval should be the Bible / the Lord. Today, with social media and our lives on display, it's easy for everyone we know to know every little move we make if we choose to put our business out there. For me personally, with big decisions I've made, I've always thought "What would other people think about this decision?" -choosing the college I went to -choosing the grad school I went to -what city I choose to live in -buying my house -the job I choose to have / where I choose to work (just some examples) While it's great to seek godly advice a...

A few weeks ago, the message at church was about Jacob literally wrestling with God and God giving him a new name and identity. Jacob has been dealing with some hard things and plans to spend the whole night alone praying, but God interrupts his plans to come and wrestle with him. Jacob demands a blessing, which pleases God, and God delivers.  “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob [deceiver], but Israel [strives with God], for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed” ( Genesis 32:28 ). I've been thinking a lot lately about Psalm 46. It is all about God's sovereign power and how He is with us through anything we go through, and how He will always win. He won against Jacob because after the match, Jacob changed his ways, lifestyle, and lived up to his new identity. At first, though, Jacob was headstrong and wanted his own way. Thinking about times in my life that were difficult, or where I wanted my own way, I think about how I've spent so much ti...

Last night at church the message was about spiritual attack and lies from Satan that distract us from doing God's work or tempt us to get off track. I lead a small group of amazing middle school girls that I love so much, and our discussion after the message was great. A couple weeks ago, I was talking to one of my best friends on the phone (she's in San Antonio) and she brought up a good point - Satan knows exactly how to tempt girls/women. He knows that we are, for the most part, concerned with our looks and being accepted and admired, and he uses that to feed us lies and try to get us off track. Last night we talked about how with social media, it's harder than ever for girls and women not to compare themselves to others. With filters and HD photos and the ability to post only your best pictures and make it look like life is perfect, it's easy to scroll through the Instagram news feed and start to feel really bad about your own self because everyone else looks ...

Last Thursday night I got in my car and drove to Hilton Head Island for a mental health mini-vacation. I was meeting two precious friends down there, and had five hours in the car all to myself. I had a LOT on my mind from last week, and although the drive was brutal for my legs and fanny, I got to talk on the phone with a precious godly accountability partner / encourager (BFF) and spend time in my thoughts in silence and with my worship music, and most importantly, talk to God. I was listening to my worship playlist on Spotify and the songs ran out, so Spotify started playing songs recommended for me. "Psalm 46" by Shane and Shane came on, and I had never heard it before. I loved it immediately, so I played it again and really listened to the words. O come behold the works of God the nations at His feet. He breaks the bow and bends the spear and tells the wars to cease. O Mighty One of Israel you are on our side. We walk by faith in God who burns the char...

Yesterday I was blessed to sit through THREE amazing church services. Lately, I feel like I really need to absorb as much of the Word as I can on Sundays in order to thrive through the week. It is so easy to get caught up in the stress of daily life, and I've found that the best way to combat that is to be poured into through spiritual teaching. I can't pour into my students or my family or my friends or my middle school girls on Wednesday nights if I'm not constantly growing and learning.  It's also really cool / interesting to sit at different churches with entirely different groups of people and hear the Word presented in different ways. Different churches appeal more to families or young people or older people for different reasons. One thing I realized as I sat in my home church yesterday morning (OakView Baptist) is that although we don't have the lights and the music and coffee, we do hear the Word in a way that really gets deep into your soul. It...

I've written about this before - how could I not? Yesterday I wrote about how sometimes God allows us to go through things so that we can help others who go through the same things later. Waiting is especially hard. Waiting... Why do I not have this or that yet? All my other friends do. Why am I going through this particular struggle? When will it be over? Why do I keep  having to deal with struggles? Well, absolutely NO life is struggle-free, and the Christian life was never promised to be easy. James 5:7 says to be patient. "See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains." Sometimes we just have to wait a little longer to get a blessing that's just a little sweeter. Sometimes we have to wait in seasons of wilderness and desert so that we can say "Christ is enough for me" because He's all we have. Sometimes it's so that we can see HOW faithful He...

It's so hard when something unexpected happens that just kind of rocks your world. Especially when things are great and you've been on the nountaintop. But it's also hard to HAVE to rely on God when you're on the mountaintop, so you have to go through valleys. Last night on the radio, I heard the best reminder at the best time: "God may not be allowing you to go through this as punishment, but because He knows you will be able to help others through the same kind of situation if you have gone through it yourself. He is using you to help others." That's how I've always tried to see my challenges, and if just one person can benefit from my trials, then I can count it worth it (not always as easily as I say this. Most things are easier said than done!) Because let's be honest, when things are hard, I use writing as therapy and cling to Jesus just a little more than usual. I read my Bible more and get my fanny into the prayer closet more often a...

Exodus 3❤️️ Before Moses was the leader of the Israelites, he murdered an Egyptian but we remember him as a deliverer. If you want to be a deliver er , you have to be deliver ed from something. You have to deal with things in your life you need to be delivered from in order to be a deliverER. God has to deal with your heart. Moses needed victory in his heart / soul / deepest places. Moses had to go to Pharaoh. He had to run TO the thing he had to be delivered from and defeat it. Don't run AWAY from it. Moses had not yet settled his identity as a child of God. When we do that, we can be used. >> If you want to experience victory, you first have to experience defeat. << Biggest battles in life are internal  battles. He had to settle that within himself before he could "lift the lid" and set the people free. The Lord told Moses through all of this that He would be with him, and the same goes for us. When you know who your life belongs to, ev...