Sucker.

Frugality is not one of my strong suits. I give you all full permission to begin praying for my future husband and his pocketbook. 

I offered my friend Jessica a mint today. I told her they were those "hunger mints." You know what I'm talking about. You see them every time you check out at Walmart, they're the ones in the test tube containers. I confessed to her what a sucker I am. I couldn't pass up buying those mints--because they advertised that buying said mints help feed the hungry. I then went on to tell her how a few weeks ago I bought a calendar. I was waiting in line at Whole Foods. I causally picked up a calendar and perused through it with absolutely no intention to actual purchase it. The cashier began to tell me that 100% of the calendar's profits went to charity and I knew that I was done for.
 After all, the nice cashier lady reassured me that it was going to a really good cause. You want to know a little secret? I never use calendars and much to my chagrin I told Jessica that I was a first class, bona fide sucker. You know what she said? "I think that probably just means you have compassion and a big heart." So what if I wasted three dollars on a calendar I probably won't ever really use? It's full of beautiful pictures AND coupons. Plus, I just invested in people all over the world. I'm glad I didn't go to Trader Joe's that day. Good thing I went to Whole Foods instead. 
What I think I'd like to communicate is that being a sucker isn't such a bad thing. I bet this world might look better if there were more suckers in the world. Compassionate and goodhearted suckers. 

And guess what else, tonight I bought two bumper stickers that support an Anti-Human Trafficking movement. Guess how many bumpers I have. Yup, I got sucked into spending two dollars to help diminish sex trafficking if the world. Ok, I spent six dollars, I also put four dollars in an offering plate. I think generosity comes in different forms. For me I guess it comes in the manner of buying one too many bumper stickers and having minty fresh breath from my hunger mints. That's a sacrifice I think I can handle. So I want to encourage you, challenge you to be a sucker. Go ahead give it a try.

Let us pray.

As of late I've been attending a little shindig at Oakland University on Fridays. It's a a Christian campus group and we've been watching Louie Gigglio's series on prayer. Louie makes some very interesting points about how our culture affects our style of prayer. The series is very challenging and it got me thinking a lot about how it is that we talk to God. God created us all to be different and unique. So it stands to reason that our relationships with Him are just as unique as we are. I believe our personalities, habits, and quirks influence our prayer style. For example, I usually start off a prayer with "Dear God." I know other people who always begin with "Heavenly Father" or "Dear Jesus." Often in my blog I ask rhetorical questions, but within the last few days I had the bright idea to just ask questions--and expect (or hope for) answers. Maybe a little confirmation that I'm not just talk to myself on here. So I want to know, how is it that you pray? How do you as an individual communicate with God?

 For example, one of the primary ways I talk to God is through a journal I keep. I pour a large cup of coffee and write prayers in my journal. I usually do this at my kitchen table or sitting on my bed with my journal propped up against my knees. I pray when I drive--unfortunately my "driving prayer" is often a prayer of repentance because I let a word a little stronger that "whoops" slip out of my mouth. (Still working on that.) I think most people have some sort of routine when they pray-- a certain time of day, during certain activities, and in specific places. I had a Bible teacher who would go to her closet to pray. So I want to know, How do you pray?? 

Stranger Danger.

I spent all day today shopping for wedding gowns with bride-to-be and my long-time-friend Alyssa. As a hopeless romantic and the uber sap that I am, I had a wonderful day. The only thing that could have possibly made the day better would have been caffeine in larger doses and more frequent intervals. We went to six bridal stores and shopped from 10am-7pm. At the end of the day Alyssa narrowed her pick down to two choices--pretty successful trip if you ask me. We finished the day in high spirits, giddy, and exhausted. Upon leaving our final stop at a mall we encountered quite a bit of traffic. Turns out a young girl's car had stalled right in the middle of the turning lane and all she needed was a jump. My best friend Aimee stopped to ask the young woman if she needed some help, and of course she did. You see that poor girl had been stuck there with a dead battery for FOUR hours. Can you imagine? Four hours? Teary eyed and grateful, the young woman finally got a jump because Aimee made the simple gesture to stop a minute and see if the poor girl needed any help. This really struck me, because you see, if I had been driving, I would have been just like all the other drivers who went about their way without giving this girl a second thought. I saw that she was on her cell phone and would have just kept driving. Stranger Danger, am I right? I would have behaved just like everyone else. It was growing darker, I was hungry, and the situation was none of my concern. Right? But what an opportunity that gave my friend Aimee to help that woman and share a little bit of God's heart... just like the Good Samaritan did so many years ago. It makes me wonder how many times we pass up simple opportunities to share God's love. A challenge presents itself. As Christians we know that Jesus lives inside of us and we are in turn called to live in accordance with His example.... but how often do we let ourselves and our desires get in the way of living out His love? And how do we make it stop? How do we reprogram our selfishness and begin to live and act as if we were children of the most high God? And when will we begin to treat others as if they  were also His children?

Instant pick-me-up.

Need a laugh? Watch this video :)

Michigan.

Rain Boots.

My friend Somer asked me this week to update my blog on what God's been doing in my life lately. I told her that was a good idea.... and then proceeded to blankly stare at my computer screen. Because I couldn't think of anything to write. I tried to dig really deep and think of something super profound.... something spiritual. Wise. Something worth writing about. You know what I came up with? Not much. The only thing I found was honesty--- because, in all honesty, I have no idea what God is doing in my life. Now I am not saying that God is not doing anything--- I just said I don't know what it is He is doing in my life--or why. I feel like I've been under a little rain cloud lately-- and not the fun, puddle jumping kind of rain cloud. It's been a cloud of sad, lonely, and ill-adjustment. Now I'm not asking for recruits for my pity-party... I just thought maybe I'd share what I'm struggling with. I share this because life is not perfect, it's hard-- and I've done a lot of overcoming and maybe by sharing our struggles we grow. I've been asking God a lot what am I doing here--this place/stage of life that I'm in-- and why? I have yet to find my niche, my joy, my peace. Somewhere, deep down, I bet God is stretching me and preparing me for something. But I have not found it easy. Maybe God is calling me to go find and don my rain boots and face my puddles and look forward to the metaphorical rainbows that lie ahead--while looking adorable and very stylish in my robot/alien wellies.

The big questions in life.