On Adoption

I have known from the time that I was about six, that when I grew up, I was going to adopt. God pricked my heart for His children that need an Earthly parent to show them the love of their Heavenly Father. I pray for the mothers of those children. I pray that they know the Savior that I know. I pray that God blesses them. Honestly, sometimes I just don't know what to pray. Adoption is not always pretty. I know that the circumstances surrounding that precious one being given up for adoption will not be pretty. But I do know that my heart is simply broken for those babies and their biological mothers.

On father's day I heard an incredible sermon that touched quite a bit on adoption. God's heart breaks for those children who are not in forever homes. Our hearts need to be broken for the things that break His.

A blogger that I greatly admire shared some interesting articles that I wanted to pass on(along with a few others):

~Is the church ready for the abortion law to change?  Its time for the the church to stop talking and start doing.

~A very honest(and so true) take on adoption

~What I want you to know: Adoption and Assumptions This is plan A.

~The Howerton's Adoption Be prepared to cry. A lot.

~Jaydn's First Word Breathtakingly sweet.

~He Did It This made me ball my eyes out. He did it!

Hannah

Feeding the Spirit

I am incredibly blessed to be a team member of a ministry that is based in my hometown and was started by two of my former youth directors. In our weekly meeting last night one of the directors, Jen, told us about how Saturday night God directed her to make two lists. One list was of things that fed her flesh. The other was a list of things that fed her spirit. She shared how God showed her that the things that fed her spirit were often the exact opposite of what fed her flesh(ex. Confession feeds the spirit where as excuses feed the flesh.). She asked that we take a few minutes spend time in prayer asking God to show us what feeds our flesh and what feeds are spirits.

Even before I began to pray, God started to reveal things to me. Like Jen, I noticed that the things that fed my flesh were often in direct contrast to what fed my spirit. Buying things feeds my flesh. Learning to be content with what I have feeds my spirit. Spending time in prayer, even when its difficult, feeds my spirit. Watching television and browsing the internet feeds my flesh. Reading fun fiction novels feeds my flesh. Reading God's word and books that help me grow spiritually feed my spirit.

After we spent time in prayer asking God to reveal these things to us, Jen made an excellent point. She encouraged us to then go about making the things of the spirit stronger and the things of the spirit weaker. This takes time. I may have a few good days when I spent more time in prayer and reading God's word than I do watching House Hunter's and the Bachelorrete, but that does not mean that I can give up and focus on other things. Sanctification is a life-long process.

Paul says this in Philippians 1:5, "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you[and me] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." God is ever faithful to us. He does not give up on us. It is so important that we be willing to go the distance with Him.

What feeds your spirit? Your flesh?

Hannah

Dearest blog community(all three of you..hi mom!),

You have been very lonely I'm sure. I promise that I have not forsaken you and given up on my little bloggy home...I have simply been overwhelmed by reality of late. I get up early and go to bed late. I study. I work. I volunteer. I occasionally sleep. There has simply been no time to sit and type a message to you all. Have no fear though, school is almost out for the summer(Praise the Lord!) at which time I will resume(hopefully) a more regular blog posting schedule. Thank you for you patience, and support.

Love dearly,
Hannah

Magical

You may remember a few months ago when I told you about a few of my favorite things. I introduced you to a mouse that I absolutely loved. For years I have been searching for hair products that make my hair soft and shiny, but also give my curls definition and hold. Not an easy task. Curly hair is super tricky. Then I found this stuff and fell in love. It gave me everything I had been looking for. I had found perfection.

And then I was introduced to this stuff.



photo: source



A customer came into my store last weekend and had Gorgeous hair. Seriously, beautiful. I asked her what she used and that is how I met my little friend. I was a little nervous when I heard it was a gel. I haven't used gels for years because they always left my hair kinda...crunchy. Not a good look.

This gel, however, is in a spray form and is super lightweight. It leaves my hair soft and shiny, but gives me great hold and definition. Seriously magical.

Becoming a victim

Back in the day, it was the cool thing in my junior high to read the Christy Miller book series. The series followed a group of friends, focused on two particular characters, from high school through college and ending at their wedding day. They were a bit, shall I say...corny, but the theology in them was absolutely fantastic. Recently I found a spin off series and may or may not have read the entire series...in three days. That good, y'all.

One concept that was discussed often in the book was the idea of being a victim of grace. Rather than being a "victim" in the traditional sense, you choose instead to be a victim of the grace God has given you. This means that you grant forgiveness where its needed. This means that you do not always win, even when you think you should. This means that you embrace I Corinthians 15:10,"By the grace of God I am what I am..."

I am trying to embrace this idea of being a victim of grace. It takes the weight off of my shoulders, because as I become of a victim of grace I let go of the things that I have held onto.

What do you think of the idea of becoming a victim of grace?

Hannah

On my lack of patriotism and judging others

I have the misfortunate  condition in which I possess to ability to keep my mouth shut when I ought to. This has led to a few comments via twitter and facebook(bless their hearts) that I 1. do not possess a patriotic spirit and 2. am judgemental. I'm incredibly offended by number, and I would probably agree with number 2. I'm a blogger, however, which means that I get to defend myself.

I am not unpatriotic. My father is a member of the United States Marine Corps. I could not be more proud of him and more grateful of his service. The same is true of all of our service men and women. It is because of their service that I have the ability to own a blog where I get to say this.
In the wake of the recent killing of an evil Man, Osama Bin Laden, I am once again in awe of the Navy Seals who risked their lives to bring that man to justice. I firmly believe that we should celebrate and rejoice in the fact that the justice system worked beautifully. I also think we should be incredibly proud of the way that those who were given the task of bringing him to justice did so not with vengeance, but with dignity. I am incredibly proud to be an American always, and most especially during times such as this.

Now that we've cleared that up, I am also a bit more than disgusted at the way that some have chosen to show their patriotism. Minutes after the death of Bin Laden was announced, someone created a fake twitter account pretending to be Bin Laden 'tweeting from hell.' I'm sorry, this is not patriotic nor is in any way humorous. Be that as it may, whoever created the account has the right to express their freedom of speech anyway they chose. I did not so much have a problem with the person who created the account as I did with the number of Christian's who followed them and then retweeted what they were posting.

As a Believer, I do not rejoice in the death of another human being. Here's the crazy thing, no matter how evil Bin Laden was(and he was) and no matter how senseless his killings were(and they were), Jesus died for him just as much as he died for me. If the Bible is to be believed(and it is) than I have no right to think I am better than he is. I just accepted the salvation of Jesus Christ, where as he wholeheartedly rejected it.
Believe me, I get that this is uncomfortable to think about. I don't like to think that Jesus died for Hitler and Bin Laden and every other evil person to walk the face of the earth, but He did. I can no more deny what the gospel tells me than I can deny the very existence of Jesus Himself.

Please don't think that I disagree with the killing of this evil man. The Bible clearly states that God Himself gave authority to our governmental leaders and they then have the authority to bring those who do evil to justice. My heart rejoices for those who lost loved ones on 9/11. I'm so grateful that their prayers(and my prayers) for justice were not in vain. I celebrate that justice was served. I celebrate the victory of our service men and woman. I celebrate that God protected their lives.

Please share your thoughts on these events. Remember that any comments deemed inappropriate will be deleted.


Hannah

Resurfacing

You may remember that back in November, my family was pushed into an incredibly difficult season. For a few months, I was simply surviving. I ate. I slept(very little). I went to school and work. I wasn't living. I was going through the motions of living.

Over the past few weeks, I have noticed that I'm starting to live again. I enjoy things again. My laughter isn't forced. My smiles are genuine. I feel as though I am sprouting after a long, dark, cold winter. How ironic that I am literally watching the world around me come alive again after such a long, dark, cold winter.

I have to admit that I desperately missed life. I've missed engaging in conversations. I've missed being present. For a long time I was there physically, but emotionally I was invested elsewhere. I just did not have anything left to give.

I'm so grateful that the Lord saw that this season was coming, and prepared me in advance for it. He placed some incredibly dear people in my life who really carried me through out this season. I can not thank Him, or them, enough for the support.

What is new for you this spring?

Hannah