Stop & Smell the Mountain Laurel

First crochet project is complete! 
And on top of that, one very happy birthday girl. :)

Seeing the joy on a girl's face as she unwrapped her blue & purplified gift was absolutely priceless; but I couldn't stop there. Inside the woven satchel, she found a lock-and-key diary along with some gel pens (seriously, what little girl wouldn't love gel pens? I know I did around her age). Her smile just got bigger & I was quite blessed knowing that she would enjoy the gift (after the time I put into it).

Or, maybe it's stopping to smell the grape-like fragrance & beautiful purple blooms of Mountain Laurel as you pass by. One of my favorite smells this time of year by the way. 

 "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ." - Ephesians 1:3

Just like the little girl pulling another gift out of the purse, we discover these little blessings & smile with joy knowing how much our Father loves us. We are chosen by God to receive salvation - every one of us. We are adopted by God to be his children. We are forgiven by God - and are commanded to forgive others ("Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others." - Colossians 3:13b, NLT). We have the power to do God's will. We have the hope of living forever with Christ.

God as my friend.

This topic has been on my heart & mind for quite a while now, but I've never known how to tell it, much less how to start it. So, here it goes ...

For most of my life, I've always seemed to struggle with friendship - always on the outer circle, no matter how much I tried to fit in. I felt as if I was never truly accepted into the group. I know what you're thinking right now, "This is just a blog to make us feel sorry for her." - Wrong! Currently, I am quite happy with my friendships right now. I'm just not done ... anywho ... Sunday evening at a benefit concert hosted by my church, I heard the song "Friend of God" performed by Philips, Craig, & Dean live and the lyrics kind of hit home with me. No matter who has or will walk out of my life, God will always be there as a friend - He always has & always will. That's quite reassuring.

"For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God." - Romans 5:10-11 NLT, italics added. - what a sacrifice our God has made for us!

"Draw close to God and he will draw close to you ..." James 4:8a

I love what this verse tells us and reassures us of God's promise to us. He longs to have a close, an intimate, relationship with us. I don't know where you may stand, but for me ... something  inside me longs to spend time with my Heavenly Father - when I don't, I can feel it. There's a difference in my attitude throughout the day. Just like with friendships here on this earth - you need to spend time with others in order to know who they are as a person. What kind of friendship would you have if you didn't?

Made to Love - 1st Post

After much consideration & googling for any kind of help to name my blog, I have come to a conclusion to call it "Made to Love". For those of you who don't know me, I'm a big fan of Toby Mac (and some other Christian rap artists - haha, surprised?). If you ever get the chance, I'd would highly recommend listening to the song. It's very up beat and has a great message.

Three weeks ago, I started a course through my church called Wise Counsel and these past weeks have been quite insightful in showing me about who I am in Christ. As I was reading over some phrases, I came across one that said, "I have been made complete in Christ", which led me further to the idea that I was made to love ... by Him, for Him, and to show that love to others. It also reminded me of my senior year in high school and brought this song to mind. I had to create a slideshow in PowerPoint introducing myself and chose this song to describe my life. "[God is] here before me. [God is] waiting on me. And [God] said [He would] keep me. Never would [He] leave me. I was made to love and be loved by [Him]."
 
Now that I have a blog title in mind, I can't tell you how excited I am to call it my own and look forward to sharing my life with it. :)