Tomorrow is a new day

Today will be another one with two posts.  Yesterday was a blah day.  Sometimes those days happen, and last night when I went to edit and post the photos from the day I just was not feeling like doing it.  Thankfully I have a sweet husband that even when I am crabby and mopey loves me and attempts to make me feel better :)  Last night he planned an outing for us to go watch the sky change colors as the sunset and even bought me cute wine bottles to enjoy while we watched.  It ended up being a little chilly and the sky did not want to change, but it was still nice to just spend time with him after feeling like a failure most of the day.

Enjoy the pictures from my day 9 of 365 and I will be back tonight with pictures from day 10!

Psalms 37:23-24
"The Lord directs the steps of the godly.  He delights in every detail of their lives.  Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand."

Two scoops please

Today will have two picture posts because I failed to post last night.  We celebrated our friend John's birthday last night, and like the old lady I am, when we got home (at 10:45) I went straight to bed ;)  I love when birthday's come up because it is a night where we are guaranteed to see and hang out with our friends which can be really hard to do in the hustle and bustle of life.  Last night a group of us topped off the birthday dinner with delicious Braum's and it was wonderful :)

For anyone with a goal for the new year to participate in a daily devotional I came across this verse the other day that is serving as my motivation to take time out daily to spend time in the word and converse with God.  Maybe it can serve as motivation for you as well!

Colossians 3:10 "Put on your new nature and be renewed as you learn to know your creator and become like Him."

This new year is a chance to make a commitment to God that I will get to know Him better and let Him transform me through His word and teachings as I discipline myself to meet with Him daily.  I am excited to look back next January and see what He has accomplished in me!

Happy day 5 of 365 (a day late)

The Word and Coffee

Cameron and I took a date to Starbucks tonight to start one of our resolutions on the right foot.  We both have set the goal in the new year to spend time daily in God's word, and this date was a way of keeping both of us accountable to that goal.

It was nice to enjoy our favorite drink with each other while soaking up God's word :)

Happy day 2 of 365

Thankful November

What a lovely weekend we had here in the Calef house!

photo shoot with my favorite family

date night

spur of the moment bonfire with friends

and trying out a new church

This weekend I was so thankful for the relationships that I have.  I have a loving husband, great friends, and the opportunity to meet new people and create new relationships.

Today I am thankful for the right to vote.  I know that a lot of people are telling you that today, and they do because it is important.  We live in a democracy where we have the right to elect individuals to public office.  How cool is that?!  People through around the phrase "it is my right" a lot, and not always are they correct, but voting is a right that we need to exercise.  Beyond the fact that it is a right, voting provides me with a high like no other and I always leave wishing the next election would be here tomorrow so I could do it again (minus all of the political campaigns... those can go away).

My goal for the month of November is to write something that I am thankful for everyday.  Some days they will make it on to the blog with a story or lesson that I am learning, other days they will be documented in my prayer journal.  I want to go through this month remembering that God has blessed me in countless ways.  My life is beautiful and there are days when I am trudging through the mundane pieces or the midweek blues and begin to lose sight of that fact.  I hope that through intentionally working towards a thankful attitude I will allow God to transform my heart and see my life the way that He sees it. 

Here is to a Thankful November!

Fear

Happy Monday!  I had intentions of sharing a quick fruit dip recipe, but I started reading my book and felt guided to share some musings.  Fruit dip recipe can wait a few days ;)

I am currently reading "Making Room for God in Your Hectic Life" by Keri Wyatt Kent.  I bought the book a while ago, but have really started getting in to it this past week and felt so rejuvenated by the topics and encouragement that is part of each chapter.  

The chapter I am currently on is called humble and it is discussing the inner struggle between living simple and honoring God's wishes and living in a race with everyone around us.  It discusses reasons that we feel a pull towards competing with those around us, and one of the biggest is fear.  Lately I have had a strong fear that I have no skills and will graduate with my masters no better than I was before.  I fear never finding a job that I am excited and motivated to go to, and that truly makes a difference in my community.  I look around at the success of friends and classmates, and wonder what I am missing or am doing wrong.

At the time when I needed it God used this book to set my worries straight and encourage me to continue following Him.  God placed me at Missouri State again and he provided me with a graduate assistant position.  I have to trust that he placed me where I am and that he is going to use my education as a catalyst for the future he has planned for me.  I do not need to compare myself to others because God created me to be an individual and he has a specific plan especially for me.  Why would I want someone else's life if it means I miss out on the blessings God has planned for my own?

Matthew 6: 33-34

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Please pray as I work out these fears and work on following God and listening for His voice as he directs my path.  If you are going through something similar let me know!  I would love to pray for you as well :)

We get by with a little help from our friends

This past weekend we had the opportunity to hang out with lots of friends and I felt overwhelmingly blessed.  Cameron and I went through a phase right after we got married where we prayed diligently for other married friends that loved God, would encourage us and that could put up with us ;)  We were two people with separate friend groups coming together, and we wanted friends that we could hang out with together.

Our friends have definitely been an evolution this past year.  We started spending more time with couples that we both already knew and we have met new ones while branching out at church.  This weekend was a wonderful blending of both of those groups.  We were able to celebrate my GA position with some of our old friends and we out to lunch after church with some wonderful people that we have met just this year through getting more involved and putting ourselves out there.

This weekend I had the "ah ha" moment.  He has provided us with friends to laugh with, share life, look up to, and be real in front of.  And he is planting seeds for more relationships to develop.
This year has been crazy, but through it all God has provided.  Even in the area of friends he has blessed us with couples that want to share in life's joys with us.  There were times when it looked dark, but on the other side of this year I just look back and see the many blessings.

I will end this post with a few more anniversary photos. Thanks to all of you reading for being my friend and a source of encouragement and joy in this crazy life.  I love all of you :)

I am living such a blessed life.  Sigh :)

Musings

Happy Monday everyone :)  My day of work was actually good after a refreshing weekend and good talk with a friend from training.  Sometimes it just feels good to share the insecurities and have a friend help you work through them.

This post is three-fold which is the reason for the post title.  These are my musings and a recap of the happenings in our lives right now.  Read on if you want a glimpse of my crazy mind or don't.  This post is for me.

First, remember the post from last week where I introduced you to some amazing flea market finds?!  Well I am happy to say that they are up and making my kitchen happy :)

I was immediately thrilled that I had a place to display some of our favorite mugs and organize the pens in the kitchen, but the area was lacking a little color so I set to work incorporating bright turquoise.  I just mixed one part paint that I had in my craft drawer with one part water and washed it over the "mugs" cup hanger.

It is subtle but I love it and I wanted to share :)

I also wanted to tell you that I have a really fun diy project coming up that involves beautifying this:

We are working on a few finishing touches so hopefully I will be able to share the finished product as well as a couple of tutorials from the process later this week!

The final reason for this post, and by far the most important, is to share what God has been working with me on over the past week.  I have shared on here a few times that I do not love my current job, but I have never shared the reasons behind my dislike.  It is not a dislike of the job that I am doing, because I am a talker and love to meet new people, but it is the way I feel while doing the job.  The devil has used this job to stir up self-doubt, make me feel worthless and weak, and encourage me to tell myself that I will never succeed at this job or any other one that I pursue.  I reached a point before the Christmas break where I broke down in heaving sobs because I did not want to face another day where I was a failure.  The first day back to work after break I cried again because for two glorious weeks I was surrounded by family and friends and felt like me for the first time in months.  

I have shared these feelings with a few people, but mostly I fought the battle by myself because I felt that I should be able to handle it.  Last week Thursday I was driving and a song came on the radio and the one part that stuck out to me was "you were made to fill a purpose that only you can do".  I just started crying and began to see for the first time that the devil was really at work in my hatred toward my job, and that I had the power of the Kingdom of God on my side.  I shared my struggles for the first time with our Financial Peace University class at church, and was so encouraged by the outpouring of support from everyone in the group.  I felt such a huge weight lift off my shoulder, because I knew that God had placed warriors around me that would help me fight the battle.  They are praying for me, encouraging me, and working to remind me that my identity is in God and God alone.  

Now I am working on having a healthy relationship with my job as well as putting in the time with God each day so that I go out into the world with the armor of God on me.  Most mornings when I get ready to leave the house I still get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I am trying to rely on the word of God and pray to Him to help me through the struggles.

Thank you for letting me have a post for "me" where I can really put into words what I am battling and solidify my resolve to battle it with God on my side.