Journal Entry

In this season of my life, God has been doing SO many amazing things.  I am always amazed how God brings me through so many different seasons in life.  During this season of my life, God has been teaching me and convicting to fully mature into the woman that God has for me to be.  I used to focus so much on finding that "perfect", godly guy, but lately I have been very convicted that I haven't been concentrating on growing myself into the mature godly woman that the type of guy that I am looking for will want.  It is certainly a process to overcome sins or issues in my life that I want to do away with, but by God's grace, I know I can overcome anything.  I seek to be restored and renewed everyday of my life, because I know it is not a one day process or a specific goal that can be attained.

Part of my journey to become the godly woman that I strive to be is watching very carefully how I treat the men in my life.  I have a lot of guy friends that I am close with and I tend to open up to people very quickly.  It is just my personality, but I need to be careful to not share every little detail of my life with every guy that I become buds with.  I need to purposefully watch my words and my actions as to guard my heart, and theirs as well.

I want to guard my heart so that one day, I can give it fully to the man that God has for me.  I don't want to go around sharing precious thoughts about my hopes and dreams for the future with every guy I meet.  I need to work to guard my heart everyday, which is a process that is very hard to do alone.  Thank Jesus, He doesn't let me go through it alone.  

"Above all else guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."  Proverbs 4:23

God is concerned about every little thing that is concerning you.  From the strands of hair on your head, to your thoughts, to your relationship choices.  God loves you more then you could ever imagine.  While He loves us right where we are, He loves us too much for us to stay there.  He calls us to come up from the pain, heartache, and lies, and instead to run into His arms.

Princesses, men will fail you, they will disappoint you, and they won't always be there.  This doesn't make them bad, but merely human.  Christ, our Lord is ALWAYS there.  He is wholeheartedly pursuing us with an everlasting love.  He is surrounding us with protection.  He is more then able and the definition of sufficient for us.  Our Abba loves to love us.

"Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils.  Why hold them in esteem?"  Isaiah 2:22

My prayer is that as you ladies continue on in this journey of guarding your hearts, that you would fall deeper and deeper in love with Jesus.  Despite the past, no matter what it may hold, we must leave those things behind and press on towards the future.  The future filled with hope that God has for you.  I pray that you desire to guard your heart and renew your mind everyday, and when you don't feel like it, to do it anyway.  

Weekend Fun and Back to the 'Burg

Bounce houses, Ferris wheels, roller coasters, tie dye, 3 new restaurants, and Dip N' Dots.  That's what my weekend consisted of.  I had so much fun my last weekend at home.  I am officially back at school now, all moved in, just have to put up a few more pictures and by a few I mean a whole wall full.

While I was away for a few days, one of my biggest blog inspirations, Erin from sweetnessitself.blogspot.com posted the sweetest comment on my post.  Did I practically scream from excitement?  You bet.

Since I've been back I've already hung out at my friends apartment and ate chicken nuggets and watched a chick flick with my leadership team.  I have a feeling it is going to be a good year.  God is going to move in awesome and powerful ways

Starbucks runs are my favorite, and this kid makes them even better.  Me and my Pop had gotten Starbucks that morning, so we were able to get a venti cold drink for only $2!  I love bargains, and I love Starbucks, so naturally I snatched that deal up when I had the chance.

I've also been so proud of my brother lately.  He has grown up so much this summer.  His long facebook status' about what God has placed on his heart or what he has been contemplating are astounding.  He is actually thinking about starting his own blog as well, so if you know him, you should encourage him to do it!  I love my brother to death and I miss him so much while I'm away at school!  Skipper, if you're reading this, stay out of my room! :P

I went to Dixie Donuts on Cary Street with my grandma on Friday and they were absolutely delicious!

I also went to a small Mexican restaurant in Cary Town on Friday called Don't Look Back.  I had the pulled chicken taco and the Costa Rican style black bean taco, which were both delicious.  The Costa Rican style black beans actually tasted like the black beans that I had in Costa Rica too!

Went to Inflation Nation on Friday night with my favorite teens and had so much fun, bouncing, dancing, and praising our Lord!

Had so much fun with my sweet friend Em at our local amusement park on Saturday.  Then she got baptized on Sunday night!  SO excited for her and for how the Lord is going to continue to use her.

Two awesome pictures from Instagram that Em took.  We are kinda obsessed with Instagram.  I absolutely love roller coasters and just rides in general, so being able to go one last time before heading back to school was great.  I love the feeling of your stomach going into your throat and the adrenaline rush that you get from the roller coasters.  I used to be afraid of roller coasters when I was younger, but man I didn't realize what I was missing!  Maybe I am an adrenaline junkie.

I believe that me and my twinsie made the best tie dye shirts.  We are pro tie dyers.  I had such a fun time making them with her!  She has such a sweet and loving spirit and is growing up into an absolutely beautiful woman of God!  I am so thankful that the Lord blessed me by putting her in my life!  I am so humbled that she looks up to me and that I have the wonderful opportunity of mentoring and loving on her.  I don't actually need to mentor her much anyway because she has wisdom and maturity far beyond her years.  She is going to do great things for the Kingdom!  I love my twinsie to the moon and back!  Twinsies forever! :)

Then came Sunday.  I went to church on Sunday morning just like I do every other Sunday morning of the year.  Little did I know that God would grab my attention and pull my heart through an Egyptian man.  He was talking about how Americans had become lazy in their ministry.  Whoa, that is exactly what God had been convicting me of in the last few weeks.

Last year there are times when I felt like I was being a "good" prayer leader, but God really spoke to me over this summer and I know that it is not anything I do that makes me a "good" prayer leader, but it is my willingness to say "YES!" to the Lord and grabbing every opportunity to minister to the girls that he puts in my life.  Last year, I sadly was very self-centered and didn't take every opportunity I had to love on my girls because I had something else that took top priority in my life.  I was spending time pleasing myself, when I needed to be focused on those precious girls.  There is so much more to college then how much fun I can have and how many Cookout milkshakes I can drink.

There is a hunger in my soul to be a woman who serves.  Who I am today will not be who I am tomorrow.  I need to choose to focus on the eternal things because nothing else of this world will last.  I long to be like Jesus.  Jesus is selfless and the ultimate servant.  Oh, how far I have to go...

I believe...

This isn't a post about my spiritual beliefs.  Just some things that I have found are very useful to life :)
Here are a few of my "beliefs":

I believe in loving and living out loud.  (Kilmarnock 2012, let me hear you HOLLA!)

I believe in pursuing your passions and following your dreams.
I believe in bear hugs.
I believe in laughing till you cry.
I believe in choosing your battles wisely and being present in every moment.
I believe in chivalry.  Hold those doors open, guys!

I believe in playing in the snow like a little kid.

I believe in reading a good book snuggled up in bed.
I believe in driving with the windows down and singing at the top of your lungs.
I believe in dessert.
I believe in finding joy by serving others.
I believe in being crazy and not caring what other people think. 

I believe in surprises.
I believe in trying new things even if they scare you.
I believe in picking flowers.
I believe that a smile can turn some one's day around.
I believe that every one is beautiful.
I believe that one person can make a difference.

I go back to school in a mere 5 days!  Summer flew by!  I'm so excited to be reunited with all of my friends and can't wait to see what plans God has in store for this semester.  He always seems to do whatever I least expect.

If you could also be praying for my grandma as she just had knee replacement surgery on Tuesday.  She is still in a lot of pain.  Prayers for a quick recovery and very little pain would be great!  She is such a trooper through it all though, and I couldn't ask for a better, godly role model in my life.  

You Are Loved!

"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Romans 5:8

I am always astounded when I think about how God loves us and accepts us just as we are.  He didn't wait for us to "get our act together" because His love is unconditional.  I think of those girls who think that they have to compromise their morals and convictions to get or keep a guy.  They are searching for love from these guys to fill this place in their heart, but in reality no guy can EVER give them complete satisfaction like Christ's love can.  I have this desire and longing in my heart to just love on precious teenage girls and shower them with the Truth.  If I could write all girls that are feeling like this a note of encouragement, I would say this:

Daughter of God, 
You are loved.  You are beautiful.  You are worth waiting for.  You are worthy of love.  Jesus deemed you worthy of His life!  You have so much value, worth, and purpose.  While you sometimes cannot see this truth, it still remains.  As it says in one of my favorite Starfield songs, "But help me not forget in darkness the things that I believed in light."  

The man who truly loves you with a Christ-like love and the man that God has for you will not push you to do anything that you have made up your mind not to do, or don't want to do.  You are worth waiting for. 

For those girls who are in the season of waiting, as I am, God's love is far more then enough for you.  I know how sometimes you hear people say this, and think it's not possible to feel sufficient and that Christ is enough to satisfy your desires.  Trust me, I know how you feel because I was there myself.  Chase Him, seek Him, give Him all your pain and fears, and watch Him change and fill your heart with an everlasting, indescribable love.  

Also, ladies, be very careful not to make emotional or spiritual bonds with a man that is casual with you.  We need to not only guard ourselves and pursue purity physically, but emotionally as well.  

We are God's princesses, and we should all be treated like them.  I know that sounds really cheesy, but it is true nonetheless.  You were made for an unconditional, never-ending, "always there for you" kind of love.  Don't settle for anything less.

Our Heavenly Father knows best.  Allow Him to govern your ways.  His plan is perfect.  Like a good father, His job is to protect you.  Run to him and He will, "bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes" (Isaiah 61:3).  He is eagerly waiting to lavish his love on you.  

Pallet Furniture

It had been quite a while since I had been on Pinterest, which is probably a good thing because whenever I do get on I re-pin like there's no tomorrow.  That's what I just finished doing actually.

I know I still have two years left of school, but I'm already thinking of cheap and affordable ideas for my first apartment or home.  I know, I'm way ahead of myself.  That's what I get for being an SC personality.  A dreamer and a planner all in one.  That's me!

I looked at a lot of pallet furniture, and I absolutely love pretty much all of it!  I love the rustic look of it and you can build it yourself, so it's super affordable and much cheaper then buying new furniture.

Maybe one day I'll have a post on what my own pallet furniture that I create will look like!
Here are a few pictures of some of my favorite pieces.

How do you feel about pallet furniture?

And holy cow!  I go back to school a week from tomorrow! :)

Welcome!

Hi my friends!

Welcome to my first ever blog post!  This is really exciting for me because this is one of the first major steps that I am taking on my journey towards what God has called me to do with my life. 

God placed a passion and burden for teenagers on my heart when I was just a teenager myself.  I went on a middle school mission trip as a student leader when I was a Junior in high school and ever since that summer I have known without a doubt that God has called me to love and minister students to the cross of Jesus Christ. 

More specifically, I want to work with teenage girls one day.  I pray that this blog will be a place where young women can learn to combat the lies that our world is throwing at us with the Truth.  

Everywhere in the media we are being bombarded with images that claim to portray beauty.  Trying to live up to these seemingly flawless women can be quite tiring.  Trust me, I tried it myself.  If we continue to compare ourselves and our bodies with these women, we will never be happy or content with ourselves.

I know that when I was a teenage girl, I also struggled with trying to "fit in" and get other people to like me and accept me, especially boys.  Do you know how many times I changed my "style" to try please or try to get the attention of whatever young lad that I thought was cute at that time?  I'm sure we're all guilty of calling up our girlfriends, spending hours trying to figure out what the cutest outfit we own is so that we can just get a look or smile from that special guy.  Let me tell you ladies, it's not worth it.  

You're probably thinking, "Wow, Jessi.  That sure didn't make me feel any better about myself."  Don't worry, this is where it just starts getting good.  

As you have seen, the title of my blog is "Flawless."  At first I was hesitant to have this title because I thought that some people might think that I  am being vain by saying that I am flawless.  Nope.  

My blog title was inspired my Song of Solomon 4:7.  It says, "You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you."  

Ladies, this is how Christ sees us.  We are beautiful and flawless in His sight.  We don't have to keep trying to achieve the perfect body, the perfect wardrobe, or the perfect looks.  When Christ died on the cross for us He washed us clean.  We are without blemish in his sight.  

Our aim and desire shouldn't be to please others anymore.  We should desire to bring glory and praise to our Creator above all else.  Let us return to our first Love, ladies.  We are flawless in His sight.