Life's Little Reminders

Happy Monday!

So sorry for the lack of posting this summer!

I fully intend to get back to a schedule very soon :)

As you are reading this I am at teacher workshop meeting. 

I wrote this post Friday night, after the world witnessed another tragedy.

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I lay here thinking about the 12 lives that were lost in the Colorado movie theater this morning. I feel like there is more and more of this happening these days. I know by the time you read this Monday there will most likely be new information, but everything I have heard on the news today has been shocking.  It's scary to  think you can't even go to the movies without fearing for your life. 

I read two blog posts that I wanted to share with you. They were from two different people who were inside the theater this morning. One was a previous post from a girl, my age, who was killed during the shooting and the other from a lady who survived. 

First from Jessica Redfield; 24 year old, aspiring news caster:

Late Night Thoughts of the Eaton Center Shooting

Just a little over a month ago she was almost involved in a shooting that could have taken her life. She speaks about how every moment we have in our lives is a blessing. We can all learn something from her post. "Every hug from a family member. Every laugh we share with friends. Even the times of solitude are all blessings. Every second of every day is a gift. After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given."

 Reading this and knowing that the Toronto shooting changed her life, but yet she was killed in another shooting a month later is just so hard to believe. I believe if she had of survived she would be telling everyone again just how precious our lives are and how each moment we should be thanking God for another breath! 

The other blog post is about a lady, Marie, who was in theater 9 with her two teenage daughters. She tells her story and how she is thanking God through it all. 

A Miniature Clay Pot

What an inspiring story! 

I have always been familiar of the story of Job and how he lost all his possessions and family, but yet still praised God through it all. However, I had not ever thought about this, "Up to this point I haven’t had words to say that would matter. Of course we are all glad that you and the family are safe. Of course we would all state the obvious that this is horrific and senseless. But those words still don’t carry weight that remain in the midst of the questions. Then it hit me… Do you know what the difference was between Job and his wife in their response to the tragedy of losing everything… Job 1:20 Job was the only one that worshiped in the midst of it."

This hit me like a ton of bricks.. although I have never experienced anything like Job or a lot of people in the world, I do not thank God enough for everything for all the blessings he has given me. This was a great reminder for me when I am having a bad day to thank God through it all! 

I hope you take the chance to read both of these blog posts. I can't help but wonder what if I had been in the theater, what would I have done? And thinking if I were to die in the next minute would I leave a testimony of good character and a girl who loved the Lord?  These blog are a reminder that every minute we have is a precious gift.

Marie put one of my favorite verses on her blog:

When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What  can mere man  do to me? Psalm 56:3-5

Praying for the families of the victims and the ones who were wounded.

This Is A Must Read!

Ladies, a lot of my friends shared this on their Facebook and I thought it was amazing! I just had to share it with you all! Please take the time to watch the video!! I want to be this type of woman for my future husband and children! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! :)

Job Reveal!

Wow, I am so out of the loop with things. So sorry I haven't post in a week! A lot of things have happened  so I will tell you all about it :)

Thanksgiving went great! I don't think I took one picture on my camera :(

Black Friday was insane.. I definitely acted like her...

It seemed so much more crowded this year

I guess it was due to the stores opening earlier.

I loved not having to get up at 3am to go shopping, 

but hated all the extra crowds. 

I did mostly what I went for except for at Walmart :(

Loved getting to see Polo over Thanksgiving

Now to my big reveal:

My mom had to retire from being the Family and Consumer Science teacher

this year due to new Alabama insurance laws

(that is a story within itself)

Basically if you had 25 years of teaching and were not close to 60 

your insurance would be super expensive.

Her she was on her last day of teaching

I minored in Family Studies in college and I found out 

with a little work and some extra classes I could be qualified for her job

I applied...

I am now the new Family Consumer Science teacher for SMHS!

I am really excited!!!

My first day!

I am glad my mom will be able to still help me out and show me everything I need to do

This is such a blessing and I am so glad to have a job!

Look at the beautiful flowers my mom sent me

Orange roses are my favorite!

Sunday we celebrated her retirement by going out to eat

I just wanted to catch up on some things! 

I am so blessed :)

Have a great day!

It Has Just Been One of Those Weeks..

This week has been one of those weeks where you seem to worry about every little thing. I think being a 23 year old with a degree, but no full time job, who wants to start her life doesn't help. There are several job prospects and trying to get everything together for them has been quite stressful. I seem to be a natural worrier, but I have tried to tell myself everything will work out for the best! So if you wouldn't mind sending a prayer for me I would appreciate it! :) A few of my favorite verses have really helped me the past few days so I thought I would share them with you.

Have a great day! :)

Standing Courageous

Last night I went with my Sunday School class to see the movie Courageous. I had watched Facing The Giants and Fireproof so I was pretty sure this was going to be a great movie as well. Every time I watch one of these movies they are always better than I thought they were going to be. The story line in everyone of these movies is something everyone can relate to. Courageous is about men who decide to follow God and make him their top priority and that makes them a better husband, father and co-worker. Everyone of the men face ups and downs, but by relying on God they know everything will be okay. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone. Take your dad, husband/boyfriend to see it because it really has a meaningful message to it!

Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood. When tragedy hits home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, fears, their faith and their fathering. Can a newfound urgency help these dads draw closer to God and their children? Protecting the streets is second nature to these men, but raising their children in a God-honoring way.. thats courageous. 

Fireproof is a movie about a guy, Caleb, a veteran firefighter trying to save his own marriage from burning to the ground. His wife already pull the trigger to get the divorce, and he is also ready to let bullet hit him, but his father give him 40 days ‘Love Dare’ quest for him to save his marriage from burning down. Well, as expected, this movie is about love and relationship. 

Facing The Giants is a movie about Christian high school football coach who trusts God to do the impossible; how he turns his underdog football team faces their giants of fear and failure on and off the field to surprising results.

Have you seen Courageous? Which one of the movies has been your favorite? 

Crazy Love Freebie!

Happy Tuesday! How many of you have read Crazy Love by Francis Chan? I received it as a birthday gift, but have yet to read it. Every person I know who has read it has loved it, even the ones who hate reading! I saw a post that the Money Saving Mom read the book and she posted a link to receive the book for free! I am sure the offer ends soon so make sure you sign up today. The link is here. 

There are 4 other books you can pick from to receive. I signed up to get Forgotten God since I already have Crazy Love. I guess while I am waiting for it to come in the mail, I should start with Crazy Love. Here is a quote that the Money Saving Mom said when she was describing the book: "God used this book to change my outlook on many things and to light a fire of love in my heart to live a life sold out for God. I want to follow where He leads, at any cost."

If you have read this book please comment and let me know what you thought about it! I hope you all have a great day! :) 

Defeating Discouragement

Sorry I am a little late posting today! I wanted to post the second half of my discouragement devotion. Once again, this is coming from an InTouch devotion book from InTouch Ministries.

Defeating Discouragement
Nehemiah 2:1-8

Discouragement can rob peace, joy and contentment, but the good news is.. you are not stuck! I've known people who appeared to be in an impossible situation. A few years later, however, they were in a terrific place, either in terms of their circumstances or their emotions. The reason? They never gave up, instead of sulking in self-pity, they chose to believe in God, step out in faith and climb out of the emotional pit.

Nehemiah is a good example. He had every reason to feel defeated, because his people were in trouble. After receiving news that the city wall had been destroyed, this man of God acknowledged profound disappointment and grieved. Though pain flooded his soul, he didn't allow himself to stay in that low place. Instead, Nehemiah cried out to God, seeking direction.

Sadness in the presence of royalty was punishable by death, but the lord answered Nehemiah's prayer with amazing power, prompting the king to notice his servant's sad countenance and then to ask what he could do to help. This miracle led to the rebuilding of the wall and the redemption of God's people.

The lord can take an impossible situation-no matter what it is-and move in ways mightier than you can imagine. Do you live in eager expectation of what the lord will do? Or have you chosen to linger in the depths of despair? Like Nehemiah, turn your disappointment into a petition for God's help. He can restore your hope and prevent negative emotions from gaining a stranglehold on your life.

I hope you found these words to be as much of an encouragement to you as it was for me! 

I hope you all have a great afternoon! :)

Don't Get Discouraged

The past two nights I have read about discouragement in my devotion book, InTouch. It is a little magazine published by InTouch ministries, the publisher is Dr. Charles Stanley. I thought the words were very helpful and I would like to share a little piece out of it.

The Trap of Discouragement
Do you feel stuck in discouragement? At some point everyone experiences dashed hopes. Disappointment- an emotional response to a failed expectation- is a normal initial reaction. Allowing it to linger it can turn into discouragement, which hovers like a dense cloud. The circumstances that trigger these emotions may be unavoidable, but the way we respond is a choice. We can either let sadness overwhelm our souls or face the situation with courage and bring it before the Lord, because he is the one to help us.

Living in discouragement will divide the mind, making it hard to focus on anything besides our pain. then as anger becomes habitual, we'll look for someone to blame-whether it be God, people around us or ourself. Frustration that isn't handled well may develop into depression which in turn can estrange us from others- people do not enjoy the company of someone who is bitter and defeated. This isolation leads to a low self-esteem. Also, in the fog of discouragement, we can make poor decisions based on crushed emotions instead of truth. Though we will face disappointment from time to time, we are not to wallow in it. Instead, God wants us to trust him with everything- even our unmet expectations and deepest sadness. Remember, there is divine purpose for everything he allows.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good- Romans 8:28

I hope this was an encouragement to you! The next part of the devotion was about how to defeat the discouragement, so I will post about it soon! Have a great day! :)

Who Can Be Against Us?

I don't there is anything left to be said.. I think this sums it up! Have a good day! :)

Come and Listen

Did you have a great weekend? I did as always! :) I thought I would try something different today and do a Music Monday post, I saw this on a blog I was reading and thought it would be fun!

Last night I started out reading a blog and it led me to another, to another, to another and before I knew it I had been reading for over two hours. Does this ever happen to anyone else? I felt like I kept finding posts that were meant for me to read about inspiration, relationships, God's will, God's timing and how blessed each and everyone of us really are!

I found this song on a friend's blog and it's about all the blessings we have and I thought it was very fitting for my blog since it's called b.mary & blessed :)

You may have to read the lyrics to really know what he's saying. It's called Come and Listen by David Crowder Band.

I hope you have a wonderful Monday :)

Love What You Do

Last night I was browsing stumbleupon.com as I usually do and I went to the self improvement category because I wanted to read something meaningful. A meaningful and inspiration story I did find. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple and Pixar spoke at Stanford's graduation in 2005 and left them great advice. He talked about connecting the dots, love & loss and death. I encourage you to read the whole story here because it will really make you think, but in the meantime here are some excerpts..

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.


Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.


Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Turning Wounds Into Wisdom...

I am so sorry I haven't posted in 2 weeks!! I feel like within these two weeks so much about my life has changed and honestly I just feel like blogging about it. Things are slowly starting to get better and hopefully this time I am back and here to stay! :)

I feel like I've missed out on so much! Ever since April 27th when the tornadoes came through and we were out of power for a week I haven't been able to get back in the groove of things. I missed talking about the royal wedding, the info on all the new movies that have come out, moving home, my brother's graduation, mother's day etc. So I have a lot to fill you in on so make sure to start reading my blog again! :)

So I am going to give you a little recap on what has been going on in my life... The week of May 2-5th was my last days at my job as a transfer advisor at Faulkner State Community College because the job was grant based and it had run out. Marsha and Emily came down with me that week and we had so much fun! On Thursday we cleaned out my condo and headed back towards Blount county. My brother was supposed to graduate from Snead State that night, but due to the tornadoes that was pushed back a week.

I was really excited about being home and ready to be with my friends, family and boyfriend! I had a great weekend leading up to Mother's Day. We ate out all weekend, went to craft show, shopped and so much more, it couldn't have been better. Sunday Morning was great, we gave my mom her gifts, took pictures then headed to church. Then Sunday night everything changed.

I won't go into many details to save privacy, but that night Wesley broke up with me. We had been going out for 8 years and it came as a total shock to me. There looks to be no sign of reconciliation either. Needless to say I didn't want to even move from my bed for the first couple of days. I have never been so thankful for my family and friend being there and supporting me all those days. I just felt like I had lost so much, I didn't just lose the person I loved more than anything, but he was also my best friend. Heartbreak is one of the most painful things you can go through because most of the time there is nothing you can do that will make you feel better. This past week has gotten a little better, I actually felt like going a few places and I hung out with more friends.

 I know all of this hurts, but I know that God has a better plan for my life and I know as long as I seek him and stay in his will he will give me everything I need and more. I have heard so much good advice and great bible verses these past two weeks that have really helped me through. I ask that you continue to pray for me for the days to come that maybe I will not get what I necessarily want, but rather whatever God has in store for my life!

"Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails," Proverbs 19:21

"For I know the plan I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope," Jeremiah 29:11

"The best way to mend a broken heart is time and girlfriend." Gwyneth Paltrow

On a happier note... my birthday is Wednesday!! Birthday's are such a big deal to me so I can't wait!