Elijah's favorite songs

http://youtu.be/Mgho0_JRetk

http://youtu.be/wApc4OFZQTU

http://youtu.be/fuC4BoU7Sr8

God's grace.

Life is about God's grace through Jesus. 

Jesus paid the price. He paid our price. We don't have to continue to pay for our sins. I am talking about things we have done that have been in rebellion against God. (Obviously breaking the law has just punishment).  

Life isn't about a long list of religious rules. 

There is NOTHING standing between you and Jesus' blood and righteousness!! 

Not a church. 

Not another person. 

Not ANYTHING!

Life is about realizing God is for you. 

God sees you. 

God hears you. 

God forgives you. 

Communion/sacrament, whatever you label it, is for anyone who wants to repent of their sins and turn to JESUS!! 

ANYONE! 

It disgusts me that people would dare set rules in place that exclude people from partaking in communion because they ARE TOO SINFUL! The whole point of the ceremony is to remember we are all lost and we ALL NEED JESUS! 

Before communion I always take a minute or two and repent and confess anything I feel I have done wrong, to God. It is between He and I. It is a beautiful thing. 

What makes one person worthy and another unworthy? Seriously!? 

People kid themselves if they think they are worthy and a peer isn't. Because technically NONE OF US are worthy!!! And we all deserve to rot in hell! But because of Jesus hanging bloody and broken on the cross, we can be forgiven!! 

And that is beautiful. 

JESUS SAVES!! 

THE KEY WORDS IN THESE VERSES ARE "ALL AND WHOEVER". It is for everyone at whatever time they choose to turn towards Christ and repent. 

Forgiveness is not conditional. It is unconditional. If someone apologizes they need to be forgiven. God forgives us. 

It is a scary concept to think that other men are keeping forgiveness from their fellow man just because if a set of rules. 

 

It is only logical that people won't feel forgiven if they are excluded from partaking in a ritual that is meant to be a reminder of Jesus' sacrifice. It allows us to remember we have a great hope in Jesus! 

WE ALL SIN! 

I'm so irritated by the fact that people are living their lives feeling condemned. 

And I pray they are able to see the evil behind forbidding someone to take sacrament. 

End rant. 

Bible verses::::

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26 NKJV)

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (ESV) 

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. 

JOHN 6:26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”…. I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

8 | 52

8 | 52

A Photo Series

* 'A photo of our child once a week, every week for a year'*

Elijah is such a sweetie pie. 

He really loved running around this gravel road! 

I could've photographed him non stop this whole vacation.

7 | 52

7 | 52 

A Photo Series

* 'A photo of our child once a week, every week for a year'*

We had a fun 20 minutes playing outside. It was only about 10 degrees. But we needed to get outside. 

I got several cute shots of E. But this one I like A LOT!!

My view of tithing.

http://www.larrypoolespeaks.com/why-i-quit-tithing/

Read this article. 

It is so simple and so beautiful. 

Love

💌 Love is something I take very seriously. I think people throw the word around too much. And it has lost it's meaning. We have exchanged love for lust in this culture. If we have God first and remember what Jesus did for us all, love flows out of us. 

The Bible says:

We love because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19

C.S. Lewis said: It is probably impossible to love any human being simply “too much.”  We may love him too much in proportion to our love for God; but it is the smallness of our love for God, not the greatness of our love for the many that constitutes the inordinacy….But the question whether we are loving God or the earthly Beloved “more” is not, so far as concerns our Christian duty, a question about the comparative intensity of two feelings.  The real question is, which (when the alternative comes) do you serve, choose, or put first?  To which claim does your will in the last resort yield?"••

I take this to mean that it's important for us to love God more than anything else and put him first. 

Go check out the hashtag #wifelifelinkup  

And follow these two amazing women!! 

@wifessionals @_wifestyles_  

God Bless! 

6 | 52

SIX | FIFTY-TWO

A Photo Series

* 'A photo of our child once a week, every week for a year'*

Hanging out at Auntie Kiah's!

The only thing that bothers me in this photo is his shadow! 

But I do love the twinkle in his cute little eyes!!

5 | 52

WEEK FIVE 

A Photo Series

* 'A photo of our child once a week, every week for a year'*

I set up a fun photoshoot for E & his little friend, little miss E!

This is my favorite one of Elijah from the day! 

I am so glad he puts up with my photo shenanigans!

4 | 52

WEEK FOUR

A Photo Series

* 'A photo of our child once a week, every week for a year'*

1.25.13

E enjoyed hanging out in the hotel! All sorts of new furniture to climb and things to discover! 

I think this is his "another picture mom?" face!

Celebrate Calm

Kirk Martin ~~~

Celebrate Calm 

There is one thing you cannot take away from me, ever: my ability to choose how to respond. 

You can hurt me, you can be mean to me.

 I choose to forgive, I choose to be kind.

 You can try to disrespect me. 

But I have too much self-respect to give you that power over my mood and attitude. 

When you are disrespectful, I choose to have mercy because I can see the pain ripping you apart inside. 

You can choose envy, bitterness and backbiting.

 It has no power over me.

 I choose mercy because that poison in your soul must be slowly drowning you.

 You can take away my job and my possessions. 

But you cannot ever take away my choice to worship my Creator. 

You can make my life inconvenient, try to kill me with a thousand tiny cuts.

 But I choose gratitude for another opportunity to grow up into a mature person.

 I refuse to be a victim. 

I refuse to be a doormat.

 I refuse to make excuses and blame others. 

I choose how I respond today.

Today's Thought.

Walking on eggshells, being on our best behavior, making up for yesterday's failures, won't foster true godliness. No, it will only result in further lawlessness and self-condemnation, because living under law (any law!) will always and only create more sin (see Romans 7). Christian obedience has to be motivated by love for God in response to his great grace, or it is destined to fail. And it can only be motivated by love when we know that our relationship with our heavenly Father is eternally secure.

 ~ Because He Loves Me,

 Elyse M. Fitzpatrick

Mine

In the past several weeks, people have been giving me a hard time.  

I have strong beliefs about many things. 

I can have these opinions and beliefs. HOWEVER-- It isn't my job to judge you. If my beliefs make you feel guilty. I don't apologize. Look within yourself and find the root cause of your own guilt. 

:::: I am :::::

•a Bible believing Christ follower. The Bible is the only written word of God. Jesus is the son of God!

•unapologetically PROLIFE-- life starts at CONCEPTION! No matter what! 

•Pro natural labor-- drug free non augmented labor and delivery. Because it is SCIENTIFICALLY BETTER FOR YOUR BABY! The baby does get some of the narcotic drug going into the epidural. The doctor will say it doesn't. But in nursing school, behind the scenes in the hospital, the nurses and doctors talk about "epi babies". We had to chart on the babies appearance and activity after birth. And when we noticed the baby was seeming sleepy and out of it-- Our teacher said "oh yes that's what happens to epidural babies. But don't say that to the mother if she asks." 

C R E E P Y much? 

•pro breastfeeding! It is a public health issue!! Breastmilk has been proven to be the best for BABY! Yeah, it takes effort to develop a nursing relationship. But it is WORTH IT! 

These are my beliefs! If you disagree and don't want a discussion, just tolerate my beliefs. I can say them without forcing them on anyone. 

 And I enjoy sharing advice and having discussions with people who disagree. I also GREATLY enjoy coming alongside someone who needs help in any area that I have knowledge and experience in; Whether it's pregnancy advice, birth advice, breastfeeding advice etc. 

it is my pleasure to use my knowledge and experience to help someone else's life be better. 

But here is what I don't like. I don't like fakers and liars. Don't tell me you believe in the things I believe, when in actuality YOU DON'T. 

It is my fault that I get my heart set on people succeeding and being selfless in their actions. But that's who I am. I can't help but care about the well being of people's souls and the health of women and babies. 

If you don't want to breastfeed, don't tell me you do and in turn I pour out lots of advice.

Don't tell me you want a natural birth. Or that  you plan on standing up to your doctor when you really weren't ever going to do that. 

Don't tell me you want to follow Jesus when you really just want to feel forgiven for the sins you commit on the weekends. 

I have now had a handful of women use me for advice and support. The one that hurts the most is support about a life lived for Jesus. 

And when this happens, there is always awkward behavior. I am somehow the bad guy in the story for having such strong beliefs. 

I am left to feel hurt and disrespected. And then somehow I am deemed judgmental. Even though, I clearly represent myself as someone who has strong convictions on the aforementioned subjects. And it shouldn't be a surprise when I am disappointed. I hate to see people fall victim to their own sin. I hate to see the medical system win and I hate to see the formula companies win. 

You'd think I would've learned after the first time someone used me for support and advice. But I am (as my husband would say) too trusting. If someone says outloud that they want to follow Jesus I get very excited for that. I can't help but be excited for the future. 

And same goes for having babies and breastfeeding. But loving for Jesus is much more important than anything to do with pregnancy and delivery. It's your soul. It is eternity. 

However, I have to continue living this way. For me, there is no other way. Because this way I have no regrets. If this means that people don't like my beliefs, so be it. I see now that life isn't about pleasing people or getting along. There will be people who disagree and treat you badly because of it. There will be people who block you from their social accounts and lave you feeling like the worst person ever. 

It is on EACH INDIVIDUAL. They make their choices. I make my choices. We can't force one another to do anything.

 I have to remember that they made their choices. And just happened to stomp on my feelings in the process. I have to do my best to pray and let my hurt feelings and disappointments go. 

This post is meant to be broad. A totality of life experiences. I've been feeling attacked on several different social media accounts. And it has made me feel like my posts have been offensive. 

This is my blog. Where I share my raw feelings. MY FEELINGS! MINE. I am not calling anyone out or anything. I am simply stating how I feel about MY LIFE. 

 I tend to pour my heart out. I love open and honest people. I love a good conversation. I love meeting people with my same views and beliefs. Especially people with the same faith in God Almighty. 

But it's a rotten experience when someone uses you to get through something or uses you to make themselves feel better in the moment. They like the support and love. Then their actions don't match our discussions. They say they want to have Jesus in their life. Then the next Friday they get drunk and hook up with some dude. I believe it is because they were always planning on doing what they wanted. 

I have never lived hypocritically. When I didn't want God in my life, I didn't fake Christian. I lived a worldly life. And since I realized I needed God, and dedicated my life to Jesus, I haven't wavered from going hard after Jesus' truth. 

And when I said I was going to have a homebirth and breastfeed for as long as the child wants, I MEANT those things. I don't speak, write or text things that I don't mean.  

But as I said before, these are my beliefs. I believe them.

 ME. 

Here is the kicker:: 

You have your own judgement day coming and you live your own life. I don't answer for your sins or your choices. Jesus paid the price for them in the cross. Accept that or don't. That's your deal. I care about the choices people are contemplating. But frankly, once you make your choices. It isn't up to me to tell you, yay or nay. I never ruled your life. You have free agency over it. 

PLEASE DON'T LEAD ME TO BELIEVE YOU HAVE THE SAME BELIEFS AS ME. 

IT'S MANIPULATIVE AND HURTFUL. 

AND I AM NOT THE KIND OF PERSON WHO HANDLES THAT KIND OF WEIRD, FAKE BEHAVIOR.

I want to see people find Jesus. I want to see their lives changed. I love to hear happy stories of triumph and victory over sin through the blood of Jesus. It is the most important thing I believe. It trumps everything else. And because of Jesus, each one of us can choose to walk free from sin. 

He has given me my voice. And the past month. I have felt like I am not free to say my feelings about my life. But I want to fight those feelings. And keep on going. 

He is the way, the Truth and the Life. 

Valentine's photo shoot

Lately

I'm feeling sad that my gifts and all my kind words have been forgotten just cause I liked some stuff on Facebook. :(

 I have been feeling defeated. Feeling defeated and acting defeated are different. 

I continue to pray and do the right things but I feel sad. 

It is hurtful when people do things to blatantly harm your feelings. Even after you apologize. 

So this is where the rubber meets the road. 

I have to choose to move forward. 

Cry. 

Mourn the loss of what could've been. 

With God's help I will.