Joy: Nicole's Story

This week on the blog is all about JOY, the second fruit of the spirit. We will each be sharing our own experiences with joy this week and I (Nicole) am happy to be kicking this week off. My story starts in the pit. But, oh girls, am I glad it doesn't end there. I know that many if not most of you will understand my story because most of us have been in our own pit a time or two. When it all boils down, each of our pits look just the same; dark, dirty, hopeless, scary, and chain-filled. But, the things that get us in the pit, or the experiences we have while there differs from person to person. 

I can't really tell you what got me into this pit in the first place except the lies of the evil one.  After the holiday season 2010, I returned back to my college town to an empty apartment and an even emptier heart.  The loneliness I felt in this season completely engulfed my life.  I made the pit my home and decided that I wouldn't be encouraged no matter what.  No, I didn't consciously choose to be discouraged, but I know that you must consciously CHOOSE joy, and I did not.  I allowed the devil to speak negatively into my life over and over and over.

You're not good enough.

You're a terrible friend.

You aren't worth pursuing.

You can't ever get anything right.

You are utterly and completely not worth it.

For months and months I chose to believe bits and pieces of these lies at different times.  I would get caught up in sin because I allowed these lies to become truth in my life.  As I started to let go of the loneliness, I held harder to the sins that met me in the pit.  

Anger

dis-contentedness

resentment

disobedience

gossip

slander

Throughout the past few months, God has been working in me and addressing some of the sins I have found myself in; some because of the pit, and some not.  He has pushed and encouraged me to LET GO of the things that have entrapped me, but the negative words of the evil one have continued to ring in my ears.

"You're not good enough."
"Who are YOU that God would love a person like YOU?"


I was so embarrassed to return back to the Lord.  Where do I, a sinner by choice, have a place in front of the Lord's throne?  I kept hearing a quiet whisper to return, because He said that he loved me anyways.  I was reminded that he loved me because it was his nature to love, not because of my own actions.


In Deuteronomy 7, Moses is reminding Israel of this very truth.  This is what he tells them is verses 7-9:


"God wasn't attracted to you and didn't choose you because you were big and important-the fact is, there was almost nothing to you.  He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors.  God stepped in and mightily bought you back out of that world of slavery, freed you from the iron grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt.  Know this:  God, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon.  He keeps his covenant of loyal love with those who love him and observe his commandments for a thousand generations."


Oh, what relief this brings to my heart.  God choose me in the darkest moments of my life, not because I was worthy, but because He loves me that much.  He broke the chains of my disobedience and stepped in and saved me from the slavery I had sold myself into.


I can depend on him.


For the longest, I found my security in others.  And, girls, I can promise you that there is NO joy when you depend on others for it.  But, God is a God we can depend on (v.9).  When I finally choose obedience instead of disobedience and when I came to a place in my heart where I looked to him alone to fulfill me, I found joy.  Verses like these in Deuteronomy have given me such peace and freedom.  Yes, God wants me to be obedient to Him and live a life that honors him, but on the days that I fail and I fall down again, He still loves me.


WOW! With that truth in mind, how can we NOT have joy?  My joy came when I allowed the Lord to free me from the bondage I had found myself in.  Joy, for me, is understanding (in my tiny, human brain) who God is.  He is a loving, true, dependable God who loves regardless of our actions. Joy does NOT have to be sucked from our lives just because we've sinned.  Romans 3:23-24 says, "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.  Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous.  He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins."  Yes, we've fallen short, but God still declares us righteous.  Christ died so that we may know what freedom feels like.  He WANTS us have joy.  


My challenge for you today is to reflect on your life and see if you've truly experienced the joy that the Lord wants you to have.  Are you still chained to your past mistakes?  Ask the Lord to remove those chains.  
Taste freedom.  Feel joy.


Questions or comments about my story?  Email me at fearlessbloginhim@gmail.com


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Nicole

The friends and the meaning

God placed us all together in his own timing, and I cannot express how wonderful it is to have such a strong Christ centered friendship with Jamie, Nicole, and Savannah. Before I go any further please allow me (Jessica) to talk about how precious and absolutely amazing that my friends truly are, but honestly there are not really words to express how great they are. . . I will try my very best :)

Savannah and I are actually more than just friends we are first cousins. We were inseparable during our childhood. We LOVED being together (still do). We spent so many countless hours together, and whether it was time outside riding four-wheelers, fort making in the woods or at the tree house, running out naked in our grandmother’s yard spraying each other with water hoses (haha we were only little kids ha), or playing house with our American girl dolls, it did not matter because we simply loved each other’s company! As we grew older, our friendship faded because we started becoming involved in other activities and lifestyles, which kept us from one another. However, we never lost our strong bond that we formed as children. During college we became much closer!! Savannah is one of the sweetest people that I know, and she loves and cares for so many people because her heart is HUGE! Best of all she loves God and he deeply instilled into her heart!! She has been such a great Christian role model in my life. 

And here is the second connection to our amazing God bonded friendship. . .

Savannah and Nicole became really good friends through their personal blogs. They would constantly comment and e mail, text, twitter, back and forth about life, love, and everything in between! Here is a quote from one of Savannah’s personal blog posts, “My new friend, Nicole, is one of the sweetest friends I've ever had. Even though we have never "met" in real life (blog friend), we talk almost everyday and she is someone that will stop and pray for me at any moment. I'm so thankful to have her in my life! Friends are such a precious thing.” At some point over the summer, Jamie and I realized that we were all following Nicole’s blog, such a God thing!!!

Savannah nailed it because Nicole is SO precious and one of the most loving and generous people that I know. I have only “officially” known Nicole for a little over a month, but I feel like I have always known her because she has a way of opening up to you and when she does I can not help but notice just how much she loves God, it is that evident!! Jamie and I took a trip to Oxford to meet Nicole, and yes we took a leap of faith and drove 7 hours to stay with a stranger who immediately became our best friend! Nicole lays it out like it is, and she loves God so much and she has the ability to be very open with you about her faith !!

Jamie and I have been friends since freshmen year of college, we had a class together and every semester afterwards we had a class together NOT PLANNED. Our friendship has grown drastically within the last year because we share with one another about a deep connection that lies within both of our hearts, which are our personal relationships with God. This girl is my support system, and I would not be where I am today without her constant encouragement and deep investment into my life. Jamie is another huge asset to this blog because she is very strong in her faith and stands strongly in what she believes!! I could go on and on about Jamie, but there is one thing that really strikes me about Jamie and it's that SHE LOVES YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE :) !! 

Jamie and I have similar stories and we relate very well to one another, and we thought about starting a blog together before we all decided to start Fearless (Nicole and Savannah had talked about starting a blog together as well) obviously God pulled us all together for Fearless, so that is how it all got started, 

 I want to share with each of you why we call this blog Fearless.

We are God-fearing women, but we strive hard to not fear what the world throws at us. It is through God we are fearless about our faith that we share with you, but there is no way that we could stand strong alone. We give God the glory for our audaciousness to speak fearlessly to each and every one. Truly, we stand strong because God sent his One and only Son to die on the cross for our sins; so therefore, we stand strong and fearless for God because he has already overcame the world through Jesus’ act of obedience to God. God is instilled into our hearts, and want to share with you in order to be useful to the Master. In the bible we find in 2 Timothy 1:7 , “For God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control (ESV), and because we have been called to write we will do so with big fearless and faithful hearts!! So there you have it, we are using this blog as our power source to spread truth about God’s love because we want you to grow and develop if you are unfamiliar the same strong passion that we have for our Heavenly Father!!! We hope that you were able to gain some insight about love this week, and we hope you will join us next week :) !!! 

Much Love to you All !!!!

& enjoy the playlist :) 

Love: Loving Others

Many of you are probably familiar with 1 Corinthians 13 because it is the “love” chapter in the bible. It is read at many weddings because it is a true depiction of what real love is. As girls, we are drawn to love and we want to feel loved by everyone. If you have ever experienced being truly loved by family or a spouse, you know and understand that there is nothing like it. But, when we do not feel loved by someone, our instinct is to figure out why and fix it. A lot of times we think, “what did I do wrong?” or “what is wrong with me?” It is natural.

However, there are two sides to that scenario. Someone is causing the other person to feel unloved, right? Let me (Savannah) ask you this: Have you ever been that person? Have you ever caused someone to feel unloved? If you’re honest, your answer will be yes. As sinners, we have all caused someone to feel unloved, one way or another. Maybe you have talked about someone behind their back and they found out. Maybe you have called someone a bad name. Maybe you have been inpatient with someone, etc. There are so many different scenarios where you could cause someone to feel unloved. Sometimes we do it and we don’t even realize it.

Love is something that EVERYONE needs to experience. Also, remember that love is a choice. You have to be deliberate and choose to love others. Lets face it, not everyone you know and come into contact with is easy to love. However, you can choose to love each and every one of those people. It may not be easy, but it could make a huge difference in someone’s life. Without love, you do not have much.

So, how do we go from causing people to feel unloved to making sure people to feel loved?  

The answer is in 1 Corinthians 13 4-8: 

^" Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

Here are some ways you can apply this to your everyday life…

·      Love is patient…ignoring it when someone does something that irritates you. Just let it go.

·      Love is kind…Simply smiling to a stranger or even paying for someone’s coffee behind you in line at Starbucks.

·      Love does not envy…Be happy for your friend when she gets a new purse or even a simple new outfit. How easy it is to covet what others have?

·      Love does not boast...Don’t brag when you are the only one to get an A on your test, or when you get a promotion at work. It’s ok to be happy, but don’t brag about it.

·      Love is not proud…Don’t be too proud of something you accomplished and not notice that your friend accomplished the same thing. It’s easy to focus on yourself, but love others by noticing their achievements.

·      Love does not dishonor others…Don’t tell your mom and dad you can’t come to a family dinner because you have to study for a test, when you’re really going to a movie with a friend. Lying can tear relationships apart.

·      Love is not self-seeking…Focus on others around you, instead of yourself. It is easy to have selfish motives when helping someone, but focus on their needs instead of your own.

·      Love is not easily angered…Have a gentle spirit each day. Don’t fly off the handle at every little thing. Tell your roommate in a gentle way that it bothers you when she leaves her dished in the sink. If you don’t talk about it, it will build up and you will burst.

·      Love keeps no record of wrongs…Don’t hold grudges. When someone does something that hurts your feelings, forgive and forget. Don’t bring it back up 6 months later if another fight occurs.

·      Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth…Don’t purposely hurt a friend because they hurt you. Revenge is something that will tear relationships apart. Find joy in building people up and encouraging them. Always try to build others up.

·      Love always protects...Protect the hearts of your friends. Treat others how you want to be treated.

·      Love always trusts…Unless someone gives you a reason to not trust them, trust what they say. When someone feels like they are trusted, they feel loved.

·      Love always hopes and perseveres…I think these two go hand in hand because you should always be hopeful in your relationships and not give up. When someone feels that you believe in them and they see that you’re investing your time in them, they will feel loved. Take your time and give it to others.

See girls? Loving others is something that you can improve in every single day. You can put these different things to action and change your relationships in a big way. When you begin loving everyone around you, God will show up big time and in turn, you will feel loved.

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John 13:34

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

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Savannah

Love: Loving God

Hi sweet friends!! So, I know we have talked a lot this week about how God loves us (which is super awesome truth!)... but today I (Jamie) am going to talk to you about how WE love God...

It's easy for us to understand that we need to love God, but it's not so easy to know WHAT that looks like for us. I know for a lot of us we feel like we are loving God, but when we really dig deep and take a look at our lives we see a different picture. You see, in today's culture especially, our hearts are divided because of idols. What are idols you ask?? Well, for me.. a huge idol in my life is MARRIAGE. I obsess over wedding magazines, I have 150+ pins on my wedding Pinterest board, I am constantly thinking about getting married. Idols can be ANYTHING that you put first in your life. BUT what I have learned is that we need to increase our love for God so that our love for earthly things decreases. It's easy to love the glory of earthly things: beauty, sports championships, new clothes, etc. but it is in the same way that we need to love God.
Ascribe glory to the Lord! :)

In the bible it says to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength (Deut. 6:5) Do you think we can fully love God if we are so concentrated on our earthly idols?! NO!! This doesn't mean that we shouldn't have goals and aspirations, what it means is that we have to learn to love God FIRST and let him take care of the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). This isn't an easy task but with discipline it will start to come naturally, and even become fun!! 

I love to love God. 

Other than ridding of the idols in our life, another way that we can love God is by spending time with Him!! Another verse in the bible that I love (and had above my bed my 2nd year of college!) is Matthew 6:21. It says "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." What this means to me is that if I put my treasure in my relationship with Christ then that's where my heart will be. I will ENJOY spending time reading my bible, I will ENJOY praying, I will ENJOY going to church.......

I pray that y'all will seriously take a look at your life and see what your idols might be. Take a minute to just talk to God, spend time with Him, and tell Him that you want Him to be first in your life and not all of these silly earthly things we obsess over. 

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"Remember: Because God is God we can never "arrive" at the goal of believing and loving Him as we should. More is always possible!"

My favorite quote ever about why it's important to love God...

"No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God. For what we love determines what we seek. What we seek determines what we think and do. What we think and do determines who we are-and who we will become."

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A few more bible verses for y'all to check out about LOVING GOD

John 15:5-8

Psalm 116:1

Love ALWAYS,

Jamie

Love: Because of Jesus

Love is a feeling that has given me (Nicole) warm fuzzies since I was young.  I grew up in such a loving and affectionate family and rarely a day went by that I wasn’t hugged, kissed, or told I was loved by someone.  As I started to get a little older, friendship became an important part of everyday life.  I had girlfriends I loved dearly, and all thirteen year old girls proclaim their love for their girlfriends as much (or more) than their own families.  As I exited high school and began the steps towards college, I experienced a different kind of love.  I fell in love with a guy.

As much as affectionate, sweet, true, sincere love has been thrown my way, there have still been dark days in my life where my heart has questioned, “Does anyone really love me?”

It’s truly perplexing to me.  How can a girl who has been so deeply loved her WHOLE LIFE seem to become so insecure?

The Evil One has spoken so many lies into my heart, and I’m sad to say that I have eaten them up for far too long.  But, girls, I (and you!) don’t have to ever, ever ask ourselves the question, “Does anyone really love me?”

Because it’s been answered, and it has been answered beautifully.

I don’t know what you’re struggling with right now, but I can almost guarantee that some of you have asked the same question I have before. 

Who loves me?

As women, we deal with friendships, dating relationships, marriages, relationships with co-workers, motherhood…. and the list goes on and on and on.  Our day to day encounters with these relationships can leave us feeling empty, even though we have found so many of them to fill our hearts.  But, the one true relationship that completely satisfies the question, “Who loves me?” can be found in scripture. 

Here’s the love story of your life, girlfriends.

There was a man named Jesus.  He was born in a miraculous way, but that’s not the point.

He lived a sin-free life, but that’s not the point.

He loved having relationships, but, really, that’s not even the point.

He laid down his life for you and for me… just because of love.  Now, THAT is the point.

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon,  for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Luke 23:44-46

If you’re a woman like me, you’ve grown up having these ideas about love.  Hollywood makes up these storylines of men and women who fall in love, and the man stops at nothing to “save” his girl.  Or, the song that always comes to my mind is Tim McGraw’s “Don’t Take the Girl”.  The boy risks his life for her during a mugging, and years later pleads with God to take his life instead of hers.  He’s the all-star hero.  The man who was willing to give it all for his lady.  And you know what?  I eat that up.

I want to be that girl.

I want to be loved enough that someone would stand in front of a bullet for me. 

But, sweet girls, we have been loved even more than that.  We were loved enough that our Prince Charming stood before the enemy, took a beating, and was nailed to a cross.

He did that just because he loves us.  That’s real love right there, ladies.  You don’t have to wait for your earthly prince to come riding in, or for your friends to give you the fulfillment you want, or for your children to finally love you in a way that makes you whole.

Because we’ve already been saved.  We’ve already been loved enough.  The question “Who loves me?” has already been answered.

If you’re weary from searching for love, I want you to know that your Prince Charming has already come and he saved you in the most heroic way.  He laid down his life… for you.

Wow.  He loves you.

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Here are some places that you can read about your Prince’s love for you.

Mark 15:33-16:8

Matthew 27:52-28:20

Luke 23:44-24:12

John 19:29-20:18

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Nicole

Love: God Loves Us

You made it back :) yay!!! This week we are going to be focusing on love. We are constantly praying that our words about  love speak very loudly and stir something in your heart. We feel that love holds us together and, today we will start our study by focusing specifically on God's unfailing love :) !!

First of all God is love & He loves us SO much, in Jeremiah 1:5 we find, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart" how powerful and amazing is that ?! He already knew you before He decided to place you in this world, and that is an indicator that you are absolutely precious and very important to Him.

Life is tough and I (Jessica) can personally say that my past has not been picture perfect by any means, and I have dealt with a lot of heartache, guilt from mistakes, and problems that seemed unconquerable in my eyes. I did not feel that I was worthy of God's love because of my past, and I felt as if I was stuck deep down in a hole of darkness. Here is the good news, I learned that God is not out to condemn instead he is ready to embrace you along with every single mistake, problem, and every piercing cut in your heart. I know this because, "God didn't go through all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger; telling the world how bad it was" John 3:18 The Message. He will hold onto you like NO OTHER, and when you are ready you can start letting go of all the "junk" that you have been clinging onto for so long and surrendering it to Him. 

How do we know he loves us ? 

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son (can you imagine doing that!?), his one and ONLY Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, ANYONE can have a whole and lasting life." John 3:16-17 The Message. WOW just take that in for a minute. God gave us his Son to die for our "junk" because He did not want sin to keep us from living our lives without Him! He wants us to be a part of His family, and love on us all the time. THAT IS PURE LOVE !!! 

The Woman at the Well

Jesus had many encounters with people while he was living out his life here on Earth. One story that really shows God's love pouring through Him is the story of the woman at the well, which is found in John 4.

Jesus decided to return to Galilee, and He led his disciples through Samaria,  keep in mind that the Jews did not like the Samaritans. Jesus was bold and he did not conform to the ways of this world, and he took his disciples right through the town because he knew that GOD LOVES EVERYONE of EVERY NATION. Jesus along with the disciples stopped at a well to rest, and the disciples left to go into the town to get food. Not much later, a woman from Sychar comes walking up to the well in the heat of the day probably to avoid seeing anyone there, little did she know she was about to meet the Son of God !! 

Jesus said to the woman, "Give me a drink" she responded "Since you are a Jew, why do you ask a Samaritan woman for a drink? You know the Jews have nothing to do with the Samaritans." Jesus replied, "If you knew who asks you for a drink, you would ask him to give you living water." Immediately the woman was intrigued and interested by the statement that Jesus had made. Jesus told the woman things about herself that she thought no one knew. He also told her about the wrongs that she had done. Jesus did not argue with the woman, instead he explained that God planned to bring salvation through the Jews, and he said "God is not found in only one place for God is Spirit". The woman proceed to tell Jesus that she thought he was prophet and the Samaritians worship and that she knows that the Messiah, the Christ, is coming from God. 

Jesus replied, "I AM HE" 
:) 

Move Forward

God may be unhappy with where you are and choices that you have made, but he is not going to attack you with judgement or turn away from you. He did not turn away or cast judgement upon the woman at the well, instead he spent time talking to her about her past and expressed to her how she could be saved. (WHY DID HE SHOW COMPASSION TO THIS WOMAN ?  BECAUSE: GOD LOVES US, I CANNOT SAY IT ENOUGH!!)

Yes, it was probably awkward and stirred unwanted feeling in her heart that she had been keeping locked inside; however, without being pushed to acknowledge her sin then how would she have ever been saved? The truth of your past may be hard to admit to yourself much less to God. Do not let your unsure feelings hold you back because He is a a great and wise Father, and he will acknowledge what you did wrong and push you forward by pouring His unfailing love into you. God will help you to be able to leave whatever it is behind because He is everything that you need. He is bigger and greater than you can even fathom, which means your "junk" is nothing to him. Quit worrying about what is behind you, it does not matter how nasty and awful it may be, LET IT GO & GO TO THE LIVING WELL to be restored. 

My Challenge 

1. Take yourself along with every single piece of baggage straight to God, and do not worry for one second that he is going to think that it is just too much to deal with. (He is going to give you the biggest hug you have ever felt !!!)

2. Proclaim that you have sinned against God. Ask for forgiveness from Him and forgive yourself.

3. Believe and trust in your surrender. GOD WILL POUR HIS MERCY UPON YOU, & YOU WILL GET GRACE. You don't earn it because as Louie Giglio would say "grace is God at work" !!

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"God wants you to know that He is here. You aren't having to work on this thing alone. 

I'm working with you

I'm your Father.

Your Daddy"
God's Blogs

Verses

John 3:16-18 

Jeremiah 1:5

Romans 8:38

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With smiles and love,

Jess :)

What’s Next

You’re back!

Blessed, blessed, blessed, SO blessed that you’re still continuing on this journey with us.  And, girls, what a journey this is going to be!  Now that you know a little bit about what has inspired this blog, we want you to be well aware of what the next several weeks will look like. 

Each week every member (Jamie, Jessica, Nicole, and Savannah) will have one post.  The posts won’t necessarily be on the same day each week, but we each will always have a post.  Monday through Thursday will be our main posting days for the week with Friday being sort of a “free day”.

The picture I showed you yesterday was more than a sneak peek of what is to come…

via

It was a pretty clear picture!

Over the next nine weeks we will be focusing on one of the fruits of the spirit each week.  Starting with love and making our way down the list.  Each post will talk about the topic in a different way and include different personal stories from each of us. 

We are carefully discussed each week and have searched the bible on these topics.  As we go through these nine weeks on the fruits of the spirit, I want to encourage you to do your own studying!  Get in the Word, dig deep, and learn.  We so much want this blog to be a two way street.  If you see the topic differently than we’ve discussed it, email us!  We’re ready and willing to learn through this, too.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Galatians 5:22-23

We can’t wait to see you on Monday.

We love you!

Jamie, Jessica, Nicole, and Savannah


PS.  And if you don't know the girls behind this blog, please check out our "who we are" page!  We want you to get to know us and we want to get to know you!

Small Beginnings

Welcome to the Fearless Blog!

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We are so, so glad that you’ve found yourself here today.  We have prayed so much for this space and the people that would visit it.  We have prayed big prayers for this little spot of the World Wide Web!  We want you to know our hearts before we dive head first into this blog, so today we will give you a little idea as to WHY we blog and tomorrow we will give you all the details on what is to come in the next several weeks.

I (Nicole) am so glad that I get to share this story with you.  A few weeks ago Jamie and Jessica came to visit me in my college town.  The minute they arrived we squealed and hugged like we had been best friends forever!  We started running our mouths instantly, of course, and Jessica pops out, “Hey, I think we need to start a blog together with Savannah!” 

Now, before we go any further I have to share a conversation that I had had with Savannah a few weeks before this.  We were just texting one afternoon and we talked about how we felt like God wanted us to do something together blog wise, but we just didn’t know what.  We both said we would pray about it, but we had yet to come up with anything.  As soon as Jess mentioned it, I immediately knew THIS is what the Lord had for us. 

The Lord really worked that weekend and the the ideas for this blog came flooding in.  We talked and we brainstormed and we kept Savannah up to date from so far away.  We watched videos, poured over our bibles, and the Lord inspired.  We ended our weekend by writing out a list of goals and going on our faces before the Lord. 

Since then, our friendships have grown.  We’ve become great friends and even greater supporters.  The Lord has challenged us to start this blog and we continue to be stretched.  We are just a group of four girls who love Jesus and who want to love this blog community of women.  We want you to feel renewed, challenged, and accepted here.  We pray for you and we love you!  We continue to grow in our faith and we know we will grow even more through this blog.  We aren’t perfect people.  Without Christ, there is no way that we could be before you on this blog today.  He has taken our broken situations and turned them into beauty.  He has taught us and he has healed us.  Without him, we are nothing.  And, boy, have we been through it to realize that.  We continue to be changed and renewed because of the love, grace, and forgiveness of Christ.

We are so glad that you’re here and we hope you’ll stick around to get to know us.  Look around, check out our pages, and come back tomorrow!  We have so much to fill you in on!

But, for now, a sneek peek of what the next nine weeks will consist of…

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We love you!

Jamie, Jessica, Nicole, and Savannah

"The people who do big things for God are the ones who have the perspective to see the potential in these small beginnings." Steven Furtick