Bathroom Remodel: Staining and Painting

It is now time for another update on the progress I have made in redecorating our bathroom. The next step on my list of things to do was to stain the wood cabinets. Initially I was planning to paint the cabinets either a white or gray but after looking at pictures and inspiration online I decided not to paint the cabinets. But I knew I needed to do something to the cabinets. I wanted them to change and to be honest I didn't like the light honey color that the cabinets were already.

We stained the cabinets with a dark walnut wood stain and I'm so happy with the finished effect. The darker color looks much nicer and more finished than the light color it was before.



Next was the biggest task on my list, painting the walls. I have had plenty of experience painting so I wasn't overwhelmed with the job ahead of me. The ceilings in our house are really high so the hardest part when we were painting was reaching the high ceilings. The only way to reach the ceiling to do the trim was to cram our big and bulky ladder into the small bathroom.



After painting the first two coats I realized that because I chose such a light shade of blue there was a very high possibility that we would need a third coat. I cringed because I really did not want to have to paint the walls a third time. Fortunately we were lucky. Once the second coat dried and we looked closely at the walls we were happily surprised to find that it looked perfect.



The two main projects I had planned for our bathroom are done, the staining and the painting. Now comes the fun part. Decorating!

Bathroom Remodel: The Curtain

There is one room in our house I am just never satisfied with - our bathroom. It seems it's always a messy room with hair stuff always on the counter and wet towels lying on the floor. We didn't even have a matching theme for this room. As you can see it was kinda like a mixed and matched bathroom.

Well, I decided that this summer I needed a project to work on and I've always wanted to try my hand at house decorating. Our bathroom seemed to perfect way to start!

First thing on my list was to decide on the theme. I chose a beach theme since I adore the beach and have always wanted to make a beach themed room. We found the perfect curtain at Ross and some cute bathroom rugs that coordinated.



For the main colors of the bathroom I decided to do light aqua blues, mint greens, tans, and dark brown.

As you can see in the picture below our bathroom does not have a curtain. The first thing that needed to go was the glass door for our bathtub.



You would not believe all the dirty grimy gunk we found once we took off the shower doors. Ick! I quickly went to work on scrubbing away all the dirt and grime until my arms ached.

As you can see, once I finished it looked so much better. Nice and clean again!



After we put up the curtain the bathroom was already starting to look much better. My favorite part about the curtain is that it hides any mess you may have in the bathtub, haha.



I'm so excited to have this new project to work on. Already I am seeing so much improvement and I am having so much fun being the one in charge of decorating our bathroom. I will have more posts soon as I continue to make progress.

Have you ever redecorated a room before? What's you favorite room theme?

Shooting With Soul ~ Exercise Three: Something You Collect

I am still slowly working my way through my book Shooting With Soul by Alessandra Cave (if you want to know more about this book check out my previous post here). The last exercise was to take a picture of my shadow (you can see my pictures here) and today's exercise is to take a picture of something I collect.

When I think about all the different things I collect one thing comes to my mind right away.  I love to collect journals.  I will admit that I have a lot of empty journals but it is always my intention to fill every page of each journal I buy.

Journals are so special to me because to me they mean memories. I want to be able to remember how blessed I am and I have found that one way I can do this is by writing in my journal(s).  

As you can see, in the picture below, I have quite the collection of journals. I wasn't even able to fit all of my journals in this picture.  

Journals aren't the only thing I collect.  All I needed was a quick look in my closet to see that I have quite the collection of winter boots.

I didn't realize how many boots I had until I decided to drag them all outside (It was quite the workout).  I took some pictures of all my boots lined up before I dragged them back inside.  

I'm excited to be able to slowly, but surely, make my way through this book!

What is something you collect? 

Shooting with Soul ~ Exercise Two: Your Shadow

Ah, finally I have checked off the next exercise in my photography book.  My book, "Shooting with Soul", has been sitting on my desk collecting dust again.  But today I decided to move on to the next exercise - my shadow.  (Check out my previous post to learn more about this book - Shooting With Soul)

The above picture is a picture from many years ago.  My friend was the one with the camera so I didn't take the picture.  But I still love the picture because of the memories it brings back.

My family does a lot of hiking and last year I wore my "cowgirl" hat hiking.  I rarely wear this hat because, even though I love it,  I can never find an outfit to wear it with. This was actually the only time I have worn this hat. I'm glad I did though.  It made my shadow look neat and the granite rock made for a nice and (mostly) uncluttered background. Although when my mom looked at this picture she didn't know that I was wearing a cowgirl hat until I told her.  Shadow pictures can definitely be hard to interpreted Sometimes. 

Last summer when we were camping at the ocean my favorite part was waiting on the beach for the sunset.  While waiting as the sun went down I noticed how long the shadows were.  This picture makes me look like I am standing on stilts.  I really like this picture because of the golden color the almost setting-sun gives off.  

These last two pictures are from today.  The sun was hitting our front yard at an angle.  The perfect recipe for great shadows.  The garage door makes for a plain uncluttered background so I snapped a few pictures before the sun went completely down.  

It felt great to take my camera outside today and snap some pictures.  I never seem to have the time anymore for this favorite pastime of mine.  

I can't wait to see what the next photo challenge in my photography book will be!

Exercise Two: Your Reflection

The other day I realized something.  There are only three more months in this year. September is almost over and then comes October, November, and lastly, December.  The first official day of Fall was only a few days ago.  I can't believe how fast this year is flying by!

To be honest though, I'm so glad summer is over and am really looking forward to cooler weather (so I can wear my boots and scarfs!).  Summer is my least favorite month because I don't like the hot weather and I just can't help but get excited at the fact that it's over until next year.

I figured it's about time I got around to another post on this blog.  I have been meaning to get to the next photography exercise in my book but I just haven't had the time. At the moment I currently have two seasonal jobs so I have been busy with work and as soon as I get home I just want to relax. Today is actually the first day in awhile for me that I have, for the most part, been home the whole day and have been able to get things done that I've been wanting to do.   

Anyway,  for the second photo exercise I am supposed to take a picture of my reflection.  I have taken pictures of my reflection multiple times before so I am just going share with you those instead of waiting until I find the time and inspiration to take pictures.

This picture is from a few years ago.  We were at the zoo and this picture was actually my friends idea so I can't take full credit for the creativity. The mirror is part of a carousel that was at the zoo. That's why there's a pole in front of the mirror.  The only thing I don't like about this picture is it's really grainy.  

I actually stumbled upon this picture the other day.  Last year my family went on vacation to the San Juan Islands in Washington and we visited a manor house from the late 1800's to the early 1900's. It was called Rosario Resort. It had a little museum but it was also a resort that people would stay at on their vacation.  I saw this weird mirror set up in one of the rooms.  I believe the idea behind the strange design of this mirror was so you could see more than one angle of yourself at the same time.  I really like this shot because it looks kinda deceptive.  Not only did I capture my reflection, I captured the reflection of my reflection as well.

Last Christmas I found the perfect ornament.   It was so red and shiny.  I opened up my Bible to the Christmas passage in Luke and took a picture so that you could see my reflection in the ornament.

I don't know if this one really counts, but I took a picture of me taking a picture.  It's kinda is a picture of my reflection but not really because it's my iPod's camera.  I really like this picture a lot because it's not your typical self-portrait picture.

*UPDATE*

I have to add my newest reflection picture!  It's my absolute favorite picture to use as profile pictures.  I took this picture at a really cute candy story in Monterey Bay.

Exercise One: Glimpses of You

I'm so excited!  Today I actually get to share with you some of my photography! Photography is one of my favorite hobbies and it will probably always be only a hobby for me but I know how a camera works and I can't stop myself from taking pictures of everything that catches my eye.

In my last blog post I introduced you all to a book I am currently going through; Shooting with Soul.  I've been busy reading and I have finally come to the first exercise; Glimpses of you. For this exercise I am supposed to take a picture of myself that captures my personality in a creative way.  Being that I like to take lots of pictures I ended up with quite a few pictures that I believe capture the essence of who I am.

One thing you may notice with my pictures is that the colors in these pictures aren't very vibrant.  I figured since these pictures are supposed to describe me I went ahead and edited them in a way that I thought fit me.  I love everything that has a vintage feel to it and when I edit my pictures I love fading the colors to get a vintage effect. For editing my pictures I use Photoshop Elements 11, and also Picmonkey. 

This may sound weird but I love taking pictures of my feet with different backgrounds.  I'm a girl and I love my shoes and I will admit that I may have a few pairs to many. You can tell a story through your shoes, whether it's a shot of your boots buried in snow, or rain boots splashing in a puddle.  These our my all-time favorite shoes to wear in the summer. They are comfortable and did I say cute.  

As I snapped a lot more pictures of my shoes trying to get the perfect shot I was thinking of other ways to express who I am.  I've learned to never take only one picture.  Usually if I share a picture I'm not showing you the 50 pictures that didn't turn out right. Anyway, as you can see in this picture, I've been growing my hair out for a long time and even though it's not quite as long as I want it yet it's getting to be really long.  I think this picture really captures this aspect of myself.

As a photographer I've learned that props really help.  I love old books and I love reading. You will never be able to guess, but this picture has a double meaning for me. This picture tells you that I love reading but the book in my hand is actually a blank notebook.  Not only do I love old books but I feel like I can never have enough empty notebooks. I have my own little collection of notebooks just waiting to be filled with my writings.

And of course we have here the picture that was never intended to happen but it did and I love it. I was really bummed that this picture ended up being blurry but after downloading my pictures to my computer I actually really liked the dreamy effect the blurriness adds to this image.

All these pictures have been taken by me using my tripod and shutter remote (Nikon D5100 and my 35mm lens).

Shooting with Soul

About a year ago I bought a bunch books and I'm sad to admit I haven't read most of them yet.  I bought quite a few books on photography since photography is one of my favorite hobbies. One of the books was Shooting with Soul by Alessandra Cave. This book is full of exercises to help you express yourself creatively through photography.  I got stuck on exercise three and then this book somehow found it's way back to the shelf and was forgotten. The other day I found it again and starting flipping through it's pages. 

I decided that I should give this book another try.  Since I spent money on this book it only makes sense that I should read it all the way through and get the most out of it.  I'm all for improving my photography skills so my plan is post each exercise here on my blog. 

There are a lot of exercises and some may be a bit challenging  but I know it's going to fun. 

Plus I've been kinda wondering what to do with my blog.  I've run out of ideas and this seemed like a great way to motivate me to post more frequently.

Now I best go and start reading this book...

The Last Fruit of the Spirit

Well, what do you know! We have finally made it to the last Fruit of the Spirit - self-control. This fruit is no less important than all the others. It is so important that we are constantly working on cultivating each of the nine fruits in our lives (I believe there's nine...yes, I just sang it in my head.  My mom had a song for the Fruit of the Spirit as well).  

Back to self-control.  If you were to ask me what self-control is my mind would instantly think back to when my siblings and I were little. We would often get rowdy and we could never keep our hands to ourselves.  Mom would say: "Show me what self-control looks like." We would fold our hands together (like you do when your praying) and place them in our lap.  It forced us to have to resist the temptation to be loud and out-of-control.  And that's basically what self-control is - not giving into temptation. It's having the will power to be able to say no.

Self-control not only deals with physical temptations but all types of temptations. Temptations relating to food, thoughts, money, relationships and so on.  Talking about temptation I have to share with you my favorite verse about temptation.  1 Corinthians 10:13 is such a comforting verse when you are dealing with temptation.  "No temptation  has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."  

We are all tempted.  Lots of times it feels like there is a battle going on inside my head.  My desires battle against what I know is the right thing to do.  If you want to know something about me I've always been really self-disciplined.  It's built into my personality.  I set my mind to do something and it gets done (well, most of the time at least).  But I'm still just like everyone else.  I make bad choices and give into my desires only to end up feeling horrible for letting temptation win.  

We all struggle with learning how to have self-control. Good news is there is a remedy. There is something that we can do to help us learn to have self-control in our lives.  When temptations come we need to be prepared with truth.  Have verses memorized to remind you to keep your eye's focused on God.  A good one when you are dealing with your thoughts is Philippians 4:8 
"Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things."   

1 Corinthians 10:31 is a good verse to have on hand when you are trying to determine whether to say 'yes' to something or if you should say 'no.'  
"Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God."  
If it glorifies God. go for it! If it doesn't. you might want to rethink it.

The more you say 'no' to your sinful desires the easier it will be for you to have self-control.  
With God's help each day, you can learn to say 'no' to temptation and you will grow in your walk with God.  

Sadly, this brings me to the end of my writings on the Fruit of the Spirit.   I've learned so much (and I hope you have too).  Most of my inspiration for my writing came from A Young Women's Walk with God by Elizabeth George.  I read this book for my morning devotions and I enjoyed it very much. If you ever get the chance it's a great read. 

Oh, and one more thing.  So now that I'm all done with writing about the Fruit of the Spirit I got a t-shirt to help me remember all that I've learned.  

My dad bought this shirt for me a few days ago, but I haven't worn it yet because I wanted to wait until I finished my last post on the Fruit of the Spirit.  I love new shirts and prefer to wear them a soon as possible...but I was able to show self-control and not wear my t-shirt right away (Ha! Victory!).  I'm so happy now because I can finally wear my new shirt!

Gentleness

When we (meaning me and my three siblings) were little my Mom used to put Bible verses to song to help us learn them. I have forgotten most of them but a few I can still remember and even sing still. One of the songs I can still remember happens to be about gentleness.  I remember it very well, because apparently we struggled with being gentle with each other so much that Mom was constantly reminding us of this verse.

It went: 

"Gentle words make peace...

 but harsh words stir up trouble!" 

And when you get to harsh words you pretend to stir a big pot (well, at least that's what I remember doing). And I'm sure we had a hand motion for the gentle words part but I don't remember it.  It must not have been as fun as pretending to stir a pot. 

So what comes to your mind when you think of gentleness? How can you, as a godly young women, have a life characterized by gentleness?  From the verse I shared above, which is Proverbs 15:1, we see that gentleness has a lot to do with our words towards others.  This verse is pretty straight forward, okay.  Gentle words make peace, and harsh words make trouble.  Yet due to our sinful nature we often find ourselves responding to others with harsh words, which results in, you know - trouble.

Every day with the help of God's Spirit within us we must strive to use gentle words.  You will find that when we are not always so set on having things our way but instead respond with gentle and encouraging words and when we are open to the ideas of others we become what you might call peacemakers.  In the beatitudes Jesus talks about peacemakers.  Mathew 5:9 says; "Blessed our the peacemakers for theirs is the kingdom of God."

All this talking about using gentle words reminds me of something else my Mom often told us when we were quarreling. My Mom loved to use the quote from "Bambi" when Thumper recalled what his Dad had told him; "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all."  It's true.  I've learned that sometimes the gentlest response is just to not say anything.

Also, I want to share 1 Peter 3:3-4; "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight."

In God's eyes a gentle and quiet spirit is very precious.  To me someone who has a gentle and quiet spirit is someone who finds their true comfort in God.  Someone who, when troubles come their way, remains calm through it all.  Someone's whose inner beauty outshines that of their outer beauty 

Cultivating this heart of gentleness is not easy.  In the eyes of others it may look like weakness.  It is not.  Rather it requires greatest of strength to obtain a spirit of gentleness.

When you are hurt, confused, or upset, remember God wants you to remain calm without complaining or saying anything harsh back.  Think of Jesus on the cross suffering for your sins.  He never once cried out in anger or complained.  He demonstrated to us perfectly what it means to have a gentle and quiet spirit amidst suffering.  So as you go through life keep you eyes fixed on Jesus' perfect example.  Follow Jesus' example and God will fill you with a spirit of Gentleness.

Goodness ~ Doing Everything

Now for goodness, or what I like to call 'kindness in action.'  So we learned that kindness is when we set our minds to doing good to others.  Well, goodness is when we actually do it. Goodness is the next step in how we treat others by turning our 'kind' thoughtful intentions into actions.  Goodness does everything it possibly can to serve others and to shower God's love and blessings on those around us.

Goodness, like all the other Fruits of the Spirit is a choice.  We can choose to be nice and do good things to others or we can choose to not do anything.  James 2:17 says  "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." Goodness, or good deeds, is part of how we share our faith. In other words, if there is no goodness showing forth from our lives than we should be concerned for our salvation. And at the same time goodness and good deeds cannot save you. Only by believing in Christ Jesus who died on the cross to save you and turning from your sins can you be saved. And if you truly are saved then goodness should be evident in your life.

As we grow and desire more and more to follow Jesus our lives will be defined by the fruits we bear.   Imagine a garden. Patience is like a seed under the soil, not seen.  Often it seems that the seed is doing nothing, but unbeknownst to the observers the seed is growing.  And what is growing from that seed is kindness. Kindness begins to grow and wants to push itself up and out from underneath the soil.  Thus goodness blossoms forth.  Goodness and its work of love to others bless all who see it.

I think it is amazing how each fruit of the spirit builds on each other.  I used to always think that they all were their own separate virtue but I've come to realize that there is even a reason for the order they are in.  How amazing God is!  I find that the more you study a certain part of His word, the more He reveals to you.    

So that is pretty much all I have to say about goodness.  I challenge you now to let kindness show forth in your life through acts of goodness towards others.  

Note: the garden example is from the book "A Young Women's Walk  with God" by Elizabeth George.  I worded it in my own words but it is not my original idea.  I loved the idea so much I just had to share it.

Patience ~ Doing Nothing

So, I actually found the time to write the next part in my Fruit of the Spirit series.  Yay! I hope you enjoy it ;)

After love, joy, and peace come patience, kindness, and goodness. Where love, joy, and peace are all primarily about our heart attitude; patience, kindness, and goodness are about how we are to treat others. For now though, we are just going to focus on patience.

You may be thinking you know what it means to be patient.  It's when you have to wait for something and it requires you to be patient. It's something you probably hated when you were little and still hate now that you're older.  Yes, waiting does require patience but that definition is hardly scraping the surface of the meaning of patience. Consider the verse below:

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,..." Ephesians 4:1-2

"...with patience, bearing with one another in love." What does this mean?  Paul is urging us to live our lives in unity with those around us.  So patience obviously effects how we interact with others.  So what exactly does it mean to be patient with others?

It means when others wrong you or are mean to you God wants you to do nothing.  He doesn't want you to react if that means you are going to say something critical or mean back. By doing nothing we have the time to think, to pray, to reflect, to ask for advice, and to plan to respond in a 'kind' way.  We need to remember that God has shown us, sinners who don't deserve God's grace, patience even though we continue to fail Him everyday.  And God wants us to be patient when we find ourselves being treated unfairly.  I think of the parable in Matthew 18 about the unmerciful servant who after having his own debts canceled failed to be patient with his own servant.  Knowing that God is patient with us should stir us on to be patient with others.

And if we get down to the roots of why we feel like we always have to say something in return it is often because we think we are better than the other person.  But we are all sinners in God's eyes and by being mean back we are not being a very good example to unbelievers.

So patience is simply having the strength to do nothing when you find yourself being treated unfairly by others.  So is it really that simple?  Simple to understand, yes; simple to do, not really.  We need God's help, and only with the power of the Holy Spirit within us can we be patient when mistreated. 

But I'm not done yet.  You may be a bit confused.  So patience doesn't have anything to do with waiting?  It has everything to do with waiting.  One thing I have learned as I study each fruit is there is no single meaning or simple answer for each Christian virtue.  

Briefly, I want to talk a little bit about having patience through hard circumstances.  I've said it before, the Christian life is not easy. God has given us His peace to get through hard times but He also wants us to have patience.  The secret to being patient through rough circumstances is having complete trust in God and the plan He has for your life.  

If you struggle with being patient when your life feels like it's a mess then the best thing you can do is go to God in prayer and study your Bible. Through this process you will grow in your love for God and you will learn to trust God, and then ultimately place your future in His hands.

I want to end with this quote that I just came across today. "Patience is not the ability to wait, but how you act while your waiting."

Peace that Passes Understanding

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27  

I've been wanting to post more regularly but Spring is one of the busiest seasons for my family.  We work at a Christian living history camp.  The camp is awesome, but due to this I have not had the time to post much.  But today I found the time to write the next part of my Fruit of the Spirit series.  Sorry if it sounds a bit rushed.  I just have so many things on my list of things to do and my mind is feeling exhausted and a bit overwhelmed.  

But with the business all around there is no better subject to meditate on then peace.  By taking the time to sit down and write this I have learned a lot about peace.

Peace (the sacrifice of trust) - Whenever I think of peace the words of a song I used to sing when I was little pop into head.  Maybe you know this song.

I have the peace that passes understanding 
Down in my heart!

Where? Down in my heart!

Where? Down in my heart!

I have the peace that passes understanding 
Down in my heart!

Where? Down in my heart to stay!

'The peace that passes understanding' was a phrase that I just couldn't quite wrap my mind around when I was a little girl. I remembering feeling very pleased with myself when I was able to sing this particular part of this song without any mistakes. But I didn't really know what it meant. Now I look at this song and it makes so much more sense to me.  Actually, even thought it's a song I sang when I was in elementary school, I find that I enjoy this song still, if not more now that I'm older.  There's just something about the the simplicity of this song.  

Philippians 4:6-7 says; “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Peace is gained by taking all of our worries and fears and giving them to God. Whatever it is you are facing: trials, fears, or just the everyday challenges of life, you can't find God's peace until you give those problems to God and trust that God will take care of you. You must go to God in prayer and in thanksgiving, just like the verse plainly states, and God will fill you with the peace that passes all understanding.

The peace that God will give you is amazing. It goes beyond understanding.  With everything falling apart right before our eyes God fills us with a peace that sustains us and gets us through the day.  For the unbeliever who watches us go through life with God's peace it is impossible for them to even comprehend how we can be so calm.  I believe that this is what it means to have the peace that passes all understanding.  It just doesn't make sense to the outward eye.  

These past few days I've been struggling with being content with my life and being single, wishing that God would bring that 'someone special' into my life soon.  It just so happened, and I know it was not a coincidence, that during my devotion I came across Philippians 4:6-7. I knew exactly what God was telling me to do. I went to God in prayer and I thanked God for His goodness to me and I told God of my problems and asked Him to take it away and fill me with His peace. Immediately after my devotion I was filled with happiness. God's peace rained down on me like a flood. I was so happy I literally skipped down the stairs this morning (which is not a good idea cause I've slipped on the stairs too many times to count).

My point is that God is waiting to bestow upon you His peace. He's waiting. He's waiting for you to ask. All you have to do is ask and God will shower His peace down on you. 

So what is keeping you?  Give your problems to God,  trust that God's plan for you is the best, and ask God to fill you with His peace. 

Joy ~ The Second Fruit of the Spirit

Well, Happy Easter!  I know Easter was yesterday, but I did't get a chance to post anything so I'm saying it now.  HE IS RISEN!  

And with that said what a  great way jump into the next installment of my Fruit of the Spirit series - Joy! 

Joy (the sacrifice of praise) – Again, like love, joy can be wrongly thought of as a feeling or emotion. Joy is too often confused with happiness. Happiness is an emotion. If our life is going good we are happy but as soon as bad things happen we are no longer happy. Joy doesn't mean we should trick ourselves into thinking we are always happy even when bad things happen. Sometimes you have a bad day and it is just not in your power to be happy at that moment.

God does not say that life as a Christian is easy. It is filled with troubles. But God does promise us His joy. God's joy is all we need to get through all our hardships.

So if true joy is from God and is not a feeling, where can we find this joy?  We can find this joy in God. When you turn to God He will fill you with His joy. When you are overwhelmed with your life here's a easy way to get your focus fixed properly on God again. Think back to the day God opened your eyes to His truth. What was it like before you knew God? Think of what God did to save you. God sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to save you. All our hardships should dim in comparison to God's great Gift to us and we should be filled with the deepest gratitude for what God has done for us. Your life doesn't seem so bad anymore after you put it in this perspective. 

Also, another way to find Gods joy can be as easy as reading your Bible daily and spending time in prayer. The Bible is full of God's promises and meditating on each one of His promises brings joy to our hearts. 

If you were to make a list of all the things you are thankful for and then compare it to a list of everything in your life that you aren't happy about which list would be longer?  We, as Christians, have so much to be thankful for, and a thankful heart is the first step in finding God's joy.

So, in conclusion, Joy is a choice and as Christians we must choose to have joy. We look beyond our suffering and joy fills our hearts because our eyes our fixed on God and the life to come when we will live forever with God in Heaven.

Love ~ The First Fruit of the Spirit

Well, another week has passed and a new one begins.  Seems all the things I couldn't fit into last weeks agenda are on this weeks and I will probably end up finding some silly excuse not to do them.
That's life.  At least for me.  

So, I thought I'd get a head start on my list of things to do tomorrow and post the next part in my Fruit of the Spirit series. Any idea what the first fruit of the spirit is?  HINT:  the picture above is a dead giveaway.  Yep, Love.  So let's talk about love.

Love (The Sacrifice of Self) – Love is too often mistaken for a feeling.  All the romance movies and romance novels promoted by the world have given us an unrealistic view of love. Yes, love is a feeling but it is so much more than just a feeling. One thing you will learn about the Fruit of the Spirit is that every fruit is a decision and love is no different.  We can choose to love others or we can choose not to.  We, as Christians, are to choose to love. No matter how we feel it is our duty to share God's love with others. We are to love others when we are tired or sick.  We are to love everyone, even those who don't give us any love back in return. And here's the hard one. We are to love our enemies. The Bible doesn't only say to love our enemies but it also tells us pray for our enemies.

Love is an action, not just words. Words aren't the only way to share God's love with others. You can tell someone you love them in so many ways. You don't have to say those three coveted words, "I love you," in order to let someone know that you love them.  By serving others, even when it's hard, you are showing them love. And serving others can be as easy as cleaning up after someone or making them a meal.  Believe it or not these small acts of kindness are sending a message to the person that you care about them and that you love them.

And you must remember that this kind of love is impossible without God's help. Our devotion to God is outwardly displayed when we love others. You cannot love God and somehow not love others. God is love and He has created us to be currents for His love to travel through. Once we are filled with God's love we won't be able to conceal it and the whole world will see God's love shining through us.