The Real You

People talk about “the real me.” Sometimes that feels impossible trying to pin down just what that is. But I was thinking about it, and I think I figured it out.

It’s the side of yourself you don’t like seeing yourself. 

It’s that thing you do that everyone hates. 

It’s that part of yourself you secretly love. 

It’s the feeling you get when someone is hurt. 

It’s that day when you fall apart when things just aren’t going right. 

It’s the part of you someone tells you they simply love.

It’s those things you gave up that you always wanted. 

It’s the conversations you have late at night. 

It’s that journal entry that you never read because it’s too hard.

It’s that song that makes your heart alive. 

It’s the way you enjoy rain. 

It’s that moment when you close your eyes, wondering how you got here. 

It’s those tears you shed over a friend. 

It’s the insecurities you have.

It’s the things you do for others every day.

It’s the way you listen to one song over and over. 

It’s that silly movie you can’t help but love. 

It’s that letter you read over and over.

It’s that outfit you just adore. 

It’s the Bible verse that makes your heart feel whole. 

It’s that prayer, spoken over and over again. 

It’s that story that sets your heart on fire. 

It’s that memory you have treasured in a box. 

It’s your smile. 

It’s the anger you just can’t seem to get rid of. 

It’s the letter pushed to the back because it hurts too much to read. 

It’s that quote you have on your wall.

It’s the way you text people. 

It’s that book you can’t read enough. 

It’s the way you come before God. 

It’s those late night walks. 

That is the real you. The good, and the bad. They are both you, and you are beautiful. So maybe the ‘real you’ isn’t all pretty, but God wants to use it all for His glory, so don’t despise any of it. Work on it, and try to improve every day. But never, ever look at something God made and loves and despise it. 

A Bedraggled Princess

This month I am starting in on a new book. Its the fifth book in my series The Princesses, and its called (as you probably have already guessed) A Bedraggled Princess. I'm really excited to start this one, because it is the first of three books that all take place at the same time. I've never tried something like this, so its been really fun so far! Here is a little piece from the book. I know its not the best, but I haven't written very much, so there wasn't to much to choose from.

“Alright my brother, what do you see in this blacksmith shop?”

Gregory scanned the shop, the look of a child being brought into a room of toys coming to his face “I see a job. A way to serve the people. I see somewhere where I won’t have to sit in a stuffy room and learn athematic. I see somewhere I will make a difference.”

I let out my breath “You see a lot more than I do.”

“But don’t you get it?” He said, taking me gently by the shoulders “If I could work here, I could finally be doing something to help."

30 days, 30 photos

Hello everybody! I promised at the beginning of the month that I would share the photos from the photo challenge I did. I have what day it was, what my prompt was, and any added note underneath. I hope y'all enjoy!

Day one: A photo of myself

(And my kitten, Shadow, who looks a little squished in this photo, but believe me, he was really happy)

Day two: What I wore that day.

(Okay, so I realize that this isn't an outfit, like it makes it sounds, but I did wear it that day. This is my purity ring.)

Day three: My favorite place to be.

(Okay, so this one was super hard. I love so many places. So I just choose my favorite space in my room, since it was rainy.)

Day four: A photo from a high angle.

(This is from the top of a staircase at the Fort Worth Gardens)

Day five: A photo of whatever I pleased

Day six: A photo from a low angle

(This is a climbing rope we have going to our treehouse.)

Day seven:  A Silhouette photo

(Okay, not a great photo, but I'm really horrible at silhouette)

Day eight: A photo of something up-close

Day nine: A photo of something from a distance.

(My dog, Luke)

Day ten: A photo of whatever I pleased

Day eleven: A photo in black and white

(Yes, I had to edit this to make it black and white)

Day twelve: A photo experimenting with bokeh

Day thirteen: A photo edit that I liked 

(Hahaha..... no. I don't like photo edits. But here's one I could at least stand.)

Day fourteen: A photo focusing on eyes 

(I didn't really love this photo, but it was the best I could do that day)

Day fifteen: A photo of whatever I pleased

Day sixteen: A photo experimenting with light trails

(I actually liked this one)

Day seventeen: A photo with street lights 

(Yeah, this is an absolutely terrible photo, but I honestly could not do better that day)

Day eighteen: A photo depicting an emotion 

(This has a lot of emotions for me. =) )

Day nineteen: A photo that involves a landscape.

Day twenty: A photo of whatever I pleased

Day twenty one: A photo of the sunset

(Yes, this photo was taken out of a car window, thats why theres dirk blocking the view)

Day twenty two: A photo of a person I love

Day twenty three: A photo that makes me think of my childhood

Day twenty four: A photo with a color scheme 

Day twenty five: a photo of whatever I pleased

Day twenty six: A photo playing with shadow. 

(Okay, so the real thing says shadows but I have a cat named shadow, how could I resist using him for this category?)

Day twenty seven: A photo that used the sun as my lighting

(I had the mirror set up next to a window, so all my light came from the sun.)

Day twenty eight: A photo that incorporates motion 

Day twenty nine: A photo with clouds

Day thirty: A photo of whatever I pleased 

(Is this not adorable? I love that cat. =) )

So, what did you think of my thirty day photo challenge? 

Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees,

I've been reading a lot in Psalm 119 this week. There's a lot to read there, and since it would be a bit lengthy to share the whole thing, I thought I would share my favorite portions.

Psalm 119: 9-16

How can a young person stay on the path of purity?

By living according to your word.

I seek you with all my heart;

do not let me stray from your commands.

I have hidden your word in my heart

that I might not sin against you.

Praise be to you, Lord;

teach me your decrees.

With my lips I recount

all the laws that come from your mouth.

I rejoice in following your statutes

as one rejoices in great riches.

I meditate on your precepts

I delight in your decrees;

I will not neglect your word.

Psalm 119: 33-48

Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees,

that I may follow it to the end.

Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law

and obey it with all my heart.

Direct me in the path of your commands,

for there I find delight.

Turn my heart toward your statutes

and not toward selfish gain.

Turn my eyes away from worthless things;

preserve my life according to your word.

Fulfill your promise to your servant,

so that you may be feared.

Take away the disgrace I dread,

for your laws are good.

How I long for your precepts!

In your righteousness preserve my life.

May your unfailing love come to me, Lord,

your salvation, according to your promise;

then I can answer anyone who taunts me,

for I trust in your word.

Never take your word of truth from my mouth,

for I have put my hope in your laws.

I will always obey your law,

for ever and ever.

I will walk about in freedom,

for I have sought out your precepts.

I will speak of your statutes before kings

and will not be put to shame,

or I delight in your commands

because I love them.

I reach out for your commands, which I love,

that I may meditate on your decrees.

Whats your favorite part of Psalm 119?

Strength for the Moment

Alright, so on Saturday the 13'th, I woke up exhausted. Not an exciting start to my story, I know, but its true. I was tired and I had hurt my foot the day before. Yeah, that's not exciting either, but it made it so I couldn't wear the shoes I wanted to, which had heals. That may not sound important, but remember that, its more relevant then you would think.

So, my family went and volunteered at our local food pantry, like we do every Saturday. It was kind of frustrating, because it took us much longer to clean up then it usually does, so instead of getting out at 11:00 like we were supposed to, we got out at 11:30 and we had to stop by the store as well, making us get home even later.

I was very happy when we finally started driving up the road leading to our driveway. But off to our left there is a large field, and a hill with a house on top and we saw smoke coming from the direction of the house. We were in a burn ban, but we thought maybe our neighbors were burning illegally.

Now we live the country, you can only see the house from a couple spots, so it would have been easy to get away with burning without being caught. We were originally just going to go home and call the Sheriff, but there was enough smoke we decided to check it out.

We drove up and saw that nearly half and acre of land was on fire, clearly not contained. So my mom went and got the attention of the people in the house, and the rest of us went down and started dumping sand on the fire as quickly as we could.

My sister called the fire department, and my brother and some friends came over from our house to help. It quickly became evident that it was spreading much faster then we could fight it.

The charred grass.

But it was going towards the house, so we all focused our efforts there. The owner showed us where the spickets were, so we could finally get water, and wet down blankets to put on the flame.

By God's grace He let us get the fire so it was no longer burning towards the house, but then it was getting close to a row of hay bales.

Just in case you don't know, when a hay bale catches on fire, it is bad. The fire spreads in seconds, and is very bad.

This almost seemed to be a mocking part of the fire. It was burnt so badly you couldn't turn it off, and it was pouring out water, but we couldn't really use it because it was away from the flames. It was ironic to see so much water pouring out when we needed it in another place. But I know God had a reason for that.

While we were fighting the fire there, it had been nearly thirty minutes since we got there. It may not sound like long, but when you are running around it is a long time. I was filling buckets for them to take the flame and I thought I was going to drop down.

I had read so many books where people are stretched to their limits, and they pray and they suddenly have no pain and have tons of strength. While that might happen, I think God normally chooses to work in a way that keeps us coming back to him. I prayed, over and over, and I still felt like I was going to drop. My prayers quickly became "God please just let me do this one bucket" and "God please just help me to carry this over where it needs to go."
And he always gave me just enough strength to do it, reminding me much of this passage:


2 Corinthians 12: 8-9

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me

The Firemen got there just in time to save the whole line of trees from catching on fire.

Thirty minutes after we arrived the fire department came. Sirens have never sounded so beautiful in my whole life. 

We all had to get out of the way so that the three volunteer fire departments could do their job, so I got some photos. Then things started hitting me even more clearly. 

The fire did not burn the house, the hay bales, a row of storage sheds, or the line of trees. 

No one was hurt while fighting the flames. 

We all were given strength to persevere through the whole fire. 

Three all volunteer fire departments from three different counties came to help. 

God is amazing. 

Their dog, walking though the charred ground.

And guys, if I hadn't hurt my foot, I would have been in heels. If I had been in heels, I couldn't have fought the fire because you cannot run over sanding territories with heals. 

If we hadn't taken longer at the food pantry, there wouldn't have been enough smoke for us to notice and we would have gone home and that whole place might have burned down. 

If God hadn't given us grace for the moment, we would not have been able to push through until the fire department got there. 

A small blessing at the end of the fight when we found this dragonfly sitting on the ground.

God worked everything out so perfectly and I am so incredibly blessed to be able to be His child. 

And this is the verse took on a whole new meaning because none of us got any burns.
I was wearing sandals and walking through still burning embers, and it didn't burn me, or the shoes.

Isaiah 43:2

When you walk through the fire,you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Never underestimate the grace and strength God will give you in the moment.