Taytay Tid Bit: Bleeding Blisters

You know when your man gets hurt and shows you the cut or scab or whatever it is?  Well, my fiance (Keegan) got a blister that has healed, bled again, healed, bled again, and so on. I've been giving him all the advice I know of how to make it heal all the way without bleeding again. So far...he's apparently "tried" everything I suggest. (You know men, they say they do....but who knows..) 
He showed it to me again tonight and it was black and bleeding again. (Looking kinda gross....) Exasperated that it's still doing that, I dragged him over to my mom, showed it to her, and asked for her "magic mom advice" on what to do. Her first response (was actually "ewww" just like me but anyway) was to ask him if he's washed it.....

"No....."

*Face palm*
After all that! 

Anyway, I got to thinkin' that this illustrates what happens when we don't "wash" our hearts. They get black, dirty, and they never heal from being hurt. If we were to read all the self-help books, or listen to all the worship songs, or go to every service held in the church in one week we wouldn't get any better or heal any faster if we didn't take time to sit quietly and pour our hearts out to God for Him to clean. Imagine how much faster the wounds of our hearts would heal if we got them cleaned by the living water!


Get cleaned so you don't have to wonder why your heart is black, bleeding, and still not healed.

(BTW, Keegan is being a VERY good sport about this post.) 

One of the girls...
Taylyr

The Real Life Alphas

I was watching a show called Alphas today and I don't know what it is about the theme song and title part in general, but it always makes me think about how cool it would be to be one.
If you don't know what an "alpha" is, it's a person with special abilities due to a part of their brain or bodies that's more advanced or developed than usual. These are, of course, fiction.

I love the show because one of the main characters, Dr. Rosen, finds these alphas and helps them hone their gifts and learn how to use them. He also counsels them because most of them have been discriminated against due to their abilities-even by family. This reminds me a lot of what God does for us-with some differences of course.

 1) God doesn't have to find us, but He seeks us out.
Similar to Dr. Rosen (only better) He seeks us out. He runs to us and embraces us! Even when we still have a spot of pig slop on our lips.

2) God helps us learn how to use our God-given gifts.
After we're safe in His arms He shows us what gifts He's given us. These gifts are crafted and sewn straight into the fabric of who we are. He has sculpted us with His own, bare hands with clay that's unique to only us!

3) He shows us what He wants us to do with these gifts.
Dr. Rosen finds these alphas to create a team that helps the government with crimes. The alphas use their gifts to help. God has given us each a dream, goal, ministry, etc. that only we can accomplish the way we accomplish it! He tells us what we're meant to use these gifts for and how they fit into His amazing plan for the world!

4) He stands by us even when we're persecuted.
The most recent episode I watched was season 1, episode 10 when all the alphas are drugged and taken into custody- Dr. Rosen included. Dr. Rosen stands by then so closely over the course of the show that he's arrested with the rest of them, even though he's not an alpha himself! God stands by us when we get bullied or humiliated or beaten up or abandoned for His team! He's not here on earth in physical form with us, but He made sure He would be persecuted right alongside us when He died on that cross for us! He stands that closely to us!

We are God beautiful, wonderful, amazing, hand sculpted "alphas"! Only we're the real deal!

One of the girls.....
Taylyr

Taytay Tid Bit: Smelly for God

These smaller posts will be called "Taytay Tid Bits" from now on because sometimes I honestly just have smaller thoughts and I don't think the size of what God presses in my heart should keep me from posting it! So, here's the first "Taytay Tid Bit"!

You know how when you smell pine, you automatically know that a pine tree's nearby? Or you at least think of one.
How about when you see a yellowing leaf on the ground and right away identify it as an aspen leaf?

We should be known by our "spiritual smell" and God given identity. These should tell people that we belong to God. When we talk to people they should feel an ambiance of God's love slicing through their walls of worldly defense! How we dress can display how we look at ourselves- His perfect, wonderful work of art! It's like when we go to job interviews. We're representing not only ourselves, but a whole line of what brought us to that point:
How our parents raised us,
how much we respect others around us,
how much we respect ourselves.

Believe it or not, respecting ourselves shows how much we respect the one who made us!

One of the girls...
Taylyr

God's Psychology

I had a Psychology exam today.
I was confused by two questions, but took the fifty-fifty chance after process of elimination and answered what I thought was correct. I kept the two questions in mind and right when I got out of class, I went to my notes and checked my answers. 
Happy with myself, I was walking to the library and a thought hit me, like always: after we got through a spiritual test, or just our day, do we go to the Bible and see if we got things right? 
We got through our days just living. We don't always check the outcome of our actions before or even after we do them. If we checked with God and the Bible everyday to see what we need to work on then we would learn better for the next time! Everyday we can inch closer and closer to 100%.
We can't throw away our "notes" just because the situation, test, etc. is done. We have to re-look at them daily because those notes will be the foundation for the next set of notes. And then those notes will be the foundation for the next ones. So on and so forth! 
We can't just keep them in our working memory (short term memory, as it's commonly referred to). We have to rehearse, exercise and visualize them daily.
How do we visualize them? 
Surround yourself with people that can give you a solid, healthy visual of what this looks like! If you have a mentor, make sure that they do this. 
We want to be prepared for the pop quizzes and tests of our spiritual warfare!

Another Note:
There was an experiment done with pregnant mothers.
Scientists would have the pregnant mothers read The Cat in the Hat out loud everyday until the baby was born. Once they were born, they hooked two bottles to two TV's. One TV played a recording of a stranger read the book when the baby sucked on one bottle. The other TV played a recording of the mom reading the book when the baby sucked on the other bottle. The baby sucked on the second bottle more often, showing that it liked the sound of the mom's voice more. The sound of the mom's voice and the rhythm of the words from the book soothed the baby.
God's word and voice should soothe us. When we hear His voice on one side and another's voice on the other, we should always prefer God's voice more.

One of the girls....
Taylyr

Click.

I've been working on my book (Hold Your Heart) for a majority of the day and got a whole 7 pages typed (WhooHoo!!!). I had gotten good advice from an author friend to create a daily goal for myself on this book, so I made my goal to write 2 pages everyday. Since I've made that goal, I've been more productive! 
Do we set goals for ourselves in our relationship with God?
"I will try to be more patient today!"
"I'll get this person to come to Christ today!"
"I won't kill my sibling today!"
Etc, etc, etc!
Do we get more from our relationship when we do that? I personally try to do things like read my Bible more, or journal more about Him (and less about my dramatic emotions), and try to pray more. However, I usually forget these things by the next day because I get busy. A professor gives me another paper, or my friends want to hang out or I have college group or my club or BLEH! There's always another "or" hanging around for me to add to my schedule. I don't make time for my own goals. If I'm going to make them, I should make time for them right? It's very hard sometimes. 
I'm moving towards a time very quickly that will add another priority to my life: my husband to be. What will my goals be to grow closer to my husband? I need to learn how to grow closer to God in my goals first because if I do that He will ultimately teach me how to grow closer to my husband. Its a wonderful cycle: Grow closer to God= grow closer to husband= a happy me! :D (Results may vary)
God will show me what these goals are supposed to be. His goals and my goals should be parallel and going the same direction and coming to the same destination. 

I was talking to one of my sisters about love (dun, dun, DUN!!!!) and I told her that I've learned how important it is for you and the one you marry to be facing that same direction in your life. Facing the same ministry desires. Otherwise, one or the other will have to give up their dream to go with what their spouse wants. Eventually, you'll be sad you gave up that dream. 
I dated some guys that didn't have the same ministry goals as I did (or not one at all) and I had to force myself to ignore that part of me that knew that I would never click with them like I was supposed to. But you know what? On March 24, 2014 I figured out why I was never meant to click with anyone else. (He asked to court me on that day) One day, it clicks. And it'll sound like when you turn a key inside a lock and you hear all those gears turning the right direction to open up. A lot of times we turn the gears the wrong way hoping that they're going the right way! And it takes us a while to realize why the door's not opening. But once the right one does, smoothly and correctly, you won't ever want to close the door again. You won't ever want to lock it back up. You just want to go inside and see what you've been waiting for. 

A lot of my friends have found their locks lately and it's amazing to see. When you find that right lock and you hear that click of the gears, you don't re-lock it and walk away thinking you'll come back later. You open it! Sometimes we're afraid to unlock the door because we're afraid it won't be what we expect. 
Guess what.
It won't be.
That's the beauty and magnificence that is called marriage! This is what God designed us for. (Well, part of it.) 
So, stop trying to unlock gears that are turning the wrong way and don't be afraid when you hear that click. 

 (Me- The key and my hubby to be- lock ;))
One of the girls.....
Taylyr   
  

Soldered: the Insight of the Engaged.

I went to the jewelry store today and picked up my rings (now put together as one!) and realized how weird it felt. I can't twist them in separate directions out of boredom or watch as my partially OCD fiancé tries to straighten them. 

When we get married in 7 months it'll feel strange for a while. A good strange. I felt that way making a courting commitment this last March (24th) and then promising my marriage to this man in May (18th). God is going to "solder" us together. Trials will make us heat up and break down sometimes, but God is using that to mold us together more and more until our final "I dos" on May 30, 2015. 

It will feel weird to not go to separate houses at the end of the day or to see each other a lot more of the day. Or to share a home (a physical one). But us being soldered together is beautiful. No matter how much this all may terrify me sometimes. 

I was talking to God tonight and I thanked Him for helping me choose Keegan every morning, every night, and a lot in between. He helps me continue to love and choose him, even when he's not perfect. 

Getting married makes me nervous and scares me sometimes ("what am I getting into??") but all great adventures do. 

All great adventures do. 

Trust me, my honey is an adventure in and of himself. ;)

Continue to pray for us both as we balance college (16 credit hours for me and I think 17 for him), planning a wedding, and life in general. We appreciate the love, support, and prayer! 

One of the girls.....

Taylyr

Meant to Hold the Precious

Do you know why He does this?

To ultimately brings us back to Him.

He has made us to glorify Him! (This is so beautiful!) We often times forget our purpose and give ourselves-our emotions, our bodies, and our lives-to things that were made by us for OUR OWN PURPOSES. 

While we're tugging at our Daddy's hand to come do the things we want, He lifts our eyes up to the hills! When we want to give it all up and surrender our purpose entirely to the chains of sin and death, He shows us where our hope comes from-the maker of heaven and earth! 

He wants us to be a part of our own plans! He doesn't want to hand our purpose off to someone else because our purpose is designed for us! No one could ever do it better! 

We are molded to hold something precious, but no one holds the same thing.

One of the girls.....

Taylyr