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

Cherish the Love.

I was on facebook, drinking coffee (Starbucks <3), and waiting for my next class. Like most days, a photo caught my eye as I scrolled down the news feed. It said, "It only takes a few seconds to hurt someone. But it takes years to repair the damage. Cherish the hearts that love you."

It's sad to think and believe that people stop loving as soon as they're hurt. Damage to the heart is inevitable when you're loving like Jesus did.
It's true that it only takes seconds to hurt a person and it's also true that it can take a while for a person to heal from what you say. But, the love that Jesus had for people was not the kind that broke down and was destroyed by hurt. In fact, just because a person hurts you doesn't mean they don't love you.
How many times have you had to be blunt or honest with someone you love? How many had to say something you know might hurt them?

Hurt does NOT equal hate!

Parents have to discipline their children in a way that may hurt sometimes, but they still love them!
Do heated words mean a break up or divorce? They shouldn't.
I'm personally learning that just because you argue with the one you love doesn't mean the relationship is doomed to failure or "isn't meant to be". In fact, being honest can sometimes show more love than pretending to be supportive. (However, there is a time and place for support above all else.)
We imperfect humans are still learning how to love. We all claim to know how, but by who's definition?
Loving like Jesus, the way we were made to love, can be frustrating and hard. But, as children who are being raised to love the way we were meant to, we have to go out into the world loving even though we know we're going to get hurt.

Hurt cuts pieces out of you, but God uses those gashes to create a more unique and stronger child. He does this by placing a soothing, warm washcloth of love to stop the bleeding.

Love isn't fair.  Don't choose love expecting it to be.
Shouldn't what God tells us love is be enough?

"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." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

I know some of you just glazed through those words. You know what they say. You've read them a million times. Bible study after Bible study, and sermon after sermon touches on those 4 verses. We keep coming back to them.

We should always come back to them.

One of the girls.....
Taylyr 

ITS FREE?????

So, tonight I went to a movie thing at my school (ENMU WOOO!) and my friend got in line for their consession stand. We go in and my friend looks at me empty handed (no money :P) and says, "You know it's free right?" As most of you can imagine, I went to go get free stuff. Since us college people LOVE free stuff. ;)

I was in line and it got me thinking that this is how people react to God's free gift to us. I mean, I was looking ahead in line to make SURE it didn't cost money. Why is it so hard to believe things can be free? Everything has a price, right? Not the love of God. :) 

He doesn't require money or stuff. Just our devotion and love. ENMU does this for its students because they come to school here. They're COMMITTED to the school. Jesus has a lot more to offer than snacks!

One of the girls......

Taylyr