saying yes // a guest post + a giveaway

***GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED***
***WINNER IS DANIELLE R. CONGRATULATIONS!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GIVING BROOKE SO MUCH LOVE + FOR SUPPORTING OUR SHOP!!***

y'all. i could not be more excited to introduce you to my sweet friend brooke! we've known each other for years through our high school youth group + at baylor, but just reconnected over the last year or so through social media and our common love for africa and trying to live on fire for the Lord! she is awesomesauce, y'all. and she's dreaming big dreams of going overseas with noonday as the extra special blogger that gets voted to go by YOU!!!

you can vote here. all you do is click vote. you don't even have to put in your email!

be encouraged today. her post will bless you! and stay tuned for a little giveaway at the end of the post!

Hi friends, my name is Brooke.  I'm married to Freeland & we have 3 kiddos: River, Wylder, and Chapel. I just became an ambassador with Noonday and I'm really excited to see what the Lord is going to do through it! I blog about our life over here. We are also currently in the process of adopting through the foster care system here in Ohio.  I'm so excited to be doing a guest post with Becky! (because she is the sweetest EVER) She asked me to share my heart on saying “yes” to the Lord because we both deeply feel that the Lord is calling so many of us to start saying YES.
 
I feel so passionate about the way I see a movement of the Lord awakening desires, dreams, and passion in people. Its incredible and I'm so encouraged. But I also feel like He is going deeper and calling us to press in actually say YES to those dreams and passions too! I feel like I see Him calling us to know who we are as women, wives, mothers and friends and to also feel secure (that means-let go of your insecurities!!) and walk in freedom to know He created us a certain way for a certain purpose. The gifts, talents, passions and dreams we have are for a reason! The restless feeling we have is for a reason! The place we live and relationships around us are for a reason! Its as if He is sitting and waiting for us to just say yes.. and then pull open this curtain to show us all He has and then display His glory in all new ways.

I'm not a writer and I definitely don’t have the gift of teaching so all I know to do after praying about it, is to share what saying yes is currently looking like for me and my family!

For me, this has looked like such a journey and process of learning & knowing who I am & it is also knowing what the passions and dreams that I have are. Its taken me pressing in, paying attention and asking the Lord to show me those things or remind me of them. Then I think it is a matter of being brave enough to believe they are there for a reason and begin to speak them out loud and share them with people! The thing that has amazed me the most is how as I have begun to ask the Lord what He desires for my life and what my dreams and passions are, He has begun to mold my passions for the things that stir His heart and the things He is passionate about. I believe as we do this He begins to reveal His scripture and passions to us in such a new way! He opens our eyes to the world around us and breaks our hearts for the things that break His!

Saying yes, at times, has been an emotional moment of hearing from the Lord and surrendering and then saying yes.. but its not always this radical moment of hearing His voice or its not like there is always a burning bush in front of me. Sometimes saying yes is just simply walking in faith and obedience to what I read in His word or to the small nudge I feel. Through asking & submitting, He has birthed so many new desires in my heart. He had given me a desire to advocate and seek justice for those in poverty. He has given me a heart to give a voice to those who don't have one and share other peoples stories. He has given me a heart for our neighbors and for relationship with women all over. I just wonder what if I hadn't said yes? I know last night I would have been missing out on the revival happening right in front of me in our neighborhood.. and in the next few months Id be missing out on loving another child and seeing God restore my son or daughters life. Most days it feels like He has lit a fire in us. 

Here is the deal though, just to be real with you guys, sometimes saying yes for me also looks like this: being willing to let go of my comfortable and ‘easy’ life and allow the Lord to come all up in it and wreck it. Knowing that even though I may no longer be comfortable or have the simple life I once did - my life will now be filled with so much more joy and passion than I ever imagined. It does sometimes feels like I could easily say “never mind my life is just fine how it is” though and turn around and go back to it being simple. Instead I choose to know I was created for more and I choose to remember what the Lord said and be obedient to what He is calling me to.

I'm learning that I also have to make room in my life so I can say yes to the Lord... so it means that I have to know what to say no to as well. Saying yes doesn't mean I never doubt or question what the heck I'm doing. Honestly, I often question and doubt myself probably at least 80% of the time. It feels so much easier to believe lies most days than to know the truth. I constantly have to go back to the word and remind myself why I'm doing what I'm doing, and remember that God is who He says He is and God can do what He says He can do. I'm also finding that for me, its easy for me to say yes to the big things and believe God in those...but in the little things or in the things that make me uncomfortable its so much harder to be faithful! He constantly reminds me that my faith is not in myself... its in Him. This really has very little to do with me.

I'm so passionate and excited about this! I wish I could sit and share my testimony in person with each of you and hear all of your testimonies of how the Lord is moving in your life too. But I can encourage you and testify that God doesn't call certain people to say yes.. He calls ordinary, tired, lazy people like me to say yes! Saying yes to the Lord and the dreams He has given me is what has restored my life and my joy and relationship with Him! Its made my relationship with the Lord adventurous and real. I'm not sure what it looks like for each of us...maybe its saying yes to a job, a mission trip, taking care of your neighbor, finally getting together with that friend, forgiving someone, staying home with your kids, or maybe its saying yes to getting on your knees and praying for someone or even serving your husband better! Sometimes I feel like we just need to start somewhere...and that's half the battle! Even if its simple .. just say yes and move forward. Are you restless and unfulfilled? (like I was) Then go ask the Lord what to do...and then get even crazier and DO IT! Whatever it is or may be, I encourage you to say “yes” to that nudging you have from the Lord because when you do, I believe you will find it to be such an adventure you will wonder why you waited so long!

My favorite part of all of this is that us saying yes will allow someone else to be brave enough to say yes. Us saying yes will give your kids the ability to say yes one day!  I absolutely believe our dreams and passions will leave our children with greater destinies.  I cant imagine what the Lord will do with our generation of women (an Esther generation!) once we all start saying yes to our part and running our races that are put before us! It makes my heart pound when I see this vision of what He is doing all over. I feel like most importantly and one of the things I get the most excited about is cheering each other on.. and getting on our knees and praying for each other! I'd love to hear dreams and desires and passions each of you have that you've already said yes to or that you're about to jump in and say yes to! Lets all do it .. and lets all cheer each other on!

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thank you so much, brooke, for following God's call for your life! you lead by example and i love following your journey!

you can find brooke here and you can VOTE FOR HER to go to rwanda with noonday HERE.

and in honor of her journey, i thought it would be fun to do a little giveaway from our therefore go collection!

today little branches is giving away this little 8x12 sign! enter to win using the rafflecopter entries below! **Winner will be announced Friday!!!** Good luck and remember to go give Brooke some love!!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

rise up giveaway + my thoughts on mean girls

happy monday, sweet readers! i hope you found yourself waking up well rested & ready for a wonderful week! i woke up extra energized after spending the weekend with our youth group worshipping Jesus. i hope you are finding yourself extra blessed this morining!

speaking of blessed, i am overwhelmed & humbled at the amount of YOU who entered the rise up giveaway. i am blown away by the reception that this collection has been receiving. YOU are sweet treasures in my book & i cannot believe that i get to do what i do and share my God-given gifts with you. 

so, without further ado - the winner is laura butler! congratulations, laura! your happies will be in the mail this week!!

also, for those of you wanting to order, the rise up collection has officially launched. click over to etsy to order! thank you again for your kindness. i so appreciate each sweet word & thought. y'all are amazing!

so, like i mentioned earlier, we spent the weekend with the youth group at a retreat our church does called freedom. {it's basically disciple now or D-now}. the hubbs & i grew up going to this retreat so we are more than happy to volunteer our time to help out with it going forward. you could never do these kinds of retreats without volunteers, right? 

our friends hosted a house of 9th grade girls & i helped with food and driving. it was such a blessing to be a part. each of our girls came in a pair, except one. but on sunday when i was driving them to the service, they were each exchanging phone numbers and "kick" addresses. {what is a kick?!?}

it warmed my heart. 

but as we spent some time there this weekend it was incredibly interesting to observe the social rules of high school again. yes, i think a LOT of it has changed - for instance - cell phones + social media were nonexistent when i was in high school - but a lot of it hasn't changed. 

there's still the popular crowd. the loners. the mean kids. the bullies. the awkward ones. the spiritual ones. the leaders. 

and it was interesting talking to our girls about mean girls. julie & i definitely saw some mean girls this weekend. pushing through the crowd like they owned the place & like they were better than everyone else. we could see them sizing everyone up & talking about the outcasts. making the outcasts. 

it was just plain mean. and it's different seeing it from the outside looking in. 

why did we ever give those mean people 'status'? why did they have power in our high schools? because we gave it to them? there's no other explanation, right? if we had just all chosen not to give them attention then it would have gone away, right? they would have become powerless. but in that moment - in high school - it doesn't feel like we have the power to change it. 

but as moms, we do. 

i realized this weekend that i only have a short time to change my daughter's outlook. listening to our girls talk about their moms & the influence they have on their lives - good AND bad - was a complete eye opener for me. i realized that it's my job to not only teach c how to include others, but that it's my job to model that for her. 

i've been the victim to mean girls. i would venture to say that we all have at one time or another. even at thirty years old it doesn't change. there are still those who don't include others. who are a part of a "click" and refuse to invite others in. there are still girls who talk behind another's back, who pass judgement and gossip and hate. it's awful and it hurts to the bone. still. 

but i also realized this weekened, that i'm probably in the 'mean girl' category more often than i'd like to be. even if it's not in the form of pushing myself to the front of the line or demanding attention - being loud and dramatic. but i do have ugly thoughts. and sometimes {more than i'd like to admit} gossip & share things that are none of my business. and, just being honest here, i speak unkind words more than i'd like to admit.

ugh.... i'm wretched. and i'm completely broken over it this morning. 

because i realized this weekend that a lot of those unkind words & ugly thoughts come from a deep place of hurt. i'm thirty years old {give or take a year or two, right?} and my feelings still get hurt by other girls women.  and instead of just saying, "you know what? i'm hurting", i lash out in the form of gossip, resentment & anger. it's completely unholy & i'm thankful for a God who extends grace and forgiveness to my ugliest parts.

but the worst part is that i'm modeling this for my daughter. 

i want to change that. i want to show her what it's like to befriend the lonely. i want to show her what it looks like to speak words of life & love. how to include everyone - and the balance that comes with including everyone and having best friends - because there is a balance. you can't have deep & meaningful relationships with twenty five people, you just can't. but you can be kind and thoughtful.  that is my desire for her tender heart. 

so let me challenge you this week to look for that lonely person. to look for the one who might shrink back. i would bet that they're hurting and YOU could change that. i'm not saying you need to become their bestie. but you CAN be Jesus to them, kind & caring & thoughtful. i fail at this daily, but after my high school flash back this week, i will be working harder at it & hope maybe you will too. 

blessings today. 

xoxo. 

make time.

hi friends.

i'm still basking in the glow of craft weekend. 

if there's one HUGE takeaway from the weekend it's this.

make time to do what you love.

i spoke a little about it yesterday, but it's so hard for busy women {who isn't busy?!} to make time for what we love. for ourselves.

we are taught to put everyone else first and ourselves last.

great concept. 

biblical.

but how are we supposed to pour out to others when we aren't filling ourselves up?

that's why i try to get a few minutes with the Lord alone every morning. {i say try because it trully is a valiant effort - even when i fall short!!!}

but there's more to it than that.

God created us with certain tendencies. things we like and dislike. He made us like that. did you know that? He created each of us with unique gifts, talents, interests and so on.

and it's my personal opinion that if we aren't using those gifts and talents, or participating in those interests, we get burnt out {read: impatient and snappy} really quick.

for example:

i have a girlfriend who loves to read. as in, she can sit down and read a book in one sitting because she gets SO into the book. 

but she's a mom. a wife. a teacher. a volunteer. a student. a sunday school teacher. a friend. a sister. a daughter.

she has ALL of these demands pulling on her. and i'm sure it's hard for her to make time to read. 

but here's what i'm telling you today.

make time.

the end.

do it. i promise you'll feel so much better. you'll be a better wife and mom. you'll be better at all of those other things because you're not feeling frazzled and left out and alone. 

i guarantee it. {disclaimer: i'm not suggesting putting yourself above everyone else and letting your children and your family go hungry while you read or craft or sew or run.  i'm merely suggesting that 10 minutes a day or 2 hours a week or whatever you decide works, won't kill anyone. will the laundry fold itself? of course not! but it can be done later. trust me.}

so. here's your assignment for the day. {don't you love that you're getting an assignment?!}

make a cup of coffee. tea, lemonade, whatever. 

set your timer for at LEAST 10 minutes. {you're worth it!!}

and do whatever it is that you love. that you don't ever think you have time to do. then come back here and tell me about it! i want to know! 

{and no, cleaning does NOT count!}

ready? 

set. 

go.

***ps. my super-talented friend katy is hosting a little branches giveaway on her blog today! go check it out and win some goodies!!***