Be not afraid

Fear is something I deal with a lot. I’ve talked about it before and probably will again after today. It’s frustrating dealing with something you want to get rid of so badly but no matter how many times you push, pull, or pray it’ll leave, stupid fear seems happily lodged into place. Lately I seem to have a mix of quick everyday fears and bigger more important ones. I worry about tests and plans and making a schedule. Little things that eventually fade away. And then bigger fears like where I’m going to go to college and what will I do for a job, where will I end up? Those are just some of my fears and I’d guess you probably have some of your own. Fear can very much have a big place in our life.
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Building off successes over struggle

In life, I find it is so easy to build off of other people’s struggles. It’s something I think we all do, potentially some of us more than others. But unfortunately, we live in a world where this is so encouraged and normal. I’ve been thinking about it, I mean it’s like every time you turn on the news or check twitter or Facebook someone’s talking negatively about peoples mistakes and struggles and mostly these are people they’ve never even met. I think sometimes people feel better talking about and criticizing other people’s struggles because it makes theirs seem more valid. We read articles about celebrity drama in hopes of feeling better about our own lives or feeling entertained for a couple minutes at the least. We talk bad about people to our best friend in an unfulfilling attempt to feel superior. We build off the struggles of others. But what we should be doing is building off the successes of others.
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A summer adventure in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

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Hi friends! Wow I can’t believe how fast this summer has flown by. My big family trip this summer was to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and wow y’all it was the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. Living in Florida, you definitely don’t get the mountain views which are my most favorite. I’ve been to the North Carolina mountains before but never had I seen beauties quite like this. I mean snow on top of a mountain in July, is this heaven? I’m so thankful for this trip and have so many dreams of going back. I figured the best way to share my trip and be helpful to those wanting to travel to Jackson was to section out places to eat, stay, shop, adventure, etc to the best of my ability.
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The truth about fine

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We live in a world in constant stride for perfection. If you look at people from the outside most times, their lives look well arranged. There’s this dire need to make others think that we’ve got it all together and life is all good 24/7. Being honest though we all know that’s not true. But somehow, when we look from the outside we allow ourselves to believe that maybe they really do have a perfect life. And it becomes our goal to obtain that too. If you’re like me and have ever struggled with this, you know the attempt to obtain a life that goes according to plan rarely ever works and almost always leaves us unfulfilled and scrolling through Instagram, asking ourselves what we’re doing wrong. It’s a never-ending cycle of unfulfillment. I think a lot of that comes from social media but can definitely happen in our day to day interactions too.

Anyway, often in the pursuit of trying to appear like we’ve got it all together, we can forget that it’s so ok to ask for help and to admit that you are nowhere near perfection. That’s vulnerable though. Putting yourself out there and admitting that life doesn’t fit into an organized box means you open yourself up to judgement from anyone still hiding behind an idea of perfection. And so in this process, we so often tell ourselves that we’re fine. A saying that’s an occurring member of my vocabulary is “it’s fine, I’m fine.” Usually I’m laughing about something and use it as a joke, but I find deep down, that’s a truer realization behind those words.
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Lessons in Forgiveness

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Forgiving people is usually hard. Plain and simple it just is. Trusting people and then having that trust broken is the kind of pain that you feel throughout you whole body. You feel betrayed and mostly just hurt. I’m the kind of person that can have a hard time letting people in. It’s not on purpose and most times I don’t even recognize I’m doing it. It’s just natural for me. Because I’m also the kind of person who cares deeply about people, especially about people I’m close to. And sometimes, people that I’m close to can hurt me. Just like people that you’re close to can hurt you. It’s a part of life. No one’s perfect and we all mess up. Though I find, quite honestly, I have a hard time forgiving sometimes. Even if I’m saying I forgive on the outside, usually I’m still holding on to some feelings of hurt.

One thing I’ve always particularly hated is being lied to. Especially if it’s by someone you trust. And when that trust is broken, I really have a hard time truly forgiving. But I am always amazed at how quick I am to forget about the one who constantly forgives me. Life is full of pain. Every day we all mess up and do things that looking back on, we wish we wouldn’t have done. We’re not perfect and we’re full of sin. But despite all of that sad news, we serve a God so full of love that he sent his only son to die on the cross for us, to forgive us of our sins. The sins of the world. And looking at it that way, it truly helps me to grasp the immense love our God has for us. He loves us and forgives us, sin and all.
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