perfection.

Get skinnier. Wear more makeup. Flirt more. Tighter clothes. Do whatever it takes to get boys attention. Have sex. Be PERFECT.

The world we live in has swamped girls young and old with the idea that we need the things above, in order to feel better about ourselves and be accepted. Basically....you must LOOK perfect, BE perfect, SAY the perfect things, and THINK perfectly to feel secure in our society. These ideas about what women should be, have come from movies, music, magazines, and other people in our lives...and they couldn't be more wrong. It is teaching women to be insecure with who they are and how they have been created. This has not only affected the "outside world" though....

Unfortunately, these ideas have infiltrated what is supposed to be the one place where IMPERFECT people come flawed and all...the church...But most are denying it or not even realizing they have become a slave to these things that the world says they should be.

And I am included in group. I want to make a change though. I want others to join me.


Insecurity has become like the plague to me. Insecurity about physical appearance, relationships, jobs, finances, future, etc. roll around in my head, come out of my mouth, and show through my actions at times. This has happened because I believe the lie that I have to be PERFECT. I am not perfect. But JESUS is. He is the only one that ever will be.

One specific area of insecurity I have is the thought of going without makeup for an extended amount of time. I have decided for the month of January to go make-up free. I realized that it has become a security blanket. It covers up my flaws. I feel more acceptable if I have it on. I feel like I look prettier with it on....I don't want to feel enslaved to something....So makeup-free it is.

I want to see myself through God's eyes. He created me just the way He wanted me.

This will not be an easy month. I will be updating the blog throughout this month long journey and let you know how it is going.

lord,
let me see beauty and perfection
through your eyes, not mine.
for you are the only one that is perfect and you made all things
just the way you desired.
refine and purify my heart.
inner and not outer.
in your matchless and perfect name,
amen.

hello 2012

2011...You were great....

1. Graduated MBI
2. Got a full-time teaching job at an awesome school
3. Bought a Car
4. Went to Greece and a few beautiful Greek islands
5. Amazing memories and time spent with family and friends
6. Supplied a place to live
7. Worked on being content
8. Tried to see everything I did as ministry
9. Began to see that I am far from perfect
10. Continued to see that I cannot do anything on my own


2012....I am so ready for you...Bring it on....

New Year. Beginnings. Fresh Start. Goals to be accomplished. People to see. Places to go. Things to learn. Ways to Grow.

1. Make my bed.
2. See relationships and myself through God's eyes.
3. Become a yogi again.
4. Less arguing, more grace.
5. Pick something new and try it...I have some ideas...
6. Have no expectations.
7. Cook a new recipe every two weeks...I need to be realistic :)
8. Go out West.
9. Grow in one content area to be a better teacher for my students.
10. Less of me, more of HIM.


Ready....Set....and I'm off....

Magnify the Lord

Have you ever found yourself ashamed or afraid to tell people about what the Lord is doing in your life? Or on the other hand, have you ever felt like you were talking too much about Him? Well let's get one thing straight...Never be ashamed and keep talking. I have been totally guilty of this...because sometimes one can lead to another. I adore talking about the Lord, my awesome Savior. I honestly could say I would not mind talking about Him, His Word, what He is doing in mine and others lives all day and every day. There have been times though, when I am doing this and I begin to feel insecure or ashamed..or feel the need to apologize to the person I am talking to, because I think maybe they don't want to hear it or are thinking that I need a life.

After the message at church today,I started thinking about all of this...
When we look at God's Word, we can see that we are created to GLORIFY HIM. Our thoughts, words, and actions should always be going straight back to the Lord. We should be taking our eyes off of the distracting situations, people, events in our life and look at them instead with our magnifying glass. God is in whatever thing you may be facing. When we look at it with our own futile immoral eyes, we are not able to see Him in it. He looks small. When we take our magnifying glass to it...all of a sudden God becomes a lot BIGGER. He becomes magnified and glorified in the things that we are looking at.

We have a choice. A magnifying glass has to be picked up. We have to make a conscious decision to see the Lord in each thing we face. We have a choice to allow Him to be glorified and magnified or to not be...

How do we do this?

1. "Bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Psalm 34:1.
Are you blessing the Lord at all times? How often is his praise coming from your mouth? God has been faithful and good.

2. "Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth" (Psalm 86:11).
How often are you soaking in God's Word? Do you know His Word well enough, so that it emanates from you? We can only know His ways, when we are reading His truth.

3. "...In order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever "(1 Pt. 4:11).
Do you know Jesus Christ? And not just about Him, but do you really know Him..in an intimate and personal way? We can only glorify God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.


All that to say...I'm going to keep talking about the Lord and let my soul boast in Him. I don't care what anyone says or thinks...I want to magnify Him! Who else is with me?

Day 1: Back in Action

I am back to Greece for the third time working for the same family as last year.
The kids were excited to see me and gave me big hugs when I arrived. They actually follow me around everywhere. Within 20 minutes of getting here, we all ate lunch. Tears and screaming came very soon afterwards and that's when I knew I was back. :)

I am dealing with some major anxiety and discontent (some of this could be jet lag...haha) right now with a few things in my life, including even being here. I'll just be open about that! I am reading and doing a devotional, "Calm My Anxious Heart," that I hope will put me back to the right mindset. I realized this morning that when you pray for something, that is usually when the Lord really tests you. For example, if you pray for patience, you will be having a situation coming your way that will call for a lot of patience. So I should expect that when praying to be more content and anxiety-free.

This story was in my devotional. I'll include it here:

Many years ago there was a monk who needed olive oil, so he planted an olive tree sapling. After he finished planting it, he prayed, "Lord, my tree needs rain so it's tender roots may drink and grow. Send gentle showers." And the Lord sent gentle showers. Then the monk prayed, "Lord, my tree needs sun. Please send it sun." And the sun shone gilding the once dripping clouds. "Now send frost dear Lord to strengthen it's branches," cried the monk. And soon the little tree was covered in sparkling frost, but by that evening it had died.

Then the monk sought out a brother monk in his cell and told him of the strange experience. After hearing the story, the other monk said, "I too have planted a little tree. See how it is thriving! But I entrust my tree to it's God. He who made it knows better than a man like me what it needs. I gave God no constraints or conditions, except to pray, "Lord, send what it needs - be it sunshine, wind, rain or frost. You made it and You know what it needs."



Lord,you know what I need. So I pray that you would supply that!

Agios Nikolaus

We were about 5 minutes from this lovely sea port town. It was very cute and quaint! I got to go a couple times to walk around, eat, and shop! It was nice to get away from the hotel a couple times. :)


The little lake in the middle of the town. They said that the goddess Athena used to bathe in this lake. It was thought to be bottomless until Jacques Cousteau got to the bottom of it.


Some boats in the water


A cute lil church we saw!


As you can see, it was really windy! They need to call Crete, the windy city!

Ancient Civilizations

On my day off in Crete, I got to have a touristy adventure with Ashlen. We took a tour bus to the Palace of Knossos. It is one of the first and oldest Minoan civilizations in Europe; it was very cool to see and imagine people walking around there at one time. One thing I found really interesting was that archaeologists have discovered the Minoans were a peaceful people group because they have not found any fortress or fortification walls or anything else to make them think that they were ever in war or fighting with others. After the tour of Palace, we jumped back on the bus and went to a grape and olive farm. It is not harvesting time yet, so we didn't get to see them actually pick the grapes and olives but we did get to watch a video, try some good wine, and buy some awesome olive oil. After that, we got back on the bus and went to the capital of Crete, which is Iraklio, and got lunch and walked around and looked at the shops. It was a two hour bus ride back to our hotel, so we were slept on the way back since we were pretty tired from a busy day of touring Crete.


Getting ready to go!


Welcome to the Palace of Knossos


View from the Palace


One of the Palace buildings


Oldest paved road in Europe


Fresco of Minoan women

Living the Cretan Life

We arrived in Crete on the 12th and got back to Athens on the 26th. It was a wonderful two weeks but very tiring. I was a little worried going into this trip after being soo drained from Mykonos, but this was much better because we were at a really nice resort...that the family I am working for actually owns. It was great because we did not have to worry about cooking, cleaning, etc...We could just concentrate on the kids! Crete is not like a lot of the other Greek islands with the white and blue houses but it has its own beauty. It is a little more rustic looking with amazing blue waters. Cretan people have one of the longest life expectancies because of their diet and lifestyle so I did get to experience a bit of that while I was there...Well kind of....I did eat some of the Cretan food, very yummy...but....I think I scared some of the Greeks with my eating habits..haha. The resort had a buffet and I did not know how to control myself. And...Greeks eat practically nothing for dinner..maybe a piece of fruit...I kept trying to tell them that Americans eat a lot for dinner to justify my portion size. :)

We spent most of our day at the beach and then back at our own pool by our hotel room. There was entertainment at night that the kids and I enjoyed, but it also meant that I was with them till midnight every night...pretty late! There were two other American girls working with Greek families there and that was really nice to have. We got to sightsee together one day and hang out and do things with the kids together. Oh another cool thing...we went to another hotel a little farther down from ours in Eloundtha. This hotel was AMAZING! they had Greek night with dancing and lots of Greek food. Also found out that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt stayed at this hotel...Wow! I might have to use that one once in a while! haha

Here are some pictures!

View from our room


Sand castle pro with Ashlen, the other American. What are the chances that are names are really similar?!? By the way, the kids definitely left us to do this on our own half way through...pretty good if you ask me...


I let the kids bury me...There was sand everywhere!