The Summons

Sometimes things are so on time that you don't even know you needed them until they happen...it's as if someone can see the big picture and is always steps ahead...thankfully, that is the case - God always knows just when to make himself known. Yes, He is always there but it is so nice to receive His subtle reminders, even on the days when we feel like all is well!

This happened to me last week...I received a piece of mail through my company's interoffice mail. It was a photocopy of a hymn titled The Summons with a sticky note that said, "This song makes me think of you!".
The words of this hymn are so beautiful and present us with the remember that the challenge we face is to leave yourself behind and go where God directs us.

The song has five verses can be found here but the one that stuck out to me the most was verse two:
Will you leave yourself behind

If I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind
And never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare
Should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer pray’r
In you and you in me?

If you read my posts then you know I (with lots of prayer) decided not to move to the beach, something I had been planning for quite a while but once everything was in place and the dust settled I felt a different direction calling me and as this verse says "Will you risk the hostile stare Should your life attract or scare?" I have had to face a few of these stares from people in deciding not to move and of course as any major decision is I have definitely felt scared....but as the next line states, "Will you let me answer prayer In you and you in me?"....wow - it has been amazing how my prayers have been answered once I accepted the call of the Summons and let God answer my prayers instead of trying to satisfy them on my own!

So to my dear friend who sent me this sweet hymn,thank you for taking a few extra minutes to let me know you thought of me - this photocopy is one that I will hold dear forever and pull out from time to time to reflect on the ways that the other verses remind me what it is all about.....leaving me behind to get ahead in Him!

xoxo,
Faith



28 Lessons From My 28th Year

I celebrated my 29th birthday yesterday! I guess due to all of the birthday excitement and the quickly approaching Christmas excitement I found myself wide awake this morning around 2am with no sleep in sight so I decided to use that time to reflect on my days as a 28 year old and I came up with a list of 28 things I already knew but came to understand even better over the last year of my life!


28 Lessons From My 28th Year

1) Keep your Joy.
Don't let simple frustrations steal your joy. We are all inconvenienced from time to time, take a moment to realize the good that ended up coming from a frustrating moment. You just might me surprised and life will get a lot happier!

2) I'm happy if you're happy!
Don't let selfish feelings get in the way of others happiness. Nothing can lose a friend faster than not being a true friend.

3) I'm lovin it!
There is a girl at a McDonald's here in Rock Hill who works during breakfast and when I approach the window she ask how I am doing and then responds with "I'm Lovin' It!!!" when I ask her the same. I have actually passed the McDonald's closest to my office to visit hers instead just because she reminds me to enjoy life and smile no matter what - I am sure there are a million other places she would rather be that early in the morning but she is making the best of it and I'm lovin' it!

4) X+Y=Z
Everything doesn't always have to make sense to work....for me this equates to math. I cannot make sense of equations but I know that if you do them right then you get the correct result. So when stuff happens that I don't understand or cannot explain, I have learned to just roll with it and enjoy it rather than wasting time trying to figure out why!

5) It could always be worse.
Don't believe me? Make a trip to a children's hospital.

6) Enjoy the nagging.
One day I'll wish I  had them so I have been more conscious of making sure I answer the phone when my parents call...even if the call is to nag me about something, one of these days I will wish they were still here to nag me.

7) Not all gifts are found under the tree.
This past weekend I went to my fathers side of the family Christmas gathering, since I could not attend last year due to a scheduling conflict this was my first Ramsey Christmas without my grandfather or Uncle Terry since they passed last year. I would have given back any present in the world to have been able to have them there!

8) Take chances.
Don't confuse "I can't" with "I'm scared".

9) True love is real.
The way to know it's real is when you try to explain it to someone and find yourself pausing then saying, "I can't put it into words". I have learned that defining Love isn't making a list of adjectives to describe a person...instead it's not being able to find an adjective strong enough to express a feeling.

10) Relax.
"Worry is like a rocking chair it gives you something to do, but gets you nowhere."

11) Be direct.
If you have tension with someone find the courage to confront it so that it can dissolve rather than build up.
 I often remind myself of this quote by Maggie Kuhn:“Speak your mind even if your voice shakes.”

12) Set the Sleep Timer.
I have found that in the past few weeks when I turn my TV off at night I sleep like a baby. All. Night. Long.

13) I just called to say...
If an old friend crosses your mind, something reminds you of someone or if someone just crosses your mind for no reason at all-tell them, it only takes a second and will brighten both of your days.

14) Reciprocate.
Working in customer service I often hear people calling to complain, try that same approach of reporting someone when they are nice. You will be surprised at the satisfaction YOU gain from this.

15) Prioritize.
Don't put your job ahead of relationships or opportunities-they won't return the favor

16)When in Doubt, Don't.
I read this quote once in a Jane Austen book but I think you can take out the word man and fill in the blank with whatever it is your are deciding on. "If a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him."

17) Through good and bad.
Pray for your family and friends constantly, not just when they need it. If you don't then don't be mad when they go astray...Ask and it shall be given works in reverse too.

18) Remember who the Author REALLY is.
¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jer. 29:11-13

19) Say Thanks.
I read this a few weeks ago and it really hit home: What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday.

20)SITS
Remember the constant reminders we all use to wear around our wrists a few years back...WWJD well I often think of making a new bracelet to wear as a constant reminder SITS "Stand in Their Shoes" this would remind me to sit down for a second and think about situations from the other point of view...being empathetic can get you so much further than being judgmental. By remembering SITS daily it's amazing how much easier a lot of the others on this list have been!

21) Look it up.
"Google it" I wish I had a dime for every time I say this in a day! Look stuff up...words, people, quotes...expand your brain!

22) De-Clutter.
Keeping my room and car clean-this is one that I rarely actually do but I have found out the few times this was the case that it seems like the less clutter around me the less clutter in my mind!

23) Take Notes.
Write everything down and don't abbreviate it-at that moment you think you'll remember but you wont.

24) DIY
I am craftier & more creative than I ever knew...Thanks Pinterest.com

25) Date Night for One.
Pencil in "Me Time" on your calendar. In a post a while back I wrote about a lady I met you made plans with herself and made it a priority to write it on her calendar just as she would for any other meeting and would be sure to plan other things around that time. Treat your time with yourself as important as your time with others.
26) Pause.
Tell God 'good morning' before anyone else or Facebook. Also at this same time tell him Thanks for the good things you'll face that day as well as thanks for the help and understanding of the not so good things you'll face.

27) Affirmation Calendar.
"Everyday may not be good but their is something good in every day." I saw an idea on Pinterest and I am going to start it Jan 1 to help remind me of this quote. On Index Cards/Rolodex write the date at the top and one good thing that happened that day - do this each day on a different card then when the year starts over you can see what good thing happened to you one year ago each day as you continue using the same cards for the new year ahead! What a great reminder of what you have to be thankful for as well as where you have been and where you are going!  (calendar idea)

28) Value.
Webster defines precious as: valuable, beloved.
Time is precious be precious with your time.

xoxo,
Faith

Still Moving....Just in a Different Direction.

Well, my only hope is that after you read this, you don't think to yourself, "Man, that girl is crazy!" because quite honestly, over the last few days I have had that thought cross my mind a few times but within an instant of  a prayer I am able to be reassured I am not crazy....just obedient!

So for a quick recap - A few months ago I did some examining of my life and decided I had reached a plateau - I was not moving forward or backwards just at a standstill. So, I decided to make some changes...one of those being moving to the beach. The way I saw it was like this - I love the beach, I miss the beach when I am not there and I know that is where I want to be when I "grow up" so why would I not just go there now and start getting everything set up and ready for my "happily ever after" that I had decided for myself.
In my playbook - I moved to the beach, got a job, made some more friends, met a man, fell in love, got married, had children and never looked back. Sounds like a good plan to me, still does actually, except for one thing.....In the excitement and thrill of bringing my playbook to life I somehow lost sight of who the real Author is. No worries - He has quickly reminded me!

On Sunday, October 23 exactly 25 days before I pack up the moving truck and head it out of here God threw me a curve ball....He opened a door that takes me to where my real focus should be....not just towards my happily ever after but towards Him. Within a week after that Sunday night I began to feel strong hesitations about moving but brushed them off as cold feet and told myself over and over I was doing the right thing and to keep on moving forward, not really realizing I was actually moving backwards.
That next weekend, I remember driving to the beach for an interview and I turned my radio down and I started crying and I said, "God! Why did you put this door there right now?!  I have asked for this door for years,and you haven't shown up, so why now?! Why show up now, when I have everything in order and figured out! I don't want it there make it a wall!" but He didn't listen, instead He opened it even wider! So wide that no matter which way I turned it seemed I faced that same door.

So finally, this past Sunday exactly six days before I head off to the beach I was in church and the preacher said, "Always choose the path that takes you closer to God's face rather than away from" so that night I called both of my parents and told them what I had been dealing with and resisting and told them I just didn't think moving at this point is the path that takes me towards God's face - but that I also did not understand why God had opened all of these other doors that lead me to the beach either - my parents both said the same thing to me in very similar ways - "Faith, YOU opened those doors, you went after what YOU wanted and YOU got it - you went YOUR way, you have free will and you chose to use it but now what you are seeing is God sitting back, saying. 'Way to go Faith-I am glad you are getting what YOU want...BUT here is what I want for you!"
After the talks with my parents and a few other amazing, amazing, amazing, supportive friends I decided to close the doors I opened and walk through the one that was opened for me, not by me.

I have no doubt in my mind that God opened this door to keep me right here in Rock Hill for a little while longer, maybe forever, maybe for a month, maybe for a week. I also believe that God may have opened that just as God opened that door, He could just as easily shut it back and open a new one - of course that would be discouraging to me but it would also be on the path that He wants for me so I have to understand that. I have to hide the words of Jeremiah 29:11 in my heart so that I never forget even in the times when He shuts doors!

All in all, my hope in relocating was that I could experience some movement, little did I know that it didn't take moving away from somewhere to feel some movement in my life but rather, moving toward someone -towards His face!

xoxo,
Faith