THAT F WORD
fear.
yep, i’m talking about that f word…fear.
i hate fear. i hate it. i hate it.
i hate it because it has held me back in many areas of my life. and i’m sure it has held you back in areas as well.
i read somewhere there are 365 Bible verses on telling you not to fear: enough for every single day that you face in a year. (i’m pretty sure rick warren tweeted it, so it must be true)
when andy asked me to speak at adore, i was extremely fearful. every time i would think about it, i would get anxious and let fear rule over me. i believed lies that the enemy was telling me. i was freaaaakkkiiiinnngg ouuuuut. big time. so to counter attack this fearfulness i started seeking God about it. first i started praying silent prayers about fear. He answered. He spoke to me through many sermons, & many friends including c.s. lewis. as you know from a previous post, james & i listened to chronicles of narnia audio books while we were road tripping. i remember hearing this part during prince caspian and wanting to rewind and listen to the treasure again and again…
then after an awful pause, the deep voice said, “susan.” susan made no answer but the others thought she was crying. “you have listened to your fears, child,” said Aslan. “come, let me breathe on you. forget them. are you brave again?” -prince caspian
beautiful.
i knew that was what i needed. i needed Jesus to breathe on me. i needed Him to grant me courage, to make me bold, to give me strength. i needed Him to make me forget my fears and make me brave again.
and that’s what He did. most of the mornings after that when i would feel that f word rising up in me, i would close my eyes and ask Jesus to breathe on me. anxiousness and fear seemed to blow away as courage and strength took over.
i eventually had the honour of preaching at adore (you can listen to the sermon here) sure it scared me but knowing that Christ was there, knowing His Holy Spirit was inside me making me brave was all that i needed.
i’m not letting that stupid f word rule over me. and you shouldn’t either. next time it starts creeping up, close your eyes and let Jesus breathe on you and blow it away with His breath. soon enough, courage will take over.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind - 2 timothy 1:7
The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? - psalm 27:1
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. -isaiah 41:6
be brave, He is with you!
-s.s.♥.
PLANS
well hello there,
it’s friday night and i’m all alone watching criminal minds (why do i do this to myself?) my man has gone to a men’s retreat on thetis island and doesn’t come back until monday…
i spent tonight going to the rootcellar (bought soil for our sundeck garden!), watching greys, making cookies and eating cookies (recipe was only supposed to bake two cookies, flipping thing made 5!) and planning out the rest of may & june for ssheart….paaaaarttttaaaaay, i know right.
i got plans for ssheart and i’m excited to share these with you in the months to come…but in the meantime here are some of my weekend plans…wedding errands with my sister (she’s getting married in a month people!!!), planting seeds in my new pot from sheloves conference, girls night & missing my husband!
+ i wil be definitely cracking open this baby again..getting so inspired/making practical plans for ssheart…. be excited!
what do you have planned for the long weekend?
xoxo,
s.s.♥.
SHE LOVES RECAP
there is something pretty special about going to a woman’s conference. i went to my first one in london (hillsong’s colour conference) when i was 18 years old. i left that weekend smiling ear to ear. i seriously floated out of wembley arena believing that God loved me dearly, that He had a plan for my life, that i was called and chosen and that i was surrounded by a sisterhood who would encourage me along the way.
almost 9 years have gone by since that first conference and i still love going to woman’s conferences. i still leave with truth imprinted upon my heart. i still leave smiling ear to ear.
this past weekend i attended she loves conference at relate church in surrey. we gathered a bunch of women from our church and loaded them on our big bus! it was ah-mazing. first of all, the conference is led by the incredible helen burns. this woman is hands down one of the most encouraging people i have ever met! she has such a huge heart for empowering women (especially across canada). her message on God’s garden thursday night spoke to me on so many levels.
the other speakers at the conference were monica prescott and lisa bevere. monica spoke two awesome messages, i especially loved the second one, ‘up your ask’ (lols!!) which was all about being shamelessly persistent in your prayers. i was so challenged on going to God first, actually asking Him to intervene (and believe that He will!!) and not just trying to do it my own way (because that never seems to work, ha). already i’ve seen answers to something i prayed on saturday…ptL!
and lisa, oh the lovely lisa bevere. this woman ooozes out amazing-ness. seriously. she’ll have you in laughter and tears within 5 minutes of her speaking. she is so anointed. i was literally on the edge of my seat during both of her messages. friday night’s message absolutely wrecked my heart. it was such a beautiful message on the power of forgiveness. ohhh Jesus, it was so incredible. i’m so excited to buy her new book, girls with swords (and you should be too!) forgive me for the crappy photo but the woman preached in a leather shift dress, she’s so major.
and probably the best thing about the weekend was getting away with my girlfriends, new and old. i had many inspiring, hilarious & beautiful conversations with these lovely ladies.
and then to top the entire experience off, my AMAZING husband picked me up at the end of it all with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. i wish i took a picture of him coming onto the bus all spruced up holding the flowers. i married a keeper for sure.
if you ever get the chance, go to a woman’s conference! you’ll leave feeling full, excited, loved, cherished, ready to BLOOM! #flourishbabyflourish
and if you’re in high school, join us for illuminate next february! ;)
xoxo,
s.s.♥.
HOME (BITTER) SWEET HOME
i’m baaaaaaaaaack!
we arrived home sunday afternoon from our incredible road trip. our journey home was bruuutal. we left sunny anaheim at 6am on saturday and arrived at our (sketchy) hotel in freezing centralia at 11pm. i drove the first six hours and then my incredible hubby drove the remaining 11! i am the worst back seat driver (must be because of my deep rooted control issues, ha).
we drove straight through the entire time, only making necessary stops for starbucks, gas, bathroom breaks, in & out burger (!!!!), random espresso bar (which looked promising but made a very weak americano and gross chai latte), & food in portland (went to the most amazing grocery store which was soooo portland, typical).
the thing that kept us both sane was the chronicles of narnia…on that drive we listened to prince caspian & the voyage of the dawn treader. both were so beautiful and magical. they swept us away from the long drive and transported us to stunning narnia…i highly recommend listening to these audio books (by focus on the family)
i’m still finding it hard to adjust from holiday mode to go mode…here’s what my desk looked like when i arrived at work on sunday..
our living room is even worse than this!
it was freeeeeezing yesterday..but today i got up early and ran along dallas road..it was beauty..of course i’m longing for sunny california but i’m glad to be home.. :)
i have so much to share with you about our trip, so get ready for lots of new blog posts…hooray!
xoxo,
s.s.♥.
PACKING FOR COACHELLA
two sleeps.
two sleeps!!!!!!!!!!!
two sleeps until we depart on our USA roadtrip.
we’re hitting up portland, redding (bethel church), san francisco, la, coachella, san diego, & disneyland and i am soooooo excited.
coachella knows how to do things right. they launched their mobile app, and they have seriously thought of everything. my wristband has a chip in it and it’s linked to my facebook account so basically i can “check in” to shows at the event by swiping my bracelet…uh-mazing!
we’re hitting portland first & i’m planning on doing some shopping (no tax woohoo), i’m hoping to score some festival threads.
here are some pieces i’ve got my eyes on…
seriously, how cute is that feather head piece???
ok, now i have to start real packing….eeeeeeek.
xoxo,
s.s.♥.