ONE WORD 2014
Well, we're 8 days into 2014. Some of you may be right on track with your New Years Resolutions (proud of you dad for quitting smoking!!) and some of you may have thrown in the towel. No judgement from here if you're part of the latter.
As you know, I don't really set New Year resolutions. I'm a big fan of dreams and goal setting on a regular basis, NOT just the beginning of the year. BUT what I do like to do at the beginning of the year is pick one word for the year. This will be my third year doing this one word thang and I'm pretty pumped. (2012- here & here. 2013 here & here.)
God dropped my word for 2014 into my heart on December 27th. I was praying for my husband and writing in my prayer journal and found myself writing out 1 Corinthians 13.
"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." -1 Corinthians 13:4-7
As I wrote out those verses and read them aloud I realized how much I sucked at loving. I recognized how I can be incredibly selfish a lot of the time and in result, avoid loving people. In that moment, I knew my one word for 2014 was going to be love and the kind of love that God was calling me to was in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. And he wasn't just calling me to love my husband with this kind of love, he was calling me to love EVERYONE.
Loving this way is going to take a lot of stretching. It's going to take a lot of me stepping out of my safe bubble. It's going to take a lot of me getting over myself.
On January 1st, I wrote out this prayer "This year I'm ready to love deeper and wider and higher and greater than ever before. Help me Lord, to love like you love. To believe the best in others. To be selfless and not selfish. To love you Lord and love all those around me."
It may seem simple, but this my friends, is going to be the hardest one yet. But I'm ready (at least I'm telling myself that) to love.
Do you have a word for 2014? If so, I want to hear it (let me know in the comments)! And if you don't, I encourage you to seek one out! (Check out the original one word website for inspiration)
xoxo,
s.s.♥.
WARDROBE // 2
Welcome to the second post in my wardrobe series. This is a series that I LOVE doing, mainly because it's one that James has agreed to do with me. I am very thankful I married a man who a) is in support of my dreams b) loves fashion. Because of those two things, he doesn't mind coming to take pictures even though it's freeeezzzing cold outside.
him- jacket/nudie, shirt/club monaco, button up/minimum, jeans/apc, boots/shoe the bear
her- jacket/, t-shirt/club monaco, skirt/vintage, wedges/forever 21, watch/kate spade
happy monday :)
xo,
s.s.♥
p.s. Thank you all for the love and encouragement in launching this new site :) You guys have been so supportive of my dream and I am so thankful! If you haven't entered the new site giveaway yet, you can do so here!
NEW YEAR NEW LOOK
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Oh hey there! Well friends, I gone and done it. I created a big girl blog all by myself (ok, with some help from James and google too). So welcome to my new blog! It was about time for a serious update. I'm stoked on how it turned out and how it wasn't too incredibly hard (thank you google).
So to celebrate the new site and the new year I thought I'd give away some sparkling gold on gold goodies.
Fun hey? I'm in love with that gold polka dot Kate Spade notepad (perfect for making New Year's Resolutions). Well it's easy to enter, all you have to do is click below! Thank you for entering and supporting this journey. I am SO excited for what's to come of ssheart this year!
stay gold as always,
s.s.♥.
YOU'VE BEEN GOOD TO US 2013
Oh, hey there 2013, you've been good to us.
I still am marvelling over the fact that it is new. years. eve…. weren't we just here last week?
2013 brought me many beautiful adventures. I can't help but smile when I look back and reflect on what I was able to experience. The year wasn't always smiles, there were hard, ugly times but again I will hold to the truth that God is faithful.
Here are just a few of my favourite moments of 2013...
In April James and I went on a road trip to California. Our stops were Portland, Redding (Bethel), San Francisco, LA, COACHELLA, Salvation Mountain, San Diego, and Disneyland (of course).
The trip was absolutely incredible, my favourite moments from it had to have been front row at Beach House at Coachella (it was particularly special because Beach House was the first band that James and I ever bonded over), stopping in at Bethel for a church service, exploring Salvation Mountain (soooo magical), listening to "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" by C.S. Lewis on our 16 hour drive day and Disneyland (of course!!)
In July James surprised me with a teensy, 7 week black fur ball. He was a born cat-hater but was converted into a cat-lover after a couple hours with that little black fur ball. At first we thought the kitten was a he so I named him Richard Parker but after some googling, we figured out he was indeed a girl!! I named her Coco and she has been such a little joy to me (aside from the random biting and scratching and litter box emptying..)
In August James and I had the privilege of going to India with a group of awesome people from Adore. It was life changing. Getting there was a miracle. We had A LOT of money to raise and God provided every last penny. THANK YOU so much to all of you who gave and prayed and supported us!! I still can't believe we went to INDIA. The trip was very challenging in a lot of ways but man, did I ever see God move. It was such an honour to serve at Living God Church. A few of my favourite moments were seeing 300 youth show up at a youth conference (and witnessing a ton of those surrendering their lives to Jesus!!), having the honour of speaking to teen girls, meeting the incredible interns who taught me what true service means and seeing James do what he does so well- leading worship and training up worship leaders. It was such a blessing to be able to serve alongside James. I'll never forget you Chennai. (You can read more about our trip on our joint blog)
Another one of my highlights was seeing James pursue his dreams and launch LIIRA. He poured out his heart and soul and worked his butt off! I know I'm biased but check out my man's website and buy the single on itunes!! Can't wait to see what God has in store for LIIRA in 2014. Proud of you babe. xo
A few other highlights included seeing my sister marry the man of her dreams in June, seeing my sister-in-law marry hers in September, Illumiante (obviously!!!) and seeing God move in mighty ways at our church!!
May you have the best NYE and embrace 2014 with anticipation. Praying for your best year yet :)
Peace out 2013, you've been a trip.
Stay gold,
s.s.♥.
WALK IT OUT // REFLECTIONS ON MY ONE WORD 2013
Tomorrow at the stroke of midnight we’ll be entering into a new year…2014 is coming!!!
As I look towards the new year, new resolutions always try to creep into my mind..lose weight, spend more time with God, don’t eat sugar, write a book, run 5x per week… I start out with good intentions but when the months go by without having resolutions met, I become some crippled, shame-filled monster afraid to even try at any resolutions. Please tell me, I’m not alone here.
A couple years ago, I heard about picking ONE WORD to define your year. That sat well with me. (She Loves Magazine blogged about it here) The thing I like about this ONE WORD thing is, it’s not complicated. Have a word that you want to define your year? Go with it. Can’t think of a word? Pray for one. But when you get one, own it and work it gurrrl. Write it out and put it on your fridge. Blog about it. Tell your grandma, tell your boyfriend, tell your cat (uhhh maybe not, i don’t think cats are very good accountability partners..sorry coco.) Last year some friends and I gathered for a ONE WORD dinner. We ate some delicious food and spoke about our ONE WORD.
In 2012, God gave me the word BOLD. He called me to rise up like a lioness and be BOLD. (You can read more about my BOLD year here)
And then 2013 came along where my ONE WORD was WALK. I have to be honest with you, when I first heard the word in the depths of my heart, I felt a little ripped off. My word the previous year was BOLD, (come on!) Give me SOAR or RUN or FLY or GLORY or even JOG but nope…WALK. (You can read about my mini argument with God here)
But oh, my Lord knew exactly what I needed for 2013. Here are a few treasures that I discovered this year.
1. WALK it out. Get off your butt and start walking. James and I live less than a 20 minute walk from the church. In our first 9 months of being married and living where we lived, I didn’t walk to work once. INSANE hey? For some reason, in the spring I started making walking to work a priority and you know what? I actually enjoyed walking. I actually really, really, really enjoyed it. You might say, I fell in love with walking. Walking to work soon became not enough for me and soon enough, I found myself walking on my lunch break as well. On these walks I would find myself talking to God in a different way than I have experienced. We would walk and talk in a non-rushed manner. Sometimes there would be a lot of conversing and sometimes there would be a lot of silent smiles. Sometimes we’d walk quickly and sometimes we’d walk slowly, stopping to take a picture of freshly fallen leaves. These walks would clear my mind and often God would drop tidbits into my mind that I wouldn’t have been able to hear if it was filled with its usual busy-ness. If I was having a stressful day, I would go for a venting power walk. These walks would usually begin with me yelling at the devil then move to claiming Jesus’ victory and freedom over mine and my family’s life/whatever situation was stressing me out. Walking even caused me to become healthier and was a major companion in helping me lose 10lbs (running & healthier eating helped as well). I’m so thankful that God introduced me to walking this year. It’s been a great relationship and I feel it’s going to last a long time :)
2. Keep WALKING. Don’t stop. Can’t stop. Won’t stop. I learned that walking through life takes P-E-R-S-E-V-E-R-A-N-C-E. Sometimes prayers remain unanswered. Sometimes (a lot of the time) life isn’t how you planned. This is a hard thing for type-A, control freak me. But I have learned this year that God is faithful and when you’re up to your thighs in the messiness and brokenness of life your only option is to keep walking. Keep going. Keep praying. Keep trusting. Keep persevering.
3. WALK intentionally. So I’ve been doing some distance education through Summit Bible College and my most recent course had me complete a word study….you’ll never guess what word I had to study in greek and write a paper on…yep, you got it, WALK!! (amazing, hey?) So as I studied WALK as it appears in Ephesians 4:1, I discovered that how you walk determines how you live.
"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to WALK in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” - Ephesians 4:1-3 ESV
Wow, just wow. I was challenged in that moment, and I am still being challenged. Humility, gentleness, patience and love. Christ has called me to live with these virtues, every single day as I walk through life. He’s still teaching me and always will be teaching me and I’m ever so thankful for His unending patience.
2013, you’ve been a good one. Thank you Jesus for continually walking with me. Tomorrow I’ll be back with highlights of the year.
Thanks for reading :)
-s.s.♥.