Pink Roses: How to Dry Out Flowers

This past March, my friends and I were road tripping back home for spring break. We were extremely excited! My sister and I had two friends of ours staying over for the break and another friend came along to get to Wisconsin. Coming home was a joy to say the least and we were all very happy to get a break. Anyways, my boyfriend surprised me by showing up early and he gave me these beautiful pink roses. Pink is my favorite color; it is so girly and fun! Not too long after that my mom suggested I dry them out since they were so pretty. My mom loves to dry flowers around the house and we have several dry bouquets in our home. So, today I wanted to post on how to dry out flowers. It is a fairly simple process and if it interests you I recommend you try it out for fun!

This is how the roses looked before they were dried out. They hadn't opened up yet since they were very fresh. It is super easy to dry out flowers and they look beautiful around your house! The way I am explaining in this post is one of the easier and more inexpensive ways to go about drying flowers. It is called the hanging method. You will basically only need the flowers, straw/rubber bands, and a clothesline or a nail. Here are the steps: 

1. Pick out the type of flowers you would like to dry out. Almost every type of flower can be dried out and it works really well. 

2. Once you've picked the flowers out (or maybe you just received them as a gift), don't wait too long to start the drying out process. You should begin within 2 days of receiving the flowers. The reason for this is so that the flowers have not yet bloomed or opened up and it is easier to prevent the petals from falling off.

3. Tie the flowers together by the stems with a strand of twine or rubber bands to keep them close. Then hang the flowers on a nail or a clothesline with a clothespin in your house somewhere. Below is a photo of my roses. I hung them on a nail that was already in the wall.

4. Let the flowers stay upside down for a week to a week and a half and they will be dry and ready to display in your home. 

There are many ways to display dry flowers. I displayed my pink roses in a basket in my room. You could also place them in a vase, hang them on a wall with a ribbon, etc. Below are the pictures I took shortly after the roses were dried. 

There are other ways to dry out flowers which include more supplies. Another method includes silica gel which can be purchased at Michael's Arts and Crafts or any other craft stores. This method has more steps and takes longer. Sand drying is another method where sand and glue is used. This method takes 1 to 3 weeks and again involves many more steps. 

I hope you enjoyed this post and try it out for yourself. I am aiming to post crafts and projects every Friday (or near the end of the week) along with my weekly encouraging posts so continue to stop by! Have a great weekend! 

Friendships

We all have those friends who we go to when we need encouragement and someone to talk to. They comfort us, counsel us, and love us. The Bible talks about this kind of friend in Proverbs 17:17 saying, "A friend loves at all times..." However, sometimes we can get so caught up in these friendships and forget our ultimate example of what a friend should be like: Jesus. So, today I just want to give you some words on what Godly friendships should look like, how we can strengthen our friendships, and how to get closer to the first friend who ever loved you.

Proverbs 18:24 (NIV) says, "One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." I love this verse so much because it describes the essence of a Godly friendship which is companionship. A Godly friend will stick by you in hard times and be there to celebrate in your good times. They will always build you up and never tear you down. They can be relied upon in any type of situation. Of course, this friend would never take the place of God in your life. They are, however, a great example of God's love in your life and a blessing from Him. The Lord desires unity in our lives. He wants us to be united with people of the same mind and heart so we can reach out to the lost people in the world.

Another great verse is found in Proverbs 27:9 which says, "Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice." On the opposite end of the thought of having an encouraging friend, I think most of us could say we have had a friend who may have hurt us or been bitter in their conversations towards us. A real friend, someone who wants to bring joy to your life, will always speak with kindness. They will want nothing more than to bring out your strengths. I always try to practice showing love to friends by complimenting them on their outfit or their hair. This is a very common way to encourage someone daily. The advice of a friend is also that of wisdom. It comes from counsel that originated with Jesus and is being spread to you.

So how do we strengthen our relationships with friends? I have found over the years that prayer is a big part of a Godly friendship. We need to be praying for our friends and whatever they are going through and believing that God's will is being done in their lives. Through this prayer, we are giving our friends to God and therefore basing our friendships on the Rock of Jesus Christ. Praying with your friends is also a great thing to do because it brings us closer to God and to the other person. One thing I love to do with my friends is have a Bible study and just talk about what the Lord is doing in our lives. It encourages everyone in the group. Also, maintaining a strong relationship with Jesus is the true way to have a solid relationship with anyone else. This goes into my next point.

As a Christian, my main focus daily should be on Jesus and honoring Him with my choices. I need to be getting closer to Him because He loved me before anyone else did. He is my life. James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." That is the first step to getting closer to God. Seek Him daily. How do you seek Him? By reading the Bible, praying, going to church, etc. These are all ways to come to know Him better. Just as we share secrets with our friends, we should much more be sharing our thoughts with the Lord who desires to spend time with us everyday. When our focus is on Jesus, we will ultimately be fulfilled in other areas of life including friendships being brought to us by Him.

In honor of my post today, I thought I would include some pictures of some of my dear friends which the Lord has placed in my life.

This is my friend Kayla who I have known since I was around three years old. She is always an inspiration to persevere and trust God. 

This is Aymee who I met my sophomore year at ORU. Her and I had the opportunity to work together in the clinical setting at the hospital and she is always a joy to be around. Her wisdom in nursing and love for the Lord are two things I constantly learn from. 

This is Michael and I've also known him most of my life. He has endured so much to become who he is today and I am always excited to hear what new revelations he has about God and His Word. I am never bored when I'm with him. 

Lastly, I wanted to mention my boyfriend, Matthew. He is an amazing example of God's love. He always encourages me and makes me smile. I am truly blessed to have him in my life. 

I hope you enjoyed this post and that you will strengthen your own friendships with God's help. Have a great day!

Sisters

So today I wanted to post a little bit about my family. I particularly wanted to talk about the two best sisters in the world. Antoinette and Angelina are both inspirational women who I am blessed to be related to. Growing up with two sisters is one of the best things a girl can have. It's like having a sleepover every night with your best girlfriends. I always have shoulders to lean on, wisdom to gain, and endless amounts of clothes to borrow from with these two. Though they are younger than me, I have learned so much from them in my twenty years of life. So, these next paragraphs are dedicated to how truly individual they are.

 Antoinette is the older of the two and she is ll months younger than me. Throughout the years we have constantly been asked if we are twins and to be honest, sometimes I definitely feel like we are. Our parents always matched our clothes when we were younger and today we still have very similar styles. She also attends Oral Roberts University and is majoring in Nursing. We are also roommates at school and that is definitely an endless adventure. Two nursing majors in one dorm room can be hectic when talking about study and sleeping schedules, but it is always a joy having her with me in Oklahoma.

My sister is also an amazing role model when it comes to staying fit and eating right. She got down to her goal weight just over a year ago and has kept the weight off quite well. She is very dedicated to keeping herself healthy and I admire her for that. She has the discipline many people desire in their lives. She is also very active in her relationship with the Lord. She served in our church's youth group for many years as a small group leader for girls and she sang with me in the worship team as well. She is a true example to me of God's love towards me whenever I am difficult to get along with. Proverbs 31:30 says, "...a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised" and Antoinette is a pure reflection of this truth from the Word. She fears the Lord in every aspect of her life.

 Angelina is younger than me by 4 years. She has a very different personality than I do which makes her very individual. She is lively, funny, and always knows how to make you smile. There is never a dull moment when she is around. She is currently finishing up her sophomore year of high school and is being home schooled. She loves Justin Bieber and has a huge collection of his memorabilia which I think is always interesting to look at. She has definitely been through a lot yet she relies on God to bring her strength. The scripture that reminds me of her life is Nehemiah 8:10, "...the joy of the Lord is your strength". Angelina gets her supernatural strength from the joy God has placed within her.

This is a recent photo taken at a ladies event from our church. Antoinette is on the left, Angelina is in the center, and that's me on the right. I am so very thankful the Lord has given me two sisters to enjoy life with. They are true blessings.

The purpose of my blog

I have wanted to start a blog for awhile now, but I was always thinking I would be too busy to update it. I love to write and I wanted to start sharing some things on the internet as a hobby or just to get some interesting stuff out there. My main reason for starting a blog is to share stories about God and who He is and also to show some things about my personal life that I enjoy such as cooking and decorating. So for anyone who ever happens to come across my blog, I hope that you like what you see.

The name for my blog came to me yesterday when I was reading my Bible in the morning. I had been reading 1 Corinthians 13 which is the "love chapter". I also had just finished praying for some friends of mine. I asked the Lord during prayer to help me "look through the eyes of love" and to see people the way that He does. That is when the Lord spoke to me and told me to make "Looking Through the Eyes of Love" the name of my blog. I was super excited to say the least because I had been wondering about a name for quite some time and His ideas are always the most creative. So, I knew my blog would be taking on a different kind of story and feel.

God loves you no matter who you are or what you do. How do we know this? Well, John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." So, we can see here that Jesus was sent to Earth because God loved us. Looking through the eyes of Love is looking through the eyes of Jesus. What does Jesus say about your family, your friends, your coworkers, etc? What does Jesus want for these groups of people? What does Jesus have planned for your life? These are all questions that can be simply answered when we look through the eyes of Jesus who is the ultimate expression of love. God and Jesus can be interchanged with the word love since that is the essence of who they are. In the Bible we find that God has good plans for us. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "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 a hope and a future." When we see Love, we see our future.

1 Corinthians 14:1 starts off by saying, "Pursue love".

Now, to be honest, it's not always easy to pursue love. To pursue love means to go after love, to make love your great aim. This is how Jesus wants us to live.

So next time you're wondering what to do in a hurtful situation, think of what Jesus would do. He would always react in love. A few weeks ago I was listening to a message on love online and the Lord spoke to me. He said so clearly, "Use love to reach the multitudes". I immediately went to go write it down because it was such a revelation to me. You don't have to use many words to make an impact or even get your name known. You simply have to love. So, if you come across this blog and you're dealing with anything or maybe you just need encouragement, I want you to know that God loves you. Nothing could ever separate you from His love.