Life is Sweet

Happy Saturday everyone!

This past week just flew by. My family came to visit last weekend and we literally had the best time. Friday was the presidential inauguration of ORU's new president. Friday night we went to a football game and it was super fun! Saturday wee visited Philbrook Museum here in Tulsa and I got to show my family all around the gardens. It is so gorgeous at Philbrook and I would recommend visiting it if you ever travel to Tulsa. We also got to tour downtown a little. My parents don't usually stay very long but this time they stayed about 5 days. It was so nice just being able to see them again and being able to hug my mom. I love my family so much! Sunday we went to church and visited Utica Square and went to the mall to do some shopping. Monday we just relaxed and I had some classes. I had the best time! Here are some pictures from their visit. 

I love my sisters so much :)

These are the gorgeous gardens I was talking about. It was such a beautiful day and the sunshine was amazing!

This is a picture from taken behind the museum where you can see most of the gardens. It is so beautiful!

My lovely parents :)

My mom and I :)

One last photo of the back of the museum :)

Every day of my junior year has been getting better and better.We had a scenario day on Thursday with two of our clinical groups in the nursing department. Basically, we had to act out scenarios with the mannequins in the sim lab. It was super cool because the mannequins can talk, blink, sweat, urinate, etc. Plus their eyes dilate, we can feel their pulses, listen to their heart and breath sounds, and inject drugs intravenously into their arms! I was super excited about this to say the least. I love all things nursing and my instructors are seriously the best so even though it was kind of scary at first, I really enjoyed myself. We all had different roles like primary nurse, charge nurse, tech, orientee, and wife of the patient. Our two patients had congestive heart failure and a myocardial infarction. I was the primary nurse the first time so I was in charge of everyone in the room. That really made me nervous because, even though I'm a junior, I still need to work on my confidence. So, basically, as the primary nurse, I did everything to help the patient. I even had to practice calling the "doctor", which was totally new to me. At then end of the whole event I really felt I had learned a lot. I got a lot of compliments on my performance, even though I totally felt I had messed up a lot. It was nice to know I had done my best to practice being a real nurse. 

I guess the reason I shared that story was to encourage everyone that we can have joy in the small things. Lately, I have been overcoming some depressed feelings. There have been days where I didn't want to do anything because I just didn't feel like it. I have also missed home a lot. I just wanted to encourage all of you that when it seems to be difficult in life, relying on God is the only way to go. Psalm 42:5 says, "Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God."God has really been showing me that I have no reason to be sad. Everyday is sweet because I can hope in Him constantly and I know I will see a reward from believing in His promises. He is my daily help and He is always there in every moment of every day. Life is good because God is faithful! His blessings make every day better and better. If you've been down or stressed out I encourage you to just rejoice in the midst of it all. You'll be pleased in how fast things turn around in your life. Rejoicing defeats depression and sadness. As you focus on God, joy becomes rooted in your life and you can face any circumstance with peace!

I hope this encouraged you as much as it encouraged me this week. I am so happy that I get to go home in less than two weeks and see my family and boyfriend. I miss his hugs so much! Anyways, I hope you all have a great weekend! Thanks for reading!

Pure Romance: Part Three

Happy Friday!

I have had a really busy week with tests and homework so this post is a little late. I had wanted to post it earlier, but I am now just finding the time to do it. I feel like time has literally just been flying just because of all the stuff I've been doing. When I'm not in class I'm usually studying, reading my Bible, sleeping, or hanging out with friends. Due to my class schedule, I have unfortunately been taken away from blogging as much as I have wanted to so I apologize for that. I love being able to share stuff God has put on my heart and I have really missed writing lately. I am going to work at being better at keeping up with my blog since it is important to me and to the Lord.

This is the third post about pure romance and I am really enjoying this topic. There have been a lot of people who have been asking me for relationship advice lately and I really just felt that these posts could not come at a better time than now. This series is based on a message the Lord gave me a few weeks ago and then He led me to write these posts. This week I wanted to talk about the levels in a relationship. I have heard these levels discussed many times before and I think that they are very important to romantic relationships with the opposite sex.

The first level of a relationship is the physical level. This the level of physical attraction and is usually the first thing that brings two people together. This is the lowest level and so you can't really base a relationship on this. Physical attraction is definitely important and the Lord wants you to be with someone your physically attracted to, but that should not be the basis of a relationship. Unfortunately, some people never progress beyond this point to reach the deeper levels of a romantic relationship. 

The second level of a relationship is the soul/personality level. I love talking about this level because this is what helps sustain a relationship. I'm going to explain this in terms of friendship, for now. When you first meet someone and you don't know much about them, you really don't have a deep relationship with them. In the soul relationship level, two people are connected and know each other really well. These are the kind of relationships that last for a long time because there are so many ties keeping it together. Now, in terms of a romantic relationship, a man and a woman who get to know each other really well by talking and fellowshipping come to the soul level of a relationship. One of my favorite scriptures on this topic is found in Song of Solomon 3:4. Song of Solomon is a book in the Bible which talks about the love of a man and a woman and it truly reflects our love relationship with God. Verse 4 says, "...I have found the one whom my soul loves." When love comes from the soul, it is far greater than anything physical attraction can bring and it's pure.

The third level of a relationship is the spiritual level. This level is the deepest and most intimate level of a relationship. As a Christian, my spirit is connected with God and that's how I have daily communion with Him. God wants a man and a woman who enter into a romantic relationship to be connected spiritually, as well. I think one of the biggest ways people can be connected spiritually is by reading the Bible together and praying which each other. That brings a connection that can't be broken because it's founded on God and His Word. Romantic relationships that have reached the spiritual level will last because God is the foundation and the Rock on which it stands. 

I mentioned in my last post that I would share a little bit about how God led me to start a relationship with my boyfriend. I'm going to share some of my story just to talk about how faithful God is.

I had never dated any guy before Matthew because I really believed that God would bring the right man to me. I didn't want to waste my time or waste a guy's time if we weren't right for each other. More than anything, I wanted to please God in my relationship and I felt He wanted me to wait. The summer before my freshman year of college I had started to like a guy and really get interested in dating him. When I started school at ORU, however, I found out the truth about him and some stuff he had been hiding from me and I was really hurt because I felt I couldn't trust him anymore. It was really hard for me to let go of that relationship especially because I had invested a lot of time into it only to find out it wasn't the right thing to be pursuing. I realized overtime that God didn't want me to be with a man who wasn't serious about Him. He wanted me to be with a man who would pursue a relationship with God because then he would know how to pursue me. 

I started to move away from worrying about my love life and just focus on God. I didn't want to continue looking. I decided to rest in God. It was a great learning period in my life. I became so much closer to Him in that season and I gained so much clarity about my future. I realized, more than ever, that God is all I need. I knew God was going to do some amazing things in my life even though I didn't know exactly what they would be. 

During my Christmas break, I hung out with Matthew for the first time. We had been talking for awhile, but I never really thought anything of it. I knew his family pretty well since our parents had known each other for years and they had been going to our church for a long time. Matthew and I started talking more during that time and I really started to enjoy our conversations. I remember thinking that he was really interesting and that he was really different from any other guy I had talked to before. When I went back to school, we started to skype a few times each week and that's when the soul level of our relationship really grew. We would talk about so many different things and he quickly became my best friend. One of the biggest things I noticed about him was that he had a desire to know God more. He would always ask me about books to read in the Bible and tell me about what he heard at church. We eventually started to have feelings for each and he asked me to go out with him on our first date when I got home for spring break.

I wasn't always so sure about our relationship because I had a lot of fear that I would get hurt again. Fear is not of God and so I knew that that wasn't the right reason to make a decision. After a lot of prayer (probably a few months haha) and talking with Matthew, we decided that God was truly bringing us together into a romantic relationship and Matthew asked me to be his girlfriend. I am always so happy I never let fear stop me from something God wanted for me. The Lord has truly blessed me with an amazing boyfriend and I know that He is the one who will keep us together. I love him so much <3 We have been together for a little over a year, and I am always seeing the awesome things God does through our relationship. God is so good and He knew exactly what I wanted in a man. 

I hope you all have a blessed weekend and that you enjoyed this series of posts! Thanks for reading! 

Pure Romance: Part Two

Hello everyone! 

I hope you all have been enjoying yourselves this week. This week for me has literally flown by and before I knew it, Friday was here! I have been very busy this past week and a half which is why I hadn't had the chance to sit down and blog. Over my long weekend I really got to spend a lot of time with the awesome girls on my floor. God has brought me some awesome friends this year that and I am so thankful for that. I also wrote my 11 page paper for my mental health class and studied for some other nursing classes. I'm learning so much this semester and I'm finding out more and more each day why I am called into nursing. I love my clinicals and I love just being able to care for the patients. I am so blessed to be called into such a great field!

I want to continue talking about and expounding on my last post about the pure side of romance that God presents to His people in the Bible. I want to apply this to relationships with the opposite sex and  just reveal God's heart on this matter. I am no expert in this area, by any means, but God has really given me wisdom in this area as I sought after Him. In my own life I always go to God for advice first because He is full of wisdom to offer His children. I really felt God give me words of wisdom in the area of romantic relationships even though I don't have a dating history. I don't believe you need any sort of history to receive knowledge from God. You just need to be open to what He will speak to you and be ready to bring it to others.

I want to start off today talking a little bit about what God says about what a relationship should look like with the opposite sex. I truly believe the main thing that should be important in a these romantic relationships is a strong foundation in the Lord. I mentioned this in my last post, but it is very important so I'm going to say it again. When a relationship is founded on Jesus and His love for us we are secure enough to love the other person. That's why both the man and woman who enter into this relationship should first have a strong relationship with God. That is the starting point of a relationship that will truly withstand any test or trial. Now, I'm going to break this down a little bit. I've heard so many people in relationships talk about how their boyfriend/girlfriend is needy. They always need more affection, more gifts, more time with the other person in the relationship and then this causes some issues. I have also heard of many relationships where, usually for girls, one person is not secure enough in themselves so they depend on the other person for support. Both of these scenarios present a big problem. When entering into a relationship, we should be so secure in God that we don't need the validation of another person. The God of the universe created us all uniquely and beautifully and we don't need another person's affection to feel this way. God's love is more than enough. When a man and a woman believe that they can now enter into a relationship totally secure in how much God loves them and they won't put any pressure on each other.

1 Corinthians 6:19 says, "Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received (as a Gift) from God? You are not your own." I love this scripture because it basically says that we are God's people. He made us and we are completely His. When we give ourselves to Him and make Him our Lord and Savior we are not our own. He lives within us and we need to be led by Him each day of our lives. To me this means that when I'm in a relationship I am Jesus' daughter and I need to always be aware of that. I want to respect Him first because He's my Father. A pure romance that originates with the Father will be reflective of this truth. I'm not writing this to tell people to stop doing inappropriate things in their relationships. I am just writing about what God thinks about a relationship. He wants us to respect our bodies and stay pure sexually till He brings us our partners for marriage. One of the most beautiful things in life is a purity. These days, it is hard to remain pure. We are surrounded by so many perverted things on television, in music, and in magazines. However, it is not impossible to remain pure. God gives us the strength to overcome temptations.

You might be reading this and feel that you've already messed up in this area. However, I'm here to tell you that there is redemption in Jesus. He makes you new every day and all you need to do is come to Him. He is the healer of your heart and He wants you whole. So, if you've made a mistake, like every human being has on this planet, bring it to Him and know He has already forgiven you. You can move forward and live the life He has called you to live. You don't have to be perfect to have this pure romance God has called you to have. You just need to trust Him and be obedient to His voice.

One last thing I want to mention is that God wants every relationship in our lives to be filled with complete love. It's not always easy to love other people. From experience, I know that I have had a hard time always loving people. 1 Corinthians 13 is the love chapter in the New Testament which gives a perfect picture of God's love for us and how we should love others. I believe this love is especially important in romantic relationships. I'm going to apply this to my relationship with my boyfriend. If I don't know how much God loves me, how can I love my boyfriend? If I wasn't sure of the love God had for me, I probably wouldn't be able to treat him the right way. 1 Corinthians 13:7 says, "Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, is hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything without weakening."I love this verse because it totally applies to what a committed, romantic relationship should look like. I need to believe the best about my boyfriend no matter how I feel that day because God believes the best about me. I need to look through the eyes of love and respect him for who God made him to be. I encourage everyone to read the rest of this great chapter because it is such an awesome picture of love.

I believe this post is something that God really wanted me to discuss and I know it will really minister to you. Sometime next week I want to continue this series and talk a little bit about how God led me to date my boyfriend. I also want to talk about the levels of a relationship and what God has to say about those different levels. Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

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