15 weeks!

 

I'm so amazed at how my belly is growing! I'm still kind of in shock that I am actually pregnant. Its pretty awesome knowing that there is a little person growing inside of me. Seeing the ultrasounds and watching them move around, its funny seeing it but not being able to feel it yet. I'm so ready to feel my baby move! I know some people may think that's weird or crazy, but I am. I can't wait! I am all about looking at baby stuff now. Every time I walk in a place I want to go look at the baby stuff! Can't help it, I'm just so excited! Having a baby is something that I have wanted for a long long time and now that that time is finally here I'm so amazed! It is true about God's timing, it is perfect! 


Psalm 139:13-16
(ESV Version)
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

(Used biblehub.com)

 I love this shirt, I think it is so cute!

I was nominated for the Liebster Award!

I just happen to look on my Facebook page for my Blog and saw that Olivia Shaw from Viki & Livi had nominated me for the Liebster Award! I was so honored! Thank you so much Olivia, it really means a lot to me to be nominated for this Award. You should head over and check out their blog. They have some amazing recipes on there that I may be trying out soon! The Liebster Award is for blogs that have under 200 followers and blogs are nominated by other bloggers. 

I have answered 11 questions that she passed on to me below. Then I will nominate 11 other blogs and give them 11 questions to answer as well. Hope you enjoy!

1. How did you decide on the title of your blog? 
~ It is based on a poem I wrote back in High School when I was feeling depressed. It has so much meaning to me. I felt so Broken. I was already a Christian, but I was doing some back sliding. The poem just poured out of me one day and it seemed like it began a healing process for me. I was Broken, but I knew Jesus was my Remedy.

2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?
 ~Light, I want to be a Light for the Lord. As you see when you first come on my blog page, Matthew 5:16 “ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven”.

3. What's your favorite pastime other than blogging?
 ~Reading, I love to read. Just finding time to do so is hard sometimes.

4. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?
 ~Knowing that I can reach people all around the world.

5. Which recipe, project, or idea on my blog would you most like to try yourself? 
~I would love to try the Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Banana Bread. I love regular Banana bread, I also love Cinnamon. So I know I would love the recipe!

6. Where does your blog inspiration come from? 
~Reading the Bible, The Lord, and little things I pick up on a daily basis.

7. What is one country in the world you would like to visit? Why?
~Australia, I’ve just always wanted to go there. For one thing I really like their accents. I would also like to visit Hillsong Church.

8. If you have children, what are their names? If not, what are your favorite boy & girl names?
~I’m pregnant with our first child now. We have Bethany Ruth picked out if it’s a girl and Josiah Dale if it’s a boy.

9. A long lost relative leaves you a large sum of money. What do you do with it?
~First off pay off all of our debt. Then I would help all the people that I could. Also would probably buy a bigger home for our growing family. Nothing fancy, just humble.

10. In your opinion, what is the best blog post you've written so far? (Include the link!)
~Teen Girl Series: Fearfully and Wonderfully made.
http://blgn4jesus.blogspot.com/2014/08/teen-girl-series-you-are-fearfully-and.html

11. What is your favorite food? 
~Pizza! I have always loved pizza ever since I was a kid. It’s pretty much about all I ate at school for lunch.

These are my nominations, based on their facebook followers for their blog page:

Nyla @ Meds, Coffee, and Prayer

Martha @ Seasons with the Strattons

Samantha @ Moving Peaces

Marissa @ My Old Heart

Daisy @ Simplicity Relished

Natalie @ Polka Dots and Pampers

Jenny @ The Littlest Way

Shelby @ Shelby Clarke Blog

Alysa @ Alysalovely

Anne @ Front Porch, Inspired

Jen @ La Vida, life as it comes

 These are the steps to accepting your Award: 

• Answer the 11 questions given to you by the person that nominated you ( see below) Also please comment on this post with your link so I can see your answers when you are done.
• In you post link back to the person/blog who nominated you and give them a thank you shout out for nominating you.
• After completing the questions, nominate 11 other bloggers with under 200 followers on the social media platform of your choice, and give them 11 questions of your choice. Feel free to use the ones that are given to you.
• Notify your nominees of their nomination, and provide a link to your post so that they know what to do. 

Here are the questions ( I liked the questions that were given to me so I'm going to use them):

1. How did you decide on the title of your blog?

2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why? 

3. What's your favorite pastime other than blogging?

4. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?

5. Which recipe, project, or idea on my blog would you most like to try yourself? 

6. Where does your blog inspiration come from?

7. What is one country in the world you would like to visit? Why?

8. If you have children, what are their names? If not, what are your favorite boy & girl names?

9. A long lost relative leaves you a large sum of money. What do you do with it?

10. In your opinion, what is the best blog post you've written so far? (Include the link!)

11. What is your favorite food? 

Congrats to everyone who was nominated! 

Pregnancy Post

Just decided to post some of my baby bump pictures, since I haven't posted anything in a while. So far my pregnancy has gone great, other than the horrible UTI I had for over a week. All that is over with now, Thank the Lord. Other than that I have not been sick or anything, which I also Thank God for! Our baby is growing so fast and is healthy as far as we can tell. We can't wait to find out if its a boy or a girl! I will keep updating my blog to let everyone know. So I guess I will be doing some pregnancy blogs here and there. So....Here are the pictures...

First Bump Picture.

12 weeks!

13 weeks!

Sorry for my Absence

Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while. These past few months have been a whirlwind. I lost my grandmother at the end of August. The day I came home from her funeral, I found out I was PREGNANT! Which is so awesome, me and my husband have been wanting this for a long time. I just hate my grandma will not be here to see our baby. After that things got busy, then the past two weeks I have faced some bad issues. I ended up in the ER one night, found out I had a bad UTI. I had been dealing with it all week, but it didn't show up at my other doctor appointments I had earlier that week. Oh and the Baby is doing good, we are very Thankful. So that's pretty much been my past few months. Hope everyone is doing good. I plan on trying to post more blogs soon. God Bless

Teen Girl Series: You are Fearfully and Wonderfully made!

 

It hurts me when I see young girls putting themselves down. They call themselves ugly, they say no one loves them, and no one wants them. I used  to be one of those girls. I had that same self-destructive behavior going on, but no one knew. I kept it to myself. In my mind, I tormented myself. My self-destruction was a verbal and mental thing. It never went any further than that, even though I had suicidal thoughts, I never did anything about them. What I went through was enough though. With that self-destruction, along came depression. Which I kept to myself as well. No one knew what I was going through, except for me and God. It has only been a few years since I have really started to be opened about what I faced. This is why I feel such a strong burden to reach out to young girls. I know I have not faced everything you may be facing, but I hope to help you through whatever it is you are going through. You may think no one cares, but I do, I care! I may not know you, but I care! That is why I'm writing this. I want to let you know something's you may not know or you may of just forgot. So here you go.

I'm here to tell you that you are Beautiful! You are Wanted! You are Loved! You are Worth It! Jesus died for us all so he definitely thought you were worth it all! You have What it takes! You are Strong! You are Smart! I am here to tell you that you can get through whatever it is you are going through. No matter what it is. No matter what your circumstances are. You can do this, you are a Survivor! The only true way to get through all of what you are facing is Jesus, he can and will help you. That's how I got through all of my self-destruction and depression. I was Broken. I finally admitted it to God and he healed me. He set me free! You can be free too! If you want to be. He can heal you too, if you let him. I was Broken, but Jesus was my Remedy. See, this is why my blog name is Broken With Remedy. Its my life, its the truth. We are all Broken and in need of a Savior. Just ask him into your heart, ask him to take all of the pain and hurt away. Ask him to cleanse you from all of your sins, your wrong doings, bad decisions, mistakes. Ask him to heal your broken heart. He will do it!

 In Psalm 139:14 it tells us "I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well".  You were Fearfully and Wonderfully made!
Never forget that!

Here are a few more verse to help you:

Psalm 46:1  "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble"

Psalm 9:9 "The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, A refuge in times of trouble"

Psalm 22:24  "For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden his face from him; but when he cried to Him , He heard"

Here is a link to the website I found some of these on, there are more verses on there: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/20-bible-verses-to-comfort-the-hurting/

Prayer

 

 

 

This week our church had VBS and I helped with the crafts. Today we made prayer chain links. We had the kids put a persons name on them or something else that they wanted to pray for. One of the little girls asked "Can I put my pets down?" and I told her "absolutely! put whatever she wanted too". Now thinking back on it, I came to realize something. I think a lot of us Christians today have forgot that we can pray about Everything.

 

Scripture tells us in Philippians 4:6-7 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus". In verse 6 it says "but in everything", so to me that means we need to pray about Everything.

 

Sounds easy, right? To a lot of us it is not, we seem to pick what we think should pray about and discard the rest. God wants us to give him our all. Our Everything! All of our hurts, pains, Prayers, desires, plans, the list goes on. Then we can truly have the "peace of God, which surpasses all understanding". He gave it all for us, he wants us to give it all for him!

 

Why I do what I do...

You know those moments, when you have 1,000 thoughts bouncing around in your head and you don’t know which one to grab hold of and ponder on first. That’s how I feel sometimes. I need to do this, oh and I need to do that, wait something just came to mind I need to write it down before I forget. Ugh, then I go and do one of those things I needed to do and when I go to write what I was thinking down it doesn’t come out the way I originally thought. Half the time it barely makes since. Or if it does make since its not as vibrant as it was when I first thought of it. I’m still in the process of learning all of this. How to juggle being a writer and doing all the other things I have to do in life. God comes first, then my husband, then family, and friends. Within all of that I have my writing. My husband and I are also in Ministry (we are Youth Pastor’s and my husband is the Family Pastor of our church) so we stay very busy. I’m still trying to manage, when to clean the house and do other things I need to do. I’m not good at self-discipline. I need to be, I’m working on that as well. So needless to say that is why my posts are so spread out. I might do one post in a month, or I could do 10. I never can tell. I never would of thought I would become a blogger, but I am glad I did. This is a way for me to get my writing out into the world instead of keeping it to myself in a journal. Plus this is also a way I worship. The writing I do is all for the Glory of God! Matthew 5:16 is my go to verse for what I do, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven". That is why I do this, I want others to know christ and praise him. It’s not about me at all, its all about him!

Your Story

You know how it feels when people ask you about your story and you feel like you have nothing spectacular to share? I'm right there with you. When you are in a group at church and everyone is sharing their testimony and your coming up next. You are thinking to yourself, "What should I say?", "I have nothing mind blowing to share like some of these other people did". I've been there and I got through it. It wasn't easy, telling my story. My story isn't perfect and to some people it might not be much, but to the right person it can mean a lot.

Everyone's story is different. Some may be more colorful than others. That's because we are all different and we all make different choices, therefore we all have different stories to share. It doesn't matter if you think yours is off the charts or if its just a humble little story of how you got saved when you were a kid, because you were raised in church your whole life.

On the other hand some people think their story is to broken. Let me tell you, a lot  of the most beautiful stories come out of the rubble and ashes. Your story may be like this. You think your story is so messed up that no one wants to hear it, but in reality it needs to be told. Their are people who want to hear your story and who need to hear your story. It doesn't matter how crazy or messed up it may seem, to the right person it could be what they have been waiting to hear. What they have been wanting to hear.

So with all that being said, I want to tell you my story...

            I was raised in church my whole life, ever since I can remember. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior at a young age. My teenage years were when things got a little bumpy. I secretly faced depression and had suicidal thoughts. I felt alone, broken, and ashamed. I didn't feel loved or wanted. I guess you can say I let the devil have a field day with my emotions, because for a while he did get the best of me.Then I realized that writing was my outlet, so I began to just write. I wrote poems, I wrote about things going on in my life, and how I felt. Then one day I wrote the poem "Broken with Remedy". I think that day is when I finally broke through my depression and let God take control of my life again. I realized that I was Broken and Jesus was my remedy!
           A few years down the road, I met the most amazing man I would ever know, who is now my husband! We are Youth Pastors (just like God called me to be, I felt the call when I was 18-19) and he is the Family Pastor of our church. I never would of thought I'd be a Pastors wife!
           I do still face depression sometimes, but I have my savior, my remedy to stand by my side! He gets me through it.

Jesus can get you through whatever it may be you are going through right now. Even if it looks impossible, Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and Luke 1:37 " For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Remember that your story is beautiful and it is worth being told.
 

Sweeter Than Honey

I, just like many of you, go through my phases. This phase in particular being reading my bible and praying on a everyday basis. I want to do it but I just seem to busy or I'm doing something else I really want to do (like reading a book, looking at things online, etc.). When I finally hit a point where I do finally pick up my bible and read it, I usually get blown away. I feel as if the Lord is telling me "See you need this everyday! Not just a few times a month!". I feel guilty. I feel like a bad example. I mean I know people can't look at me and tell if I read my bible or not, but being in Youth Ministry and telling the kids to read their bible and then I don't read my own. I feel pretty low.

So I picked up my bible today and felt like reading a Psalm. I read Psalm 119:89-104. It spoke to me about many things. The one big thing that stuck out the most was verse 103 "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!". There were a lot of other verses in my reading that stuck out too, but this one got to me.

God's word is sweet! Sweeter than honey! Sweeter than anything you can imagine! Which made me realize how much I need it. God's word is our spiritual food, if we don't eat of it everyday we begin to fail in our walk with him. We do need his word everyday, even if its a few verses. We do need to study the scriptures, to gain wisdom. So when this wicked world comes against us we will be ready. So when the devil tries to tempt us we know we can and will prevail.

I hope this helps you realize how much we need God's word. Maybe you will even pick your bible up and start reading it after this. I pray for you and for myself that we will have a fire inside of us set ablaze. That we will all grow closer to God.

 

　

　

Words Possess Great Power

Words are transforming. They can affect us in very deep ways. I've learned throughout life that words can harm or heal you. I also learned that you need to use your words very carefully, think before you speak. Its still not easy for me to do that. I know sometimes I just want to open my mouth and let the words fly right out, not giving any thought to what I'm saying. I'm pretty sure you have those moments too. Just recently I've come to realize how poisonous words can be. The lord laid it on my heart to write about it. So here we are.

 

Forget everything you've learned about words and how they affect you and others. Everyone knows the saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me". Here's a shocker, that saying is a lie! Words will hurt you! Words can rip you apart from the inside out. Tearing away at everything you have until there is nothing left. Then you are left desolate and vulnerable, almost ready to accept anything. On the other hand words can be uplifting and kind. Building you up and encouraging you. The Bible speaks very strongly about words. In the sense of our tongues.

 

 James 3:2-6 tells us: " For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.  If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell".

 

Also in Ephesian 4:29  tells us: "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear".

 

These are two good scriptures to go by when you are thinking about your words.

 

I want to share a few examples with you to show you how powerful words are.

 

Genesis 1:3 "Then God said let there be light, and there was light". God spoke this world into existence, he transformed what was dark and without form into the earth we see and live on today! He did all of this with using just his words!

 

When Jesus died on the cross and he shouted "It is finished" in John 19:30. When Jesus said "It is Finished" he was done. He had taken on all our sins and died for all of us, so that one day we would have a place in Heaven. He did this so that when we come to him and accept him as our Lord and Savior our old lives are finished. All our sins are gone, they are finished! 

 

Here is a verse we should live by when it comes to words, Psalm 19:14 "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer".

 

 So the next time you are about to speak to someone remember to use your words wisely. Is what you are going to say to them going to build them up or tear them down?

 

Never forget words are very powerful, they are transforming.

 

　

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We are Blessed!

I was talking with some friends a few nights ago about how blessed we are to have the lives we have. The things we go through in life, the hardships, unexpected illnesses, etc. We should all stop and take a look at where we are and how we got here. Amazing to know that we have a Heavenly Father that loves us and has his hand over us, because if he didn't we could not make it in this world. God has us where he wants us to be. He makes no mistakes.

I for one am thankful for what I have been through in life. I can tell you I was not thankful for the circumstances when I was going through them, to be honest I was asking God why? Why was I going through these things? Why was I hurting? Why did I feel so alone? (even though I was not alone because he was there with me, I just wasn't where I should of been in my walk with Jesus) He heard all my cries and prayers. Sometimes when I couldn't really say how I felt I could express through Writing. That's where my poem Broken with Remedy comes from. Really where it all started I guess you could say.

I was Broken but Jesus was my Remedy. I know I have not faced a lot of things that other people have. We all go through our different trials and tribulations. John 16:33 tell us we will have trials and tribulations: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world".  That verse says it all! We were told that our lives would not be perfect, that if you become a Christian its smooth sailing from here on out. Truly not the case. If anything Christians have it harder, but we have Jesus! That's a big but! If it wasn't for him we would not get through a lot of our trials. I know I wouldn't.

So with all that said, I want you to know that you are where God wants you to be. If you are going through a hard time right now its because God is making you stronger, he is preparing you for something. A verse that comes to my mind is 1 Peter 1:7 "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." I hope whatever you are going through, either good or bad, that you will be strong and seek the Lord.

Our First Solution

 

Today I was finally able to get some cleaning done. I was very happy, I had swept the floors and was about to mop (I have a steam mop). I put the water in it and plugged it in. It wouldn't steam! I tried it again and nothing. My happy cleaning day was brought to a end because of this fiasco! Even though my steam mop was not steaming, I sure was! I felt like breaking it in half and chucking it out the door. Thankfully I didn't. I just tossed it in the back room and went to Google, searching for ways to possibly fix my broken mop.

 I finally came across some solutions. I hurried back into the kitchen, once I grabbed my mop and started performing the "solutions", but nothing worked! Needless to say I was frustrated once more. The last solution that I had found was to mix half CLR and half water and put it in the mop and let it sit for about an hour or so, then plug it back in. Haven't tried it yet since I don't have any CLR.

 With this little cleaning experience from today it made me realize something. As soon as we are faced with a problem a lot of us don't turn to God first. We try to fix things ourselves. Its like we are saying to God "I don't need you this time Lord, I've got this". Meanwhile the Lord is probably shaking his head in sadness. Unlike me not having CLR, most of us have a bible and can pray, those are the things we should do first when a problem arrives in our life. Praying, talking to our Father so he can help us understand and get through the issue we are facing and going to his word to find what he has to say about what we are facing. That is what we should do to begin with. We need to run to him first, not last! He should be our first solution! After all he is Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End. Who better to run to for his help, his comfort, and peace that he can give us.

Here are some scriptures that I found that help us realize the we can't depend on ourselves, we can not face this life alone.

Proverbs 3:5-6 : Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths.
2 Corinthians 1:9 : But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.

Teen Girl Series: Whats on the inside?

 

I really like makeup. Its fun to wear and experiment with, but its not what’s on the outside that counts. It’s what is on then inside that matters the most, because once you take off all the makeup your left with reality. Not to sound harsh, but it’s the truth. I know this is a weird way to start off talking about beauty, but beauty is very deep. What is on the inside shines through. So no matter how you coverup, the real you will come through.

 

As in Matthew 23:27 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness." As we see in this verse we can look beautiful on the outside, but be dirty on the inside. So no matter how we clean up on the outside, all that gunk inside is still there and needs to be dealt with. We can fake it and pretend to be okay while we are all made up, but truth is there is something deep within us that wants to be set free. Even though not a lot of people would admit to that. There is always a longing for something more. Something that makeup can not cover up, or give you.

1 Corinthians 7:31 "And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth way." The things of this world are passing away. Not saying that makeup is a bad thing, because I love wearing it. Just be careful and don’t be fake. Remember God made us in his image, we are all beautiful.

　

Ask him to come into your heart and cleanse you of all the junk that is in you. All of the bad things you’ve done or thought of, he will forgive you of them all. You just have to ask him too. He will make you a brand new person and you will feel more beautiful and clean than you ever have before.

　

Teen Girl Series: Key to your Heart

Who would you give a key to your car or your house to? And how many people would you give that key to? Not many I hope, accept someone you can trust.

Then why would you giveaway the key to your heart to just about anyone? (meaning having sex with someone or multiple people or falling in love all the time) Why not wait for that one person (your future husband or wife) to give that key to. Most importantly give your heart to GOD.

One of my favorite quotes is, "A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ that a man should have to seek Him first to find her." In that sense when the man seeks God to find that woman, he will be given the key to her heart by God! And then he can unlock her heart, when the time is right. From scripture 1Timothy 4:12 tells us "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."

God holds purity very high, not just sexual (Which that leads into spiritual) also your mind and body as well. You need to think pure thoughts and not bad ones. You need to treat your body as a holy temple of God, because Jesus lives within us once we are saved.