"The Shack"

Hi Everyone!!

I'm a firm believer that God speaks to us in all different ways. I just got done reading "The Shack" by William Young. GO OUT and get it. You won't regret it. Your life will be forever changed. Buy out all the bookstores and give a copy to everyone you know, lol. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll sit and be amazed at this story that will penetrate the very core of you're heart and will leave you wanting the presence of God like you've never known it to be. You'll view God in a whole new way, different then what you have perceived him to be in your mind. SERIOUSLY, go out and get it, and if you happen to get it, share with me your thoughts on it!!!

And some exciting news. One of my best friends from high school is getting married and asked me to be in her wedding, so I get to be in my very first wedding. I'm so excited and so excited for her during this wonderful time in her life and pray God will bless her and be with her during the whole planning process and on her big day!!! :)

Be blessed!!

Lauren

"ARK" (Act of Random Kindness)

It’s my hope that through this blog I can inspire someone to take the focus off themselves and put it on to others. And one way of doing that is through an Act of Random Kindness. Every day we go through stuff, the good and the bad, but it’s in those tough times that when we reach out to someone else in time of need, or just do a simple deed for someone else, it makes our own personal struggles a little more bearable.

Every day we have the opportunity to pass by someone in the grocery store, in a restaurant, in the line at the bank, to simply put it, in our everyday tasks we always have the opportunity to pass by strangers. Everyone has deadlines to meet, people to see, and places to go, and in the midst of all that, we seldom take the time to listen to the stories of others, because we’re so busy in the doing, we never take the time to stop. People will take the time to share, if they realize that you are lending a listening ear.

Kindness can go a long way. It can put a smile on a face that hasn’t smiled in a long time. It can bring hope to a person when all they’ve known is hopelessness. It can bring peace to a heart, where peace has never resided. You get the jist :)

So, I encourage you today, in some way, big or small, to offer some kindness to somebody today and just see what God can do…. You’ll be just as equally blessed!!


Act- The process of doing.

Random- Having no specific pattern, purpose or objective.

Kindness- Benignity, benevolence, humanity, generosity, charity, sympathy, compassion, tenderness.

His,
Lauren

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Hi, Happy Tuesday! I hope this finds everyone well! This week is slowly creeping by, lol. If, and when I become president, I will make it mandatory that we work two days, and have five days off. Anyone in favor of five day weekends?

Well, my family just got back from the beach in which I was not able to participate the full week, but was able to get over there for one night. I’ll take what I can get, lol. I think the beach is one of my favorite places in the world. There’s nothing more peaceful, and all your worries and cares for that brief moment seem to wash away with the waves. And then you just want to hold on to that moment as long as you can. And then you’re slapped back into reality.

I will be taking a trip to Maine the first week in August with the family, so it made not being able to spend the whole time at the beach a little more bearable, because I have something to look forward to. I love traveling and spending time with the family while experiencing some place different. It should be beautiful and I hope to take lots of pictures to share.

I really hope you all are getting some enjoyment and inspiration out of this blog page. That’s what it’s here for.

Another then this, it’s a pretty uneventful week, ha! Have a GREAT week!!! xoxo

Love,
Lauren

Just a little Food for Thought

'Happiness keeps You Sweet, Trials keep You Strong, Sorrows keep You Human, Failures keeps You Humble, Success keeps you Glowing, BUT ONLY GOD KEEPS YOU GOING'.



I received this little, but wonderful, food for thought in an e-mail recently and wanted to share, and thought I would break it down because this is my take on it and what I got out of it, and hopefully it will be what someone needs to hear at the exact moment they needed to hear it.

Happiness keeps you sweet: Happiness always keeps the joy in our lives. It makes people want to be around us and it makes us just a little bit sweeter. It’s when people see us, they want just a little part of what’s inside of us, the sweetness of God that radiates off of us, and people can’t help but be drawn to us. So strive for happiness in every area of your life, so God can use you in the way that he intends.

Trials Keep You Strong: Wow, I think we all know about trials; the little ones and the gigantic ones. All I can say is thank God for trials. They strengthen our relationship with God and it puts himself in the position to remain our anchor to sustain us. There’s always the good that comes from every trial, and we don’t always see it in the midst of the trial, but it makes the trial worth going through. It gives us the opportunity to always be aware of his faithfulness and mercy, and to always give him the honor and the glory for getting us through to the other side of that trial.

Sorrows Keep You Human: Sorrow, everybody faces sorrow at one time or another. And it’s at that time when we might be facing our biggest trial yet, that God will show us or brings somebody into our life that is going through the same trial, or has gone through the same trial, and it’s then that you realize you are not alone in your circumstance. And then there’s somebody that can lift you up, be your prayer warrior, because they have been where you’ve been, they’ve called out to God with the same exact prayer and need, and have simply just cried out “help”, because that’s all the strength they had to muster out, and it’s then we realize we’re only human.

Failures keep you humble: We don’t like the word failure, but yet it’s inevitable that at some point in our life we’re going to fail. We’re going to let people down; we’re going to not treat people always the way they deserved to be treated. We’ll start out to do something, and in the end we might fail. But failure is what’s needed in our life and most importantly in our relationship with God. It keeps us dependent on God, to know that at those times when we might fail, mess up, feel like we’re beyond forgiveness and redemption, God will let us know that our forgiveness was given to us at the cross, because he knows we’re human and we’re going to sin, so he already took care of it. So forgive others, but most of all, forgive yourselves.

Success keeps you Glowing: Success keeps you in a state of continuous praise and giving thanks to God. Because without him, you couldn’t be successful in the things you set out to do. Your success can, believe it or not, motive others to be dependent on God for their success and not of the things of this world. Yes, it’s great to have the people in our lives who cheer us on and encourage us along the way, but let God be your motivator and ultimately, he is your BIGGEST cheerleader.

But only God keeps you going: This is what it all boils down to, enough said. Just say YES, and AMEN :)


May your day be filled with tender moments and sweet surprises along the way :)

Love,
Lauren

A Sister's Love!

My sister is the one on the left of both pictures, obviously :) This blog is for her! We're seven years apart! Two different worlds but connected as sisters! She'll be a senior in high school next year! So hard to believe. If there's one thing you need to know about her, she has an amazing zest for life that everybody needs to have. She makes something so incredibly boring, so much fun. It's hard because come next year, she'll be off to college, and I'll hopefully be out of school, and no telling where that's going to take me. I at the moment live with my mom and sister, and so we've always been together. Yes, we have our differences at times, but at the end of the day, we love each other incredibly and we'd do anything for each other. So as the song goes, come next year, I'm going to miss this!

Spruce it up....

Hope everyone is having a great start to the week. I don’t know if anyone else feels like this, but do you ever get caught up in the mundane things of life? Where you feel like each day is the same as the day before? I’m trying to enjoy even the mundane things, the simple things of life, because even the simple things are from God, and even those he says to enjoy.

I’ve traveled the same path to school for the path two years, three nights a week; I could probably drive the ride to Orlando blindfolded now. I travel the same path to work each day, and I try to make it different every now and then by taking a different route. Don’t get so caught up in the mundane, spruce up your life a little bit, try to make each day different then the next. It keeps life exciting :)

At work this is especially difficult, because I’m a receptionist at a law office, so it’s easy to get caught in the trap of the mundane. I answer the phone.. Sellar, Sewell, Russ, Saylor, & Johnson. Yes, I say it in my sleep, and I even have to catch myself at home when answering the phone, ha. I do the same tasks day in and day out, but our life isn’t mean to be mundane, so starting now I’m going to consciously try to make the job different from day to day.

When I get into my career of being a Court Reporter, the thing I’m most excited about is the everyday variety of the job and of each and every day in and of itself. Each day will bring something new to the table. I’ll be able to look back on all my hard work to get to where I want to be with pride and a sense of accomplishment.

Oh, and yesterday, a quick change of subject here, I was in Starbucks heaven, I was able to get a Cinnamon Dolce Frappucino. I hadn’t had one in so long. As many of you know, Starbucks can be a very expensive habit. So yesterday I decided to treat myself, and enjoyed every sip of it. Sometimes it gets me through my nights of classes. Sometimes I just have to pretend it’s not even there on my way to school, or I’d be in serious debt, lol :)

So here we are at Tuesday and yet another night of class to tackle tonight. I just think of it as one more day closer to being done and one step closer to the goal. It’s been quite a sacrifice for the past couple of years. I’ve completely surrendered my weeks to school, but I will say I have come to have a new appreciation for my Wednesdays, the only day out of the week I don’t have class, besides Friday of course. I’ve really come to enjoy the car rides though. I think that’s one of the things I’m going to miss when school is all said and done, but not the gas, lol…. It really allows me the time to quiet my spirit, and spend that time with him, whether it’s turning the radio off and driving in silence or cranking my praise and worship music up and jamming out, or just simply taking that time to talk with him. It’s that time for Lauren, where in the craziness of life, I often forget that I need that time, but I’ve really come to appreciate it.

So if you get a chance, spruce up your day and be still long enough to see what God has to say to you :)

Be blessed! xoxo

Love,
Lauren

The start of a blogging journey!

Hi- Welcome to my little corner of the world! Thanks for taking the interest! I know quite a few people who have blogs of their own and think it's a great concept and a good alternative to Myspace and less time consuming and still a great way for family and friends to keep up with me and what's going on in my life.

So I'm sitting here on a Saturday afternoon still in my PJ's. Yes, I would say that we are all allowed PJ kind of days! Although I do know that I need to get my butt in gear because I have school work to do, trying to delay the enivitable, ha :)

Yes, hopefully, only one more year left of school to go, LORD WILLING, and then the wonderful world of Court Reporting awaits. I'm so ready to get out from behind a desk and be out in the career field. I'm just right now trying to keep my motivation at an all time high when it comes to school. It's hard, it really is, when the end seems so near but yet still feels like forever away. It's been a journey that only the grace of God has been able to carry me through. I never would have thought I would be traveling down the road to becoming a Court Reporter, but I am so glad I have chosen this path, and there have been many tears along the way, and doubt and fear of wondering if I can really do this, if I can really succeed, and in many ways, I think I've been afraid of success, as strange as that sounds. The fear of the unknown when I get out of school. And two years into school, I still have feelings of self-doubt, but I daily have to wake up and chose to press past those doubts, and realize that I owe it to myself to succeed and be the best Court Reporter I can be.

The fear of wanting to relocate to Nashville, TN, from this little town of Leesburg, FL, but not knowing how I'm going to get past that hurdle, in making that dream a reality. Nashville has been on my heart for as long as I can remember now. Every license plate, every mention of the world TN, makes my heart skip a beep. I know it's God talking to me, and I don't want to ignore the voice. People might think I'm crazy, leaving everything and everyone I've ever known and my checkbook might say I'm crazy, but I truly feel like if this is God, then he will pave the way. I feel like there's something bigger out there that's way beyond this little bubble that I'm in. So many dreams and aspirations in the heart of this smalltown girl that's meant for something so much more. I'm at the point where I completely want to be in the center of God's Will, whether that's in Nashville, or somewhere else. He knows what my desires are and I've made them known to him, but it's all in his timing, because it's perfect. So I'm at the place of complete surrenderance to him, and waiting on his direction, whatever that might be. Just taking it one day at a time. In the meantime, it's all about being content with where I'm at, and it's daily that I have to get up at of bed and strive to do that. I'm excited about the possibilities and what God has in store.

In the meantime, while in the midst of all this, trying to remain a strong relationship with the Lord. I admit, I'm one of those people that have a tendency to get so busy in the "doing", that I forget to simply just "be". So my prayer is that I can just have those sweet moments of sitting in his presence and just soak him in when daily my mind becomes so clouded on the tomorrows, and the future, that I miss out on the today. It's not for me to figure it all out, I just want to be here in the present, focusing on today, and what all today has to bring! God knows me through and through, and he knows the beginning from the end. So here's to living for today :)

More to come :) xoxo

Best of my heart,
Lauren