Bloglovin.

You might have heard the word on the street in the blog world is that google reader is shutting down in July. I loved this as a way to keep up with the blogs I read, so I was bummed when I heard this. But also glad at the same time because I was getting frustrated because there was no way to delete old blogs you may not read anymore or old blogs that the blogger may have shut down and is no longer up.

 

BUT, I found a great alternative and wanted to share with you about bloglovin.

 

It's another great and efficient way to keep up with the blogs you love. So I signed myself up and I'm loving it. So don't panic and if you are looking for another alternative other than google reader. Go check out bloglovin. You just might like it!!! (Only downfall is you have to actually go to the blog itself to read the full blog in it's entirety, whereas before you could read the whole blog post in google reader, but the up side is now it's easy to delete blogs as I was mentioning before.)

 

Follow my blog with bloglovin!

Sister night with Blake Shelton.

This past weekend Blake Shelton was in Florida to play at the Strawberry Festival down in South Florida on Sunday.

 

Turns out his people contacted a local country music bar in Sanford called the Barn, outside of Orlando, and he wanted to do a surprise FREE concert on Friday night. Um, hello, you will not hear us complain. I live in Sanford, so call this fate if you will. My sister and I were all up on this. Blows my mind that a big name such as Blake Shelton would want to do this, as he never plays bars, but if you're reading this Blake (which the odds of that are like my odds of winning the lotto) THANK YOU!!!!! You made two girls VERY happy!

 

 

We made some friends and this was a great photo bomb, ha!



Well, hellllloooooo handsome. Mr. Blake Shelton everybody.

We pretty much had AMAZING spot!

 

 

 

The only thing better would have been if Miranda Lambert were there.

What a fun, fun night. It was such an intimate setting and such great music and did I mention free? Craziness! The Barn was trying to keep it on the down low but hello this is Blake Shelton!!!! So the radio got wind of it and it just kind of blew up. Can't believe he came to our little ole' town.

 

Come back again anytime, Blake!!!!!

 

 



Off the radar.

I was reading this blog post from today over at the Living Proof Ministries blog. One sentence that Beth Moore wrote really stuck out to me…She wrote, “Girlfriend, you ARE very much on his radar.”

I thought about that for a minute to let it sink in.

It’s easy for us to think that we’ve somehow dropped off the radar. That whatever we did, whatever we said, whatever we thought, was grounds for God to say “Sorry, because you did x, y, and z we are finished, I’m done with you, you are officially off my radar,” and shut the door.

That is a far cry from the truth.

It was such a gentle reminder for me.

Or you could look at it like this. You have a single girl, such as myself, she longs to find that one, the one person out there in this world that was meant for her.  The one person in this whole world that God said, “This one, that is the one for Lauren.”

Yet, still she waits for him.

 She sees person after person moving on to the next season of their life, marriage, and some even moving on to become mothers.

Yet, still she waits.

She feels like she dropped off the radar. That the attempts of flinging her hands in the air saying, “God, look at me, look at me. I’m over here.” That those were just failed and unsuccessful attempts at best.

Off the radar, just gone. That somehow he sees everybody else but you.

Oh, he sees me. He sees YOU.

Every desire, every dream, it’s not hidden from him.

Whatever you’ve been crying out to God about, every prayer that you lifted up to him, it’s on his radar, oh very much so.

Its hard for me to fathom, yet so beautiful to think, that I don’t get lost in the sea of people in this world he calls his children. He doesn’t play favorites. He doesn’t see Susie over there, but look over at me and turn a blind eye.

His radar, it’s looking right at me.

 

 

And it’s looking at you too.

Throwing away my lenses.

One thing that God has truly been working with me on and dealing in my heart about are the lenses I wear. The only way I know that for a fact is there have been two separate instances recently where people in my own life have addressed this. Can't tell you how many times people have said, "Lauren, why can't you see what I see?"

Hello, Lord.

We all have a set of lenses, and what I mean by lenses is the lenses in which we view ourselves; what we see versus what other people see. Oh my goodness, I’m to the point where I want to break my lenses in half and toss them in the trash. See, the thing is, our lenses are ALWAYS different than others and how they perceive us. We, as humans, and especially women, find it so hard to see the value and worth in ourselves and what others see in us.

The truth of the matter is, with social media these days; it’s so easy to hide behind it. My hope and desire is that what you see on social media is what you would see of me in real life and hope to be authentic. But if I were being truthful, I feel freer behind social media ….. and when it comes to face-to-face social interaction, I hold back. I recognize that, and I HATE it. I’ve realized why that is….. When you step out from behind the devises of social media and really have to put yourself out there, you are required to be more vulnerable and you open yourself up to be judged and rejected.

I hope I’m making some sort of sense here. But I often fail to realize I have some much to offer this world, so much value and worth that I somehow can’t always seem to see in myself. And rather than embracing that, it’s easier to shrink back.

I truly feel like I’m rambling here, but bear with me.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our own light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. You were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within you. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we consciously give other people the permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. “

I think this quote adequately describes what I’m trying to put into words.

 

Lord, help me each day see what you see in this girl. Help me to realize that my worth and value is found in you and you alone. I pray that here on out, each day I will learn to love myself more and more; every part of me. Take every doubt and insecurity and replace it with self-acceptance, appreciation for who you created me to be and that means ALL of me. I’m a child of yours and you love your children and therefore, I will learn to love me despite what I think my flaws might be. Thank you for Lauren, thank you for me.

And if you're reading this and you struggle in this area, I hope your prayer is the same... Just substitute your name :)

 

Exhibit A and B.

Happy Monday! 

 

I was looking through my phone at pictures I have taken within the last couple of weeks or so.

 

I came to one final conclusion.

 

Exhibit A:

One weekend you'll find yourself at Disney World.

 

Exhibit B:

The next weekend, beautiful South Florida in February.

 

  

Need I say more?

 

Florida...

 

I sure do love this place I call home.

 

 
What's your favorite thing about home?
 



 “Home is the place where it feels right to walk around without shoes”



At the edge of the cliff.

You know that cliff moment in your life? I’m sure we’ve all had them.

It’s that moment where you’re on the edge of the cliff. You’re just standing there saying, “Lord, what next?”

I feel like I’ve been at that particular point for awhile. It’s like I’m just standing, standing, and standing there looking at the waters below and not knowing what they hold and scared out of my ever lovin’ mind.

I have some pretty big life changes coming up here soon.

I’m excited and scared all in one.

 

 

But now, it’s my time.
 

It’s my time to dive into those waters.
 

Because something tells me it will hold some pretty great stuff.

I couldn't do it.

I couldn't do it.

 

I couldn't officially hit the delete button on this blog.

 

Writing, it is my passion.

 

You see, any card I'll give to someone, you'll find that I can fill the whole thing up with words. Back in school, signing a yearbook, I could fill up a whole page with more than just "see you next year, have a good summer."

 

Words, I love them.

 

My writing, it means something to me. I think about my words. I think about how they will impact somebody and what they will mean to a person. I realize that words stay with you longer than most anything else. They have the power to build up or tear down. They can bring such joy to the heart.

 

Words, they are powerful, oh so powerful.

 

Writing is how I express myself and it comes so naturally to me. Writing allows me to express myself and be myself in the purest and truest form I know how. It allows me to get down to the deepest parts of my heart with the tap of a keyboard or hitting the pen to paper.

 

Just a couple of days ago AGAIN had a friend say (and have been told this MANY times) "Lauren, you need to write a book, and you need to submit, submit, submit, until you get that thing published." And can't tell you how many times people have told me, "Lauren, you have such a way with words."

 

I deleted this blog about a month ago. When you delete a blog, it's not fully deleted until a certain amount of days and then it's gone for you to never get back again. I was in the shower washing my hair this morning and all the sudden I had this urgency and thinking to myself, "Lauren, you fool, what are you thinking? Get that blog back NOW!"

 

So I race to get done with my shower, and in my towel and I'm dripping wet rush to my computer to make sure this blog is still here. I took a deep breath realizing it still was.

 

This blog for me is no longer about the traffic it gets, the amount of comments, followers, etc. It means so much more than that to me now. Funny thing is I had a dream last night and God has already given me a title for this book. Who knows if and when it will ever be published, but this has given me a whole new excitement and passion for writing.

 

I feel like I'm back to the true intent of why I should be blogging.

I need this blog, just didn't realize how much until now.