Ladies...

                               
                               Don't let anyone (including yourself)  tell ya differently!
                                                   Because you are worthy.
                                                     You are beautiful.
                                                      You are LOVED.
                                                  And you are worth dying for!

31 days of Beautiful// Blogs that I find beautiful and so worth reading. Day 6.

Today I'm inspired to share with you ladies just some of my most favorite blogs here in the community!

 Sarah at Tealography.
This girl... I love her so much. She's my bestie, my sister, my friend.
I can't tell you how blessed I am to have met her in this blogging community.
Sarah and I met last December when she stumbled upon my blog. We thought it was pretty cool that we had a few things in common.. And as e-mails came and went we were amazed by just how much we had in common! We are both so passionate about the unborn, we love to write, we were married the same year, we're both young mama's to beautiful girls, we're both literally on fire for Jesus. Really the list goes on and on here! She is the first blogger that I exchanged my digits with, I don't think there is a day that goes by where we don't text or email. She also has the most gorgeous baby girl!! Who happens to be Evelynne's future pen pal! She is such a blessing and encouragement to me everyday. And I'm so glad that our paths were brought together. She is one of the reasons why I'm so glad I started blogging.. Or how else would I have met her?
I defiantly  encourage you to go check this girl out.. If you like me than you're gonna LOVE her! because seriously we're sisters.. Twins separated at birth ;)

BTW. Her and I have been talking and we will be working on some new fun link ups and would be sooooo exited if you would join in with us! We'll both keep you updated ;)

Heather at Finding Beauty in the Ordinary
Heather was the very first blogger that reached out to me.. My blog was literally not even out there yet really. She was the first "big" blogger I found and she was the one who inspired me to push my blog out there! She has helped me so much in the blogging area I honestly don't know where I'd be without her and with her beautiful baby girl being just a few months older than Evelynne those "Mama posts" are exactly what I need to hear. There is seriously never a time when her posts don't give me chills, make me tear up or just a simple reminder of how much I love this girl!

Ruthie at The Chronicles of Ruthie Hart
Ruthie is just one of those girls you can't help but to love. She is just Ah-maz-ing! I just love her so much!
Without Ruthie I'd still be a "no reply blogger" I would have spent the rest of my blogging days wondering, asking, left alone to wonder why nobody's talking to me.... Okay maybe not that dramatic! But anyways, if you want to be a true blogger and make true friendships it is super important to not be a "no reply blogger". Truth!

Karla at Forever Newly Wedded
Okay not only does this girl participate in the most  fun and exciting link ups but she is just amazing in itself.
There is not a day that goes by when her posts don't make me *sigh, tear up, smile, or eeek with the romance of newly wed life. She also leaves lots of sweet comments about how cute Evelynne is..I love her honesty ;) Her and her husband and new fur baby are on a goal to forever and ever live the newlywed life and I say they're doing a heck of a great job doing just that! An example that all married couples need! 

Erin at Sweetness itself
Oh sweet Erin. If you haven't met this girl you totally need to! Her love for Jesus is just amazing and inspiring! She writes about purity and glorifying God with her single life.. I can't help but wish I was more like her when I was single. She is actually coming out with a new book really soon called "The Darling Diaries". She is defiantly a lady worth looking up to and a woman worth waiting for!

Sarah at The Not Quite Military Wife
Sarah is a new Englander! So these past few weeks I have loved seeing her life through all these beautiful pictures of England.  I find Sarah's blog to be extremely positive and pretty funny as well! And I seriously can't get enough of her baby girl!! She is absolutely precious!!! I am such a fan and I admire this girl!! She is a proud Military wife and a wonderful mama!

Amy at Sweet home Santa Barbara.
Oh dearest sweetest Amy! All I can say is that I love her so much. She is also doing this 31 day challenge on "Pure"  And I am seriously loving it! and highly recommend that you go check it out! This girl's got  Jesus and He looks amazing on her!

These are just some of my most favorite blogs to read while I get my morning cup of goodness. It's a great start to a beautiful day!  I seriously can't get enough of these ladies. They have done such an amazing job at making my day! I only hope I can do the same for them! 


Why am I posting my favorite blogs and what does this have to do with beauty do you ask?
Because these ladies are beautiful. Not because they have lots of followers, not because they're gorgeous physically, but because they take time and effort to make the day of others, to be an encouragement, and blessing. They desire to fill your day with laughter and they allow Jesus to use them to make your day! These ladies are role models and these ladies are true definition of what Beauty is. 

Woman who fears The Lord is to be praised!

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 
                                                           -Proverbs 31:30


  Day 1. 31 days of beautiful
Day 2. You are beautiful
Day 3.Why I chose to make "all things beautiful" my topic
Day 4. You are altogether beautiful 

31 days of Beautiful// You are all together beautiful. Day 3

 You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. 
                                                             -  Song of Solomon 4:7
            
I am so blessed and amazed to know that even when I am at my worst, when I have a bad day, in a grumpy mood, or I just can't seem to get out of my yoga pants.

When I'm having one of those days to where the laundry doesn't seem to make it in the washer, Evelynne's toys doesn't seem to get put away and on the days where I just feel like a failure as a wife and a mama. 

When those circumstances come my way, and when emotions build up inside of me, when thoughts come to me about how I'm a mess and have fallen apart.

Jesus whispers with the softness of His Mighty voice "Beloved, You are all together beautiful,my love; There is no flaw in you at all. Not because of who you are or what you have done.. But because of who I Am in you..I died for you my love.. So that you may have life. I know there are some days when you feel like you just can't hold on any longer, you feel like your strength is decreasing, and you feel like your beauty is quickly fading.

Remember my love, I Am your Anchor that will hold you steady when the waves come.

I Am your strength that will keep you strong in not only joyful times but trying ones as well.

And I Am Your beauty and the One who makes you Beautiful.

And Everything I am in you never fails. I am the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. I will never change. And I will always be with you to give you your every need. I will never forsake you my beautiful one. For I died so that you may live the abundant life I willed for you. 

 Day 1. 31 days of beautiful
Day 2. You are beautiful
Day 3.Why I chose to make "all things beautiful" my topic

31 days of Beautiful// Why I chose to make "Beautiful" my topic.

 
You know I really didn't have time to think  about this whole blogging every day a month thing. And to be honest I'm not even 100% positive that I'm gonna be able to blog every day this month. But you can bet yourselves that I'm gonna try my hardest.

While I was doing my daily blog reading I noticed that a lot of  my blogging  friends were doing this 31 day of October challenge. Where you pick a topic to write about and then write about that topic everyday for the whole month of October.

When I first read that I thought "Wow, what a pretty cool challenge!"  And just decided to give it a try. Just so you know I am not the kinda of person that would just decide to do something out of the blue. Especially something you'd have to be this dedicated for. Because my goal isn't just to write blog posts, it isn't just about writing words.

I have a goal to write from my heart with each and every post. I have a goal to inspire someone with each post, to encourage them, and to make their day a little brighter with The Love of Jesus.

And to really mediate like that every day. It's gonna be hard work. But with the inspiration of Christ and His Strength. I can do this!

I didn't give myself much time to think of what to write about for this month.. To be honest I didn't even pray about it before He already gave me the topic. "All things beautiful".

Because we live in a dark world. With negativity, fear, worries that tries it's hardest to destroy even the smallest candle of light.

And plus I feel as though you pretty much have no limits when it comes to beauty.. Because I try my hardest to see the beauty in everything!

I chose to write about beauty for 31 days to encourage and reveal what beauty really is!

It's not Photoshopped.

It's not flawless.

It's not skinny or curvy.

It's not a zit free face.

It's all about Jesus and who He is in us.

It's about the beautiful things He has created that so many have took for granted.

It's about choosing to find the beauty of joy in not so beautiful circumstances.

And it's about the beauty of being completely sold out to Christ.

Will you join me this month as we experience the beauty of this life this month. And never stop!

                                            Much love, Darling!
                                              xoxo- Heather

31 days of Beautiful// You are beautiful.

Hello lovelies, Today I am writing my first post on my 31 days of beautiful series  I'm super excited about it!
Today I'm going to be talking about physical beauty.. The kind of beauty that seems to matter most in this world and the the kind of beauty that really seems to matter less to God.

Physical Beauty.. Why is it so important? Perhaps because so many people have made their physical beauty their identity, perhaps they think it's all they have going for them, or perhaps some believe they will never be truly happy in life if they are not physically beautiful.

Growing up in a house full of girls with only two poor boys. I've quickly noticed how important physical beauty is to women. I remember my older sister spending hours on her make up/getting dressed/doing her hair. And I remember the tears that were cried by my poor younger sister who would hide in the bathroom crying because someone pointed out a flaw on  her beautiful face.

I myself have had major insecurity issues because I didn't qualify myself as beautiful. I didn't even think I was close to it. And because of that I was desperate to find a way to be beautiful I was willing to take a path that could eventually harm myself. I've always felt insecure about my weight. But somehow after taking two weight loss pills daily and surviving on slim fast drinks every other day I somehow felt better about myself.. That lack of nutrition and weakness flowing through my body from lack of food felt amazing. As long as I felt skinny I was happy.

Looking back at myself and how ridiculous I was for thinking that way makes me shake my head at myself and how I was acting. I was so focused on feeling skinny that ruining my own body was an option. It's sick really and even more sickening is that so many women and young women are going through the same thing and the media encourages it, even inspires it. Planting the need to be skinny in the minds of so many. Leaving us so obsessed with with how we look physically we forget to leave room for the most important thing to work on beautifying. Our heart.

 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  1 Samuel 16:7

Ladies, The media is a place that lies and deceives. It tricks you and tells you that you need to fix yourself before you can feel good about yourself. It tells you that you'll never feel good about yourself  unless you buy this beauty product that's way out of your budget, it tells you that you'll never be happy about your fashion style until you wear these five hundred dollar boots, and that you'll never be truly beautiful until you have been photo shopped and completely flawless..

Can I tell you something Sisters?  The world is full of liars that are on a mission to make you feel horrible about yourself. They are of the world and you don't have to fall victim for it.
The reason why we believe these things are not because they are true (Because they're far from it!) but because after hearing it and reading it we speak these things over ourselves. And when we keep telling ourselves we'll never be happy until I  _______ . We start to believe it with all our heart. And that's a problem.

But be of good cheer Darling and keep your chin up. Because even though you may be thinking negative about yourself right now God is thinking VERY differently about you!

He says you're beautiful.
So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, worship Him.
                                                                                           - Psalms 45:11

He knows everything about you! Even the hair on your head he has numbered.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. - Luke 12:7

He has searched you and known you, He knows your every thought and every desire. He is always where you are. His thoughts for you are so precious to Him.. They are so full of Mighty Love that our hearts are not even close to contain it!
                                    -Psalms 139

My sisters, there are so many words in this Awesome word of God's unfailing love for you! So many I don't even think this post could handle. But may I encourage you to read some of this truth next time the media tries to steal your joy? And to start speaking The thoughts of Jesus over yourself?  It's incredibly life changing once you know that you are beautiful.

And not because of your physical beauty. I honestly don't think that's what Jesus is referring to. Even though we are all physically beautiful because God created us in His image. But I believe what Jesus means by beauty is our hearts. 

The Lord made it very clear in the scripture about that He doesn't look at the physical body, but He looks at the heart.. Now I'll be the first to admit that I sometimes get to carried away with outward beauty and not focus enough on inward beauty. The world has gotten the hang of making outward beauty it's focus. Which as always a total opposite of God's way, and thoughts.


 "Rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." 1 Peter 3:4

The heart is so much more precious to our First Love than  physical beauty ladies.  Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't wear make up, or dress fashionably. I believe God wants us to look our best and dress our best. Because we represent Him. But He doesn't want us to make it our main focus.. He doesn't want physical beauty to go through our minds 24/7. Because to Him it's not beautiful at all.

Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.  -Proverbs 31:30

So, my darlings, I want to encourage you today. I want you to know that YOU.ARE.BEAUTIFUL!

Not because the world says so, not because I say so, not because of your wardrobe, make up products, weight loss, or weight gain, not even because of who you are but because of who Jesus is in you. And He has made you absolutely flawless girl! He thinks you're beautiful love! And I just happen to agree with Him! Because it would be totally a bad idea to disagree with The King of kings.


                                       Much love to you today, Beautiful!
                                                    xoxo-Heather. 

31 Days of Beautiful..

Hey lovelies!  So, today I found this pretty cool linkup for blogging everyday in October.. Obviously I'm already a day late because I just saw that some of my blog friends are joining and thought it could be a fun/challenging experience and new ways to make some friends. 

So my this Month topic is going to be all about beauty!

And the true meaning of it and what beauty really is!

Because often times I really feel like the world doesn't have a clue on beauty.

And I believe God's idea of beauty needs to be revealed.

                                                   Will you join me?
                                                    XOXO-Heather.

You're beautiful!

  "Who are they to tell you that you are ugly when God has already spoken that you are beautiful? -Heather leigh

Happy Wednesday  lovelies, Today I want to talk with you about something that has burdened my heart.

When you ladies get up in the morning and  look in the  mirror do you ever feel instant insecurity about your appearance?

Or when you look at the cover of a magazine about the sexiest women alive or something like that? Do you feel not as pretty?

Do you know where those lies are coming from? The enemy. The king of lies.

You see, those are lies I heard so much during my teenage years. So much that I started to believe them and claimed them as my own. 

I thought I was ugly, I thought I was fat and I thought I was stupid..

All this because of a little lie.... A little lie that I let have a bigger impact on my teenage life  then it should have.

I'm honestly not sure if I actually had a minor eating disorder or not.. But regardless, the mindset I had wasn't healthy.  There were days where I skipped meals, went a day without eating and took weight loss pills.. Healthy right?? Nope.. 

I was such a people pleaser and so focused on fitting into smaller jeans I was desperate..

I actually still have to remind myself to eat to this day. Not for the sake of loosing weight but I'm just not a huge eater.. One thing I have learned though about focusing too much on outer appearances though is that whether you are overweight, curvy or on the thin side people will always have a negative side. Kinda just like pregnancy.

"You're too skinny to be 30 weeks pregnant"    "Are you eating enough"  "You need to like go home and eat now!"

When I was in my early stages of pregnancy I was really sick. I couldn't hold nothing down as much as I tried. Not even water. And ended loosing 20 pounds from the whole experience. And because of my long torso it made me look even skinnier.. Though people may have meant for those comments to be considered as compliments it was hard for me not to take them as a slap in the face.. Especially when this one lady asked me if I was eating enough. I was so upset about that due to my earlier years..

Continuing in my pregnancy it was very rare when I got a "You look great!"  (Which is a comment I'd prefer. and it makes the comment a lot less awkward!

After I gave birth to my darling baby girl.. I was able to get back into my pre pregnancy clothes within a few weeks and then they ended up being too big for me. I guess with the weight I already lost from morning sickness and the weight loss from constant nursing made me underweight. Leaving me a little insecure once again.. And the comments I received seriously made me feel worse..

"You're so skinny."  Where did your butt go?"  "Man, I'm so jealous"? "You don't even look like you had a baby!" "Girl, you lost your curves, you looked so much better with curves."

How do you respond to those kinda comments? To me it makes the conversation totally awkward. "Thanks?"   I feel like if I were to say thanks it would  make me sound vain or if I were to say nothing at all I feel like I'd be rude..


I'm telling you these things not because I'm complaining about my physical body. Because I finally love my physical body. Do you know why? Because it's no longer my focus.

I have realized  that body type is such an obsession these days where being skinny is dangerously desired  and to some who aren't skinny either don't think their pretty or they believe their prettier than thinner women..

I read this quote the other day that I didn't take fancy of at all..

 "Real women aren't a size 4 ladies, Real women have curves".

I know and understand that this quote is meant for the media's models and all but seriously? Do we have to go as far as calling them fake women? The only thing fake about them is their body on the magazine what was Photoshopped...  And you know some girl's can't help the fact that they are size 0's 4's 6's 24's  Some women can't help their size due to circumstances or it's just the way they were created. Beautifully.  

Darlings.. Whether you are overweight, underweight, curvy or thin.  I just want to tell you that you are beautiful. Maybe the media would disagree because of the zit on your face or the stretch marks, or the freckles but you know what. Who cares what they think?  My question to you is "Who are they to tell you that you are ugly when God has already spoken that you are beautiful? After all,  He created you perfectly and completed you with His Son Jesus who defines your beauty.

So sisters, let today be the last day that we agree with the lie that was told.. The lie that told us we are not worthy, that we are ugly, that we are fat, that we are skinny. But instead let us believe the truth that will set us free. We are beautiful! Not because of who we are but who Our Beloved Jesus is in us..

Lets stop with these worldly desires to lose or gain weight just to fit in with the media's  Photoshopped beauty. And desire only to be healthy. The way it's meant to be!

And please... Can we stop identifying and labeling people as skinny or curvy.. A "You're beautiful" would be perfect and even more perfect is "Your heart is beautiful!" 

                                   Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
                           But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
                                                     -Proverbs 31:30

                                             Love you, beauties!! XOXO  -Heather