Pure of Heart*

Most mornings when we get ready for work, we usually play worship music to get us ready for the day. It really helps in getting our hearts ready for the day and puts our mindsets into “its not about me” for work or whatever we are doing for the day. This morning a song from Sean McDonald came on, I don’t recall the title of the song but one of the lyrics quoted Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God.” Then something automatically clicked. The pure of heart will see God. In Matthew, Paul doesn’t state that anyone else will see God he only says that the pure of heart will see God. It always kind of made sense, I have heard someone talk about and their study through these set of verses before, but today for some reason it clicked!

And I got excited!

If I as a person who claim to love God and center my life on him, am not trying to become pure in heart, I think I will be missing a great part of what God intends for me. Obviously I am not born pure, only God is truly pure, it is something that I will constantly have to work on for the rest of my life. But someone pure in heart, is someone who is being aware of what kind of movies they are watching, music they are listening too and what content is being put in my mind. If I am watching the “popular” shows that are full of sex, profanity and everything else in it that is no bueno, then I let the world dictate what kind of thoughts and images are popping in my head during the day. The world is darkness, (it needs the light) so allowing those things into my mind puts a veil over my eyes. But if I am pure of heart, if I am not allowing those dark veiling images and thoughts to cover my eyes, I am able to see God.

If I want to hear from God and have him reveal himself to me, then I will need to be mindful of what I am putting in my head. Duh I want to see God, how awesome would that be!

Actually a couple of months ago, Shelden and I were talking about what it really means to live a pure life. Does that mean living extreme? I have felt it on my heart to not watch rated “R” movies. And that sounds all religious but after really thinking about it, I was asking myself, why would I want to put all of that junk in my head. I don’t have a problem with profanity in the case that it makes me stumble, or that I struggle with it, but if I want a pure heart, is profanity going to get me there or only take me back a few steps. There definitely are some good movies that have come out or that I have wanted to see that are rated “R”. But what is the cost? Would I rather see God, who loves me more than I could even imagine, than the movie that looks really good. I want to watch and listen to something that is uplifting, not dark or depressing. A lot of shows these days are dark, and gruesome…gross! I don’t want to see bloody zombie bodies. I say that jokingly but really, there is so much crap on T.V.

When all is said and done, when I get to meet my maker, I want him to be proud of what I put in my mind and in my heart, I want him to say that I am pure in heart.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Matthew 5:8

sickie poo

I hate being sick....
we have tried everything to prevent it so hopefully it will just pass on through. There is not a lot of medication that I can take being prego. So napping, drinking lots of water and reading will have to be the cure for now. And prayer of course! I am trying to lay low because the Generation Church Youth Conference, Encounter is coming up and we are leaving on thursday! woo-whoooo!!! I do not want to miss this! I have been wanting to go for the past 2 years but we haven't been able to. So being sick isn't going to hold me back!

Valentines Day

Usually we don't do much for Valentines Day, Shelden makes the big bucks at Olive Garden on Valentines Day, serving everyone else on a date. This Valentines Shelden thought it would be cool to make cupcakes for his co-workers. Lately we have talked about how to be Jesus to our co-workers, and what better way than to bake them a little treat. So we baked up a little storm in the kitchen before we went to work that day...I think from now on we are going to dedicate Valentines Day to other people. It's nice being all lovie-dovie with each other for Valentines but we are usually good at being nice to each other all the rest of the days of the year. Celebrating our marriage comes easy for us so far...thank God for that. People who have been married for a while tell us that you will pass the honeymoon stage and get into "real life" and that's when marriage gets hard. And I definitely agree that marriage is hard, and there are struggles but why can't "real life" always be the honeymoon stage. I mean, maybe I just don't know quite yet because we have only been married for a year and a half but I feel like we are just breaking into the next level of our honeymoon phase. We are more in love than we were when we got married! Life is great...I was sitting in church last Sunday thinking, wow! we are so blessed, God has us in a good spot. We have moved in with my parents, and it's not a last resort thing, it all worked out with the situation that we were in before and now we are able to save more money for the baby and for a house. God has us in an amazing church that has invested in our lives and in return we have invested in it, Church for Life is like our second home. To those people who have the marriage that is in a "real life" mode, I think it's all perspective. If you believe you are blessed you will live like you are blessed just like if you believe you are capable of living in a honeymoon phase you WILL live in a honeymoon phase.
all in all....valentines day should be about someone else...just like marriage...its about your spouse. :)

*our finished product*

**a little taste of REALity**

This past weekend we got to babysit our nephew and niece. They are the cutest little things!!! Noah is 5 and Shiloh is 7 months. So we got to get a little taste of having a baby around the house. The first time I changed her diaper that day, I thought to myself, "oh my goodness, I will be doing this all the time with MY baby!". WOW!!! we are having a baby!!! It still is so surreal...but we are so very excited and are honored to be parents. Hopefully our baby will be a kick back kind of baby like my niece. We sat and watched The Proposal and she just played with her baby toys...she just learned how to crawl but she wants to walk so bad, the only time she was fussy is when she was frustrated with her legs when they wouldn't walk. :) I am so excited to see Micah's firsts. His first smile, first crawling, steps, first word, and many more firsts! I am glad it takes 9 months for this baby to grow in my belly...it has been a process to realize that we are going to be the Mommy and the Daddy...but in a good way!!! God has been growing us together in our relationship before our baby comes and it has been an awesome ride so far! :)

goofy faced Noah :)

 Shel is going to be an amazing Daddy!

She is such a joy!