The best has yet to come...

Jeremiah 29:11 " For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

I wanted to share this with yall tonight because this scripture has been weighing on my heart this week. I have turned to this scripture a lot since I graduated from high school a year ago. When I graduated I still had no clue where I was going to go much less what I was going to major in. I was lost and utterly confused. I prayed for weeks on weeks waiting for a sign as to where I should go. I had cheer scholarships to OPSU and WBU and acedemic scholarships to ENMU. I was torn. But a month before I left for college I decided my cheer career was done and I would attend ENMU in the fall.

That August I moved to Portales, New Mexico and was alone. I had a few friends I had grown up with but I guess you could call them the "Party Crowd." I was so worried about finding friends and fitting in that I continued to party every weekend with them.

I was drifting from the straight and narrow again. I was missing class and getting behind on my school work. Mid semester I began to realize I was becoming the person I swore I'd never be and surrounding myself with the wrong people. Do not get me wrong each of the people I met at college are amazing and will do great things after finishing college they just weren't the people I needed to become. When finals came along I worked my butt off to get all A's and B's for my final grades, and made the decision to move home at Christmas and not return in the spring.

If not for my mother I probably would not have survived my first semester of college. She worked so hard to get me back on the straight and narrow. She was always so uplifting and encouraging. I am blessed to know she never once turned her back on me. She welcomed me home with arms wide open.

Anyways moral to my long drug out story, God has a plan and regardless of the plans you have his are always greater. He will always lead you "home". No matter what you are going through right now just keep in mind God has a plan and the best is yet to come. He will not lead you anywhere He has not made you strong enough to overcome. Stay strong in your faith and God will provide.

XOXO- Bri

Reclaiming my FAITH...

I've come to find myself in The Lord and I have recommitted my life to Christ a few months back. And once I did a few things became so harshly clear for me. I had drifted so far from Christ that I was lost and alone in the dark.

You asked me what the scariest part was? I answered; the scariest part was not the loneliness or the darkness that fills you. But the scariest part was realizing that you have lost yourself completely. I was at the point where I thought I needed to please everyone and make everyone else happy before I focused on myself. When I was miserable making everyone else happy. Once I stopped caring what people were judging me for I found it easier to focus on me and what I needed to do to fix me and make me happy. Then things got a little scarier, because I didn't know where to start. I had strayed so far from God that I was lost and in the dark.

So I began to pray and pray and pray. Not once asking why He let me stray but what I needed to do to fix the mess I created for myself. My bank account was a wreck, my family life was stressed beyond measures, I came to realize my friends weren't really my friends, and the list goes on. But the point is I was in a place that had a lot to fix and I needed God to guide me. I was tired of being in that state of mind and I needed help.

So I reclaimed my faith and stood strong and God provided. I now have a full time job at the hospital, I'm going to nursing school, my bank account hasn't been over drawn in months, and as for my family and I we serve The Lord. It may have taken me a long time to get where I am today but I couldn't be happier and each day my faith grows a little more.

XOXO- Bri

You're a Super Hero..

Growing Up, we all had our favorite Super Hero. We loved that our Super Hero’s had secret identities, fought to protect us against the evil Super Villains who wanted to destroy the World, and always prevailed. Whether it was Batman, Superman, Superwoman, or He-Man, we all wanted to be a Super Hero. If you did follow your favorite superhero, then you also realized something else…no Super Hero was without His Flaw. Every superhero had his Kryptonite or the love of His life that he lost, or some tragic flaw. And every super Hero at some point thinks about hanging it up, giving up the life of fighting super villains and crime, giving up on fighting for good. In the new movie the Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne is faced with that decision…. to continue to try and help Gotham, or to retire. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever asked yourself why you pursue your dreams because they seem to never materialize? Do you ask yourself why you search for the love of your life because it seems like you’ll never find them? Do you ever ask yourself why you try and do the right thing when it seems like those that lie, steal and cheat get further in life? Guess what? You’re a Super Hero… and it’s up to you to save the world around you. Most Super Hero’s can do something cool like fly, or have a batmobile, or swing with spider webs from building to building…. they have a Super Power. Have you ever stopped and thought about the fact that God gives you Super Human abilities. Superheros rely on inner strength and will, and we have the same powers if we harness our faith deep inside of us. Jesus said, “if you believe and have the faith of a Mustard Seed, you can tell this mountain to go jump in the sea and will it will be done.” How powerful is that? Can you imagine telling Mt. Everest to go Jump into the ocean and it really happening? It could if you believed in your faith enough. You might be thinking “yea that’s cool” but we don’t have a super villain to fight. You’d be wrong. The truth is, the worst of the worst super villains, the Devil, works everyday to bring his Army to destroy our lives, our hearts, our relationships, our faith, our families, and our world. His goal is to kill our spirit. In the world we live in, it would seem that’s he’s winning. Scandals, Shootings, War, it’s a never-ending cycle of evil. Why is that? No Super Hero is stepping up. You’re not stepping up. I’m not stepping up. No One is fighting the good fight. We need a Super Hero. We need you. God has prepared us and has given us the weapons we need. Weapons far more advanced than anything Wayne Enterprises could construct for Batman. In Ephesians 6, God tells us to put on the Full Armor of God to take a stand against the devil’s schemes. He gives us the Belt of Truth, a Shield of Faith, the Helmet of Salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Tell me that’s not the coolest Super Hero outfit and weaponry ever?! But now it’s up to you. It’s up to me. God has given us the tools, but someone has to step up. Will it be you. Will you be the Dark Knight that Rises?

XOXO- Bri

In the beginning...

Have you ever tried to walk through a new house in the dark? Most will find this almost impossible, I know I would not be able to do so without running into something. Its a not so easy walk in the dark.

Have you ever tired to find your way through a new town without the sunlight or GPS on your phone? Yeah, that's nearly impossible too. Its a not so easy walk in the dark.

But so is trying to find your faith in Jesus when you're going through a hard time. It is a not so easy walk in the dark when you don't have a GPS leading the way. Jesus is our GPS through life and when we don't have him we tend to find ourselves lost in the dark.

There have been times throughout life when we have questioned everything we believe in, if you haven't you're lying because at one point and time everyone has done it. Its okay to admit that. It is just part of finding you and what you truly believe in. But Jesus died for you no questions asked, not knowing if you were going to love him back. And you know what He was okay with that because regardless of the life you have lived no sin is any different from any other, and He will welcome you with arms wide open. I wish I would have realized this a lot sooner that I did.

I had my walk in the dark a while back. My faith was shattered at one point and time. This took me a long time to find my way out of the dark. My parents got divorced when I was a freshman in high school when I was most vulnerable, when I needed that male role model most. My dad was my best friend and one day I came home and he was gone. This was the beginning to my walk in the dark. I didn't understand how someone that I spent soooooo much time with could just up and leave me. We didn't talk for nearly three years. From there I had the thought that no one will stay forever and I began to shut people that I cared most about out. This wasn't a healthy time in life for me and no I do not regret any part of my past because I can not change it so why worry about it. It only helped me grow in the long run. I still occasionally have a stubborn side that tends to take a short walk in the dark alone. But its these walks that help me grow in my faith and to truly see the blessings God has given me in life and the relationships He's planted in my life.

God will not lead you somewhere you cannot handle being. Stay true to your faith and God will provide.

XOXO -Bri