Turkey Day with GRAYvy!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I am anxiously awaiting the turkey with cranberry sauce, the mashed potatoes, grandma's stuffing, uncle mikes drunken yams, and grandpa's famous apple pie a la mode. Yes the food is beyond good and something that i cant wait for but what makes this holiday my favorite, is my family, the people that I love. Every year we go around the table and talk about what we are personally thankful for for that past year. I have been thinking about what I am going to say for a week now and I have come to a mental draft. I am so thankful for my family. For my parents and what they have done for me. I am thankful for my siblings and the fun things that we get to experience together. But what I am even more thankful for is the relationship that I have with the Lord and all the growth that has occurred over this past year. For without this growth I wouldn't be in the arms of an amazing Man of God...GRAY! God intends for us to be together and it is obvious because of the encouragement, respect, love, and commitment that we have for each other and to the Lord. So I am thankful for Gray. I am thankful that the Lord provides for our every need. He provides over and abundantly for us. He doesn't have to give us a thing. He doesn't have to give us joy, love, grace, peace, excitement, hope or even life but He does because He loves us. He cares for us beyond anyone else can in our life. So what are you thankful for? What makes your heart feel like it can't get any happier or can't get any more full of love that is overflowing?

Chain Linked!

When I think about a chain link fence I think of isolation, separation, and distance. When I think about those descriptions... I ask myself why I let things isolate me from God, why do I walk away from His promises. Do I think that the fence is something that God choose to place there or did I place it there myself because I didn't want to deal with something? God continually encourages us to break down the fences we put up... sure we can see God still through the chain link fence or barrier that we have placed up because we know that we don't want to go through life by ourselves. But we for some reason like to think that that fence isn't holding us back from anything. When I was on my walk today, I was encouraged to see this fence, my mind started thinking about how we place barriers in our lives. God got a hold of me and confirmed that He doesn't want anything to get in the way of our relationship with Him. A relationship with barriers from being completely together is lacking something. Physical touch, intimacy emotionally, growth spiritually. So this chain linked fence is blocking God from being close with us. He desires our attention, He desires our Hearts to be set on Him, and He yearns for a closer relationship with us. So go get some chain snips and start breaking down the fence between yourself and God.

Life is a Box of Chocolates

They say that life is a box of chocolates.....If you describe what a box of chocolate means in its significant state, words like smooth & creamy textures, Loved, Delicious, Cherished, Thought of, Wanted, and Special are just a few that would come to mind. But if we look at it through the phrase "a box of chocolates" doesn't always mean something positive. A box of chocolates if ate all at once would actually become negative; one would gain weight, feel sick from the sugar bomb to their stomach, have a caffeine headache, wouldn't enjoy the 20th bite as much as the first few, bite into something that is not what you expected, maybe the box of chocolates wasn't what you expected -dark choc rather than milk choc, or cherry filling-. So if Life was "Like a Box of Chocolates" would we become numb to the mountain top experiences of the first bite by the monotonous consistency of what we were eating? The unbalanced box of chocolates experience is empty, unsatisfying. We cant experience mountain top all the time without becoming numb, and we cant hurrying up life to experience the last bite because we would forget what we are eating at each bite along the way. So with balance we experience each blessing with a single bite at a time. We get to know what we are missing when we are not eating chocolates, and we get to look forward to experiencing that taste again. We have to cherish each moment for we don't know when its our last. So life can be like "A box of Chocolates" as long as you balance your consumption. To have this balance you trust that God will supply the chocolates, will carry you through each day, will remain true to His promises of who HE is and take each moment like its your last. Cherish Life, cherish those who are in your life and eat some delicious chocolate!

A Single Brick in The Great Wall of China

If the Great Wall of China represented life and each brick represented a person would it make life more important if you knew that someone else was depending on you. Depending on you to make a difference in their life. SO you ask yourself the question am I making a difference in life and in those lives around me? Am I sharing the Love of Jesus and am I encouraging them to see God's love and grace? I want to be different. Be that person who actually made a difference in life. I want to be a single brick that stands out, that supports those around it, who is selfless, and who is solid in Jesus.