Let's Review.

What's been happening in my life lately, you ask? I'm so glad you are wondering, because I would love to tell you!
Lately, I have relapsed in my Pinterest addiction. Sad, I know. I was doing SO good for a while. But, this is my FAVORITE Pinterest find of the week:

Okay, I love Adele as much as the next person. But come on, this is funny stuff. (via.)

Also this week, I found an AWESOME new blog to read and met a new friend (okay, we met through email, that counts, right?) named Haley. Her blog is called Divine Dating and it has been totally relevant to my life right now. I highly recommend it to single women of any age. I know you will find encouragement and strength from the things Haley posts about.The Lord speaks through her and He is using her blog for great things! I am so glad I connected with her!

Last night we had a mini girls night at Sharee's. We watched One Day with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.

First things first, I am not a fan of Anne Hathaway at all, but I love Jim Sturgess dearly (I am slightly in love with his character in Across the Universe, even more so if he didn't smoke so much weed in the movie haha!) ANYWAYS, even though I don't like Anne, I suggested we get the movie because some friends of mine liked it. Long story short... woah, do not waste your money on this movie. Such a sad movie in a few different ways. I won't say much about it, because it would give away important plot points, and I may not have talked some of you out of seeing the movie. It was definitely chick flickish, but not something I would recommend when feeling down and out, it's not really a "feel good" chick flick. *Steps off soap box*


My bible verse of the week this week is a very well known verse, but it has been such a welcoming reminder in my life lately.

I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

(Psalms 139:14)

I encourage anyone who struggles with identity or self esteem issues to write this truth on sticky notes/index cards and put them every where... in your car, write it on your bathroom mirror, your desk at work, MEMORIZE this verse and keep it in your heart. It serves as an encouragement to my heart when I am feeling superficial and getting caught up in how the world sees beauty.

I will leave you with a link to a song that has been on my heart this week. It's literally been coming up everywhere. Even when I have iTunes on shuffle, the song comes up way more often than it should. Pay no attention to the weird slides and the (few) lyric mess ups, just listen to the words of the song and sit at the feet of Jesus.

It's Friday, I'm in Love!
Link Up Party

Psalms to live by.

I bought this book at a bookstore the other day called Lady In Waiting: "Becoming God's Best While Waiting for Mr. Right" and have been using it as a devotional type study. So far, I love it! I encourage every single woman-young or old-to read it.

Yesterday and today I have been working on the challenge to read through the book of Psalms in the Old Testament and underline/circle the words "trust" and "rely upon" every time they appear(which just so happens to be A LOT). I could just skim through, since I have read the Pslams before, but instead, I decided to actually read every word out loud while I search for those keywords of "trust" and "rely upon." While reading this morning, I stumbled across this section of Psalms 119 (verses 9-16) that I have read a thousand times it seems, but it really hit home with me today, and in making this my prayer today, I wanted to share it with you guys as well!

How can a young man(woman) keep his way pure?

By living according to your word.

I seek you with all my heart;

do not let me stray from your commands.

I have hidden your word in my heart 

that I might not sin against you.

Praise be to you, O LORD;

teach me your decrees.

With my lips I recount

all the laws that come from your mouth.

I rejoice in following your statutes

as one rejoices in great riches.

I meditate on your precepts

and consider your ways.

I delight in your decrees; 

I will not neglect your word. 

♥

P.S. I won a giveaway for a Blog Critique e-book today! So I may be making some major blog renovations in the coming days! Check out the blog I won the giveaway at! 

A time and place for everything.

I feel like I complain a lot. I also feel like my blog is place for transparency. I feel this way because I hate reading blog posts from people who seem to "have it all together" and have the perfect life with perfect kids and a perfect job and they never have bad hair days or lock their keys in their car. I can't relate to those types of bloggers because that isn't real life. That being said... I have to just be honest here for a second and say that I am struggling. I have posted a couple of times before about being single and the effects of my life because of that(see this post, or this one, or even this one) okay... so maybe I talk about it a lot. It sure seems that way lately. The thoughts have been consuming my mind and I just want to openly share that with you guys today. As I have mentioned before, I do not WANT to be married right now or in the next year by any means... sometimes it just gets to me that I don't have anyone. I try to remember the verse in the Bible that says in Romans 12:2-

Do not conform to the patterns of this world, 

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--

His good, pleasing, and perfect will. 

It is the culture we live in that tells a person they have to be in a relationship to be happy, and while I know that is the case... I still find myself being sucked into this lie all the time and it is such a huge distraction in my life. 

We had a much needed girls night at our friend Sharee's house last night. We put hot oil treatments in our hair and sat in the sauna, and then did face masks and just sat around talking about what we miss about Alabama and it was so fun and reminded me why I love getting to hang out with just girls and having no obligation to a boy or anything. I love having girl friends to sit and talk with about silly stuff. Today, on top of struggling with the dumb want for a boyfriend... I miss my girl friends back home in Alabama and I miss girl talk and "stalking" people and "stealing" our friends' cars and having dance parties or marshmallow fights at the church at 3 AM. I miss having the option to get out of the house and go do a million different things with a million different people if I wanted to. I miss seeing familiar faces in town... Today I just miss home. 

My friend Sharee prayed with me in the sauna last night about these inward struggles going on in my brain and I really feel like it helped tons. I am still thinking about it and it's still a distraction in my life, but hearing about some things she has been going through lately and how God spoke to her heart and gave her peace about her situation, gave me hope and reminded me that God is still God and He is still good. No matter what "worldly" desires I may have, God still has the controls and none of this is a surprise to Him. I am so thankful for that and so thankful for friends He has placed in my path here that allow the Lord to speak through them to help ease my mind. Thank you, Jesus! You are so infinitely good to me and I do not deserve it in the slightest. 

In lieu of my love for the Savior of the universe and His promise of a new tomorrow I am linking up with Whispering Sweet Nothings for It's Friday and I'm in Love! An all things goes, no strings attached, weekend-long link up!  

Marriage Letter Monday: Patience

Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote a letter to my future husband? Well my friends Audrey and Quinton are joining with there friend Amber at The Run a Muck and her husband in an effort to preserve marriage by writing letters back and forth on their blogs every Monday. Since I am not married, I have decided to join in by writing to my future husband every once in a while. Click on my friends' names to read their letters to their spouses this week.

Wait for the Lord. Be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord.

via

Dear future husband of mine, 

Some days when I am looking on Facebook at all of my friends who are married or dating or something, I wonder "when is it gonna be my turn?" As I said in my last letter, I don't want to be married right now, but there is still this feeling of missing out or being left out when everyone else is enjoying being with their boyfriends/husbands especially with Valentine's Day being tomorrow! I don't like to be that cliched single person who hates Valentine's Day and all who celebrate it because of my singleness, but I do have to admit, it is slightly depressing. That's when I am reminded by God to be patient. I know that if I fully focus on the Lord and if you fully focus on the Lord, our paths will converge when the timing is right in God's eyes, not my eyes and not your eyes. Sometimes I wonder if I already know who you are, not if I know you're gonna be my  husband, but if we are friends or acquaintances or something. Is that silly? I don't want to rush into anything and to grow up to fast, I mean, my goodness the years of my life are already flying by at warp speed, I just need to focus all of my attention on God and being patient with His great and perfect plan for my life and your life and just be okay with waiting until the Lord feels that I am ready for a relationship. I just hope He doesn't wait until I am 30 or something, but if He does, I will just have to cross that bridge when I get to it, although, I am sure my mom will want grandkids before she is too old to play with them(no offense, Mother!) Speaking of mothers, I hope you have a nice one... as discussed earlier, I have a problem with patience! I also wanna add that I pray for you and who you are and who you are becoming often. I want our lives to reflect the love that Jesus has for us. I want our marriage to be one that shows people how Jesus loves the world. Last but not least, today I am praying that you will have patience with me. I can be a difficult person to get along with and I can be super negative about life sometimes, and sometimes I will just want my space. Please be patient with me on those days and in those moments, because even though I may say I don't want you around, I will always want that reassurance that you have my back no matter what.

Love,
Breanna♥

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongdoing. 

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. 

Marriage Letters

My friend Audrey at Q and A started this new thing called Marriage Letters where every Monday she posts a letter to her husband, Quinton. (Check out my Linking Up! at the bottom of this post.) She got the idea from a blog that she reads, but you will have to go to her blog to find out more! I was joking around with Audrey saying that I was gonna write a letter to my future husband since I am not married and don't even have a boyfriend. She said she thought it was a good idea...... so here goes!

Dear future husband... where/whoever you may be,

This is me. 

I sometimes find myself wondering what you are doing at a certain point in time. I like to think you are in Mexico or India or anywhere really, pouring your heart out in the mission field. I like to think you are doing something totally amazing that is furthering the Kingdom so one day when we are married I can say, "Listen to what my husband did before we met." There are a few things about me that you may want to know before we get married:

I don't know if I want children.

I don't like to wear make-up on most days, but I will always want to look my best for you.

I don't like to cuddle... but maybe I will get over that.

I can't imagine sharing a bed with someone... but maybe I will get over that, too.

I like to talk, A LOT. and I hope you are a great listener.

I love the Lord with all of my heart, and I hope you are okay with being second to Him.

I also hope that you love the Lord with all of your heart and know that I am totally okay with being second to Him.

My clothes hardly match or are ironed... and I love it that way.

I don't know how to cook, so you will have to be patient with me.

I will never settle down and live in one place the rest of my life, but I will always want you by my side. I hope your heart is as restless as mine.

I don't like to shave my legs all the time (gross, I know) but for you I will try to do better. 

I don't like to receive flowers or gifts, I would settle for a love note or text.

I have a board on Pinterest of what our wedding will look like, and I haven't even met you, yet. 

I spend way too much time over analyzing things.

I get jealous really easily, but the Lord is helping me work on that.

I can only hope that you will embrace and love these things about me and help and encourage me to do better on the things I need work on. Please be patient, because I really will try my hardest to be the wife I know God would want me to be. I can't wait to meet you and I hope you can't wait to meet me, either! 

-Love your future wife, Breanna 

*Linking Up!

If you want to read real love stories between husband and wife every Monday check out these posts:

A Proverbs 31 Woman

I have recently been thinking a great deal about being single. I have been single for like.... 2 years or more now? (Not that I necessarily want to be married or have children right now or within the next few years) Sometimes, when I have those days of self-pity, I start to really feel sorry for myself and think "Lord, what is so wrong with me?" Then I realize, I have a Man in my life who would never forsake me, never cheat on me, never ever ever leave me, someone I can tell all of my secrets to and not feel like I will be judged, and who will always love me no matter what life brings and His name is JESUS! That sounds so cliched for a Christian woman to say, but honestly, when you just really think about that, isn't it amazing?! The God of the universe wants an intimate relationship with you and can totally fill all of the voids in your life that you think having a worldly relationship will fill. We all have heard the old quote that says "A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ, that a man must seek Him first to find her." and this has been my adopted quote for life lately. My prayer is that I will fall so much in love with Christ that the idea of being single will never even cross my mind because I am so infatuated with the Lord, and if someone happens to come along and wants to run the race after God with me, then so be it. Also, I have been focusing on a couple different scriptures lately that have brought a great deal of comfort to my soul regarding this topic. These scriptures paint a picture of what an ideal wife should look like based on what the Lord says about it.

A wife should put her husband first, as she does the Lord. -Ephesians 5:22

So many times in my life I do not put the Lord first. Why do I think I could have a relationship with the right perspective, when I do not put the Lord first and foremost in my life EVERY. SINGLE. DAY? 

The steady dripping of rain and the nagging of a wife are one and the same. 

-Proverbs 27:15

Okay, so this one is definitely more on the funny side, seriously?! haha this just cracks me up. But on a serious note, I complain A LOT! I try not to be so negative all the time, but it just leaks out before I can stop it sometimes, and I don't want my husband to hate me because of it. It's something I am working to overcome.

And lastly, my prayer is that I can become a Proverbs 31 woman. 

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good. not harm, all the days of her life. She finds wool and flax and busily spins it. She is like a merchant's ship, bringing her food from afar. She gets up before the dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plans the day's work for her servant girls. She goes to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard. She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. She makes sure her dealings are profitable; her lamp burns late into the night. Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber. She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms wide to the needy. She has no fear for winter for her household, for everyone has warm clothes. She makes her own bedspreads. She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns. Her husband is well known at the city gates, where he sits with the other civic leaders. She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants. She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: "There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!" Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise. -Proverbs 31:10-31

I pray with all of my heart that one day when I am married and later when I have children, that I will be the wife that the Lord has laid out here in Proverbs: smart, brave, trustworthy, God-fearing, loving, motherly.... all of these things. I know that I am single because I am not capable of being all of these things right now, and I fully believe that my ministry here in Eugene is best done while being single(not true for everyone here on our team, ie: Q&A, Holleigh and Alec...just me personally) and the Lord is working on me and molding my heart to His will and to be able to one day be the best wife and mother I can possibly be to bring glory to His name. 

So, what does that mean for my life right now? It means I will focus on falling more and more in love with the Lord everyday. It means I will not let being single get me down ANY LONGER. It means I will be satisfied with the life God has placed in front of me. I will chase after His will with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength. 


*Linking Up!
I was referred to this blog today by Kerrie(The Williams Post) and I have been reading it all day! Her name is Casey Wiegand and she is an awesome blogger who is totally transparent in her writings in a way that I wish I could/would be. Go check her out and show her some blog lovin' ;)