Pretty panties

In the bottom drawer of my dresser is a nice collection of pretty panties with the tags still on them that I have never worn.  In my top dresser drawer are the ho-hum everyday panties that I wear on a daily basis.

What in the world am I saving all of these pretty panties for?  I probably have 20 pairs of brand new pretty panties in there, and I wear boring panties every single day!    

Whaaaaa????

Because I WAS saving them for a special occasion.  Marriage.

It appears that is not going to happen for me, so I have decided to reward my weight loss milestones with new pretty panties.  Quite honestly, I would rather be slim, trim, and single in pretty panties than being married anyways.  Yes – I am going through one of my “man hater” stages.  Don’t worry though, it will pass.  I’m a lover to my very core.  Just a stage, friends.   

I have lost eight pounds since the first of the year.  I started out on fire, but my weight loss has slowed down with the winter blahs, changing my workout to include weight lifting, and a sick family (including myself for the past three days).  Currently, I am teetering on one of those scale numbers that end in a zero.  There is something so magical about dropping down below that mark.  When I do – I am breaking out a pair of those new pretty panties or two, then again in five more pounds, then again the next five, and then the last five I get the whole drawer full and will throw out my top drawer of ho-hum panties and start collecting something new.  Not panties though.

It’s like the good dining room dishes.  What are we saving them for!?  Isn’t everyday a good enough reason to celebrate and break out the good dishes?

Enough ho-hum panties for this girl!  It’s time to break out the pretty panties!

YOLO!! (you only live once)

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!

Around the first of the year I read a really cool post that included things to start doing in the New Year which included lighting a candle when we do our devotions to remind ourselves that we are the light of the world.  Lighting a candle has been a very nice addition to my daily morning quiet time with the Lord.  I will add the link to that cool post when I figure out where I found it!  Do you ever do that - read something that you want to go back and re-read and forget where you found it in the first place?

This morning, as I was reading my daily devotional in "Jesus Calling" from my sweet friend Kim from At Home With Kim, when I got to the sentence that read, "See times of darkness as opportunities for My Light to shine in transcendent splendor." - my glass votive shattered right there in front of me on my kitchen counter top.  Can you believe that?  The glass shattered, but the light kept on shining!  (The dovotional is written as if Jesus is talking to us directly.) 

 

 

 

"The Word gave life to everything that was created,

and his life brought light to everyone.

The light shines in darkness,

and the darkness can never extinguish it."

John 1: 4-5

 

 

So as it is with my life.  Sometimes circumstances around me will shatter and break, but the light of Jesus shines in "transcendent splendor" at all times and the "darkness can never extinguish it."    

 

Quite a lesson for this girl on a Monday morning!  

 

So, now I am singing my favorite church song which was probably the first song that I learned at Sunday School at the Baptist church, where my brother used to sit behind me and tie me to the chair with the bow on the back of my dress.  Everybody sing with me now.....

 

This little light of mine - I'm gonna let it shine.  This little light of mine - I'm gonna let it shine.  This little light of mine - I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

 



Be REAL to be REALLY loved

On the outside, I look like a good Jesus Girl (or at least I think I do).  On the inside, sometimes there is a different girl afraid that she will not be loved “if they knew the truth.”  I’m not talking all the time, but sometimes when I am struggling with sin.  Yes, sin.  We all sin. I know it’s a dirty word.

A few months ago, I confided in a Christian girlfriend about a sin that I was struggling with.  Keeping it inside made me feel miserable and alone, but I was too ashamed to tell anyone in fear of being unloved.    You know what she said after I told her about this struggle?  “Jenni, I struggled with that too.  I know how you feel.”  It was like she took a ton of bricks off my shoulders.  I thought I was the only bad Jesus girl.  Jesus girls want to say the right Jesus things and do the right Jesus things and wear the right Jesus things and listen to the right Jesus music and project the perfect Jesus image.  But sin creeps in and we freak out and try to hide it because we are Jesus girls.  We are not supposed to sin.

Who doesn’t love a good Jesus girl? But will they love a bad Jesus girl (past or present)?

I know that by confessing my sins to God I will be forgiven.  But, there is incredible power in confession to a fellow Christian.  What I thought would make her think less of me actually brought us closer together.  I’m not proud that we both shared the same sin, but it felt so good to be real.  In being real, our bond strengthened. 

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” – James 5:16

Confession brought out loving support – not judgment or disgust.   We prayed together which brough about wonderful results.  She was able to love me more because she knew me more.  You can only be loved as much as you are known.  Likewise, I love her more because I know her more.  

So to be REALLY loved, we need to be REALLY real.

Duh!