The Button Down

Most of us have button downs in our closet. Here are two of my favorite ways to wear mine. 

Purple Button Down: New York & Co.

Vest: Charlotte  Russe

Black Pants: Kohls

Cream Cardigan: Target

Silver Flower Belt: New York & Co.

Grey Boots: Kohls

Sunday Seven

Okay, here they are. My top seven pins from Pinterest

pinned here

I just love the cardigan, well and who doesn't love Carrie Underwood?

pinned here

Enamel painted vases

pinned here

Looks easy enough; I haven't tried it yet though.

pinned here

pinned here

I'm thinking about trying this in my office at home.

pinned here

Wax paper to get rid of water stains

It works! I tried it yesterday.

pinned here

I will take these in a size 7 please!

Sunday Seven

Every Sunday I will post my top 7 pins from pinterest for the week. So here is my first Sunday Seven...

The color is fabulous, and I have a thing for backless dresses. 

(Even if I did have this dress I doubt I would wear it to the fruit market, just sayin')

This was the inspiration behind my new haircut!

Stunning gown for one of the many girls who have a wedding coming up.

Talk about using his influence wisely.

3.4 million people Google searched John 3:16 after Tim Tebow has it written in his eye black.

"Just"

This blog is called “Transparent, Honest, and True” so I am going to let you all in on a little secret…I really love celebrity news and gossip. You know shows like E! News, Keeping up with the Kardashians, People and US magazine. All of it! You too? Good, then keep reading, you might be able to relate.

I think we often look at celebrities on the red carpet and magazines and fantasize what their lives must be like. The parties the doors of influence that are open to them, the people they must know, the glamorous life they lead.  Then we look at our own lives and we go oh yeah there’s Angelina Jolie saving the world and here I am just hoping I don’t fail my test tomorrow or that I can get all my housework done before I am out of a weekend. I mean come on Angelina Jolie doesn’t even need to be part of the UN because she has the UN living in her own home with all of her kids from the 7 corners of the world. HELLO

SO often we look at these celebrities lives and become so discouraged when we look back at our own lives and we start putting limits on our lives by using the word JUST. Ever been there? I have.

Look at  Mark 2:1-3 He (Jesus) left there and returned to his hometown. His disciples came along. On the Sabbath, he gave a lecture in the meeting place. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. "We had no idea he was this good!" they said. "How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such ability?"

But in the next breath they were cutting him down: "He's JUST a carpenter—Mary's boy. We've known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?" They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further.

In this passage other people were minimizing the work of Jesus, but it made me stop and wonder how many of us are minimizing our own work or where God has strategically placed us in our lives by saying I am just an office manager, secretary, stay at home mom, student, you fill in the blank?

Know with confidence that if you are deliberately seeking the will of God than God has you strategically placed there, and if God has a purpose for you and has anointed you to do it, where is the enemy going to attack you the most? It’s in the very area that God has anointed you. The enemy may be evil but he is not stupid!

Take these next few people for example.

Moses, Moses was “just” a shepherd who God called to release the Israelites from the Egyptian oppression.

David was” just” a shepherd that slain a giant.

 Esther was “just” a Jewish girl who saved her people from death

All of this came to be because they chose to see the power and purpose in their situations instead of remaining in the “just” mindset.

Remember: you are not “just” a mother you are nurturing the destiny of future world shakers. You are not just a student; you have the ability to reach people that everyone else has somehow let go unnoticed. You can be the face of love, the arms of comfort, and the voice of hope, change, and freedom in Jesus to anyone in your world if you open yourself up to allow God to do something supernatural through you. Start declaring yourself as more! Start declaring yourself a son or daughter of the most high, more than a conqueror, and anointed to do His work on earth.

Selah.

Fashion Friday

This is my new favorite outfit.

Here is a close up of the jacket

The jacket is from a boutique in Mobile, AL called Polish 

http://www.polishboutique.com

(I love shopping at boutiques. It is a great way to ensure that your clothes are a little more unique.)

I love the zipper around the collar and the studs on the sleeves.

and the shirt under I got from American Eagle for about $20

Cross Painting

I got a lot of compliments on this painting when I did it over a year ago so I thought I would give a mini lesson on how I made it. It really is not that difficult.

What you will need:

- a canvas

- 4 different colors of fabric paint (2 dark & 2 light) 

(Also, when choosing colors think about where you want to hang your painting after it is done)

- 2 sponge brushes 

- a  small to medium size paintbrush 

- puffy paint (optional)

Step 1: Sketch out the cross on your canvas. You may want to measure to get the exact proportions correct.

Step 2: Paint the cross with your desired color using a sponger brush. 

Step 3: Paint your background with a separate color. It will look better if the cross and background are not both light or dark colors.

Your painting should look similar to this at this point.

Make sure to let this dry before moving on to step four. To speed the process up use a hair dryer, but make sure it is 100% dry before you move on.

Step 4:  Now it is time to add some flair with your paintbrush. Add swirls, hearts, or whatever you wish. This is the step most people stress over. Just loosen your hand and don't stress over it being perfect. You can use this picture as a guide but honestly the less you care the better it will turn out. As you can tell mine is not perfect and it does not need to be.(If you have a dark background you are going to use the lightest of the three colors you are using in this step. If you chose to paint your background light, you will start with the darkest of your three colors.)

Again make sure each layer of paint is dry before you move to the next step.

Step 5: Use your in between shade of paint and paintbrush to again go over your squiggles. Follow the same direction but do not be worried to be directly on top of your other squiggles. Letting the first color shine through gives it depth.

Step 6: After letting the previous paint dry add your third color over the squiggles. (Remember: if your background is light this will be you lightest color on top, if your background is dark like mine this will be your darkest color)

Step 6: This step is optional. I chose to put white puffy paint over my squiggles to make them "pop" a little more.

Here it is hanging in my kitchen! It really is easy and fun.

Below is a picture of my family and their paintings  to give you different examples of colors and designs. Another great place to pick colors for your painting would be on the Pinterest color pallets!

Be Still

I am sure many of you have heard of this verse before. It is like one of those verses you scribble on your notebook or you edit it into a beautiful picture of you lying on the beach while your tan body is glistening in the sun and your toes are in the sand. 

This is actually the verse God gave me for the year. Now if you know me at all, you know I have a VERY difficult time being still. If I am sitting I am shaking my foot, leg or whole body (yeah the person that shakes the whole row at church….that’s me!). If I am standing, I am rocking, twisting, or shaking my legs. I can’t even be still in bed; I am always twitching and rubbing my feet. And then there is my mind….I can analyze something in 206 ways in approximately 2.2 seconds and I can twist and turn something that is no big deal into a massive problem. Can you relate? So when God gave me this as my verse for the year my thought was “no God you have the wrong girl, remember it is impossible for me to be still...EVER!” Well, God didn’t change his mind and that is still my verse for 2012 so I thought I would share with you how I am learning to be still and rest in Him when that really isn’t in my type A personality.

I found a guy in the Bible that found it pretty hard to be still too, Abraham. Abraham was a very faithful servant of Gods for many years, but his deepest desire was to have a child and he is now about 76 and still has no son. 

Genesis 15:1-6

¹ After all these things, this word of God came to Abram in a vision: "Don't be afraid, Abram. I'm your shield. Your reward will be grand!"

 ^2-3 Abram said, "God, Master, what use are your gifts as long as I'm childless and Eliezer (ew Eliezer, who would want to give everything they own to some dude named Eliezar! I picture the witch in Snowhite, the one with the black and icky, long, nasty nails saying his name, Eliezer, in her deep creepy voice)  of Damascus is going to inherit everything?" Abram continued, "See, you've given me no children, and now a mere house servant is going to get it all."

 ⁴ Then God's Message came: "Don't worry, he won't be your heir; a son from your body will be your heir."

 ⁵ Then he took him outside and said, "Look at the sky. Count the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You're going to have a big family, Abram!"

 ⁶ And he believed! Believed God! God declared him "Set-Right-with-God."

Yup, pretty sure Abraham is pumped! He even told his wife Sarah so she could share in his excitement too that they were going to be parents.

But, can you relate? Have you ever felt like God has given you a promise?  Or have you ever had one of those moments of feeling at peace knowing God has everything under control in your situation? After you feel like God has spoken to you or touched you, you are over the moon, at peace, and totally content. You are not questioning what God spoke to you. You take it at face value and believe that he is going to heal the sickness in your body, open the next door of opportunity, heal your relationship, or insert what you are believing for here.

Then like it did for Abraham and Sarah, time passes and you start to question what God “really” meant when He made that promise to you. Or you start to wonder if that peaceful feeling you had wasn’t just a moment. You start trying to take the whole promise into your own hands much like Sarah and Abraham did in Genesis 16. I can just see Sarah talking to Abraham saying: “You know, I bet what God really meant when He promised you a son is that you should sleep with my servant, Hagar, and let her have the baby and we will raise it!” ….and Abraham agreed that was a good idea.  

Well, let’s think about this, 2 girls going after 1 guy ALWAYS = T-R-O-U-B-L-E! Can I get an amen?

Well my point in this story is that we need to learn to be still and rest in God. A promise left in our own hands only means a delayed promise. By trying to take a God promise and achieve it by human means only caused heartache for them both (read on in Genesis 16 to find out more).  How often are we guilty of this? We hear from God then weeks, moths, years down the road when we haven’t seen the promise we try to achieve the promise on our own and show or tell God what He “really” meant. Your thinking might go something like this. God I know that you promised me this amazing man who loves Jesus and supports me and encourages me and treats me like the princess You created me to be, but I don’t really think he exists and Tim Tebow doesn’t even know I am alive. So I am just going to date this guy. He thinks I’m amazing and treats me pretty good and he doesn’t really have a great relationship with you but at least he prays every night. Nope, stop trying to take the situation into your own hands. It didn’t work for Abraham and it won’t work for you. God is a gentleman and He will let you exhaust every means to achieve the promise on your own until you come to him broken and say “I can’t do it anymore.” At that exact moment is the moment I picture God saying “I had hoped you would say that, now whatch what I can do!”

Personally, I would rather work on strengthening my “being still skills”  in God’s waiting room than delay what God has for me.

And if God has promised you something or there is a desire in your heart that has not been fulfilled: don’t settle you are ONE DAY closer to whatever you are believing for. It could be a family member to be healed, a financial breakthrough, a baby you’ve been praying you and your spouse will have, that right person to come into your life, whatever it is know that you never have to go through today again without it. You are one day close, don’t give in, don’t give up. Hold on to your convictions; our God is a faithful God.

If this is you at all I hope these scriptures help:

Hebrews 10:33 So don't throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It's still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God's plan so you'll be there for the promised completion.

And one of my absolute favorites when being still and waiting on God is hard is

Romans 8:17-18 And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him! That’s why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times.