A Season of Abiding in Christ

I am going to warn you now, this will be a long post so grab your self a hot drink and settle down!

Imagine we are sitting in my lounge together, sipping delicious cups of tea or coffee, chatting like girls do and having a heart to heart. That is what I want this post to be like!

So sister, in this post I am opening up to you and sharing my heart. It's going to be raw & real but I hope you feel encouraged, inspired and hopeful by the end of it.

Let me rewind to a couple weeks ago.

I was pretty happy with where I was in life, until one night, I had a dream about a guy that I admire which stirred up a whole lot of thoughts, feelings & desires.

In the following days I felt restless & discontent with where I was. 

I looked at other girls, some even just a few years older than me, who were in romantic relationships. 

I wished I had what they had.

I reached out to my mum, and other girls for advice. I wanted answers. I wanted direction, to know how to move forward.

Slowly but surely, God started to reveal to me what I should do, namely, to seek Him first.

I began in my search for answers & advice by reading Elisabeth Elliot's book, Passion & Purity. 

That books shifted my focus. The story of Elisabeth & Jim Elliot is one that reflects Jesus so clearly and points to Him over and over again. After finishing it (which I did in a matter of days), I had hope and assurance that everything will happen in God's timing for He knows what is best for me.

But my journey doesn't and didn't end there. God was teaching me an important lesson.

I must stress the importance of reaching out to older, godly women in a time and season like this. If you too, face this struggle today don't hesitate to confide in your mother, grandmother, aunt, trusted friend, or another wise woman you know. They have sailed through these rough waters before and can offer you helpful advice and cover you in powerful prayer. I am so grateful for my own mother, grandmother and a few older sisters in Christ that have poured into my life in the last few years and helped me grow through times like this one.

While talking to older women who have already experienced these desires and longings is important, there is also great solace in sharing to girls in your own age group who may be going through exactly what you're going through. I was 'surprised' to find many other girls understood my sentiments and shared the same longings & desires, as well as the struggles with how to handle them.

Moving on in my journey over the last few weeks. I was still unsure of exactly what to do. 

I had a second dream one night. I woke up and just lay there, wishing that I had not dreamed it. 

Something I never thought of till someone pointed it out once, was that you can and should uplift your dreams (the type you have awhile you're sleeping) to God and ask Him to guard you from dreams that don't line up with Philippians 4:8. So I prayed for a few nights that God would guard my dreams while I slept and it helped!

Many of the girls who shared their advice all agreed on one thing. That prayer and continually digging into scripture was THE MOST IMPORTANT thing to do in a season such as this.

The Bible itself says, in Matthew 6:33, But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

We are to have no other gods before the One True God, even relationships and desires that we have.

And I want to make myself clear, that I believe the desire for a husband and a romantic relationship is God given. If we didn't have that desire, no one would marry and there would be no future generations!

So in and of itself the desire for marriage is good. But if it distracts from our relationship with the Lord, its a problem.

It is now 22nd of May as I write this. I feel like I am in a better place now than I was a few weeks ago.

I want to share all the things I have done or am doing to help keep my focus on Christ in this season!

1. Contentment by Lydia Brownback

This devotional was the perfect thing for this season of my life. It is full of truth about contentment and where you truly find it--in Jesus. I have really enjoyed each chapter so far and it has really helped me discover that contentment is a choice, not something we feel based on our circumstances.

2. Studying contentment/satisfaction in the Bible

I went online and made a short list of specific passages & verse that speak about these topics and I am studying them slowly. My absolute favourite has been Isaiah 58:11.

3. Coffee & Bible Time PDF Prayer Journal (link)

This has been an amazing resource and has really helped my with establishing prayer into my life.

It has helped my to pray regularly, keep track of my prayers and keep things structured.

4. Sticking scripture reminders all around my room

I have verses almost everywhere I look in my room and they serve as constant reminders of God's truth!

5. Worship music (link)

I have created a Spotify playlist specific to this season of my life. It is called Surrender and is full of songs that sing of God's love for me, surrendering everything to the Lord & turning your eyes on Jesus.

6. Nurture the friendships you have with other sisters in Christ

It brought me so much joy this afternoon writing letters to my girlfriends and decorating the envelopes to send to them! 

Take the time to pour into these relationships and treasure them, girls! God has blessed me with so many wonderful friends and I can't wait to see the memories we will make in the future as we grow in grace together.

7. Pursue creative hobbies or activities that bring you joy

Think about it. We are young now. We don't have a husband or family to care for so we have the time for these creative pursuits. I personally love knitting, painting, reading, scrapbook journaling, and a few other things. 

8. Scripture writing

Basically scripture writing is when you copy down large passages of scripture into a notebook. I think this will be a great way to implant more scripture into my mind & heart.

9. Love Defined by Bethany Beal & Kristen Clark

I read this book last year and I decided to make it a yearly read. I plan to read it again soon!

Love Defined offers so much helpful advice for one's love life and biblical truth. 

10. Coffee & Bible Time Podcast S2 Ep.3 - Finally being content in singleness (link)

 I really liked this podcast episode and I found it quite helpful. Ashley shares a bit about her current season, her intentional year of singleness, and things she has done to find contentment during her singleness.

What would you add to this list?

Lets chat in the comments!

keep blooming,

Holy Hunger & Satisfaction in Christ

Psalm 63 has been a favourite of mine for a while. 

I have read it over and over and studied it in-depth a year or so ago. 

As I am reading through Psalms at the moment, I reached Psalm 63 and got to take a deeper look at it again.

What never ceases to amaze me, is how no matter how many times you return to a passage of scripture, you can always come away with something new!

So this time as I read the words of the psalmist David, new things dawned on me and in the season I am in right now the meaning of this psalm became more precious to me.

I was so refreshed by what I learned I simply had to share a few points with you. I also highly suggest you study this psalm yourself, especially if you don't feel like getting into the word during this season of your life.

David writes these words when he is in the wilderness of Judah. He was in a desperate situation, he was most likely tired, thirsty and hungry. But instead of complaining about his fleshly needs, he makes holy complaints, pleas for spiritual food & water.

He knows that feeding his soul is more important that feeding his body. So He cries out to God!

There are three main references to the soul in the passage.

My soul thirsts for You

My soul shall be satisfied

My soul follows hard after You

I took a closer look at these three statements and learned some wonderful things!

1. My soul THIRSTS for You

The meaning of thirst is to have a strong desire for something, to feel dry, to have one's heart set on something. 

This should be my heart for God. A constant holy hunger. To feel dry without Him, to have my heart set on knowing Him.

(Ps 42:1-2, Mat 6:33, Hosea 5:15)

I must be diligent in soaking my soul in the water of the word daily. 

2. My soul shall be SATISFIED

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food. (Ps 63:5)

Satisfied means contented, fulfilled, enjoyment, pleasure & comfort.

David knows that it is only in God that his soul will be satisfied. He knows that God alone can satisfy his longing soul.

For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. Psalm 107:9

3. My soul CLINGS to You

To cling means to hold on tight, to remain close, cleave, grasping and embracing.

God never leaves us, so if we 'feel' distant from God it is because we did not remain close, or hold on tight to His promises (one of which is that He will never leave us nor forsake us!).

This psalm paints a picture of what it is to have a holy hunger & thirst. That thirst is for righteousness (Mat 5:6).

I also sensed a sort of cycle depicted in this psalm. 

Our souls thirst or long for something (God) but we often choose to fill it with other things. 

When we chose to fill and feed that thirst with God and His word we become truly satisfied. The more satisfied we become in Christ, the more we cling/cleave to Him because we know we will not experience such peace or contentment anywhere else. We thirst for Him more and more because once we have tasted and seen that He is good, our souls crave more and more. And so the cycle continues!

I hope that made sense! These are real and raw notes from my journal so I'm not sure that they always make sense to anyone other than myself! 

I hope this post encouraged you and please read and study this psalm for yourself!

keep blooming,

A Reminder to Have Hope

Hello darlings!

With everything going on in the world at the moment, I would share with you the hope that has been keeping me afloat and positive.
As Christians, we don't have to be fearful and worried about the days to come because we can put our faith and trust in our loving Father.
It is also our job to share this hope and peace with others and remind our fellow brothers & sisters in Christ of it too.

Remember the story of when the disciples were caught in a storm at sea? Jesus appeared to them walking on the water and Peter steps out in faith to join Jesus on the water.
As long as he had his eyes fixed on Christ, he was able to walk on the water. But as soon as he focused on the waves, he started to sink.
We too will sink in fear, anxiety and worry if we don't keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not the storm that rages around us.

We as followers of Christ do have a hope we can cling to. As we cling to that, we must also be reminding each other of our future in heaven. (More on that later.)

Now for the scriptures that give me hope during uncertainty.


1 Peter 1:3-9
This whole chapter is a wonderful passage of scripture but the verses I want to focus on are verses
3-9. Those of us who are born again are born again into a living hope, to an inheritance that is incorruptible and that does not fade away, kept in heaven.
We may be grieved by various trials for the moment and this tests the genuineness of our faith which is more precious than gold.



Revelation 4-5 & 21
I'm not exactly sure what it is about these chapters but they fill me with such joy and hope when I imagine what they look like in my mind.
This is our future! We will all be in heaven together praising and glorifying God.


1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
One day, the Lord Himself will descend and take all those who believed on Him into the clouds and we will be with Him in heaven.
Verse 18 concludes, we must comfort one another with these words.


It is a comfort to me to know that one day there will be no more pain & no more tears.
And when our brother or sister in Christ is feeling overwhelmed by the evil in this world, we are to comfort them by reminding them that this world in not our home.


keep blooming,

Good & Bad Fruit // Lesson from the Garden

Hello darlings!

Summer is coming to an end.
This was clear to me as I was out in our garden harvesting the last of the delicious plums from the tree in our backyard. They were littered all over the ground underneath the tree.
As we have been quite busy, we weren't able to keep up with the amount of plums this tree was producing.
So as I was trying to salvage as many good plums as I could from the ground I had to pick through the already rotting plums to find the good ones.

I would see a plum that looked perfectly fine but as I picked it up and turned it over I found that it was either rotten or being eaten away by half a dozen bees.

This formed an analogy in my mind.

Sometimes a Christian's life will look great on the outside or from the side they show the world but in reality they are rotting on the inside.
They put up a front, a show, to make it look as though they are following Christ but in the shadows they lead a life of sin.

Jesus called out the Pharisees and scribes on this very issue. On the outside the Pharisees appeared to lead righteous lives. But their hearts weren't in it.
They were not actively pursuing a relationship with the Lord.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.

So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."

Matthew 23:27-28 (emphasis added)

Lets look at the root of this problem.

"A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit."

Matthew 7:18

I believe that this, shall we say heart condition, is a result of an 'unhealthy' or 'diseased' heart.
Like the Pharisees, we can sometimes have knowledge of God and the Bible and do all the Christian things, but in our hearts we don't personally and intimately know God and so cannot follow him well.

There needs to be a balance or head knowledge and heart knowledge in our walk with Christ.

Challenge

Here is a challenge for us all.

- Does your heart resemble a lovely juicy plum or a bad rotting plum?
- What fruit is your life producing?

"For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit."

Luke 6:43

As I was reading the verse above I read further into this chapter and discovered Luke 6:45.

"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Luke 6:45

So my point is this, if we truly treasure God and His Word and seek a relationship with him, our hearts are 'healthy' and our lives will produce fruit.

Let us all be real Jesus-loving, Christians whose lives produce much fruit the radiates Christ!

I hope my rambling made sense and that you got something out if this post.

keep blooming,

What God Has Taught Me This Year

Hello darlings!

I'm coming to you from our dining table today with Phil Wickham's songs playing in my ears and an empty glass that held my yummy coffee next to me.

As this year comes to a close I've been reflecting on the past year and thinking about the year ahead.
One of the big things that has been on my mind is what God has brought me through and taught me this year.
He has taught me many things, but I want to focus on the main ones in this post.

First off, God taught me that He is fully dependable and faithful. He is so, so faithful my dear readers!
He is faithful to stay with us with each step we take, faithful to provide, faithful to comfort us and bring us through times that we could never face without him by our side.
When I look back this year I can see very clearly He was in which he has shown me his faithfulness and it is so important to look back at be reminded of the good things God has done.

Another thing God has shown me in the last few months is that He is worthy of my trust.
I wrote this post a while back talking about trusting in God and my main takeaway from a youth retreat I attended.
Now I have a small testimony to share that started back at that very youth retreat.
I was asked at the youth retreat if I truly trusted God. I wanted to say yes but I thought and prayed about it.
At the time, I don't think I could fully say that I did trust God, with my life, my family, or my future.
But with tears streaming down my face I committed to God and carried on with my life.

A few weeks after my brother & I had left the retreat, my world was tipped upside down and with it my family's world. We are still in a hard place but as I look back on the past couple of month which have been some of the hardest and most unpredictable of my life, I see that I was in a way being tested.
In a way, I feel that God was asking me, "Do you really trust me even though you are going through hard times? Do you trust that my purpose in all of this is really for your greater good?"
And now I smile because I see that He was and continues to grow my faith and was using the past few months to mold and shape me.

It is one of the most wonderful things to look back in your life and see how the puzzle pieces of random and various events fit together into a beautiful pattern!
At the time you may not see how any of the things in your life have a purpose or connect, but God always has a better plan to make something beautiful out of the brokenness.

Now I feel that I can step into 2020 with full confidence that God will lead through all of it, whether through sunshine or rain, He will be by my side.

keep blooming,

Sin Entered the World // Christmas Through the Carols

Hello darlings!

This week was the first week of the Christmas Through the Carols Advent Bible reading plan that I created (link to that here).
The theme for this week was looking at  the Fall, & how sin came into the world, creating a need for a savior.

We began by looking in Genesis 3, which I love as a passage and find incredibly powerful.
Today, I wanted to share a few of the points I took away from reading & studying this chapter of the Bible.

First off, this chapter tells us lot about how Satan works.
As a Christian it is important to know our enemy, Satan, so that we can be prepared for his attacks and know how to fight back.
Here's what I found:

The serpent was more subtil (crafty) than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He crept in silently, and still does today, planting doubt and questioning the words of God.
He caused Eve to doubt the words of the Lord by asking her, "Did God really say...?"

"Satan suggested that God was withholding something good from them & tempted them to reach and grab what would make them like God himself." ~ Nancy Guthrie


On the flip side...

God always speaks truth. He never lies and always gives us rules that will guide us and keep us safe.
Psalm 84:11 says this: ...No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Adam & Eve were already made in the image of God, there did not need to make themselves more or better than Him.

My main takeaway point from my notes is this.

The fruit of the forbidden tree looked good. It was pleasing to the eyes, and it was tempting to reach out and pick one.
Something may look pleasing, tempting, promise us happiness, or satisfaction.
But the worldly things that are tempting to try or take, will not ultimately bring us fulfillment.
Alchohol, drugs, porn etc. may offer relief, satisfaction and happiness but their charms quickly fade and like Adam & Eve, we are left empty, cheated and ashamed.
When Adam & Eve ate the fruit, their eyes where opened and instead of feeling satisfied, they wee ashamed.

The Lord promises good things and true fulfillment. Because He is Lord God, His Word is to be trusted to be true & His promises sure.

At the end of this sad day in history, it seems as if all is lost.
But hush, the Lord is doing something! He has a plan to rescue his people from the result of sin-death-by sending His Son Jesus to die for us. Jesus died the death we deserve as sinners, but he became the ransom for us.
The story does have a happy and good ending. We who believe in Him and his sacrifice on the cross have the hope of heaven to cling to!


During this season of Christmas, we get to celebrate the gift the God gave the world on that night long ago.
May we ever be thankful & grateful for His love in giving up His son to die a sinners death so that we could experience the joys of heaven!


keep blooming,

Christmas Through the Carols // FREE Advent Bible Reading Plan

Hello darlings!

You know those ideas that just come to you out of nowhere and you have no idea if it will even work or how to do it but you go ahead and do it anyway?

Well, this was one of those ideas. I was just going about my day when the idea to create my own Advent Bible reading plan came to me and I went with it! I didn't know how was even going to create this, but I am very pleased with how it turned out.

So I am very excited to bring to you my Christmas Through the Carols Advent Bible reading plan!

~ ~ ~ ~

What inspired this plan?
It is called 'Christmas through the Carols because I wanted to take some of my favourite and most popular carols and delve into them a little and think about the words and how they relate to the beautiful Christmas story.
Throughout the month of December, I have compiled my favourite versions of the carols I selected for you to listen to.


How do you use this plan?
Each day there is a scripture reading and a song/activity. The scriptures were selected carefully to explore several main themes that encompass the Christmas story. The Fall, our need for a Saviour, prophecies of the Messiah, the coming of the Messiah, and hope for His second coming.
Through this plan, we will be reading form all over the Bible, including the Old Testament, the Gospels and even the letters in the New Testament to get a broad picture of the whole story and the wonderful way that God wrote it.


Right, are you ready to see this Christmas Bible reading plan? Okay in...
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2
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1

Ta da!

I love how it tuned out and I can't wait to do this along with you!
Here's a closer look at the schedule...

Click here to download PDF!

What else can you expect this month?

Some fun, Christmassy posts here on this blog,  plus snippets of my Christmas preparations and what I get out of this Advent study over on my Instagram (@joy_and_wildflowers). 

I have also created a playlist with all of the songs in this Bible reading plan so that it is easier to find them.

Link to my Christmas Through the Carols playlist on Spotify!

I hope and pray that if you use this plan that it will fill you with hope and encourage you during this Christmas season.

One thing that I really desire is that we would all become women who love and cherish their Bibles and time spent between its pages. 

In doing this plan I also hope it will help us keep our eyes on Him during this busy but wonderful time of year.

keep blooming,

Do I Trust God?

Hello darlings!

After taking a break that ended up being longer than I anticipated, I am ready to gather some of my thoughts into a wee blog post for you!

So a week ago, I and my brother attended an annual youth retreat organized by some friends.
It is always a highlight of my year and this year was no different!


One of the things that I took away from the retreat this year was the question of "do I trust God?".
This simple but impacting question was posed to me and some other people one evening during a conversation after dinner.
I was very blessed by the whole conversation but the main thing that stuck with me was whether or not I trust God.
Let's apply it to some specific things:
Do I trust God with my life?
Do I trust God to be with me wherever He leads me?
Do I trust God with my love story?
Do I trust that God will remain faithful?

I could go on but all these questions boil down to this question, "do I trust God?".
As always it is important to look at what God's Word says about this topic.

Proverbs 3:5-6 
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.

Psalm 70:1 
In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.

Isaiah 26:4
Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.

The Hebrew word for trust is batach and it means to have confidence, to be bold, to be secure and to feel safe.
Can you confidently say that all these things are true in your relationship with God?


While I have been pondering these things, the old song Tis So Sweet came to mind.

Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,

Just to take Him at His word

Just to rest upon His promise,

Just to know, "Thus saith the Lord!"

Part of the not-so-secret secret to fully trusting in God is in the first verse of this lovely song.

"Just to rest upon His promise". When we are trusting in Him, we trust that His promises are true and that they are a firm foundation for us to stand on.

The Bible is full of God's promises to us from cover to cover. You can probably think of several off the top of your head.

Let them really sink in and ask yourself if you really believe that He will never leave you or forsake you, that He will supply all your needs, and that He hears your prayers.

So I leave you with a little challenge.

Take some time each day to meditate on one promise from Scripture and do so until you fully believe and trust that it is true.

Pray and ask the Lord to help you to trust Him with all your heart, and surrender each day to Him.

keep blooming,

To the Girls

Pinterest

Okay, here's the thing girls.

We often have problems with not thinking ourselves very beautiful. And we also compare ourselves to other girls a lot, at least I do.
Generally, we compare our selves to the pretty girl on Instagram who has the perfect wardrobe, seems to always be buying clothes and had the perfect makeup.

But I even find myself comparing myself to my own friends and girls I know.

"Her hair is SO pretty, mine is too frizzy!"
"Oh, I love her dress. I wish I had a dress like that."
"Her eyes are so...."

You get the point.

Pinterest

But you know, we can help each other out in this.

It would make a big difference if we complimented our fellow girls and sisters in Christ.
We often think these comparisons in our head but never actually let them know that we like what she's wearing today or that her hair looks especially nice.

Instead of comparing, compliment. Turn your negative thoughts about her into positive, uplifting ones and tell her!

Pinterest

Once at a youth conference, a girl and I were walking down the stairs at the same time.
There is a big oval mirror at the foot of the steps and she paused to look at her hair. "My hair is so frizzy and messy right now" she said (something like that anyway).
I thought she was ridiculous to say that because in my mind she was one of the prettiest girls there. "No it's not, I exclaimed, "Your hair is always so nice".
"Oh no," she said, "you always have lovely hairstyles".

As we walked out to the next message, I said something like how we girls always compare ourselves to each other and yet the other girl is probably comparing herself to another.
Then she said something along the lines of "Well, we're all made in God's image" and some more which I don't quite remember.

Pinterest

After that, I felt better about myself.
Uplifting compliments make a big impact. When I think of the times I have been complimented, I feel wonderful and smile at the memory. Not to be vain of course, but just a delight that someone noticed, someone chose to speak those kind words and make my day.

So think about it, the next time you see a girl with a nice outfit or something like that, say "I love your outfit" or "You look nice today".


Words have the power to bring life.

But all this aside, what should change your mind about your beauty is not what people think or say but what your Heavenly Father says.

And he says this:

You are beautiful, my darling. I made you in my own image. I do not make mistakes and you are no exception.
I formed you in your mother womb. You are altogether a miracle. I say you are beautiful, loved, worthy, and you are enough.

Most importantly, dear, I see your heart. I have begun a work in you and I will complete it. Daily you are becoming the woman I am making you to be. People look at the outward appearance but I look at the heart. Guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (based on Psalms 139:13-14, 1 Samuel 16:7, Philippians 1:6)

When the inside is beautiful, so the outside is too.

Fill your heart and mind with beautiful things.


xoxo
Hannah

Pinterest

p.s.
I wrote this with the utmost sincerity. I also struggle to believe these things about myself. I am not perfect either. We are all on a journey. God is working in all of us. You and I, we are His masterpieces.
He's got you girl!