Live.Laugh.LOVE.

Day 5: A Scripture that changed your life. 

What a challenge! A Scripture that has changed my life? A Scripture that has made an impact on me? It’s not a challenge to find one, it’s a challenge to limit them to a single blog and not a whole book. I think that it is of great importance that every Scripture that we read we apply to our lives in the best way possible. Every Scripture should change your life. Scripture was intended for our edification and learning, and to make your life better! So with that said, I will try to cull the large number of Scriptures to only a few. 

Romans 12:2 - “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of our mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. “ 

This verse tells us that we are not to be like the world. We are to change our lives by changing our mindset. We have to remember that we are to be imitators of God, not of other people or of Satan. How could this verse NOT be life changing? If we are not living right, if we are living worldly, and we read this verse.. it snaps us back into reality. That our life isn’t right because we have been conforming ourselves to the world. If I continually remind myself that I am supposed to be set apart from this world and only do the will of God, I will have a much more fulfilled and satisfied life! 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a - “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” 

As a wife, these verses have become extremely important to me. At a wedding once, I heard these verses read with the husband or wife’s name inserted in place of the word “Love”. For example, “Kathleen is patient and kind; Kathleen does not envy or boast”, etc.  I am trying to constantly remind myself of this. Whenever I might be tempted to be impatient or mean, jealous or proud, arrogant or rude, wanting my own way, irritable or resentful, I must be like love. God is love and I am to be like God, so I must be like love. These verses are definitely life changing because they teach me how to act. They teach me how to love. They teach me to be a better Christian, a better woman, and a better wife. 

I’m behind a day… sorry! The past two days were kind of hectic and I am ready for the weekend! This weekend, however, my hubby DESERTED me to go to a Georgia game, imagine that! : ) It’s ok though! My parents came to see me, and that is always fun! Anyways, before I get any further, I just have to say that I really hope Bama kills Penn State and Georgia whoops up on South Carolina! ROLL TIDE and GO DAWGS!!!!

Ok, now that that is out of my system, on to much more important things! 

Day 3: A Scripture that you love. 

WHAT!? How am I supposed to pick one verse? I guess I don’t really have to only have one. This is MY blog and all, haha. I’ll limit it to just a couple! 

Romans 8:28 - “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 

I could have used this verse for the last two days as well, but I saved it for the Scripture that I love. Really, did you just read that verse? How can you not love it? This verse reminds me that even though things might not be going right at the moment, God is using all that is happening to me for good. Know why? Because I love Him and and living for Him. I have had some really rough things happen in my life, and at the time, this verse brought light upon what looked like never ending darkness for me. And my life is a testament that this verse rings true. Every single thing, every single job, every single boyfriend, every single class… it has all led up to the wonderful bliss that my life is today. And I thank God for it all the time! 

Philippians 4:13 - “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” 

Okay, okay, I know tons of people say this is their favorite verse just because they can recite it, and it sounds good. But if you really read this verse and think about it, this Scripture is absolutely incredible! A few verses before this, Paul says that he has learned to be content in whatever circumstance he is in. Do you know where Paul had been? To jail. Punished. Sought after to be killed. Persecuted. And he said he was what? Content? How is that possible? Verse 13 tells me.. because Paul knew that with Christ, he could endure all things. And this verse gives me the strength to know that with Christ as the center of my life, I, too, can do all things through HIS strength. 

Day 4: Your favorite Psalm. 

Psalm 119:105 - “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Have you ever been in complete darkness? I’m talking no light AT ALL? The only times that I have been in complete darkness have been when I was in a cave. And I was extremely uncomfortable. It is scary when you can’t even see your hand in front of your face! Sure, you’ve been in dark rooms, and rooms where there is barely any light at all, but complete darkness, that’s an experience you don’t come across too often. And for good reason, it’s not fun and it is frightening. 

Sin is darkness. The world is darkness. Complete, uncomfortable, scary darkness. In order to feel better, there needs to be a light! This Psalm says that God’s Word is that light. Whenever we are feeling consumed by the world, or consumed in our own sin, we just have to look to the Word and it will light our path in this dark and scary world! 

Day 2: A Scripture that brings you hope. 

Both the Scriptures that I used yesterday bring me hope, but I’ve got a couple more for you too! Tonight at church, Brian spoke using Isaiah 43, and it reminded me of this particular blog today. Funny how things work out like that sometimes, huh? I think it is amazing that God puts Scripture in our heads or we hear a Scripture at just the time that we needed them? Anyways, this one that we studied tonight brings me hope. 

Isaiah 43: 1-3a

“But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob,
   he who formed you, O Israel: ”Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
³For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

Seriously, how comforting is that? When I looked up the word “hope” in the dictionary, I got the definitions of trust and reliance. God is speaking to His people in these verses telling them not to fear, but to trust in Him. God is also telling us this, He is calling us HIS! He promises to be with us whenever we are going through tough times or trials. As long as we rely on God, He will redeem us. That definitely brings me hope. 

I Corinthians 10: 13, 

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Let me tell you, I have definitely been tempted before. By many things, on a daily basis. But this verse tells me that I’m not ever going to be tempted beyond what I am able to handle. And also, possibly the best part of this verse tells that God will always provide a way out of the temptation so that we can endure it. That gives me great hope. I know that if I can recognize when Satan is tempting me, look to God and rely on Him, He will provide a way out. A way that I might have to look for when temptation is great, but one that is always there. I must also remember to thank God, when I am tempted and see my way out of it, that HE is the reason I am confident enough to withstand the temptation. 

Romans 5:8-9

“…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” 

This Scripture gives me immense hope. Christ has died for me, a sinner, so that I might be saved. This gives me a hope that one day I will be able to live with Him in glory for eternity, and you know what? I can’t wait. 

Ok, so before I do my daily Scripture challenge, I figure I should give you some laughs about my first day subbing. I was a 3rd grade teacher today, and boy, those kids can be funny!  

First off, of course, the most important thing to know about a substitute is her age. Seriously, we were not in class for more than 15 minutes before I got the “How old are you?” question. I love seeing what kids say, so I told them to guess. One boy pops up and says, “Definitely 29.” And I said, “Are you sure?” After confirming that he thought I was 29, a little girl said, “Are you crazy!? She’s a teenager!” The banter continued until I finally told them that I was 23, not quite 29 but definitely not a teenager!

Math was first and we were working on rounding. I think I got my payback for being the know-it-all in all of my classes growing up. This one boy that I had, man, I’m glad he’s smart, but PLEASE — keep it to yourself! He had his hand up probably 6 hours of the 8 hour day. “Mrs. McKinney, I think you do it this way.”, “Oh my goodness, this is so easy!”, “You seriously don’t get this? COME ON!”, “I definitely know how to do it already.” Wow. I apologize profusely to all of my elementary and middle school teachers because I know I was a know-it-all and that, although good because I was smart, is kind of annoying.

Math and Computer and Social Studies go by. At the end of Social Studies it is time for lunch. One sweet little girl comes up to me and says, “Will you PLEASE sit with us at lunch?” So, of course, I give in. If you haven’t been in one lately, school lunchrooms are LOUD!!! I could barely hear myself think, let alone hear the quiet little girl next to me whispering to me. 

We get back in the classroom after lunch and for recess they requested to play a game called, “Who is it Mrs. Nancy?” The game goes something like this.. “Mrs. Nancy” is a student who sits facing away from the rest of the class. Then, one at a time, a student is picked at random to say “Who is it, Mrs. Nancy?” in their most crazy voices. After a few rounds of hilarious voices, the students wanted me to be Mrs. Nancy. I tried to reason with them saying that I had only known them for a few hours and probably couldn’t even detect their real voices, much less their silly ones. Regardless, I was Mrs. Nancy and lost big time. It was fun though. 

Here comes the best part though, as we are in the middle of playing Mrs. Nancy, the fire alarm goes off. GREAT. I have not been given instructions for this. I have no idea where I am supposed to take the kids. Oh, and I have a little girl clinging to my arm about to have a breakdown because she is so scared that she’s about to be burned. Thanks, administrators. 

Anyways, all in all, it was a pretty good day. I am excited to have many others too! I’ll post the Scripture a little later tonight! 

Day 1: A scripture that makes you think of yourself

There are many verses that make me reflect upon my life, but I have narrowed them down to two. They both mean a lot to me for different reasons. 

Psalm 37:4 - “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

 This verse is one that my parents put on my senior page in my high school yearbook. I am not sure that when I was a senior in high school that I really knew what all this verse meant. I knew that I was headed to Freed Hardeman and that I would be in a Christian environment, and I guess that I thought that as long as I was there and going to church that God would give me all of my desires. I know that I did not truly know what “delighting” in the Lord meant. I looked up the word “delight” in the dictionary and I got these definitions: “to take great pleasure in” and “to gain enjoyment from”.  It hasn’t been until recently that I have really begun to grasp and understand how to “delight myself in the Lord.”  I do this by study and praise and glorifying Him in my actions. I get joy from praying and being close to God, and just like the psalm says, when I continue to delight myself in Him, He is giving me the desires of my heart. 

Jeremiah 29:11 - ” ‘For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’ “ 

This verse has become increasingly important to me in the past few years. I continuously read it when things are not going as maybe I think they ought to. For example, whenever I have been stressing about a job, or money, I have to remind myself that God is in control. As long as I trust in God and do all that I can to do His will, then I must believe that He has a plan for me, and it’s a good plan at that. 

So, I decided I would start a blog. Why? Mostly because I’m bored and I thought it might spice up my life! ;) Also, for those important people in my life who I can’t catch up with every day, I thought they might enjoy reading my thoughts and hearing about my days. Although that is probably too conceited of me and I probably won’t have anyone reading this. Regardless..

My life completely changed on July 23, 2011. I married my own personal Prince Charming and have begun my life as a wife. I thought that since I spent almost every waking moment at our apartment before we got married and we hung out hours upon hours every day that marriage wouldn’t be that different than dating. WRONG. Living with someone is much different, even if it only adds 8 extra sleeping hours with them. 

This past month and a half has been wonderful! Besides the stressing about me not having a job and a few little bumps in the road, we have had an extremely blissful first month and a few weeks! But I thought I would share some silly things that have happened to us.. first off, sleeping with a girl at a sleepover is completely different than sleeping with a husband. I didn’t think that I would have to adjust much to sleeping habits since I used to have sleepovers all the time, and at camp I shared a twin sized bed with 2 girls once. I obviously have no problem sharing a bed. So let me paint you the scene… James and I have a king sized bed. Seriously, that is plenty of room for 2 people, right? WRONG. James likes to start off sleeping in the middle and gradually pushes me all the way to my edge. Nice, huh? Also, for a while there, I thought I was going to have to wear knee pads, shin guards, and a helmet to sleep in. Apparently my sweet husband had some nightmares a few days in a row in which at around 2 or 3 each morning I was injured. The first night, he knee-d me in the shin. Ouch. The next night it was my knee. That one was so bad that I thought he had possibly broken my knee cap. Double OUCH. And the third night I got an elbow to my forehead. Needless to say, sleeping with someone on a nightly basis is QUITE an adjustment. At least it has been to me. Oh, and not to mention that he sleep talks sometimes. (Just ask him about “Ham”.) 

Ok, so besides the fact that he is sometimes a bed hog and a violent sleeper, the fact is that it is so nice to wake up next to my best friend every morning! Actually, let me rephrase… I haven’t had a job, so I’ve been sleeping in. So, it’s been nice to have him wake up and kiss me goodbye and let me sleep. :) My favorite time of the day with James is right before we go to sleep. It’s become ritual for us to talk about anything and everything as we are laying in bed. Even though we talk during the day quite a bit, we have our serious discussions at night. And then we pray. That’s my very favorite part. I have been so very blessed to have found such a strong Christian man to marry. I know that whatever troubles I have been having, or worries he has, that we will take them to God together, and that is such a wonderful blessing.  

Ok, so now to the good part… after a lot of stressing and praying and feeling mistreated, I finally got a job! Subbing and then being an interim. Not completely full time, but hey.. I’ve been sitting around bored, so that is way better than nothing! Anyways, I’m pretty excited! I get to be a 3rd grade teacher tomorrow. That’s another reason I thought I would start a blog. It is so true that “kids say the darndest things” and I want to share all of the funny stories that I KNOW I will have with you. 

Also, I stole this off of someone else’s blog, but I thought it would be great for me to start doing. It’s one of those “30 Days of _____” I find most of them annoying and most people don’t follow through with their 30 days, but I am going to try my hardest! This one is 30 days of Scripture, and what could be better than that? I will be reading and searching for Scriptures that fulfill the day and the ones that mean the most to me and then comment on them. I’m pretty excited.  I challenge you to do your own study of these topics too! So, starting tomorrow, or maybe later today, I will begin my 30 Days of Scriptures!

30 Day Scripture Challenge!

Day 1: A scripture that makes you think of yourself

Day 2: A scripture that brings you hope

Day 3: A scripture that you love

Day 4: Your favorite Psalm

Day 5: A scripture that changed your view on life

Day 6: Your favorite scripture on salvation

Day 7: A scripture about praise/worship

Day 8: A scripture about strength

Day 9: A scriptural promise

Day 10: A scripture that makes you smile

Day 11: A scripture about family/friends

Day 12: A scripture about peace

Day 13: Something Jesus said

Day 14: A scripture on fear

Day 15:  A scripture about love

Day 16: A miracle performed in the Bible

Day 17: A miracle performed by Jesus

Day 18: A prophecy

Day 19: Your favorite Proverb

Day 20: A scripture from the New Testament

Day 21: A scripture from the Old Testament

Day 22: A scripture on prayer

Day 23: A scripture on forgiveness

Day 24: A scripture on life

Day 25: A scripture about unity

Day 26: A scripture about unbelievers

Day 27: A scripture about children/youth

Day 28: A scripture with a reference to the number seven

Day 29: A scripture about your favorite Bible character

Day 30: A scripture of your choice.