Hope.

Do you ever have those times in life where you are in a valley?

Where you know that the Lord is in control

but you have to choose to believe He is.

Where you are not really sure what the future will hold

but you know who holds the future

you just have to entrust it to Him.

Today I am writing asking for prayer.

A situation has come up 

and while glorious healing and forgiveness has

already taken place 

there is one more thing that needs to be done.

And we have no idea how it is going to turn out.

Please pray.

And yes I am still engaged just for those who would worry about that :)

Today I have been struggling with what if's.

Last night I did too.

Today however I went right to the Lord in prayer and then

dove into His Word.

Whoever things God's Word is not powerful and does not speak-

they don't know our amazing God!

Here are some promises that the Lord has given me today:

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” 

(Joshua 1:9)

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

 (Hebrews 12:11)

"I will never leave you or forsake you."

(Hebrews 13:5b

*In an evangelistic meeting in Ireland, the speaker was explaining to what it means to abide in Christ and to trust Him completely in every trial. Concluding his message, he repeated several times, "It means that in every circumstance you can keep on saying, 'For this I have Jesus.'

If you are enduring a great trial of affliction, remember-for this you have Jesus!

-Henry G. Bosch

"To console those who mourn in Zion,
      To give them beauty for ashes,
      The oil of joy for mourning,
      The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
      That they may be called trees of righteousness,
      The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

(Isaiah 61:3)

      "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you.

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,

because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain"

(1 Corinthians 15:56-58)

" Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,

according to his power that is at work within us, 

to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." 

(Ephesians 3:20-21)

I just read this quote: 

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” – Corrie Ten Boom 

We truly do serve an AMAZING God! 

And I know that He will give grace to get through these next few days.

Please pray for healing and also that 

Jesus Christ will be honored and glorified 

no matter what the outcome.

Some Thrifty Finds.

So I was not going to post again until I had my Part 2 done of our story.

Ahem.

Well, I just had to share with you all! :)

Ok, so I am a self-proclaimed thrift store addict person who loves a good bargain.

The place to get the best bargains I have found are thrift stores.

Today I went on a thrift store trip with my Mom

who has inspired me to live frugally.

I grew up watching her buy food for us to eat

and clothes for us to wear.

She always knows where the bargains

and clearances are.

Over the years I have watched her, through frugal living,

save our family literally thousands upon 

thousands of dollars.

Now that I am going to be married

I want to continue that same life style of living frugally.

It is like a game.

You go into the store and see the best bargains you can get

and how much money you can save.

So today I went into the thrift store looking for things

for Jason and I.

The Lord blessed it for sure!

Our set for the sand ceremony for our wedding instead of spending $70 dollars on it.

Seven more glasses to add to our collection of six exact same set we had bought earlier!

Pyrex bread pan and a Parmesan cheese holder.

Two napkins, a dishtowel and a table runner.

Five more cloth napkins.

Old Navy PJ shorts for yours truly. Aero t-shirt and Old Navy Polo for Jason.

Arizona and Wrangler dress shirts for Jason.

Home Interiors Candle

The grand total came up to:

$35.04.

How much did I spend?

Well I am glad you asked.

After a gift certificate I had gotten from my man for Christmas,

the $0.99 cent tags

and the 50% off tags 

the grand total was:

$8.00.

How neat is that?

Name brand stuff and you would never know the difference!

What a blessing it was today :)

So I thought I would share that with you all!

What are your favorite places to find deals?

Do you have any advice for frugal living?

I am really wanting to get into couponing 

does anyone have any advice on were a good place to start is?

Blessings to you all :)

Bullets.

That is right folks.
Tonight you get bullets.
Starting now:

• Yesterday and today were very long days from me. I worked from 9am to 7:30pm yesterday and today I worked from 9am to 5pm then went to my Anatomy and Physiology class from 6pm to 9pm. Days are long and crazy but oh I LOVE MY JOB! Plus it is nice to have to be up early so I can be motivated better. 
• Where upon Katy's foot started to fall asleep before she lost her post.
• Switched positions.
• Internet cut out.
• Lost post.
• And restart!
• So this is what I am trying to get do:

 

Notice the journals?

I am going to be reading through them tonight and tomorrow.

Why? 

Well because I am starting to think about 

writing Part 2 of our story! :) 

Lord willing only a few more days.

• I am missing Jason. Tomorrow is the half way point in the week but wow...I miss him so much tonight it just hurts. I keep reminding myself that in 110 days this will all be a memory. Until then-these next three weeks seem like an eternity.
• I am texting a very dear friend that I actually met through blogging. We started emailing each-other and now we talk almost every day. She is also engaged and what an encouragement it has been to have someone to freak out with somone who knows exactly what is going on and is quite possibly going through the same thing! What a blessing it has been :) If you have a minute go over and visit Rebecca's blog:  A Rather Unusual Maiden for God.
• Thought I could sleep in tomorrow but I can not. That is ok though.
• I need to start sorting through some things to start getting ready for...well some things the Lord is going to be doing but that I will have to fill you in on later (has to do with Florida Lord willing).
• I love pistachios.
• I am so thankful for my Jesus.
• I want to badly to be the godly wife Jason deserves.
• Anyone have any good chicken pot pie recipes? Or recipes in general? I need to start practicing!
• Weird grown up question: Does anyone have any advice on what kind of insurance is good for a couple starting out that do not have thousands of dollars a month to spend on insurance? Lol :)

That is the end of my bullets. Randomness I know but I had fun writing them :) Blessings to you all and good night!

Multitude Monday-Appreciation

Appreciate.

I am learning the meaning of that word.

See, Jason has been working a construction job for his Dad.

This is a good thing.

The sad part is it is four hours away.

Which means that I do not get to see him Mondays through Friday nights.

This past week was the second week he was gone.

Three weeks to go.

I miss him more than I ever thought possible.

But it has caused me to appreciate even more the time we do have together!

So this weeks Multitude Monday is going to be about my prince-

#31: His love for the Lord. He wants to live 
for Jesus no matter what. His faith amazes and challenges me! 
He does not just talk the talk 
he actually walks the walk.
#32: The fact he is the spiritual leader in our relationship.
I have realized that being the spiritual leader 
does not mean being perfect.
One of the things I respect most
about Jason is how he is not afraid to humble 
himself and ask forgiveness.
That is one of the best qualities I think someone can have.
Not being afraid to admit when they are wrong.
#33: The way he smiles at me.
It is a special smile.
Reserved only for me.
And when I look up to find him just smiling at me
I feel like the most treasured girl in the entire world.
#34: I love reading the Word together.
Just sitting there holding each others hands
and spending time with our Savior.
It is an amazingly beautiful thing.
#35: Our inside jokes
that no one else would necessarily get
but that we get a kick out of.
#36: Did you know it is possible to have ticklish hands?
Jason take the time to remind me how very ticklish I am very often
and you know what? 
I love it.
I love teasing each other.
I love how we can have so much fun together.
#37: His hugs.
#38: The way his eyes bulge when 
he is pretending to be shocked or mad at me. 
#39: The way he makes me absolutely melt.
#40: The fact that he knows me.
The real me.
And chooses to love me 
in spite of it all.
I miss him so much sometimes it hurts.
But the Lord has been working in amazing ways while he has been gone.
The Lord has been doing work on us both.
Together.
And seperately.
The lessons we are learning are sometimes painful
but oh so worth it.
Plus, Jason has had the awesome opportunity 
to really be able to share Jesus with his coworkers.
Please pray that the Lord will be glorified through him as he works.
I am praying that the entire crew will be saved! 
Our God is big!
We will see what He does!
So appreciation.
For him.
But also for those of you who have be to seperated for long periods of time
from the one you love.
I have a lot more respect for you since
getting just a taste of what many people have
to live with long term!
Appreciation.
My love, my gift from God, my hero and my prince.
I am so blessed!
What do you have to appreciate today?
Ps: I am amazed at the response I got for 
my previous post:
"Our Story-Part 1: How We Met".
I am insanely busy but I do promise to try to have 
Part two up AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
Even though it is kinda fun to keep you all in suspense ;)
Blessings to you all!


 
 

Our Story-Part 1: How we met

So many of you have been asking about the engagement story.

Well, each story has a beginning and so I thought

I would share ours :)

Lets go back to March of 2010.

On March 14th my world had turned upside down.

In a bad way.

I had been in a courtship relationship

for a little over three months

and some things had come to light 

in the young mans life

and my Dad (who is my hero) made the decision

to break off our courtship.

I was devastated.

All my life all I had wanted was to 

be a wife and Mother.

I asked God why He would give me my dream

only to snatch it away.

In the weeks that followed the Lord began to show me.

He showed me that my entire life 

I had allowed

desperation to lead my heart and my life.

I had looked to guys for my fullfillment.

Marriage had become an idol.

I was so afraid at the thought of possibly being 

alone for the rest of my life.

But one night the Lord gave me this thought one night:

"What if the Lord is calling me to be single for the rest of my life?"

I cringed.

He couldn't be.

Could He?

Then I realized what an idol not being alone

was to me.

And I knew I had to make a decision.

Would I surrender my entire life to the Lord's service

even if it meant being alone?

I thought.

And prayed.

And probably cried.

And then purposed in my heart to 

serve my Jesus no matter what.

That is when I started taking steps towards nursing.

Because I knew that I could be 

independent and serve the Lord in that way.

I had never wanted a career.

But that day when I decided to move forward in my independence

I surrendered my hopes and dreams to the Lord.

I surrendered my future.

And stepped out in faith.

Alone.

For the first time in my life.

With only Jesus by my side.

No prospects. 

No possibilities.

I was heading to the mission field to serve my Jesus 

in my singleness and I was super excited about it!

And nothing was going to stop me!

Ahem.

The Lord's ways are not our ways.

One of my girls that had been going to my girls Bible study

invited me to a Bible study she had been attending on Sundays.

I really did not want to go anywhere near the male species. 

But I decided I could not stay away from contact with the male species forever.

So I swallowed my fear and went.

March 28, 2010.

Exactly two weeks to the day my courtship had been broken off.

So I get there.

There were a ton of people there and I didn't know anyone!

So I just sat there and waited for study to start.

The leader had gone to pick up someone and so we were waiting for him to get back.

Finally he got there and he walked into the room.

Jason Hollands.

My heart sunk.

He was very handsome in the white button down shirt 

and tan pants.
Katy you do not even look at him.

He had a purity ring on that looked like a wedding band.
Oh wow that is really neat. Oh snap! Katy cut it out. 
Do not look at him.
And wow was he a spiritual leader.
I sat there amazed as he started the Bible study.
The one thing that made the most impact on
me was how he prayed.
Oh how he prayed.
And it wasn't a show.
It was just him coming before his Heavenly Father
and having a talk with Him.
And it was anytime.
Anything.
No matter how big
or how small.
And as we went around the circle.
At the very end.
He prayed for me.
Just me.
By name.
Katy stop it!
You are going to be single.
And happy.
And serve the Lord.
IN A SINGLE WAY!
I cried the whole way home.
And went upstairs and
determined to not ever go back
to Bible Study again.
Never.
In fact I was not going to ever going to go around guys again.
I was considering being a nun!
So Mom came upstairs and asked me what was wrong.
And finally I admitted that I was just
terrified about making the old mistakes with allowing
desperation to guide my heart and life
and I just knew somehow that if I kept going back I would
possibly develop a mindless crush on
Jason and I just did not want to even have to struggle with
guarding my heart again!
I was going to serve the Lord.
As a single woman.
Well, Mom ended up telling me that yes I had to
slay the old fleshly tendancies to let desperation to lead my heart
but hiding was not going to cut it.
So, she said to not initiate anything with him.
I really clicked with his younger sister Sarah
(we talked for hours the first Bible study)
and she said to just focus on my friendship with Sarah.
So I kept going to Bible Study.
On April 4, 2010 I wrote this in my journal about Bible Study:
"Please help me to jealously guard my heart Lord.
Please help me to never go to Bible study...just because there
are guys there Lord.
I truly do just want to be fed spiritually Lord. 
The reason I am praying about this is because there is a guy there that, 
if I went back to my old pattern of going from guy to guy searching for completion (out of desperation),
I would be tempted to start obsessing/dreaming/crushing about. 
Jason Hollands is the leader there and very godly BUT I do not know him.
I have decided, as a part of slaying this old, fleshly tendancy,
that I am not going to initiate anything with Jason.
I will be friendly but not go out of my way I guess.
He friend requested all of us kids today and so I accepted him.
Tonight I was on face book and all the sudden he started chatting with me. It was so nice. We just talked about You and encouraged each other in You. I really think we could be good friends but, as of right now, I don't see it as anything more because I DON'T KNOW HIM. "
Oh if I had only known.
So I did not initiate anything.
At all.
And as the weeks and months went on and
we started spending more and more
time together I was friendly but did not initiate anything.
Jason told me later that me not swooning all over
him is actually what intrigued him about me.
A few times he thought:
What is wrong with her?
We continued to get to know eachother.
And I started to have feelings for him.
And I started to pray.
That the Lord would take the feelings away.
But strangely it didn't work.
For months!
So when did it start to change?
Well.
You are going to just have to wait for
Part 2 :)