Hey y’all, happy New Year! I know Christmas and New Years was a little while back but I just wanted to share with y’all how our holidays were. I hope y’all had an amazing holiday season. Nick and I just relaxed for Christmas, which was actually really nice for once even though we missed seeing family. For the new year, we spent time with some close friends, and sprayed a bottle of champagne all over my friends front lawn. It was magical and memorable to say the least. 

So far, the new year has been pretty standard. Nick is still grinding away in common core, but graduates in February which is very exciting. As for me, I have been busy working with little kiddos at the Child Development Center here on base. Some days I love it, and some days… I want to throw off my smock and quit. But the sweet little kiddos ultimately make me want to stay. Lately, the kids I work with have been remembering me as their teacher even though I work in different rooms all the time. One 4 year old kiddo saw me in the hallway and said to her mom, “that’s my teacher!” Another saw me and instantly lighted up, which made my heart so happy. Another one couldn’t stop saying goodbye to me as I kept walking away. Although I know they most likely won’t remember me past the Child Development Center, it feels so nice to be making some sort of positive impact on these little and precious minds. I did recently get a promotion, which has been wonderful because it comes with paid time off, more reliable hours, and great benefits. God is truly blessing me where I am at. 🙂

Lately though, these kiddos have been reminding me of myself and how I used to be when I was young. When I was young, I was so gullible (still am), and always took things literally. But it was a time that I really remember because of all the hard lessons I had to learn about life. 

Probably one of the funniest but poignant things I did when I was young was try to tithe to God by myself. When I was really young, probably like six or seven, I didn’t really understand how tithing worked. I thought that the money that people gave in church literally went to God, like through a beam of light behind the scenes or something. So at home I remember trying to give money to God, thinking that it would disappear in the morning. But in the morning, it was still there. I remember being really confused, and bummed that God didn’t take my offering. 

The more I write about this the more I question the memory, because of how much I have changed. When I was younger, my love for God was so simple, yet passionate and perfect. But today, it always feels so awry and difficult. Life has a way of doing that to the child as they battle and trudge through the mud and muck of adversity. But the kids that I see today and spend time caring for remind me of myself, and actually bring out that side of me that I thought was long gone. 

I just remember being so in love with the Lord when I was young. I am in love with the Lord now, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just not the same. It was so innocent and pure when I was young, and I expressed that love in so many unfiltered ways. But today I feel like I can barely open my Bible on the weekends, which is crazy and honestly ridiculous. Being around these kids makes me want to be like that young kid again. 

Despite my unsuccessful tithe, God has shown Himself to me throughout my life in so many ways. In fact, He has been extremely gracious to me and has shown Himself to me in ways that have been so intimate and incredible. There is one extremely special way that God has shown Himself to me that I plan on sharing in my next post. It’s just crazy because despite all that, I still really struggle. But when I was younger, it just felt so easy and unencumbered by the details and messiness that comes with experience and age. It just felt so effortless, and so much more constant.

Regardless of how much harder it has gotten for me, (and I am sure for some of you as well) to stay close to God and passionate for God, God is still right there, and showing Himself through this job that honestly came out of nowhere. He’s teaching me how to appreciate the things in life that I used to appreciate, but look right past now. I used to write SO many poems (BAD, HORRIBLE poems you will never read most likely unless you maybe beg and plead for one LOL) about nature, and just random things that were around me. I remember the pride I felt when I finished one too. Although they may be bad now, they are so beautiful and remind me of a time when I really appreciated and loved every little thing around me. And now, in my life right now, I think that’s exactly what God is trying to bring me back to. Appreciate every detail, nature, and everything around you, and give Him praise, and it will go such a long way when it comes to your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I really look forward to sharing more about how God has shown Himself to me in my life in my next post, because I think it will really encourage many of you as it encouraged and continues to encourage me. But for now I want to leave you with this: seek God in everything. In the job He has placed you in, in the friends you treasure, in the home you reside in, and in your family that you get to see. Because God has you there for a reason, and He wants us to feel His blessings and know His love in the seasons that He has meticulously planned out for us. No matter the season, there is always joy that can be found in Him, and that is what I am learning right now 🙂 

I love y’all, and thank you to everyone who has stuck with me throughout this crazy journey. Remember, no matter how you are feeling, you are never alone. God is always there, waiting for you to see Him in the ordinary. It’s in the ordinary that you will find Him most beautiful sometimes. I am so excited to keep sharing what God is teaching me with all of you as I continue to trek this military spouse journey. 🙂

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

Matthew 18:1-5

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James 1:27

See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Matthew 18:10