Yesterday, the American people seemed to take a seismic shift with the decision of the SCOTUS' ruling regarding same-sex marriage.  Those who know me know without question, that I am a Christian.  I tend to not put my own opinions and beliefs publicly out there on a daily rant.

First, for those who are worried and anxious on how this will affect their churches, I will post this from page 27 under the "Opinion of the Court":

"Finally, it must be emphasized that religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned. The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths, and to their own deep aspirations to continue the family structure they have long revered. The same is true of those who oppose same-sex marriage for other reasons. In turn, those who believe allowing same-sex marriage is proper or indeed essential, whether as a matter of religious conviction or secular belief, may engage those who disagree with their view in an open and searching debate. The Constitution, however, does not permit the State to bar same-sex couples from marriage on the same terms as accorded to couples of the opposite sex."

Churches of any faith are still protected under the 1st amendment, so those FREAKING out need to calm down and get educated. It's. Not. That. Hard.  I believe there are something our founding fathers called "separation of church and state.” 

Also:

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Ph. 4:6-7)

I was reading one blog yesterday and I came across this:

“We must remember: God is God.  How he deals with each of us in our sin and brokenness—whatever that struggle may be—is ultimately God’s business.”

I’m not looking to get into a debate with anyone over this. I just wanted to personally express my views, whether you agree with them or not. We all have that fundamental right, no?  My problems are my problems and God’s problem.  I am to focus on my own sins and where I fall before I can help pick up a friend and give them encouragement that I fail to give myself.  I cannot help another when I cannot even help myself.  We all need to look inside our own hearts and be awaken to the many imperfections God is still trying to grasp hold of.   

Personally, no one's marriage or rights before the law infringe on my personal beliefs, my own marriage, or my relationship with Christ.  It also does not change how I choose to interact or love people who have different opinions or lifestyles than I do.  In fact, a very fundamental core of my Christian beliefs call me to love all people.  My relationship with Christ helps me to love that person who stands on the other side of ANY issue, because it is what Christ would do.  He would not yell or belittle that person.  He would definitely have conversation with them though.  As Max Lucado put it, "Something good will come out of this.  Maybe now we can have this discussion where we need to have it.  Face-to-face.  In neighborhoods.  Over dinner tables.  Perhaps the hate-filled words will subside and clear thinking will gain traction; the shouting will diminish and the heart-felt dialogue will increase."

I also know of too many people who do not uphold or value marriage in the same respect that I do - whether they are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Atheists, Agnostic, or whatever...but guess what?  They still get married every day because marriage is no longer just a fundamental Christian sacrament reserved only for us.  It is a societal and government right. No two people from any of these groups, or even within the Christian denomination, are going to have the same outlook on marriage that my husband and I hold.  Just because anyone I come into contact with is going to have a personal view of what marriage should be or should not be, it still does not and will not change my view for my own marriage. And it should not.  This does not mean I am 100% condoning anything, so please do not twist my words. Take them for what they are. 

To my Christian friends, I have also seen so many comments thrown out such as accountability of another's sin, forgiveness, repentance, and grace.  First, if you are in the authority to hold another accountable for their sin, please be sure you are extending this to any type of sin - not just the ones you see fit.  It is also best if that person has come to you to hold them accountable, and mostly remember this: you CANNOT and will NOT change anyone. Yes, our relationships with Christ offer the gifts of forgiveness, repentence, and grace, but this can only come from God. Our relationships with God are also individual matter's of the heart. No man can offer these gifts. I do not need man's approval or grace - so why are we still trying to seek these??? Please do not also say that you are going down the better path of righteousness because when you fall, you seek forgiveness from our loving Father, and repent of it. That is a wonderful thing you are doing, and I am honestly not trying to take away from that, but you are not free from that sin and you have not broken the seal of it either - only Christ did that when He died on the cross.  Only He has waged the war on death and overcame it.  You are not God - you are human and imperfect.  How long do you go until you commit that same sin again or commit a different sin?  Are you really that different then from what you feel so threatened by? And it is not my job as a sister in Christ to confront you every single time you fall. Let's be honest for a second - I sin probably way more times throughout my day than I naively even realize, whether it be in my thoughts or actions. 

Throughout all of this, I feel we have all personally hit the overall mark. So yay! #loveforall and #lovewins - but are we really and truly ALL acting in that same love we are so eagerly fighting for?  I have seen some personally disturbing and sad comments towards those who are in support of gay marriage, as well as equally disturbing and sad comments towards those who identify within the Christian religion.  It is equally hurtful when there are those who make comments that Christianity is crumbling, we are a bunch of crazies who are full of ignorant beliefs.  If you have encountered this, I am sorry.  Not that it is my apology to give or should I need to give it, but I hope in the future you can have a better encounter with a Christian person, and truly see the heart that lies within - just like you are asking for today.  You cannot be celebrating any kind of love, yet be tearing down and demeaning anyone.  It does not work that way.  It distorts the very simplistic idea and pureness of love.  Sorry, but it does not make you better than the next person, regardless of your views and whether you think you are right and they are wrong. 

“God’s love is limitless and extends to all humankind.  His love includes gay men and women; it includes all sinners—including you and me.  Let’s make sure we are absolutely clear on this point: Jesus’ life on earth showed us that he extended great love to all of humanity, including those society deemed as “unworthy” of love.”

Buying Our First Home

Carlos and I made a pact that by the end of our first year of marriage, we would own our first home.

November came around and we decided we were ready.  Our apartment lease was soon to expire in a few months and we just felt like God was calling us both towards this next step.  We never EVER thought in a million years that we would be calling Kingwood, Texas our home.  Trust me, when my brother moved out to the area years before, we always complained about going to his house and wondering why any person with reasonable sense would live out here. (Note: Never Say Never) We truly did not imagine that this is the community where we would find our home church and want to establish and raise our family.

We had the wonderful help of my younger sisters' stepmother helping us in the process as our realtor.   She was pretty amazing guiding us through the process and driving from Sugar Land to Kingwood on weekends to show us homes.  We knew we wanted to stay within a certain neighborhood, and so we did what we felt was right - we prayed about it!  We actually wrote a list of what we ideally wanted in our first home:

Neighborhood - Trailwood Village or Bear Branch

Budget - $$$ (We actually went to our max offer price - won against 5 other bidders AND in the end of closing on the house, we walked away with it for under asking price - and people say God isn't real???)

One Story Home

Symmetrical Front of House

4 bedrooms

2.5 baths

Either move-in ready and the opportunity to make it to our liking ourselves

And we trusted that God would show up and bring us to the right home!  AND boy did He show up!  But, honestly it took a lot of patience and trusting in His will for us.  We tried to find homes we thought were "perfect" and tried to make them fit into that list we had made.  We would make offers on homes that didn't have any checkmarks from the list, but we thought we loved.  Of course, we ended up losing the offers on those homes because the market is super competitive right now for buyers. 

We were coming up on the week we had to move out of our apartment.  We decided to just wait and continue to look - luckily, we had amazing friends who allowed us to use their home in the meantime until we found "the" home for us.  Little did we know what was literally right around the corner...we moved out on a Thursday, and early that following Saturday morning, I went browsing for the umpteenth million time on HAR to see if any homes had recently popped up.  And THAT is when I saw our home...well not really.  It was such a new listing, that there were no pictures or description.  I GoogleMap'd it to see a front view of the home, and immediately texted Carlos that we needed to go look at this home ASAP!  We called Karen, our realtor, and she arranged for a showing in-between 5 other showings. EEEK!

When we went to see the house that afternoon, Carlos and I immediately fell in love.  Let me know, we both know and sense a good thing when we look at each other and don't even have to say a word - this is how we typically make decisions (because it's such a great method to use lol) and this was one of those times.  Despite the horrible 1970s wallpaper, original shag carpets, and endless walls of wood paneling (oh I'll post the pictures)...we saw the endless possibilities of taking this home and making it into ours. We had other homes lined up to go look at after, and we didn't even want to bother. We wanted to get our offer in immediately because we knew this home wouldn't be around for long. Boy, were we right! There were 5 other offers within 24 hours!!! The owners were the original couple who bought the house in 1977, and were in their 80s. So what did we do to make sure we sealed the deal and had the best offer? Well, write them a personal and touching letter of course!!!

Well it worked!!!  We really connected with the previous owners and God continued to work so many miracles throughout the closing process that allowed us to make our first home everything we wanted and more.  Stay tuned as we renovate our first home!!!

TRUST

I don't EVER make New Years Resolutions - this is probably because I easily lose focus once this little thing called "life" starts to get in the way. I don't stay committed to anything for very long. At the beginning of this year, I came into it with no expectations - none for myself and none for those in my life.

If I look back and was to choose one word for 2014, it would be "HOPE".

I brought with me a torn and bruised spirit, and I had lost hope in a lot of the areas of my life. I had lost vision and hope for myself and my future. I didn't think I would ever be able to shed my hurts and hang-ups. - to truly move on and leave them in the past. Well let me just say, God usually brings you to your weakest and most vulnerable state before He does something BIG in you. It didn't take too long for me to fall flat on my face and come to realize that I couldn't do it on my own anymore. I was weak and was deeply in need and searching for God's grace and strength. 

Luckily, by February, my husband and I started to attend Woodlands Church - and we have finally found our church home. I know it may seem I brag about this a lot - but I just can't help it (#sorrynotsorry). Through our church family, I found my way back into God's vision for me - one He had never lost sight in but that I had been so unwilling to see because of sadness, anger, disappointments, and not letting go.  I quickly came to realize was that there was hope and a future for me. That I was not lost, because God has given me the greatest sacrifice and gift I could ever receive. 

I look back on this year and I am thankful and blessed to see what I have been able to deal with and overcome. But I didn't do it all myself and I don't deserve any of the praise - God does! He did it - I just opened myself up to let Him work in me. Each day is a working progress - new challenges and obstacles continue to come up - there are even many still present. But they are ALL out of my control.

My sister Natalie has done this same challenge for awhile now and I felt challenged to really jump into it...which is why for 2015, my one word vision is...

TRUST!

I shamelessly admit that I tend to put God in a box - that there are certain situations I just cannot bring to Him. When I start to do that, I put limits on God and I doubt God. I need to learn to trust Him 100% in everything I do, feel, or say -  trust Him not with just His blessings, but that no problem I have is bigger than Him to handle and overcome. Trusting that when I walk away from something or someone, it is allowing Him to step in, and that because He is truth and just,  He will makes all wrongs right, heal all pains, mend hearts and relationships. Even when He hasn't yet "fixed" things, I will continue to persevere. 

I have to trust in God, not in man. I learned that when things in your life happen that you wish were otherwise, you have two choices in life:

1) You can either choose to continue to live THROUGH it and trust in God

2) You can choose to let it kill you (emotionally, mentally, spiritually)

I choose to live through it and trust in God, because I know this is where faith will grow and this is where I will grow. I am super excited for 2015 - this is the most excitement I have ever had going into another year. Be safe and much love!