Change: Your Outlook Part 2

So, I know I blogged about choosing joy yesterday. And I totally had something different planned for today. But, I've kind of been stuck on this topic today, so I want to spend just a little more time dwelling on it.

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This week is midterms week, which means that school is rough. Since I'm not the best at planning things, I didn't get all my blogs for this week written and schedules last weekend, which means that I'm writing them at 10:30 at night when all that I really want to do is crawl into my bed and sleep. I am so tired. I am emotionally exhausted. And it's only Monday. Yesterday and today have been difficult. I don't know why, but I find myself frequently having a pity party. I mean, seriously Lauren, why are you so stupid that you didn't work on your paper this weekend or study for your theology midterm? I am beating myself up over the silliest things. Lauren, get it together. There is too much peanut butter on this sandwich. I find myself sitting in bed blogging at 10:30 at night when all I want to do is have a good cry session and journal and sleep. Oh- and maybe watch some TLC. That always makes me feel better. I say all of this to confess that I'm not always choosing joy. While I'm repeating my mantra through my head- sometimes it is hard.

Philippians 4:4-9 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

But, I'm telling you that it’s so important that we don’t get lost in our own little pity party. As girls, sometimes we like to compare ouselves to other people. We get upset that we aren’t as pretty as someone. We get upset that we do have stuff that someone else has. But, this Is so unhealthy. We are setting ourselves up for a lifetime of jealousy. It isn’t going to stop after we lose those ten pounds, get that boyfriend, or make the team. Trust me on this one. It’s a lifetime of discontentment. This discontentment leads to the feeling that we failed at something. This sense of failure ties back to our perfectionism and makes us unhappy. In the midst of all this jealousy, we cease to choose joy. Just as this joy brings us closer to our creator, the lack of joy (also known as discontentment) leads us further away from our creator.

Change: Your Outlook

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Think positive thoughts. It's a popular slogan that we throw around.
But, do we really believe it? Do we really embrace the gravity of the situation?
I mean, it's really hard to think positive thoughts about bad things.
But, think about Sara.This girl has hit the blogger world by storm.
She chose joy in the midst of chronic illness. She chose joy in the midst of death.
I think she's the perfect example of what I mean by changing your outlook.
It's not about "being happy all the time". It's not about always smiling and laughing.
Sometimes life gets hard.
But, changing our outlook means choosing joy in the hard times.
It means trusting that God will work it all out.
It's about finding that little glimmer of hope- that glimpse of light- and embracing it.
It's about holding on with all we've got.
It's about "trusting in the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." (Proverbs 3:5)

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So, how do we do this?

Here's my ideas of how I'm going to "choose joy".

1. Make a list of the positive parts of the situation I am in. Even when things get hard, rather than focusing on the negative parts of the situation, look for the positives.
2. Find the light. Similarly, look to God in the situation. Where is he working? Sometimes, we get stronger in these hard times.
3. Surround yourself with Scripture. Yes, friends are good. But, sometimes they aren't the wisest. Look at Job. His friends didn't offer any good support and blamed him for the position he was in. So, while surrounding ourselves with friends and family is good, make sure to not forget the Word. There are so many passages in that great, big book that offer guidance for almost any situation. Anxious? Turn to Him. Sad? Turn to Him. In whatever season you're in, stay immersed in the Word.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Change: Your Life

Today is October 1st, which means it is the beginning of the 31 days blog challenge! I am so excited guys. You have no idea. The prospect of blogging every day on a preset topic (in addition to the fun ones about my life) is more than a little overwhelming. But, it's cool. Because I think this will be super fun. For the month of October, we're going to be talking about change. It's a little word, but I think it's pretty important. Merriam-Webster defines this word as "to undergo transformation, transition, or substitution." I think this it's important that we not become so complacent in our lives that we don't allow ourselves to be transformed. I'm not saying that we need to shift at every single moment to conform to the world around us (I'm actually arguing the opposite!). It's just that sometimes we become so set in our ways that we do let go of our comfortable and let God lead us into his greater plan. In Romans, Paul writes, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2, ESV) We need to allow ourselves to be transformed into the will of God. This requires change. 


Changing your life isn't always easy. We like to do things that are comfortable to us. But, I'm learning that sometimes we need to let go of what "feels safe". I mean, I'm beginning to realize that a year from now I'm going to be graduating. I'm going to have to get a "big girl job". Interning at my church won't pay the bills, if you get what I mean. This may require me to move out of my hometown to get a job. This may mean working with people I don't know. On the flip side, if I decide to go to go to grad school/seminary, I definitely have to leave my comfort zone. I like my college with 800 students. I like running into people I know. I like working with people that I've known since I was eleven. It's "safe". But, when we chase the will of God, it may feel like we're leaving our "safety zone". It may feel like there's no longer a trampoline under our tightrope. It may feel uneasy. But, I have to believe that it's what's best. 


This month, we're going to talk about lots of changes. If you can't tell, we're going to start by talking about changing our lives. We're going to talk about changing our fears, our outlook, our faith journey, and our mission. These are HARD things. I'm not claiming to have all the answers. I hope we can work together to discover these things. Then, we're going to move to talk about changing our world and different ways we can do this. We'll take a break from the "tough stuff" and talk about ways to change our blog for about a week, then we'll jump into tackling that thing we call self-image and how we can change this for the better. We'll do a little decorating and change up our spaces, and then we'll talk about the different relationships we have and how we can work on these. I'm so excited about this month, and I hope you'll join me in our journey to change! :)

Saturdays in the South

There’s a little football player that means so much to me.

He wears the number 2 so that he can have the same number as Cam Newton did at Auburn.

There’s something about Satudays in the South that make me smile.

There’s nothing I love more about football than watching my baby brother run in a touchdown (Yes, that kid is the kicker, QB, and he can run the ball. Talented, I tell you).

And that’s what I love about Saturdays in the South. It’s not all about college football. It’s not all about dressing up and tailgating. It’s not about who’s going to go to the National Championship this year. It’s about sitting in the stands in your hometown, in the stadium that you sat in during high school cheering your team on and watching your baby brother play football on the field you marched with the band on. It’s about cheering on the hometown team.

Go Indians!

(If you want to see how cute the kid looked the first year he played, you can go here, here, and here. These are all from 2009. Apparently, I didn’t blog about the games last year. Go figure. )

Football Friday: It's Fall Yall!

I am SO excited to finally get a chance to participate in Nicole's Football Friday. Because, really, I like football a little too much. Because, you see, in the South, this is how we feel about our football.

Source: None via Lauren on Pinterest

I'm pretty excited about Fall though. I love the *week* that it's a little chilly, but not too chilly. I'm not a huge cold weather fan, but it normally goes from HOT to cold here. Happy Fall!

Source: tumblr.com via Lauren on Pinterest

This party would be super cute for an AUBURN tailgate.

Source: etsy.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Lauren on Pinterest

And, of course, let's not forget cute gameday outfits. Dare to dream girls, dare to dream.

Source: polyvore.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Lauren on Pinterest

And that's life...

I'm still alive. Promise.
I just have a little thing called writer's block.
I'm a little burnt out on writing things because of the three million-gazillion papers I've written in the past week.
But, no worries. I'm sure this thing will end by October.

For now, I thought I'd just share some things that are on my mind.

1. On a completely non-serious note, I have a Google Plus now that they're open to the public and not just to super special people. Am I the only one that is completely baffled over this social networking site? (Actually social networking in general. I really wish I could live without the desire to be constantly connected to people.) Since I know that I'm adorbs and I'm only really using Google Plus like a Twitter (meaning no super secret information), feel free to add me. I'm right here. I'll be sure to update my status when I brush my teeth, take a shower, and eat food. (Since I know you're dying to know that kind of stuff, right?) Totally kidding. That kind of stuff bothers me. I don't like knowing that much about other people's business.

2. Biblical Womanhood. This topic has been floating around in my head for a bit. Two things were the catalyst for this topic. First, I discovered this blog of a woman who is trying to live a "Year of Biblical Womanhood." Honestly, I think she's gone about it all the wrong way (it isn't about not cutting your hair or covering your head and other legalistic things). But, this was one thing that started my thought process. I also started looking into Grad Schools and seeing as the ones I'm looking at are tending to be on the more conservative side, it got me thinking about this subject. In addition, I listened to this talk and read this post on submission. Interesting thoughts, I'm still not sure where I fall on the spectrum and all that jazz, but it's interesting to think about. What are your thoughts on the topic? (I hope I'm not opening up a can of worms here.)

3. Pinterest Finds. I'm all about decorating for the holidays right now. Halloween is right around the corner- We need some cheap fall decorations in this room. Then, Christmas. I love Christmas. Though we're going to have to have Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations up at the same time because of the way that Finals fall.

Source: bethproudfoot.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: blog.catchmyparty.com via Lauren on Pinterest

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I like this promise.

Source: silentfears.tumblr.com via Lauren on Pinterest