“The Lord watches over you...”
-Psalm 121:5-
One of the real aspects of walking the single journey is the reality that there may be times that we travel alone- whether it is by default or by choice. Singles may meet up with friends or family members at some point in the travel but there are times that we will need to travel alone in this world. Whether it is a short or long car
trip. a flight across the country. or a flight to the other side of the
world, I have found incredible comfort in Psalm 121:5 and in the truth, “the Lord watches over you…” (Psalm
121:5).
As we travel let us pray that the Lord will be with us and keep us safe. When we drive let us ask Him to help us focus on the road before us and keep our heads clear during long car trips when we could potentially get distracted. We may feel that a road trip is more “fun” or “better” with a physical companion, but this is a unique opportunity and time where we can spend it in prayer with the Lord. As the miles roll beneath the wheels of our cars, let us pray that during this season of road trips alone we would make sweet memories of growing closer to the Lord.
In the years before I got sick I lived a wide range of hours away from my family due to schooling, jobs, and where the Lord had called me. At one point I lived almost 12 hours away and it was a long car trip home by myself. I asked the Lord to help me with these long trips and to use this time to grow closer to Him. I wanted to use the time that I had and be purposeful with it. I bought several different christian books on tape, purchased the Bible on tape (I really enjoyed THIS ESV version of the entire Bible and would also listen to the Message sometimes too which you can find HERE), and purchased new worship music for each of my trips. As I would rotate the things I would do (each hour I did something different alternating between listening to a devotional book, the Bible, worship, and prayer) the time literally flew. As I look back on my long car trips over a 7 year period of time I now see them as some of the sweetest times with Jesus that are truly precious to me.
There are lots of times where today scripture that I was hearing and memorizing has been an incredible encouragement in my current journey with Advanced Late Stage Lyme Disease. Those long car trips that I took alone were a beautiful foundation for this difficult season in life.
There are lots of times where today scripture that I was hearing and memorizing has been an incredible encouragement in my current journey with Advanced Late Stage Lyme Disease. Those long car trips that I took alone were a beautiful foundation for this difficult season in life.
“The Lord watches over you- the Lord is your shade
at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.”
-Psalm 121: 5-6-
When you travel in any form of transportation Psalm 121:5-6 has brought comfort and encouragement to me. Commit these verses to heart- know that the Lord watches over you and cling to the promise that nothing will harm you. Our mighty Lord "watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm
121:4). If we have to fly let us pray that God will watch
over the plane and keep us safe. “The Lord will keep you from all harm- he will
watch over your life.” (Psalm 121:7) No matter how we travel let us remember that God would
surround His angels around us and keep us safe. “For He will order His angels
to protect you wherever you go.” (Psalm 91:11).
Let us remember that we never truly travel alone. The Lord is always with us. He is our sun and our shield.
“The Lord will watch over your
coming and going both now and forevermore.”
-Psalm 121:8-
There are lots of new designs that include new Scripture Bunting, Children's Buntings, and Inspirational Buntings.
There are lots of other new buntings and options that you can find in the shop HERE!
Happy Saturday friends! I hope that you have a wonderful weekend!
UPDATE: "From Hope Valley" will be published here on the blog as a series of 45-devotional posts starting Wednesday, February 1st. I look forward to y'all having the opportunity to read these posts then!
Hi y'all! I want to first say "thank you" for your incredible kindness and excitement of the book, "From Hope Valley" that was set to release next month. Each of your kind words, messages, and love about this project has been something that I truly treasure. Y'all are always so incredibly kind to this beginning author. At this point I have decided not to publish the devotional. I wish that I could share in detail the reasons behind the change, but I trust that you know that this decision was not made lightly or without much thought, prayers, and tears. As I take time to recover from the disappointment and loss of this project, I appreciate your support and as always your prayers.
"If your heart is broken, you'll find God right there; If your kicked in the gut, He'll help you catch your breath."
-Psalm 34:18(The Message)-
Every woman needs friends and community. We all need and long for a special tribe, and as a single woman this need is extremely important. Specifically as single women there are 6 types of friends that we need to journey with us through the difficult and joyful days, the highs and lows, and the hopes and tears of waiting for God's timing. So what are the types of friends that we single girls need?
The Praying Friend
This is the friend who prayers BIG prayers, dreams big dreams, and believes in the impossible no matter the situation. She is the one who believes that God can and will do immeasurably more than we can ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20)
The Loving Truth Teller Friend
This is the friend that will call you out lovingly when you are tempted to have a pity party, will speak truth into your heart when you are tempted to settle, and will lovingly remind you of the greatest truth- God's truth when you are tempted to feel less than who you are in God's image because you are single. This friend is a beautiful gift in this journey- reminding you of truth and understanding the power of life-giving and redeeming words.
The Brave One Friend
This is the beautiful friend that will remind you that life is an adventure and to never settle in this season but to live fully for the Lord in this season. This friend encourages you to ask questions and yet have courage in this season of waiting, beautifully encouraging you to step out and follow the Lord's plans for your life. This is the friend that will also encourage you to use this season of waiting for the Lord's glory.
The Married Friend
It can be tempting to think that a married friend won't understand this single season of life, but the opposite is true. A Godly woman will be able to share with you and help you mature in areas that can prepare you for marriage in the future. I have learned so much from each of my married friends who have been willing to openly love on me in this season about what true love, sacrifice, and commitment in marriage looks like. Don't be worried about the different seasons- true Godly women understand that we are all always waiting on the Lord for something and will lovingly welcome you into their lives.
The Example Friend
When I was in college I was blessed to work part-time in the Christian Ministry department at my university. I basically just answered phones and answered students questions, but I look back at my time there with such great affection and wonder. There was a woman, Cheryl who had been working as an administrative assistant for a long-time at the University and was one of the sweetest women I have ever known. She treated everyone with Christ's love and I learned so much from her example. My first year of working there I learned that Cheryl was single and I was baffled why. She truly was an amazing woman. As time went on I learned part of her truly heart-breaking story and she became my hero as I watched her live a grace-filled life that was completely joyful. In my second year she entered into a relationship with a wonderful Christian man whom she later married. Cheryl was quite a bit older than me and as a young woman I remember secretly hoping that I wouldn't have to wait so long to be married. But one day Cheryl said something to me that I have never forgotten. She said, "Rebecca, God's timing is absolutely perfect, for it is in God's timing that I have become the woman He is calling me to be. I trust that His timing is better than I could ever have imagined." I remember going home to my apartment and crying out to the Lord to have her faith for God's timing in this very important area of my life. Years later after my ex-fiance' walked out on our relationship shortly before our wedding Cheryl sent me a beautiful letter filled with wisdom and encouragement that I have kept to this day. Cheryl's beautiful example (and many others since then) have tenderly touched my heart, encouraged me, and reminded me that God's timing is flawless.
The Listener Friend
There are times where as single girls we just need to weep at this difficult season of life. In these moments we need the friend who will listen and cry with us. The listener has the gift of truly listening to our hearts and encouraging us in the difficult moments of life.
What kind of friends do you think every Christian single girls needs? What kind of friend category do you think that you are?
Two years ago in November one of my favorite additions to the shop was to announce that I was offering scripture bunting and then I later added in mini-scripture buntings. This had been a dream of mine for quite a while and I am so excited to offer it!
One of the reasons that I started offering this in my shop was I wanted a practical way to offer the opportunity to live out Deuteronomy 11:20 which states, "Write them (scripture) on the door frames of your houses and on your gates..". (As a side note Deuteronomy 6:9 also has similar wording and Deuteronomy 6 goes into more detail of writing scripture on our hearts and in our homes.)
In my life I have made it a point to display scripture all around me - including in my home, my bedroom and bathroom, in my car, and when I was teaching I had scripture up around the room. I continue this now (even though I live at home with my parents) and mediate on scripture everyday. This is truly a simple way to "write scripture on our hearts".
These verses are never "dry" but always speak to my heart and offer hope or answers to issues that I am struggling with or where I find rest and encouragement in. My hope in the scripture bunting comes from these scriptures and the way that I have seen the Lord transform my life again and again with scripture.
Over the last several years these items have been some of the most popular in the shop and this year one of my goals is to offer hundreds more of different kinds and styles this year. I have been working on memorizing new scripture for this year and am sharing lots of my favorite verses on these new buntings. I love these items and love that they can be a beautiful encouragement to each of you who purchase one.
This morning several new mini-scripture buntings went into the shop including this adorable one from Psalm 13:6:
Anyone who knows me knows that I love singing and this verse consistently reminds me of the beautiful truth of singing because the Lord is so good to me. This scripture bunting can be found HERE.
Psalm 145:20 has become an increasingly dear scripture verse to me over the last several months. This precious promise that the Lord watches over us has brought me great comfort and is a verse this past week with all of my scary health issues that I repeated hundreds of times, singing to myself as I was in an array of tests. This scripture bunting can be found HERE.
There are lots of other new buntings and options that you can find in the shop HERE! Dear friends, lets write scripture on our hearts and deep in our souls so that we can know the truth of God's word deeply and unequivocally. Truly He is good!
Happy Saturday friends! I hope that you have a wonderful weekend!
"From Hope Valley" devotional will now be released on February 10th! I can't wait to share more updates with y'all and also exciting news about the book in the coming weeks! If you would like more updates please come over and say hello at "From Hope Valley" IG feed! You can find it HERE! I would love to connect with you there!
Today I am so excited to share with y'all a special promotion that is ending soon through Amazon that those of you who are booklovers like myself will want to try! Audible is a publisher and distributor of the world's largest selection of audiobooks and spoken word content. If you are an audible customer than you can listen anytime and anywhere to these professionally-narrated audiobooks. There are tons of genres (including best sellers, new releases, sci fi, classics, romances, and more) that are available!
Right now - for a limited time- there is the opportunity for a free 30-day trial with audible. In the 30-day free trial you will receive:
*TWO free audiobooks
*30% off the price of additional audiobook purchases
*Cancel anytime and keep the books!
If you decide that you love this program (which I am sure you will!) then you can sign up for the gold membership ($14.95/each month) which entitles you to the benefits of:
*One audiobook per month
*30% off the price of additional audiobook purchases
*Cancel Anytime- and still keep the books even if you cancel!
So don't hesitate- try this amazing program for FREE today and receive TWO audiobooks! You can sign up by clicking HERE!
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