Motivational Monday!

I am so excited for what this week holds! No test…HORRAY but still will be keeping up with tons of homework and also preparing for my half marathon this weekend! AH! Please pray for my hip, it’s been hurting me for maybe two weeks now? Not unbearable pain but surely it won’t enjoy 13.1 miles so please pray for healing before Saturday! I woke up this morning and when I peeked outside it seems like it has been cold and rainy! I often let my mood be determined by the weather (that’s why I am such a summer girl) but today I’m chosing to find my own sunshine in the rain! I hope you’ll join me! Nothing like have a positive attitude to kick off the week! Happy and healthy Emily 🙂 Here’s somethings that have already brightened my morning!

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” -John 14:27

 

 

Thankful Heart

Do you ever just have those days where you are overwhelmed with a thankful heart? It isn’t a rare thing for me to have a day like today and honestly I can feel my heart is full. Is that weird? It’s almost as if my heart is smiling! So many blessings can be found in everyday adventures and I can’t seem to shake the smile from my face today. It could be on account of being so proud of my beautiful twin sister, Whitney, leading worship at Harris Creek this morning, or being able to sit with dear friends. Maybe I just woke up on the right side of the bed, or perhaps it’s my favorite sweater I threw on this morning. Some of these seem like logical cause and effect circumstances but I would prefer to take a different look at today like this, perhaps I have allowed Christ’s joy to enter my heart and THAT is the reason for this warm feeling. Taking the second approach gives you power over circumstantial happiness.

Currently Listen To: ‘Your Glory’ By: Sons and Daughters

Because all the things I listed that might have been reason for my happiness today are things that could have changed, Whitney could have sung terrible, I could have sat alone, I could have been up all last night causing for a grumpy morning, or what if I had discovered a hole in my favorite sweater? Do you see where I’m going with this? There is one constant in our life, whether you acknowledge Him or not.

“Let Me be your positive Focus. When you look to e, knowing Me as God with you, you experience Joy.”-Jesus Calling

[Here] is an interesting article on happiness from lululemon ambassador, Ingrid Yang. As a Christian I feel that I understand the difference between joy and happiness, but still this article leads to some different theories, scientific ones trying to pin point happiness. VERY interesting!

Exciting News: Guest Blogger Buddies

Current Mood: Tired (but happy for the weekend)!!!

Currently Listening to: ‘Just Not Each Other’ by James Fitzsimmons

SO happy the weekend is almost here! This week has been such a blur of tests and I can’t stand anymore!! I wanted to let y’all know about a fun opportunity I had. I was able to guest blog on one of my dear friends blogs! Lindsay Cash and I have known each other ever since I came to Baylor, we are Pi Phis together! Anyway her blog is amazing. Most recently she has been posting about her time in New York (she’s still there)! I tried to write a little about the excitement of the city and encourage her and all of us really to slow down and enjoy the day, wherever we find ourselves! Check out the story and her GREAT blog: HERE or follow her on Twitter….HERE 🙂

A few other shout outs to friends with blogs (or you can always find them on twitter) 🙂

@jeffwarren is yes, my Dad! His blog is so filled with truth and I can always hear him through his writting..love you Dad! Find purpose [here]

@brianndorris she is my roommate who has been blogging as long as I have, if not longer. I’ve linked her blog before but head to it whenever you’re in need of inspiration or any scripture. She writes beautifully. [here]

@hannah_park is a fabulous friend of mine and I’ve just recently tuned into her blog. Very real, fun and amazing pictures! Check it out! [here]

@RamieBaker is my roommate and one of my best friends…Her up and coming blog is sure to be hilarious. Her first post should be up this Friday [here]

@_averykate has such a sweet blog, with constant posts, it’s always a great place to stop by! [here]

Motivational Mornings

Currently listening to: ‘Love Came Down’ by Kari Jobe

I don’t know if there is anyone who loves mornings quite like me. Waking up refreshed with a completely clean slate for this day is the best feeling in the world! You can go to sleep knowing a new day is coming tomorrow and the worries of this one will be gone. Not to mention it’s Monday: Bachelor tonight;). But seriously I really try to treasure my quiet mornings before the craziness that may find me that day. I woke this morning extremely early to go on run, until I checked the temp..YIKES! I can’t wait for spring and summer morning temperatures…my favorite seasons! SO instead I have filled my morning with coffee, quiet time and the pure bliss of having tons of free time before my first class! I hope you have had a wonderful and productive morning as well! This morning when I was catching up on my twitter and blog updates I was reminded of my Dads sermon yesterday @PCBC through his twitter…I love both of these tweets but the second one really resonated with me…”Let your light shine-for the greater good of EVERYONE in your life today!” What a positive and beautiful picture! Let every person who comes into contact with you today leave feeling better about themselves and curious to where your joy comes from! We’ve got today! No promises of tomorrow, not even a promise of this afternoon, so why not CHOOSE happiness and joy! Whatever problems you have woken up to let them melt away, turn your thoughts to Christ and He will shine His light through you!

“She will have no fear of bad news; her heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.”-Psalm 112:7

Let this be said of me today God, that whatever today holds my heart would not be shaken but firmly planted in you so that even in trials I am confident and can continually boast in you!

Here are a few pictures from my weekend in Dallas, a great time of renewal and rest before lots of tests coming up!

“I am with you always.”

This morning I went to yoga to loosen up for an 11 mile run this afternoon (training for a half marathon to run with my Dad:) ).. The instructor played a CD that was supposed to “awaken” positive thinking, interestingly enough since she told us that’s what it was meant for I tried to focus on positive thoughts, I don’t think there was anything really in the music that triggered it but I think if I were to focus on positive thinking more in my life, it would happen! And today I’m going to focus on that, because it’s really not always that easy. Every morning I read Jesus Calling, a great devotional that reads as if Jesus was speaking to you directly, and most of them time that seems to be exactly what happens! Today is titled, “I Am With You Always.” Funny how easy it is to forget this promise and feel like you’re doing everything alone. I know I am subject to silly pity and have a woe-is-me type attitude at times. If we step back from whatever worry we are carrying it’s easier to realize how small our problems really are. A situation that might be consuming our thoughts can easily be given over to God and our hearts can be free to worship and thank him again.

So Lord, I pray that today I would recognize the beauty in small things and give all of my worries over to you. Let me enjoy today without any hindrance. Make your promise obvious to me and let me feel you with me all day long! Thank you for sending your son so that we can be set free from worry. Do a work in me today and mold me into who you’d have me be. I love you!

Spring Smoothies

As of late I have been obsessing over SMOOTHIES! Seriously. They make me SO excited for summer. Ah to be poolside with a good book and a yummy protein shake. I am so happy it’s finally getting warmer, I know February still has to happen but come on we are so close to spring! Anyway I thought I’d share with y’all some of my favorite blogs that are preparing me for my favorite summer treat!

This site has great vegan, and gluten-free recipes! Really promotes spinach in a lot of the recipes which at first I was totally against until realizing, you can’t even taste it! Not to mention it make your smoothie a pretty green color! 🙂 Love the title too..Blender Girl! My favorite recipe so far is this Home-Made Almond Milk. I made it with cocoa coated almonds so it actually came out more like a chocolate milk! Delicious!

Skinnytaste is AMAZING! It has SO many recipes and I actually stumbled across it this past summer when I made this Skinny Taco Layered Dip for a Mavs watch party! I’m planning on trying Gina’s Skinny Green Monster Smoothie later today!

And last but definitely not least…one of my favorites..20 Slimtastic Smoothies! This has easy, simple recipes for quick smoothies for those of us on the run..or post run treats! As the weather gets warmer I will be trying out these delicious and easy recipes! I also love adding in a few drops of honey into almost all of these smoothies for some sweet taste, brown sugar is also a great add! I become obsessed with smoothies this summer, poolside my Dad would make peanut butter banana protein shakes…still my all time favorite! They make you feel full and energized! Making healthy choices isn’t hard when there are great options out there! Hop on the bandwagon! I promise you won’t regret choosing to be healthy and happy! 🙂

P.S. if you haven’t yet, it’s time to get Kari Jobe’s new CD!

 

Positiviley Positive

Current Mood: Joyful, positive, happy

Reasons: Jesus, Kari Jobe’s new CD, Rain, Cancelled classes!

As many of you know this semester has me with my head stuck in the books and all things social put on a back burner till Senior year! This semester is by far going to be the most challenging and without time with friends I have already been forced to recognize my dependence on Jesus and his friendship for reassurance and positivity! I’m by nature a very positive person, I think I get it from my parents:) but after a long day of classes and finally getting home at 7ish I have very little energy left in my to go play or catch up with important people in my life, so that has definitely brought a negativity in my heart. Even as I feel weighed down by busyness Christ asks for my time, beautifully spoken to me this morning through my quiet time,

“Bring Me the sacrifice of your time, and watch to see how abundantly I bless you and your loved ones.”

I love that he promises to bless my loved ones too, relationships take time and energy but they also take prayer so for those friends of mine that are far or I haven’t been able to catch up with recently know I am in prayer for our friendships and I’m thankful for you!

Plans for the day: Since I’m training for a half marathon with my Dad I’ve been following a training schedule and today I’ll be running 4 miles! Lots of studying to be done this afternoon, so will be cooped up in the library. Revenge is on tonight, love that time with Ramie!

Monday isn’t so bad

Today has been a pretty productive Monday and although I should be reading a few packets for my editing course right now I’m taking a little time to write a few thoughts. I woke early this morning not to walk but to study for a British Literature exam, which I do believe I ACED! Wahoo!! I love the mornings so much. I lit some yummy fall smelling candles and stayed in my P.J.s to study with coffee in hand. I guess I just love me time so much and the morning is when I get the chance to have it since nights are filled with Pigskin practice and meetings, ect. I am so thankful for days like today though where I just feel productive and my list of to-dos is happily being checked off as I continue through out my very planned day. This morning my quiet time was about staying directly in the path of Christ. The mission that every single work you do would be glorifying to Him, everything you do, you never even think that it was you doing it but always turning the glory back to him. I’m so far from that point. I rarely think I just did something amazing but if I am proud of myself in some way I think to myself, “Go Emily!” How silly of me. If I truly live in Christ then it will always be a thank you back to Jesus. This morning I committed my test to God and asked Him to help me through it. So in my earlier sentences when I said, “I ACED” my exam….I guess I should change that, God allowed me to recall all I had studied and He gave me the words and recall to do great! So thank you Lord for answering the smallest prayers of a college student.

A few favorites today:

JJ Heller on repeat. French braids for class to Pigskin practice. Goals being set. Sunshine. Old friends reaching out in love. Walks. New admirers. Phone calls with grandparents. Worn sweater from workout to library. Revenge on Wednesday. I love this picture.

“There were scars before my scars, love written on the hands that hung the stars, hope living in the blood that was spilled for me.”