Something New: How blogging Has Changed My Life

To begin this post, here is a random picture of some of my Essie nail polish. I just bought the peach color and I'm obsessed! The peach color is tart deco, and the turquoise color is turquoise and caicos. I love Essie because it stays on forever and all of their colors are each so bright and pretty. 

This photo below is another random photo of some of the different makeup that I use.  Starting from the left is my Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake, my Sephora long-lasting liquid eyeliner in noir black, and my Loreal Voluminous Mascara in carbon black. The eyeliner never fades and stays on all day, the mascara always makes my eyelashes look super long and pretty, and the lipstick is not only is a pretty shade of pink but it also makes my lips feel smooth and it doesn't feel like I'm wearing lip stick at all!

Hey friends! Today marks my FOURTH post for the summer of something new blog challenge. For those of you don't know what this challenge is, it was set up by my wonderful blog friend Annaliese at Southern Belle in Training, and for this challenge Annaliese, Elle, Jenna,  Michaela, Gina and I will be sharing with you guys something new every Friday for 6 weeks! This week, I decided to switch it up from my normal crafts and DIY and share with you how starting a blog took courage and has challenged me beyond my limits. It's been a life-changing experience!

As I was scrolling through the blogging world today and reading many of your wonderful posts, I couldn't help but think to myself where my own blog has brought me. When I say where, I mean a place full of new friendships that I never imagined I would make. So many new friends leading me closer to Jesus and encouraging me to seek Him more and more. So many friends writing about their struggles in their walks with Christ that I could so easily relate with. So many women LIFTING my spirits, and filling me with joy.

I remember the exact moment of when I first decided to make my blog. Before that point, I had been talking with friends about how I was thinking about making a blog, but I didn't really know what to make it about. My first idea was to make a blog about healthy eating. I honestly didn't have enough passion though to make a blog like that, because although I am still very proud of myself for losing 50 pounds and keeping that weight off today, I really was never into the idea of making a blog only about that topic.

It was about 12:30 am on a Saturday night, and  I was scrolling through one of my favorite blogs, Bloom by Nicole. "Thats it!" I said to myself. "I HAVE to make a blog." I loved Nicole's openness in sharing her relationship with Jesus, and she so much reminded me of myself in a lot of ways through that aspect. 

I was so nervous when I started my blog. I didn't know anyone, and I didn't even know what the heck to write about. At first I would kind of flip flop and write about random things, and I was a little nervous to share my faith. I didn't think people would really be able to relate with my posts. I actually didn't even figure out how to add the "follower" button to my blog until a month and a half into making it. That really frustrated me because I had written a few posts up to that point that nobody was really reading. Once I found the follower button, I was happy but annoyed that it had taken me so long to figure out. 

Then amazing things happened. People would write posts that were exactly what I needed to read. God would speak right through them. I started to meet some new blog friends, and what was unique about these friendships was that I could tell that we clicked. No, I haven't met any of them in person (YET), but I just know that if we were able to meet in real life it would be full of laughs and pure happiness.

So friends, if your reading this and you are thinking about starting a blog but you haven't yet, DO IT! Or maybe your new to the blogging scene and you are frustrated or overwhelmed about getting it going: DON'T GIVE UP! I definitely cried a few times when I was trying to figure out how the heck to set up this blog up, it was SO confusing! But... I still did it. I persevered. It has been a true challenge with starting this blog up, but it has been totally worth every ounce of effort. I am challenged every day to write what is really on my heart and what I feel compelled to share with you guys. I still have a long way to go with building my blog, but I am so happy that I have made it this far. Blogging has definitely become a big part of my life, and I have been blessed beyond belief with becoming part of a community that I am unbelievably thankful for.

Here are my blogging besties whom I love dearly and pray for the opportunity to meet in real life one day!

Francesca at Beautiful Things

Katie at Hope Engaged

Annaliese at Southern Belle In Training

Gina at Gina Alyse

Hannah at Wonderfully Sewn

Julie at An Anchor For The Soul

Brittany at Happy Is a Choice

Cassie at Sage

Kiki at In Its Time

 Bailey at Anchored in Love Divine

Abigail at Abigail Jasmine

Lauren at Marked By Grace

Kellie at Nothing Less

...and I also happen to have a REAL-LIFE friend who started a blog at the same time I did, her name is Allison and she blogs at a A God Fashioned Life- Love her & her blog!

Thats them! Go look at their pages, I promise you'll love them just as much as I do. But seriously, go look. I love them all. I also recently have met some other wonderful ladies on here that I am looking forward to becoming better friends with as well. I pray very often that somehow someday I would be able to meet each one of these ladies in person one day! I really want to do a "blog meet up" or "blog trip" but I have no idea how to set it up, let alone how that would work with all of our crazy schedules. Oh well, if its in Gods will it will just somehow happen anyway! Until then, keep doing what you do blog besties, I love you all!

Ps- My blog's Facebook page is could use some love from you guys! Click HERE to like Forever Convinced on Facebook!

PPS-  I also love Instagram and I'd love for you to follow my Instagram adventures by clicking HERE!

Love always, Jess

working for a relationship with God

Here is a picture to begin this post that I took via Instagram yesterday from my new home. God's beautiful sunset. I was amazed by His beauty. It was the perfect way to end to my day. Click here to follow my Instagram adventures!

Work. Work is something we are all familiar with, whether we have a real-life full time job or are a college student. Work can be down-right tiring, and sometimes we find ourselves in circumstances with work where we just want to give up. I can assure you that there were about a million times where I doubted that I would actually graduate college in 4 years. I was so overwhelmed with my circumstances, but at the same time I was determined not give up. Thankfully I am here today to tell you that I thankfully did graduate college in 4 years, and my diploma is in my room right behind me. {PHEW!} I start graduate school in the fall, and as excited as I am about this new experience, I know that it will be a whole new level of work that I will be challenged with. 

Lately, I have been realizing that my relationship with Jesus takes work. It's kind of like a full time job, that is worth every single itsy bitsy penny. My relationship with Jesus is my life, my everything. I'm not just writing this to you all to make myself look like that "perfect Christian," its simply the truth. Jesus is my all, and sometimes I find myself becoming frustrated with the circumstances that I face in maintaining my relationship with Him. Sometimes, I get distracted by whats around me. Sometimes, the greatest enemy I have against Jesus is my own selfish self. "But you could be working on that project right now, instead of spending time with Jesus!" "Spending time with God doesn't REALLY matter, its not like God will love you any less if you don't spend quiet time with Him!" These are some of the thoughts that run through my head a lot of the time. I am learning these are the thoughts I have to fight against, no matter how hard I have to fight. 

I came across a short passage in Jesus Calling that I felt really related to this topic:

"Be willing to fight for this precious time with me. Opposition comes in many forms: your own desire to linger in bed; the evil ones determination to distract you from me, the pressure of family, friends, and your own inner critic to spend time more productively. As you grow in your desire to please Me above all else, you gain strength to resist these opponents."

Maybe your wondering why I am so determined to fight against my own thoughts and spend time with the Lord. Maybe your thinking to yourself: "But its true, God won't love me any less if I don't spend time with Him!" Yes, that is true, but I have learned that our God is a God of relationship. This means that yes He will always love us unconditionally, but if we are not working to maintain our relationship with him and get to know Him better through spending time with Him, we will begin to feel unloved. God will begin to feel distant. It's like when a girl tells her boyfriend she doesn't want to date him anymore. Although he accepts that she wants this to happen between them, he still loves her. He wants to be with her, but since he loves her and wants her to be free to make her own decisions, he lets her go. Their relationship ends and the girl begins to forget everything the two of them ever had, even though the boy is still in love with her.

I am determined to just focus on resting with the Lord this summer, whatever that may take. I am far from perfect, and I know this will take work, but I am looking forward to the journey ahead of me. I have experienced some circumstances this summer where quite frankly I felt like I was in a war zone just getting away from the loudness to spend time with Jesus. Now as I venture off into a more quiet time during my summer, I want to really to to know God on a whole different level.

I love you guys! I hope you have a beautiful day!

Love always, Jess

A new blog challenge: Summer of Something New

Hey guys!

You may not know this, but this summer I am currently teaming up with one of my favorite bloggers, Annaliese at Southern Bell In Training, to do a new blog challenge! The challenge is called "Summer of Something New," and for this blog challenge Annaliese, Elle, Jenna,  Michaela and I will be committing to trying one new thing every week for 6 weeks and then sharing with you guys every Friday! I am looking forward to these upcoming Fridays for the next six weeks, woohoo! So friends, here we go! Here is the first official Friday post for this new blog challenge.

For those of you that don't know, this week I was at a camp called Washington Family Ranch. This camp is absolutely beautiful. There is a few huge water slides, a cliff jump, a rope course, and more fun things to do. What many of these fun things have in common is their altitude. Ha, in other words, they are not height friendly. They are made for those campers or leaders who are willing to take a leap of faith and face their fears.

At camp we are each challenged as leaders to "do things for our kids." We want to let our campers know that we are just as scared as they are to participate in certain events at camp. We also want to show our campers that just because we are scared doesn't mean that we are going to give up. Well for me particularly, I was terrified of the cliff jump. Last year at camp, I had even been too terrified to do the cliff jump. I felt like a failure, and that I had really let my kids down. This year, I came to camp with a better attitude. I came to camp knowing that the spirit in me was greater than my fears in this world. I knew that with the God of the universe behind me, I could do anything.

As soon as we got off the bus at camp this year, the camp announcer yelled out for two leader volunteers. Before I could even look around, my girls were already screaming at the camp announcer to "pick me!". The next thing I knew, the camp announcer had chosen me as one of the two leaders to go do the cliff jump in my clothes right then and there. As the camp announcer and I were walking over to the cliff jump together with the other volunteer leader, I couldn't believe that I was actually about to do the jump. I was freaking out on the inside, yet totally calm on the outside. I walked up to the cliff jump in complete peace. However, once I looked off into the water from the top of the jump, I was terrified. With a thought of 'here goes nothing,' the next thing I knew, I was jumping off the cliff into the water. 

It felt amazing. I couldn't believe I had finally done it as I gasped for air after falling into the water. There was no other way to explain why I was so calm as I walked up to do the cliff jump. I was at complete peace. You guys, this is crazy because I am legit TERRIFIED of heights. You hear me?! TERRIFIED. Although I was a bit nervous, the majority of me was totally okay with it, which was crazy. It was totally Jesus.

So thanks God, for giving me the courage to do the things I could never do on my own. Week one of the Summer of Something New blog challenge complete!

ps- as we all know, google reader goes BYE-BYE in just a couple of days. For all of you who still want to read my blog, Click HERE to follow me on blog lovin so you can still read my blog friends :)

xo Jess