I don't know about you, but I've been rather sick of hearing about the Coronavirus over and over again; on the media, at the dinner table, Instagram...it's the topic of every conversation. Personally, I haven't been fearful or overwhelmed by it yet, even though, to be completely transparent, it was a threat to many of my family members. I'm not sure if it's because of my defense mechanism of not fully processing it so that I won't begin panicking and therefore overwhelmed it, but I'd like to believe the real reason is because of hope. See, when you have hope, it's impossible to surrender completely to fear. We're human, so it's natural to go through the motions and emotions and react to this pandemic. But if we choose hope over fear, I believe we can not only continue to live fearlessly, but live joyfully, too. Hoping doesn't mean ignoring the problems at hand; it means seeing those problems yet choosing to intentionally focus on His faithfulness in the face of trial.

Last week, my sister and I chose Psalm 71:5 to memorize and I just realized how providential it connects with the theme of On The Horizon.

For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

My confidence in this season of unknown and lurking disease is His faithfulness, because from my childhood, He has always been my source of hope and trust; a dependable safe place I can always run to, no matter the circumstance.

I scribbled this poem down, the other day, in just a few minutes. I hope your heart is lifted when you read this. May we remember that in these trials, no matter how restricted or quarantined we are, we will never be forsaken or separate from God.

I'm gonna be honest with you. Recently, I've been kinda busy and stressed out. I've caught myself numerous times thinking something like, ugh, can't wait to finish this or I just wanna be done and take a nap. It's been a week. Actually, it's been a few weeks. But when people come up to me and ask me, "How are you?" I've actually replied, "Good!" I'm not the type of person who likes hearing that response from people. It's sooo generic, and half of the time (let's be real) people are literally lying to us and giving us their default response. I hate that. However...this week, as friends were asking me how I was doing, it was actually kinda weird. Maybe this is the extrovert, energized-by-people part of me, but I think it's the Lord's faithfulness: every time someone's asked me that, I've felt good, and I could genuinely tell them so without lying through my teeth. I told my friend just this weekend, "You know, I should be telling you how stressed out I've been, because honestly, between school and having houseguests who generated negativity and stress, I didn't feel good. But if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that perspective matters. So I've been looking at every situation as, how is God growing me? What is He trying to teach me here? and that has completely changed me. I'm just so much happier and so content!" 

This mindset didn't come to me automatically; it came over the course of a 4-5 year period; one of the hardest I've gone through so far. (See: YOUR PAIN IS NOT POINTLESS.) Instead of dwelling on my emotions or wallowing in an endless hole of self-pity...ew, don't wanna ever intentionally do that again...I'm learning to let go of my circumstances and fix my eyes on Jesus. See, that is the secret to contentment. Take the well-known story of Peter walking on water. He started off, probably smiling, when he took those first steps on the waves, lookin at Jesus. But then, when Peter took his eyes off Jesus, he began to fall into the waves. By focusing on his circumstances, which were unpleasant, he was invoked to fear and he promptly began to sink. But Jesus offered His hand to Peter and rebuked him, saying, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Mt 14:31 ESV). Here's the thing: our circumstances will pretty much never be absolutely perfect. We live in a fallen world; therefore nothing is perfect. People, circumstances, nature...none of that is perfect. If we focus on our problems, we will eventually be filled with fear. However, when we choose to intentionally focus on Jesus rather than the surrounding problems, we can be filled with joy. Because He is perfect, we can be wholly satisfied in Him. Now, that doesn't mean we have perfect faith; we don't. But by choosing, again and again, to turn back to Him when we stumble and fall, there will always be a hand waiting for you to pick you up and guide you back on the right path. It takes intentionality and it's a choice you have to make every day, every hour, every minute - because the devil sure ain't gonna leave you alone if you're focusing on God. He's gonna try, EVERY CHANCE HE CAN, to distract you and tear you out of peace and security [God]. The devil wants nothing more than to get your attention off Jesus and onto your problems. He loves fear. He loves peeling you away from the truth. Therefore, be on your guard and surround yourself with truth more than problems. You know that song Surrounded? It goes something like this:

It may look like I'm surrounded but I'm surrounded by You / It may look like I'm surrounded but I'm surrounded by You / It may look like I'm surrounded but I'm surrounded by You / It may look like I'm surrounded but I'm surrounded by You / This is how I fight my battles

Note how many times it repeats that line, and that's only one of the many repeated verses! When we immerse ourselves in something, repeating it and hammering it into our brains, it's harder for it to escape. What is something that's been heavily on your mind lately? The stress of school? Family problems? A break up? What to wear at church? How you're gonna cram for the exam tomorrow?

How are you doing? Like really. Are you anxious? I'd encourage you to figure out the root of that and try your best to lift your focus off that and shift your gaze UP to God. This morning, God gave me this visual of a house. First, it was a straight-on view of the front of it, with all the lights lit up through the windows. Then the view backed up and then became and aerial of the top of the house, so that all I could see was the roof. Sometimes we are so focused on the surface level matters, or matters that will at least pass in time, that we forget to look up and remember what's protecting us from all those problems - God. He is the roof to our house, representing our lives. We want to seem put together or we want things to just go well. And there's nothing wrong with that at all! I hate when things fall apart. But ultimately, when that happens, we just have to commit to remembering that God is still in control and that everything is under control. Even when it's not! I find so much comfort and peace that God has this intricate plan and that SOMEHOW He's able to use even the bad things for my good. Sooo when bad things happen and you're just plain STRESSED OUT and you want to just be done with life, friend, lemme tell you: surround yourself with truth; THE Truth. Take a break and pray, read the Bible, listen to worship music or a sermon and just refresh yourself. If we're always go-go-go, we'll definitely burn out. I know I do and have to remember to rest (blog post on that coming soon!). When stress hits, our natural instinct is to focus on that and either try to fix it or stress about it. But if we take a step back - go for that aerial view - and look up at Jesus, we see His hand reaching out to us to pick us up out of those waves. He's got it. And He's got you.

How you doin? Are you stuck on the ground, falling with your problems into fear, or are you looking up and striving to see from God's view? You must be intentional if you want to be happy in life. Choose Jesus and there will be joy even among the waves. Joy comes from peace, and peace from trusting the Lord. He has a plan and He is faithful to complete it in His timing. 

Hi, friends.

I have no idea who's still subscribed to my blog, so thanks to those of you who've hung with me and waited on me! It's been a good year since I posted but I keep finding myself posting uber long "captions" on my Instagram posts (more like mini rants/mini blog posts) so I figured I might as well post the full lengths here and not have to worry about people not wanting to read my long Instagram posts. 😂

2018 was a good year, not an easy one. There was a lot of learning and growth and trials but still more faithfulness from my amazing God. Everyday I am more amazed in His goodness and grace. Everyday, I mess up and disobey God, both unintentionally and intentionally. Still, my God is as welcoming as ever and shows me His great love by giving me a second chance...then a third...then another, and another.

Last year, I realized a lot of things about myself; things that ultimately, God revealed to me. He shifted my perspective on myself, and now I realize way way more than before how beautiful and valued and wanted I am. He also revealed to me His voice and a specific, special way of hearing Him: by Bible references. Not ones I know, but seemingly random references that forced me to look them up and also pushed me to begin my daily Bible readings in the morning again.

I realized how important communication is in relationships and that the people around you are just as broken as you are. We all need grace and respect and love.

Above all the relationships, drama and busyness, one thing has remained the same for me and that is my confidence in Christ. He is forever my lover, my friend, my comforter, healer and savior and I owe every coming day to Him.

Here's to the rest of 2019. Let's keep striving to live intentionally with purpose!

Would you rather float down a lazy river or swim across the ocean? That's an easy question for me; I'd pick lazy river nearly every time. I love the relaxation and ease. You don't have to really worry about where you're floating; the jet streams do that for you. You get to kick back and relax. Swimming the ocean, however, is vastly different and way more difficult. You actually have to make decisions. You are the one that has to take control, or else the ocean will control you. At the beginning of this year, I was thinking about what I wanted to focus on this year. A few years ago, I'd done the one word challenge, and I knew I wanted to do it again this year.

I chose Intentional as my word of 2018. Intentional means "done with intention or on purpose; intended," according to dictionary.com. I want to choose God first in every circumstance. I want to choose to be joyful despite my emotions. I want to choose to love even when that other person isn't loving me back. I want to choose to be like Jesus. I want to choose life, not death. I want to choose to speak life to everyone. I want to choose to be FEARLESS and FREE and STRONG.

I've finally chosen a tagline for The SoCal Gal: "Intentionally living with purpose." As Christians, in our walk with God, we must choose our daily decisions. Everything we do affects something. Did you thank the last person who gave something to you? That could leave her grateful and happy for your courtesy and thankfulness. Did you yell at your little brother when he was annoying you? That could leave bitterness and make your relationship drift.

Being intentional means making choices with a specific reason in mind. One thing I would like to work on doing more intentionally is praying and reading my Bible more. I would like to exercise more self-control and gratefulness as well. It's so easy to slack off and forget to pray because "I'm so tired" or not have my devotion in the morning because "I don't have time" or give in and say yes to a bad choice because "What's one more time?"

Being intentional means saying no to ungodliness and conforming to the world. This is one problem in life that's really hit me this past year: how many Christians conform to the world. It might not always seem obvious, but doing anything that tolerates sin even a little is wrong. This could be spending time with the wrong crowd, lying, believing anything against the Bible, making social media your number one or making fun of the president.

Being intentional means knowing your purpose. What is your purpose on earth? Are you living that out, or is that "purpose" just a cover-up for what you really stand for?

In the next few posts, we'll be covering these three topics. I'm so excited for this new series! This week, I challenge you to:

• Examine your heart and ask yourself what purpose you are living for
• Is that the purpose you want it to have?
• What's something you can change to make your purpose + actions coherent?

• Pray for intentional living
• In your life
• In your family
• In your friends

• Choose to do, say and think things with purpose
• Know the impact these actions have and use them for His glory!

• Ask yourself if the current is guiding you, or are you guiding the current
• Current = the world's ways
• You can either go with the flow or go against the flow

1 Peter 2:9 -

I love this verse because it reminds me of my true worth and purpose - I am chosen by God and I was created to share His excellencies to everyone around me. He called us out of the darkness of sin and into the Light, that is, the Christian walk of life. You have a great purpose and a unique identity, more important than any other task or label someone gives you. No more is your chain to sin. No more are you forsaken. You have been transformed to a child of God and you are worth so much. Do you know how amazing the word CHOSEN is? It means you were hand-selected by God. How cool is that? You're not just another face in the crowd - you are loved and cherished by God as a father loves his children. Even though God is a father to many children, He remembers each and every one of them; they are unforgettable to Him. Each one is precious.

Christ empowers us to be more than we can be by ourselves. In Him we are unusual. We don't blend in with others, and we weren't made to. Peter says we were called "out of darkness into his marvelous light." Though this earthly world is full of darkness, we who are saved are called to enlighten the world by God. And ultimately, this is just our temporary home. Our destiny is heaven. Those usual people follow the crowd and might get approval from the world, but those who are unusual - we the children of God - get our approval from the Creator of the universe. Although the Christian walk of life can be a struggle, remember that through Jesus you are made unafraid, unashamed, unbroken, unceasing, undefiled, undivided, unforgotten and unstoppable...unusual. I encourage you to live each day full of confidence that you are a chosen child of God. Share God's goodness with others. Live freely and live a life full of light. And don't forget your new identity in Christ.

Unusual just might be my new favorite word.

Note: this graphic was made by me. Please do not steal! If you would like to use it, you can contact me through the contact form.