The same goes for you wives: be good wives to your husbands, responsive to their needs. There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated by your life of holy beauty. What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of you hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way, and were good, loyal wives to their husbands. Sarah, for instance, taking care of Abraham, would address him as “my dear husband.” You’ll be true daughters of Sarah if you do the same, un-anxious and un-intimidated. -1Peter3, The Message.

This is what God has been putting on my heart lately. This is the kind of woman He’s making me into. He’s shaping my lioness heart into one that will bring Him glory; one that will praise His name. He’s teaching me that in quietness and trust is my strength (Isaiah 30:15.) 
He is enough for me.
He has redeemed me!
He is the lover of my heart, and the portion of my life. He will never let me down. And so my heart is fully His.

And the beautiful way He transforms me more and more into His image is enough to take my breath away. Women, do not feel that these verses only apply to married women. They apply to us no matter where we’re at in life! We are to always look to Jesus to put our trust in. When we trust Him, we can have a gentle spirit of rest. A spirit that captivates any one around us. A spirit that encourages others to be who they were meant to be, to trust, to love, to open up; to be loved by their Creator.

That is what I want. That is the journey I am on.

He is beautiful, and He is making me beautiful.

(Source: thereisabetterway)

Because He’s awesome. And He’s faithful. And His word is true. He is so wonderful. He is so incredible. His love is my oxygen. His life is my life.
Jesus, You are so beautiful.

Tonight I was actually able to even lead worship again at my youth group (I was expecting not to since I’ve been gone so long) and it was beautiful. Jesus is so beautiful. He’s answering my prayers. These kids are really starting to get it. They’re letting Him come in and tear down their walls. JUST LIKE HE TOLD ME THAT HE WOULDDD. GAHHHH :D :D :D :D
Ya’ll don’t even know. :D

He is preparing hearts. He is RAISING UP AN ARMY! And we’re all a part. All of us who let go of this meaningless, lame, painful, DUMB life and grab hold of His precious, holy, beautiful, AMAZING life. 

AH

And girl talk time was amazing. GAH. I love my girls so much. So much I can’t even deal. We’re going to start doing a devo/journey through Captivating and I know that I know that I know God is going to get them so hard through it. I am SO PUMPED.

God is so good.
my Abba is so good. 

Ezekiel 37.

One major portion of scripture that really hit me awhile back was Ezekiel 36:22-38 God was promising to cleanse me, to wash me from my impurities, and to put a new heart within me. My heart was a disgusting, dirty, broken one and so the thought of a new, whole, clean one from God was a beautiful thing. How I missed verse 27 is still a joke to me, haha. But here’s what it says:

And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Bam. There it is.

But what I want to talk about today is the next chapter. Because, you see, God was preparing me. He was bringing me along in my journey. I was learning these promises and desiring them. I wanted Him to move me. I wanted Him to guide me and to help me to keep His laws. I wanted to soar with Him. I wanted to walk on Water.

Now that I’ve gotten to that place where He’s teaching me that I can actually do all of those things, He’s given me His Spirit in a heavy dose and He’s teaching me how to walk in Newness of Life, I’m realizing something. I’m realizing that there are too few Christians who walk in this Newness of Life. We all spend our time trying to work out our salvation on our own. Yes, we are to work out our salvation, but not without a Trainer. We don’t work out without a Trainer in this department, kids. You have to rely on Christ. You have to rely on His Spirit within you. We cannot do this on our own! But I digress.

Ezekiel 37 is all about the dry bones coming to life. God’s words brought them to life. God is bringing us to Life today, guys. He is raising us up. But one thing I want to point out here is: the bones were dead first.

Wow, go Hannah! You know dry bones are dead, WOO! Preach it. :P Yeah, yeah okay. Give me a second. The bones were dead. Death always precedes Life in our Spiritual walk. Always.

Galatians 2.  Romans 6. There are many more passages, inbox me and we’ll dig in deeper! But the point is we have to die to ourselves. We have to. The flesh and the Spirit cannot coexist.

I got to the point where I laid down everything again. I was sick of my flesh; yes, I was scared but I grabbed onto the promise that God is always good and that His promises never fail. It took faith. It took being so frustrated with my own flesh that I had no other choice than to jump out of my boat of fear and self and pride and get on the Water. Do you hear me? Do you see what I’m saying?
When we die to ourselves and put it all on the altar HE comes with New Life. Better life! 

This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make Breath (aka: THE SPIRIT) enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put Breath in you, and you will come to LIFE. Then you will know that I AM the Lord.” (vs. 5-6)

Let go of whatever it is that is keeping you from dying to yourself. Because it’s not worth it. That relationship you’re afraid He’s going to take away? Have you ever considered it’s not going anywhere anyways? That hurt in your heart that just paralyzes you? Have you ever considered that He is our Healer and He delights in holding your heart, in fixing your brokenness? Why do you not trust Him? Why won’t you let go?

Let go and let Him come.  It is the call for this generation. It is the hope for our hearts and lives. It is the only way we will find healing and see people come to Christ. Go to Jesus, accept His Spirit, and die to yourself. It’s not as gruesome as you’re thinking it is. You’re really not being a martyr. You’re laying down something that’s iiight, in order to receive something that is beyond incredible.

C’mon now. Abundant life is waiting. :) 

(Source: thereisabetterway)

A really wise man in my life once told me that “Church is supposed to be the place you come at the end of the week where everything you’ve been learning by yourself from God comes together” Honestly, I don’t remember if those were his exact words, but basically he was saying if both our church and ourselves are being led by the Spirit and digging deep into Jesus, it will come together on Sunday morning. That’s the purpose of church. 

And guess what. IT CAME TOGETHER YESTERDAY. Seriously, Jesus is being so faithful and digging deeper into Him is the most rewarding thing any one could ever do. It’s what we’re created for. It’s our true purpose. The rest of life makes sense when Jesus is your goal.

Yesterday my pastor finished 7 week series on “What’s “NEW” in the Bible” with taking about “A Reason To Get Wet.” Guess what. We were all about being baptized IN THE SPIRIT. Like, C’mon! This is just what I’ve been learning, no? Every verse he went to were verses that Jesus has brought me to in the last week. 

Here’s one connection that was just priceless. Get out your Bibles, kids. ;) Acts 1:5, Jesus is telling the disciples what’s going to come after He ascends into Heaven. AKA, He’s telling them they’re going to be baptized with the Holy Ghost soon. :D Alright, cool connection here, the word “baptized” used in that verse means many things, including submersion, drowning, being covered, all things you’ll expect. But there’s one more cool connection Jesus made yesterday that just ties it all up for me. The word “baptized” in Acts 1:5 also can refer to a sort of dying that they would do back then to fabrics. You get it? Like they’d submerse a fabric into the dye and it would be totally changed.

I looked at my friend Kristen,  http://shethirstsnomore.tumblr.com/, who’s been on this journey with me and I was like “KRISTEN, We are supposed to DYE DAILY!” 

I love puns.

But seriously, we’ve not only been learning what great freedom and deeper life there is in knowing the Spirit, but we’ve been learning that it’s a daily thing. We were turned to Romans 6 a few days ago and reminded that in our lives we have to DIE DAILY. But then Jesus made this awesome pun just for me so that I’d get it:

DYE DAILY. Die to myself, and let the Spirit Dye me to look like Him.

BAM! There it is. There it is. :D

Jesus is good. Jesus is really good. :)

(Source: thereisabetterway)

For it is Light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:

“WAKE UP, O SLEEPER, RISE FROM THE DEAD, and CHRIST WILL SHINE ON YOU!” (Ephesians 5:14)

Let Him wake you up! Call out to Him and then run towards Him! Last night He woke me up. I’ve been woke up before, but last night He CLOBBERED ME. I am awake! I am alive! HE IS GOOD!!! Ah. Ya’ll are judging me now because my typing is all caps and lots of exclamation points, but that’s because you don’t know how excited I truly am.

I have come to life.
I have LIFE because of Him.
He is so good. Jesus. Is so good. 

(Source: thereisabetterway)