They Call it Unconditional

Happy Thing of the Day: "the place that brings you peace" (via thingstobehappyabout.com)

Love is kind of a tricky subject.  We use the word so carelessly sometimes, or maybe just in place of a different word.  Other languages have multiple words for "love" to better describe the love that they are really feeling.  In French, for example, there is aimer, adorer, amour, (there may be more, but my French brain is failing me right now).  You get the idea though, we have one word for every different kind of "love" that we have for someone or something.  When I tell my best friend I love her, and then tell Wade I love him...completely different kinds of love.

When I was in high school, we covered the four different loves in youth group, the most important being Agape, which is the love we receive from Christ.  It's a concept that can sometimes be hard to wrap your head around, especially when you grow up with parents who tell you "no one can love you more than I do"...but there is someone, there is Jesus.

I have ventured into a new book, and so far, I (insert some less cliche word than love) it! It's called Exploring the Depths of God's Love by Charles Stanley. It's incredible, I highly recommend it, and I'm only 3 chapters in.  So my next couple of posts will probably be about love and this book, so bare with me for a few posts.  These first three lessons were amazing, but I'm going to talk about them out of order, so if you pick up the book, don't follow my posts with the order!

One lesson is titled "You are Loved". What a perfect way to start a new chapter! So encouraging.  It also doesn't hurt that a few sentences in to the chapter, they quote the exact same verse that I do up in the title of this blog.  Romans chapter 5...highly recommended! It talks about how God's love is poured out for everyone.  And the biggest and BEST part of this lesson is that he makes a point of saying everyone is loved by God, and it is given freely.  You cannot "earn" God's love.  You can ask for it, and you can receive it, but you cannot earn it.  It is free, but it is not given without a little bit of effort.  God does not go where He is not wanted.  If you don't want God in your life, He will not force Himself on you, He waits patiently for you to come home!

This is why I am talking about these lessons out of order, because one of the other lessons talks about how God's love is UNCONDITIONAL. Once you accept God's love, He will NEVER take it away from you.  Unconditional love was always a big deal in my house.  Once we reached an age where we could understand it, both my maternal grandparents and my parents talked to us about how their love for us was unconditional.
  That no matter what we did, they would love us. My mom has even used the example that we could commit murder and she would still love us.  My mom's favorite thing to say is "no one messes with my kids".  She loves us enough to step in front of a bus for us...and because we were given that love, I know my brothers and I would definitely do the same.  It also doesn't hurt that I had Superman and Supermom for parents. I also had some other spectacular people in my life who loved me just the same.  One of my mentors, my middle school band director, made a point of telling me he loved me as if I was his own daughter, and still does to this day.  There was one day that I was terrified that I had disappointed him to the point where I might be exiled from the band room forever.  He told me "they call it unconditional for a reason". I will never forget that as long as I live.  That someone who is not technically my family could love me enough to say his love would never end, it was a life changing moment.

This is exactly how God loves us.  No matter what we do, no matter what we say, God loves us unconditionally.  He craves for us to have Him in our lives, He wants to walk with us daily, but He knows sometimes we don't want to talk to Him...and He understands.  There were many times I stormed up to my room and hid there, not wanting to listen to my parents.  They patiently waited for me to calm down (and sure, grounded me a couple of times) but God does the same thing.  He knows there are times we need to storm off to our rooms, and He waits for us to open our ears to what He has to say.  The patience of parents astounds me, and this is no different.

God's love is so unconditional, and it is there for us to grab a hold of and run with! I can't wait to finish this book, it's simply amazing. Hope ON!

Friendship at it's finest

Happy thing of the day~ Pumpkins, boots, and cozy sweaters.-courtesy of FALL!

I have had some truly incredible friendships in my life.  Not a ton of them, but enough to be able to say I am incredibly blessed to have such amazing friends.  Some I have known for many years, some only a short while, but There are some friendships that just cannot be shaken.

A friendship, I have learned, will always have its ups and downs.  I don't know of one friend I haven't had a fight or argument with.  Some are just little tiffs, but others were whoppers.  The true defining moment in a friendship is how it bounces back from these whopper times.  Some of those times, however, seem to be deeper than others.  Some can cause real heart ache, sometimes even more so than a break-up with a significant other.  Friendships, truly great ones, go so much deeper into your soul, that when these moments strike, it really is a boulder you have to climb.

Sometimes, in that moment, that rock is just to big to climb.  There are defining moments in friendships. Turning points that kick us in the stomach and leave us gasping for air.  These moments, for a lack of a better word, simply suck!  There is nothing worse than ending a conversation, and having a moment where you realize, that friendship might actually be over.  You look on the wall to pictures of this incredible person, see gifts sitting on shelves or hanging on walls, debating if they should come down or not.  Almost like in a break-up when you have a clean up day, and trash all of those painful reminders.  Is saying goodbye to a friendship as simple as that? Or, do we relish in the moments that were amazing, and move on?

I have had to say "goodbye" to many friendships, and some remarkably deep ones at that.  Whether is was just simply due to distance and lack of time to communicate, or because of a "boulder moment", I have lost some precious people.  The losses were devastating, life changing, but, not life ending.

The nice thing is, I learned that I have a friend I can always lean on, one I can't actually see.  Every time I hear "What a Friend We Have In Jesus", I remember, He IS my friend.  He wants to hear the secrets of my heart, he wants to know when life just sucks, he wants to KNOW everything, just like a "BFF" would.  So when there is that turning point in a friendship, I know I just have to turn to Him, and I am fine!

One thing I did have to learn about friendship comes straight out of the Bible...and it was a hard one to hear...Proverbs 17:17-A friend loves at all times.

Let's just repeat that, but with emphasis this time...A friend loves at ALL times.  Whether it is a happy, sad, difficult, easy, normal, weird, fun, depressing, ANYTHING, a friend loves at ALL times.  So a true friendship will stand the test of time, it can climb this biggest rock, it can calm the seven seas! Love conquers all, and if a friend loves at all times, really friendship should conquer all just the same!

I have some amazing friends.  Some that send me screen shots like this:

Some friends know exactly what to say and when to say them, or know exactly what pin to send from pinterest!  Some think they know when its time to give up.  Some aren't as amazing as you think.

So what do you do when a long time friendship, a level 100 friendship, seems like it can't stand the tests of everyday life? What if a friend gives you an ultimatum, or tells you they don't agree with the major life decisions you are making? What happens if your friend doesn't approve of another friend or a relationship choice?

The answer? That really sucks, but life goes on!

Is it worth it to give up that decision, that person, that love, for your friend? I guess that would depend on a friend, but again, a true friend will love you always and regardless.  A true friendship is UNCONDITIONAL.  I learned that from a friend who changed the rules.  Our friendship was unconditional, until it wasn't.  They changed the game on me, and I had to live with the fact that my unconditionally loving friend, now had a condition I just couldn't meet... I love my study Bible, it's amazing at telling me exactly what I need to know.  Proverbs (must be the book of the day) 27:10 in the "study" section of my Bible says "Do not fail a friend in need".  If your friend is failing you on any level, maybe that friend should go into the "deleted" section of your life.  Decisions like that can be extremely difficult, but also, extremely necessary...like my lovely friend sent me with the screen shot...sometimes being happy means saying no...or maybe saying "goodbye".

Your happiness is so much more important than pleasing ANYONE (maybe other than God...).  Don't worry, be happy! Find the friends that really have no conditions...they are the ones you want in your "forever" section, the section that also has the name Jesus in it!  Because no one loves us more unconditionally than Him.

Soaking it all in

It seems as though I haven't posted in a while, but I'm positive that it is a good thing.  Though I am sad that I have not been digging very deep in my philosophical and faithful thoughts, it is probably because I have found contentment.  Finally, for the first time in a long time, at the end of the day I can honestly say that I am happy, utterly and completely happy. 

I am reminded of the movie Sex & the City (just go with me for a second), when the girls are talking about being happy.  Samantha is talking about how you don't have to be happy every day in a relationship or life in general.  Charlotte gets asked how often she is happy, and she replies, "Every day".  Samantha is awestruck by this and in disbelief says "you feel happy every day?" and Charlotte simply replies "not all day every day, but yes, I'm happy every day." 

I never thought I could attain that feeling.  I thought that being happy every day was something that just didn't happen, until it did happen.  I have an amazing life, and am so blessed by my Savior with so many things.  I have a wonderful job, an incredible family, and am loved by an amazing man.  How can anything get better than this?   Sure it would be great if one of us got a promotion, sure it would be wonderful to actually have a washing machine in the apartment, and we would absolutely love to live somewhere we could have a dog.  But for right now, in this moment, we are happy. 

This last summer was full of its ups and downs.  We remembered his grandpa and one of my dearest friends as we hit the one year anniversary of their losses.  We celebrated Wade getting a new job, the two families meeting, and the wedding of a couple of our closest friends.  We had a roommate move in, and back out within a few months, and after over a year of living there, are finally getting the apartment in order.  We enjoyed many wonderful trips, and maybe a few too many fast food runs. As fall started to approach Wade FINALLY popped the question, and now we are in full swing of planning our wedding for the end of next summer. We also were blessed with the news that I am going to be an aunt come April 2014, yay for baby Sifrit!!!

Hunting season is now upon us and I can honestly say I have a very happy camper at my house.  Wade always gets so excited when the leaves finally get crunchy, and this weekend he shot the first antelope of the season.  Every season seems to come with some amazing blessings, and when I entered into this journey, I had no idea that finally “letting go and letting God” could impact my life in such a profound way.  I am truly living the life I always dreamed.  I am going to be a wife to an amazing man, babies are starting to enter into the Sifrit family, and my car is finally running with no problems! Yay for working at an automotive tech school!

There are no words for how this blog has helped me on this journey, but it doesn’t stop here.  I am committing to getting back into this blog, because I know God and I still have a lot of corners to search and discover. The one thing I can say, is prayer and devotional time really are so powerful, NEVER underestimate them!