TOMS.

“You look like one of those kids in the commercials” he said. Referring to the raggedy old TOMS shoes I was wearing at work. That comment made my heart happy. Even though I knew he was talking about the orphaned, less-fortunate kids that TOMS provides shoes for, I was still overwhelmed with joy. Orphaned, less-fortunate kids are my calling. Maybe not at this moment, in my life right now, but someday {YES}. I absolutely LOVE those little kids you see on the cover of your TOMS box of shoes. On the stickers they provide you with when you purchase a pair of TOMS. My heart breaks every single time. I fight back tears when I see their smiling faces. I wonder when the Lord is going to send me out into the crazy world to love on the people that have “raggedy” {or no} shoes like mine. I want to be one of those kids – or at least their friend. I want to run around with them barefoot, play soccer on the hard ground, & get thorns in my feet. I want to suffer through their trials and pain – because I do not deserve everything I have. Especially all God’s love He gives to me. I mess up, sin, hurt God - & still He loves me so incredibly much. That’s what I want those kids to see in me. I want them to see Jesus Christ & all He has to offer us.

I have always wanted to go to Africa {or any third world country for that matter}. I want to go there and see what it’s like because I know it is a {COMPLETELY} different world than mine here. They seem so loving and welcoming. Everyone thinks it is the country that has nothing – when in reality they {have it all}. They have all they need to survive. Maybe not every day but they will fight their battles. I believe God never gives us more than we can handle. And that makes me feel selfish when I see poverty, orphans, the poor & sick. Means they are stronger than me – means I am weak.

So there are the shoes. Raggedy & torn. Holes in the toes. Not the typical pair of shoes the American will wear. But I will wear them proudly & represent those kids that would do anything for this pair of shoes. And I will represent The Lord and all that He has done for me. I am so ready for a trip around the world to see all that I am missing – because I know there is a lot. I can only keep praying Isaiah 6:8 when The Lord asks, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” I will have the same reply, “Here am I, send me!”And I will go with my whole heart. Loving and cherishing every moment of it.

Life is a journey.

One of my friends recently told me “life is a journey Em”. I have heard that time and time again and never really thought about it until today. As I was walking along a leaf covered path & the brisk wind blew wickedly in my face. I started thinking about my life and if I have lived it to the fullest. If I have done everything I wanted to do up to this point. Obviously not. Who has? We all wish we could go back and change something about our lives. Might be something small or could be something major. Either way we have all been down a path that only we can understand.

We have all had heart breaks that we thought would last a lifetime, but eventually healed {because time heals everything right?} We have all had those incredible victories that we never wanted to end but of course they had to. We have cried many tears of joy and sadness. We have seen the hurting and we have been the hurting. We have traveled to places and seen a small glimpse of the beauty that awaits us in heaven.

We have been on this journey for many a days now. Some days we question if we are in the right profession, church, relationship, or even city. We will never know the answer to that. We will keep second guessing that maybe there is something better out there for us. Maybe we could make more money to have a nicer car & clothes. Maybe we would have more friends if we lived a different lifestyle. Why are we always thinking about ourselves and what we need to make this a better life? Our main focus should be on others. What others needs are and what they might need in order to have a good life.

I love people that come to me hurting and broken. That need someone to listen to their story and what they are going through. It never feels good to be the broken and hurt but it feels good to have that one person who is always there for you. That’s what I aim to be. I want everyone to feel comfortable with me - I want them to be able to tell me whatever is on their mind. It always feels good to vent to someone & have someone listen to you :: so why not be that for someone else?

As a Christ follower I believe it is my job to look out for others and let them see God’s love through me. Some days it is hard. We all have tough days and have a broken spirit ourselves. But those are the days that we have to remember God’s promise in {Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted & saves those who are crushed in spirit.”} He will never leave us. Other people in our lives will abandon us and leave us broken but God never will. Prayer is one of the best things you can do. It is so easy and will genuinely make you feel better. You might not get the results you want at that exact moment {or ever}. But one thing is for sure that God will always equip you with what you need to get through this life. He never makes you go a day without everything you need.

Let these promises live through your heart and lives today & every day. The Lord loves you and is {ALWAYS} close to you no matter the circumstances.

{give & receive}

It’s that time of year to give give give. Give thanks at Thanksgiving. Give gifts at Christmas time. Give your time to family and friends around Christmas & New Years. But through all this giving do not forget to receive. Receive the love and gifts from your family & receive the thanks that people give you.

Receiving is one of the harder things for me to accept in life. It is hard to accept complements from people, hard to receive gifts when I do not have one to give in return, & hard to receive help from people when I can “do it on my own”.

I just finished a book called “You’re Already Amazing” by Holley Gerth {that I would suggest to anyone – mostly girls}. Through reading that book I came up with 3 different things that give advice on how to make receiving a little easier:

1.    Receiving is risky – in order to receive we have to open our heart, hands, and lives. When we give we are more in control. Receiving feels messy and unpredictable > but it is essential. If you only feel safe when you’re giving & consistently resist receiving, then you may have some fears holding you back from getting what you need. {Try writing down what you’re afraid will happen if you receive}.

2.  Receiving feels selfish – we all have serving, generous hearts. We feel guilty for taking {receiving} from someone else. We “don’t need help” because we do not want to take someone’s time or energy. We bless others by letting them give to us. If we give give give and never receive we will be out of balance between giving & receiving. {Try saying yes when someone offers to help you.}

3.   Receiving feels undeserved – we often do not feel like we have earned what others have to give us. We think of receiving as a reward. God tells us receiving is all about Grace > that’s true for the spiritual aspect of our lives along with every other area. If we wait until we are “perfect” to receive then we will wait our entire lives. We can receive not because of what we do but because of who we are in Christ. {Try resisting the urge to deny compliments and simply say “thank you”}.

Receiving is all about “you” and then at the same time it is not. It is about “you” because “you” are the one receiving whatever is it you may be receiving. It is not about you at the same time because someone is trying to bless you and you will bless them in return if you just accept their gifts.

Have an open heart, mind, & life. Receive all the love, blessings, grace, & joy from those precious people around you and don’t be stubborn {something I can work on}. Give & receive evenly and life will be so much more fulfilling.

guard your heart.

Guard your heart. We hear that so many times throughout our lives. We hear it in Sunday school when we are little, then youth group & church throughout junior high and high school, and we read it in the Bible with devotions. But what does it really mean? How do you guard your heart? 

In Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23 it says “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” I love that verse. I was doing some reading in my study bible tonight and it said “wisdom’s presence in the heart is worth guarding because out of the heart flow all the thoughts and words and choices of a person’s life.” This brought tears to my eyes because after reading that I know I have not guarded my heart my whole life. I have said mean things and made some wrong choices in my 24 years of living. I regret some of them and have learned from a lot of them. 

It is hard to guard your heart. To guard means “to watch over in order to protect”. Sometimes we get so caught up in what other people are doing and we want to do the same, but we forget to make sure it is the right choice for us – for our heart. We jump into relationships too fast and forget to guard our heart. We let our heart run wild and free and get it in return {hurt & broken}.  It is so tough to guard it. 

“Everything we do flows from it”. All the things we do {no matter big or small} flow from our heart. Whether it is loving someone, cheering for someone at a sporting event, paying for the person behind us at Starbucks {or Jamba Juice ;)}, or listening to a friend when they are hurting – all those choices come from our heart. Those are things we are willing to do for someone else. Those are awesome choices! Those are choices that are pleasing to God. But we don’t always make the right choices. We often make horrible choices and hurt someone or even hurt ourselves. Those also come {flowing} from our heart - we chose to make that choice. When that happens is when we let our guard down – we set our heart free {in the wrong way} & Satan comes right in and takes over. Don’t let your guard down! 

Sometimes we have to be selfish and do what is right for us. Keep ourselves from getting hurt – guarding our heart. Don’t let someone know your entire life story when you first meet them. Don’t let Satan knock your guard down and help you make the wrong choice that will later leave you with a broken {unguarded} heart. Keep up to pace with God. Let Him be the only one strong enough to knock your guard down and into your heart. Because ultimately He is the only one who cares about your heart completely. He is the only one who knows your heart completely. & He is the only one who loves your heart completely. God loves you so much that we will never understand it. I have tried to think about it and wrap my mind around it and I seem to fail every time because we will never know. 

Keep your guard up. Use wisdom and make the right choices, say the right things, & think the right things – and guard that heart of yours! It’s yours {forever}. You get to choose how it gets treated by others. You get to choose who to let in. You get to live every day with a heart that belongs to God. Never take it for granted & give it to Him daily.

Fran Love.!

Are you a business woman {unlike me}?! I have three adorable outfits I would like to share with you and the skirts are a {must have!} if you dress up for work. Unfortunately {but also fortunately} I do not have to dress fancy for work every day. I get to throw on my Jamba Juice shirt & tennis shoes and head out the door.!

 

The first outfit posted here is so fun and peppy! The poppy color skirt really "pops!" {no pun intended} out against the black shirt and shoes.

• The skirt is from H&M
• The shirt is from Forever21 for a very low price
•  Necklace & watch from Francesca's
• Shoes from Michael Kors {my sister was so kind to let me borrow them}
• Purse also from Francesca's

The second outfit is more of a fancy one. I love the way the colors are {complete} opposites. Who doesn't love a little black & white?! Perfect for a work day or even cute for church!

• The skirt from Target
• The shirt {same as above} from Forever21
• Vest from Francesca's
• Shoes {same as above} from Michael Kors
• Necklace & watch {same as above} from Francesca's
• Purse {same as above} from Francesca's

This outfit can also be worn with tights - since winter is fastly approaching us!

The last outfit is a fabulous dress I won from Francesca's through #Franlove!! I was so excited when they told me I won some Fran love. It is a black & white dress that is cute with heels or flats. It would also look cute with a pink blazer.

• Dress from Francesca's
• Shoes from Target
• Necklace & watch {same as above} from Francesca's
• Purse {same as above} from Francesca's

I hope you enjoy this post and it is helpful to you! If you wear anything from Francesca's be sure to post it on Instgram and tag them @francescascollections and hashtag #francescas or #franlove. You could win some free stuff as well!!

Stay classy.

XOXO

Beauty Secret*

Do you ever wake up in the morning feeling so blah? Tired? Not wanting to go to work or class? ME TOO! And then to top it all off you have a HUGE zit on your face. Perfect. Awesome. Makes me feel so much better about myself. NOT. Well have no fear, I am here to help you with that :)

My {beautiful} friend Tiff sent me a text the other night saying "I have your next blog post!" along with a picture of her "beauty mark". Well what I thought was a beauty mark. It was a zit she had covered up with a little brown eye liner. It works so perfectly - and looks fabulous! So ladies {and gents if you would like} you will no longer have to put tons of makeup on to try and cover it up and look like a cake with tons of frosting. You just cover that little guy up with some brown eye liner and you will look dashing! And I think beauty marks are cute anyways :)

Now I am NOT saying to have brown marks all over your face. LOL. Please do not do that. You will end up looking worse than when you started out with the zit. And do not overdue it with the eye liner either. Just make it look real. ALSO! Do not forge about it. When you are out to lunch or dinner {especially if you are on a date} don't take your napkin and wipe your whole mouth and then smear the brown liner all over your face. Not sure how well that date will end LOL.

This is perfect and inexpensive. You can find brown eye liner anywhere. I got mine at Walmart for $2. Don't go out and buy all this expensive liner for beauty marks. And if you already have brown eyeliner then you are all set! I hope you guys love this idea as much as Tiff & I do. And if you use this idea you should totally post a picture on Instagram and tag me {emmadunbar}in it so I can see how fabulous you are looking.!! :)

Hope you enjoy this tip and don't laugh too hard at it - or me ;)