The Faith Journey

What is a Christian...

I've struggled with this question almost forever.  Not so much the definition but more so if I was able to fit into the category.  I knew from a young age that something didn't completely make sense to me.  I had too many questions that the people at church never wanted to answer, so I just stopped asking them.  I also stopped going to church in high school and college altogether.  My spiritual life was pretty much nonexistent.  I believed in God, but I hadn't yet felt a presence.  I guess you could say I started searching for faith all on my own.  I wanted it to be genuine and I knew that I would never be able to truly believe in something unless I could really feel it. 

Growing in faith...

About five years when I felt the most alone in the world, I started to turn my life over to God through prayer and meditation.  Almost three year ago is when I felt a presence so strong that I finally "heard God speaking to me" (oh and it was kind of amazing) Did you notice the two year gap? I'm not sure if God was testing my patience or if I had not yet fully given myself over to him to actually hear what he was trying to say to me.  I'm pretty sure it was the latter.  And now here I am feeling closer to God than I felt last month.

Personal relationship with God....

For so long I believed that to be a Christian and believe in God meant that I had to obey a set of rules and/or believe that all other religions or beliefs were false.  This is why I struggled internally with who or what I was when it came to faith.  When I realized that my personal relationship with God was my own, it changed my whole world.  Instead of focusing on all the sinful (bad) things that I needed to change in my life, I started working on the good things I could do to reflect God's love. My primary goal was learning on how I could get even closer to Him. Reading articles, books, the Bible, and all things spiritual became a hobby. I started talking to God more and talking about Him all the time with others.  And then I realized, I wasn't even sinning as much anymore.  It's kind of crazy how that all worked out.  Certain aspects of my life had completely changed without even really trying and I didn't even feel a great temptation or want for those things any longer.  I still sin just like everybody else, but I truly feel like God is totally proud of me right now.  The closer I get to God, the less I want to do anything that could contaminate or hurt the relationship. I only want to use my life to live for Him and share His love with others.  (I never really thought I'd be the girl that says these things)

Sharing faith with others...

I'm still not really sure if I can call myself a Christian or not.  I'm not so much into organized religion.  I kind of feel as though religion and denominations divide us and I don't think that was ever God's intention.  You could say that I believe in world peace, love, and living a life that reflects that of Christ.  Embracing different religious beliefs and respecting others for what they believe in is important to me.  Sharing with others what I believe and learning about what they believe is a great way to feed my soul and grow spiritually. 

If you are reading this and have been battling with your faith lately, I encourage you to feed your soul a little bit today.  Sometimes all it takes is a small act of kindness or a short prayer.  Whatever your faith may be, peace, love, and just being a better person are a few ways you can improve your spiritual life. 


xoxoxo
Kristin

It's been a long time. I shouldn't have left you.

I haven't written in over one year.  I'm such a weirdo.  Although I love writing, I've been troubled lately with figuring out what I want and don't want to publicly write about.  I've been faced with some obstacles in life that are well HARD to talk or write about.  And I get really mad at myself at how unorganized all my writing is.  I have two blogs that I need to combine into one but I don't know and don't really feel like figuring it all out.  Why did I ever feel the need to have more than one blog?  I have a bit of a hard time finding the energy for all the technical aspects of writing. (like editing and spell check) I simply enjoy the creative and sharing portion of this whole blogging experience.  Blogging and writing is what I really love.  I think this past year I have been reflecting and doing some inner soul searching on what it is that I want to write about.  I think I finally figured it all out. I hope you enjoy what is to come.

xoxo
Kristin

Peace. Passion. Prayer.

Considering  my unconventional style and approach to prayer, I was pretty clueless on how I was going to spend today "The National Day of Prayer".  Like any other day, I didn't wake up with a morning prayer and of course I forgot to pray before each meal. I have to wonder, did I fail at prayer day? Of course not.

You see I'm one of those forgetful people and I hate making plans or schedules.  God decided to accept me and love me for this so I just ask him to deal with my special prayer habits.  Basically I just pray like I tweet.  I'm random, inconsistent, sometimes funny and sometimes deep.  I pray all day every day.  God is always there so when I have a question I just ask and when I need help I just request some kind of answer to guide me in the right direction.

Patience and listening are two important parts of the prayer process that many people forget about.  Some people pray every day for the same thing and become frustrated when they don't get a direct answer in a timely manner.  I have come to realize that God gives the answer in crazy and quiet ways and he also has the best timing ever.  Being open minded is a huge part of the process as well.  If you are praying for one specific thing, God might answer that prayer but in a way that you were not expecting.  This happens to me a lot so I'm always on the look out for "God Answers" in every aspect of life. 

I'm not much for traditions and as you can see I'm a little crazy at my approach to serving God.  We each have our own individual relationship with him.  God appreciates my sense of humor.  He knows I'm crazy in love with him and the life he has provided for me.  He also knows I'm doing my very best to share his love with the world.  And for that, I think he appreciates my eccentric style and unique personality. 

My challenge for those who are reading this tonight or whenever is this. Pray right now even if it's just a sentence or thought in your mind that is directed to God.  Just think of it as a telepathic message you are sending up either thanking him, asking a question, or requesting help.  It doesn't have to be long or official. Example: "God, what's up. My life sucks. Can you help me figure it out?"

Peace and Hearts
Kristin

What is the Secret To Her Swag...I'm Just Being Kristin (Part 1)

I signed up for twitter maybe a year ago.  When I realized in November that it was a place for me to capture my thoughts, I started to use for my personal collection of Kristin-isms.  Here is the most recent collection of my favorite tweets from the past month.  I have more saved that I'm working on collecting for the next post. I have a mind that constantly thinks, creates, and questions life.  I love the art of expression and I love to share it.  Of course some of my secrets will always remain my own, but I hope you enjoy what I have decided to share so far.  I love life and I love you.

My passion gets me high.

Editing and upgrading this thing called my life.

Being a grownup is overrated.

Just being dumb. *blonde shrug*

I have this great idea. Let’s all love each other.

I like people to wonder why I’m still happy.

Life Motto: “I’m not ready yet”

The diversity of people on my timeline is a mere reflection of the diversity in my real life.

I’m sorry. You are not on my “To Do List” for today.

I’m the girl you’re not ready for yet.

You are confusing. I am unpredictable. Together we are in for a crazy surprise.

Great Lovers Think Alike

#becauseofmyex I know exactly what I want from my next.

#ileftyoubecause God told me you were not the one.

Look. Listen. Like. Love. Leave. Learn. Live. Laugh. Repeat.

I’m not looking. I’m living.

It’s so hard to find someone who wants to be independent and in a relationship. Not a lot of people understand this.

I believe in love at first lyric.

You will start to remember the moment I forget.

I can’t wait to live together. It’s going to be a permanent vacation.

I observe the smallest details. You have no idea.

My life is pretty damn ridiculous.

I think it’s really neat when people that you care about share a part of their world with you.

Plan less. Pray more.

If I was Cinderella I would have been too late to make it before the clock struck midnight.

I have to make fun of my life or I might go insane.

Weddings are just dress up parties with free alcohol.

I used to be this girl, now I’m this woman.

Please don’t waste your time trying to forget about me.

God put everything on this earth for us to use not abuse.

Sometimes I might not have a lot to say because I’m thinking it all out in my mind.

My feelings sometimes get hurt without me even realizing it until later.

People always want to place blame on each other when the fact is “It wasn’t meant to be”.

I might not know exactly what right looks like, but I have surely seen enough wrongs.

I’m not high maintenance. I was just taught to maintain high standards.

I might always be late but I have perfect timing.

People get so caught up with things they don’t need that they forget about the things we are given for free.

All these people waiting everyday for life to get better, I just live the better life every single day.

The fine art of being blonde. Play like you’re dumb as hell when you’re really smart as shit.

What he didn’t know is that I knew more than him.

My inner party will never die.

I am not afraid to express myself.

I party like a rock star and pray like a nun.

I paint pictures in my head and use words to describe what they look and feel like.

Sometimes the greatest pain we go through in life happens so we can later provide help to another #circleoflife

I define who I am. You either like it or leave it.

The ingredients for making dreams come true: imagination, strategy, hope and patience.

Feelings come and go but love should be unconditional <3

It takes just one song to change your life.

You would think by now I would have learned that getting ready sober is in my best interest. But this is life.

Many women tend to over think a situation. I prefer not to think at all.

Life isn’t supposed to make sense.

I wish everybody could be honest.

I love it when my mind slows down so I can elaborate on one great idea before jumping to another.

Watching American Idol is way too much of a commitment for me.

Passion: Do you ever just "flow"?

Have you ever caught yourself in some activity that you get extremely carried away with.  I once found myself in Sam's club reading books for like 3 hours.  I didn't even realize what had happened. They had a lot of books on religion, woman's Bible study, and a few journals that I ended up buying.  I had gone to Sam's club for dog bones and came out 3 hours later with three journals.  I couldn't believe that I had spent that time in there.  I literally had a Bible study in the middle of Sam's Club by myself.  I was in what I like to call "flow". 

"Flow" is when I get inspiration out of nowhere that just takes over my body and I end up reading, praying, and writing a lot.  There is no specific time that this happens.  It is completely random.  God's not on a particular schedule.  He makes up his own timing.  Once you decide to stop controlling your own life so much, you can link up with his timing and just "flow".

Peace and Hearts
Kristin

I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a fingerprint - and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.


Oprah Winfrey (1954 - ), O Magazine, September 2002

We are too much fun to waste

Here it is....after too many forgotten quotes and deleted text messages, we now have a way to record and relive our famous quotes.

"The secret stories of a girl who had to get lost first so she could learn how to find peace, love, and true happiness" - Kristin

"A journey she never could have imagined brings her into the life she has always dreamed." - Kristin

"Anything and everything but perfect and normal." - Kristin

"Two blondes come up with the best ideas" - Kristin or Brandy

"When is she going to get a new car?...And a new hairstyle for that matter?" - Kristin

"...come live life...and be warm..." - Kristin (on moving to Cali with me)

"That's kind of HOT, in a dark way.........what?? - Kristin

Brandy: I can't wait to move to CA!
Kristin: What is it that made us this way, we are not satisfied living in VA and we just want a better life somewhere else. How did we get so different than all the other people here.
Brandy: Watching celebrities and other people living in fun places on TV.
Kristin: "For most people it was just watching television, but for me it was an advertisement for my future life”


Lori trying to understand how to translate Korean
Lori: So it's backwards from English right? It wouldn't be "Lets take a ride in the car" it would be
"Ride in a car, let's take a"


In NY Lori orders the two cheeseburger meal from McDonalds for lunch but saves one cheeseburger and puts it in her purse. Later that night Lori:
"I have a cheeseburger in my purse"


Kristin: Where is Cary?
Brandy: On the treadmill until May


While walking out of TC late on night Lori sees a pimped out Neon
Lori: "I like your caaarrrr!!!"
Jessica: "Lori, it was Neon!"