so much blessing

I have had it in the back of my mind for the past 6 months to start writing a blog of my own, but I refused to do so until I could do it well- with consistency and the attention it deserves. Well, I think the time has come to take the leap. It has been my heart for as long as I can remember, to live my life transparently, an open book if you will, and what better way to do that than to share it in this way?

My life feels like one big unknown these days, but I have never been more confident that I am exactly where God has called me.

A quick update: I graduated from James Madison University in May and after a glorious month living it up with my roommates, was incredibly blessed to start working for the new Chick-fil-A of Waynesboro in June doing Marketing and Events.

I am learning so much about what it means to be blessed-

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.

Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven

and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."

Malachi 3:10

God doesn't promise to answer all of our prayers with a "yes," or in the way that we want (or think that we want), but he does say that he hears our prayers and that if we delight ourselves in him, he will give us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4). I have been blown away time and time again to watch how he does this in his time and his ways- and gosh they're so much better than what I could have ever hoped for! He has started giving me the desires themselves so that when he fulfills them I can only give him the glory! He has blessed me with community, and relationships centered on Him, and a job that I am excited about, and JOY! Not every day, not in every moment, but he is a consistent God and he has consistently shown himself to me in this season.

Now I want to learn more what it means to be a blessing! So many days I feel like I need to take a step back and remember what it looks like to first "bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house." What it looks like to give my whole self to the Lord and to his people, to give Him the "firstfruits" of my life, and then to watch the beautiful ways he takes it and multiplies it and then sometimes chooses to give it back to me.

"Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God..."

Exodus 34:26

I just signed a lease for a precious little apartment in Waynesboro and as I was praying about it, I prayed that my home would be a testament to my relationship with my God first and foremost. And who knows what this blog will look like, but that's my prayer in this endeavor too... that Jesus would be proclaimed through my words and my life.

Thanks for reading, my friends.

B