30 Days of Gratitude Challenge + Free Gratitude Journal | #GratefulGlow

Can we get real for a second? Something I truly struggle with is being grateful for where I am in life, what I have in life, and the plan God has for my life. In a world that revolves around social media, it can be really challenging to be thankful for where you are on your journey and the various blessings God has given you.

There was a point where I was so unhappy almost everyday because any time I got on my phone or was out running errands or even at work, I was finding something that someone else had that I didn’t. This made me feel like I needed to get those things so that I can finally “make it in life” or to find happiness. Can you guess what happened?

I went out and bought those things that other people had and yeah in the moment I felt SO COOL..but then a couple days or weeks pass by and I was on to saying “oh I need this and then I will be happy” – again, and again, and again. It was a never ending cycle. I was completely and totally driven by this world, that I forgot what it meant to find happiness in God. I forgot what it was like to enjoy the journey that I was on without a care for what people thought of how I dressed or what material things I owned. Not only was I unhappy, but I was making those around me unhappy by my constant complaining about ‘not having this’ or ‘I need that’..

I am so thankful to God for the people he has placed in my life to help bring me back down to reality and show me that material things aren’t what give me happiness and fulfillment.. only God can truly do that for me. So I committed myself to starting everyday by doing my Bible study and writing in my gratitude journal. I would write down 5 things that I was grateful for, coming up with something new each day. From the simple things like “my morning cup of coffee” to bigger things like “having a roof over my head”, but all things that I had begun to take for granted.

Now, I’m not perfect and will never claim to be – I still have my days where thoughts start to creep into my mind like “I need these new pants – girl #TreatYoSelf” but then I am quickly brought back down to reality and I simply thank God for the clothes he has already provided me with, above and beyond what is truly needed. I have noticed a huge change in my mindset and happiness, and I want to share that with y’all because sharing is caring 😉

I have created a 30 day gratitude challenge that will help to refocus and re-frame your mindset to what truly matters in life, and to help you be grateful for the life that God has blessed you with. If you are interested in joining this challenge with me (yes girl, I’m doing it too because you can never be too grateful!), then simply click here to download the journal!

This printable gratitude journal is complete with a little inspirational story from me, a journal page for each day of the challenge so that you can write down your gratitude and pray over it AND daily verses to give you that extra little boost when Ulta sends you that email saying they have 30% off your favorite brands and you know the Lord is testing you because the last thing you need is another eye shadow palette.. Oh, was that a little too real?? My bad.. But you get the picture 🙂

I hope that you will join me on this challenge so that you experience the changes in your mindset and overall contentment with life, just like I have. Let’s get our #GratefulGlow on boo ❤

a note for the girl who is hurting

You are not alone – God is with you always. He is your rock. Your steady hand. Your should to cry on. Lean on Him and let Him carry you to solid ground.

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength” {Philippians 4:13}

How could this happen? Why is this happening to me? What have I done to deserve this?

Sound familiar? I’ve been there too. You’ve been dealt a card that you didn’t want and definitely didn’t ask for, and you feel like it can’t get any worse. The weight seems unbearable. You may cry and scream. You may even feel broken. But you aren’t.

You are strong.

God has a plan, and even though you don’t know what it is you can rest assured that it is nothing short of perfect. He never promised easy. He never promised a life without hurt and pain. But He did promise perfect. He promised His perfect plan in exchange for your ultimate trust in Him.

So let go and let God. Let God work on your behalf. Let him transform your hurt into something breathtakingly beautiful. Don’t make it harder on yourself, but surrender everything to Him who is there with you every step of the way. Let Him take the burden so that you can feel light and free to live each and every day glorifying Him.

July goal setting + FREE PRINTABLE

Another month, another set of goals ready to be crushed!

I don’t know about you but I love to sit down and think about my intentions for each month (well, I’m assuming you feel the same way or why else would you be on this very blog post?? ha). I love reflecting on the previous month, thinking about how I want to challenge myself in the month ahead, and then visualizing how I’m going to crush those goals! It truly is an amazing feeling when you are able to do this.. I would say it’s second to the feeling you get once you crush said goals 😉

For me, I like to focus my goals in three specific categories, Faith, Health, and Finance, and then find 1 to 2 things I would like to focus on within each of those categories. Some times, the goals within these categories don’t vary from month to month because I am all about building good habits in order to break bad ones. I want to make sure that the goals I set out to achieve, I’m not trying to achieve for just that one month but will continue working towards achieving that same goal for months to come until it is habitual. HOWEVER, one thing that I have learned on this whole goal setting journey is that each of these goals must be realistic! If you find that you have set a goal and you are unable to achieve this goal for months on end YOU NEED TO REVISE IT!

Want a real life example? The Good Lord did say “ask and you shall receive”, honey!

I have been working on improving my health and fitness since the start of this year. I had hit a breaking point and I wanted to make sure that I was taking care of the body I was blessed with as best as I possibly could. So, in January I set a goal to lose 5 pounds. It seemed realistic – a little over 1 pound per week. But then I soon came to realize that this was actually not a realistic goal for my body. I am not perfect (I know.. it came as a shock to me too), and I have my ups and downs. So while I was losing weight, it wasn’t necessarily coming off in 5 pound increments every month which would leave me feeling discouraged. But what did I do? I continued to make it a goal each month until the end of March rolled around and low and behold – I had not lost 5 pounds..AGAIN! I finally sat down and thought about my goals – was it really about the weight loss? Or was it about improving my quality of life, nourishing my body with the right foods, and committing to working out consistently at a rate that was sustainable? DING. DING. DING. We have a winner!

After I revised my goal, I found that I was feeling a greater sense of achievement knowing that I was able to reach the goals that I had set for myself. Now that is not to say that I didn’t stumble along the way…remember, I’m not perfect. I have to work my tushy off to get to where I want to be, and sometimes that means you have to fall on that tushy, get up, and try again. So what are your goals? Can you visualize where you want to be in life? Now break that big dream up into smaller, actionable goals and write them down!

Write them down on where, you ask? Such a good question 😉 I have created the cutest goal sheet for you! Pick your categories and then write in 1-2 REALISTIC goals for each one! Don’t wanna pick three categories? That’s okay too! Pick one or two and then use the remaining spaces to write out your favorite motivational quotes or Bible verses! Oh, and did I mention that it’s FREE? Just click right here to download 🙂

I would love to know some of the goals you have set! Leave a comment below and make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any of my new posts!

Ready. Set. Go crush those goals! ❤

top 4 lessons that marriage has taught me so far..

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Wow. Wow. Wow.

On one hand I’m saying “we’ve only been married for 6 months…seriously??” but on the other hand I’m like “how have we been married 6 months already?!”..

It feels like it was just yesterday that we were packing up and headed to Florida for the most memorable trip of our lives, and now we are here.. 6 months in and growing in our marriage every single day.

I was actually getting kind of emotional going through all of our photos (for like the 100th time) trying to figure out which images I wanted to use for this post. Gahhhh.. okay, enough of that.. Let’s get to the real reason why we are all here: the top 4 lessons that marriage has taught me so far..

Okay, first let me start off by saying I could easily list more than 4 things BUT for the sake of all our attention spans.. 🙂 God has blessed me tremendously with this man I now call my husband. Now don’t get me wrong.. we have our moments where I give him that ‘you are getting on my absolute last nerve’ look and so does he. But the amount of growth we have experienced thus far is truly mind blowing and I have to give God all the glory! So here we go..

Marriage isn’t easy, but when you put in the work it can be so much fun!

Okay so, you’re probably like what? marriage isn’t easy? you don’t just fall into a routine and BOOM just like that you’re doing the whole married life thing? ya girl.. I was just as shocked as you to find out that NAH. IT AIN’T LIKE THAT. You actually have to work at figuring out how you do things as a unit, you have to find a routine that works for you, and most importantly you have to remember that you are living with someone who is not used to having the toilet seat down! (seriously babe.. I’m tired of falling in the toilet when I get up to pee in the middle of the night..).. Now this isn’t something that once you figure out, then it’s done.. You have to work at your marriage EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Some days are easy and you & bae are just flowing together.. and then there are some days where you need to spend a little extra time with Jesus in the morning because home boy is gonna test your patience and you need to extend some grace.. (or the other way around because let’s face it y’all.. I can be challenging – admitting is the first step to recovery AMEN).

2. You don’t have to be under each other 24/7..

Okay hear me out on this one.. when one thinks marriage, you probably think ‘ohmygosh.. we are gonna spend every waking hour with each other and it’s going to be frickin’ amazing’.. NO, there will be an occasional “get out my face boo” moment (see lesson 1 about spending extra time with Jesus – it’s real y’all). It is truly okay to spend some time alone.. even if you are in the same house! There are plenty of times – like right now as I am writing this, for example – that we are in the same house but are spending some quiet time apart. As much as you are now one with each other, you also need time to yourself for reflection, time with Jesus, watching Grey’s Anatomy, so on and so forth. I felt really awkward about this at first but then I came to realize that it’s actually OK.

3. Just because you are married doesn’t mean you should stop dating..

Ladies.. we all know that we love to dress up and look cute, and go out on an occasional date.. Don’t let this stop just because you are married. Now don’t get me wrong, I love me a good movie night in where we can just pile up on the couch and watch movies because #cuddles but you shouldn’t neglect going out on dates. When we first got married, we stayed in ALL THE TIME. It was great! and then I started to miss putting on real clothes on the weekend and actually going out to do things. So keep dating! Keep doing your hair and makeup, and putting on that cute outfit he likes so much!

and finally.. the most important lesson of all..

4. Keep God at the center of it all..

This might seem like a no-brainer, but it can easily slip out of your grasp if you aren’t careful. With all the excitement of marriage, moving into your first home or apartment, trying to find your routine, and so on.. you can easily let God slip to the wayside.. Enjoy every minute of your marital blessing, but don’t forget that it’s just that – a blessing. Don’t forget to give God thanks every day for the blessing of your spouse and marriage. Don’t neglect spending time with God and ask Him for wisdom in your marriage. It can be so easy to put the things of God off “until later” or “when we get back from the store” but make it a priority because without God at the center, it is so hard to be aligned in your marriage.

I love being able to share a piece of my heart with you all and I hope it helped you in some way! It feels so good to be back and I’m super excited for all the fun things that I have planned to share with y’all so stay tuned 🙂

Until next time,

Xoxo
Bri

Spotify Playlist: Current Favorites!

Hey guys!

So I thought I would do something a little different and share my Spotify playlist with some of my favorite songs at the moment! I know that there have been days when I was feeling a bit down or was upset over something, and when I turned on the radio the perfect song just happened to be playing right when I needed it. I know that music is a big part of praising and worshiping the Lord, and we should all want to “sing for joy to the Lord” {psalm 95:1} no matter how badly that singing may be! My voice is shaky at best but that doesn’t stop me from a full on jam session in the car!

Ephesians 5:19 says “speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord”.. So here is my current playlist with a ton of my favorite songs! I hope you enjoy it 🙂

Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss another post! And leave a comment below with some of your favorite songs so that I can give them a listen too!

Until next time,

XOXO

Kat

How could this happen to me?

I had been injured before. I had played through the pain. But this was unlike anything else.

It’s the start of the season and I was in my element. Enjoying every minute of being back on the court. That was until the third set of our first home match on September 8th, 2015. I get thrown in the game and I am as anxious as can be. I finally get set the ball. I jump in the air ready to kill it. I make contact. and I land back on the ground.

All I will ever remember from that day is the intense popping I felt in my knee as my foot made contact with the ground. One. Two. Three pops and all I can think to do is fall backwards and scream in complete agony.

“You’re going to need your ACL repaired. You will be out for the rest of the season.”

Words I never expected to hear. Me? Needing knee surgery? But I have never had knee problems like that!

One excruciating surgery later and I am finding a new home at the physical therapists office. And I hated every minute of it. I hated the pain. I hated the crutches. I hated the scar that now covered the length of my knee on my right leg. I hated the fact that this happened to me. How could this happen to me?

I sat at home and felt sorry for myself. And I cried. I cried out to God asking Him why He let this happen to me? And then I cried out to Him even more when I felt like He wasn’t answering me. I was angry.

I would get letters and get well soon cards with warm wishes for a “speedy recovery” and to “trust in God’s plan” but I couldn’t understand why I should trust His plan when He couldn’t even tell me why this happened in the first place?! This continued for months as I went to and from physical therapy, sat at home, watched TV, and shouted at God for letting this happen to me when things had been going so well!

I finally stopped yelling and I started grumbling. And then my grumbles turned into half-hearted prayers asking Him to take my pain away.

And then it clicked. He wanted my attention. But I had to stop running away from Him. His goal wasn’t to push me away. It was to pull me closer to Him so He could show me just how much I really needed Him. And I did..but not until Fall of last year.

I had still been having issues with my knee, had gone in for a second procedure, was still going to physical therapy, and had yet to find relief for my pain over a year later. Until one day I broke down. As tears streamed from my eyes, prayers poured out from my heart asking for God’s help. Asking for Him to heal me. Telling Him how much I needed Him.

I finally took my focus off of my pain and put it on Him. The one thing He was wanting me to do all along.

God doesn’t want us to focus on the things of this world…they are fleeting. But His kingdom is forever! Just like Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, when we focus on Him our spirit is being renewed each day even though we are growing older on the outside. We will go through trials but they are only momentary and have nothing on the eternal glory that is waiting for us! We simply have to stop focusing on ourselves and what is going with us in this world and put our focus back on God.

Now, I’m not saying that you should stop showing up to work or quit doing your homework assignments, but the emphasis we place on the newest iPhone or the cutest clothes or even the struggles that we have should be far less than the emphasis we place on God and His Kingdom. If we shift our focus, He will give us the strength to get through our troubles and He will provide our every need like Christ says in Matthew 6:33 “But first seek his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”..

I hope that my story was an encouragement for you and that you continue to seek God and His Kingdom no matter what season you may be in. Place your focus on Him and watch how your life transforms.. I would love to hear from you and how God used a difficult time in your life to pull you back to Him so make sure to leave a comment below! And don’t forget to subscribe so that you don’t miss another post!

Until next time..

Kat

I thought this would be easy…

“Oh that comes so easily for me, I really don’t have to try”

I can’t even keep track of how many times I have said this very statement, and it’s multiple variations..

It’s like I have lost touch with what it means to work hard for something. To have your sights set on a dream and give it your all to achieve. You see, I have fallen into this mindset of life is good when things come easily. But when something is challenging and it requires hardwork and effort, I go running for the hills – not returning until a later date when it won’t take as much of my time and energy.

It’s pretty sad, but it’s the truth. I could sugar coat things and make myself seem like this glorious person, but what good does that do?

The truth is, I thought this would be easy for me. When I started this blog, I was so excited! I was ready to share my thoughts and journey with you all, and ultimately bring others to know Christ. But then I realized how much time and effort goes into making sure my posts are done on time and are being shared on social media. In addition to making sure that I am truly living the life that I sharing with you all…I started to feel discouraged because it wasn’t coming easily for me..

I’m not perfect and will never claim to be.

There are days when I miss my bible study. There are days when I fail to pray to God during the times that I should. I get frustrated. I get discouraged. And there are days when my spirit tank is running on E. But that isn’t God’s fault.

I thought because I wasn’t able to pump out a blog post in 20 minutes or less, I was failing. I was no longer inspired. God didn’t want to use me anymore.

All of these lies were flooding my brain and I believed every single one of them. And this ultimately led to a downward spiral which can be simplified to: it wasn’t coming easily for me so I should just run away from it. I was being a coward….

David & Goliath. A story most of us have known since we were children. This little tiny kid kills this big giant – all with this little, bitty stone. It was Philistines v. Israelites and Goliath was team Philistine. When he came out for battle he was rocking all this fancy, bronze armor – as if his height of 9ft wasn’t intimidating enough. He walks out and shouts to the Israelites to send someone out to fight him. He wagers that if the Israelite can defeat him, then the Philistines will become their servants, but if the Israelite gets defeated by him then they will become the Philistine’s servants.

Yeah, I’m sure we would all go sprinting towards the chance to knockout some giant, right? NOT.

That’s exactly what happened. Saul and the Israelites got scared and knew that they would be defeated in a split second. Meanwhile David gets sent on an errand by his Dad and just so happens to walk up on the crowd that had gathered to see the showdown between Goliath and some brave soul. Fast forward a bit and David is telling Saul that he can defeat Goliath just like he defeated bears and lions protecting his sheep. Saul, lacking all faith in David, sends him to meet the beast. He attempts to put him in a set of armor but David is not quite big or strong enough to handle the extra weight so he tosses them aside and takes his sling and 5 stones to battle.

As you could guess Goliath is laughing to himself as David walks over to fight him. But this story is inspiring because David wasn’t discouraged. And he definitely wasn’t a coward. He knew that this wouldn’t be easy but he kept going – he never turned back. And the most inspiring part of it all comes in verse 47: “….for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give all of you into our hands”.

David was successful because he didn’t turn his back. He pursued the Giant and trusted in God to take care of the rest!

So now, as I find things that come up in my everday doings…I think to myself – if David can trust in God to help him defeat a 9ft Giant, I can trust in God to help me with my not-so-9ft Giants. If we put forth the effort, God will see it through. Whatever daunting, energy sucking, effort taking task we have in front of us that might be, in our opinion: discouraging, hard, or just down right not fun – give it to God for it is His battle and He will give all of that task into our hands. But we have to change our mindset from “this is too much work so lets just give up” to “this is going to be a lot of work but I know that God is in control”.

So I challenge you this week…face your giants. And I promise that I will too.

I hope that you found this post to be an encouragement and if you did, please share it with someone else! Spread the love and encouragement so that we can all be the light…

XOXO,

Kat

P.S. don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe so you don’t miss another post! and go follow me on all of my social media accounts where I post daily encouragement!