Thankful

I have no idea how many times that I've read this verse. Probably a lot. 

But this weekend, I read it with new appreciation. This weekend, it really hit me. 

Even when I am unfaithful, God remains faithful to me. 

Even a midst my lack of trust, my rebellion, my doubt. God is faithful through it all. As I'm fighting Him and running away, He is chasing after me with His love. Because He knows that His love is all I need. 

He can only be Himself. He simply cannot deny who He is. 

And who is that exactly?

The Lord is compassionate and merciful, 

slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 

Psalm 103: 8

He does not punish us for all our sins;

He does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. 

For His unfailing love toward those who fear Him 

is as great as the height of the heavens above the Earth.

Psalm 103: 10-11

The Lord is like a father to his children,

tender and compassionate to those who fear Him.

Psalm 103: 13

Where is another God like you,

who pardons the guilt of the remnant,

overlooking the sins of His special people?

You will not stay angry with your people forever,

because you delight in showing unfailing love.

Micah 7: 18

Our God is a wonderful, loving and patient God. And I am extremely thankful that His love cannot be earned, nor lost. 

He simply is who He is, no matter who I am. 

A Santa Barbara Weekend

Sometimes, I just look around at where I live and am in awe at how much beauty God put in this world. 

Scratch that, not sometimes, all the time. 

I can't help but feel incredibly blessed to live in Santa Barbara. I absolutely believe that  every place has unique aspects that make it special. 

But I must say, I am very thankful that Santa Barbara has become my place. My home. And it will be for as long as God has it in His plan. 

So while He does, I'm gonna enjoy it. 

And before you go analyzing if Madeleine and I are, in fact, wearing the same dress in different colors.

Yes. Yes, we are. 

No, it was not planned. 

That's what happens when you do all of your shopping together (primarily here) and have the same taste in clothes. 

We make it work.

This week, we celebrated two birthdays. 

What's the best way to celebrate a birthday in Santa Barbara? Well, there are many ways. But a personal favorite would definitely be wine tasting. 

How was your weekend?

Prayer Chain // Week 6

Boy, am I ready for this week's link up. 

I am so thankful for this prayer network of women. Thank you, thank you, thank you to those of you who have become a part of Melissa Jo's idea of The Prayer Chain.

Thank you for sharing your hearts, and your lives with us. And thank you for praying with us!

When life throws something my way, I know just who to come to for prayer. 

This week, I would like to ask you guys to pray for my roommate, Ashlee. 

You might recall that a few weeks ago, she was hit by a car while biking. She has handled everything with such grace. I am constantly inspired by her strength and optimism, two things that I don't always exude while going through something incredibly difficult. 

This past week, Ashlee found out that her injury was more extensive than initially thought. She will be needing surgery, which will leave her unable to walk for 3 months. 

Because of the circumstances, Ashlee will be completing the surgery and her recovery at home in Oregon. She'll be packing up and making the long drive as you're reading this. 

A lot to process in only a matter of days, right? 

Please pray for Ashlee. Pray for the pain that she is currently experiencing. Pray for safe travels to Oregon. Pray for her surgery, and recovery. 

And pray that during this extremely difficult season, she would feel closer to the Spirit of God than she ever has before. 

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.

Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. 

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them 

pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 

James 5: 13-14

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If you want to follow along on Ashlee's journey, you can find her blog here. 

Hello My Name Is...

In January of 2012, I accepted my need for a Savior. I accepted that I needed to surrender my entire life to Christ, and trust that He would make something beautiful of it. 

Little did I realize that in order for Him to make something beautiful of my life, He would first have to do a lot of work with my heart. 

You see, by the world's standard, I would say that I was a pretty good person with a pretty good heart. 

But the more I got to know Christ, the clearer it became to me that seeing things through God's eyes and seeing things through the world's eyes are two very different things. 

According to the world, my heart was just fine. 

But the world couldn't hear my thoughts, or understand the motives behind my actions. The world couldn't see the deep insecurity behind every good deed. The world didn't understand that I was using every accomplishment, every honorable action, and even every friendship as building blocks to create a ladder. A ladder that would keep me far, far away from my fear of failure. 

A sweet friend wrote a beautiful post on fear this week. She wrote that fear is more than just a word. That it's something that can take over your life. And she so boldly confessed that it had taken over her own life. 

This week, I realized that fear has taken over my life, too. 

I have an intense fear of not being enough. A fear of going unnoticed. 


And I mask this fear by searching for recognition. And that quest for recognition has manifested itself into a competitive nature in my heart that sits and stews to birth bitterness and jealousy. 

One not-so-tiny fear of mine has now created a competitive, bitter & jealous side of my heart. One that I didn't want to admit was there, but I felt it all the time. 

And so this week, I decided that I had had enough. So I dug deeper. Why am I afraid of these things? What is the root of this fear? 

I realized that it's not being noticed that's important to me. It's not the accomplishments that I'm searching for. Or the recognition. 

It's love. My fear of not being noticed, or not being good enough stems back to a fear of not being loved. 

And as I realized this, a wave of peace came over me. 

Peace that came from realizing how irrational my fear was.

I am set free of this fear because of the love of Christ. I am set free because His love is unconditional. There is nothing that I can do to reverse it. 

And once I stop searching for love in this world, once I let go of this quest for recognition and validation, I can be free to truly give the selfless kind of love that only comes from Christ. 

Hello, my name is child set free by the love of God. 

It is so nice to meet you!



PS: If you're new around here, feel free to check out this giveaway to win one of these necklaces:

Happy Friday, friends!

Thank You & A Giveaway

To My Readers:

Thank you doesn't even begin to cover it. 

Your comments yesterday meant the world to me. Thank you for your kind words, and for your encouragement. You guys blow me away with the amount of support and love that I find here on this blog, and I am so thankful for this amazing network of women that I have found in cyberland. 

Thank you for never judging me, for never accusing me of falling short, and for always appreciating the deepest and most honest parts of my heart. 

Thank you for always being there to pray for me. Whether we're talking over Instagram, Twitter or even texting, I am thankful that I always have people to pray. 

For the record, I reached out for prayer at 10PM on Tuesday night as I was fighting a 102 fever and really hoping to work a full day on Wednesday. 

I woke up at 6:45AM with a beautiful 97 degree temp, and was able to get in and work a full 9 hours. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers. They work. 

And most importantly, thank you for pointing me back to Christ. 

Each and every one of your comments just poured out God's love. And not just on yesterday's post, always. You guys are constantly inspiring me to seek after Christ, the lover of my soul, the one who can fill every little crack in my heart. 

The cracks that no man can fill. No friend can fill. No job can fill. No dress, high heels, or rockin pair of jeans can fill. 

The cracks that no 9.3 mile run can fill. No Lower Body Blast class can fill. No burrito can fill. And no cup of Yogurtland can fill. 

And those cracks? They are nothing to be ashamed of. We all have them.

But the good news is we all have a Savior too. 

A Man named Jesus Christ who passionately loves us. And His love is the perfect kind of love. The kind of love that can heal even the biggest of cracks. 

So thank you for reminding me of that yesterday. 

You guys are wonderful. And I love you. 

Each and every one of you. 

Which is why I'm giving one of you beautiful ladies a beautiful necklace. 

Like that transition, there?

Last month I ordered a necklace from my wonderful friend, L. 

I just love mine, and knew that her shop, All Glorious Within Accessories would be perfect for a giveaway. 

So one lucky reader will get to choose a necklace, or any other item, of their choice!

How to Enter?

Mandatory: 

Follow Sweet Home Santa Barbara via GFC

Additional Entries: 

Tell me what item you would choose from All Glorious Within Accessories

Follow Sweet Home Santa Barbara via bloglovin'

Follow @sweethomesb on Twitter

Follow @sweethomesb on Instagram

Follow All Glorious Within via GFC

Leave a comment for each individual entry, and good luck!

Giveaway winner will be chosen on Thursday, April 11th.

I haven't been blogging. 

Or tweeting. 

And I haven't even been instagramming (gasp).

I know, I know. What has my world come to? 

Truth be told, I've been exhausted. I had flu-like symptoms piling up over the last week that finally reached the off to the Doctor I go status. 

Sure enough, the verdict was a lovely case of a virus. 

And guys, I wish that the flu was the only source of my exhaustion. But truth be told, it's not. 

I stumbled this week, guys. 

One too many things piled up and lead to me getting overwhelmed. And I thought God was where I run to when I'm overwhelmed, but this week showed me that that's not always the case. 

This week showed me that I have some deeply ingrained habits, places where I'm still fighting on my own two feet and not letting God in. 

And so, this week has been exhausting. Overwhelming. Tiring. 

I looked at myself and said I can't do this anymore. This fight. It's too much. 

Because the Christian walk isn't just a walk. It's a fight. It's fighting for what's right in a world that glorifies what's wrong. 

And this week, that fight was too much for me. This week, I wanted to take the easy route. 

Heck, this week, I did take the easy route. And I thought to myself, I just can't do this anymore.

But right as those words came into my mind, I picked up my journal. 

I wrote it down: I can't do this anymore. 

And the next word I wrote down: LIE. 

Truth:

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. (Phil 4:13)

And that's about all I've got for today.