No Spare Time

This post has been long overdue! I seriously cannot believe how long it has been since I started this blog...almost 1 year! I started this blog with the intention on posting at least once a week, but as we all know life happens, then the projects that we start in what we call our "spare time" take a hit. The thing is that I am just now realizing that I have no "spare time." When I went and laid before God and said "Lord, I give it ALL to you," that included my time, and I believe that many of us fail to realize that. When we truly surrender ourselves to God, we are saying "Lord, everything I have is yours...teach me to be a good steward of what you have entrusted me with...including my time."

I have to admit that I have been disobedient in this area of my life, and I don't believe that I am the only one out there who has been. When God places something on our hearts to do, its our job to do. Yes, it may be time consuming, it may be hard, you may not want to do it, and take more work and thought that you bargained for, but whatever God places on your heart to do, is now your ministry. This blog, is part of my ministry, and I have neglected it.  THAT ENDS NOW! 

I love the story of Jonah, it really forces to look at myself and consider how my obedience or disobedience effects others. In the first chapter of the book of Jonah God commands Jonah to go and preach to the city of Nineveh. But, Jonah ran in the opposite direction of what God was telling him to do. So then, in the second chapter Jonah is swallowed up by a huge fish, and has to sit in the belly of this fish for 3 days and 3 nights because of his disobedience. During that time he calls on the name the Lord and repents for what he has done, and when he is finally released from his "distress," then in chapter three, Lord commands Jonah to do the same thing he told him to do in the first place, however, this time, Jonah actually does it, and because of his obedience the entire city of Nineveh was saved from God's wrath. Just imagine if Jonah wasn't obedient...over 100,000 people would have suffered. But because he was obedient, everyone in the city was led to fast and ask for forgiveness, and God forgave them

What are you running from that God has told you to do? Who could be suffering from your disobedience?  If your like me you've already experienced your "huge fish" moment when you were swallowed up, and every part of your life seemed to crashed down and you have no choice but to repent and say "Lord, whatever you tell me to do, I'll do it" and He gives you another chance to be obedient to him. This is me, taking my chance.  I refuse to let my disobedience make others suffer. (And even more so, I realize that there really isn't anything worse than being outside of the will of God.) What I didn't realize was that even though I was kinda doing what God wanted me to do, I wasn't fulling going what He wanted me to do. I felt like I was doing enough, but God called me out and pretty much said "No Adrienne, you aren't doing EVERTHING that I told you to do. You're only partly doing what I told you to do." It's time for me to surrender all I have to God, including my "spare time."

xo, Adrienne Alexis

P.S. I have so much more to share, and to update everyone of what God has been doing in my life in the past year. It truly has been the most humbling year of my life and I am so excited to share. I'm sure I can't possibly cover everything in one blog post, but I will be sharing more of what I have experienced and learned over the past year in several posts to follow as God leads me, as well as what I am still learning now. I promise to keep posting, so keep checking back!

Praying to become "Mrs. Right"

Many of us as young women get caught up in out "list" when we're looking for "Mr. Right." I know you know what I'm talking about. It looks a little bit like this:

1. Tall
2. Funny
3. Christian
4. Good Job
5. Nice Car
6. Nice Eyes

              And the list goes on…

About a year ago, I changed my list quite a bit to focus more on #3 and his Godly characteristics after doing a lot of reading about praying for your future husband. However, as I continued to pray for my future husband, and for him to be developing the qualities that I wanted him to have, I started to realize that I didn’t even have those qualities myself. I was asking God to do a work in him and to bring him up as a Man of God and not asking God to do a work in me and to raise me up to be the Women of God that He has called me to be.

How could I ask God to bring me this AMAZING guy, if I'm not amazing my self? How can I expect to meet "Mr. Right," if I'm not "Mrs. Right"? It's important that we as women, first focus on becoming who God wants us to be, before we focus on who we want God to bring us, so that we can be that perfect helpmeet for our future husband when the time come.

Now please don't get me wrong, I continue to pray for my future husband, but  as I pray for him, I pray for myself and that God with bring me up to be the Woman of God that I am called to be, to that my heart will be prepared for the Man of God that he has set aside for me.

This is my list of qualities that I ask God to manifest in me, so that that I can be true "wifey" material:

1. That I would become holy and mature in the Lord
2. That I would be content
3. That I would be a vessel (Vesselle) of good use to God
4. That I would take every thought captive, and not be conformed to the world's thinking, but that I would think scripturally
5. That I would seek God with my whole heart and grow dependence on Him
6. That I would be captivated by God's unfailing love
7. That I would be courageous and bold
8. That I would have the wisdom, that only comes from God, to be a leader
9. That I would not be judgmental or critical of others
10. That I would be CALLED, not driven, with well thought-through and prayed-through goals in life
11. That I would be a woman of prayer, guarding my heart and mind, putting into practice what I have heard, seen, and learned
12. That I would stand firm against the deception and temptations of Satan, and to resist him in all circumstances
13. That I would strive after the Christian ideal, and to take part in the deeper truths of the Gospel
14. That I would not depend on my circumstances for happiness, but that I would depend on God alone, and in Him I would find joy
15. That I would enter victoriously into spiritual warfare
16. That God would give me his strength in the midst of a busy schedule
17. That It would be a burden for me to see lost people
18. That God would keep me from strange men (and people in general)
19. That I would keep Godly friends
20. That my self image would be a reflection of the Lord's thoughts towards me
21. That I would not be deceived into unbelief, sin, or bitterness
22. That I would learn to love God as commanded
23. That the fruits of the spirit would be exhibited more and more in my everyday life (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control)
24. That I would grow in humility
25. That I would keep God first, then others, before thinking of myself
26. That I would grow in Godly character
27. That I would keep a clear conscience
28. That God would protect me
29. That God would pour His Spirit into me
30. That I would learn to manage my time well
31. That I would truly desire God's will more than my own
32. That the Lord would put a song in my heart
33. That I would have a holy fear of God
34. That I would have a desire to minister to others
35. That I would have faith like Abraham
36. That God would prepare me to be the best helpmeet and encourager of my future husband

Yes, it’s a long list, and it continues to grow; because as I pray and ask God for these qualities, he reveals to me other areas in my life that I need to pray for also. I encourage you to revamp your "list," then flip it and start praying for yourself. You can even pray off of my list, or use it as a starter list. And as you're praying for yourself, I'll be praying for you too!

XO, Adrienne Alexis

Where Can I Get a Goat!?

On July 4th of this year I challenged myself to read the Bible in 90 days. (Whoa! And yes, it’s a lot of reading everyday) So I went to the  YouVersion Bible App (which I’m in love with)  on my iPad to find the perfect reading plan.  And I found the "Bible in 90 Days" plan published by Bible Gateway.

Although this plan is not one of my favorite read-through-the-whole-Bible reading plans, it does challenge you to read straight through the Bible from Genesis to Revelations, while other (more popular) reading plans allow you skip around to different books between the Old and the New Testaments, and are usually completed over the course of a year. However, I am going through a season in my life in which I’m being lead to go through this particular reading plan to finish the Bible in 90 days.

  

Now that I’m on day 17 of my 90-day plan and have just started the book of Joshua, I have a new found appreciation for Christ’s birth and resurrection.  I learned in the first 4 books of the Bible that there were a lot of laws and rituals for the Israelites to follow in order to be right with God.  There were many specific sacrifices and offerings for different circumstances such as guilt, peace, sin, and more. But God loved us so much that he sent His Son to free us from the old covenant (Ephesians 2:15), and I can not thank God enough that!

I believe that we, as Christians, sometimes take for granted what Christ did for us on the cross. We know that he died for our sins, but sometime we don’t realize what that really means, and what it freed us from. Leviticus 4:27-31 tells us what exactly needed to be done in order for sin to be forgiven under the old covenant, “If any of the common people sin by violating one of the lord ’s commands, but they don’t realize it, they are still guilty.  When they become aware of their sin, they must bring as an offering for their sin a female goat with no defects.  They must lay a hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place where burnt offerings are slaughtered.  Then the priest will dip his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings. He will pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.  Then he must remove all the goat’s fat, just as he does with the fat of the peace offering. He will burn the fat on the altar, and it will be a pleasing aroma to the  lord . Through this process, the priest will purify the people, making them right with the  lord , and they will be forgiven." ….I mean, I don't even know where to get a goat!

But praise God for Hebrews 9:15 , "For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant." How amazing is that!? Now I don't even need a goat! I can got go straight to the Heavenly Father because of what Christ did, and you can too (Ephesians 2:18 & 3:12)!

I knew that Christ died for our sins before, but I don’t think that I really took to heart how significant that was until I started to read the laws written out by Moses in Old Testament. It gave me a whole new appreciation and love for God and his mercy, grace, and love, and for what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.

God is so good!

XO,

Adrienne Alexis

Welcome to Vesselle

Welcome to my blog, Vesselle! 

I am so excited to finally be doing this after so much contemplation. I have been thinking about starting my own blog for months now, and after much research and prayer, I am finally here!

One thing that I was really struggling with was trying to figure out what I would name it, and I kept going back and forth on many names and looking for synonyms in the thesaurus until I finally decided on Vesselle, like vessel, as in a vessel for the Lord, but with the added "le". I wanted make "vessel" to end with "elle" because Elle is feminine, and so am I. I am a Woman Vessel for God. Vesselle.

"Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work." 2 Timothy 2:21 (English Standard Version)

Secondly, I was really having a difficult time figuring out exactly what I wanted to write about, so I decided that instead of just choosing just one topic to focus on, I will be focusing on many topics from faith, to fashion, to college, decor, beauty, crafts, travel, and much more! But what I am really excited about blogging about is my journey as I am really just "growing up" and learning as I go.

I pray that in my blog, God will be shown through me, and that he would use me to touch others. 

Be blessed and be on the look out for more on Vesselle!

XO, Adrienne Alexis