DON’T BE AFRAID TO BE YOURSELF

DON’T BE AFRAID TO BE YOURSELF

Since last Mondays blog post, I have really been thinking about the difficulty to actually BE myself.  Sounds silly, right?
Maybe…But have you ever thought about it?

To be honest, posting and sharing a LIVE video was VERY exposing for me.
Monday was without makeup, hair up in a pony tail, just worked out, not a great camera angle and imperfect lighting.  Needless to say it was SCARYI think I might care a little toooooo much what other people think.
But I did it because I wanted to confront my own fears and be REAL with each other.

It was important for ME to breakthrough the insecurities I hide under and share from my heart.  And you know what is CRAZY??  We reached OVER 3,600 views on that RAW, weak, honest video.  3,600!!!!
WHAT THE WHAT!!!?  (Video can be found HERE in case you missed it!)

The crazy thing is how many emails, responses and comments FLOODED in by me simply being me.
Raw, makeup free, real ME.

It caused my heart to ponder the deeper work God was doing in my heart.

Why do I spend so much time hiding behind the masks?
Why do I fret over what others think of me?
What am I feeling when I give into those fears?
Rejection… Sadness… Hopeless… Anxious…

But what is the deeper desire in my heart?
That desire that was put there BY God?

For me its to make an impact.
To see lives and hearts awakened to truth.
To be known, seen and heard for who I truly am, not who I am projecting.

So that’s the question I want to pose to you:

What are you feeling when you allow comparison to steal your joy?
What desires are so deep down inside of you, screaming to be free?

 

Breaking free of false expectations and truly being YOU.
Wild, crazy, YOU.

Think about what you like to do.
What your passions are.
What YOUR dreams are.
What God says about you and how He made you PERFECTLY.

Do you agree with Him?

I struggle with it… still.
BUT I am asking for grace to love me for ME and love what He worked so hard to make.

Think about some of those fears that seem to paralyze you and comment below with something that you LOVE uniquely about YOU!
We are in this fight for life and light TOGETHER!

xox,

Thankful for my In Laws, and to be a Thomas

Thankful for my In Laws, and to be a Thomas

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I looooooove being married.
I mean SERIOUSLY, the Lord gave me a gift in my husband.
(Isn’t he just darling!?)

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Something that I am INCREDIBLY grateful for though is the gift the Lord gave me in the family I married into!  I am So thankful for my in laws!
Justin & Rachael Wedding -207They are so wonderful!

Justin & Rachael Wedding -179My sister-in-law is one of my favorite people on the planet <3

Justin & Rachael Wedding -208I have a wonderful new Grandmother!

Justin & Rachael Wedding -209And the BEST extended family!!!

Justin&Rachael Steve's 50-25(My wedding was SO dreamy… I will post a few more pics from that special day.)

Justin&Rachael Steve's 50-20Justin&Rachael Steve's 50-21Justin&Rachael Steve's 50-28Justin&Rachael Steve's 50-29Justin&Rachael Steve's 50-31Justin&Rachael Steve's 50-32Justin&Rachael Steve's 50-33Justin & Rachael Wedding -337Justin&Rachael Steve's 50-42Justin&Rachael Steve's 50-43(Steve Willis is a genius.  So grateful for his artistic work!)

OK- Now that my wedding photo BOMB is done… 😉
My In Laws are amazing, compassionate, tender and LOVING parents to Justin and I.  They are spending Thanksgiving with us this year and it is actually the FIRST time we have seen them since our wedding!  That was almost 14 months ago!
(Hence the picture inspiration!!!)

As I am reflecting on family this holiday season, my heart is just so grateful to Ronnie & Brenda for raising up my husband as the man he is today.  He is so sweet, kind and sincere, and I know that those traits were passed down from his parents!

I encourage you to purposefully reflect on things that make you GRATEFUL and THANKFUL this week.  It is so easy to get caught up in all the holiday hustle and bustle, but really the things that matter are love and family.  Think upon these things and tell those around you how much they mean to you and why you love and appreciate them.

So to you Ronnie and Brenda, I am thankful to be grafted into the Thomas family!

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEK FRIENDS!!!

Just Be You.

Just Be You.

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Ok.
So I have a thought and need to know if I am the only one… Or if perhaps, there are many of us in the same place.
My thought is about the importance and value of being JUST YOU.

I’m talking about being ALL IN, no matter the season. About loving FULLY, no matter the heartache. About being all that God has made YOU to be, even when its downright HARD.

YES. HARD!

My heart is reflecting this morning on BEING (who God made) ME (to be).
Just me.  Quirks, humor, personality, dreams and desires… ME!

Not comparing myself to my nearest and dearest friend.
Not being what I presume my husband wants me to be.
Not living under the shadow or cloud of who I was a year ago, but JUST BEING METoday.
And you know whats amazing about this?
I AM ENOUGH!  Just the way I am. TODAY!

Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matthew 7:13-14, ESV)

Did you catch that?
THE WAY IS HARD.
From the mouth of Jesus Himself!

HARD!!?  But everyone said that when I came to know Jesus, life would get better, easier, simpler, blessed, money, provision etc…
Anyone heard these phrases?  Lived under them?  Questioned God when life didn’t go quite the way you thought??

He gave us a tender yet sober warning that the WAY IS HARD…  Hard, but so incredibly and deeply worth it.
Shame tries to silence us and make us believe that we are not good enough, strong enough, pretty enough, skinny enough, patient enough or loving enough to truly walk in the fullness of God.  Yet the moment we allow shame and condemnation to take even the smallest foothold, we are allowing those lies of the enemy to crush us into despair and a false identity of who God says we are.

The silence and isolation that follow shame are real and debilitating in the process of allowing others to speak life into the deep places of our heart.  How then do we crawl out of the pit?  How do we walk as God made EACH of us to be!?

My challenge to us all today is asking The Lord what HE sees and thinks of us in every aspect of our lives. EVERY Arena.
Its not about what others think.  At the end of the day, God’s opinion of me is the ONLY one that matters.
He is the giver and of life and breathes truth into my weary soul… He gives abundantly when I ASK.

YOU ARE ENOUGH.  You are created in His image.  You are FEARFULLY & WONDERFULLY made!

My mother always told me growing up that “Hard is not bad, its just hard.”
There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.  Weeks, months, years of wrestling produce a patient endurance inside of us.

Let your heart be free today to just be you.  Thank The Lord for making you EXACTLY the way you are.  Take a deep breath (literally) and thank Him for your beauty, your strength, your wisdom, your friends, your family and your eternal relationship with Him.

He is near to you today and LOVES every part about you.
Ask Him to reveal a deeper measure of His nature and character today and let the beauty of who YOU are be enough!

Comment below in any capacity you would like to share and let me pray with you, agreeing with the truth that He speaks over you.

SO Today…
Just. Be. You.

Live & Love Happy,
Rachael Dee

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He sees and KNOWS me. {{Follow up blog:Psalm 139}}

Sometimes I get a little nervous to be so raw and vulnerable…

But then I get those comments that come in from other women who are fighting the SAME BATTLES and I realize that we are NOT alone and we are not meant to fight alone. Seriously. WE ARE MEANT TO BE BOLD!

I was so richly blessed by multiple comments, emails and text messages in sharing my blog post on Friday. What is funny to me is that I didn’t even set out to write that post, it just kind of gushed out of me! I felt the Holy Spirit speaking through me as I was soaking in the prand I knew that other women needed to know that they didn’t need to live under fear or insecurity.
Comparison is a cancer and kills the human heart. It affects every part of the way we see, perceive and hear one another, and as I got more and more feedback, I realized that the enemy’s best tactic is to silence and isolate us to believe we are alone in the journey. That is why it is so important to be rooted and grounded in the Word of God, so that when the attacks and accusations come, we have the correct weapons to fight back!

So that brings me to the little nugget of insight I felt this morning as I was reading through Psalm 139…
I was reading verses 2-3 this morning and started to cross reference the verses. “You KNOW when I sit down and when I rise up; You DISCERN my thoughts from afar. You SEARCH out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.” -Psalm 139:2-3
As I have read this Psalm over the years, I actually saw this portion as a somewhat “positive” light, in the sense that He knows every part of me. (Which is very true!!) I often felt warm and fuzzy reading this, never looking a bit deeper into the scripture as to how The Lord was communicating this passage.

When these verses are cross referenced, they actually bring you to scriptures that articulate the reality that God KNOWS and SEES the wickedness of mans heart. Nothing is hidden from Him. NOTHING. I read and re read the verses again and again, and was reminded of Song of Solomon 1:5 that says “I am very dark, but lovely”
WHAT A POWERFUL VERSE THIS IS! The God who SEES the motives, intents and deepest fears and insecurities of our heart ALSO calls us lovely. He sees past the sin that so easily ensnares us, and knows the end from the beginning. God, the tender, yet powerful Father of glory knows the perfect amount of pressure that is needed to purify us and perfect us in love.

It makes me reflect upon my own life… My thoughts, my motives, my real intentions in all the things that I do… and it makes me wonder if I am really walking in alignment with Him and His leadership. If fear is my weakness, then LOVE is the agent that will set me free IN CHRIST. Fear isolates, steals and destroys His voice of truth. Fear causes us to cower in shame. Fear tells us He is not loving and that it is not safe to approach His throne of grace. Yet the Word of God says that through our darkest moments, He calls us beautiful! He enjoys me, loves me, even LIKES ME in the midst of my weakness. When I cry out to Him in repentance and submission, He is faithful to search me out and deliver me.

I don’t have to be bound by fear. I don’t have to live in a posture of insecurity and locked in the penalty box of mistakes. God sees and knows that I am weak. He knows that things in my life have produced a lack of trust, but He is mighty to pull us out of the pit and set our feet on the truth of His word. Do we see Him this way? Do we trust Him this way!? He loves us as we walk along the journey! He delights in us when we stumble and call upon Him for help. He longs to meet us in the place of our weakness.

And this is why we love Him! His compassion and kindness is never ending. Without the spirit of truth we are bound to fear. Yet by the power of His blood and the agreement with His word, we can walk in the freedom God longs to give. Let us be rooted and grounded in His WORD today. Let us agree that nothing can be hidden from His sight, and He longs to set us free from those things that have held us captive for so long.

Call upon His precious name today. Start a conversation about the pain that plagues you. He is already intimately acquainted with your ways and knows the condition of your heart. He is simply looking for a repentant heart that is not ashamed to approach His throne of grace with all boldness. Look to Him. Talk to Him. He is waiting for you and He loves you so much.

“Arise My love, My beautiful on and come away; for BEHOLD the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time for singing has come!” Song of Solomon 2:10-12

Rise up today and stand as you were meant to be!
Walk in the confidence of His love!
He is so faithful to carry you along the way!

Xox -Rachael Dee

Trust starts with a happy heart

Trust starts with a happy heart

I am learning that there is SO MUCH to cultivating and managing a blog and online business.

SERIOUSLY.  So much!

I came down with the FLU OF DOOM on the 5th of June and couldn’t even come up for air until a few days ago.  (Its the 25th!!!  That’s a LONG time to be out sick!)  I attempted to post updates, or scan orders, but my body was in serious shut down mode and I could barely function, let alone keep up with everything.

But in the blogging world CONSISTENCY IS KEY!
Out of sight, out of mind, and let me tell you I lost some SERIOUS momentum…

BUT NOW I AM BACK IN ACTION!!!

I started this amazing gift of a business because the Lord put it in my heart to do something I LOVE and to help bring in an income for my family.  But with any sort of entrepreneur type endeavor, there is risk and no real promise of sales.  I realized this as I dropped off the face of the social media planet, that so did my clients.  Now don’t get me wrong, its not a bad thing at all!  I am blessed and grateful that I am able to have a job that allows my body time to rest and recover when it needs to… And being a type 1 diabetic since the age of 3, there are times where my little immune system tells my body I AM DONE and just shuts down.  That is what happened on a  grand scale these past few weeks.

So I have been reflecting on the idea of consistency and trust, especially when it comes to stepping out in faith with a home based business, and I felt the Lord encourage me with a few truths.

1.  If I am walking in purity of heart and wholehearted obedience, as best as I know how, in ANYTHING I put my hands to, then He is faithful to fulfill His promises.  So to me it breaks down this way: I walk in obedience, and the Lord walks in providing.  When these rolls begin to reverse and I think that I AM THE ONE who can control things, then I am stepping outside of the will of God.  He is the good provider, and I am the one who walks in submission and trust.  He asks me to do my part, and He then fulfills His.  I am learning that I cannot do His part… AGGGH!  HARD!

2.  Trust means walking with a happy heart.  Trust means walking free of fear and anxiety.  What an amazing concept and truth!  So often I am bound up in fear, but His word says that perfect LOVE casts out all fear.  He also says that the peace of God will transcend all of my understanding.  Therefore if I trust Him with my finances (my biggest hurdle) then He will take care of every need, even though it might not look like I want it to.  His timing is so different than my own, but if anything I have learned int he last 9 months of marriage, is that He ALWAYS provides, often in the 11th hour, to produce faith and trust in my heart.  WHAT A KIND GOD WE HAVE!  He does nothing by mistake and wants my heart to be found fully and wholeheartedly in love.  I am learning this truth slowly but surely and am eager to see how His great love transforms and changes my heart over time!

3.  He is good and DOES good.  He works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called by His name.  I want to walk in confidence when it comes to this reality.  No matter what mountains come my way, or the valleys that try to tear me down, I want to stand in confidence before God that I declared from my life that He is good.  All He does is good and though I might not fully understand, He is perfecting love deep within me.

So being sick, loosing a bit of ground when it comes to sales, and fighting through some of these truths has produced a resolve in me that I feel inspired a deep sense of HOPE when it comes to trusting the Lord with my future.  I am so touched by the kindness of the Lord and how He speaks through all situations.

He gives us gifts to grow in and I am so eager to see where HE takes me in the joy of making hand made, one of a kind jewelry.  This business is His and I want it to declare, if only in part, His beauty!  I want to trust Him every day, with every part of my heart, and to walk in the JOY that He has set before me.

I want to walk in every season with a happy heart.

So take a look at some of the designs I have been working on, let Him touch your own heart with the dreams He has placed there, and walk away from this little post with a sense of hope that God is good, does good and is in control of everything we need!

Rachael Dee