Consistently Enough

Rev 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Just like the seasons, things in my life seem to come on strong and leave in the blink of an eye. The latest fitness craze is usually the ‘season’ that I am in. The last three years I have been ALL-IN on the following things: CrossFit, Olympic lifting, running, Pilates, yoga, Cross Training, strictly cardio, only eating organically and taking 20+/- vitamins a day,  literally doing nothing fitness or nutrition wise, realizing I need to start again. Then repeat. Then repeat again. I feel like my life, in almost all areas, has been characterized by cycles such as this. I am all-in and one day, just as quickly as it started, I am all out. Hot then cold. Not purposely do I do this, it just kind of happens. When someone asks me about a hobby of mine, up until about a week ago I would say “Yes I really like ‘such-and-such’ but you know me, I am such an all or none person!” and I meant it. I know our words have power but this was one of those things that I didn’t even realize I said… much less that I said it a lot. So, my life followed my words and for months I was all-in with God and then like the flip of a light switch, I stopped. For no reason, just stopped.

Submissive Wife, Happy Life ?

Submission: leading with love, not controlling by fear

Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.  (NIV)

In my last post I discussed what God has outlined as part of the duties of being a Godly husband. The bulk of the scripture where I got my outline for a Godly Husband was in Ephesians 5. Before I continue on I want to let you all know that I know for certain that men and women are both of equal importance to God and God does not place one sex above the other. Although it is not a popular opinion, I happen to be of the belief of that God specifically designed and created men and women to fulfill different roles that work together in perfect harmony for the good of the Kingdom.  One word in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22 in particular has turned out to be a hot button for many people…this word is ‘submit.’ Admittedly, this verse always made me raise an eyebrow, I never understood why God {seemingly} wanted men to dominate the household and wanted us girls to just go right along with whatever they say—this was me leaning to my own understanding and jumping to an uneducated conclusion of what Ephesians 5:22 meant. When you take the verse out of context, this seems to be the general consensus. The usual English connotation of submit is not pleasant and is typically the reason that the word, especially when pertaining to marriage, gets people up in arms. Even the definition of ‘Submission’ in the Webster’s dictionary backs those who say that women who choose to be submissive to their husbands are doormats and gluttons for punishment.
submission–yielding to the control of another. Webster’s dictionary

We first have to remember that the Bible was not written in English but in predominantly Hebrew and Greek. Because Hebrew and Greek are such complex and eloquent languages, a lot of the words in the Bible that have been translated to the English language can easily get taken out of context because of our own feelings or connotations rather than their original and perfect Biblical definition or reference. This turns out to be the case in Ephesians 5 submission. The Greek word used in Ephesians 5:22 for submit was hupŏtassō.

Ephesians 5 Man

From the time we were little girls, most of us have dreamt of our wedding day. It all starts when we play with our Barbie and Ken dolls and continues on when we have our first crush. In a world where romance and weddings are amplified by Pinterest dream wedding boards and fairytale romance shows like The Bachelorette where men fight for a woman’s heart and woo her with extravagant vacations, gifts, and in the end a huge engagement ring. {Provided for free by a jeweler in exchange for some national advertising,} We girls sort of have a ‘fill-in-the-groom’ mentality of our wedding day. We think about how we will do our hair and what type of dress we will wear, we wonder what colors will be the ‘wedding colors’ and almost every detail in between. Ask most girls what they want in a husband and they will say “Tall, dark and handsome” or maybe “Blonde hair, blue eyes and washboard abs.” My question to you is how often when you ask a woman what she wants in a man does she start with aspects that are not purely physical?

Change, Change, Rearrange

His Yes Girls Family,

Happy Thursday! It has been a little while since I have written to you all. In May I finished up the semester in Alpine and after finishing one summer class I will officially be a Sul Ross State University grad! I have recently moved back home and gotten a job, I will continue my education at the University of Texas at San Antonio in the Fall. Today I am headed to take the GMAT but felt compelled to write a few things before I take the test at 10:30 this morning.

Over this past month I have not been studying the Bible as heavily as I usually do and I have not been writing, it’s like each time I sat down to write the words just wouldn’t come to me like they always do. It was a bit frustrating at first but I did learn from this and learn to enjoy it. I didn’t enjoy it because I wanted to be lazy and not write, actually I tried not to let myself become complacent in not writing but I felt that God took me away from HYG for a little while. Writing is what I love to do and it brings me to my happy place. I can write letters to people and tug at their heartstrings or I can write something that will make them laugh out loud…this is just an awesome gift that God has chosen to bless me with, and I choose to embrace it. For a while this semester, my life was in turmoil because I wasn’t leaning on and trusting God with my whole heart. I think I trusted Him about 95% and I tried to trust Him 100% but it was hard. I didn’t know what I was going to do after college at Sul Ross and I didn’t know where I would land next. It was not until I took a step back from it all, including HYG, that I could hear and feel promptings about which way to walk and when  to turn right or left. It was not until I took a step away that my faith grew that other 5%.

When God moves us into different seasons of life, things change. I once heard T.D. Jakes say that we are like little baby birds who don’t know that we can fly yet. God may tell us to fly but we think, “I can’t do that, are you crazy?” So God makes that nest so terribly uncomfortable that we have to get out–either by flying off on our own or having God push us out of the nest. God pushed me out of the nest and my life has transformed and moved into a new season, a season that I cannot yet define. But, this is a good thing so don’t worry.

Austi and I built HYG on our beliefs and with the understanding that we would be completely and utterly transparent with y’all in all parts of our lives. We weren’t too busy with life being Martha’s (Luke 10:38-42) that we couldn’t blog, we were just renewing, refreshing, and being moved into new seasons in both of our lives. This is something that does deserve an explanation to all of you who take time out of your lives to read what we write.

We love y’all dearly and can’t wait for you to see the changes currently taking places in our lives and some exciting projects for HYG coming down the pipeline.

Be Blessed and Favored, Today and Always
Fulfilling His Purpose | Philippians 2:13 | His Yes Girl, Kait

#detox

We live in a world where we are constantly trying to cleanse ourselves of unhealthy things. We realize processed food is bad for us and then we stop eating it. We realize sugar is bad for us so we try to cut that out of our diet as well, and now there is tons of gluten free products that are all the rage. We try cleanses, fasts, exercise regimens, diets and supplements all in the name of detoxifying our bodies from things that aren’t meant to be in them. We focus on our body, and yes…our bodies are temples of God. but aren’t our bodies just the shells of our souls? We focus on making our exterior beautiful but it’s what is on the inside that really matters, what really counts for something.