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Called To Be Set Apart

For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 14:2

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

John 17:16-17


Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:15

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:20

Live set apart.

I feel that the Lord has put this topic on my heart for many months. I look around at the world around me and my heart feels so heavy. There is SO much happening right now. Natural disasters, division among people, protests, war…we are experiencing the birthing pains that Matthew 24 talks about. 

I feel the urgency of our time. I know that Jesus is coming back for us soon. And it grieves me that so many people do not know him. I have even seen people that profess that they know Jesus choosing to side with the world instead of siding with Word.

 My heart hurts. I want everyone to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior not because they are scared of Hell, but because nothing compares to having a relationship with Jesus. Nothing on this earth even comes close to knowing Christ.

I think about bringing children into this world. I think about my husband and my family, our close loved ones, and the generations to come. My ONE desire is that they will be firm in their faith. That they will not be shaken or conform to the patterns of this world. 

And I pray this for you. I pray this for whoever is reading this right now. May you know the Truth and may the Truth set you free. May you know the Lord personally and intimately and choose to proclaim the Gospel even if it contradicts what those around you say. 

Let me tell you that God’s Word is ALIVE, but we cannot pick and choose which Scripture we want to apply to our life. I watched a sermon once where the pastor shared that so many people take the Scripture and bend or stretch it to apply to their life instead of stretching themselves to come under the authority of God’s Word (you can find this sermon on Youtube: Social Dallas “When Healing Hurts”). I cannot tell you how many times I have heard people say, “Yeah well that is in the Old Testament, so it doesn’t really apply to us today.” Y’all, God is the same yesterday, today, and for the next 1,000 years. He does not change, and His Word does not change. It is alive and active, and applicable to us even today. We cannot twist His Word or pull the Scriptures that we like best. That is not how it works. 

 The Scripture is so clear. We are called to live in the world but not be of the world. What exactly does this mean? It means that we do not live as those around us live. We choose to honor Christ in every decision whether in private or in public. We choose to speak truth in love even if we know that it may not sit well with others. We choose to stand on what the Word of God says instead of conforming to the culture of our day. 

The Bible warns us that it is not easy. John 15:19 tells us that if we loved things of the world, then of course the world would love us. But because God has chosen us, and we are not of the world, the world is going to hate us. This shouldn’t surprise us though, because the world hated Jesus too. I love Romans 8:18 that encourages us to press on through the hard because the sufferings of our present day do not even compare to the glory that is going to be revealed to us. 

This is something that I could write about all day. I myself have walked through some hard situations and been criticized by people because I choose to stand with Christ instead of standing with the world. I know it can feel lonely sometimes, and that is why I want to encourage you…

IT IS WORTH IT! Christ is worth it. Living set apart and choosing to side with the Word instead of side with the world is worth it! Keep on fighting the good fight and living the set apart life because you are heaven bound friends!

I’m Getting My Fight Back

If you have been here a while, then you have undoubtedly witnessed my struggle of walking through valleys and still trying to cling to God’s faithfulness. There were so many times where I felt tired from the wrestling, and I chose to stay and pout in the valley. 

“This is too hard. When is it going to end, God?”

“Why us? Are you not hearing our prayers, God?”

“Would you just show up and defend us already? Enough is enough.”

These were common things that I would cry out to God. Maybe you can relate. 

But do you know what I recently realized? I have been playing victim for far too long, and that ends today. I am getting my fight back.

I could write a book full of crazy stories of things that my husband and I have walked through. Man, we have gotten knocked out so many times, and then we always get back up and try to keep fighting. BUT. Now here is the big but…I thought that by getting back up that meant that we were being resilient. But I realized that every time we got back up, we just felt more worn and angry. We were not in control of our emotions. Instead, we were hanging on to the frustration or hurt of the things that had happened to us. We were falling into self pity and almost expecting bad things to happen. 

I have been praying that the Lord would renew our minds. That He would knock out that spirit of fear and timidity and give us power, love, and sound minds. I have also been praying that God would work on our hearts and that we would stop looking at things with our earthly eyes but rather with a spiritual lens. When we look at our circumstances with our earthly eyes, we fall right into the enemy’s trap of feeling defeated and stuck in a cycle of poor me. But when we look at things from an eternal perspective, we recognize that every thing that happens and every piece of our story will be used for His glory. 

Now I am telling you guys, God has been answering my prayers because the way I process things has changed, and my heart and perspective have dramatically flip a switch. 

I am getting my fight back. I am no longer playing the poor me card or anticipating the worst to happen. I am not going to sit and sulk in things of the past, but rather step up to the plate and declare victory over whatever is about to come. We cannot claim victory in Christ if we are stuck in a victim mentality. We cannot step into all that Jesus has for us when we are hanging onto the baggage of things that He desires to free us from. 

So I will no longer walk around with my head low and moping over the hard that we have walked through. I will choose to let harsh words roll off my shoulders and not allow them to brew in my heart where bitterness threatens to grip me. I will seek to find joy and declare that we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus even when my human brain does not understand. I will do everything for Jesus and not for man. I will keep growing in Scripture and learning that the Word of God is my sword and the breastplate of righteousness is my shield. I will stand back up with grit after being knocked down because God has renewed my mind and transformed my heart. 

This is how I am getting my fight back. Because of Jesus’ work in me. And my desire is that others can get their fight back too. That we will not fall into a cycle of feeling defeated but rather step up knowing that we are whole and complete in Christ no matter what happens. Let’s get our fight back people. 

I Took a Break from Social Media, and Here is What Happened

Social media is great isn’t it? It keeps us in touch with the world around us, helps us stay connected to our friends, and even leads us to discover new things like mouth watering recipes or little life hacks. 

I have a great appreciation for social platforms since I live in another country. But unfortunately, I often find my thumb pressing the mini Instagram icon any free minute I have. And yes,  I sometimes catch myself scrolling through reel after reel for more hours than I would to admit. 

When I reach this point, I know it is time to practice some discipline and delete the app that calls for my attention. So that is just what I did. I took a little break from social media. And here is what happened… my heart changed.

I have found that media can fuel discontentment. Media can lead us into a cycle of comparison where we are unable to celebrate what God is doing in our own lives because we are too busy chasing after someone else’s life. Which by the way, their life may be completely different off screen than what they are portraying on screen. 

Technology is just a huge piece of our society today. No matter where you live. I always tease that babies come out of the womb knowing how to navigate a device. And I see it. I see it in my classroom full of fourth graders who have low attention spans and a constant desire to be entertained by a screen. I see it even when I hang out with friends. We cannot go a few minutes without checking our phone. 

I will be honest with you, eliminating social media from my phone was freeing for me. 

I found that I was no longer drawn to pick up the device  any free second I had. 

I started filling my time more with Jesus. I would talk to Him more throughout the day or desire to be in the Word more. 

I was more present with those I was with. 

I wasn’t as negative or complain-y.

I started noticing the little blessings that God gives us each day.

God was doing some heart surgery on me. 

One of the most noticeable differences was that I started to feel more gratitude. It is easy to be grumpy about things. But I believe that it can be harder to choose to see the good. 

While taking a break from Instagram, I have had moments where I just look around our home and see God’s hand over us. We may not have all we want or think we need, but we have never lacked anything. I have had other moments where Alan and I are sitting in silence, and I look at him and smile thinking, “Wow Lord, you really did give me the man of my prayers.” Tears welled up in my eyes because when I am not so connected to my phone, I am more attentive to see the hand of God in different aspects of my life. 

If we are not careful, discontentment can sneak its way into our minds then slowly creep its way down into our hearts. I believe that a huge piece of this dissatisfaction comes more from the fact that we often fill our time more with staring at a screen than reading through the pages of Scripture or talking to Jesus. I know I was distracted from my Jesus time by the buzz of my phone and little notifications that would pop up. Taking a hiatus from social media really reset my heart to be more content and recognize the ways that God is present in my every day. And boy, did I need that reset!