past, present and forever.

lately, sundays are the days of the week i look forward to most. yesterday started out with my good friends sean and megan coming with me to church (along with my aunt, but cody was at work.. bummer) - i had invited them since the service was going to be about pursuing God's wisdom in relationships. afterwards, i told them that i would join them at sean's church (you know, take a little, give a little). i really enjoyed it as well, it's a bit more conservative than the church i go to (non-denominational, community church), but it reminded me of the baptist church i grew up in. the message was about what not to worry about in 2012 (all write a few of the service take-aways in my next post.. they're just too good to pass up).

okay, so truth be told, the REAL reason im stoked for sundays is that on sunday nights, sean and megan come over to cody's house and we do a couples bible study (LOVES IT). while in tennessee with cody for a few days after Christmas, my mom had lent us this video series consisting of 12- 30 min sessions of seminar from the book song of solomon, we also do a group discussion of the topics after viewing each session. the song of solomon study is a study about love, sex, dating and marriage and i would highly recommend it to anyone in ANY stage of courtship (single, newly dating, courting, newly married, divorced... whatever!). it's so interesting, and i can only speak from what i know, but when doing the study with someone whom you are newly dating, it's phenomenal in bringing you closer to knowing what God has in store for your romantic life ;)                         Order Song of Solomon

PAST:  i moved from central florida to central illinois in 2009. (i know what you're thinking... whhhhyyyy?!) but i have family here and both of my parents grew up here, i had also applied and gotten accepted to a nursing program at a local university here. so with this combined with me needing to temporarily or permanently escape central florida, i decided... why not?! once i decided to move here, an old friend had asked me out... so we started dating about 6 months before the big move... we dated, all together, for about 3 years and it ended when i decided to go to africa this past summer on a medical mission trip for 2.5 months. the 1st time i saw brett when i got back, he broke up with me. it hurt.. bad. i didn't understand, but as time passed, and with family and friend support as well as a strong foundation in my relationship with God, I realized that this guy whom i thought i could spend the rest of my life with wasn't who i thought he was at all. so much had changed in just the few months i was away, that made me realize not only did he have a lot of soul searching to do, but that God had a different plan in mind for me than what i did (go figure).

all the while, back in 2009, i had been a part of a 'lifegroup' at church (just another name for a small group), it consisted of young adults/college aged people and was led by... CODY. from listening to cody and seeing how in love he was with the Lord, i knew he was special. honestly, his passion was attractive to me (and if you are a believer and a woman, you know exactly what im talking about ... men who are Christ lovers are HOT!) but... i was in a relationship, and i was willing to give that relationship all i had, so i didn't think of cody as anything but a friend/group leader. i am VERY committed to my relationships and would do nothing to hurt the other person or put our relationship at risk. with this being said, brett never really cared too much for cody... he didn't like his past, he felt intimidated when cody would try to talk to him at lifegroup, and he didn't like that cody and i talked on the phone every once in awhile, so he asked me to stop talking to him, so i did. for about a year and a half, i didn't talk to cody. it wasn't until after brett broke up with me that i decided i wanted that friend back... except it turned into something more... much much more. like i said... God has His ways.. his subtle, very powerful, moving, blessed ways.

meg and sean... aren't they the cutest!

PRESENT: enough of the sap story. let's chat a bit about sean and megan. sean is cody's bestie... gotta love it. they've been friends for a long time and after a little break, they rekindled their bromance in north dakota while murdering waterfowl (very romantic). after meeting sean a couple times - when i was lured into tagging along on a few hunting extravaganzas, it was time to meet megan. this was a HUGE deal to me since when we would all 4 get together (me, cody, sean and megs), it would kinda be like a double date < which i was NOT ready for. so on new years eve, we all 4 got together and went to chili's for a "double friend outing". loves it. and i have to tell you... this is SUCH a God thing... megan and i hit it off, from the beginning, iv'e felt that talking with her was like talking to an old friend.. we have so many similarities and our faith backgrounds are also very mind-blowingly alike. she's a great girl and im glad that the 4 of us together just fit. we like a lot of the same things and have to deal with the boys - who also like a lot of the same things... so it just all works out.

FOREVER: as i look back, i wonder about all the time that i had wasted worrying about God's plan for me and how/when it was all going to come together... truth is.. none of that is up to you. and the more you try to rush it, the more frustrated you will get. i have never felt a peace like this in my entire life. cody and i are both flawed individuals full of pasts that we have to live with but refuse to let them dictate our future. but with the grace and forgiveness of God, we have found eachother, have grown so much in such a short time with eachother... like i said, it's a peace that is just overflowing and i truly wish this love on everyone.

it's beautiful.

here is another recommendation that i have.. cody and i (and sean and megs) are also doing separate couple devotions. this one is good, could use a little more biblical reference, but all in all, it's worthwhile.
meg and i were drawn to it because after each devotion there is a set of conversation questions that get you talking with room to write answers... date the pages and you have a couple's journal! ;)

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