As you all very well know, I turn to Pinterest for a lot of my life situations. Whether it be going somewhere and looking at my hair and makeup board understanding that my hair nor makeup will ever fully resemble the picture before me or literally having a board dedicated to cute pictures of kiddos (it’s so much less creepy than it seems I promise you should SEE their monogrammed diapers oh my goodness), Pinterest soothes me. Call it materialistic, which my Christmas list board totally is, but there is another side to Pinterest that has gotten me through a lot of tough times and good times as well. I have always been one for words (hence the blog) and finding and reading quotes on Pinterest really resonates with me and helps me to understand what they’re saying on a deeper level. It’s like opening up my Bible and the page I turn to has a verse that directly relates to my current feelings, that is how I feel when I scroll down my feed and see a quote that reminds me that its just a bad day not a bad life when I happen to have a cold or miss the bus, or when I see some Amy Poehler quote right when I am needing a solid dose of girl power and a lil bit of laughter.

One of my go-to boards is linked here: gimme Jesus.  This board has helped strengthen my faith life more than I ever could have imagined that Pinterest would, but today I want to talk about my favorite quote I have come across. My all time favorite verse ever is Proverbs 31:25 “She is clothed in strength and dignity and laughs without fear of the future.”

Now this verse for me is the DEFINITION of trusting in God and His plan. I am a huge worrier. Like, major huge need to be updated on things 24/7/365 or the world practically falls apart for me internally for a few seconds. Although this usually results in people close to me having to constantly giving me the lowdown on things, I have also learned that it can be used as a sense of stability and means I care deeply about things. I like to think this verse can and should be applied to our daily lives, every minute honestly.

What does it mean when God says we are clothed in strength? Strong women (and men) and followers of God are people who trust. These people understand that they are putting their life and their decisions within the hands of God and that they are OKAY with that. It is one of the hardest things God asks of us to do, to full put our lives before Him and say, “here, all yours. what can I do for you?” Being clothed in strength is knowing that you cannot break a woman who seeks happiness from God and who has allowed God into her life. It sounds so cheesy and I KNOW that you’ve all heard it before, but there is zero happiness that can be compared to the joy that committing yourself to a relationship with God can bring you. Sure, God put things on Earth to make us happy while we are here: our friends, our family, our beloved furry friends, heck, Pinterest! These things are all so good because they were created by God Himself, but they are in no way what He was meaning for us to devote our lives to. Simply put, striving to commit yourself to God is what will bring us ultimate happiness. This looks so different for everyone, and that is so so good, for me, it is simply remembering to take a step back when things don’t go exactly how I want them to and remember that who am I to worry when I have someone SO perfect in charge of my life? That is one thing that constantly blows my mind. God loves me. God loves you. God loves ALL of us, and a whole lot too. He wants to protect and provide for us, so being a woman who is clothed in His strength, means trusting that He will do His very best to do so, even if that means not agreeing with our current earthly wants and needs. When life DOES get hard, which is will, there will be days when it is hard to stand, so kneel. Understand that with pain comes joy that is unimaginable. God will never leave you forgotten.

So, part two, what does it mean to be clothed with dignity? Dignity by itself means to be held in a state worthy of respect and honor. So how about God’s dignity? I like to think of it this way: here we all are, all of God’s little human beans that he put on this Earth, doing our thing, ya know, livin’, and all of a sudden we realize we feel kind of empty inside. I promise that you’ve all had the feeling of a really good day and you are ready to go to bed and are still smiling from your adventures and maybe at one point you think to yourself, “okay that was great, but, there is still this feeling of wanting more. there is still a part of myself that is not fulfilled.” Wearing dignity looks like taking that emptiness, and doing something about it. I had a bible study small group tonight where we talked about God in a sense of proposing to us, asking ourselves to commit to Him, and understanding what that commitment means. Revelations 3:20 tells us that God? Has been and always will be simply waiting for us to accept his proposal. He is knocking on the door of our hearts saying he is dying (literally, he died for us, again, HOW FREAKING COOL?!?) to fill that emptiness if we will only say yes. Dignity to me, is accepting that commitment, knowing that is is going to be hard at times, and knowing that just like any relationship, I need to put in effort as well. After doing all this, then you must wear it. Wearing it by understanding that this proposal you just accepted? It’s so cool. Tell everyone about it. Tell your family, your friends, tell everyone how you are now committed to being the absolute best version of yourself! Okay, so maybe you don’t wanna parade around with it on your forehead or post it in your social media bio or even change your Facebook relationship status, understandable, and fixable too. All God asks of us is to use this relationship to do what He has already done: LOVE. (oh cmon you knew this was coming you are reading my blog where love is for sure the most used word here by far) By being a woman clothed in God’s dignity, love your neighbor as you would love yourself. And for a quick tip, you love yourself a WHOLE lot. After all, God made you, so what isn’t to love?

Finally, laughing without fear of the future:

I ADORE this line. First of all, I think a lot of people think of Bible verses and think oh scary and long and big historical words and names I don’t understand nope not for me…this verse literally instructs you to LAUGH! LAUGH! How fun is that? I think that so many of us forget that God is not scary and mean and harsh, he wants us to LAUGH! God wants us to laugh at anyone or any thoughts we have that may tell us that our future is uncertain. I admit myself, this is not at all easy. As I said, I myself am a HUGE worrier and perfectionist and like things to go exactly how I envision them and laughing when these uncertain situations occur is 100% never on the top of my to-do list or even on my mind honestly. But, understanding that after the heat of the moment, settling and realizing that God has a plan for me is the most calming feeling of relief. I really really like a quote on Pinterest I found that says, “faith is not knowing everything will turn out okay, faith is being okay no matter how things turn out.” like, uh, wow?  This really showed me and opened me up the fact that a life without fear of the future doesn’t mean a perfect life, we are human and are all going to encounter fear and hesitation and sadness, but it is HOW we use these not so perfect situations that truly shape us into who God wants us to be. Do we pity ourselves and sulk about it? Or do we turn to friends and family and prayer and understand that God would never put us in a situation that we cannot handle, whether it be just that moment, or our entire lives. Not to go Bible verse crazy on ya, but 2 Timothy 1:7 talks about how God gives us His Spirit, first of all, how amazing is it that He trusts us with such a powerful gift? This Spirit inside of us, does not make us weak and fearful, but instead gives us power and love and helps us control ourselves. So one big hahah to you, future!

So tonight and always, turn your worries into prayers and have so much faith. Because God will do the saving, the delivering, the protecting, ya know, the big dog stuff, and the only thing required of us is to maintain our relationship with Him. For the trillionth time, so, freaking, cool. I hope that I was able to break down my favorite verse for you in a way that you can explain to your people as well. After all, like I love to do over here, tell all you people who tell your people so we can do that whole world changing thing one person at a time. Do you have a favorite verse or quote that you turn to? Let me know in the comments or shoot me an email if you do, I am always down to chat 🙂

Until next time, all my love, xoxo, Ally