Someone at work joked the other day that January felt like it was 75 days, while February felt like it has lasted for a week. It did go by REALLY fast and even with that extra day coming up for leap year, it still has flown! Do you agree?

Monthly recaps are something that I've been wanting to begin for awhile. I can easily let the months pass without thinking that anything significant happened. And while some months may be more exciting than others, there's always something to remember. Whether it's something I did, words I wrote or read, or something I listened to. I hope you find something below that encourages. 

+ Put together my new bookshelf and I feel like it completely revamped my room space!
+ Saw Little Women...twice!
+ Bought myself some fresh flowers (reminds me of this post from Kaitlyn).

+ Hung out with my 7th grade girls for our student discipleship weekend! 
+ Celebrated my friends Ashton and Dylan at their WEDDING!
+ Started drawing again.

+ Made big strides in counseling. 
+ A beignet shop opened in my city...so delicious!
+ Celebrated Mardi Gras!

+ Do I believe Heaven waits for me? I long for many things, but is Heaven the greatest of these?
+ I'll keep following the suffering Savior down this often sorrowful road, because Heaven waits at the end of it. 
+ I'm not sure when I started believing that everything isn't found in Him, Jesus. What a lie. He is everything. And He isn't holding back. 

+ From Amy - We Cannot Allow a Season to Become a Sentence
+ From Gretchen - Giving Up for Lent
+ From Kiki - In the In-Between
​+ From Meg - Honest Thoughts on Valentine's Day

"...bold love is courageously setting aside our personal agenda to move humbly into the world of others with their well-being in view, willing to risk further pain in our souls..." Dan Allender

Grace is something that continues to astound and leave me speechless.

Free, unmerited favor.

I know I'm undeserving of it, grace, but God extends it freely. And I've been reluctant to accept it. I know I have. I've held out a hand, but once it gets too close, I've pulled away. Thinking that a full dose of grace, or merit, is really only for others, not for me. I've lately been thinking of how I'm not deserving (and I'm not), so it must mean God is holding back (but He isn't).

I've lived in this mentality for quite awhile that when things aren't good, that is just how they are meant to be. Or I don't have xyz like others do, because they are more deserving of xyz. Or the biggest one of all, I'm not meant for xyz. 

And xyz can be anything on any given day.
Healing. A relationship. Peace. Joy. Money. Love. Friends.

If I'm being honest, Jesus has felt far away to me lately. God, the Creator, is always there and I'm never without a sense of Him. Holy Spirit has always felt closest to me; my constant, indwelling, counseling, companion. But Jesus? My Savior. He's felt far.

This morning, I felt Him whisper to me again. Breaking the silence that has felt more routine it seems, He told me to stop believing that what He does for others, He can't do for me. Because He can. And He wants to. And while I know I'm not meant for everything that everyone else may seem to have, I know I am meant to have Him. 

I'm not sure when I started believing that everything isn't found in Him. What a lie.

He is everything.

Alpha and Omega. Everything begins and ends with Him, including all of this life, that is simply in the middle. 

He isn't holding back, because He's already freely given everything. May I receive it.