finding your God given talents...

  Recently I was listening to somebody speak about finding the talents God has given to you and actually using them for the good of the other people around you. The examples he gave of talents were good ones, such as playing an instrument, singing, or using a vocational skill such as carpentry or automotive know-how. The only problem is, I cannot do any of the above said things. I cannot play a musical instrument (even though I tried the piano and the viola for a while), nor can I sing (even though I took lessons for three years before I figured that one out), and I sure cannot build anything or fix a car.

   I was feeling a little bit discouraged about finding out what exactly my God given talent was. Then it hit me out of the blue. Sara you have a bunch of little talents that all add up to help the people around you. I love to clean, cook, and organize. I think it is in my blood. It is something that I have enjoyed doing ever since I was smaller helping mom with laundry, and dad with dinner. I am nerd and organize my closet and drawers based on shirt and pant types and patterns. I have my tee shirts on a revolving system so I wear all of them and not just a few many times over. See I told you I was a little OCD about stuff. But I think that this crazy habit of mine is a gift from God that I can use for the good of people around me. I don't know about you but walking into a clean house with the smell of a yummy dinner cooking just makes me smile. My mom and dad have done a good job to teach me the ins ands out of how to survive the kitchen and laundry room. I am grateful for that.

  One example of my gift that I have just begun really exploring is that of couponing. I am not an extreme couponer by any means. I do not stock-pile, or cut fifty of the same coupons, but I do have some tricks that save me and my other roommates a bunch of money. Just last semester I figured it up and we saved just over 500 dollars using my MVP card and coupons.  Here are just a few of my tricks...

We plan our meals out by the week so we only buy the items we need at the store. This helps a bunch so you don't go into the store blind and just end up grabbing a bunch of junk.

I write down the prices of the items next to them on the list as I cross them off. I cannot count how many times the price of the item has been wrong in the computer and they had to change it. It may only be two or three dollars here and there but in the long run it adds up.

I try to plan meals based on the coupons that I have for that week. I cannot always do this just because the coupons are always different, but a bunch of the time I can and it really helps our bank accounts.

And finally I have used my love of organization to make a coupon binder. It really allows you to see your coupons and plan what you need ahead of time.

Here is a look at my binder in case you were wondering what it looked like...



My binder. It is a Heavy Duty 1 inch binder. I think as I get older and my family expands I will need to get a bigger one, but for now this size works perfect.



I have all of my food categories separated out my thick plastic dividers. Paper ones end up tearing too easily so spending the extra dollars on the plastic ones are very much worth it. 

On each of the dividers I wrote an explanation and/or example. Sometimes you just don't know where a certain coupon should go, so this helps to clear things up. Such as "Dry Goods" contain coupons for rice, pasta, stuffing, crackers, dinner kits, and stuff like that.

To keep my coupons in place I use business card holders that you can get in walmart. A lot of people like to use baseball card holders though. They are a little bit bigger, but I enjoy this style. You have to be creative in the way you fold the coupons but I like the way that it looks in the end.



It makes my heart happy to know that by using my gift of cooking, cleaning, and organizing is saving people money and making them happy. It may not be a gift that people can see on a big or public scale like singing or preaching would, but I think that it is a gift that is important to keep everything running smoothly and moving forward. Just like in my basketball managing days, the "team behind the team" kept everything running smoothly; my organization, cooking, and cleaning keeps the apartment run smoothly and the bank accounts of our parents from going dry. It is funny sometimes how God shows himself in your life. I never thought that these skills I have would ever be considered a gift. It has just been in the last year that I have figured out that I was very wrong. God is so awesome!!!! I pray that this post finds everybody well and of course I pray that your journey is continually blessed!!

-Sara

a little Romans pick me up...

   I feel really bad. Like I have let my readers (who knows if I even have readers) down. But even if I don't have any regular readers I feel like I let myself down. As of today it is now official. I did not post one blog in the month of February. How crazy is that. The even worst part was, that this past month has been filled with many wonderful things that I could have posted about. Sure I was up to my eyeballs in things to do, but there were also plenty of fun and exciting adventures that I got to go on. You will get to see a couple of pictures from what went on, but you will just have to catch up on the rest of it through my Facebook account. I spend way too much time on that site so I am sure you can get filled in with my life happenings that way. I wish it were different. I wish I had the time and determination to sit down more often and express my heart and "do life" with you all. It is a goal, and one that will probably take a long time to accomplish. I am working on it though and to me that is all that counts. Oh well though, it is now March and this weekend starts spring break so maybe you will get more than one post out of me for this month.

    What I did want to tell you today was something that I read earlier this week in one of quiet times. I have really started to make a point to have more than a five minute quiet time in the morning. Waking up thirty minutes early is rough (and sometimes it does not happen), but totally worth that extra time with just the Lord and nothing else. The apartment is quiet and I can just listen and express my feelings to God. Wow, such a joy. Why did I not start doing this sooner? Anyways, I digress. Back to what I wanted to tell you!! I stumbled across a verse that really struck my heart. It kind of yelled out at me to focus in on, and ever since I cannot get it off my mind. I even wrote it on a note card and put it on my desk so I can look at it all day long and remember to live by it. The verse is from Romans 12:12. It says, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer." I don't know about you all but that verse rocks my world. How amazing would it be if everybody could live like that, like the words of Christ? It set me to thinking about the past month and how this verse really does apply to me and to my life.

Be joyful in hope...

To be joyful is hard for this college kid. Stress stresses me out big time!!! I am a perfectionist, a clean freak, a coupon queen, and a food lover. Trying to be all those things at once sometimes does not produce a joyful attitude. However, just taking time to step back and really enjoy the life you have been given, and the love of others around you makes you realize that BOOM, it time to make an effort to be joyful. I always think back to the expression, Love God, Love People. So in the spirit of being joyful Chase and I took a little trip. We went to SC for a little while to have a little R&R in the middle of a busy semester. It was a time to invest in one another, to refocus our hearts on what is important, and to learn to be joyful to everything and everybody around us. It was a needed trip and I came back with a renewed sense of joy and compassion for those around me. Yay for being joyful in the hope that the Lord has given us.

 On the way to SC. So excited to have the chance to get to go on this trip. It was much needed and I was grateful that Chase was willing to take me.

Learning to be joyful in not only my personal relationships, but also in my relationship with God, and everybody else I meet in my life.

Be patient in affliction...

    Sadness and affliction are ways of life. You have to learn to take the good with the bad. Case in point, a few weeks ago my mother broke her leg and ankle. She is in a cast and had to have surgery. She is fine now, but it really rattled our lives. We as a family had to learn how to make things work and how to be patient and allow God to work. Other afflictions that have entered into my life recently have been: stress in school, missing the UNC-NCSU game because of a big test the next day, learning to love with a grandmother who is still fighting Alzheimer's after nine years, and trying to be a good lady of the Lord. All of these things could overwhelm me and consume my life. But I choose instead to give them over to God. God knows what the plans for my life are and I just have to have the patience and the faith to trust and follow the directions of the Lord. It is a daily reminder that I have to give myself. Sara you have to be patient.



 A little reminder my roommates (who are awesome ladies of the Lord themselves) put on my mirror a little while ago. It is something that I still read every single day.

Be faithful in prayer...

   Talking to God is AWESOME!!!! It allows you to get everything off of your chest and it also allows you be open to things that God has to say to you as well. I have been working on my prayer life for the past year or so and the difference I have seen is astounding. To be faithful in praying to Lord about everything is sometimes hard, but I find that when I do follow that rule, my life is so much joyful (hence the first part of the verse). It all ties in together, and that is something that continues to amaze me every single day. Last week I was in major prayer over something that many people would probably consider trivial. I was praying that the Lord would allow me to complete the Special Olympics 5k and Polar Plunge that our university hosted with the Raleigh Police Department. I have a deep seeded passion for all things special Olympics and so I was all for it. I made it through the run fine, but then it was time to plunge. I could have just walked away or told Chase I would wait for him in the car. I mean I had already paid the entry fee and my money would be going to a good cause whether I jumped or not right? But that would be letting myself down. So in line for our turn to plunge my mind was racing with faithful prayers to the Lord for help to keep a smile on my face and a passion in my heart for all the kids I was doing this for. And when I hit that icy cold water, I knew I had done the right thing. I am thankful that I am allowed to be faithful in the Lord through prayer. God is amazing!!!

Right after Chase and I plunged. Such an incredible experience. I must do it again nest year!!!!

As I leave yall today I just want to say thank you for sticking with me through the past month of no posts. I will try harder this month to keep up and write more. It helps my spirit to write. I love you all and I hope and pray faithfully that your journey is always blessed.

-Sara