the inspire shop

For Father's day I had planned on doing one of those super cute printables that ask what is daddy's favorite color, food, thing to do etc. and have Penny answer the questions but with Ricardo being out of town for a week and Penny's third birthday the day before father's day, I never ended up getting to it. I did, however, start asking Penny the questions when I stumbled on the one that I imagined I would print out.

Red was his favorite color, his favorite thing to do was play with is fairies (who doesn't right?) and then I asked why she loved him. I was taken back with her answer. She responded with "because he loves me." I thought for sure she would say because he plays fairies with her or swings her or gives her more ice cream than she should have. Surely, one of the things that he did for her would be the reason she loved him. Immediately, 1 John 4:19 came to mind, "we love because he first loved us."

God loves us. He loves you. Unconditionally. Nothing you can do or say or have done will ever change that. He sent his son to die for your sins (John 3:16). He taught us how to love and gives hope.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

I think somewhere it is engrained in our hearts to love. Not based on merit or anything we can do, just pure love. We only know how to love because Jesus loved us. Because he died for us. He gave us hope. Hope in tomorrow. Hope in the worst of times. Hope for the better. Jesus is hope.

This week I wanted to share a new song that K-LOVE started playing that was made for their fan awards about a month ago, with several of its performing artists featured. (A fun little fun side note: all of the proceeds from this song go towatds rebuilding Detroit and bringing the city back to life. You can read more about that here.) The lyrics of this song radiate hope and its effects. And how amazing it is. Have a listen.

This song so encouraging, right? What is more encouraging than hope? What about the hope behind it? I pray that if you have not found hope in Christ, that you would. That you would trust him to do so and give yourself the best hope now and to come. Hope can change everything.

Here's restoration and rejuvenation. Less worry and more hope. Here's a little 8x10 of a few of my favorite lyrics, although it was hard to choose - the whole song is well written - to encourage you. Click image to download.

I recently read Nicole Johnson’s book, Fresh – Brewed Life, which made me realize that I needed to get control of my schedule. How you spend your time becomes the essence of who you let yourself become. You may be missing out on blessings that God wants to give you when you allow yourselves to get too busy to call a friend or say hi to a neighbor. Johnson goes on to talk about what you would want to be remembered for after you pass. What would be your epitaph? She states:

An epitaph is very ‘big picture.’ It seeks to capture the most important aspects of you're life. Since these words are not etched until after your dead, they are usually written by someone else, someone who looks at your life from the outside, all they have to go by many times is what you ‘did’ and how you spent your time, this is why it is so critical to get control of your schedule - to let who you are come out in what you do. People may look at your calendar of activities and completely miss what you would want them to see.

This inspired me to design a planner. One that would be best suited for my life now. One that would be fun; not like any other planner that I have had in the past. I have had a planner since middle school. My middle school gave a planner to every student on the first day. Those were quite fun actually. They included random facts and fun quotes. My favorite was from hockey player, Wayne Gretzky, you miss 100% of the shot you never take. I still remember it. After that, planners became basic but functional, which is why I opted out of buying another one. I needed one that would keep me focused on more than just what needs to get done. I needed one that would help me “fight to focus on Jesus,” as guest speaker, Pastor Ryan Stevenson said during his sermon on Sunday. (If you are interested in hearing the amazing message, you can listen to it via Podcast here)

This led me to the overall theme. The root of our existence is love. I can see this more so as I have become a mother, wife, sister, and friend. We are only capable of truly loving when we fully entrust ourselves to Jesus. Therefore, I have entwined verses pertaining to love throughout the pages as a reminder to myself to LOVE others because He loved me first. I cannot love on my own. True love can only come through Him.

Monthly Calendar, starting with March through December

I also opted to make it colorful for a change. I have a tendency to keep things black and white, literally. If you have ever stepped in to my living room or guest bathroom, you may have noticed. Black and white is a classic combination. Not to mention, it goes with anything, except brown. It is easy to change accent colors but also gets boring and predictable. It does not scream “take a chance” or “live a little” but rather a sort of complacent hum dum “been there, done that.” So, with all this in mind, my “Change the World with Love Planner” was born.

Hope you enjoy it. Feel free to download all or some of it by clicking the links below, for personal use only.