Challenges Archives - Revolution YOU.

Passion Without Action Is Dead.

October 9, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Hello Friends! How is your week going so far? So far, so good over here. It finally cooled down over the weekend [Saturday was actually in the 50’s!!] so the Michigander inside of me was rejoicing just a little bit. This week hasn’t been too hot either, which has been so nice – I really do miss Michigan fall quite a lot. Can’t wait for leaves to [finally] start changing colors around here!

Michigan Fall Is The Best!

In other news, I got my computer back last Friday! Yay! It was so strange not having it, but it looks even better now than it did before the LCD went out, so the repair shop did a mighty fine job. Very happy to have it back though so I can start writing more regularly again.
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Turn That Frown Upside Down – The Importance of Positive Thinking

July 5, 2013 By: Sarah Leff4 Comments

Hello! Happy day after the fourth of July! Hope you all had a great day yesterday celebrating our country with family and friends. This was the first year I wasn’t at Lake Michigan with my family to celebrate the fourth, so it was a little but strange, but we ended up having a great time celebrating in Texas – slept in, got coffee, went to the pool, and had dinner with friends and watched the fireworks over Lake Grapevine at night. All in all it was a great day, and the fireworks were awesome!

Lake Grapevine

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Perspective.

May 21, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Hello! Hope you all are having a great Tuesday so far.

I don’t know about you, but watching the news last night, seeing all the devastation in Oklahoma from the tornado, really made me appreciate all the things I have in life. It can be so easy to become ungrateful when we have everything we need right in front of us, but there’s something about natural disasters that really puts life in to perspective. I definitely need to do a better job at being thankful for all the blessings in my life, and not taking anything I have for granted. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the people who have been affected by the tornado in any way.

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

In all situations—good and bad—we need to be thankful for what God has given us. We may not always understand his plan, but we do need to trust that he knows what he’s doing. It’s harder to give thanks when our situations are bad, and it can be easy to forget to be thankful when times are good, but God wants us to draw near to him in good times and in bad. Whatever your situation, choose to be thankful and grateful for all the blessings God has given you.

Anyways, hope you have a great rest of your day, and stay safe out there if you’re in an area affected by all this crazy weather! God Bless:)

Being Like Jonah.

May 4, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

So…my apologies for being MIA for the past couple weeks. I would tell you it’s been a crazy time with trying to figure out my new work schedule, along with a trip back to Michigan for a dear friends wedding, but those would just be excuses. And I’m really trying to adapt a new “no excuses” mindset, so I will just simply say sorry.

Anyways, the new job is going well, and the Michigan trip was AWESOME [can you tell I miss home, jut a little bit]. Even though I wasn’t in Grand Rapids [my homeland] for very long, it was still great to see family. I got to spend all of Wednesday last week with my mom going to our favorite places—Marie Catrib’s, downtown Holland, Hope College, Lemonjello’s, Lake Michigan, the cottage—needless to say, it was total awesomeness. And we even got a decent beach walk in despite the freezing, gale-force winds.

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Believe in Your Dreams.

April 20, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:58

Sometimes I just feel like giving up.

I feel as though I’m not accomplishing anything, and that everything I do will eventually fail. I know what God has promised me, and I know that he has a plan for me, but sometimes I just don’t see it.

Have you ever felt this way?

Paul says in 1 Corinthians that when we are working towards the goals God has placed in our heart, nothing we do is in vain. No matter how long those goals may take to achieve. When we feel like giving up, it’s important that we stand firm and remember the promises God has spoken over us. He has a plan and a future for us—one that is better than anything we could ever imagine. And even if we don’t see immediate results from our efforts, we can’t just assume it’s time to quit. No. We need to press on, stand firm and let nothing move us.

I recently came across this quote from Earl Nightingale…

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”

If God has planted a dream in your heart, don’t let yourself give up on it! Dreams take time, commitment, determination and a lot of patience before they ever come into fruition. Don’t let the time and energy required in accomplishing your dreams deter you from becoming the person you were intended to be. Because in the end, nothing will be better than looking back on what you’ve done and realizing that you actually did it.

Running You Race.

March 19, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Hello! Hope you all are having a great Tuesday so far. It has been a busy couple of weeks around here lately, and time has really flown! I can’t believe we are already at the end of March…craziness I tell you. Last weekend the temperatures were in the low 80’s, so James and I met up with some friends in Grapevine to walk around the historic downtown area. We had a great time poking into all the little shops, and were even able to watch a ‘glass blowing’ demonstration [a really cool form of art where the artists actually sculpt hot glass by blowing into it and molding it into different shapes—very neat]. On Sunday James’ sister was in town on her way back from a missions trip, so we were able to spend the afternoon catching up with her. It was so great to see her! Overall I am enjoying Texas, but I definitely miss being close to our families.

In other news—last week I found out that I am going to be starting a new job this coming Monday! I have loved working at Starbucks, but I will be moving on to something that is a bit closer to my chosen career path—I am going to be working in the marketing department at Daystar Television Network! I’m a little nervous to start, but also very excited! But don’t worry—I’m not going anywhere. I am still going to be posting regularly here on the blog, and am still going to be making some improvements in the very near future—so stay tuned!
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Discerning the Will of God.

February 25, 2013 By: Sarah Leff1 Comment

Hello! Hope you all are having a great Monday so far! Mines been kinda hectic, but overall not too shabby. James and I both had most of the weekend off, which was super nice and very relaxing. We had a chance to walk by Grapevine Lake near one of the marinas—something we’ve wanted to do for a while, and even made a trip to Trader Joes [the best store…ever]. Overall it was a great weekend, and I’ll try and post some pictures later in the week from our adventures:)

Anyways. This morning I was reading in Romans, and I came across a familiar verse from Romans 12…

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Romans 12:2

I’ve read this verse many times—even memorized it back in the day. But, for some reason it really stuck out to me this morning. As I was asking God what he wanted to speak to me about concerning this verse, I began to see the words in a new light—different from the past times I have read them.
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Stuck in the Past.

February 15, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Hello and Happy Friday! Hope you all are having a great day so far. It’s kinda gloomy here—definitely a good day to cuddle up with a good book and a warm kitty:) This week has been crazy busy for some reason, so I am definitely looking forward to the weekend. Although I wish my family was coming to visit again, like they did last weekend. Ah well, I’m sure we will all see each other again soon. How about you? Any fun plans for the weekend?

Thought I would share something I read from Genesis yesterday about Lot and his family, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. When Sodom was being destroyed, God rescued Lot’s family. As they were hastily leaving the city, God’s messengers told Lot’s family not to look back on the city or they would surely die. Seems like a simple command, but unfortunately, Lot’s wife decided to look back…

“But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”

Genesis 19:26
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Pure Joy.

December 20, 2012 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Good Morning! Hope you all are having a great Thursday so far. Did anyone else experience crazy windstorms last night?? It was seriously SO windy outside our apartment last night. I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t enjoy it—because I did. I love the wind—it reminds me of being out on a sailboat in the middle of Lake Michigan, and that is always a pleasant reminder. Needless to say, we survived the crazy wind, and none of our furniture blew away. However apparently there is a large tree down somewhere in our apartment complex, so it must have been windy enough to blow that down…

Anyways, let me share with you what I read this morning from the book of James.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

James 1:2-4

While this is a fairly popular and commonly known verse, it is full of importance. As Christians, we are guaranteed to face trials and challenges in our lives. There is always going to be someone who opposes us, or a situation that pushes us to our limits. The trials aren’t the important part. The important part is how we handle those trials in our lives. James says we are to consider our trials ‘pure joy’ because in the end they are what cause us to grow as Christians in our walk with the Lord. If we never had any challenges in our lives, do you really think we would grow? Definitely not. The trials, temptations and challenges are necessary in developing us into the people we are in Christ.

So, when you are faced with a challenging situation or a difficult person to love, remember that those trials are for your ultimate benefit. Embrace that fact, and allow God to work in and through every situation in your life-whether it be good or bad. In the end, all those trials you went through will mean something, and you’ll be glad for the lessons you learned along the way.

Well, I’m off to work. Hope you all have a fabulous rest of your day! God Bless:)

Fix Your Eyes on Jesus.

December 19, 2012 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Hello! Hope you all are having a wonderful Wednesday so far. Mine is going well…it’s windy and cloudy outside, so it feels nice to be cuddled up inside with little Samson next to me:)

Precious.

Anyways, I don’t have too much time, so I’ll get right down to what I read this morning from Hebrews.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Hebrews 12:1-3

I have always loved this passage of scripture. But, now that I’m older and reading it at a different time in my life, it has a much deeper meaning to me. The Christian life has never been, and will never be, without challenges. We live in a sin-stricken world, and there is nothing we can presently do about that. Choosing to live a Christian lifestyle requires sacrifice. Commitment. It means giving up on your own agenda in the pursuit of God’s plan for your life. The only way to really succeed is to fix our eyes on the only one who has ever lived a perfect Christian life—Jesus. We are going to stumble and mess up sometimes. We’re humans—that’s just what we do. But, what’s important is that we learn how to pick ourselves back up again, and continue to focus our attention on Christ.

Over the past few years of my life I’ve gone through a lot of changes both spiritually and emotionally. While I have continually drawn closer to Christ, I have also had my fair share of challenges and stumbling blocks along the way. But, each challenge I have faced has shaped me into the person I am today. And that person is strong and confident in the person she is in Christ. I know that I have a lot of learning ahead of me, and that there will inevitably be challenges along the way, but I am no longer afraid. I know God has a plan for my life. All I have to do is fix my eyes on Jesus, and run the race set before me.

What about you? Maybe your going through something right now that just seems too difficult to overcome. Don’t be discouraged. God will bring you through whatever it is that you may be facing, and in the end you’ll be stronger because of it.

Hope you all have a great rest of your Wednesday! God Bless:)

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