Engagement!!

On November 21st 2010, just two days before my birthday my dream came true! My very best friend in the whole wide world asked me to be his wife! His bride! YAY! And I'm so very excited to marry on April 30th 2011 my best friend!!!!!!!
I am so very thankful to My Heavenly Daddy for writing my amazing love story!!! YAY!! GOD IS GOOD!

PHOTOGRAPHY!

HELLO EVERYONE!!
I am starting my very own Photography Business!
I am SO very EXCITED to be doing something I 100% love!
It is such a passion of mine to take photos, and capture life's precious moments forever!
So! if you are in need of a photographer I do Weddings, Engagement, Family, Seniors, Babies and EVERYTHING in between!
For more information please contact me via e-mail, or facebook (guza16@hotmail.com)
Thanks! and GOD BLESS!

Lead me..

As the Sanctus Real song goes .. Lead me with strong hands, Stand up when I cant, don't leave me hungry for love chasing dreams... show me your willing to fight, that i'm still the love of your life.

I have been learning so much about how our relationship as a man and a woman is such a beautiful reflection of our relationship as a son/daughter and our Heavenly Daddy, God :) It's amazing, the male leadership role is such a sweet and loving role, not domineering or hurtful, not a man on a power trip, but rather a man fully committed to love, protect, and cherish the woman God has blessed Him with for the rest of his life. Not treating her as an object but as a part of him equal and inseparable. This is a picture of God our Daddy as leader in our lives as his child. He is not bossy or rude, pushy or violent,He is kind and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love. (steadfast love) This love is unchanging and does not leave momentarily in a dispute or is reflective of hurt feelings. This same love that a man has for his wife, is the same love that God shows to all of us, sweetly comforting, the gental embrace of "you are forgiven, and you are loved... always"

This same truth is found in the womans role as Helper. Now, this is not a role to be taken lightly of to be thought of as, all you can do is cook, clean, and have babies.
I love my role as helper, the helper is not just the "help" but the needed support that wonderful man needs, the words of the helper are so powerful, a simple small rude comment within an argument can cut deep. You see, the helper is trusted so much and her opinions are so valued that when their power is not known, they tend to hurt their man much more than they ever wanted. The helper also gets to share in growing and learning with the leader, as they together as one, go before God in prayer, the oneness of a relationship in Christ is so beautiful to God, he loves that so much. The relationship picture of God and us here is this; God is our protector, and God is our HERO, we are his sweet sweet sheep whom he loves so much, He wants to lead us and He has a mighty plan for our lives, and He needs us to do our part, to come and say from our hearts here I am Lord, send me.
Just as a man and woman love one another, so God loves us, with the love of the father in us so we love one another, how can we love unless we know love. God is love.

God bless You!

Battle Partners...

In my opinion the most important piece of knowledge that a soldier must have during a battle would and should be common sense, don't shoot your battle partner! A relationship is the very same way. We're in this together, so why do we seem to shoot our Honeys down when we know they are most vulnerable? We get lazy! We get selfish! and we're all guilty! I'll be the first to admit I've shot my battle partner right where it hurts quite a few times. Apologies have been made of course and lots of hugs have been given. But why do we repeatedly shoot our own wounded? It's a fine line between telling someone your feelings are hurt and blaming your entire life's faults upon that one person or even persons, family members even. The simplicity of shutting our mouths and think about what we are about to say before we actually say it is immense! When I take a moment and think about how my words are going to effect the person I love, well that changes everything, when I place others before myself and their feelings above my own, things change. Now, this is not a shut up and suck it up statement. Far from that. Relationships take work, TEAM -work! And when that "team" is taken out of the statement, its just work, work work work! and we all get nowhere. The ones we love, also love us. And when you love someone you let your guard down and when you do that you become vulnerable to hurt and disappointment. And that is sometimes a hard pill to swallow. Life is a long and sometimes hard road, and when we beat down the person who is here to help lift us up, we end up crashing to the ground with them. Our words and actions affect not only that other person but ourselves as well. If two are to become one, and you decide to shoot your honey, you might just as well shoot yourself.

Lets talk : Advocare

Drew and I have recently become distributors of Advocare. Advocare which is a premier health and wellness company offering world-class energy, weight-loss, nutrition, and sports performance products along with a rewarding business opportunity. These products truly work, and are changing lives daily! We were introduced to Advocare by Bunny from our church who was introduced to it by her son J.P. about 7 years ago. This company and these products have helped many families gain freedom from debt, become self employed, and live family based lives, happy and healthy. I am still learning and excited to be blessing the lives of my friends and family with the message of Advocare.

There will be more to come!
God bless you all!!! :)

When you think you're not good enough, God says...

You're equipped enough. Eph. 2:10

You're loved enough. John 3:16, Jer. 31:3

You're Beautiful/Handsome enough.Gen. 1:26-27

You're strong enough. Eph. 6

You're precious enough. 1 John 3:1

And this is not because of us, but because of God :)

He who knew no sin became sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:21

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart. Jer 1:5

What, then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Rom. 8:31

We are loved!! :)

Here we stand, hand in hand, in hand.

Here we stand, at the bridge from here to there, uncertainty may seem clear, but pressing on is why we're here.

Here we stand, blessed beyond all our dreams, giggles and laughs and smiles that can be seen, our joy is not in what was, or even what may be, but in what has always been and always will be.

Here we stand, two sinners at the cross of Christ our Savior, redeemed, set free.

Here we stand, four hands lifted high, arms stretched out reaching far beyond the sky.

Here we stand, worshiping our King, our heavenly Daddy, knowing our pardon has been paid, step by step.

Here we go, in Christ's love we walk, though the path may be narrow, and weary at times, my darling Gods brought us here, and in His word we stand on, He's got big plans for us, and that why we travel on.

Thank you for walking with me, hand in hand, following our Savior, our Christ, our King.

In Christ's amazing love,

Mattie Lee <3

Weak Enough For Grace...

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9

..Too many times we've all tried to do life on our own.

..Too many times we've all tried but failed.

..Too many times we've made our gods from our own hands instead of relying on our gracious King of Kings.

..Too many times we've let out hearts be broken when God was telling us not to go there.. He was trying to help us.. save us.. but too many times we didn't listen.

Why do we so often try to do it all ourselves?!

Would you like to know why?...

We're all WEAK, thats right we're all weak. We don't measure up as a matter of fact we were made that way. For an imperfect human being such and you and me to come to terms with our imperfection and flaw and realize that we will NEVER measure up is beautiful.

Its beautiful because the one who made us, and the one who gives us life is perfect, whenever we need anything (which if you are like me.. is A LOT) we can run to Him and ask Him! Our Heavenly Daddy knows we have needs (Matthew 6:32) and He is at the edge of His seat just waiting for us to ask Him! You see, the reason why He made us this way was not to harm us or make us feel pathetic, no, not at all! He wants us to come to Him in every situation and talk with Him and allow Him to come in to our lives whole heartedly He truly does want to bless us! The beauty of imperfection is that it calls for dependency. Dependency on the perfect one, God, our Lord and Savior. The beauty of weakness is that it calls for strength, and the only one we can get our strength from is God.

The beauty of dependency is that it calls for surrender, to lay down all our imperfections, to let our guard down, to stop trying to do it all ourselves, and let Him lead, and protect, and most of all.. Transform and imperfect person into the likeness of Christ Himself. This only comes by grace, you see none of us deserve this love, this blessing, this eternal life, but thats ok, you see God made a way for you. He sent perfection in the man of Jesus Christ the Son of God himself to take up your sin, your imperfection and through grace die a horrible death so you can have life, if you only just receive it. This grace is free, no fancy store bought wrapping and bow, no card, just precious grace.

Let me encourage you to know your weak enough for His grace.

Simply Thankful...

I've found myself more and more recently being thankful, being thankful about things that have even been hard in my life. Because, God used those times too and sometimes, actually more times then not, He has used those times to shape me in immense ways! Graduation is just around the corner for me and I'm amazed at where the time has gone. I'm so thankful for all God has lead me to do in my last 18and a half years! and yes I'm still young enough to throw that half in there! he he! I've gotten to go to Mexico and Jamaica and many different states! I've done so many fun things but sometimes those years seem waisted, unused for His kingdom and boring with little or no story to tell. This however isn't true. When we stop looking at things through our eyes and ask the Lord to help us see things as he does. We then see that those years of little activity where years of preparation and planning, not ours of course but His! He is a Divine planner and a skilled craftsmen of our lives and nothing is too big or small to Him, and believe me we're all still growing! And that makes me simply thankful! My Heavenly daddy's Big! He's seen my tears and He's always been holding me. And looking back I see... He was working behind the scenes. For that Lord, I'm simply THANKFUL! :)

THANKS MOM!

Do nothing, and nothing will change.

Ten little fingers, ten little toes, two little eyes, and one cute nose! What a pride and joy a baby is to a mama, or like me an Auntie! The little smiles and faces they make even at such a young age, their personalities bubble. When do you think they started developing these 100% human characteristics? At birth.. or further back? Planned Parenthood and many other organizations that are pro-abortion are feeding the lie to women that until a certain stage in pregnancy its not a baby, but a clot. 1.21 Million abortions are performed just in the U.S. every year, thats 1.21 Million faces we'll never see! Just in ONE year. I recently watched a video and I will post the link to it at the end of this blog, it showed pictures of babies, NOT clots at only 8 weeks after conception. All ten fingers, all ten toes, and all internal organs, oh.. did I mention this was a picture of the baby after it had been aborted. It is disturbing I know, but thats someone. Thats little baby someone, little baby someone that will never get to be sung to sleep, never get to ride a bike, never get to swim, never get to live. If you want to throw in that rape or incest is an justification for abortions, you should know that only 1 % of all abortions occur from such. 9 in 10 abortions occur within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, If at 8 weeks all fingers and toes and organs are in place, how much more has the baby grown at 12 weeks? Our founding Father's had this to say, have we forgotten?... "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." -Deceleration of Independence, 1776 Who are we to say " its my body, my choice" That little body growing inside of you, needs to be given a chance at life. I have never seen a baby born and as soon as it could talk say, mom why didn't you have an abortion, why didn't you kill me? If anyone is offended by this, i'm not sorry, because what is happening is wrong. Life begins at conception, this is what sex was made for, to bring forth life, not sick twisted momentary pleasure and death. God Himself made man in His own image, both man and woman. -Genesis 1:27 In fact He didn't JUST make man He formed him from the dust of the ground then breathed Life into him. -Genesis 2:7 He knit each and every one of us together in our mothers wombs, we are fearfully and wonderfully made! -Psalm 139:13-14 You know, love is not a feeling, love is an action, its actually a verb to love means doing something. Those babies don't have a voice right now, that is why we need no, we MUST to be the voice for those who are being silenced.

http://www.guttmacher.org/media/presskits/2005/06/28/abortionoverview.html

video and info:http://www.abort73.com/abortion/abortion_and_race/planned_parenthoods_racist_roots/

http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm

A basic overview:

Abortion is one of the most common medical procedures performed in the United States each year. More than 40% of all women will end a pregnancy by abortion at some time in their reproductive lives.

While women of every social class seek terminations, the typical woman who ends her pregnancy is either young, white, unmarried, poor, or over the age of 40.

In the United States and worldwide, abortion (known also as elective termination of pregnancy) remains common.

• The US Supreme Court legalized abortion in the well-known Roe v Wade decision in 1973; currently, there are about 1.2 million abortions are performed each year in the United States.
  
  
• Worldwide, some 20-30 million LEGAL abortions are performed each year, with another 10-20 million abortions performed illegally. Illegal abortions are unsafe and account for 13% of all deaths of women because of serious complications.

In spite of the introduction of newer, more effective, and more widely available birth control methods, more than half of the 6 million pregnancies occurring each year in the United States are considered unplanned by the women who are pregnant. Of these unplanned pregnancies, about half end in abortion.

At six weeks the babies heart is already beating.

http://www.priestsforlife.org/images/index.aspx

To the left is my niece Carmen, and to the Right, Me at 14 weeks.

The joy is in the journey.

Sometimes patients is a hard lesson to learn, but it will be richly rewarded! The Bible says in Galatians 5:22 that patients is a fruit of the spirit, in fact it is the only fruit of the spirit that is developed under trials. We should in all things "Consider it pure joy, 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, lacking nothing." ~James 1:2-4 I don't know about you but, THATS NOT EASY! Many times when I'm going through something I am continually asking God ..Why? What? and Hu? But I think that if I would be quiet and still before Him and dwell under the shelter of His wing (Psalm 91) I would be at peace even in times of trial. I would realize that even in heartbreaking and difficult times, times that I can't change, that what the Bible says is true, "that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him." ~Romans 8:28a As the saying goes, If God brought you to it, He will lead you through it. Our Heavenly Daddy would NEVER let us go through something alone, and even though our situations maybe far out of our hands, its OK! Because we have been promised that "In all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us." ~Romans 8:37 And that "We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us" ~ Philippians 4:13 And, "Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the World." ~1 John 4:4 Our God is a great big God, and we are truly never alone and always Victorious!

*Passionatly Cherished*

A little about us...

Two are better than one, for they have a good return for their works, for if one falls down they have the other to help them up, but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone, and though one may be overpowered, two will withstand, and a three fold cord is not quickly broken. ~Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12

We, Drew and I that is, are a part of an incredible three fold cord with God. Our lives are centered around Him and our courtship is lead by Him. He is the author and creator of Love, and He is writing our love story.

Best friends first:

Drew and I have known each other for about two years, we met at a bible camp where we both had been helping out. We kept in touch and remained friends, back in September of 2009 we both popped on Facebook chat and said hello, Drew was about to head over to Culvers for some much needed nourishment! So, he gave me his phone number, texts flew and phone calls were soon added to the equation, little did we know that a great friendship was in the making. I know God had done an amazing work in our hearts over the months before and during our phone calls and texts, we were content in the Lord and thankful for the friendship He had blessed us with. Months later, we and our families planned a trip up to Rogers, MN to meet everyone. To my surprise just days before Drew had called my mom and asked her permission to court her daughter, ME! That night Drew said to me that he would like to court me, and I did the only thing I could do.. Say YES about a million times!

We have grown so much since that first wonderful night when, God let my best friend become even more. We're never done growing, and we're never done learning but I'm very thankful for this three fold cord that withstands!