I believe you know it has been too long since you have last blogged when you sign on and the entire interface has changed and you have no idea where anything is. I apologize that I have been such a terrible slacker in the blog department lately, insert comment about life being super busy here.

So anyways, life has been a little crazy, super busy, but basically wonderful. Even though the past few months have had their ups and downs I still have no doubts that this is where God wants me and Andy and that is the best feeling in the world.

I was super stressed out the other day, it was one of those nights where I was trying my best to sleep but the harder I tried the more my brain decided it want to think about every single worry in the world. So I decided to take some time to read my bible and here is what I came across:



"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally brethren whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and the God of peace will be with you. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."


-Philippians 4:4-13


I love when you pick up your bible and God just speaks directly to you. This was exactly what I needed to read that night. Rejoice in the Lord, dwell on things of Him, His peace will be with you, and you can accomplish all things through Him. I know I have read Philippians 4:13 a billion times since becoming a Christian and it is focused on in just about every Sunday school class ever. But I had never really looked at the verses around it too much and God knew that was exactly what I needed to hear the other night. It just astounds me sometimes how much I forget that if I just let God do His thing in my life things will turn out much better than if I just leave Him by the side and try and figure things out by myself. That is one thing that is made very clear by these verses. Things have to be done with Him and through Him or they are probably not going to work out so well. I know I have blogged about this a few other times, but it is somethings I am hit with pretty frequently. I do not know better than God does, as much as I may think I can do things all by myself, I can't, no one can. That is why God sent His Son because he understood we couldn't do it on our own. It calms my heart so much that we don't have to face anything on our own. We always have God to help us through it.

Marriage

I have been married almost 4 months now! How crazy is that! I still get a little thrown off. Every once in a while I just sit back and look at Andy and think "Wow, this guy is my husband". I absolutely adore being married. The thought that I get to spend the rest of my life with Andy just still brings a giant smile to my face. I know that I could have married any Christian boy and it probably would have been alright, but Andy is my absolute perfect match. I am by no means saying that these last 4 months have been a piece of cake. A lot of people do not realize this, sometimes especially people who have been dating a long time, but marriage is work. And I know that some of you are sitting there and you are thinking to yourself "Well, duh Heather". But it is something we always think in the back of our minds, but don't realize how hard it actually is. You have to remind yourself daily to love the person who you are married to for every shining quality they have, not if they helped do the dishes that night or if they put away dinner. You have to learn more than anything to lose your pride and just let things go. I think that has been the one thing that God has been working with me on. I cannot have expectations of Andy. I don't mean you shouldn't motivate your spouse or let them become complete slobs and do nothing. What I mean is you have to love your spouse for being the person who they are, not the things they accomplish. God repeats over and over in His word that we do not gain His love through works, but through faith. And if Gods love for us is the example for marriage, then shouldn't we have that same kind of love for our spouse. Just love them because they love us. Once you realize how much you love that other person you naturally want to do things for them. Just like your love for God creates desires in your heart to do things that please Him. At the end of a hard day, it doesn't really matter if the apartment is a little messy, what matters is that God has given me a wonderful person to come home to.

Old

I feel old.
I mean i know that I am not, I'm only 19, but for some reason, today, I feel it. It all started out with a conversation with Hannah(Andy's younger sister). She went to her first high school dance over the weekend and she got all dressed up and looked super pretty and She has a boyfriend now. Which is super exciting I am really happy for her and I am about 97% sure they are going to get married some day anyways. We were taking about  how excited she is and all that stuff and it just made me feel really old. I mean I know I haven't been there all her life but she is just like a little sister to me and she has grown up so much the past 4 years it makes me feel super old! And not to mention now I have my own place, all I do is clean, cook, and work. I feel like an old lady haha.
I have sorta felt this way my whole life. Every time I meet someone new they think I am at least in my early to mid twenties, which is odd considering I am shorter than most every person I know.
But other than feeling a little "beyond my years", life is over all good. I have a great husband, a adorable little apartment, a good job, andy has a job, and I have the best God ever!

It is amazing what God does for us when we give everything to Him.

Thankfulness

I again am having one of those crazy I can't sleep nights. i have no idea why this keeps happening. I am way to sick and nauseous feeling to ever be able to sleep. So once again here I am ranting to whoever in the world happens to be as wide awake as I am. Today in church my pastor gave an amazing sermon on thankfulness and I can not help to think that I am never thankful enough for what God has blessed me with Maybe this is just something I do, but I have a feeling it is just human nature to complain about everything and be thankful for nothing. Seriously I am amazingly blessed by God everyday, just being able to wake up and take a hot shower and eat breakfast is something I should praise God for. I don't think about how many people there are in the world who don't have those luxuries, let alone a comfy bed to sleep in the night before. This is not a "I want to make myself and who ever happens to be reading this feel like terrible people" and I don't think that is God's plan for laying this on my heart either. I just feel as though it is something worth thinking about. Have you ever met one of those people that seriously is so thankful it makes you a little annoyed, they are seriously thankful to be thankful for things. I want that kind of thankfulness, yes I am openly admitting I want to be one of those crazy,  annoying people. I want the world to know that God doesn't just bless me the day he gives me enough to get married, or move to Colorado, or big adventurous things. He also blesses me every single day whether I want to notice it or not. 
I am not one hundred percent sure why all these crazy big topics are rolling around in my brain when all I really want to do is sleep, but at least I have a computer to type and share them and a nice warm place to lay while my mind mindlessly wanders.

I won't be offended if you stop reading this halfway through.

Politically unmotivated people bother me. Now, before I go into this, I do not think that everyone should run around arguing about their political views, that is just obnoxious. However, it is more obnoxious when people have none at all. Seriously, how could you just not care. I was browsing around on Facebook today and was looking at a old friends page and under her political views she wrote "I don't follow any of that". How can you not follow politics! Everyone has a political view, whether they would like to think so or not, not having a political view, is a political view in and of its self. I seriously do not understand how someone could just not have an interest in the world around them. I am not saying you have to belong to a certain political party. I just think people should think critically and care about what is shaping the country we live in. No matter if we like it or not politics seriously effects our everyday lives, who the president is, what party is in control of congress, and what laws are and are not passed will not only change our lives but our children's lives as well. How can you possibly just not follow that?!?
A girl at work the other day told me she doesn't vote because she believes God has a plan and voting is not going to change what that plan is. I do know and believe that God can accomplish things with out us, He is God, He can do anything and everything He wants to on His own. And in the end it voting or not voting is not going to keep you from Heaven, it is your belief in Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. However, I personally believe that it brings way more glory to God when He can accomplish things through His willing people. I know this whole blog is covering a few heavy topics and normally I am more of a la-dee-da kind of writer but this seriously bugs the crap out of me. Why do people always assume that they don't have to do anything and God is just going to work it out. Yes I know He is God and He can work it out all by Himself, but seriously how boring is that persons life. "Oh I don't do anything I just wait around for God to it." That person could have a much more full and exciting life if they just acted on the direction God lays before them. Let's look at the Old Testament Israelites for one moment. Sure God very well could have made the Pharaoh let them go all on His own, but He used Moses. And yes he probably could have just mysteriously transported them into the promise land, but He made them do the venturing and wandering. But they would have missed all the spiritual growing along the way. God would have taught them absolutely nothing if He just did it all for them, could He have, YES, but putting them through all that eventually led them to a stronger closer relationship with the Lord. Personally it is not my place to judge anyone for voting or not voting, and I suppose this blog probably sounded a bit angry and judgmental, I know full-heartedly that God is the ultimate judge of everyone. But seriously, those politically unmotivated people drive me up a wall.
I feel as though this is enough crazy rambling for one night.

So I very seriously want to post on my facebook about how icky my stomach is feeling(I feel the need to have the world feel bad for me in my sickness) however, I know tons of people would then suspect I am pregnant(which I would like to say, I am not). So I cannot, therefore I felt the need to blog about it because then at least a select few people can feel bad I am sick without telling me I am having a baby, because I am not lol.
That has become a very popular joke in the Randes household ever since Andrew and I got married. Every time I want something or don't feel good the automatic response is "oh it's because your pregnant". It is pretty comical. And seriously you would not believe how much more you notice baby's after you are married, the thought always goes "Aww, adorable little baby, OH, I could make one of those now if I wanted to" haha I laugh at myself seriously every time. I think when Andy and I do have kids(which will be awhile, unless God has plans I don't realize) we are going to have fabulous children. Seriously, not to pat myself on the back, but how could our kids not be awesome haha.


Also a girl that I grew up with just had a baby, and her little girl is absolutely adorable.
Odessa Joon Kribbs.