2018, You’ve Been Good.

Posted on by Katie

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I keep seeing posts everywhere talking about how horrible 2018 was, but I couldn’t disagree more. As cliche as it sounds, 2018 taught me a lot academically, emotionally and physically. So here’s a little reflection on my year, starting with academics.

Going in to nursing school, I never once thought I wouldn’t be capable of achieving my BSN–but I also didn’t think I would be capable of doing that while keeping my GPA above a 3.0. However, throughout this program, I have made honor roll every semester, and deans list once while keeping my GPA at a 3.30. I even managed to get an A- in pediatrics, which is a class that I thought I would struggle in. My goal for 2019 is to get my GPA up to at least a 3.45, or a 3.5 before I graduate in August.

While in nursing school, I’ve also made it my goal to continue to travel despite my college telling us that traveling during this program would be nearly impossible. This year, I went to the following places:

  • Townsend, TN (twice)
  • Tahquamenon, MI
  • West Palm Beach, FL
  • Destin, FL
  • Fort Myers, FL
  • Chicago, IL
  • Brown County, IN

The most recent trip was Destin, where I spent Christmas with my family. It was definitely the most relaxing of my getaways. The weather was nearly perfect (sunny and high 60’s/low 70’s) and the water was the most crystal clear I have ever seen the Gulf (pictured below).

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Aside from my travels, I think one of the most memorable moments of 2018 was finally finding a church. I have spent a good portion of my life “church-hopping” and never found anything that challenged me spiritually or stayed a good fit for me. In August, my mom and I started attending a church that is only 5 minutes away, and I have never experienced so much spiritual growth in 4 months than I have at this church. I am excited to see much more my faith grows in 2019 as we start a new series by Bill Mounce on why we can trust the bible.

A few other things I have done this year are:

  • Ran a 10k in under an hour and a half
  • Ran a 5K 11 minutes faster than last year
  • Hiked 7 miles up a mountain, 5 miles across the crest, and then 7 miles back down (totaling 18 miles) in 10 hours–although I couldn’t feel my legs for 3 days afterwards.
  • Rock climbed on actual rock for the first time
  • Started a blog and (sort of) kept up with it
  • Got to see 2 cousins that I haven’t seen in over a decade
  • Revamped my wardrobe
  • Started wear a middle part and curling my hair
  • Attended an awesome wedding–now known as the “event of the year”
  • Held a starfish and touched an octopus near Peanut Island in West Palm
  • Hiked a couple small portions of the Appalachian Trail
  • Finished collecting all the gear I need for backpacking
  • Went to Bunbury and saw Post Malone
  • Finally read 11/22/63 by Stephen King (highly recommend)
  • Got my rose tattoo filled in (a year later)
  • Finally got a new pair of glasses
  • Had my first clinical in January (Fundamentals), and now I’m already in Critical Care a year later!
  • Gave my first injection, started my first IV, inserted my first foley, etc.

So yeah, I’d say 2018 has been a pretty good year and there’s nothing about this year that I would change. With that said, here are 5 of my goals for 2019:

  1. Graduate from nursing school
  2. Get my first job as a nurse (ideally in a critical care setting)
  3. Do (and finish) a year-long bible reading plan
  4. Pay off my credit cards before graduating
  5. Lose 10-15 lbs and consistently go to the gym at least 4 times a week

I hope everyone has a wonderful new year and stays safe. I look forward to continuing this blog in 2019 (bonus goal: post more than twice a month) and sharing little glimpses of my life with you all.

Cheers to another good year!

-Katie

2 Corinthians 5:17 “There, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”

Holiday Gift Guide (on a budget, of course)

Posted on by Katie

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Happy Wednesday, folks! Remember that one time (my first blog post) where I said I would post every Wednesday? Well I’m letting you all know now that I cannot be trusted and will likely fail you all again in the future by posting on a random Monday instead. Call it a surprise or a let-down–either way, you have been warned.

On the bright side, I am back with something frugal (typical) and hopefully informative–a gift guide for poor college students like me! Everything listed below is under $30 and good combination of his and hers gifts so keep scrolling and check it out!

Pura Vida Jewelery

https://www.puravidabracelets.com/collections/all

Pura Vida is a great organization to buy a gift through because not only are you buying someone a cute and functional piece of jewelry, but you are also supporting a company that supports artisans and charities around the world. You can read Pura Vida’s story here to gain more information!

Bath and Body Works 3-Wick Candles

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B&BW/White Barn, $24.50 (sold out online)

Good news–if you made it to the candle sale on December 1st, you could have bought 3 candles for almost the price of one ($8.95/each). If you didn’t make it to the candle sale, be sure to do it next year! It will save you a ton of money and they make a great gift for something like secret Santa. I personally recommend Mahogany Balsam and because I am a candle connoisseur, here is a fancy description of the scent: it smells like a hot lumberjack walked in to your living room carrying a Christmas tree. Need I say more?

Heated Car Blanket

Why waste gas heating your car up in the morning when you can waste your battery instead by heating up your blanket? Jokes aside, with the cold winters coming up, this would make a great and functional gift! As an added bonus, even if the heat function stops working, it still makes a great car blanket–something that everyone needs in their life!

Tapestry

Tapestries have been trendy the past couple of years and are relatively cheap on Amazon. The one posted above is just one of many! It is also the most expensive out of the sizes of that particular tapestry, so you could spend even less than $26, which is incredible (even if you’re not Christmas shopping on a budget).

Himalayan Salt Lamp

Let me start by saying that I LOVE my salt lamp. It is the perfect pink/orange glow for when I am trying to relax, and I can even adjust the brightness of the lamp (posted above). It would make a great gift for someone who needs some relaxing down time after the holiday’s are over. Plus at this price, you could go ahead and pick one up for yourself too!

Avocado Tree Starter Kit

So here’s the thing with this gift–the avocado pit AND the glass bowl aren’t included (it comes with 3 of the AvoSeedo’s) . However, it still would make a cool gift for someone with a green thumb and some love for avocados. Bonus points for you if he or she typically orders $15 avocado toast at brunch because this is the gift that keeps on giving (free avocados). Especially with the national avocado shortage–it might be time to start growing our own avocado trees.

Echo Dot

In case you don’t know what an Echo Dot is, it is an Amazon product that uses “Alexa” to do anything from playing music, to making phone calls, to controlling lights and door locks with other compatible devices. Even just as a speaker alone, it’s a great product, and it’s only $24.99 on Amazon right now (regularly $39.99).

BH Cosmetics Brush Set

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Dot Collection Brush Set, $16.50

If you are shopping for someone who has any interest in makeup, you should know that there is never a thing as too many brushes. I personally use this specific brush set every single day and it’s a steal at $16.50! Every time someone asks me for a recommendation on a certain type of brush, I end up recommending this entire set because a.) it likely has the type of brush they are looking for and b.) you get an entire set of nice brushes for what most other companies would charge for a single brush. Trust me–the makeup lover in your life will thank you for this.

Portable Charger

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Portable Charger, $14.89

Ever been somewhere with no outlet and a dying phone? It’s inconvenient. And if you’re as broke as I am, you’re still using an Iphone 6 with a trash battery. To put it in perspective, I have to charge my phone anywhere from 3-5 times per day. So go get your friend or loved one a compact and portable charger to save them the pain that I deal with daily. Whether they have an Iphone 6 or an Iphone X, they will thank you.

Bathtub Tray

Back on to the topic of relaxation to close this gift guide: a bathtub tray. If you’re feeling fancy, maybe you could even throw in one of your $8.95 candles and a Lush bath bomb. This is once again the perfect gift for someone who has been stressed throughout the holidays, or stressed with life in general.

Hopefully this post helped ease some of the pain of holiday shopping and saves you all a couple bucks. I personally have not spent a single cent so far on Christmas gifts yet, so I’m off to a great start (**panic ensues**).

Update on my blog: throughout the month of December, I am thinking of taking a hiatus on my Favorite Hikes series and will continue that back up in January. I am going to focus this month more on Christmas/holiday related things because despite the stress, this is my favorite time of the year!

I hope you have all had a wonderful past couple of weeks and I’ll be back with another (promised) post next Wednesday!

-Katie

James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning”

“You Seem Happy”

Posted on by Katie

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Happy–that’s a word I’ve been hearing a lot lately.

“You seem happy“

“You look happy“

But what exactly does that even mean?

I’ve been straightening my hair more recently and I started wearing makeup again every day. Maybe those are the things that have been making me appear happier than normal.

But sometimes my happiest moments are on a trail with my hair in my face and not an ounce of makeup on.

Sometimes my happiest moments are sitting in my moms sewing room in my pajamas with a cup of coffee in the morning.

And sometimes my happiest moments are other people’s happy moments.

So then what does happiness look like?

I think that that is hard to say because 100% of my happiness radiates from my love for my God and His love for me–a happiness that can be shown in so many other ways than the way I look.

Most importantly: it can be shown in the way that I trust in Him to provide. 

This doesn’t mean that He will provide in all the ways that I want Him to, but ultimately, He will provide and there is happiness found in that.

One thing that I have learned in this lifetime is that the joy of following my creator is so much more rewarding than following what society considers to bring happiness.

That’s not to say that my family, friends, hobbies, etc. don’t bring me happiness–because they most definitely do. God put all of those things in my life for a reason.

However, I think there have been times where I have relied solely on these things to make me happy–I relied on things to make me happy that are just as imperfect as I am.

That’s a lot of weight to put on one person or thing and luckily we don’t have to do that.

I’m sure there are a number of my followers that will read this and not fully understand where I am coming from, and that’s OK. But just know that yes, I am very happy right now.

And know that my happiness is because of what God has been doing in my life, the people He has been placing in my life, and unconditional love that He has shown me in my life.

I am so undeserving of His love, but through grace I am saved, and through grace I will have eternal life–what is there not to be happy about?

-Katie

Psalm 37: 3-6 “(3) Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. (4) Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. (5) Commit yourself to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. (6) He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.”

 

 

 

Whales, and otters, and bears–oh my!

Posted on by Katie

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Surprise! It’s Monday AND I’m posting! In my last post, I mentioned that I wanted to share a story with you all that is probably one of the top five coolest things I have ever experienced.

Once again, this post has to do with my trip to Juneau, Alaska–which if you haven’t guessed yet, was a very memorable trip. On this particular night, however, I got to experience something that a.) I was not planning on, and b.) I will never be able to recreate. I think that that is what makes memories so special though. They aren’t meant to be remade, they are meant to be relived. So that is exactly what I am going to do–relive this experience via my blog.

When I went to Juneau, my friend (we’ll call her B) and I stayed with B’s friend from college (we’ll call her K). K recommended a ton of things for B and I to do, but my favorite recommendation was tent camping near a cove. The three of us, plus K’s sister and fiance, all drove to this cove around dusk (which being the summer months, was around 9:30 pm).

I want to pause this story by saying that this trip also included the most wildlife I have ever seen in my entire life.

OK, continuing. So on our drive there, we saw a black bear run across the road and in to the woods. The only bears I had seen were at Oswald’s Bear Ranch in the UP so this experience alone was a 10/10.

Shortly after that, we arrived where we would be camping–and when I say shortly after, I mean shortly after the bear sighting. As a matter of fact, when we were walking down to where we were going to set up our tents, a couple that was taking photos of the view mentioned they had just seen a bear.

Luckily for us though, that was the last bear sighting of the night.. Over the course of the next few hours, we roasted reindeer sausages over a fire, drank beer from Alaskan Brewing Company, had some wine, and watched the sunset on a cliff.

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Throughout the night, we could see humpback whales  and a couple seals swimming through the inlet, and occasionally the whales would come all the way up before diving back down. I think we saw probably about 4 or 5 different whales, and they decided to spend the whole night there with us.

The sun started rising at around 4 or 5 am (can’t remember the exact time), but sometime before that, I woke up to the sound of whales calling each other underwater. It sounded so eerie, yet beautiful at the same time. I eventually woke up and decided to go sit towards the edge of the cliff and just soak it all in. It was the most surreal moment I have ever experienced, and to think that God had created everything in that moment was even more surreal. It was all so perfect.

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Eventually, we were all awake and we packed things up and headed back towards the car. On the drive home, we passed an otter walking on the road and that was just the icing on top of the cake. A real life otter just chillin’ in the wild. Amazing.

While that story was short and only a small portion of my trip to Juneau, that’s the story of the best night of my life. I spent the night freezing in a tent because I didn’t pack enough warm clothes, but I would do it again in a heart beat if that I meant I got to see and hear and feel all of the things that I felt that night. But like I said–some memories are best left in the past and relived throughout time, while new memories are made in the process.

Thanks for reading 🙂

-Katie

Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.”

 

Favorite Hikes: Part 1–Mendenhall Glacier

Posted on by Katie

Happy Wednesday, friends! I hope everyone has had an incredible week. Today I am going to start part one of my Favorite Hiking Trips with the first of the series being Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska.

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It’s fitting that this is the first hike I discuss because Mendenhall Glacier is also the featured photo on my blog. I traveled to Juneau in May of 2017 with a friend to visit her friend from college.

We headed out relatively early for this hike, but nothing too crazy. If I remember correctly, I think it was at about 8:00 am. Once we got to the trail head, we put our backpacks on and started the hike. The trail headed towards Mendenhall Glacier was not especially difficult until we got closer to the glacier. When we were fairly close, there was a bit of climbing and some loose gravel to navigate, but nothing we couldn’t handle! One interesting thing we got to see as we got closer was markers of where the glacier used to be years ago and how far back it has receded.

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Once at the glacier, we got to go inside of it and I got to do the coolest thing I have ever done in my 22 years of life—lick a glacier (sorry if that was anti-climactic. I’m not very hard to entertain apparently). The color of this glacier was absolutely beautiful and something I could never explain to anyone. Readers, if you ever have the chance to go inside of a glacier, do it with no questions asked.
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After exploring this glacier/ice cave, we ate lunch on top of it and then headed back down. Once we were a decent distance away from the glacier, we decided to take a different route back to the trail head. Looking back on it now though, I don’t think this was a trail—and I probably could have died. But that’s OK!

The thing about this part of the “trail” was that it was up the side of one of the mountains, and it was also mostly loose gravel—so one wrong step could have resulted in a pretty decent (deadly) tumble back down this mountain. But I was up for the adventure and none of those facts really crossed my mind until after we got to the top of this mountain. My subconscious must have known this was a dangerous ordeal though because I didn’t take my camera out once to snap any pictures (except for this one at the very top).

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The remainder of this hike was rather uneventful. A lot of it was downhill, and the remaining half mile or so was flat and through a wooded area. There were so many moments during this hike that I could have just stopped and soaked in the beauty for at least an hour—but unfortunately there just weren’t enough hours in the day (but if there was going to be enough hours anywhere, it would have been Alaska with it’s almost 20 hours of daylight during the time I was there).

Next Monday, I am going to share one of my favorite experiences from Alaska before moving on to a different area of hiking, but I am so excited to share this experience/story with you all! I will probably never be able to recreate this night so I’ve decided I want to at least relive it by sharing it with everyone. I hope you’re as excited as I am! Until then, I hope you all have an amazing remainder of your week, as well as a wonderful weekend!

Also, check out my Alaska vlog for a more detailed experience of my trip/hike!

-Katie

Isaiah 54:10 “‘For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

Favorite Hiking Trips: A New Series…Oh, and a GREAT Hot Chocolate Recipe

Posted on by Katie

Happy Wednesday everyone! Unfortunately I am going to have to keep this post short and sweet. It has been a very busy week between finishing up my final week of my pediatric class, beginning my maternity class, and everything in between! Over the weekend, I did some sewing (more news on that in the coming week), went to church/my bible study, had dinner with my family, worked Monday, started my new class on Tuesday, then had a bonfire with my friends in my cohort (new favorite hot chocolate recipe will be down below), worked today, and then I am leaving for Brown County Indiana after my med-calc exam on Thursday. Phew!

After this week is over, I am planning on starting a new series about my favorite hikes that I have gone on. I want to be able to go in to detail with each hike while still keeping the posts relatively short (I am aware that posts that are too long tend to lose the interest of readers), so I am going to break this series down in to individual hikes. In the meantime, here is the best hot chocolate recipe in the entire world:

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 2 hours

Ingredients (Serves 12-13 people…this recipe is doubled from the original, but I think that the original is not enough…)

  • 10-12 cups of milk (supposed to be 12, but I did 10 because my slow cooker was just a little bit too small)
  • 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk (14 oz cans)
  • 4 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 3 cups of heavy whipping cream
  • Optional: 1 tsp vanilla extract (I left this out and probably wouldn’t add it the next time I make this. It was very rich without any added flavor–however, peppermint extract would be a good idea!)

Creation of the best hot chocolate:

  1. Put all of the ingredients in to a slow cooker
  2. Turn the slow cooker on high and leave it on until all of the chocolate chips have melted (this took longer than I thought it would, honestly)
  3. Stir occasionally
  4. Turn the slow cooker on low once all of the chocolate chips have melted
  5. Bonus tip: Add marshmallows to the slow cooker once you have turned it to low–I personally left little marshmallows in a dish for my friends, but next time I think I will add them to the hot chocolate.

This hot chocolate was a huge hit at my little fall party I had yesterday and was so easy to make. It would be a great idea to make for a bonfire, a football game/tailgate, a camping trip, etc.

Disclaimer: this is not my own recipe. I got this recipe from https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/256112/rich-slow-cooker-hot-chocolate/

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I look forward to starting this series of my favorite hikes with you all! 🙂

-Katie

P.S. I normally like to share a bible verse that goes along with whatever I am writing about on my post, but today I just want to share with you all my favorite bible verse this week:

1 Corinthians 10:21 “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons”

Nothing like that verse to really put you back in your place when you need it! Comment below your favorite verse and why!

5 Tips for Traveling on a Budget

Posted on by Katie

Happy hump-day everybody! Today I am going to share 5 tips on how I manage to travel (within the United States) on a really tight budget. Some of these tips are not necessarily a secret, but these are things that have worked really well in allowing me to travel as cheaply as possible while still having a great time. Enjoy!

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1. Cut Down on Hotel Costs

This is probably my biggest money-saver. When it comes to traveling, lodging is typically up there as one of the more expensive costs and if you can cut down on this, you’re already off to a great start. One of the things I do to achieve this is to stay with people that I know. This might not always mean that it is a prime location, but if you are saving $75-150/night, location might not matter as much. It’s also nice because the person you are staying with might have recommendations for things to do in the area!

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A beautiful cove I camped at for a night in Juneau, AK that I wouldn’t have known about if I wasn’t staying with a local!

Another option is to book an Air BnB. I have stayed in rooms through Air BnB for as cheap as $70/night. This particular room was far nicer than any hotel room that I could have gotten at that price and was still in a great location. However, in places such as Chicago, Air BnB’s are not always the cheaper route and if they are, the location is not always ideal. This depends largely on the number of people you need to accommodate for and the location you are interested in. With that said, whether you choose an Air BnB or a hotel, you should always check both and compare prices.

2. Flying Delta? Don’t Check a Bag.

Delta is my favorite airline by far–my only qualm with them is that they don’t offer a free checked bag. Since I always travel on a budget, I can never justify paying a total of $50 to check a bag. So what do I do to counteract that? I pack a suitcase that looks small enough to be a carry-on so that it makes it through security, but technically doesn’t fit within the parameters of Delta’s carry-on guidelines. I have never had an issue with my carry-on not fitting in their overhead bin and if it didn’t, Delta would gate-check my bag for free. Another great thing about this is Delta almost always asks passengers if anyone would like to volunteer to have their bag gate-checked. So if you don’t want to lug your suitcase through the airport, there’s a good chance Delta will ask people to gate-check anyway. This goes for any kind of carry-on too! When I flew to Alaska, I only brought a duffle bag, which was a pain to carry through the airport and I eventually had it gate-checked. With all of that said, don’t try to bring a suitcase that definitely would not fit in the overhead bin. You risk it not making it through security and having to check it anyway.

3. Don’t Travel During Peak Seasons

This might seem like a no-brainer, but seriously. Don’t do it if you don’t want to spend an arm and a leg. I’ll put this in to perspective for you: I recently flew from CMH to RSW (Fort Myers) for $265. This was in August when travel there was not as high. I then looked for flights from the same airport and to the same airport from December 26-January 2, and flights were $836+ (peak travel time). Just be sure to research when travel to your destination is the highest, and if you’re able to be flexible, try to travel the month before or after that time frame to save yourself a lot of money!

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Another perk of traveling in the off-season? No one else is at the pool.

4. Check Out Free/Cheap Events and Activities in the Area

This one might be easier if you love the outdoors like me because luckily for us, that’s typically free! But even if you don’t like the outdoors, take a walk through a city rather than the woods, or go to a museum. During my trip to Chicago a couple months ago, I did go to a museum, but then I also did a lot of site seeing by just walking around the city. You might even find a free outdoor concert, a cheap festival or some other activity that won’t cost you much. Sometimes by even doing your own research before traveling to an area, you can map out your own self-guided tour. You might not get all of the history involved with a tour guide, but that’s nothing a simple google search couldn’t fix!

Sometimes the best part about vacation isn’t even site-seeing–sometimes it’s just relaxing. And that’s okay too! One of my most relaxing vacations, I spent an entire day reading a Stephen King book in my hammock at my campsite in Tahquamenon. It didn’t require me to spend any money, and I kept myself occupied for most of the day. There is definitely no foul in taking a day to yourself to relax and save money in the process.

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The Field Museum in Chicago is $38 for an all-access pass, but $33 with a student ID: Pro-tip, always bring your student ID on trips with you if you have one.

5. Stick to Your Budget

I am the worst at this, and I know it. But I always try to at least stay within a $50 range of my budget on trips (ya know, because I still have to make it home and all). One way that I do this is by going to a grocery store on the first day and getting cheap meals for breakfast and lunch, and then only splurging on meals for dinner. However, even then I will still cook most of my meals at the hotel/Air BnB/house/tent/wherever I am staying. If I’m at a hotel, that probably means a microwaveable meal, but no one said you have to eat healthy on vacation! As a matter of fact, in Alaska I lived off of lunch meat sandwiches, granola bars, oatmeal and Alaskan Brewing Company beer for 5 days and I’m still alive to tell the story. For some people though, food is the best part of travel and they don’t want to skimp out on that. If that’s the case, order a meal that you know you won’t finish and then reheat the leftovers the next day. Then it’s two good meals for the price of one!

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Arguably the best ale I’ve ever had and I have been sad since May 2017 that it never made its way over to Ohio

These are just a few of the things I do to save money while I am finishing up nursing school. I love to travel, and I don’t have a lot of money–so I think I’ve definitely got this one down to a science. Comment down below what you guys do to save money when you travel (so I can steal your ideas and eventually figure out how to travel for free)! Talk to you all next Wednesday 🙂

-Katie

Philippians 4:19 “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus”

Getting the Most Out of Your Bible

Posted on by Katie

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Today I wanted to talk about something that I think a lot of Christians struggle with at one point in time: reading the Bible. Yes. That’s right. Reading the Bible can be hard. However, there are a few things you can do to have a better understanding of God’s letter to us and get the most out of your Bible reading!

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1. Pick a Translation

The earliest translation of the Bible (which was written in Greek and Hebrew) is the King James Version (KJV). However, that is not the only translation. I personally use the New King James Version (NKJV) and find that this version is much easier to understand. There is a lot of controversy around different translations, and I honestly do not know enough about others to give my honest input, but I do know that the most popular translations are the New International Version (NIV), NKJV and KJV. The NIV is probably the easiest to understand, as it can be understood at a 7th grade reading level, however, the 2005 version is fairly controversial in Christianity due to its use of gender neutral language. This might be the easiest version to read, but as someone who has owned a NIV Bible and a NKJV, I can say that I have had an easier time understanding my NJKV now, than I did with my NIV Bible in middle school (and that is thanks to the next few tips, so keep reading!).

2. Pray About It

One thing my mom has always told me is that the Bible is a letter–as a matter of fact, it is a love letter. Imagine that someones mail is accidentally put in your mailbox, and you open up this letter that is not addressed to you. How much of it will make sense? Probably not a lot. The same can be said for the Bible. As believers, the Holy Spirit is what allows us to understand scripture. One thing that I always do before reading my Bible is pray for understanding. I’m sure there are skeptics out there that would say that this means we don’t truly understand God’s word, but I disagree. When we ask for understanding, that doesn’t necessarily mean we are praying to understand basic concepts (however, it’s not wrong to not understand a concept either). We are inviting the Holy Spirit to direct us and give us new insight on His word. It is much like re-watching a movie, or rereading a book. Each time, you may notice something that you didn’t notice before. The same can be said about the Bible!

3. Join a Bible Study

This is probably an obvious one, but arguably one of the most important. I am currently in a bible study at my church and we are going over Genesis. As I mentioned above, each time you read the Bible, you can learn something new–even if it is something you’ve read before. That is what I am currently experiencing as we go through Genesis! Hearing other people’s insight on His word has opened up my eyes to things that I had not thought of before. When choosing a Bible study, it is important to note the audience that it is catering to. For instance, if you’re a single college student with no kids, it might not be appropriate to go to a Bible study that caters towards those wanting to start a family. The Bible study that I am in is for all stages of life and has a good mix of ages. I personally like this because I believe it allows for more wisdom and knowledge to be shared. However, everyone has different preferences and might feel that God is leading them to a group that pertains more toward their stage of life. Which ever group you choose, try to stick with it and be encouraged by others to get in to the word!

4. Get a Commentary

THIS IS THE BEST THING YOU WILL EVER DO TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR BIBLE.

No, really. My mom bought John MacArthur’s Bible Commentary and it has helped me tremendously. Normally, I use my mom as my commentary, but when she is not around I rely on the MacArthur Bible Commentary. I am going through Revelation at the moment and this particular book hits some heavy (yet exciting) stuff. Having this commentary has helped me understand the depth of His word in this book and makes what He is saying to us a lot clearer. As John MacArthur says on his website, “If you’re serious about knowing what God’s Word means by what it says, The MacArthur Commentary will take you there”.

5. Grab a Study Guide

Ever tried studying for a test without a study guide? It’s overwhelming–much like the Bible can be at times. There is so much in this book (66 books, to be exact) that you might not even know where to begin. Having a study guide can really help with this! As I mentioned before, I am reading in Revelation. To help me out a bit, I am using John MacArthur’s Because the Time is Near (does it seem like I’m peddling John MacArthur products yet?). This has really helped take me through Revelation and have a better understanding of what I am reading!

One thing you have to be careful about when choosing a study guide is whether or not it is biblically-sound. This means that you need to have a discerning spirit in things written by man. For example, I would not recommend Jesus Calling. The author, Sarah Young, believes in personal revelations, yet we have all received the same revelation. I won’t go in to more detail about this particular devotional book, but if you are interested, more can be read about this on John MacArthur’s blog at https://www.gty.org/library/blog/B161024/that-s-not-jesus-calling (okay, yes. I am peddling John MacArthur products–but he shares so much truth!). The main takeaway from this is that God has said all he needs to in the Bible and it is important to use a guide that uses His truth and nothing else. If you are unsure of how to go about this, pray for discernment and know that truth can be found through reading the Bible alone. However, if you believe that a study guide will help, you can check out https://www.challies.com for reviews on different guides!

(Aunt Carol, if you’re reading this, I know you have some great discernment sites and would love if you shared them in the comments for everyone!).

6. Read the Bible Every Day

Truthfully, I’m not the best at this. However, when I do more consistently read the Bible, I tend to get more out of my time doing so. One way that I try to do this is by picking a specific time every day that works best for me. For my mom, she reads her Bible every single morning before she does anything else. Most of the household isn’t even awake yet so it is quiet and she can read without being interrupted (except for the times that I am awake and come in to her sewing room to bother her. Sorry mom!). As for me, I prefer to read my Bible in the evenings. I almost always have more time in the evenings than I do in the mornings so it allows me to be more consistent (although I do love the mornings that I get to have a cup of coffee and dig in to scripture!). The important thing here is to know that it is quality over quantity. Don’t worry about the amount of time you spend reading the Bible. Some days I get more out of 10 minutes of reading than I do in 30!

6. Put Your Phone Away

I am extremely guilty of having my phone out next to me while reading my Bible, but do as I say, not as I do. When I’m following my own rule, I find myself paying better attention to what God is trying to say to me (shocking, right?). If I am constantly checking my phone, I am not truly getting in to the word. It puts a barrier between God and myself. Because I am full of analogies today, here’s another one: If you’re out at dinner with a friend and they kept pulling their phone out to check it, would you feel like they are listening to what you have to say? The same can be said for when we check our phones while reading the Bible. God is trying to speak to us, and we are essentially ignoring him while we check our phones.

I am not an expert on reading the Bible and have a lot of learning left to do myself. But what I have included in this blog are things that have helped me understand God’s word a little better and I figured I would share them with you all! Feel free to comment down below what you do with your Bible time and how you get the most out of it. I hope you’re all having a wonderful Wednesday and look forward to sharing another piece of my life with you all next week (or likely sooner–we’ll see how this week goes!)

-Katie

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”

Backpacking on a Budget

Posted on by Katie

One of the biggest reasons it took me so long to get in to backpacking was because of the cost. It is something that I have always dreamed of doing, but I didn’t even start collecting gear until 2017. Backpacks alone can range anywhere from $70-400, and most people tend to stay near the mid to more expensive range. This make sense because unless you spend even more on ultra-light gear, you will be carrying around 20 lbs on your back for the duration of your backpacking trip–you definitely don’t want to skimp out on the backpack!

BUT HAVE NO FEAR! You don’t need to spend an arm and a leg (and a foot, and a hand, and your other arm, and your other leg) to afford backpacking. As a matter of fact, all of my gear at the moment probably costs less than $600 total (spoiler alert–this was a really good guess)!  Read More

The Importance of Fellowship

Posted on by Katie

Hello friends!

I want to start off this blog post by thanking each and every one of you that has supported me and followed my blog. It really means a lot to me! I am so excited to share more of my life with you all and have a lot of exciting plans with this blog in the near future! So continue to stay tuned 🙂

In my first blog post, I briefly discussed what I was lacking spiritually over the last couple of years and in church on Sunday, my pastor was talking about the spirit of the church and how we should live. He broke it down in to 5 subsections (teaching, fellowship, worship, generous living, and evangelism) but the one that personally stood out to me the most was fellowship. His teaching came from Acts 2:37-47, but I am going to discuss verse 44 for the most part. Acts 2:44 says “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common”. The portion of this verse that really struck me was “all things in common”. When you don’t have all things in common with a fellow believer, it is hard to continue a fellowship with that person. Now when I say all things in common, I don’t mean that you have to like the same drink at Starbucks and enjoy the same movies. However, your lives should be commonly rooted in the Lord.

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Personal favorite place for fellowship: IHOP (or IHOB)

In my own personal experience, I remember actively avoiding fellowship because I knew that I did not have all things in common with my fellow believers and I could not live a life where I was sharing about God with one group of friends, and taking shots with the other. Unfortunately for me and my relationship with God, I chose the latter for a number of years. It is interesting though how I always longed for the relationships that I had made at church, despite my sin. It is almost as if the Holy Spirit was working in me all along or something (crazy, right? ;D).

I just think that it is important to remember the power of fellowship and how it can help us persevere in our faith. Without it, I often felt lonely even though I was the one who had isolated myself. Since I started going to this new church, my desire for fellowship has grown exponentially. I really did dive head first in to getting to know people because I know the impact that it has on my life and my relationship with God. I feel so much more full of life and so much happier when I can share the biggest part of my life with others–especially those that are equally yoked. Having these relationships allows me to have guidance on things that will bring honor to God, rather than dishonor and that is something that a lot of us struggle with living in this world. I said it in my last post, and I’ll say it again–it is so hard to live in this world and not of it. However, with fellowship it can at least make things a little easier.

To conclude this short but rather important blog post, I encourage you all to evaluate the relationships in your lives and decide if they are healthy for your relationship with the Lord. It took me a long time to realize that I was letting sin control me and I even got to a point where I felt there was no way that I could turn back. However, with prayer from not only myself, but others as well, I was led to a church that didn’t leave me feeling happy and fluffy when I walked out–it made me feel convicted. And it is never to late to act on those convictions.

-Katie

Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them”

I hope you have all had a wonderful week! Make sure to check back on Wednesday (10/10) at 6pm for a different type of blog: “How to Backpack on a Budget”. I am excited to share a few of my tips and tricks and how I managed to get all of my backpacking gear for under $600!