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Rachel and her SERIOUSLY adorable family!
So today's article is one I am so honored and excited to write. First because Mrs. Wojo is such an inspiring and wonderfully kind Christian woman, but secondly because I actually got permission from her to write this! After I sent her a Tweet she responded by saying it would be an HONOR to have me write something about her. HA! ME! An honor for me? NO no no no Mrs. Wojo the honor is ALL mine.

For those of you who may not know who Mrs. Rachel Wojnarowski is, I will give you a brief history. Rachel is a mom of 7 (YES!) a wife, a blogger, a writer, and most of all a survivor. From overcoming serious struggles and hardships in her first marriage, to having her precious and beautiful daughter Taylor diagnosed with a rare genetic metabolic disorder, Mrs. Wojo's story is one that will inspire you to push through every day and hold tightly to God. It will pull so tightly on your heart strings, but also give you the ray of hope we all look for. When I first read about Rachel and her story I wept. I don't cry very easily but I honestly sat and cried.

Before being married to her current husband Rachel was married before. Rachel writes in her testimony that shortly after they were married her then husband seemingly lost his way. He questioned where his path was taking him, and gave up going to church all together. While dealing with that uncertainty Rachel also had to go through a very tough birth with her daughter Taylor. Only 3 short years after Taylor was born Rachel had to find out the one thing no woman ever wants to find out, the man she had given her heart to in marriage was having an affair. The marriage ended and Rachel had to over come some how. Through all of that a story of Gods endless love and redemption grew.  Rachel and her now husband Matt fell in love. God brought a strong Christian man into Rachel's life and gave her the missing piece to her puzzle. However, in the middle of that story Rachel writes though that her mother became sick, and such a short time after receiving her diagnosis, passed away. While going through all of these things life had put on her plate, Rachel had one struggle that never faded, and that was her daughter Taylor and the illness they would come to find that she had. Her precious daughter was diagnosed with
MPS-IIIB which is a rare genetic metabolic disorder, that causes gradual neurological degeneration (Please click on this link to visit the National MPS website to learn more and find out how you can help) Currently there is no known cure, or treatment for this disease. Looking above, you will see Rachel standing next to Taylor, holding tightly to her hand. I could not imagine as a mother having to watch a child go through what Rachel sees each and every day. One thing I can tell you though though, is that Rachel's love for Taylor and all of her family is clear and very present. Taylor is lucky to have a family that loves her so much, and one that brings God into that circle to always be a reminder to her that this family will stand strong next to her no matter what. With God all things are possible.

Through all of the hard times and all of the struggles Rachel teaches us all something we should pay close attention to. You can go through some unimaginable hardships, think that your world is literally falling apart from under your feet, but if you lean on God and put your full trust and heart into Him he will get you through anything. With God all things are possible. If you put your trust in Him, and lean on Him in good times and bad, he will never leave your side.

Rachel is inspiring, educating, thoughtful, and real. Her website is full of wonderful information, inspiring words and tons of useful tools to help you on your journey with God. I hope that you check out her site (which you can do by clicking the picture shown above) it has helped me in so many ways, given me tools that have truly helped my walk and helped me grow personally, and given me that ray of hope I talked about before. If I ever got the chance to stand in front of Rachel the first thing I would do is hug her! And secondly I would thank her, for teaching me to be stronger, and for giving me the constant reminder that with God you can over come anything, and all things are possible.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

- Amanda

** In honor of Rachel and her beautiful daughter Taylor I made a $25.00 donation to the MPS Society and I TRULY hope you will consider doing the same. They will take ANY amount, even $1.00. There is currently NO cure or treatment for this disease, and ANY amount will go twards the fight. PLEASE make a donation today. Thank You.
 
For most women reading this you probably already know a little bit about Proverbs 31 Ministries. But for those of you who don't let me explain...

Proverbs 31 Ministries is a non-denominational, non-profit Christian ministry that began in 1992 as an online monthly news letter. P31 has now grown into a
multifaceted ministry that touches the lives of women around the world. From free online Bible Studies, to a radio program, to the Compel Training program and more P31 Ministries provides and inspires women of all ages and all backgrounds to come together to learn about God, love God, and most of all love them selves.

President of P31 Ministries Lysa TerKeurst is a power house speaker, teacher and radio show host who speaks straight into your soul and reaches deep down inside of you to pull out all of the things you have been hiding, running from, and afraid to face. She makes you think about things you have never thought before, and learn more about yourself then you could ever imagine. She has written a wonderful book called "Made to Crave" that takes you on a spiritual journey to change your relationship with your health and with yourself. Another favorite speaker who I absolutely adore from the P31 Ministries is Karen Ehman. Now I love to laugh, and Mrs. Ehman loves to make you laugh. She is witty, thoughtful, smart, and empowers you as a woman to stand up straight and love who you are for exactly who God made you to be. She loves Duck Dynasty, her kids and her hubby Todd. She has written a wonderful book called LET. IT. GO. plus 5 other books to capture your heart.

P31 Ministries has many other contributors, women from all walks of life, who are imperfect, flawed, sinners just like you and me. They are women who have had struggles and hard times but have over come and pushed through them with the help of the almighty high King, God :) They have leaned on Him and put their trust in Him and teach you how to do the same. They are truly women who LOVE Jesus Christ with all of their hearts, and they inspire you to stand up from the crowd and be proud of who you are as a Christian woman.


All I have to say to Lysa, Karen and all of the women of P31 ministries is "Thank You" You have truly inspired me to stand faithfully next to Jesus. To stand up from the crowd and love God with my WHOLE heart and soul and be proud of who God made me. I know now that I am not alone in the world and I appreciate what you have taught me. I can only hope one day to be able to go through the Compel training and learn even more.

To learn more about P31 Ministries click on the image above! And to follow Lysa or Karen on Twitter just click on their names, and to check out the books they have written click on the titles! :)

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised


- Amanda


 
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Courtney's Book "Women Living Well"
In November of 2012 when I gave my life to the Lord I was not the best version of myself I could have imagined. I was grumpy, short-tempered, cursed like a sailor, and was an "Independent Woman!!!" (Um, thanks Beyonce!!) Haha. I could tell early on in my relationship with Neal that my Independent Woman-ness was really going to be an issue. He was not into my jealous, controlling, independent craziness and honestly who could blame him?

So I decided to try my hardest to commit to seriously changing my life, and SERIOUSLY overhauling my attitude about my relationship with Neal. Being that the internet is so full of advice from all kinds of people from all walks of life I thought "Surely I can figure out how to be a Godly Girlfriend"... Right? Um, YES!! I simply typed into Google "How to be a Godly Girlfriend/Wife" and BAM! I found WomenLivingWell.org and man, was this THEE place to go if you wanted to step it up and learn from the best. Courtney Joseph is a wife, mother, blogger, author, teacher, woman's minister, home making SUPER WOMAN! Seriously, I am not even kidding. (I think she wears a pink cape with a big sparkly pink S on it and fly's around her house all day doing everything!! haha) Not only does she write about how to be a Godly Wife but she also talks about home schooling, shopping on a budget, how to make sure you get time in with God and so much more. So I quickly signed up for her newsletter and committed that I would go to her site every day and read at least one article on improving my relationship and becoming a more Godly woman. After a few weeks I was soaking up everything she had to teach me! Not only does she write with passion, and from her heart but she makes VIDEOS! And if you are anything like me I could sit on Youtube for hours while I work around the house or just sit in quiet time and listen. She gives so many resources right from the Bible and what I love most is that Courtney is a real PERSON!! She is not perfect, and she freely admits that! It was so refreshing as a new Christian to realize "Wow, so I don't have to be some cookie, cutter house wife who wears pearls and has no dust anywhere in my house? THANK YOU!!

Honestly, since I began reading from the Women Living Well website, listening to her Youtube series, and following her on Twitter (@womenlivingwell) I have learned SO MUCH. I feel that while I am still learning I have already changed so much and I owe MUCH of the credit to Courtney. She also has a book out that I am DYING to read (Sadly, I can't afford it right now :( But I am putting it on my wish list) If you would like to follow Courtney and the rest of the wonderful bloggers that she writes with at Women Living Well click on the picture above to check out her site, and I would highly recommend picking up her book too!!! Oh and please go and follow her on Twitter! She is SO SWEET and has even Tweeted me a few times!!


Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

- Amanda
 
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Photo of Yelena from her site.

I thought it would only be proper to start this section of my Blog off with a small "thank you" and little tribute to the girl who is the reason that I started blogging in the first place. This is Yelena (@yelenabosovik on Twitter) she is a twenty-something Christian girl just like you and me. She is a law-student, fashion-forward, so intelligent and most importantly, she LOVES God. :) I mean how much cooler can you get?

I first stumbled upon her blog (which I have linked for you! Just click her picture above!) almost 6 months ago and read an article about her "Bible Study Tips" (which I actually use daily now!) her words were so well written that I was blown away! She truly soaks up every single word of the Bible when she reads it and she teaches you how to as well. You can tell her passion for what she does in every article she writes, and she has truly inspired me to do the same.

For so long now I have wanted to start a blog for young Christian women who are finding their way in life. Who haven't been married for 20 years and already had a house of kids. But for girls who are just starting out in life and are just trying to survive dating, work, school and everything else that comes with it. Most of all doing everything while loving God and putting Him first!

I thinkYelena is one of the only girls I have found online today writing about life from a twenty-something Christian gals point of view. I hope in the future to have her guest blog here and maybe even hop over to her site myself to do a guest blog (that would be awesome!) I think the most important thing both of us are trying to do is inspire young Christian women to follow God, live for him, and do it together!

If you want to check out the awesome Bible Study tips Yelena gives click on her picture above to check out the article and her site! Be sure to comment below and tell me what blogs you are loving right now too!


Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised

-Amanda