so today i am hitting two major blogging milestones! this is my 200th post and the day that i hit 15,000 views.

i just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart! i started this blog in 2015 and i didn't expect much from it. i had no idea what to talk about and quite frankly i didn't even know who i was. i feel like this blog has brought so much growth to my life. thank you so much for following me on this journey!

for those of you who have been here since the first post, you are crazy! but honestly, thank you for seeing something in me, when i couldn't even see myself. you have seen me change my blogging topic several times, you were there when i published take me with you, and most of all you were here when i hit 15,000 page views! thanks for sticking around, i can't wait to see where this blog goes!

for those of you who are more recent, i am just as grateful for you! you see something in me and this blog and that is truly amazing! i hope that you stick around so that you can witness some cool things that i have planned for this blog and for my life. read some old posts if you desire to and stay tuned!

that is all i really have to say! so thank you again! let's see what adventures await us, shall we?

much love, aubs

friend dates

so you go to college and you meet your best friends, but what about summer? you all have to go back to your hometowns; some of you have internships, some have full-time jobs, others are traveling the world. so what exactly do you do to keep up with your friends?

you could just hang out and watch movies or you could do something much more exciting! like, go on a friend date. i think it's unique and a change of scenery to go somewhere new with your friends.

recently i went on a friend date with grace. we initially planned on going to downtown detroit for lunch, but we ended up just hanging around her city. it was super fun because we both got all dressed up like we were going on an actual date and we just spent the day together.

it's so crucial to stay connected to your college friends throughout the summer. it might only be three months, but it's a great idea to get excited about seeing them every now and then.

so seriously, take some time this week. connect with a friend and schedule a fun date for you two. go get coffee, go to a movie, go out to eat, etc. whatever you do, just remember to give your friend your full attention!

love your friends like they're a special date, they deserve it!

xoxo, Aubs 

active faith

hello friends! i recently was chatting with my friend, bryce, about actively pursuing God every day. we both thought that it would make a great blog post to start out the summer blogging season. this summer i want to make an effort to blog more often and to pursue God at all times.

when bryce and i were talking, we discussed ways that we pursue God. now, you have all probably been told to read your Bible, pray, go to church, etc. but what about the mundane tasks?
1 Corinthians 10:31 calls us to do everything for the glory of God; "so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." so what about putting on your makeup or brushing your teeth? what about filling your water bottle or driving to work/school? what if, with every task, we pursued God with all we've got?

now i'm just going to discuss two of the tasks i mentioned above, putting on your makeup and filling a water bottle.

i told bryce that i have begun to sing of His praise while i do my makeup in the morning, just to remind myself who God is. sometimes i will play my favorite worship songs or i will just say a simple mantra like "you are the great I am" or "faith over fear." just doing this has transformed how i feel in the morning, it wakes me up, reduces my anxiety, and generally makes me happier.

and bryce told me that he has been thinking about the cisterns in our lives and how God is the only cistern we should be filling and the only cistern we should be using to fill ourselves. now if you don't know what a cistern is, check out Jeremiah 2:13. bryce explained it best when he said, "we dig our own cisterns, our own broken cisterns, never enough to make me happy, can never fill me up like the spring of living water that is the cistern of God." now bryce told me that he thinks of this every time he fills his water bottle and prays that he fills his cistern with God.

isn't it just extravagant that God is present in everything you do? isn't is truly amazing that God wants to be present in everything you do? that all He wants is to know you?

i hope that you find a small task in your life or take one of the ones i mentioned and use it to glorify God.

xoxo, Aubs