My Values

     God is good and He is working... My life has been flipping around these past few months and I praise God for all He has been teaching me and revealing to me! Mmmmm... He is good.
      For many years I have been asking God to send me a mentor, someone who will challenge me to be a set apart woman of God, to live FOR Him and Him alone, and to Biblically rebuke me.  I was always seeking this relationship, trying to find it in anyone who would pay any attention to the Bible and was a woman.  It became more a search for a person to hang out with instead of a divine relationship that would bring my closer to Jesus.  So I stopped praying about it, I stopped asking for it, and I stopped thinking about it all together.  I guess God knew I wasn't ready until now.  I LOVE that He knows my heart, and that He made my story different than anyone else, all the glory to Him for that.  In October God brought a mentor into my life literally out of no where! She has been so good to me and we both praise God for bringing us together as sisters in Christ, we both know it is all His doing and are so so thankful.
     Anyway, last week she had me take an assessment (for lack of a better word) to dig deep and find what my core values are.  She gave me a stack of cards (50) that each had a word or phrase on it.  I had to filter through all of these cards quickly, and a few times, to discover what my core values are.  I wish everyone could take this test, it has sincerely changed the way I live day to day.  I had a hard time only choosing five out of 50 but I did it!
So! Here are the core values of Olivia Jane Hurley, the things that I choose to live by everyday:

1. Relationships
2. Compassion
3. Helping/Serving Others
4. Authenticity
5. Prayer

     All of these things have a different meaning to me than they might to you, which makes it even more interesting.  I always knew I had value in things, especially in Christ, but I never knew the importance of seeking they way I am wired.  And living by the way that God wired me.  When we seek what He has done in our lives, pay attention to who we are in Him, then use His creation (our uniqueness) to do what He has called us to do, what could be more fulfilling and glorifying to Him? Honestly! What could be better?
    So think... what do you find value in? Fun? Innovation? Adventure? Honesty? Purity? Knowledge? Quiet time? What is the thing that drives you to Him? What is the value you find in yourself that makes you who you are? And are you living by these values? Because God instilled them into you for a reason... find out what it is.

Oh well...

Hi! Ok, for those of you who have been following (which I think it is cool if even just one person reads what I write, it's mostly for myself anyway) I'm sure you have noticed that I did not keep up with my goal of trying a new thing every day AND posting about it everyday.  I guess life happens and procrastination due to life happening... happens! I did try many new things of which at this point cannot account for all of them.  But here are a few:

-Murderer Mystery Dinner... so fun!

-Highlighted my own hair... it always comes from a box at my house but this time I did it all by myself!

-Became a nonstop cleaner, due to my extra job cleaning the church! I'm a full time working girl now by the way... we will talk about that later.

-Saw the Muppet Movie, hilarious I highly recommend it!

-Started three new classes! 

-Learned I am a Peaceful Phlegmatic and Seth is a Popular Sanguine. 

Just a few things, but new! 

I forget how much I love blogging! It's fun, is it not?

Recap!

     Due to procrastination and faulty time management I have failed to meet my expectations of blogging everyday about my NEWvember! So sorry folks.  Anyway, here is a recap.
Unfortunately I haven't had the time to try something new EVERY day, but I have managed to try many new things! Here we go!
     -My Budget went into works on Tuesday.
     - I started Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred (I'm super sore...)
     - I now wash my face with a cleanser made of........ CARROTS! It is called "YES to Carrots!"
I already see a huge difference in my skin and I LOVE IT!
     -I now take Vitamin D-3, good for the lack of sun in the winter months, also supports breast health!
     -I have begun a project (not telling what it is for) that involves going to Goodwill once a week to buy tea cups... hehe
     -I started a new class for Wedding Planner School! It's fun...
     -I wrote out my own education plan and (ideally) I will have my Bachelor's Degree in General Ministry in a YEAR! The idea of finishing early sounds so good to me. It doesn't have to happen, but it could!
     -I made a venture to Otterbein to visit my lifelong friend at her apartment where I had never been before, God is so good to allow us to stay best friends through all of these years.  We made a commitment to see each other more than once a year... which I think is perfectly achievable!

     These may not be in chronological order, but that isn't what matters I guess!
Happy Veteran's Day!!!! God is so good, thank Him for something today!

Day Three!

     Alright party people! We are on day three! Now, I had trouble finding something new to do today.  Which gave me anxiety because it is only day three and I was already having a brain block.  I had an idea in mind, then decided it was too boring to blog about, then decided to stick with it.  As boring as it is.
    Drum roll please... I started a BUDGET! (See, told you it was boring...)  I recently started cleaning the church, just for some extra cash and to learn some discipline.  We always clean in pairs and last night I was with my friend Kristen. Somehow we got to the subject of finances.  After a long discussion and guidance from Kristen (you go girl) I decided to start a budget of my own.  Even though I am not making car payments, house payments, or insurance payments yet I thought it would be a good idea to teach myself NOW and at least be prepared (maybe not ahead of the game... but at least PREPARED) for what is to come sooner or later in my life.  Kristen told me just a few basic principles she learned through Financial Peace University (shout out to Dave Ramsey).
     Basically, it goes like this: Give a third, Spend and third, and Save a third.  Pretty simple. So, today I bought a tiny composition notebook and wrote out my budget! I am starting with just the thirds for now, then going into more detail later! I prayed about it before I did it.  I want God to teach me how to do this properly and really treasure the gifts He has blessed me with.  I know with His help and with confidence in Him (not myself) we will succeed!
     As boring as it may be, it is certainly something new to me.  Honestly it is a little embarrassing to admit that I have never done this before, BUT better late than never!

     Hope everybody's week has been a fruitful one! Keep going! Only one more day until the weekend!!

Days One and Two combined!

     Hi friends! Okay so, I didn't blog for yesterday because I was still doing my first new thing as I fell asleep last night! BUT! Better late than never! Here goes...
     For the first day of Newvember I learned my first stitch in knitting.  The most basic one of course, seeing as I have never knit before in my life, but I have been pursuing to learn the art for a month or so now.  I learned the knit-stitch.  You knitters out there are probably laughing at me, but for my first time it doesn't look so bad! My goal is to knit a scarf by the end of the week. We will see how this turns out.  Anyway, for the mean time here is a picture of my progress so far!

     Not the best, I know.
Don't you just love that color of green though??

     Ok,  for day number two I tried something not so hard on my fingers.  While on Pintrest last night ( and if you don't know what Pintrest is... well just go to Pintrest.com and your life will be changed forever I promise) I came across a homemade lip exfoliating treatment.  I thought "HEY, I have never exfoliated my lips... Perfect for day two!".
     Therefore tonight, even though I am tired and have to open at Choffey's tomorrow and I didn't want to let myself and or you down, I exfoliated my lips, with all natural ingredients!
The recipe is:

One part EVOO, one part brown sugar and one part honey(or blue agave in my case... no honey in the Hurley household tonight)

BEFORE... wah wahhhhhh

After! Yay!

      TO make it more fun I decided to grace you with a before and after shot... hehe









     My lips do feel a little more soft! Thanks Pintrest! Happy Newvember 2nd everyone! Talk to you tomorrow!

PS
Verse of the Day Hebrews 3:13... good eats...

NEWvember!!!

     Randomly this morning while I started doing laundry (which, due to major procrastination on my part, is still in the works as I type... will I ever get things done ahead of time?? hehe) an idea popped into my head.  I got so excited about it I have to tell y'all! I'm in a Paula Deen mood I guess? Anyway, I have decided that November is going to be the month of trying new things! Hence, NEWvember!
     Here is the challenge, try one new thing every day in November.  This is what I vow, I will try something new everyday this month.  I also vow to blog about it EVERY DAY. So, I count on you guys to keep me on track! Also, if you have any fun ideas for me to do let me know!           To go into more detail I plan on doing anything that does not require money or far travel.  For example, yesterday I made pumpkin bread, I had never made an actual bread before that involved yeast and waiting hours (literally hours) for it to rise.  It inspired me and I want to keep going with it!
     Please join me if you want and let me know what kind of new things you are trying! Maybe just once a week? Twice a week? Or everyday!
     Learning new things and trying new things can be a huge character building block, I believe at least.  OH! I am oh so so excited! This is going to be fun!!!
Happy Newvember!!!!!!!!!

The heart

     I have been praying lately for God to give me a heart like His.  I had no idea what I was asking for honestly.  It has been hard to discern what He wants from me, where He wants my heart to be, but I have been stagnant in my search.  I have not have an active participle faith.  He wants us in the Word.  The Word that is fresh on the page.  It is cool to think about.  God's timing is not based on minutes or days or years or centuries.  God just.... is. To Him, His Word is just as fresh as if I were hanging out with Paul right now while he was writing his letter to the Philippians to encourage them to imitate Christ's humility.
     I can't even comprehend this, not completely anyway.  But it does give a completely different view of The Word.  Let's be in the Word because it is NEW!!! It is FRESH! Read to eat!! Let's learn to love like Him.