Stephen and I have a pattern of never shopping for clothes until we desperately need new ones. It's been a while since I've really had any new looks. And this isn't even in a dent in what I need for my wardrobe, but heck it's more than I've done in a while. So Lucky Brand wore off on me and I managed to snag some 60% off deals on what was already marked down....

Little taste of what is to come.

Because I struggle with the shame of my weight lately, its tough for me to want to invest in clothing that I see in a size that's larger than I'd like, or I hope I won't fit into much longer. But gotta be happy in the skin your in, and dress for how you want to feel and be now. Because looking like a dump in holey clothes that don't really go together doesn't help anything. Although I still need help in the fashion department. Give me a house to decorate, but myself not so much.

This morning we got up, slowly got ready, and headed out to meet Deepty, Siva and their son. We enjoyed breakfast at the Grand Luxe Cafe. It was pretty grand. The shopping center it was in was amazing too. Super nice shops and restaurants, very similar to South Park Mall in Charlotte.

After breakfast, Melinda and I had time to spare, so we browsed in a little odds and end shop. I found some socks for Stephen, Matt and my mom.. weird socks. And also caught glimpse of some awesome pillows...

Who do I spy with my little eye?

Aren't these the best?

We saw Deepty and her family one last time in Apple, but quickly decided we should head into Lucky Brand store. Which I was not going to object to. Normally would never afford their items, but I recently got a purse from TJ Maxx that is Lucky Brand and I'm slightly obsessed with the quality of it, so for me it's worth the extra money. I never spend a lot on things, and anything over $20 is a struggle. But after having my $30 purse from Target be destroyed very quickly (peeling, etc), I figured it was time to invest a little more in something I knew I'd use.

TJ Maxx Online is my jam.

All leather, so no peeling. So far it's worn beautifully and I use it ALL THE TIME.

Today was an all day IF:Gathering meeting, and also unfortunately the last day of it.

We got to hear from beautiful speakers like Bianca Olthoff....

Rise Up

of course Jennie Allen...

Give Jesus Away

so many others, but especially this lady...

Jill Briscoe

Jill Briscoe is a master story teller, and all she does is just tell her story of what God has done, and I swear you could just listen to her for days on end. She communicated so honestly that she's not bold, she's scared at times, and that she's just human, but God's used her when she's said "yes". Some speakers I think "yeah sure", but you know Jill is telling you the honest truth. She went 20 minutes over, and I think we could have let her keep going for another 40 minutes. Seriously just want to bottle up the wisdom God has given her so I can learn from it and see what she's seen.

This morning we woke up early hoping to go to graffiti park after a good breakfast and do a little spray painting.

They require a license. Great.

So we consoled ourselves with an amazing breakfast at Snooze. Seriously. The best. I had the Chile Verde Benny. Oh my.

I may not ever need to eat again. 😵 #sogood

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on Feb 3, 2017 at 9:04am PST

We did decide to atleast look at Graffiti Park, and lo and behold were empty cans of spray paint, so we painted!

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on Feb 3, 2017 at 10:03am PST

We headed on to IF:Gathering at Austin City Limits for their pre taping session, where they lead an IF:Table which I had never seen or been a part of.

It was my first introduction to IF, and I thoroughly enjoyed no only it, but IF itself. We got to meet so many interesting people,and they began to make so many things I already knew more tangible. Especially discipleship. I'm not sure I can delve into it all right now, but nonetheless I'm loving every moment of it.

We ventured out to Torchy's again tonight, because well we got tired of looking for somewhere to eat.

The End.

At the crack of dawn this morning, I woke up to only have to walk next door to my neighbor Melinda's house. We loaded up our luggage, and began our hour and half drive to the Charlotte airport. Amazingly, other than just my body feeling exhausted, I was wide awake.

We made it to Charlotte with plenty of time to spare, and grabbed a cup of Starbucks coffee to keep us pressing on. One flight later we'd landed in Austin a little early, and managed to grab us some amazing tacos at Torchey's Tacos.

Just outside of downtown Austin

We then quickly went and picked up Deepty from her new apartment in Austin. Crazy it took her moving halfway across the country for the three of us to do anything together. But thankfully this world is a little smaller due to planes and such.

Guess where we are?!

A photo posted by Brittany Prahl (@diednsaved) on Feb 2, 2017 at 11:30am PST

The last night before heading to Austin, TX for the weekend, so Stephen vowed that it would be an intentional night together with no distractions. We enjoyed dinner together at my favorite joint apparently (I'm always there), Chick-fil-a. Quickly ate our meal, before heading right back home to meet my parents for a late night walk in our neighborhood.

My dad actually came with!

So my mom and I talked, as Stephen and my dad talked. We toured the neighborhood. Noticing all the houses for sale, and the different styles of home between our two neighborhoods.

Then we arrived back to our house, and instead of going in, because my parents were "about to leave" we stood in the grass in front of our house for about 30 minutes.

Melinda drove up during our conversation, and handed me my poncho. She's already taking care of me for this trip.

Said our goodbyes, and Stephen and I headed inside for a late night game of Spinners which happens to be made in Waco, TX. Fitting.

While Stephen tried to stay up with me tonight, I finally convinced him to get some rest, because I just don't think I can go to sleep when I've only got 2 hours  or so to rest before our flight. I will oversleep, I know it.

I am not well versed in politics. Honestly. I hate conflict. I can't hold my own in a debate without thorough research beforehand. Honestly I don't have much time these days for that. But I have views. I also hope I am open enough to consider other viewpoints when presented to me. To discuss. To share. To educate one another.

But I'm tired, so stinking tired of this political battle that keeps roaring on around us. We've gotten in a yelling match. That's all it is. No one is changing their minds. No one is open to listening. You've chosen your stance, and there is no going back. We've pitted ourselves against one another.

So why do we keep yelling? When we've lost the battle of trying to win people to our sides, we start complaining to the world about how tired we are of seeing this stuff rage on around us, and we'd wish everyone would hush.

I guess that's what I'm doing now.

But I guess what I'd like to say is that I feel there is a better way.

I remember a few years ago when the whole Chick-fil-a being boycotted because they support traditional marriages was raging on, and so in retaliation and support of Chick-fil-a all Christians and traditional marriage supporters flocked to Chick-fil-as around the country to show that same sex marriages are evil. And while that may not have been everyone's intent, that's what the message conveyed.

I think that's the problem with a lot of this. We support one thing, and that means we automatically condemn another thing. So let's be aware of that misconception, and make sure our actions can't be misinterpreted as something else. If we do things in action of love, can those intentions be misunderstood?

And all I can think as a Christian, is that we keep trying to apply commands and standards to a sinful world, when they have been given to followers of Christ alone. We expect that somehow a sinful world isn't supposed to do these sinful things.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. - 1 Corinthians 13:1

When we hold people to these standards that a Holy Spirit has not revealed Himself to, our words and actions which we believe support our beliefs are really nothing. When we don't choose to love the world instead of condemning it, everything we say and do is nothing but obnoxious. Nothing is heard over that clanging symbol.

Instead should we not be speaking these words of truth into our fellow believers? When the world says "same sex marriage is beautiful," so we yell back "it's an abomination and a sin", but we don't let them know first there's a love for them out there that can cover their sins (we don't introduce them to Christ first), we are nothing but a clanging symbol.When the world says "abortion is a woman's right", so we yell back "but adoption is another way!", but we don't adopt or foster, we are nothing but a clanging cymbal. When the world says "we can't close our doors to those who need us most", so we yell back "but we need to help the homeless and veterans in our country first", but we don't donate clothing, housing, money, and more to these individuals, we are nothing but a clanging cymbal.

So my thought is, what if we did what we were commanded? What if instead of spewing back an argument, we showed love? What if we decided we don't want the world to doubt our ability as Americans/Christians to adopt unaborted children, so we adopted and foster to the point every child had a home? What if we gave and volunteered our time, money, resources and more to the homeless and veterans the government didn't always have to step in to help them? What if we went overseas to assist those in need, or befriended our Muslim neighbor living here?

I'm not eloquent in what I say, I know this, and I'm not really sure I conveyed what I meant to say. But I can't help but think about the song from Matthew West and how it kind of perfectly sums this up...