ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

one of my favorite things to do in december is to drive around to see the lights. our neighborhood is huge, and we have some seriously awesome houses. one of them is our next-door neighbor, so we don't have to look very far it we don't want to. but at least five or six times in december i would stick the girls in the car and drive around our neighborhood to spot the best-decorated houses. one particular evening, as we were driving, i asked my three-year old if she remembered what was so special about Christmas. "it's when Jesus came to see all my presents!" that's when you know you're doing a good job, right? yeah, so i gently reminded her that Jesus came, in fact, to wipe away our sins. after a thirty second pause, she wondered out loud: "He came to wipe away your yelling?" straight.to.the.heart. "Because when you yell, that's your sin. and when i don't listen to you, that's my sin." yes, right again. i found...

Well friends, it's a new year! Another chance to reinvent ourselves, try new things, make commitments that we really intend to keep. In junior high and high school, I used to make a list of resolutions before each school year. They would always look something like this: 1. Curl your hair everyday 2. Be on time 3. Don't be so awkward and shy 4. Dress cuter The only trouble is that I could write them out today and they'd still apply. Late everywhere, not that cool and not that fashionable, a hopeless procrastinator, painfully slow at getting things done, a perfectionist to a fault: you know,  human . As the years have gone by and countless lists of resolutions have remained unconquered, I've started to wonder if maybe God made me this way? Maybe He had a perfect plan for all those imperfections? Maybe they would serve to unlock a creativity and an introspection and a compassion in me? Maybe they would reveal an overwhelming need for Grace, for a Savior, f...

i have two sister-in-laws. they each have three kids. and as of last week, all three of their kids are in school from 8-2 at least three times a week. are you serious? i'm seeing the same sort of thing on instagram as my mama friends have all this new time by themselves. sure, they're working from the house or busy with other important things, but they still get to be alone for a good stretch of time each day. can you imagine? i found myself a little bit jealous, to be honest. not in a terribly ungrateful way, but just imagining if i had that much time to concentrate on work, blogging, designing, how much i'd get accomplished. the other day as i drove home from preschool with my sweet girl, i really pondered it. i have never been one to wish ahead to the next season. sure, in a moment of frustration i'll do it, but for the most part, i try to embrace and love the season that i'm in. even the hard ones, even the painful ones. to really experience and embrace lif...

i read the february 28 entry from Jesus Calling today. sure i'm a few days behind, but i needed to read it today, not on the 28th. i love how God uses even my falling behind to help lift me up again: do you see what that says up there? gosh, if i'm ever guilty of attributing my own thoughts onto Him.  in the psychology world, they call it projecting, right? "Many believers perceive Me as an unpleasable Judge, angrily searching out their faults and failures.   after all, i do this to myself, so why shouldn't He?  Nothing could be further from the truth! I died for your sins so that I might clothe you in My garments of salvation.  yes, yes, i have that verse hanging in my house. a design in my shop . i know it well.  This is how I see you: radiant in My robe of righteousness.  yes, He sees us with Christ's righteousness covering all our sins. He literally sees us as already perfected and sinless, as we WILL be in eternity. amazing. ...

this is a free printable!! click here to get to the original designer to download how many times have you heard that the best way to really embody the fruit of the Spirit, is to practice them and make them a habit in your life? practice patience and you will eventually be a patient person by nature. practice kindness and eventually it will just come naturally to you. the old me would have nodded along and wholeheartedly agreed with this. it sounds like a promising plan, until you have resolved to practice self-control in your eating, and then it flies out the window at the first sight of chocolate that afternoon... and you feel defeated and you wonder why you can't just stick to your resolutions. does that sounds like anyone else, or is it just me? it's all part of that striving life, performance, practice makes perfect. it's sounds okay, and it's not that it's wrong, but it's exhausting and it leaves no room for grace or relationship. Source: ...

i've always been a good girl. since i can remember, i never really got into trouble, was always compliant, always followed the rules. i was responsible, logical, mature, could be counted on. i think i was naturally this way, but after awhile, and after seeing the negative consequences that could come from doing the opposite, i began to relish the attention i gained from peers and adults. i loved being the good girl. i didn't want to be that naive and silly good girl though. i wanted people to know that i knew about all that bad stuff that was out there , and was choosing to be good because i knew it was more responsible. Source: etsy.com via Aly on Pinterest i began to believe that i could manage people's image of me. i became an "image manager" [not my term, leslie taught me that one]. it was comfortable even though it had me deceived, and i believed it was working. i'm not saying that i wasn't really that responsible person, or that ...

you may have read my last post about forgiveness . i thought that was the extent of it. it didn't get any clearer or any deeper than that. i'm learning there are so many more layers. sometimes you have to forgive the same person, again, for committing the same offense against you, for the second [or third or fourth] time. you wonder why they didn't learn their lesson and you wonder what is causing them to fall into the same trap. but none-the-less, forgiveness is still commanded. seventy times seven. i was faced with this opportunity not too long ago: to forgive a repeat offender for a very similar offense. in my weakness and in the first moments, i cried out to God. why did this happen again? doesn't God see the sin that is being committed? does it not grieve Him? isn't there anything He can do about this person, to make sure that it doesn't keep happening? i was pointing fingers, casting blame, accusing this person before the throne of God. accusing b...

today we had a nice little day of errands planned. this was the agenda: 1. michael's: open backed frames at 50% off [for the queen bee market. cute idea i have brewing] 2. tuesday mornings: looking for super cheap white or neutral curtains 3. pharmacy: my hubby has really terrible acid reflux so he's on a daily medication 4. trader joe's: finishing out the grocery list for the rest of the week we made it to michael's and grabbed the frame at 50% off, scored a few more coupons at checkout [love that about michael's] and even had a nice lady compliment us on how great Reese was behaving. she was seriously just standing next to me, holding my hand, silently and patiently waiting in line. she's not always that easy, so i appreciated the compliment :) and here's what happened next: headed out to the car to make our way to the next stop. buckled Reese into her seat tossed my keys and clutch into the front seat for easy access. shut the door. went to...

** you may have read this over on Leslie's blog last week. I just wanted to have record of it here, in my own space... It was last  Thursday  and I was downstairs having my morning quiet time. I had been praying for about 30 minutes and God was revealing some pretty earth shattering things to me. There was pride that I hadn't recognized and some impure motives in a few situations I was involved in. God was shining light into so much darkness I hadn't even known was there... Needless to say, I had a really wonderful time of confession and repentance, all before 6:30 AM.  I felt completely alive and filled with His goodness and mercy, ready to face whatever the day would bring.  I looked up at the clock and realized I needed to iron my husband's pants ;)  So I went upstairs and he was just waking up. I got his pants on the ironing table and noticed a tear in the pocket. Still groggy, he remembered that yes, he'd ripped them the other day... so he c...

i just had to share with you the Word that God spoke to me this morning at church. our pastor is going through Hebrews verse by verse. and today we started at Hebrews 6:10 . while he was still in the introduction of the sermon and before he'd even mentioned Hebrews, i had read verse 10, underlined it twice, and had written my break-through thoughts in the margin. then, what floored me, is that he coupled it with another verse, one that is very familiar to me since i read psalm 103 very frequently. the combination of the two literally screamed freedom to me. God's lavish grace poured out on us, absolutely unbelievable, beyond comprehension, and just downright un-human. it is so backwards from our finite way of thinking, the way we tend to judge others on their sin and their shortcomings. the bad cancels out the good, so often, when we look at our own lives and other people's lives. not so, when God looks at us: ... as far as the east is from the west , so far has h...

i go to a  large church . i sing in the choir and praise team, with the occasional solo. the music department is  bursting   with talent. i've often heard people say that they don't like our church because it's all a big production, a show. i can understand how it may  look  that way from the outside, but it's so far from the truth. we do have great music, and we have the opportunity to do things that other churches may not be able to do... but i wonder if it would be better to suppress all this talent and not allow it to be used for His glory, so as not to offend anyone? i wonder if it would be better not to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth through a growing television ministry, so we don't look like we're showing off?  i think you know the answer to those questions. anyway, i wrote an email to our choir director/worship leader today because i was completely overcome this weekend by the whole thing. overcome by the power of the resurrection, ...

2000 years ago today... the world was forever changed death was defeated. the grave was conquered. Jesus Christ rose triumphantly to life just as He said He would. Hope is the victor. Life is ours to receive. Peace is ours to experience. Grace has been poured out freely, abundantly. Rejoicing comes in the morning. i hope so much that you've believed, trusted, received. He did it all for you. i feel lighter this morning. like a burden has been lifted all over again. do you?  Hope has risen from the grave: alive, victorious and seated at the right hand of Almighty God, actively and constantly interceding  on our behalf.   oh, how he loves us. See, what a morning, gloriously bright,  With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem; Folded the grave-clothes, tomb filled with light,  As the angels announce, "Christ is risen!"  See God's salvation plan,  Wrought in love, borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,...

2000 years ago today.... i was bought with a price. my sin was washed away. Christ endured death on a cross because He loved me. He was betrayed by one of His closest friends. sold out to the chief priests. "tried" and found guilty of simply being Who He was. beaten and flogged relentlessly, until almost unrecognizable as the chosen Messiah. on the brink of certain death. torn and bleeding and dying and thinking of me. He dragged His own cross  halfway up to the place He would die. His body frail, weak, barely functioning. people spit on Him, mocked Him. they utterly disgraced Him. the King of kings and Lord of Lords. He did not say a word  in His defense. 2000 years ago today... Jesus Christ, the savior of the world who had done nothing was put to death, nailed to a cross. yet He willingly suffered so that we might be saved. [because some would never believe] He willingly suffered for the gl...

tear down the lies. put up the Truth. bow to the Truth. that is [in a really short nutshell] what Beth Moore teaches in Breaking Free, for how to live in freedom on a daily basis. reject the lies that the enemy throws at you, replace them with Truth from God's Word, and then listen to that Truth. do what it requires of you. last week, as part of our weekly study, Beth asked us to practice these steps in the area of forgiveness. she wanted us to write it all out, look up specific verses, bring it to our group when we met. i'll be honest. i didn't do the exercise, because i'd already [more or less] done it in real life just a few months earlier. i wanted to share my personal story with my Bible study group last thursday, but we ran out of time. so i'm sharing it with you now. not the in-depth details, but the most important parts. it's pretty long, but i hope you'll stick with me to the end. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  a few month...