Sponsor Spotlight: SweetnessItself

Given the wonderful surprise coming later in the week, yes keep an eye open this friday...

It only seems appropriate to introduce you to a wonderful sponsor of mine & a dear friend.

Meet Erin From Sweetness Itself.

Image Property of {SweetnessItself}

If you have yet to visit her blog. Well it is a must! 

No seriously!! I am not joking....go check it out right this instant and stop listening to me.

You back already? Well ok...I will continue =)

There are girls you meet in this life whom you may not see very often. She and I have never lived in the same place (It is one of my dreams to someday). She is a beauty living on the west coast. The very first time I ever saw the Pacific Ocean (or the West coast), it was with her and because of her. 

If I were Anne living in Green gables....it is quite possible I would want her to be my Diana. She is one of those girls. The ones you know you don't need to talk to everyday to know that if you call them, they will still understand you. Even if life passes for a few months, nothing changes between the 2 of you.

Sweet friends. She is one of them.

Image Property of {SweetnessItself}

 So I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce you not only to her AMAZING blog. 

Which you really should visit quite frequently, because her heart is just amazing and she shares it over there in her virtual living room (aka her blog). 

But also to share the sweet story of how we met.

Image Property of {SweetnessItself}

Picture 18 yr-old Erin & L. Both living on opposite sides of the globe. 

Both with hearts for purity, a love for the Lord & committed to allowing Him to show them the one they would someday marry.

A few months after I arrived at college, a friend introduced me to the puritygirls website. I can't link to this site anymore as it no longer exsists due to personal conflicts with the people running it. However, it was a site dedicated to encouraging young men & women choosing to wait on the Lord to bring His best into their life in a spouse. 

I had surrendered my relationship with A to the Lord at this point in my life. We were not corresponding and living in different countries (again, I apologize more on this story another time).

I decided to join this site and hopefully find encouragement from like-minded girls choosing to trust God with this area of their life.

Once I was a member of the purity girls website, I filled out my profile details and then it moved to the next step (which was optional) of choosing an accountability partner.

So I scanned through the pictures of countless young women all of whom looked awesome in trying to live their lives for the Lord. As I scanned through them I thought well I will choose someone later...then I came across the profile of a girl called Erin. 

I felt a huge nudge, like a voice said to me 'Pick her!'

It was not an audible voice, just to be clear.

As I read through her profile, the nudging happened again.

I was unsure if this was the Lord or just me thinking she looked sweet, so I clicked the button requesting accountability with this sweet californian girl. 

It.Was.The.Lord.

Who nudged me.

A friendship this sweet, was definitely a gift from the Lord.
As we began correspondance that year, I met this incredible girl with such a sweet heart for God.

She encouraged me in my pursuit of Christ, in my loneliness of being single, in so many different ways.

The more I got to know her, the more I found out how similar we were.

We were both the oldest of 2 girls in our families. Both love vintage things, both have blonde hair & blue eyes (in fact her mom mistook me for her when I later visited her), both in love with girly things (I blame her for this change in me haha). 

Image Property of {SweetnessItself}

The Lord has given me this precious friendship & taught me so much from her wonderful heart.

She has been my friend through so many exciting changes in my life.

From loneliness in my first year of college, through exciting courtship with A.

Through engagement to A right after I went to visit her and we actually got to spend a week together in sunny California.

She has been such a true friend to me. 

She was my long-distance bridesmaid as last minute she was unable to make it to our wedding.

I am so thankful the Lord nudged me that day in my dorm room, to pick an accountability partner from SoCal. Just another girl in a bunch on a website. 

She is not just another girl!

This girl has a heart of gold.

She is so precious.

I pray that someday I will be able to witness her earthly prince arriving to sweep her off her feet.

To share in her joy, like she did mine.

And I totally plan on naming a child after her (of course that decision will be made with A)...

because I love her name & because if I someday have a daughter who turns out anything like her....

Well that would be one of the biggest blessings in my life ever!

I was going to describe our trip to see each other.

But that might have to wait.

Praise the Lord for sweet friendships & for ordaining our meeting!!!

Go call or email those wonderful women in your life for no reason other than to say hi. 

You know who they are.
They are a gift from the Lord.

Much Love,

L

 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:17 

The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.

Proverbs 27:9
 

 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:9–12