Tag: Faith

Incorporating the Word into Everyday Life

Posted on by Analise

I’m on a dark, muddy battlefield and I’m surrounded by soldiers in full, shining armor. They are fighting with swords and shields that gleam brightly despite the darkness. The enemy army we are facing is the strongest it has ever been. Pure evil drips from their shrouded shapes, its dark stain tainting the ground beneath us.

When I turn around, I am completely fenced in by the strange forms. They want to destroy me.  The battle around me seems to disappear as I focus on the creatures, preparing to strike. I can see them identifying my weaknesses, as if they knew them already.  Reaching behind me for my sword, I find air. Nothing is there. I look down at my clothing and it’s just that, clothing. I am not wearing any armor like the rest of the soldiers on my side. I am not prepared for this fight.

I watch as a smile slowly creeps across one of my opponent’s faces as he lunges for an attack…

This is how I imagine myself, as a warrior princess, fighting against spirits and principalities that come against me (Ephesians 6:12 KJV). When I am prepared, I have my armor on and the Sword of the Spirit is readily available for me to wield. When I am not, it’s like grasping at air when I most need a weapon.

I mentioned in another blog post that I have a routine that I like to do every morning to get my mind focused on God. One of the most important parts of this routine is reading his word! I can’t stress its importance enough!

Below are some extra things that I do to drive that word home and bring it with me on the wards, in my car, to my meetings, basically everywhere I go.

Notecards/Post It Notes I have been in love with notecards since high school. I don’t know what it is about them, possibly their portability? The fact that they come in different sizes? I don’t know, but I love writing bible verses on these to keep my mind focused on scripture. A very real example of a challenge that I face is my anxiety. I can worry about 365 things before 9 am if I let it run rampant.

However, God knew that anxious Analise would walk this earth and made sure that there were scriptures in his word for that, namely Proverbs 3:5 and Philippians 4:6. I simply write the entire verse and what I want to remind myself about the verse on the notecard and put it somewhere as a reminder. I am constantly finding these notecards everywhere in my life because there are no limits on where I can put these bad boys. When I had my white coats, I had at least 2 notecards in there about anxiety and about doing my best in everything for God’s glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). I would pull them out when I had downtime and read over them to encourage and uplift myself. I currently have them in my planner, in my purses, in my car, in Rome’s car, in his coats, etc. I’m exaggerating, but not by much.

Post It Notes- I like putting these on my mirror to remind myself that God sees me as beautiful and that I am wonderfully and fearfully made in his image (Psalm 139:14, Genesis 1:27). This prevents me from saying mean things to myself in the mirror. I know I’m not the only one who does that, so yeah. I might put one in my laundry room to remind myself that Jesus took serving others in love very seriously (Matthew 23:11, Philippians 2:5-7). When I want to grumble about laundry, I can instead think about Jesus and embrace his attitude.

 

Meditation– We have been hearing a lot about meditation and mindfulness in the media lately. The way I have adopted this probably a little bit different than what is being promoted.

I don’t sit and clear my mind of everything and focus on my breathing. I try to have extreme focus on something else, scripture.

If I have a verse that really spoke to me in my reading (or googling) that day, I write it on a notecard (shout out to #1) and then I sit, clear my mind, and think about the verse. I think about what it means, what wording is used in the verse, and what God intended to communicate. I also sit and think about how I can apply that verse to my life.

For verses about love or sin, I try and internalize and memorize the verse and think about what God is saying about his love for me or how I should flee from sin. I have found that from practicing this, the verses come to my mind more readily when I need them because Holy Spirit brings them to my remembrance (John 14:26). I love this and I try and do this as often as possible (Psalm 1:2).

Both this and #1 work together to reinforce scripture when memorizing it too.

 

Accountability– This is a tough one because it means allowing someone to be in my business. It means authorizing someone to be intimate with my struggles, my fears, and my joys. My husband is my primary accountability partner, but I have friends who play this role as well. I have a friend who checks on me to make sure that I am in my word daily and I have a lot of friends who are in my business.  They speak the word to me and genuinely make me want to grow in my relationship with Him. I prefer friends who are tough with me and aren’t going to feed me nice things because they are afraid of hurting my feelings. This is so beneficial because it allows me to be surrounded by a cloud of witnesses that can push me toward the goal (Hebrews 12:1-2).

This mutual accountability I have with my friends and my husband also allows me to have people that I can pray with and struggle with throughout the day. Since I do my prayer time in the morning, when most people aren’t even awake, my friends will text me or call me later on in the day and ask me what I read that morning. We then get a chance to talk about what we learned in our quiet times.

I’ll admit that it’s uncomfortable to let multiple people into my life, but it is so good for me to have this reminder of what I read/ learned about later on in the day. Every time I am about to let my discomfort get in the way of gaining accountability, I remember that God did not intend for us to walk this walk alone. Instead, He wanted us to be part of fellowship with other believers. It is in this community that maturation and progress occur.

 

These simple things have assisted me in making sure that I am not just leaving that time spent in the morning and forgetting about God for the rest of the day.

 

Let me know if any of these things help you guys out as you endeavor to incorporate his word in your life!

 

Love you guys!

Lise

 

 

Scriptural References (and notecard ammunition, if you will) 

Ephesians 6:10-17 NIV Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 

1 Corinthians 10:31

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

 

Psalm 139:14

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

 

Genesis 1:27

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

 

Matthew 23:11

The greatest among you will be your servant.

 

Philippians 2:5-7

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

 

Psalm 1:1-2

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 

 

John 14:26

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

 

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

Premarital Counseling

Posted on by Analise

“And they lived happily ever after…”

“In a relationship, things must be 50/50.”

“Make sure that you have different checking accounts because most of your arguments come from who is paying the bills.”

“Oh, but the honeymoon phase is over after a year, then you get sick of them.”

When people found out that I was engaged/married, they wanted to give me all the advice in the world. Random people I didn’t know tried to give me so much “good” advice. This, combined with commonly believed American myths, like the first one that I listed caused fairy princesses, like myself, to feel like we should have certain… expectations for our marriage. Namely, I felt like my prince charming should sweep me off into some mythical sunset after my wedding and then… I don’t know, I just wanted the proverbial sunset and the pretty white horse, okay?

When I showed up to my first premarital session, I brought these fairytale fantasies with me. I practically floated into the room with woodland creatures and my shiny new fiancé because we were perfectly meant for each other. We were so in love that this was really just a formality, anyway. We were really just doing this because it was something that our mentors recommended and we hold them in high regard.

Things in my mind before counseling included all of the following ridiculous statements. Couples that are healthy don’t have fights, naturally, because that means that your marriage is failing. Couples that are compatible when they get married stay that way because they just effortlessly “fit” together.  I already knew that there is a “completion” that happens when you get married to your soulmate and you just finish each other’s sentences. You don’t have to think to understand each other because you just “get” it. Everything would just click into place on my wedding day because that clearly happens.

No. No. A million times no. The first 10 minutes of premarital counseling taught me that my beau and I had unrealistic expectations. We had bought into the lies that media and rom-coms taught us. My ideas were not consistent with a healthy and real marriage of the two sinful, broken, selfish people also known as Lise and Rome.

 

What is premarital counseling anyway?

Premarital counseling is a series of sessions with a married couple that can be conducted individually or even in a group setting. It allows a couple to evaluate their relationship honestly and openly. Its purpose is to prepare couples for marriage, utilizing the wisdom from a couple who has been there. Sometimes they go through a lesson guided by a book or they cover topics that are important for couples to talk about, like finances and baggage.

In my case, we were blessed to have mentors who have been married for 30+ years. One of them is a licensed marriage and family therapist and leads premarital and couple’s counseling amongst other things for a living (#blessed). We used the premarital book that she and her husband wrote together and we keep a copy of it because we refer to it all the time (I will have the link to it at the bottom of the page). We completed the semester-long course with another couple that we keep around because they know too many of our secrets. I’m only slightly joking about that one.

 

My boo and I are not having problems, why rock the boat?

Marriage is a different ball game. My hubby’s mentor likes to put it this way: You go to school for YEARS and you get trained for different jobs/ careers, especially if the task or job is particularly hard or requires some experience. Marriage is incredibly hard, why wouldn’t you want to learn as much about it as possible before jumping into it? Why would you think that this is any different than something important that you need to get trained for? Because Disney princesses, that’s why.

In other words, you will want to be prepared WHEN things come up, because they will. These things that come up can be a tool for strengthening your marriage and understanding your spouse better or they can be a source of constant conflict and a sore spot of hurt and pain.

 

It costs money! I don’t have money!

Indeed it does. It was an investment I was willing to make for my marriage because I wanted our relationship to be as strong as possible. Plus, I was willing to invest in my wedding, why not invest in my marriage? The wedding day doesn’t happen every day, in fact, it is only day 1 of a lifetime of being with this person and in this relationship. I wanted to invest in the other days so they could be just as beautiful as the first.

 

“Make sure that you have serious premarital counseling!” is the primary advice that I give couples that ask me questions who are newly engaged or even considering marriage. It helps so much with managing those unrealistic expectations, evaluating weaknesses in communication, teaching how to deal with conflict, and identifying baggage.

We refer to the concepts we learned in premarital counseling frequently because it helps us when we fight (Yes, Rome and I fight and it is good for us). I appreciated those candid talks so much and I know that Rome did too because these are some of the things he said about it.

“Premarital counseling allowed us to make an informed decision based on things we learned about each other and marriage. You got to see the ugliness of marriage beforehand to decide if you wanted to go through with it or not. It asks the questions you were too in love to ask and allows you to decide what things about your future spouse you can and can’t handle. It also gave us access to teachers who wanted to help us. It was the best thing we have done for our marriage.”

If you are reading this and saying that it’s too late for you because you are already married, never fear, there’s always hope if you are having problems or if you just want to do something that can ONLY strengthen your marriage. Marriage and family therapists do this for a living, even if you aren’t having any problems. I think it is so much better to be proactive and identify possible problems before they become very real problems. Therapists can be found everywhere and a simple google search for licensed marriage and family therapists should be a good start.

There are also retreats that you can attend, like Weekend to Remember, that provide the same therapy for married couples.

 

 

Love you guys! Enjoy your marriages!

Lise

 

 

Here is the link to the book that we used:

https://www.amazon.com/Preparing-Marriage-Dating-Death-Part/dp/0692378626/ref=sr_1_36?ie=UTF8&qid=1495205885&sr=8-36&keywords=preparing+for+marriage

Encouraging My Husband

Posted on by Analise

 

Rome’s shoulders were slumped. He held his face in his hands as he berated himself about the mistake he just made. He couldn’t believe that he was so careless and let something like this happen. Rome, my guy, was devastated.

When I see him in these moods, my heart breaks for him. I want to fix it immediately so we can go back to being goofy and full of laughter. This is the part where I take off every other hat I have in my arsenal and put on the hat of his helper. It is one of the wife-roles that I love because it makes me feel like I am empowered specially by Holy Spirit to help my guy. This is one of the things God MADE me to do.

 

These are some of the things that I do as my husband’s help-meet, his girl, and his friend to encourage him.

I pray deep intercessory prayers for him.

I love going to the Lord about my man. God and I want the same thing for him (ie- I want whatever God wants for him). When I am praying about him, I feel like God is just saying, “You know, I was thinking the same thing, Lise!” Plus, I love seeing God answer my prayers that I don’t tell Rome about. God just drops things in my guy’s mind and he thinks he came up with it, but really, it is God’s way of saying to me that he heard me and he is speaking to Rome about what I am telling him about.

I remind him of scripture.

This comes easily to me because I remind myself of scripture ALL THE TIME when I need encouragement. The word is one of the greatest tools that a wife has in her belt to encourage her hubby. I love putting the specific verses on notecards and leaving them on his desk or his computer because it lets him know I was thinking about him and thinking of verses that might be helpful to him.

I show him that I am his cheerleader.

I am Rome’s number 1 fan! Seeing my husband being beat up by the world is another reason to remind him that in my eyes, he is chosen, loved by God, special, capable, etc. I have learned that he needs to hear it from me! Instead of dwelling on the bad and reminding him of the bad things all the time, I try to give him some compliments on things I know he is trying to work on.

Example: Honey, you have been doing an excellent job with protecting me and our home. I can’t tell you how much I love that. 😉

I make his day easier.

When Rome is under a lot of stress, I can see him getting overwhelmed by all of his responsibilities and commitments. He simply can’t be superman all the time. So, I help him out and bear the burdens with him.

A simple, “Honey, how can I help you with all the things you are doing?”  works wonders and makes him feel like he can manage things a little better.

 

 

These things are simple and sometimes take just a couple of minutes to do. I didn’t realize how much a kind and encouraging word meant until I started being intentional about encouraging him.

 

Verses for Reference

Genesis 2:18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

 

Love you guys!

Lise

Overcoming Anxiety

Posted on by Analise

Anxiety- a state of uneasiness or tension caused by apprehension of possible future misfortune, danger, etc; worry (definition from dictionary.com)

I know you guys already know what anxiety is, however I wanted to highlight that this is fear of a FUTURE misfortune. This event that we are worried about hasn’t even happened yet! Still, we are controlled by this crippling fear of the “What If?”

I’m not going to lie and say that I am not prone to anxiety, because I absolutely am.

I had anxiety about the MCAT

About my First Year Classes

About my Second Year Classes

About STEP 1 and STEP 2

Currently, I am combatting anxiety about Match Day.

 

The problem with anxiety is that it absolutely shows a lack of trust in God. When we are anxious, we are saying, “God, you are unable to handle this situation that I am dealing with. It is out of your control and you are not strong enough to deal with this.”

When I found myself having anxiety about STEP 1, I was essentially saying, “God, although the bible says that the fear (respect) of you is the beginning of wisdom, and that you hold all knowledge, I don’t believe it. You are a liar, God. I am going to crash and burn and, well, fail because I can’t get this knowledge in my head.” I didn’t actually say that, but by showing so much unchecked anxiety about the upcoming exam, it was similar to saying these things.

Doesn’t that sound awful when I say it in that way?

 

Here are some things that I do to combat the anxiety that I will undoubtedly feel.

  1. Reread those things I said in the above paragraph by feeling anxiety. Remind yourself why this is absolutely necessary.
  2. Pray about this thing- seriously. Prayer is probably one of the most underutilized tools for this problem. The bible says – Do not worry about anything, instead pray about everything! How often do we pray when we get anxious? All it takes is a simple- “help me Lord” and faith to believe that he will.
  3. Combat those lies in your mind with the truth. I read this wonderful Beth Moore Book called Believing God. I don’t want to give away all the goodness of the book, but in it, Beth Moore encourages readers to use some practical tools to make sure that we are combatting the lies in our mind with the truth. I still use the principles in this book to this day when I am feeling anxious.
  4. Have some scriptural references handy when you find the devil prowling around you armed with anxiety. Here are just a couple that have really helped me with overcoming anxiety.

 

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

 

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

I love writing verses on notecards and stuffing them into random places in my day. I have notecards in my white coat, my planners, my books, my car, everywhere. Helps with keeping your mind filled with the word of God! I hope these help you as they are helping me to overcome anxiety!

 

Love you guys!

Lise

 

So I Started a Blog…

Posted on by Analise

I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for some time now, and I finally decided to do it! I am over the moon with excitement about this venture and I am hopeful that this is a relaxing and fun experience for me as well as for you.

I wanted to share some of my travels, my medical school experiences, my hair journey, topics on faith, amongst other things because some people were asking for me to share. I figured one of the best ways for me to share was on a blog platform.

I would love to hear your thoughts, comments, and questions!

 

Analise