Guest post!! Meet Whitney :)

 This is Whitney and she has such a cute blog! You. Will. Love. It. So make sure you check out her blog!! :)

Hello! I'm Whitney from the land of sunshine and I am super excited about getting to guest post today! Denise's blog was one of the first I found when I joined blogger world and I absolutely love it so I'm super pumped that I get to be a part of it today!

First, I'll share a little about myself. I'm 21 years old and I'm fixing to celebrate (Sept. 5) my 2 year anniversary with Michael. We don't have any little nuggets YET but we do have three adorable little furbabes. I love the beach, sunshine, living in Florida, my family, friends, blogging, fashion, shopping and reality tv. If you want to know any more about me, you have to head on over to my blog and check out the fun little navigation bar that says it all. :)

Denise asked me to blog about how to stay positive during situations. Money, Marriage, daily life, etc. And that is something that I struggle with frequently. It's hard to stay positive when you feel like the entire world is against you and hard to keep that smile on your face when you totally don't have it in you. You see, I was doomed from the beginning. I haven't been able to fake a smile since all my years of Chuck-E-Cheese birthday parties when I was little, opening up the gift and realizing I already HAD that game and saying "BUT MOM! I ALREADY HAVE THIS PRESENT!" in front of everyone and remaining mad from there on out with a pout on my face. Sorry, Mom! (From there on out we had little pep-talks before every holiday and birthday, "Now if you open a gift that you already have let's not say anything and tell me after.. when everyone is gone.. when we are at home.." "ooooooh okay, mom!")

I know, I know. It's seems hard that this cute little thing could be such a diva, huh?

Believe it.

Marriage is a huge test of trials and tribulations and sometimes it's hard to stay positive. And with marriage comes finances which seem to disenegrate after you're married! (kidding, kind of :) My best advice is a strong relationship with God. I'm not perfect, and neither is Michael, but having HIM remain the center of our marriage is definitely what keeps us going. Sometimes you just have to push whatever mess you're going through aside and say "Okay Lord, if THIS is your plan for me then I receive it." He isn't going to give us a task we can't handle. Whether it be a job, a class, a marriage, a friendship, with him on our side we will make it through.

There's a great song by Chris Tomlin called "Our God" and it is one of my favorites! My favorite part of the song says this:

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God…

Into the darkness you are shining
Out of the ashes we Rise
There’s no One like You
None like You.

And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us

And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?

If he's on our side, who can be against us? How can we not stay positive knowing there is a God who died for us because he loves us that much and that we don't have to carry the buden of WHY something is happening? That alone is proof that there is a meaning for our lives. No matter what you're going through, He's there. So THAT my friends, is how I stay positive! Knowing there is a reason for everything and a BIG plan that I might not know just yet in God's book for me!

Always remember that what you associate yourself with is what you become, or what you seem. Your friends, your music, places you hang out. If we want to remain positive in times of hardship we have to sorround ourselves with people + things that will lift us up when we're down, not shove us further into the ground. Easier said than done, trust me, I know! If you ever need a friend, or someone to talk to, or even someone to just vent to, let me know! Us ladies (and men if you're reading too!) have to stick together as brothers and sisters in Christ!

Take note: I am NOT smiling 100% of the time, I or my marriage do NOT have it all together, sometimes my bank account looks like it's been robbed, and sometimes you'll read posts of me ranting and raving too. But knowing I'm not the one in control of my life makes it 100x easier and keeps me positive.

Thanks for having me and I sure hope to see you over at my blog!

xo