Happily Ever After?

On May 22, 2011, Nathaniel David Lueke asked me to be his girlfriend. This post won't be about how adorable we are (even though we are) or how much we care about each other (even though we do.) :)

Relationships, especially in the media, look so magical. The two protagonists meet, have a problem and suddently hate each other, and then something brings them together again, they get married, and live happily ever after. Sounds about right? So many people go into a relationship with that same mentality, and as soon as things start to get too difficult because they don't meet the expectations that they have, they quit. I am a firm believer in courting. Dating just to date is dumb. If you want to get to know someone better, be their friends first, and then if you see marriage potential, court them. If they don't have a job or a car, or let alone a license to drive with, DONT WASTE YOUR TIME. Back to what I was saying, people nowadays quit on relationships for two reasons:
1) The person was not right for them.
2) They were not willing to fight for the other person.

Relationships aren't happily ever afters. They take work. Every day you must wake up in the morning, and remember that you must put someone else's feelings, needs, wants, thoughts, views, ect ahead of your own. I'm not saying you let them walk over you, but if you know for a fact that you love this person, all of this will come naturally. You will WANT to put that person ahead of you. You will want to naturally please them.
What happens when fights and struggles come? What happens when you just can't compromise on something and you're both being stubborn? Do you just call it quits and go find the next person to "try it out with" or "get to know" or do you fight for your relationship? Nathan and I do this thing. Every time we get into a really big argument or disagreement, we ask each other: "Do you want to keep going, or do you want to give up? Every time we choose to continue our relationship, we get stronger. Every time we conquer a hurdle, our love for each other grows. If fighting good? In my opinion, yes. It's the way we handle the outcome of the problem that determines whether it will grow us or defeat us.

If daily, your relationship does not grow you spiritually and emotionally, if your significant other doesn't make you love Jesus more, doesn't make you go after the things of God so you are both equally as passionate, it's probably not right. That's a really bold statement, and I might step on some toes, but I honestly don't care. I'm tired of seeing incredible people that are head over heels in love with Jesus, settle for some joker that can't even pick up a bible, let alone tell you what it says. I'm tired of people's fire dying out because they don't have someone that is challenging them daily, instead, they are constantly forced to stoop down to their level, and most of the time, they just stay there. Settled. That's sad. Women, you don't need little boys. Little boys will treat you like little girls. Men of God will treat you like Women of God, and that is what we deserve.

I leave you with one question to ask yourself: Is your relationship making you a better version of you, and challenging you, or is it doing the complete opposite?

Just A Glimpse

How many times do we see someone, probably weekly, and we don't even know who they really are? We have no idea what their passions are, what they think about certain things, or even what compels them to be the way that they are? How many times do we say "Oh yeah, so and so is my friend" but we don't ever sit down and really take the time to sit down, have a chat, and go from being just acquaintances, to friends? We all have extremely busy lives, and that's one reason I wanted to start this. I'm not doing this because it's the cool new hip thing to do. I want to provide a "window" into who Daniela Velez really is. I don't want to blog about trendy things, or something cool that I don't really believe in, but I want to provide a way for people to know what God is doing in and through me, what my passions are, what I dislike around me, who I really am.
I will probably offend some people with what I write. I'm not going to sugar coat what goes on in MY mind. You are more than welcome to unfollow at any time :)
(Just my disclaimer, I would love it if people actually stuck around.)
Let's start of with a formal introduction.
My name is Daniela Velez. I was born in Medellin, Colombia. And right now, my life is kind of all over the place. It usually doesn't work out this way, but on the inside, I'm very at peace. I am enjoying watching myself grow physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Outside though, life seems chaotic. Some things don't make sense. I feel like a part of my world is slowly falling apart and I can't really help it. I will go into detail about that on a later day, but through all of this, I have one constant. Despite my emotional breakdowns, and spiritual highs, and confusion and tears, and happiness and sadness, there is Jesus. He is my constant. He is the one thing in my life that never changes. He loves me and I know He loves me. If the world around me crumbles one day (God forbid), I know for sure that he will be lifting me out of the rubbish. He is Mine and I am His.
Here we go.
This is me. This is my window, and I look forward to giving you a glimpse.