Love Struck

My WordPress Blog

Broken Vessels

I must begin by stating that my fiance’, Justin, is a handsome, majestic and blessing of a human being to my life. He knows my story…where I’ve been, where I am, and where I hope to go. The experience below happened before our relationship began.

I say this because, despite anything that happened in the past, you and I can always choose how life can be on the other side of a bad situation.

I wasn’t looking for Justin when he walked into my life. In fact, I had just gotten out of a severely toxic relationship a few months prior, and I was not actively searching, much less wanting, to start a new relationship.

I was a broken, lost vessel trying to navigate the seas of life on my own.

All these pieces
Broken and scattered
In mercy gathered
Mended and whole
Empty handed
Continue Reading

Patience is Underrated.

“If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.” – Lao Tzo

Ask my boyfriend, Justin, and he will tell you I am one of the most impatient creatures roaming the earth.

I recently listened to a podcast and finished Bob Goff’s book, Everybody Always, both referencing patience. Both spoke about the power of patience and the negative impacts that impatience can have on my own life and the peoples’ lives surrounding me. Bob Goff literally carries a tin bucket around to remind himself to fill it with patience. It is a metaphor to fill his mind and live his life more patiently.

Impressive. Impactful. Made me do some serious thinking about my own issues with impatience.

There are times I have zero chill and need a brown paper bag to keep me breathing because of a self-induced panic attack.

I have migraines, restless nights, sour moods,
Continue Reading

Where Are You. Who Are You. What Are You Doing.

I ask myself the question “What are you doing?” every day. I know I am not alone in this feeling of lostness. Can you openly admit that you have confessed this aloud to yourself? Can you say you have said this openly to a stranger?

What I have learned is that I have been asking myself the wrong question…first…and I do not have to find the answers or figure it out on my own.

What I (and you)  should be asking each day is “Where are you?” followed by, “Who are you?”

Not in a geographical sense, but in an emotional and spiritual sense.

Because what I am doing in life is dependent on where I am now (emotionally and spiritually) which is dictated by knowing who I am.

I can tell you most of my strengths…a few of my weaknesses…what I would have done in the past…

I cannot tell you where I am going in the future. This confession is scary considering I am a gal that loves plans. I would
Continue Reading

Dear Diary

I’ve always had a love for writing. Not fictional stories, per say, but journaling and storytelling.

That was until my sister and her friends found my journal in the third grade and made fun of me. It’s funny to think that little girl was traumatized and hid her beloved journal in an act to keep her diary a secret.

Now, I’m writing for the public to read. This writing is a lot more intense than the writings of my third grade self.

From the days I could craft a full sentence, I recall journaling during every character building moment throughout the last 27 years. Writing…along with therapy…have been my saving graces through some of my most difficult times.

I never imagined myself writing as a career. It was a hobby and meditation that I liked to do in private. No one elses’ eyes were ever meant to read the words I wrote about the stories I was living.

While everyone else despised english and literature classes in college, I
Continue Reading

LoveStruck: Morency, Haiti edition

It’s been 14 days since our return from Haiti, and it has taken 14 days for me to sit down and write about my experience there. This is also my third attempt at writing this blog. The first was too clean. The second was almost too rough. Now, I hope the third time is a charm and represents my experience honestly.

I came home with a changed heart.

Changed mind.
Changed worldview.
Changed spiritual view.
Changed.

I had A LOT of conflicting feelings, which certainly caught me off guard, but the feelings that outweigh the more complicated ones are very simple: like love, joy, happiness, and kindness. Those are simple…basic.

Turns out, I was not actively engaging in those simple, basic and pure feelings in my real, everyday life back in America. As I write this, I struggle.

Haiti threw me out of my comfort zone, and it forced me to reassess and realize what life’s priorities should be:

1.
Continue Reading

LoveStruck-Noel-Shiveley-art

It Comes in Threes.


It’s new every morning.
So I will wake,
and spend my days
loving the One who has raised me up

From death to life,
from wrong to right,
you’re making all things beautiful.

– “Mercy” by Bethel Music

The irony of this brand new tattoo on my wrist is daunting…and almost haunting.

I got this tattoo three weeks ago. My friends, if you know me at all, then you know over-analyzation and planning are in my DNA. This permanent action was the true definition of spontaneous. Little-to-no thought on my part was given.

Who knew how thought provoking and the weight this tattoo would bare on my soul.

While I love this tattoo, since the ink went into the skin on my right wrist, I’ve had to look at it every day and remind myself of the meaning. In the last three weeks, it’s taken
Continue Reading

The Break Up: Food Edition

April 18th marked a major milestone for me. It marked the beginning of me flying on my own and truly holding myself accountable for my health.
I completed a 6 week accountability challenge where I worked out every single day for 6 weeks.
42 days straight.
42+ hours at the gym.
It resulted in the loss of 14+ pounds.
And even more confidence and life changes.

I wasn’t forced to breakup with food, but I did voluntarily make the choice. I now know how to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat. I know my body and learned how to properly FUEL it. I also know when and how to indulge without going into a binge.
I’ve struggled with my weight since my metabolism decided to turn against me and disappear in my early twenties. I knocked off the initial weight
Continue Reading

Why Live LoveStruck?

Funny story.

This blog was originally started in 2014 to feature couples’ love and engagement stories. While I am still a hopeless romantic, love a great love story, and am currently in a loving, healthy relationship, that writing wasn’t enough for me. It wasn’t my story. Those stories never would be. They were beautiful to share at that point in my life, but their purpose was to give me and others hope for love.

Life was different then. It’s funny what time and life will do to a gal.

Hope lives within every single one of us. Stories help and encourage hope, and that’s the new focus of this blog. The new LoveStruck is about diving deep into your heart and soul and challenging you to live every single day LoveStruck.  That’s right. Even through the good, bad and the ugly.

And I have some super ugly stories to share in which there was a silver lining to every single one.

I hope everyone reading this has their love story, but I
Continue Reading