What to do when the love of your life doesn't know he's the love ofyour life (yet)

Your tender heart swoons every time you see Mr.McDreamy at church/small group/the grocery store/wherever it is that you see him. He's the tallish handsome guy with the dark brown eyes and that adorable 5 o'clock shadow (or whatever it is you like in a guy). And the best part? Oh the best part is how much he loves Jesus and his family and his friends. The best part is that he's caring, giving, selfless, and he desperately values His relationship with Christ above all else.

And there you are. Praying every. single. day. "Lord, please let today be the day John Doe asks me to marry him." (because I mean you basically already have the name of your grandchildren picked out so why waste time dating, amiright?!?!) - You can't help it. Your girly hormones are kicking in and you're ready to stop being the mom of the group and finally be a mom to your precious little kiddos.

Oooh but here's the hard part. You feel like he doesn't even know you exist. You're starting to feel so lonely and like it's just never going to happen. You're pretty sure he likes your friend and not you (because let's be real...the "your friend is soo pretty" text is one you get all too often). So now you're thinking, "Oh my goodness maybe I'm not good enough. Maybe I need to be nicer. Maybe I need to dye my hair blonde. What am I doing wrong?!?!"

Girl. Let me stop you right there. First of all, let me reassure you that it's 100% okay to desire a Godly relationship that will challenge you, exemplify the love that Christ has for His church, and give you kiddos (if that's what you want).

Secondly, you are beautiful. If you ever feel like you're comparing yourself or changing who you are because of a the guy you're interested in, that's not bueno (good)! The man that God has for you will never make you second guess how much he loves you. He will never make you second guess your beauty (regardless of whether or not you're wearing makeup). He will push you forward in a healthy way. He will encourage you to achieve greatness because that's what God has for you. He'll fully support your dreams and dream with you. He'll lend his hand with whatever project you're working on. He'll pray for you and with you. He'll pursue you and make sure you know how treasured you are. Don't believe the lies of satan saying that you'll never be good enough or pretty enough or smart enough. Comparison is a thief!

Thirdly, realize that the guy you think is so great...may not be "the one". I'm so sorry babe! But it's the truth. Don't worry though. God has him picked out for you :)

So while you're waiting for the right man to pursue you, pray. Pray pray pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what qualities you should be looking for in a man and what qualities He wants you to keep and develop. Pray that God would continue to develop the Godly man that's inside of your future husband. Keep working towards your current goals! Learn how to do your taxes and balance a budget and put air in your tires. Don't spend so much time daydreaming about the future that you forge to live in the present. Love the family you have, treasure your friends, and give out of what the Lord has poured into you.

xo,
Lily Garay

Happy Father's Day - A Letter To My Future Husband

Happy Father's Day, future hubby!

Dear Future Husband,

Okay so you're probably not a dad right now (or you may be), but I want to wish you a happy Father's Day in advance. I prayed for you today. I prayed for the Godly man that I know you're becoming, for the spiritual leader I know you're learning how to be, and I prayed that you would be the best dad for our future children. I prayed that you'll take them (and me!) on surprise beach trips, to go get ice cream, and to the swings at the park and see who can swing the highest. I prayed that you would teach our kids about Jesus, show them His love, and that they would also overwhelm you with His love. I prayed that you would be the proper mentor for our kids, that you would be our daughter's first date, and teach our son all about baseball or basketball or whatever sport you want to teach him. I prayed that because of you our daughter would know what to look for in her future husband and that our son would be a good husband to his future wife. 

I'n not sure when I'll meet you (maybe I already know you) or when we'll have kids and I'm okay with that. I'll keep praying for you and I know you're praying for me:)

With love, 

Lily Garay

P.S.

Romans 15:13 "I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."

The art of losing it all

No one hates to be second place. One of my favorite (in all seriousness) quotes says, "Second place just means you're the first loser." I don't know who said that, but I find it both hilarious and very true. However, sometimes we think that because we come in second place we're complete failures. That would be false. You're not a failure. Sure maybe your idea or performance wasn't the best, but that's where the art of losing it all comes in.

The art of losing it all means that you are willing to risk it all every. single. time. you put yourself out there. It means that you're willing to hear the critiques and learn from them. It means you'll hear "NO" 99% of the time, but take that 1% "YES" and run with it. It means you're willing to leave your comfort zone and be in a place of anonymity while you discover your creativity, passions, and focus. But the most important meaning of "the art of losing it all" is that you're willing to let God grab your hand, push you forward, say "yes", or say "I have something better" because you're His child. 

Mark 8:36 (esv)

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Sometimes we must lose everything we thought we loved in order to do or receive something greater. There are times in our lives where we are going to need to just take a pause and say, "What am I doing and why am I doing it? Which path am I taking?" Pray, go see new things, go taste new things, feel new things, hike, bike, walk, paint, play with photography, bake a cake, dabble in singing, crochet, knit, etc - do something that you've always wanted to try, but have never done before!

When you let go, quit something, or lose...open your heart, open your mind, be passionate, and be bold because that is where you will find the art.

Afraid of the *bee

     I have a bad habit that my dad genuinely hates, but I'm pretty consistent in that bad habit. No, I don't do drugs. Because of my extreme love for the outdoors (just kidding) I leave my windows open. Now I understand the main reason why my dad hates it when I leave the window open..it wastes the air conditioning/heating. However, I'm pretty sure that the other reason is that he has an extreme dislike for bugs.

     Growing up my science classes consisted of my going outside and writing about what I saw, heard, felt, etc. Science class was also my little herd of lady bugs that I rescued from the dangers of "Bienvenido" front door mats. I was that child that had to go to the ER because I poked my eyeball with a tiny tree branch. Yes, kids, I was that good ol' Virginia homeschooler, yet I was still afraid of bees. 

(yes, I played in the woods while dressed in skirts)

     My dad grew up in the streets of Flushing Queens, New York. He saw his first deer on his honeymoon with my mom (they got married when he was 34ish) and he still refers to them as "Bambi's". I have always envisioned him as my luchador (think Nacho Libre) and people always think he's this really tough guy, and yeah he is a pretty strong person, but I'm also pretty sure that his heart goes soft every time he sees a "Bambi" and he is always so very cautious about not hitting one when he drives, but he definitely kills bees. Traveling around the globe has been a part of my dad's job description for years now and while I really admire that he's so passionate about what he does sometimes he wasn't there to kill the bees that flew into my room because I left my window open even though he repeatedly tells me not to. 

     The funny (actually not really funny) thing about my windows is that only one of the screens has a tear in it on the bottom (from when I teared it to let my little lady bugs fly free after I nurtured their broken little wings) and so bees only fly in when I leave the wrong one open. At this point of my story you're probably wondering, "Okay, Lily, where are you headed with all of this homegirl?!" What if I told you...absolutely nothing! Just kidding. If you're a long time reader of my blog, then you know I like to use super long analogies (and that I sometimes use too many words to get to my point...kinda like right now). Here's my point: Sometimes in life we open the wrong window and we may not realize it at the time, but it lets the bees in. It's only when your eyes are about to close while scrolling through facebook on your tiny phone screen that you begin to hear a buzzing...and then all of a sudden BAM. The bee smacks itself against the light of your cell phone and you go nuts screaming because - ew, a bee is trying to attack your phone light - (not that I'm so dramatic that I scream or anything...). At that point you have a choice. You're all alone in your room and you can't call your dad because he's in Honduras and your mom is asleep and goodness you don't want to wake her up from her deep slumber on Mother's Day weekend. Your choice is to either turn off your phone and try to sleep, in fear that the bee is going to somehow nest itself inside your mouth, or get up, roll up a newspaper, attract the bee to your phone's flashlight, and smack the problem until it's gone.
     My friend, maybe you're just sleeping there, afraid or worried about whatever circumstance is happening, and you're just saying, "Lily, kudos to you for being brave enough to kill that pesky bee, but I'm just too afraid to kill my bee right now." Well friend, it's going to keep pestering you until you decide that it no longer controls you. So my suggestion to you today is to ask God to give you strength, get up, and start smacking your fears in the face until they're afraid of you. 

Xo,

Lily Garay

*I do not kill bees!! Bee was easier to write out than mosquito, stink bug, or flying beetle. Thanks for understanding! 

My "Lilly Pulitzer for Target" shopping experience

It is an early Sunday morning (at least earlier than I am used to) and after a long night of tumbling back and forth, I actually woke up feeling quite refreshed. As I yawned and rubbed my eyes open I checked my phone for the time. I was up before my second alarm! I told myself that getting up this early to go buy some Lilly Pulitzer dresses at Target was totally worth it. My sister and I met in the hallway. She had on a cute skirt and top, thinking that we were going to church immediately afterwards, and I had on my yoga pants and a long zip up sweater that used to belong to my grandpa before he passed away. We stared at each other and laughed, but then quickly became serious because we were ready for our first early morning shopping experience.

As we stepped outside, the sun kissed us and the dewy, warm air seemed to give us a gentle hug. We buckled in our seat belts (because safety first!) and raced off to our nearest Target (only 5 minutes away...ha!). As we approached our destination, we saw the long line full of vineyard vine shirts and nike shorts. Once we were in line we realized that we had officially entered the preppy world. See, the point of this line was to get to one rack full of Lilly Pulitzer clothing items. ONE rack. Pure madness. Time ticked by slowly, but surely enough 8am reached us. The target employee opened the door and each girl was admitted one by one. My sister and I held hands and booked it to the rack once we got through those doors. Our hands were pulled apart and we went our separate ways to try and grab the dresses that we wanted. In literal seconds the rack was empty. I somehow managed to grab a dress so we met up and scurried to the dressing room to see if it would fit me.

Blah. All my excitement was gone in an instant. With a dress one size too big and a big leafy green print I looked like a tree. I decided why waste my money on something that I didn't even like anyways. I tried looking for someone that would want to trade their shift dress with my leafy dress, but of course - no. However, I went to an area of the dressing room where a crowd of girls had gathered..waiting for someone to give up their dress that was either too small or too big. So I asked if anyone wanted the dress and immediately someone took it from my hands. Aaaannnddd that was the end of my 15 minute, way-too-early shopping experience.

However, even though I didn't get a dress out of the whole experience, it did get me thinking. Humans long for something that will satisfy them, including me, but we're looking in all the wrong places. We are looking for material goods to satisfy us. Our phones entertain us 24/7. We have hulu, netflix, youtube, etc. And honestly, we just grab whatever comes our way or whatever it is that we can find. Yeah of course you'll be happy to score a sweet deal on a Lilly Pulitzer dress!!!!! But is that really going to satisfy your inner need for something great? Probably not. Besides...Things like dresses (well..clothes in general), phones, wifi...Yeah those things tear, break, disconnect when the wind is too strong. What would be cool is if our closets came with a never ending supply of Lilly shift dresses! Then we wouldn't even have to consider going to the store!

There were SO many sad faces! All these girls that had waited in line, but not all the girls got something. I felt so bad for the girls that didn't get anything. Looking into their faces was like looking into a long, empty tunnel. No light at the end.

I say all of this to get to this point. Dear friend that's reading this, you see, I have an eternal hope. I believe in a love that exists for everyone!! I believe that there is hope and light for all. How selfish would it be of me if I didn't share that with you? My life was pretty messed up on the inside a couple of years ago. Again, I'm not perfect..AT ALL!!! But I'm constantly changing. Two years ago I decided to read my Bible more. I wanted to find out more about Jesus and actually have a relationship with Him. Not just go to church and sing amen. That's not what Christianity is all about. It's about realizing that you are pretty much always going to be the opposite of perfect, but knowing that God, your creator, loves you so so so much that He wants to call you His child. He wants to give you life and a life in abundance. Jesus is so much more than going to church! Jesus gives us incomprehensible grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love.

So I leave that with you today. I want you to know that regardless of whether or not you have a Lilly Pulitzer dress, you are loved.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Jesus Christ will be given new life.

1 Corinthians 15:20-22 NLT

#lillyfortarget

The process

Absolutely no one, with the exception of God, knows all that you've been through. All the mental battles, and the physical battles, all the ups and downs, the pushing, pulling, tugging, reaching, letting go. No one. However, everyone thinks that they can just give their opinion on what you're doing with your life, but God's opinion is the only one that matters. Follow Him and His purpose and calling for your life. You may not understand what He is doing right now, but I promise you that His plan and process is amazing. That's something that was spoken over my life this past Saturday and now I want to pass that on to you, my wonderful reader.

The process can be fun and frustrating all at once. This whole month of March I have gone through quite the process. I performed not one, not two, not even three times...but 5 times. That is way more than I could have ever imagined for one month. BUT I played smaller venues, new sets, and only had my guitar (and occasionally my amazing cajon playing sister). Usually if I'm only playing with my guitar and a cajon, it's only one song. Instead I was doing whole sets. I'm not gonna lie, it was uncomfortable for me. I also played at two cafes with audiences that would walk in and out and talk during the set. I was just pretty, live background music for most of them. That was also uncomfortable. 

The dream can and will be uncomfortable at times, but keep going. Keep pursuing. Don't give up this fight!!! You don't know how many people you are touching, impacting, changing with hope, truth, and inspiration.

Maybe this post is just for me, but I'm glad I got to share some of my thoughts with you.

https://soundcloud.com/lilygaray/let-the-daylight-in

F*r*i*e*n*d*s

Well since it's everyone is talking about "Friends" being on Netflix, I thought I'd talk about my real friends.

Yesterday I drove to Liberty University to visit my good friend, Ashley Lawrence,

for her 19th birthday (girl in stripes).

It was really fun to see my friends again and celebrate!

I hadn't really seen them in a while so it was a good time. 

I sorta kinda miss not living in the same area as all of my friends. 

Here's to Ashley, having a car, and friends <3 p="">

2015 Goals

I'm not one to usually put all my goals and aspirations on the internet, but here's my goals for 2015 as a singer:

-Signed by a record label

-Release my album "Hurricane"

-Get a new guitar
-Set up an AMAZING website
-Set up a great music page

-Reach 100k subscribers on Youtube

-Reach 100k Twitter followers

-Reach 100k Facebook likers

-Reach 100k Soundcloud followers

-Reach 100k Instagram followers

-Sing at a coffee shop in Nashville

-Sing for a gig in New York City

-Be winner of ATD

-Be on X-Factor

And I'm going to do it all..not by being the next Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Ellie Goulding, Lorde, Taylor Swift... I'm going to do it all because I have Jesus Christ by my side. 

#classic #2015 #ready #letsgo #snapchat #picture #mileycyrus #selena #xfactor #lilygaray