Back to Smiles

I’m glad to show you smiles today 🙂 
Glad to show you my cute new leopard headband from Oh, Sweet Joy and my Radiant Cosmetics lipstick.
Totes in love with both of them.

Which is good, because this week has been hard on me. If I’m honest, the year has been hard on me. A year ago yesterday, a week out from Christmas, a relationship with a man I thought I was going to marry ended. So my heart has been all sorts of heavy lately. 

I tried to write about eight hundred blog posts about it, but none of it felt settled enough to share. I don’t feel settled enough to share. I’m still a bit of a hot mess (totally tearing up right now). And that’s embarrassing to admit, a year later. I feel like I should be fine, should be moving on, should be dating and happy. But the year really took a lot of life and love out of me, and I’m still searching for healing. A few months ago a friend asked me if I was dating, and I kid you not the word sounded foreign to me. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. I think if I really shared my heart about the subject, I’d never be able to put it back together again, so I guess I’ll keep carrying on with joy in the little things and trying to get back to smiles. Happy Natalie is so much more fun 🙂
Much love, my dears! 

0 comments

  1. Firstly, I gasped in delight when I saw these photos because I am in LOVE with this outfit. So cute!

    Secondly, super proud of you for your candor and heart in this post. Time heals all wounds… but in the meantime, I'm def praying for ya. 😉

  2. I've never written to you before, but with this last post, I just really felt compelled to! I would just like to say that I, too, once had a very hard break-up and I didn't date for quite a while after that and I really didn't think I'd find anyone else. And not saying that you feel that way, but it took me a few years to heal and in that time, I just kept praying for God to prepare just the right guy for me. And sure enough (as God does always answer prayer!!) I did end up finding the perfect guy for me–and as of February this year, the perfect husband. 😉 I hope this gives you encouragement; do keep praying for healing (and I will pray for you, too); remember that it's good to work through the rough feelings; and know that you are so strong and only get stronger for continuing to find happiness in even the smallest things! 😉 May the peace of Christ be with you and thank you so much for being such an awesome inspiration, whether a pleasant reminder to embrace all that God gives us, or with pictures of your latest super-cute outfit–and even in these trying times, when your happiness and joy really shine through! It's definitely a big inspiration for me, so thank you so very much!!! –Jessika, CA

  3. Dear Jessika,
    Thank you ever so much for taking the time to share these appropriate and timely words with me. They were balm to my soul! Made me cry! I just love how the body of Christ reaches across time, distance, and the internet to offer encouragement and uplifting words at the right time. So I hope you'll see this and I thank you again. And congratulations to you and your hubby…almost one year 🙂 Be blessed and I'm glad to know you're here at Good Girl Style! ~Natalie

  4. Dear Natalie,
    I've been following your blog since you were featured in Life:Beautiful, I love your style and spirit and often come away feeling as if I've shared time with a friend.
    In August 1990 (yikes!) I ended a marriage, It was a difficult thing to do because, as a Christian, we do not take that covenant lightly. I prayed that God would bring me the "right" guy, cried when He didn't and kept putting one foot in front of the other. Now these many years later I look back and see what God DID DO while I was continuing to trust Him. At 33 I went to college and got a bachelors, then a Masters. Saw my daughter become a beautiful woman. Quit the job that I had worked hard to get so that I could go spend three years as an AmeriCorps volunteer…
    Do I look at marriages today and wish? Yes, I do. But in it all I see my Lord holding my hand and I hear Him whispering in my ear. At 52 will I ever re-marry? I would like to, but I look at the things that I might not have achieved if I had been married, and I am thankful…
    I pray that our God bring you this type of peace. And please know that He is using you in ways that you can't see yet, because as we go through our day it is not easy to see the big picture (and that is God's job anyway!).
    I appreciate your blog and you my sister in Christ.
    Dorothy

  5. Dear Dorothy, I think I've noticed a comment or two from you before…Thank you! I'm so glad you say that you feel like you've spent time with a friend after visiting my blog. That is the best complement! Thank you for sharing a bit of your story, too. God brings us where he wants us, doesn't he? I loved what you said about the big picture being God's job. So true, and I will take it to heart these next few weeks!
    Be blessed, and Merry Christmas! ~Natalie

  6. Super cute outfit — wish I could rock the skinny jeans and boots like that! And sometimes… those hard things take a while to work their way out of our lives, even if and when we are ready to let go.

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