Friday Favorites: Gina ❤
31 July, 2015
Gina is easily one of my favorite people in the entire world. I met Gina my sophomore year of college at Pepperdine. We were both on the swim team, and she immediately took me under her wing. She led a weekly Bible study I joined, and at that point, I wasn't much of a Christian and the Bible I used was rented from the school bookstore. She was the first person to show me what a real relationship with Jesus looked like.
Her and her husband Don got married two years ago and currently reside in Chicago. Having visited them multiple times, it's obvious how happy they are in their marriage. They have one of those marriages everyone dreams of having: a marriage of love, goofiness, and down-right fun!
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Favorite Song:
My favorite song is, “Beautiful,” by Phil Wickham. It is a song that can bring peace to my darkest nights, and a song that gives me chills every time it starts to play. It was also my first dance with my husband at our wedding!
Favorite Food:
I love all things sweet (I have an unbelievable sweet tooth), but above all the sweets there are these Italian dumpling pastas called Gnocchi that my great aunt taught me to make when I was young. Those are by far my favorite.
Favorite Book:
I am an avid reader, and I can’t just pick one! I love The Brothers Karamazov (if you can make it through the dense thousand pages, it is worth it!). This book has a bunch of Christian undertones and lots of humor and love, which makes it a true classic in my mind. I also love all books by Ken Follett. He is an incredible historical fiction writer. His books make me feel as though I lived through whatever it is he is writing about.
Favorite Bible Verses:
Proverbs 16. The whole thing! But specifically, “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”
Genesis 3: 18; 24-25 “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him…this explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’”
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding seek His will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11-13 “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.”
Philippians 4:6 “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything.”
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, they are plans for good and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope.”
Favorite Memory:
I think I have to go with the most powerful memory: the day that I married my love of a lifetime and my best friend. I have many memories from that beautiful day that was blessed by God, but overall that day was the best.
Favorite “God” Moment:
This would also have to be the moment when my husband and I said, “I do.” But I also want to talk about the awesome small group Bible study that I led in college. There was one night where we went up to Heroes Garden at Pepperdine - a beautiful garden area that looked out over the ocean. We sat there in blankets as the sun was setting and we all shared our testimonies. That was a powerful God moment for me because it showed me that surrounded by God’s creation in nature, with people that I barely knew, and some that I knew really well, we were able to dive deeper and God was able to be present in a very cool way.
Favorite Place:
Utah! I love the mountains, mostly because I love to ski. My Dad and I take a ski trip every couple of years to Snowbird or Deer Valley and we ski some tough mountains. I love this because I love being active and there is something so serene and special about being in the mountains; it really makes me feel closer to God.
Favorite Movie/TV Show:
Atonement is my favorite movie. It is so beautiful and so tragic. It brings me to tears every time.
House, MD is my favorite TV show.
Favorite Future Dream:
It’s tied between two here! One of my biggest dreams is to have children and raise them for God. I can’t wait to start a family with Don, my husband. The flip side of that is that I am currently in school to become a therapist. This dream is something that is close to my heart because I know that it is my calling from God. I want to become a psychologist, while also having a family and being there for my kids.
Favorite Hobbies:
I love to ski as I mentioned above, I also love to run – recently I just completed another half marathon and I am looking forward to finishing a few more this summer, and potentially running the Chicago marathon in October. After being a swimmer in college, I couldn’t stand the water, so I started trying to run and at first it was really tough, but now it’s an integral part of who I am. I also love to paint and look at art!
