Strong Enough

    It's been a crazy week and I still can't believe Rich is gone. It's been hard for me to grieve as I've felt God's peace over the situation, but it hurts knowing so many others aren't feeling that peace. How I wish I could give that peace away so easily to Rich's family and those who were so close to him.

    When I heard someone say in a prayer "Thanks God, for letting us borrow Rich for awhile." I began to look at the tragedy from a different perspective. We were so incredibly blessed by the time we had with Rich on this earth; How utterly thankful we should be for his smiling face and the fifty-one short years he was with us. 

    While this won't necessarily ease the grieving process at all, it offers hope. I find hope knowing where Rich is now, and that I will someday see him again. But we don't have to be able to handle the pain, because we're human. We don't have to be strong enough. All we have to do is have faith. And remember that we do not have faith by sight, but by trusting that God's purpose is bigger than anything we can see. Rich will be missed, but his life was full of examples I wish to live by.

    On a note of praise to God, my brother and sister came home safe from their trip to Brazil today, and my waiting was not in vain as I got the job I interviewed for at Colorific Salon. God is so Good. Remember that through tragedy, His purpose prevails.

Hurry Up and Wait

    Yesterday I interviewed at the salon I've been hoping to work for since I graduated school. It went very well but I have to now do a second interview with the owner. It's been a long process but it's taught me the importance of waiting on God. Seems I've been learning a lot of that lately.

    After my interview, I went to Heartland and got lots of information on which classes I need to sign up for in the fall. I plan on taking general education courses while I work, and after one or two years transferring to another school. So yesterday I started studying a very large math book so that I can do well on the placement test.

    I was getting very excited about all the plans I'm making for work and getting into school again, and then I remembered that so far I haven't really accomplished anything yet. I'm still waiting on the job I want, I haven't enrolled in any classes or obtained any financial aid yet for that purpose. It takes my mom to remind me that I've been doing everything I can to get this job, and setting goals for myself and my education still counts for something. And I remind myself, yet again, that nothing at all will get accomplished without trusting fully in God's timing.

Roll Away Your Stone

    Recently I've become inexplicably addicted to Mumford & Sons. There's something about Marcus Mumford's voice that draws me into the sound and the lyrics of their music. I've been listening to "White Blank Pages" and "Winter Winds" over and over, as well as the rest of their tracks. Did you know that they won a Grammy with their song "The Cave"? Needless to say they've worked their way up on my list of favorites alongside the distinctive voices of Dolores of The Cranberries and Brandon Flowers of The Killers.

    I especially like the lyrics from "Roll Away Your Stone" that remind me of God's astounding grace:

"It seems that all my bridges have been burned,
but you say that's exactly how this grace thing works.
It's not the long walk home that will change this heart,
but the welcome I receive with the restart."

The Breakfast Song

    Today, I was proud to pass my state licensing exam for cosmetology. Now I can make money doing hair! If only the job I really want would hire me already. Not that I don't like being at home all the time, don't get me wrong. Since I finished school, I've had time to read new books, re-read old books, start a blog, re-connect with some old friends, and sleep - a lot. But I'm not the 'sit around and wait for the world to come to me' type. I want to meet new people, widen my cultural spectrum, and conquer the world. By getting a job in a town 45 minutes farther into nowhere. Sounds like a plan, right? Well, while I've been learning to dream really big, I've also been learning a great deal about patience.

    Write and produce my own album, learn to draw, write a novel, and become a world-famous fashion designer are all items on my to-do list, followed by: meet the man of my dreams, have the perfect wedding, move into a perfectly decorated house, and proceed to have perfect babies. As I think about these individual "tasks" before me and start to analyze how I'm going to accomplish them, I quickly become overwhelmed and decide instead on living life as a failure. This cycle tends to recreate itself every time I see an inspiring photo on Pinterest that tells me I can succeed at anything.

    So how do I break the cycle? In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus tells us not to worry about what will happen in our lives, and to "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." These words should be held in my heart in place of my anxiety over my future, and above all my hopes and expectations for my life, so that I can trust God to let his plans unfold before me. And that's the best part about it, His plans WILL unfold in His perfect timing. All I have to do is sit back and trust Him. So I'm going to do exactly that, while sipping hot tea and getting re-acquainted with my old friends the Newsboys.



   

He's Surely Alive

        And He's surely moving right now. If you can't see what he's doing then it's time to be still. Be still and know that He is God.

        Sure, you know he's there. But what's it to you? It's the most amazing love story, adventure, and relationship that you will have the chance to be a part of. And it's in your reach. How can you be a part of this? Simple. Let Him in. Ask him to do life with you. You'll be so glad you did. I never knew how exciting it could be until I asked him to come in. I mean really come in, and fill my heart with his truths. And he has. And He's surely alive.

So This is What it's Come to...

        Sitting here at 1:42 in the morning with one sister of mine, I'm pondering our culture's insane and ever-growing media reliance. Reason being, the two of us would not be sitting here together "spending time" with each other if not for the screens in front our faces. Maybe a year ago we would have at least been sharing in the same movie-watching experience, laughing at the same scenes of ridiculous girlish comedy, but now we sit in the same room focusing our attention on two different sources of entertainment.

        So we've come to an age of having information at our fingertips, and I'm probably not the only one who can say I'm closer to some peoples' facebook pages, er, timelines, than I am with them in real life. I overwhelm myself sometimes with the vast array of social networks, from the good old fashioned e-mail to sites strictly for sharing photos. How many networks do I really need to stream my photos on? So when all of these mediums for sharing our lives with each other over the world wide web have become nothing but a cure for boredom, can we turn it back around and use them for something more?

       What if we all used the internet for all things positive? If every day we could encourage each other over facebook, we might really see a change for the better. I recently went through all of my facebook friends and unfriended anyone I didn't know, haven't talked to, or whose posts may tend to have a negative influence on my mood. My friend list was reduced by over 300 and I felt quite a bit less cluttered. Now I'm challenging myself not to let my negative thoughts out to poorly influence anyone elses mood, but I'm also going to try and take it a bit further. Every day I'm going to try to be as positive and uplifting in everything I post on the web, as well as in my everyday life. I would encourage you as well to monitor your negative thoughts; You'll realize quickly how much of an impact they can have.