Encouragement for the journey

Well this is a long time coming. I haven't written since last year and so so much has changed in those missing blogged months. For starters, in May of last year my bf and I broke up, which left me heartbroken once again. All the progress I'd made with my working out and eating right really went out the window. I could feel myself quickly spiraling down but I wasn't sure how to stop. In the midst of a shattered heart, I continued to work full time until August came calling. I enrolled at the local University and nervously hopped I would be able to find a job. But just like always God came through right on time and supplied me with a job in the same area I'd been working in for the last five years. Looking back now, I realize the importance of those five years that helped me get this job. With everything in place, I settled into the routine of full time student and found that I truly enjoy it! If not for the grace of God I would never have been able to say that. He has helped me along the way and is continuing to help me as I enter my first semester as a Sophomore. And as I listened to a very wise speaker tonight I understand that the trials I had to endure last year, were tests to see what I knew and how strong I was. I feel at this point that I am stronger and know a little more than I did last year. Thank you Jesus that I can say that. Habakkuk 3:17-19 says "17 Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold, And there be no cattle in the stalls, 18 Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. 19 The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds' feet, And makes me walk on my high places."

What an awesome encouragement and challenge all within one small passage. The challenge is to Praise God in the bad times. When everything seems to be going wrong, when the future looks dark and bleak. That's when you need to rejoice in the Lord. It's easy to be happy and sing at the top of your lungs when everything is going your way, but the true test comes when you are going through a trial. Will you wallow in your sorrow or will you get off your woes and sing of the goodness and faithfulness of God? The encouragement contained in the passage is that the Lord is your strength. Oftentimes its easy to forget that God is strong enough for us to lean on. We try so hard to lean on ourselves, which in the end leads to disappointment, discouragement and doubt. But here God is speaking to us and reminding us that HE is our strength and when we rely on HIM, he will make our feet like hinds feet in high places. Now you ask what does that mean? Well Matthew Henry puts it this way, "Then we shall be strong for spiritual warfare and work, and with enlargement of heart may run the way of his commandments, and outrun our troubles. And we shall be successful in spiritual undertakings."

And so I've found myself in this new year longing for more. More of God, more awareness of his love for me and those around me, more word, more passion...more. I want to be filled up to be poured out and I know that in this new season and chapter of my life, it is essential to surround myself with the things of God and really set myself apart for the work he has for me now. I want to be tested and tried so that when the bigger things he has for me come along I will be ready.

So I purpose in my heart to love God more than I ever have before, to not wallow in how my life should have been or even dwell in self pity,doubt or what I don't have. But instead to praise God in every season and be a good steward of what he's already blessed me with. Learning to be content in every season as Paul says.

So I hope that if you are reading this, that you've been encouraged to run harder after God because in the end HE's all that matters!

Be blessed today!

Season's

This hot June day finds me in a new season of life once again. This "new season" is probably one of the most difficult seasons I've had to walk through. And much like today it's a hot season that's requiring more out of me than ever before. I'm learning that I have a lot of pain inside that needs to be healed. This season is requiring a lot out of me and I hope that when I come through that I will be a better person for it. If you so desire, prayer would be awesome. Pray for healing in my life, and that God is able to do miraculous things inside of me.

Thanks :)

May oh May...where has the time gone?

Yay for May! :) The past several weeks have been busy busy. I'm currently in the midst of mothers day celebrations, birthdays, and graduations. My bf is getting ready to graduate with his RN degree. I'm so proud of him. He has come so far and studied his @$$ off! :) He defiantly deserves to be done. On top of graduating, he accepted a job locally and will start in June! Yay!!! :)
------------------------
April was full of ups and downs for me...I was told at the beginning of April that my job would be eliminated in August and that I was to be put on part time till then...thus I would loose my insurance. :( sad day..yeah. So I worked my piddly hours for April, even taking a day to go see friends I had been planning to see forever. I admit, I did enjoy being able to sleep a little extra during those days..then something amazing and God provincial happened...just as I was to loose my insurance, I was granted grace...I would come back on as full time until the end of August and therefore keep my insurance...thank you Jesus! :) So I am back to my old routine, which is awesome..I feel like myself again!
--------------------------
May looks to be an adventure in and of itself. V (my bf's mom) and I have been putting together a scrapbook for my bf of his life...which has taken a long time. We are finally in the home stretch and hope to be done before next Saturday's graduation. In addition to scrapbooking, I'm working on a top secret gift for my bf that he is sure to like. ;) More details to come...and getting ready for the summer. If you don't know, my plans are to go back to school in the fall and I know that God will have the perfect job lined up for me. :) Thanks in advance Jesus. You're the best.
--------------------------
Trust and believe. That's what I've been learning for the past few weeks. (Thank the Lord for godly friends who encourage and help you along the way, especially when you feel like you're world is caving in on itself!) I've been in a spiritual fight recently...and I've found myself having to dig deep to keep hold of relationships. And along the way, as I was straining and struggling and doing all I could to keep doing "everything I could do" I realized that God was already the victor and all he required me to do was trust and believe that what he said would happen, would indeed happen. It's been difficult for me to "let go" of those things I try so hard to do with my own strength..but God is teaching me that in my weakness he is strong! And so I feel my faith increasing in my lack of "everything I can do" allowing God to have his way, knowing that his way is always perfect and his timing is always right!

Hope this prayer day was one of going to higher places with God!

Hugs

Spring is comin'

The breeze tells of impending spring. It's right around the corner and I can taste it with the passing days. Today it's 65 degrees here, but it feels like a balmy 73. I love spring, it's my favorite, aside from my true love, fall. There's something about the rush of spring that causes my heart to swell. Spring is packed full of new life, not just in the natural but also in the spiritual. I believe that every spring brings a new season of life to the soul. The sweet air revives the spirit and what has laid dormant for a season begins to sprout. Seasons of hope, change, love, forgiveness, repentance, unity and peace.

I love spring, and I know that this new season is going to be an awesome time!

Love N the details

As promised I'm back with a full list of details from my birthday weekend. :) I know all my adoring fans are so excited...yeah right...

First of all I must state clearly that my man is very romantic and sweet. I couldn't have wished for a more perfect birthday weekend.

Friday I took the day off in order to prepare for the big weekend. I "slept in" meaning I got up at 7AM to celebrate with the rents before they left for work. Having had enough sleep I stayed awake and lounged about the house pursuing the channels. About mid morning there was a knock on my door...still in my pj's I grabbed a jacket and answered unassumingly. At my doorstep were two elderly woman wanting to talk to me about the perilous times, and what I thought God thought about all of it. I kindly reassured them that I know Jesus and that I've been saved since I was a young child. They however, continued their attempt to "try and convert me." Trying to be nice, I listened kindly and they finally left. A bit con fuddled I decided to hop in the shower, forgetting my promise to myself to workout. Oops!

Around 2 I went to have my hair done. A rarity for me. Faye gave me a beautiful up-do complete with curls and braids. It was stunning!

I got dressed and was ready to go by 4:15. But the man wasn't picking me up till 5. Oh the torture! I sat for another 45mins before he showed up. Once there he made us wait till 5:20 before we could leave. I wondered what was up...

We proceed east to a larger town close by. As we got closer to the city, he started pulling off the road to a little German restaurant we've been dying to try. With an excited proclamation he said, "Welcome to surprise number one!" It was the best German food I've had since returning from Germany in 2001!

We ordered our appetizer of bratwurst and spicy mustard. My meal was Rholen Schnitzel which is fried pork loin with sour cream poured over the top and a side of real German potato salad! My man had Frickerdelin which is basically a spicy meatball. He also had a side of potato salad. Served with each meal was a classic hard German roll! :) It brought me back to Germany and everything I love about the country.

Before we ate, I received my gift. Inside a gift bag was a small box tied with ribbon...now I will pause for a second and tell you that I've never had a boyfriend...ever...so this was my very first official boyfriend gift! I was so excited my hands were shaking slightly. He had tied the box with a Tiffany blue and brown pok-a-dot ribbon...my favorite colors (so thoughtful). Inside the box was the most beautiful heart diamond necklace. As I gazed at the beautiful necklace, he proceeded to let me know that it added up to about a third a carrot. I have never had real diamonds, so when he said that I was floored...I couldn't stop smiling! How sweet of him not to mention extremely romantic...well to me! It was more than I had expected...and I was and still am very appreciative. :)

After dinner we went in to the city and shopped around. We had dessert at a small local coffee shop and then went home.

The next day at 5:45 we left for Branson. We stopped for breakfast and then continued on our adventure. We arrived at The Butterfly Palace at 9:30. The Butterfly Palace is like a butterfly sanctuary...we got to walk among live butterflies and take pictures of them. They were beautiful, and the palace was peaceful. We rounded out our day at the landing and then went home.

This was the best birthday I've ever had! One that I won't forget! My man did an awesome job! :) That's only a little bit of the many reasons I love him! :)

Ok enough gushing! :)

Today we're going back to the city and shopping! Excited! Have a blessed weekend and don't forget to Spring Forward on Saturday! :)

Birthday wishes

I'm 3 days out from my birthday! And I couldn't be more excited!!!! :) My man has been planning something fabulous for a month and a half. He's given me the clues but I haven't been able to figure them out, and although it's driving me crazy, I like not knowing. I love the thrill of a surprise! It makes all the planning you've done so worth it. I'll make sure to blog all the details later.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Does the . . . bother you? It bothers my man. He hates it. I on the other hand love it. I wasn't sure exactly what it meant so I went to Wikipedia and here's what I found.

Ellipsis (plural ellipses; from the Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, "omission") is a mark or series of marks that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word or a phrase from the original text. An ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in speech, an unfinished thought, or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence (aposiopesis) (apostrophe and elipsis mixed). The ellipsis calls for a slight pause in speech.

The most common form of an ellipsis is a row of three periods or full stops (...) or pre-composed triple-dot glyph (…).The way the ellipsis is supposed to be written is ". . ." with a space between each period, per new Modern Language Association (MLA) standards.

The ellipsis is one of the favorite constructions of internet chat rooms, and has evolved over the past ten years into a staple of text-messaging. Though an ellipsis is technically complete with three periods (...), its rise in popularity as a "trailing-off" or "silence" indicator, particularly in mid-20th century comic strip and comic book prose writing, has led to expanded uses online. It has been used in new ways online, sometimes at the end of a message "to signal that the rest of the message is forthcoming." ^[6]

Today, extended ellipsis of two, seven, ten, or even dozens of periods have become common constructions in internet chat rooms and text messages.^[7] Often the extended ellipses indicate an awkward silence or a "no comment" response to the previous statement made by the other party. They are sometimes used jokingly or for emphatic confusion about what the other person has said.

I find that very interesting... :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

American Idol is on again tonight. I hope the girls will be a little better than last week. I wasn't impressed at all! Give us some good music girls!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last week on KLOVE, Lisa Willimas and Eric Allen did a week long special on The Five Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman. I've read this book off and on over the past 6 months, but had put it down to read other things. KLOVE posted a quiz online to find out your love language. Not to my surprise, I received the highest score of 12 for physical touch. I am a touchy kind of girl. :) But my man took the quiz and found out his love language is time. We both scored our second as words of affirmation, which is a good place to start. :) My man isn't a very touchy kind of guy. He shows his love in other ways...and I'm learning to appreciate those ways...speaking to each other in our love languages can be difficult sometimes, but I know that we love each other enough to make the effort. If you haven't read it or know anything about it, I encourage you to look it up...check it out at the library or buy it online.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We have a list about as long as the earth with places we want to travel to, and things we want to do before we die. Not really a bucket list but a life list of adventure we hope to have. We LOVE traveling and hope to make it a permanent part of our lives. We have places like Seattle, Boston, Chicago, California, Colorado, Minnesota, far away places like Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Russia, exotic places like Hawaii, India, South America, Greece, and so much more on our list. I can't wait to start traveling. :)

Do you have a list? If not I dare you to write down a few things you want to do before you die and see just how long that list gets.

Blood

Today for the first time, I gave blood to the Red Cross. I have forever had a fear of needles and the very thought of getting stuck with a needle would freak me out. But last year, that all changed. I was scheduled to have a health assessment, which I did not want in the least bit, when I was called to jury duty. Now if you know me, you know that sometimes things like jury duty can make me so nervous. But I didn't have a choice, so I went. As is usual for the standard proceedings, several people are called and then interviewed to see if he or she will be fit to be a juror for that case. As each name was called I prayed my name would not be among them. And to my relief it wasn't. But little did I know the proceedings didn't stop there. After several people had been dismissed, my name was drawn and I had the "privilege" to sit the seat closest to the person on trial. That was to this day one of the most uncomfortable things I've had to do. The case was awful. It was the sort of case that causes every fiber in your being to scream "RUN AWAY!" Verging on tears a break was called and I sat tense in the chair looking at the floor, wondering how I would get out of this. I had no reason to not be there. I was in good health and a job that would pay for me to be there. There was no way I would get out, no story I could come up with to get out of there. I was under oath after all. And suddenly I realized, I would rather be giving blood than sitting in this chair! And that's it! I was cured! I know I know. I'm so dramatic! But it worked for me. I ended up being dismissed and was so glad! The next day, I walked up the hill to get my health assessment with a smile on my face and confidence in my heart that what I was about to do was good, and right, and safe. Since that day, I've gone through another health assessment and today gave blood! I overcame my fear and by doing so, I will be able to save at least 3 lives with my blood. How awesome!
This reminds me of the sacrifice that Jesus gave. He gave ALL his blood so that I might be saved. What an awesome thing! May I ever be thankful of the blood work he did that day so I could stand here today! :)