I know a lady...

I know a lady. She is quite something. She is the kind of person that takes over a room when she walks into it. She is so full of life that it spills onto anyone in her path. She has never met a stranger and can become best friends with a stranger in about 5 seconds flat. She is beautiful. She will randomly start to belly laugh about the most random things. Her favorite color is pink. She loves dark chocolate and chips and salsa...not together of course:-) She loves her children unconditionally and would do anything for any of them...and does. She is fearless, I love how fearless she is. I love how diligently she is pursuing her God and the deeper life. She is willing to try anything and does (within reason). She has a beautiful spirit. She is part of the reason I am who I am. She has shaped and molded me the best she knows how. She loves deeply. She loves the Holy Land and can even speak some Arabic. She is gracious and kind. I want her to know how much I appreciate her, how truly and deeply she is loved. I love you Mom and I miss you...

"Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands..." -Isaiah 49:16

"She extends her hand to the poor, and she stretches out her hands to the needy."

-Proverbs 31:20

"She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue."

-Proverbs 31:26

"My mouth will speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart will be understanding."

-Psalm 49:3

"Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear."

-Ephesians 4:29

Take these hands, Lord, let only Your work be wrought through them. Take this mouth, Jesus, may it only be used to give You praise, to lift up Your name, to sing of Your wondrous love! Let my thoughts be not my own but Yours. Search me and cast out any idols that would distract me from Your sweet presence. Deafen my ears to the shouting voices of this world and let only Your still small voice be all I long to hear.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." -Psalm 139:23,24

The Sea

Have you ever stood by the sea? Did it make you feel as if you were a tiny grain of sand on it's shore? Have you tasted it's salty breath and been embraced by it's warm arms? Have you seen it's beauty and knew you were gazing into the heart of God? I have. This is how the ocean makes me feel and I miss it more than words can tell. Funny how you don't realize how much you'll miss something until you no longer have it. There's something about growing up on the sea and then leaving it. It's as if you can't breath quite right anywhere else, as if your soul is always a bit unsettled until you are back where the horizon is lost on it's blue expanse. And when you do get back to it's shore, what joy and peace flood your soul, as if you have stepped directly into the arms of God. It's so beautiful it hurts and so lonely you could cry...but what a wonderful loneliness it is...

"The loneliness you get by the sea is personal and alive. It doesn't subdue you and make you feel abject. It's stimulating loneliness." -Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"The true peace of God begins at any spot a thousand miles from the nearest land." -Joseph Conrad

We're walking in the air
We're floating in the moonlit sky
The people far below are sleeping as we fly

We're holding very tight
I'm riding in the midnight blue
I'm finding I can fly so high above with you

Far across the world
The villages go by like dreams
The rivers and the hills
The forest and the streams

Children gaze open mouthed
Taken by surprise
Nobody down below believes their eyes

We're surfing in the air
We're swimming in the frozen sky
We're drifting over icy
mountains floating by

Suddenly swooping low on an ocean deep
Arousing of a mighty monster from its sleep

We're walking in the air
We're dancing in the midnight sky
And everyone who sees us greets us as we fly

Solitary Vision

If to distant lands I scatter
If I sail to farthest seas
Would you find and firm and gather
'Til I only dwell in Thee?

If I flee from greenest pastures
Would you leave to look for me?Forfeit glory to come after
'Til I only dwell in Thee

If my heart has one ambition
If my soul one goal to seek
This my solitary vision
'Til I only dwell in Thee
That I only dwell in Thee'Til I only dwell in Thee

This song by Brooke Fraser truly touches my soul. When I look at my life, at the ambitions I've so foolishly had in the past, I want nothing more in this moment and in my future than to have the solitary vision of dwelling in my precious Jesus. Nothing else matters. There is nothing else worth giving my life and passions for than Him. How wonderful it is indeed to walk in His ways! Who ever said the Christian life is boring and dull had no idea what they were talking about!!! Every single day is an adventure, an unknown course that He can chart and navigate for me with a sure and steady hand. When I gaze on His sweet face I know that no matter what may come, be it joys or sorrows, pleasure or pain, life or death, every step is worth taking with Him. May I ever decrease that He may increase in this life of mine that is truly His and not mine at all.

Home Again...

I'm off to spend the weekend with my quirky, wonderful family this afternoon. We're celebrating three birthdays and Mother's Day all in one weekend! Whew! That's a lot of celebrating going on. It's such a lovely drive there and I'll have some quality one on one time with the Lord to pray and listen to beautiful music. There's nothing like a drive through the mountains...unless of course, it's a drive by the sea. And there's no better place to do some serious praying than when I'm alone in my car. It's almost become a prayer closet, I can cry, laugh, go into hysterics if need be, with no worries of anyone hearing me. However, other drivers that pass me may wonder if I'm a bit touched I suppose:-) You should try it sometime, praying in your car I mean, not necessarily the hysterics. Happy prayer driving everyone!

Still have a few more tweaks to make on the layout and all of my little corner, but it is now almost one in the morning and I've been obsessively at this for almost three hours now. Oh, dear. I'm really going to have to rally in the morning to start my morning at 5 and then be ready for a staff meeting at 8. By the way, it's snowing here. I am officially on no speaking terms with these May clouds! Who ever heard of snow in May?! Got to love this state in the Spring:-) Goodnight all...if there are any "all" out there...

And so it begins...

I'm just a simple girl, who's in love with her Creator, beauty, and honor. I'm trying to live each day to glorify Him and to find enchantment in the smallest things...I love to write and though it may be nothing extraordinary, it's the tiniest moments that I've found to have the most meaning when all is said and done. This is just a place for my love for Him to spill over and to have a touch of whimsy too...