strength to face the day.

hosanna. (paulbaloche)

{this is the song i mentioned earlier. it pumps me up these days. 

i cant listen to it without going insane, it just stirs the hope in me. for sure}

Praise is rising, eyes are turning to You, we turn to You
Hope is stirring, hearts are yearning for You, we long for You
'Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your Presence all our fears are washed away, washed away

Hosanna, hosanna
You are the God Who saves us, worthy of all our praises
Hosanna, hosanna
Come have Your way among us
We welcome You here, Lord Jesus

Hear the sound of hearts returning to You, we turn to You
In Your Kingdom broken lives are made new, You make us new
'Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your Presence all our fears are washed away, washed away

Hosanna, hosanna
You are the God Who saves us, worthy of all our praises
Hosanna, hosanna
Come have Your way among us
We welcome You here, Lord Jesus

'Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your Presence all our fears are washed away
'Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your Presence all our fears are washed away, washed away

Hosanna, hosanna
You are the God Who saves us, worthy of all our praises
Hosanna, hosanna
Come have Your way among us
We welcome You here, Lord Jesus

hope is stirring.

if you have been keeping up with any of my posts lately, you know that im fickle these days.
fickle with trusting His sovereignty, with believing him. i think i relate to Him all to often
like i do friend's or family that have failed me. He's never failed me yet. however, i just cant seem to
figure out why i treat Him like He has. i am thankful that He knows that i am made of dust, and that
He must constantly remind me of His goodness. even in the midst of loneliness, fear, adversity, failure,
joy, strife, victory, and success. He is always with me.

i have taken great comfort in His sovereignty in these last few hours.
i looked up what wikipedia has to say about sovereignty. here it is:
Sovereignty is the exclusive right to have complete control over an area of governance, people, or oneself.
A sovereign is the supreme lawmaking authority, subject to no other.
( i am reminded that i am not good enough to mess up his plan, or bad enough for that matter )
what any man, whoever he may be, orders on his own, is not a law. there is no law without a sovereign.

how good it is to rest in that. and how often, how many moments of the day to i fret over my feelings
of failure, or floundering.

one of my favorite verses in all of the Bible is Lamentations 3:21.
jeremiah had it much worse than i have ever had, but he still had hope,
and even after the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple of God, and so many lives,
he still spoke of the Lord's love and compassion.
i love Lam. 3:21 because it reminds me, when i am plagued with so little faith, to recall the roads i have walked,
and where He has taken me from strength to strength in the past, because HE is faithful.
Jeremiah says, "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:"
(please go read the WHOLE chapter: http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Lamentations+3)
he recalls the Lord's faithfulness in the past and is reminded of his mercy, love and compassion.
what great comfort there is in knowing that he cares, and that HE cares enough to have complete control,
so much control that i and no one else can do anything to change HIS plan for me, for you.
THAT IS WONDERFUL.



the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
there is a song that i have had on repeat today that i will post later.
its amazing.

some thoughts from others on hope . . .


If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. -Antoine De Saint

The inability to open up to hope is what blocks trust, and blocked trust is the reason for blighted dreams. - Elizabeth Gilbert

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence. - Lin Yutang

To eat bread without hope is still slowly to starve to death. - Pearl Buck

None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free. - Pearl Buck

The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure but from hope to hope. - Samuel Johnson

Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? - Job 4:6

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. - Ps. 62:5

But I WILL HOPE CONTINUALLY and will praise you yet more and more. - Ps. 71:14

and this ...

but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. -Ps. 147:11

HOPE: To wish for something with the expectation of the wish being fulfilled. Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. Hope implies a certain amount of despair, wanting, wishing, suffering or perseverance — i.e., believing that a better or positive outcome is possible even when there is some evidence to the contrary.

We hold within us the reason, the answer, THE one who IS HOPE !

into the wild.

you need to see this film ... 

love changes everything.

so, i have been noticing lately that something is going on around me.
im in a stage of life where i am processing alot, trying to figure out alot,
and digest many things. i remember reading my friend biscuet's blog the other
day and he was talking about being in a place in life where he rarely has answers
for anything and i totally identified. im there too. but, in all of my oblivion lately, i have been bombarded with one thing for sure.
...love. but not just love.

this.
that love changes everything.

i see it. i hear it. it surrounds me on every side.
i would be lying if i did not say that much of this comes from the
fact that im in that beloved stage of life where literally all of my
closest and best friends are either engaged, married, or dating someone
pretty seriously. but, most of them are married or engaged.
so, it effects me. i dont know that im so much dying to have someone
right now, as i am just wishing i had someone to take with me to spend time with
all my couple friends, but for now im just fine being the third or fifth wheel.

however: i just keep seeing how love changes people. changes everything.

• i have watched a friend who swore she would never get married right out of collegehead straight down that path.
  
• i have watched my friend who HATES planning, plan for the sake of love, to make room for love to flourish and grow.
• i have seen a friend who hates talking on the phone spend countless hours in conversation
• ...miss independent talk to her man, text, or gchat him every chance she gets.
  
• ...i have seen thoughtless guys turn into magnificent creators, all for love.
  
• ...i have seen career woman abandon her career dreams to follow his.
  
• ...the one who does not like to run, will run twice a day if it means that she can run with him.
  
• ... he will eat thai food, even if he is allergic, if that is what she wants ...

you get my drift. you probably got it a long time ago. i see the sacrifices, and maybe thats why this road is not cut out for me yet, im still way too selfish, and im just not there yet. but im learning, and as my friend Landon Pigg says,

"Fairy tales can come true
It could happen to you
You're young at heart
For it's hard, you will find
To be narrow of mind
If you're young at heart
You can go to extremes with impossible schemes
You can laugh while your dreams fall apart at the seams
And life gets more exciting with each passing day
And love is either in your heart or it's on its way ... "
but its worth every treasure on earth to be young at heart.

i just know that i want love to change me. mix me up, and rearrange me.
i want to look more soft when i look at the one i love.
i want to die to any selfish desire for the sake of the one i love.
i want to surrender my plans and dreams for the pursuit of the dreams of my beloved. i want to say in this line that i believe that it will happen.
but i doubt. a lot.

[my friend cara jane and i are reading this book right now, and i must steal part of her inclusion because it just makes the point here. thanks ceej]

we are currently reading a book called the shack, by william p. young. in chapter 8, God is explaining to the main character, mackenzie, why humans have such a hard time trusting that reality is bigger than the small, incomplete picture that we see:

"The real underlying flaw in your life, Mackenzie, is that you don't think that I am good. If you knew I was good and that everything--the means, the ends, and all the processes of individual lives--is all covered by my goodness, then while you might not always understand what I am doing, you would trust me. But you don't...Mackenzie, you cannot produce trust just like you cannot 'do' humility. It either is or is not. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. Because you do not know that I love you, you cannot trust me."

i do know the greatest love that truly has changed everything.
but it seems that i have a long way to go, and it still has an endless amount to change in me.

HIS LOVE is changing everything, even me.

stories.

Well, I have had a pretty interesting week and a half. Everything from getting arrested and going to jail, to having internship interviews, recording in Nashville, starting a job in Auburn ... and now I am listening to Band of Horses and chillin.

WELCOME: SB2K8. 

I have pondered many things in these recent weeks, and one thing keeps recurring. 

Redemption. I have had conversations about death, healing, homosexuality, divorce, addiction, 

freedom, marriage, bondage, justice, grief, love, pain, and victory. So, as you can imagine, my mind has been on overload, and thinking ninety to nothing. 

If you know me well at all (or maybe even not so well) you know that I am big on vulnerability. 

At times, I myself am vulnerable to a fault. I have my trust issues, for sure, but most of the time I am trusting to a fault. However, I find myself so often wishing that others were more vulnerable. I know much of this is because I find that I just love people and have a genuine care and concern for them, but I believe someone in this last week articulated what echos in my heart on this issue. So I will share it with you. 

She said:

"I find that all too often I

exalt the good,

diminish the bad, 

and hide the ugly ... 

and that is not fair to the Lord because it lowers the power of His redemption."

WOW. That hit me when she said that, because thats just it. No matter what it is, whether an issue I listed above, or another, there is beauty in telling, and there is life in sharing, and redemption in trusting. 

Be wise with who, how, and when you tell. 

But let me challenge you to just share it. 

Branch out, be brave, and share the power of His redemption.