Reminded of the Lord's FAITHFULNESS...

[Just a little bit of truth that is on my heart this day.]

He is my provider...

He knows my needs, and fills what is empty. He is my All in All... my Everything.

He knows how I receive love and puts people in my life to express that love to me. I know that God IS love and this is from Him. I'm so grateful for relationships.

He sees my heart and understands who I am.

He is slow to anger and abounding in love. Oh yes, abounding in LOVE.

He desires to spend time with me...

God's love is MORE: more than I know, more than I expect, more than I can understand. I'm blown away by this intense, unconditional love.

He knows my desires. He tells me to DELIGHT in Him...

He makes ALL things new.

He fights for me and restores me. He reminds me of what I know to be TRUTH. This truth I can rely on and trust. God does not lie. He is trustworthy.

He sees what worries me and brings peace. Through encouragement, rest, energy, community - He brings peace that surpasses my limited understanding.

I know that I'm not who I was... there's evidence of that in me TODAY: I'm not stressed or overwhelmed or anxious about the end of the semester... I'm not worried about money because of opportunities that God has provided to meet my needs... I'm not insecure about making friends because I see the AWESOME people He has put in my life...

It's all about the little things. :)

Today has been a WONDERFUL day!

After a full day of babysitting yesterday, I slept GREAT. (this helps to start off a wonderful day.)


Then I went to church and hung out with some pretty awesome first graders and we learned that "You can have joy because God keeps His promises." This makes me so excited!!! I love that these kids just GET it. They understand that God is trustworthy. I pray that I would truly have faith like a child.

Then I was blessed by a surprise phone call from Miss. Danielle Mitchell - one of my customer care interns from Acquire the Fire Operations last year. I love this girl! It was so nice to hear from her. She graduates from the internship in a week - I'm so proud!

Then I got to video chat with my good friend, Meghan Crist and her precious daughter, Emma! Skype is SO fun - It makes a world of difference to actually SEE the person's face when you chat. I love that. It's like we're actually hanging out together. :)

Then... burdened by the amount of procrastination I've been doing on my American Lit paper, I packed up everything and headed over to Moxie Java to write it up in style (i.e. "with a coffee."). This must've helped, because I just finished it! What a load off. The best part of my afternoon at Moxie is that a friend from life group works here and she gave me a DELICIOUS Christmas cookie for free! Also - another friend from life group stopped by to work on homework with me. I just love community!

[Just look at that huge Christmas cookie!! Such great motivation for finishing that paper. :) ]

To top it all off, I have more clarity as to what next semester will look like and I'm really looking forward to going home for Christmas in two weeks - both are very exciting things. After a confusing day on Friday (see a couple posts ago), the peacefulness of today has been extremely welcomed. Thank you, Lord!

Wow... I think I could listen to this song all day

Jason Morant - "Love Song"

I suggest you listen to it.

"Where can I go / Where can I run from you / You're everywhere
You know all my thoughts / you see through my ways / And still you come to me"

Thank you, Jesus!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_97Bd5W0gU

Follow Up -

In response to my own post from last night:

I know that my PURPOSE as a Christian is to know God and make Him known. In every season of my life, no matter how different each of them look/feel - I pray that this would be my heartbeat. My purpose is to SERVE Him - I am not serving God less just because I'm not at Teen Mania. He can use me in my family, my church, my life group - and those things are just as important as what I did in Texas. I loved mentoring interns/GIs and being a part of their lives - but I can do that HERE, it just takes time to get to know people and get involved. God still uses me today. I need to be obedient to what He has for me HERE, because I do believe that it's important. (or else I wouldn't be here - I could be anywhere right now! But God brought me to Boise.)

I just love this song - "The More I Seek You"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI_1YliutzA&NR=1

In other news: It's snowing again this morning and I'm about to go watch Channing and Gannon for a few hours this afternoon.... maybe I'll make another snowman. :)

Post-Teen Mania Ponderings...

I'm sitting on my bed, nibbling on a scrumptious piece of lindor milk chocolate, writing in my journal by lamplight and a string of colored Christmas lights. It's been "one of those days." Not a BAD kind... just a WEIRD kind. Do you ever get to the end of a day and just think, "Huh. Well, I'm not really sure what I did today..." It just feels strange. I did, indeed, do things today: I had a great morning watching Channing and Gannon, I made a snowman (see pictures below), I got my car fixed (Praise the Lord!), I started outlining some ideas for my American Lit paper... and I took a nap. That's about it.

So I started out journaling to analyze this weird-emotional feeling I have... and I came up with this thought: I think I'm still trying to figure out what life looks like outside of Teen Mania.

I'm stuck on this question: What in the world am I supposed to be doing with my life right now?! What was the purpose of today where I sat at the windshield repair shop? For the three years I was at Teen Mania, I had a schedule to follow... rules/guidelines... God-fearing people all around me... so now that I am OUT of that environment, how do I stand on my own? Now that there isn't a person or a program telling me what my life will look like, what will I make my life look like?

I don't want to be lazy, discontent, unfruitful, or ineffective...

Sometimes it all is so overwhelming. I didn't have to think about paying rent at TM or saving for groceries (thank you, food allotment checks!). I knew that by going to work, attending any other required activities, and completing assignments for my classes at Tyler Junior College I was meeting the standard. Now, what is the standard? I thought that I was supposed to focus on school right now - that's one of the reasons why I left TM - then why am I only taking the same amount of classes that I took while I was AT Teen Mania?

I do love it here... there is just so much that I don't understand. Tomorrow's a new day. It's okay not to understand. I will trust and obey. I just don't know WHAT to obey... what are you telling me, Lord?

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

This week has been so fun! We got home from the snow in McCall just in time for more snow in Boise! Too bad my "snow day" landed on a day that I already didn't have class or work. Oh well! We enjoyed it anyways. Here are some pictures from the first big snow of the season! I do miss Texas sometimes... but this is one of the reasons I love being back in the North. The snow just adds to the celebration of this season as I write Christmas cards, listen to Christmas music, and bake cookies.

Me & my snowman :-)

I just love this picture of Josiah!

Jamie & Josiah ready for our walk to Tully's to get coffee.

Robbie shoveled out my car that night so I could get to work by 6:00 the next morning!

I hope you're enjoying preparing for Christmas! What a wonderful holiday to celebrate and remember the birth of Jesus!

~ Thankful Thursday ~

What are you THANKFUL for today?

Just because Thanksgiving has come and gone doesn't mean that we STOP keeping a heart of gratitude. Gratefulness is healthy. Remember that today as things come up that try to bring discontentment... there is MUCH to be thankful for!

I'm grateful for...



1. Our snow day yesterday! Apparently we're supposed to get a few more inches tonight. Wow! [I'll post more pictures later!] It was such a fun day... and I absolutely LOVE snow, so it was a wonderful surprise to get TWICE as much as they expected. I'm so glad I invested in those snow boots last week... I've already gotten a lot of wear out of them!


2. God's provision - in so many ways, but emotionally and financially are the first that come to mind. God is so good!!

3. The semester is over in 13 days! Then a month off of school and a trip to Portland to see friends & family and to read a lot. Yeah... that's my plan. :)

4. Monday night accountability via skype with two wonderful friends who live across the country. [I wish I could go see them face-to-face.]

5. Fireplaces. I love the homey, cozy feel of fire in a fireplace... especially with Christmas stockings hanging on the mantel.



6. Golden Delicious Apples



7. The peace of God on UNpeaceful days.



8. Random text message/emails/etc with encouragement from a friend.



9. A full night's sleep.



10. My mom! I really miss her a lot. I'm glad she responds to my random text messages... I'm so excited to see her in 16 days!