monuments built on the brink

I've got too many to count. And I'm sure you do too.

Times when all hope was lost. When you felt like you couldn't take one more step, breathe one more breath, wake up for one more day. You were on the brink.

But then, the Lord showed up. Most likely in a very unexpected way.
A new friend, who really did understand.
An unexpected refund from your car insurance when you weren't sure how you would put food on the table tomorrow.
A moment of perfect peace, in the middle of a raging storm.
A new treatment, for an old disease.

A stream in your figurative desert. . .
A monument built.

And your situation may not have changed permanently. But your perspective on that situation sure did.


I'd love to hear about one of your moments. A time when the Father showed up. And about your monument of remembrance. . .

let me sing

by Caedmon's Call

I will sing for the meek
For those who pray with their very lives for peace
Though they're in chains for a higher call
Their mourning will change into laughter when the nations fall

In spirit poor
In mercy rich
They hunger for Your righteousness
Their hearts refined in the purity
Lord let me shine for them
Lord let me sing
Lord let me shine for them
Lord let me sing

amazing

okay, this is random, but I totally love it. so I wanted to share!

the darkest night

I feel like this thought isn't finished, but the Lord is the one who is going to have to finish it, so for now...

the waves threaten
my boat is tossed
no land I see
my hope is lost

but Jesus my Savior
comes to me

I'm in despair
of life itself
my tears are food
there's nothing else

but Jesus my Savior
comes to me

yep. . .

reading this, my thoughts go to close friends in great pain. pain that the Lord is and will use to make His name great. . .

“Whom God would use greatly He will hurt deeply.”
- A.W. Tozer

a hero's secrets

my Pa, my hero

So, I went out to spend some time with the fam for Father's Day. It was a little crazy inside so I escaped to the porch with my Pa, who just so happens to be my hero.

He likes to talk about birds.


baby birds in a nest he rescued


and their daddy bringing food

I like to ask questions about his life. Today I found out that he was a track star. But got expelled from school after graduation because he cussed out his track coach for not putting him on the list to go to a state meet in Huntsville, AL. Even though he was the best runner on the team.
Instead of going to his graduation he hitchhiked from about 2 hrs away to Birmingham to join the Navy. It was the day before his 18th birthday. Not long after he was on a train to San Francisco.

Hysterical. And not surprising.


me and Elise, who looks so much like me when I was little
scary!


with my granny who I look so much like-scary!

read it!

it's that simple. . .




"So how do we keep the faith, sunny side up, in the face of this maddening mystery side of God? And how can we "recommend" a walk with God when, frankly, he seems to have abandoned us to wallow in our pain, to have shut his ears to our pleas and to have heartlessly left the scene of the accident? What is an honest saint to do when God appears either indifferent or impotent?
This book confronts these issues head-on and offers believers in despair biblical perspective and practical direction that should reinvigorate the spirit of all who regularly heed and apply them. It is about walking with God in times of trouble, about being tested to our socks, about what to do when exptreme pressure threatens our very faith."

switchback

okay, the other was just a little too much for me. deep inside I'm a simplistic, not so frilly girl. who just so happens to love fashion. but not blog fashion . . .

one weird day

a bad logic board on my computer, again-bad

a whole day off work-good

sunburn from the day off-bad

new hair-good

the bank messed up my checking account-bad

a photo I took is being published-good

i can't get my car out of park-bad

fun white pants for summer-good

rain when wearing fun white pants-bad

rocker chic

something new I'm trying for the summer

;-0

I stinkin' L-O-V-E it. . .

and the other side, of course!

up close for the blue eye shadow that matches :)

MY JOURNEY, definitely worth taking

You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.

St. Augustine

This past year has definitely been the hardest of my life.  But in more ways than one, I'm so thankful for it.  Even those moments when I thought I couldn't go on.  I've learned more than I could begin to share with the world.  And constantly prayed that none of it would be in vain. That the Lord would use it in the lives of other people as I share my story and comfort those going through similar experiences.  

As I look back over the last year- the people I've met, had time to spend with, places I've been, time I've been able to spend studying and learning- I wouldn't trade it for anything.  

Everyday I realize more than ever, that my life is not about ME.  How incredibly selfish I am to think that in any way this has been about me figuring out what I want to do.  Who I'm intended to be.  To find the PERFECT JOB for ME.  

I find myself praying, telling the Lord how much I want to do for Him.  And begging Him to let me do it.  Really, how much I want to do?  FOR HIM?  He reminds me that if He were hungry, He wouldn't tell me!

Jesus said that if we seek to find ourselves we will lose ourselves.  If, in other words, we make self-discovery the first order of business in our lives, self-discovery will turn out to be the thing that does not happen.  Jesus goes on to say, "But whoever loses his life for me will find it."  There is a strange irony here-but it makes sense in a world where everything comes from God and exists for God.  If I make God's glory and honor "everything," then everything else, including figuring myself out will fall in line.  But if I make my glory and honor everything, I will be looking at things through the wrong end of the telescope.  Reality will be distorted and far away.  I will miss my true purpose.

A Journey Worth Taking, Charles Drew

?

Not sure what I think of this change.  But it's something different.  I was way bored with the black.

unbelievable

-I work with a bunch of people who don't recognize this song lyric
"my future's so bright, I've gotta wear shades"

-Until 2 nights ago my step dad had never seen an episode of Law and Order
NEVER. SEEN 1 EPISODE. OF LAW AND ORDER. . .

-Average price of gas in Birmingham: $3.85/gallon
when you can't afford to drive to church something is wrong. . .