- Perfection -

2 Samuel 22:31-33 *** As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. *** No matter what challenges cross our paths...He is there...making the paths of life straight! He is fighting on our behalf...striving for us to be victorious! His ways are PERFECT and shine bright in the darkest of times...// His plans are something beautiful- in which only He could design! He has no flaw- and His love is made PERFECT in OUR weakness! Embrace His Perfection // Allow Him to Fight // Lean into the Dark // Take up your Shield // Shine the Light // Be Victorious // Give Him the Glory //

-- YOU --

You shine when no one else sees... You grasp light when the dark closes in... You are the ray of hope that pierces the soul...// You are strength when I am weak... You are found when I am lost... You are the grace that floods the soul...// You are the rescuer when I am in trouble... You are the deliverer when I need to surrender... You are the mercy that captures the soul...// You give clarity when questioned... You give favor when it's undeserved... You give unconditional love to the soul...// You allow the soul to shine... You allow the heart to heal... You allow the battle to be won...//

** Pure Joy **

Memories and moments of peace flood my soul and cause me to want to stop time. I wish I could stop time...and freeze it! What I wouldn't give to bottle it up and hold it close til it should be released. I am reminded that God has a purpose and time for all things and all situations. In the midst of a long week, I was reminded of the true meaning of God's timing and how He uses time to protect us. I was also reminded of what it is to have true joy for another person. You know the type of JOY that you wanna bottle up and release when you have a bad day. It's a JOY that has only been granted thru the Lord's peace. There are seasons of JOY...PURE JOY...JOY that the Lord presents as a gift so that we can truly experience His grace. Often times prior to a season of JOY, we go thru valley's where we struggle, and where a battle rages between what is good and what is right...// We have to be diligent thru the valley to see the season of PURE JOY! In the valley there are times to remain still and to be ever present with the Lord...to see His beauty...to feel His love...to know His heart...to hear His voice..and to feel His grace and mercy within the soul. To feel PURE JOY...is a gift...the gift of knowing that once you have endured time and allowed His Spirit to protect and guide...He will allow you to shine. Every day there is the PURE JOY...of knowing that I serve a God who makes my JOY complete! He may give me times of trouble, frustration, and hardships...but it's not to steal my JOY...but to make my JOY stronger and to purify my soul. ** May you find PURE JOY in the memories and moments of peace that flood the soul **

Risks are Released...//

What I feel...is sometimes super hard to put into words and even more complex to explain to another. Recently, I have been learning about what I feel...and really the true core of how to express what I feel to another. It would be easy to sit down and express these thoughts if they would be accepted out of love and genuine interest...but the risk that they may not is hard to bare...and often stops me from saying what I need to say. This week I had a challenging conversation with a good friend...regarding the fear of knowing what to say...and her not wanting to be rejected. I am reminded that we all face this fear at one time or another...but I honestly told her...SAY WHAT YOU FEEL! Along with speaking what you feel...Speak what you know to be true! Often times we forget that when embracing what we feel, it is foreshadowed by what we know to be true. Before we have a feeling...we have to know truth. We have to speak truth...and truth leads to feelings. Honestly, when we speak what we feel...it should be based upon the truth of what we know. It's not so much fear and rejection that we are afraid of....it's that we are afraid of speaking truth...// When we speak truth...risks are released...and well, the risk could be rejected. In my experience...saying what you feel and embracing truth...has never let me down. Sure, the answer may not have been what I had anticipated nor expected...but truth was spoken...and the feelings were released. There's a sense of peace that comes when we speak truth to another. When you struggle with knowing how to express your feelings and saying them... simply state the truth...for it's perfectly stating what you feel. Not only are feelings released...but they are released thru the truth of what you have spoken...// The best words any ear could hear are when risks are released and spoken by the truth of a feeling.

The Catalyst....//

Swarming thoughts cloud my mind, as I swift thru the past two months of all that I have encountered. Many times this past month, God has reminded me that if I have faith, the size of a mustard seed, He will move mountains. He will fight my battles and bring me forth as gold, for I am humbled to be child of the King. He has opened my heart and given me the desire to surrender and yeild to His amazing plan. When we embrace a spiritual journey with God, He moves, He speaks, He answers, He guides, and He shines His glory into our lives. I am slowly learning that to surrender and yeild, we have to lay down ourselves before Him. Dropping our pride at His feet, and leaving our tattered shapeless hearts for him to mold. It's not about our visions matching His, but His vision becoming ours. It's so much easier said than done. I often times wonder why it can't be simple...for if it was simple: it wouldn't be GOD. He uses HIS plan to shape us to be more like Him, so that we can then be a light to those who are dim. I would love for a simple plan to exist, but when we are children of God, He want's to strengthen and mold us all for His glory. Though the spiritual journey is hard, there are moments of His grace, His mercy, His love, and His joy. That's the beauty of HIM grasping our attention that our lives are HIS and not our own. So as I write: my heart sings Joy...knowing that surrendering is a place of healing...it's the catalyst...that brings us to His Glory. ***This post is still a work in progress***

Chisel away this New Year

*** See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland *** Isaiah 43:19 It's a new year and with a new year comes new things! Not new things in a material sense, but new things, as in lessons learned, growth patterns discovered, and a new found trust. I have struggled with in recent months with trusting the Lord with my future- I have often asked God about his timing and how my life has ended up on a very different path, than I ever antcipated and in many ways ever wanted for myself. The Lord has quickly reminded me recently that I must trust in His timing. That the life He desires for me takes time to create, and that the journey is all about trusting in Him and His time. The Lord reminded me yesterday, that He chisels away at our hearts much like a carpenter chisels away the rough spots in the wood.(Isaiah 44:13) God is the same way with us...He chisels our hearts to mold us to be more like Him and to be His image on this earth. We often times have to step back and allow Him to chisel areas of our hearts that are hardened and even broken. In order to grow and trust Him fully is painful, and He has stated that the Journey would not be easy. I am reminded of how the Lord moved mountains, parted the red sea for Moses, allowed David to take out Golliath, allowed Jonah to be swallowed by a whale, allowed Job to lose everything, and prepared Ruth for Boaz. He did not just allow these occurrances to happen to these people, they were purposed...divinely planned-- He chose these individuals, taught them how to live faithfully and chiseled away at their hearts to have HIS destiny fulfilled on this earth. It has been my desire to live with this same kind of faith...that these indivduals did. It wasn't easy for them, and they each struggled in their own way to live out the faith that God had called them to display. For each of these stories it was their faith and trust that pulled them through and allowed them to overcome and their journeys to be testaments of the Lord's great love. Their personal stories are outlined to encourage us and allow us to live they did...by faith. With out faith we can not trust and with out trust we can not truly love. So here's to a new year- one that I can already sense, is gonna be filled with growth in his timing...where the streams in the wasteland become beautiful reminders of His grace-- His mercy-- His peace-- and His love--

31 + 1

Life lessons at 31, seem so different from the life lessons that you learn at 5. I think everyday I learn something new and a lesson that is for my good. Some lessons are easy to learn, however the older I get, the more I realize that lessons learned at 31 are hard. At 31, you are set in your own ways...your own time...and in your own ideals. Life at 31 taught me to trust...even when you don't want to trust. It's taught me that trusting people will often times dissapoint...and that all I need to do is trust in His voice of reason and His ways. Life at 31 taught me that time is precious...from sharing happy moments with friends, to listening to the stories of the lonely strangers on the street. That time is theirs and in those moments of grace...I have learned to be present...and to cherish their time. Life at 31 taught me that my own ideals aren't always the best. They are just simple collaborations of the chords of my heart that sound a tune I like to hear. When my ideals should sometimes be entertaining the the sound of a different tune. Life at 31 taught me that love is not a fairytale...and that often times it will come when it is least expected...and when time stands still. To throw away the ideals of perfection and to accept the heart that shines hope. Above all be willing to trust, enjoy time, and accept different ideals. I hope that in this year of 31+1; I would be granted the opportunity to shine with grace, the lessons that I have learned at 31- and remember that even when I am set in my own way...my own time...and in my own ideals...that these lessons are used to capture the sound of His ways, His time, and His ideals.