Music

         I love music. It is like an invisible ribbon that dances around you and brings a little magic to the ordinary. Someone once told me that my husband and I were chronic music listeners. Meaning that we always have it playing. And I will admit, it's true. One of my favorite things is singing at Church. I love to open the song book and watch as the notes on the page come to life. There is something simply beautiful that happens when a multitude of voices come together and the parts blend to create a masterpiece of sound. Then, when the piano drops out and all that is heard is voices, I can't help but smile. It's beautiful, it's simple, it's a gift. So, no matter what you are dealing with today, crank up the music, close your eyes and sing out loud. Allow yourself to get lost in the sound, the dance, the wonder. And know that the One who gave us the music sings over you! Happy Saturday.

Zephaniah 3:17
"The Lord your God is with you;
      his power gives you victory.
   The Lord will take delight in you,
      and in his love he will give you new life.
   He will sing and be joyful over you."

"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." ~Victor Hugo

The Hand

       The girl was walking through the field and her heart was heavy. She felt so alone and the sun seemed to have disappeared behind a cloud with no intention of coming back. Her shoulders stooped because in her hands was the largest of rocks. It was bound in ropes of fear, anxiety and doubt. The girl's steps grew slow and soon she was simply standing there with tears running down her face. Suddenly He was standing next to her with a sad look in His eyes. She looked at Him and suddenly the weight in her hand seemed so much heavier, and she said, "Why aren't you helping me with this? You promised to hold my hand on this journey and yet, here I am with this giant rock."
        He smiled a sad smile and replied, "I promised to hold your hand and be with you through the thick and thin, but you can't hold my hand when you are holding onto that load. You have to give it to me so that your hands will be free to hold mine."
        The girl looked down at the boulder in her hands, it was garish and unsightly and oh so heavy. Could she do it? she wondered. Could she really simply just hand it over? He reached out his hands and waited. She pulled back slightly, suddenly feeling protective of the heavy mess in her hands.  He said, "Will you give it to me? Will you let me hold your hand?"
        Hesitantly the girl took a step forward and moved toward handing Him the rock. A though flashed across her mind, would she really be able to simply let go of this burden that had been weighing her down for so long? Then, she just let it go. And suddenly, she realized that the boulder was gone. She looked up and He smiled at her, in his hands was the tiniest of pebbles.  As she watched the pebble continued to shrink to nothing more than a speck of dust and then it was gone.
        The girl felt a smile form on her lips and a laugh began to bubble within her. He threw back his head and laughed with her. A joyous, full, laugh. He looked into her eyes and said, "When you give your giants to me, they becoming nothing. You see, I have it under control. What seems impossible to you is easily handled when you let Me have it."
      The girl looked down at her hands and relished the delicious freedom that was there. Then, she reached out and slipped her hand into His.
   
"Close your eyes, Clear your heart, Let it go." ~Uknown

Home

        I'm excited about this weekend because of many things. First of all, it's a four day weekend for me and the sun is shining, secondly my husband and I get to go home and spend some time with my family and the third thing that is making my heart smile today is that this weekend is the anniversary of when the love of my life asked me to be his forever. But, it's the second thing that I wanted to talk about...Home.
        I love it when we get the chance to go home. My parents have always told me that no matter what, I can always come home and that is something special. My Dad and Mom have a house that is a true home. It's a place where life happens and where you are loved. It's a place that smells like fresh baked bread and cookies. It's a noisy place because I still have little sisters running around and it's a treasure trove of memories.
        As I have been thinking about homes, I realized that since I've moved and gotten married my in-laws house has also become a home to me. Spending time with my husband and his family is one of my favorite things to do on a weekend. To know that I am welcome there to be just who I am puts a smile in my heart.
        I am so truly blessed to be surrounded by love and a place called home. And all of this has led me to have a desire in my heart. I want to create a home with my husband. A place where people feel free to just stop by and be themselves. A place where love happens and life happens. A place where friends gather and memories are made. I want my house to be a place where people know that they can come to when they need a fix of home. I have been blessed, let me share it with you.


"The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned." ~Maya Angelou

Joshua 24:15b
"But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”  

Summer Love

      Today I woke up a little before the alarm clock and listened as a bird softly sang outside my window. School is done and Summer break is upon me. There are oh so many adventures just waiting to be had, Laughs to be shared, Memories to make and Dreams to dream. I have a whole list of things that I want to do this summer. I want to perfect my sewing skills and make myself a dress. I want to get back to playing the piano. I want to ride my bike and splash through a few puddles. I want to read a lot of books and I want to watch the fireflies dance with the love of my life by my side. But most importantly, this summer, I want to rediscover the love that God has for me. I realize that I have not always allowed myself to accept that unconditional love, to simply rest in His grace. And so, my goal is learn how to let go and simply be. To live and to laugh and love and to be loved. My prayer is that you too can learn to rest in His love today. Know that the Father's heart is for you and that He desires for you to be all that you can be. He won't let you go, sit back and allow yourself to be wrapped in the arms of the One who will never fail you. Have a great day!

The Prairie

       My Grandpa is a prairie man. What I mean by this is that he has literally planted several prairies around on his property. He spends hours out collecting wild seeds that he finds on his country drives. Now technically it takes about a 100 years for a prairie to truly be considered a prairie. But that is besides the point. I was thinking about these prairies the other day. They are so beautiful, offering up a blaze of colors every summer. They are wild and untamed and free.
        But sometimes, prairie fires happen. They rip their way through the tall grasses, bringing the once beautiful landscape to a chard mess. At first, this seems devastating, the beauty is gone and everything seems dead. But guess what, that fire is actually a good thing. It makes way for the prairie to grow back even stronger.
       It occurred to me that life is sometimes like this, we go along and everything seems beautiful and perfect and then suddenly, out of the blue, trouble strikes. These experiences often leave us feeling hopeless and abandoned. Why did it happen? why is the beauty gone? why am I left in a pile of burning ashes? And that is when the One who desires for use to be all that we can be gently whispers in our ear, "just wait, allow Me to grow you back, stronger than ever."
       Bad things do happen in life, but if we can't allow them to destroy us. Trust in the One who gave you life, lean on Him, and with His help, know that you will grow back. Be it depression, fear, financial troubles, lost loved ones etc. I encourage you to just hold on. There is beauty ahead. Even if it would seem as though all hope is lost, it's not. There is always hope for tomorrow. Allow yourself to come back stronger than ever and be ready for a new adventure.

"Healing does not mean going back to the way things were before, but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God." ~Ram Dass

Silence

       I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep last night and I started to listen to the silence around me. And suddenly, I began to hear the gentle, sweet, song of nighttime. The clock beat out it's steady tick-tock, my husband's breathing turned to a slow, steady rhythm as he drifted off and the rain rapped a lazy pattern on the window. As I was laying there listening, I started to think about that verse in the Psalms that say, "Be still, and know that I am God." Can you imagine that, the God of the Universe is asking you to just slow down and take some time to be with Him. He's calling us into a deeper, closer walk with Him. To truly know His heart and who He is. So, slow down and listen. What is God whispering into your ear?

Psalm 46:10
"Be still and know that I am God."

"We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature-trees, flowers, grass-grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...We need silence to be able to touch souls" ~Mother Teresa

Smile

      The past few days have been simply delicious. There really is no other way to describe them. The sun has been shining and the breeze has been warm on my face and I've had a lot of reasons to smile. For example, I smiled when I walked on a frozen lake in 70 degree weather in March. I smiled, when a friend of mine and I tried our hand at metal working...We made more noise than anything, but it was fun. I smile when I hear the kids playing outside as the breeze floats in through my open windows. I smile when the love of my life gives me a hug and kisses my forehead. I smile because I get to walk home from school everyday in this beautiful sunshine. I smile because my life is full of people that are there for me. I smile because I can smell Spring in the air. I smile because it feels so much better than a frown. And I smile because, regardless of how I may feel at times and regardless of what fear may try to tell me, I am loved by the One who gave me this life. And you know what is really amazing, the One who has given us these days looks at us and smiles, because we are His. So today, look for something to smile about. You might just be surprised at what you find.

"A laugh is a smile that bursts."  ~Mary H. Waldrip


"I've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful."  ~Author Unknown

Spring

      The weather outside makes me want to jump up and down, wear lots of colors, dance through puddles and smile. Sunshine is definitely magic to the soul! It never ceases to amaze me how spring comes. Winter seems to drag on forever, and I always begin to wonder if the sun will ever come back to play. And year after year, right when I least expect it, the sunshine starts dancing, the temperature starts rising and you can just smell a change in the air. I love spring because it always feels like a promise. A promise of new things to come, adventures, and hope.
      Hope, where would we be without it? Sometimes in life, it feels as though all hope is gone. You come up against a problem and everything seems impossible. You wonder if you will ever get around, through or past the mountain in your way. And yet, just when you are about to give up to the impossible, the light shines and suddenly you have the strength to keep moving on.
      And that is what spring reminds me off. It reminds me that God is good and that He never leaves us without hope. We all go through seasons of winter in our lives, times that seem impossible. But it is these times, that allow us to better appreciate the spring. They remind us to keep moving on because God has good things ahead for us. And, if we can just hold on and trust in Him, the spring will come.
      So, if you are at a time of winter, don't give up. Do you feel alone? don't give up. Are you tired? Don't give up. Are you afraid? Don't give up--Seek His face no matter what you feel, and trust in Him. And soon, a warm spring breeze will begin to dance across your face. A promise... and hope begins to grow.

Matthew 19:26
 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says, "I'm Possible."
~Audrey Hepburn

The Journey

     Have you ever read those verses in James that talk about being joyful in hard times because in the end they will make you stronger and build character. Well I have, and I always thought that if that was the case then I didn't really want any more character. But something has been stirring in my heart the past couple of weeks and I'm learning something.
    All of my life, I have been a worrier. From the little things to the life changing moments, I have allowed worry and fear to play a role in every aspect of my life. And sadly, I allowed fear to cloud my perception of God and how He sees me. The past months I have been going through some very hard times. Call it fear, call it depression, call it a lack of trust. Whatever you call it, it has been taking me apart and invading my life. And through it, there have been times when I have felt like God has deserted me. I've begged God to take it away and time and again He's asked me to trust Him. And I start to cry and say,"God I'll trust You, if You make me feel better. I'll trust You, if you make Yourself more clear to me. I'll trust You, if you come stand in front of me and talk to me in person." But I've been learning that that is not trust. Trusting means believing even if the lies and fear feel so very real. Trusting means knowing that God is right there beside me, even if it feels like He is miles away. Trusting means not always knowing it or feeling it, but believing regardless.
    God has asked me to trust Him on a couple of things and when I haven't, I've begun to spiral down into fear. Through these months, I've asked why this is happening to me. And finally, something has been occurring to me. I could have gone on the way I always have been. Allowing little fears and worries to have control. I could have gone on knowing God and loving Him but always having a slight fear that He was mad or that I just didn't measure up, and I would have survived. But you know what, God didn't create us--you and me--to just merely survive. He created us to thrive in Him. To know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He loves us and delights in us.
     And I truly believe, that If I can learn the lesson of trust and deeply root it in my heart, that I will get through this time and that things will be forever different. Maybe, just maybe God is using this time in my life to shake me up and teach me something beyond my wildest dreams. I'm tired of settling and I'm tired of fear. And as I've been going through these hard times the words of James are slowly becoming more clear to me. God is for me, and God is going to bring me through stronger than ever. And you know what, whatever your story is, He's got big plans for you too. Trust in Him.

James 1:2-4
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly." ~Richard Bach

Fear

    Do you ever struggle with fear? Maybe you don't even always realize it but somehow a doubt, fear or worry works its way into your mind and before you know what happened you are sharing your life with a dark cloud that just won't seem to go away. I know that I personally have fought with fear all of my life. The worries have changed over the years, but the root of the problem has not. I was thinking about this the other day and it occurred to me that fear is like a cancer. When you least expect it it sneaks in and begins to sap your strength and take over your life. The sad thing is that we all to often except this as something that we just have to deal with. Thus, we end up giving it more control by thinking that the fear is true and right. And when we look at a fear and say that it must be true, we hand it the controls to our lives. The more power that we allow the fear to have in our lives the stronger it will become and the deeper its roots will grow. This is starting to sound hopeless and depressing, but it doesn't have to be. Jesus, the One who loves you more than you will ever know, is the Master Healer. If we will allow Him, He will begin to cut away the fear and bring restoration and healing. The key here is that we have to let Him. If we continue to believe that our fears are true and give them power over our lives, we are not fully trusting that the God of the universe loves us, wants the best for us, and will never leave us. And, when we don't trust Him, we shut the door to letting Him help us. Another thing that I've noticed in my struggle with fear is that I sadly don't always know what to do when the fear is gone. It's like I've lived with worry so long, that when I feel that reassuring peace of the Father seep into my heart I question if it's real. I'm so accustomed to doubt and fear that I've sent them up as the truth. But there is so much hope for you and for me. Because God says that there is no fear in Him. So my challenge to you today is to open your heart and let it go. Allow the healing hands of the Father to hold you close and touch your heart. There is so much more to life that is just waiting for us to trust in God with our whole hearts. Those fears, they are not from God. Let them go.

1 Timothy 1:7
"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."

Beauty

Today is beautiful. If you can't see it yet, start looking. The sun is shining, the air is crisp, it's the start of a brand new week. Can you see it yet? You are surrounded by people, and everyone of them is different and unique. There is music in the air, open up your heart and let it in. Can you see it yet? You are blessed, you are loved, you are important? Can you see it yet? The beauty is there, you just have to look. And most importantly you are loved by the God who created all of this beauty. I woke up this morning and a verse ran through my head, "His mercies never end, they are new every morning." That means that today is brand new, yesterday's mistakes are in the past and the beauties of today are for today. So, stop living in yesterday and start living today. Open your eyes to what God has right in front of you. Can you see it yet? It's beautiful.

Lamentations 3:22-24
"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases. His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in Him."


"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson