Target and Mark

"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble....the Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear, or be dismayed." Deuteronomy 31:6,8

~I do believe these verses will hold a special places in my heart for the rest of my life.~

Almost three years ago, I, at age 17, had my car all ready to leave the next morning to start live away from my family up in Michigan. It was a Wednesday night, so after meeting they had a little good bye party for me. One of the men came up and had me read the above verses, and some surrounding them. He said "Now darlin', you are going into enemy territory." (For those of you don't know, enemy territory means the North.) But then he reminded me that no matter where life would take me, the Lord would go before me and they would be praying.

Then tonight, two days before I am leaving Michigan, I was given a little plaque with these verses on them as a going away present.

Many things have changed between that first night and tonight ---circumstances, thoughts about things, relationships with people, and experiences. But it is great to be reminded again that no matter where I go, the Lord is going before me.

Yesterday I found these cute little guys in the wood box. They are so tiny and just at the point where their eyes are opening up. They are helpless. They lay in the box on top of each other to keep warm, waiting for their mom to come feed them. Yeah, I am pretty much the same way...we all are, actually, pretty helpless. But God is worthy of my trust.

"In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed; deliver me in thy righteousness."

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart..."

"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him..."


The Lord has His ways of showing me He knows me better than I know myself...my needs, wants, and the desires of my heart. There have been several seemingly insignificant circumstances that the Lord has placed in my life this week to show me that He cares and that He is there.
And while the kittens are oh so cute, I hate cats. I named these Target and Mark. :)

Springtime.

The Beloved Chair

Last fall, Christina and I went on a walk. After a few minutes we stumbled across a chair. Sitting all alone at the end of a driveway. The leaf cover orange leather was torn and dirty. I. fell. in. love. It was awkward to carry back, so I pushed it down the dirt road. You should have seen the looks. Barb let me keep it to add a flair of color to my corner of the office.

Well, today, when I got back to the Barn, my chair was no longer there. Christopher is up for a visit, so he is taking it back with him to North Carolina. I will get it from him once I move south. So, I shall see it again. But the desk does seem a bit empty without it.

The real story is that I had always wanted to blog about finding the chair, but never did. Then it just got to the point that it would be weird if I did write about it for no good reason because it happened so long ago. So in the end, today was just my excuse for being able to blog about my beloved chair.

Life is not all black and white pictures.....

The above is what my room has been looking like the past few days. Clothing all out of sorts, empty walls, boxes of junk, suitcases open and half packed. Most of the time the bed is full of stuff so I don't even make it. It is big enough for me to sleep on one side and push the stuff, mostly a hodge podge of books, to the other. A far cry from this. Most of the time I am really organized and cannot go to sleep unless the room is picked up, clothing put away and the books nicely lined up on self. Not so after the past week or two. Why all the choas?

MOVING! Yup, I am moving. This time it will be back to the good ole AUG. That's right Augusta. My hometown. While I have wanted to move back there, I never thought that I actually would. But then God stepped in as only He could, working things out in ways that I would never concoct on my own. Anyway, through several different circumstances, desires of my heart, open doors, and people, God has made His next step for me perfectly clear.

So I am moving to Augusta sometime in the next 10 days. I will be living with some very dear friends of mine and a few extra girls. There will be six of us all together in the house. I am looking forward to all the adventures that will bring! I am looking forward to time with my siblings and the rest of my family, being back at Believers, hanging out with friends, getting to know my neighbors, and serving my Lord and be a blessing to people in the place of my childhood....a place where when I go to Walmart I meet five people I know....and everyone else there at least knows one of my brothers or sisters, or my grandparents, or used to date my dad, or went to school with mom, or something like that.

And to tell you the truth, I am scared to death. I want to share the gospel with the people God puts in my path, but I rejection does not sit well with me. I mean, what will my roommates think when I go knock on the neighbors' door with a plate of cookies and gospel literature? How what I have learned in daily life? What will it be like to share Christ with someone who works with me day in and day out and not just someone I meet at the end of an open air meeting?

Basically, what does life really look like? I live with Christians. I work with Christians. I hang out with Christians. And not just Christians, but ones who have similar goals and desire to serve their God. I want to serve the Lord, but I also realize that failure is an option. The challenge will be thrilling, but sometimes mundane. I hope that my tune will be "I just keep trusting my Lord....He will see me through."

Last night a group of college and career age people that I hang out with got together over at Christina's. Most Tuesdays we meet at a coffee shop called Tim Horton's. They have a sweepstakes going on right now, where you roll up the rim of your cup and it lets you know if you win our not.
Last Tuesday, the only sweepstakes cups that where left were the extra large. So we all pulled our change and bought a couple hot chocolates. And proceeded to act like complete goof balls. Oh, and both times we got the "Please Play Again" Anywho, last night I was given an extra large roll up the rim cup from Tim Horton's which everyone signed as a going away present. And in keeping with our luck, I won a "Please Play Again" Those people are going to be dearly missed.


And finally, when I was going through some papers at a very ungodly hour last night, I found this with a letter on the back from one of my sisters a couple of years ago. It warmed my heart. And brightened my face.

Downtown

Royal Oak. Saturday we were going go back out to the streets with the paintboard because it has been nice and warm the past few days. But with April sunshine comes April showers. When I got there, it looked like the sky was about to erupt.
So we followed the good ole advice.... Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. We went to dinner and for coffee :)


And in case you have not noticed, I have really had a thing for black and white pictures recently.

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Random Unexpected Holiday

Last week was Secretaries' Day. I was given these along with a lovely note. It cheered my day. Thank you, Barb!

A Shepherd in the Shadows

"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil....
...for THOU art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me....
...surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Trusting the Shepherd..... My flesh revolts against yielding to Him, but once I am there, there is perfect, blissful peace! And there is nothing greater.

Saving Mr. Oreo

Today we went exploring again, or as the boys like to call it, "on an adventure". We went down the bike path to the bridge, then climbed down to the creek. We hiked along the creek for a while, admiring the different forms of springtime. One of the boys enjoyed pointing out things that were not natural, like bottles and plastic. Then he pointed this out....

O big ole bear right in the middle of a fork in the creek. I went down to get him and discovered that he was huge and water logged! I felt bad leaving him there, because I thought that would make me an assistant in the littering. So I carried him back. We named him Mr. Oreo because half of him is perfectly white and the other half is disgusting. Right now he is sun bathing outside Chrisitna's apartment. I think the boys want to take him home with them, but I do not think they will have much luck with that. He will probably take a nice long vacation to the dump after they leave.

Christina heard that Mr. Oreo may have ended up where he was at in the creek, because of a break up. Whoever owned him was just so feed up with the relationship that they dumped him the river. What else is there to do with a giant bear holding a heart that says "I love you?"

Any other thoughts on his life before we met him?

Craziness

It was Crazy Hair Night last night at Awana. This was my coloring sheet.

Simple Delights

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies.


But Grandma, they would be better warm!

Today I went "exploring"....

....and I made it back alive. Thanks for asking :)

Ahh the memories.....

.....you have no idea how many came back when seeing this picture.

FYI

Over at The Ezekiel Project's blog there are pictures and such posted from the work at the Masters last week. You can also sign up for a weekly e-mail devotional and for the electronic newsletter. Enjoy!

Humility

After years of thinking and then forgetting the thought, that I should, I am finally reading through Andrew Murray's Humility. Its not always the most fun thing, but at other times its so exciting and liberating. He has a way of packing a powerful punch in just a few words. Here are some of my favorite thoughts:

* "...as we lose ourselves in the overwhelming greatness of redeeming love, humility becomes to us the consummation of everlasting blessedness and adoration."
* "....nothing is more natural and beautiful and blessed than to be nothing, that God may be all..."
* "...the relation of the creature to God could only be one of unceasing, absolute, universal dependence."
* "...it [humility] alone takes the right attitude before God, and allows Him as God to do all."
* "...humility is simply acknowledges the truth of his position as creature, and yielding to God His place."
* "...the being and doing nothing of ourselves, that God may be all."
* "His service is our highest liberty."
* "My one need is humility."

Another week

This week has been interesting for me....
*I had some stomach issues most of the week, and that kept me from going and doing. If you know me, life is pointless if you are not actually DOING something. The Lord left us here to work so I must work!! Well, um, obviously He had something else it store. Pretty much a reality check of who He is and what He wants from me....complete dependence. I love being there, but the lessons I have to learn to get there, are not always so much fun.
* I learned a lot about the importance of prayer through that time of seeming "nothingness"
* A friend of mine had the compassion to challenge me and some of the way I have been thing about things. It has caused me to think even more. I have not been honest with myself either... When I reach some conclusions I may share.
*I have spent time with the majority of my family this week, and have realized again how much I love them.
*When I took the above picture with Papa, he asked me, "Does this mean that it is going to end up on your blog?" "Of course." was my answer.
*I need a good dose of compassion for people.
*I leave to go back to Michigan tomorrow, and then life will drastically change. But more on that later.
*A young girl from my church in Georgia recognized me from back in January. Made my day :) Her joy is pretty contagious.
*"Free at last, free at last! Thank God I am free at last, has been the chant of my day. "
*and the best news of all....My Savior lives!

"Therefore, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

Pictures

I some pictures up from the last few weeks of my life. So you can go back and look at the pictures that go along with the posts I have written.

April Showers

A walk in the rain. Sitting by the lake. Playing with the camera. Singing because no one could hear. Rejoicing in my God.
A nice unexpected twist to my morning.

Chess

When Andrew was up in Michigan last week, we played a lot of chess. Mr. Don faithfully taught Andrew the lay of the land. When he first started, all he would do is mimic what you did. That gets aggravating pretty quick. Mr. Don asked a lot of questions like, "If I did this, what should you do?" "If you did that, what would be my move?"
Drew learned that to be a good chess player, predicts what happens several moves ahead. One move changes the whole game. Every move matters.
The same is true in life. The decisions I make today, affect the ones I will have to make tomorrow. Every action matters.
The thought of making the wrong decisions makes me apprehensive, but looking on to what is best, knowing that it is out there, thrills me to no end.

Coffee

I made a pact with myself that I would never be addicted to something so much that I would have to have it to function properly. So I only drink coffee occasionally. I say I am a social drinker.
Well tonight I was hanging out with friends and one of them made iced coffee. Originally I declined, but seeing and smelling it made me long for some. After *much* coercing I gave in.
No big deal, right?
Well the thing about not having caffeine very often is that it works wonders when you do.
So now it is after one and I have to be out the door before seven to head down to the Masters.
I fear the coffee hang over I am going to have tomorrow....
So if you are going to see me, this is your fair warning.
My brain is now finally slowing down, so goodnight.

Back Again...

...to where the sun is shinning, the flowers are blooming, everything is yellow, and friends and family are in abundance.

Henry Ford

Yesterday we went to the Henry Ford Museum with the Bagans and a couple of others. Again, they story is better with pictures, but none today. Andrew loves history and investigating and along with everyone else, tons of somewhat crazy fun was had.

Just Jump

Andrew and I went to the Bay Monday night. The sun was starting to set and the wind was cool. We took some pictures, but I forgot my camera cord thing, so they might be coming later. I have learned not to make promises concerning my blog. But if I do put them up, this is where they will be.