could you imagine?

Could you imagine a life in which you never knew where you would sleep each night?

One in which you almost wished you were still in jail or on parole, 

because then you at least had people checking up on you?  

Because then at least you weren't alone?

Or one in which people would take one look at you
and cross the street
rather then to walk by you?

A life in which you said "Be safe" when you were 

parting with someone rather than saying 

"See you tomorrow", "Have a great evening" and the like?

Before this past Saturday,

I couldn't have really imagined it either.

..................................

As I stood in the dining room of homeless shelter in a neighboring city, the thought that if Jesus were here today, I could picture Him standing in that room and talking with these people just would not leave me.  Oh, may we walk ever and always with a heart of love towards our God, that we might have eyes to see those that He sees and to love those He loves.

"Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."
Matthew 25:40

a table for nine

Since the summer, we have had the joy of sharing the campus with an extraordinary family.  In the eyes of the world, there truly is nothing ordinary about them.  A young single woman who has adopted seven children and in the process of adopting more.  Oh, here is something so powerful to watch someone surrender all, to joyous give all to Jesus.  To be used by Him in ways unimaginable.  Below is a story written by one of Heather's young daughters.  I remember hearing her read it herself over the summer.  And to this day, I'm not sure if there is something that else that I could point to so definitely as life-changing as that morning when I heard those women share.  May we be a people who always have a 'yes' upon our lips to what the Lord is calling us to do.

 a table for nine

I will never forget the day I first came to my adoptive family. My mother told us she was taking us to a fancy restaurant for a “family night.” I remember walking into this classy restaurant and hearing my mother say,"A TABLE FOR NINE" please. I was a bit confused because I counted and there was only seven adopted kids plus one single momma. I had heard my new mom was a bit eccentric, so I just thought this was one of her moments. Shouldn't we of gotten a table for eight I thought to myself? I recounted all of us and was just confused. As we all sat down, my mom saved a place for someone right next to her. I began looking around wondering who in the world was meeting us for dinner. Who was joining us for "Our Family Night?" At the time I was too scared to even talk, so I just sat there curiously wondering and expecting someone to join us for dinner. My mother began to order and smile and carry on as if nothing was wrong. She began to seriously get on my nerves, and then I couldn't take it anymore. I had to find out who she was saving the seat for.

I will never forget the words that came out of her mouth. "Kids, I want to introduce you to your father." "I have invited him to dinner with us tonight, and would like to tell you all about him." I was shocked. I thought that my new adopted mother was single!? I quickly glance back at the door expecting a man to walk in. I was stunned, as my mother began to talk about a man who would never leave us or forsake us. She talked about His heart and who His character was. She began to describe how he saved her life, and began to tell us all about him. She said she would like to introduce Him to us. I will never forget that moment. The tears just fell from my eyes. I had become so numb and this was the first time I could even feel again. As she began to describe who He was, I felt as if I had already met him. It was a familiar feeling. I can't describe it, but there were many and I mean many nights where I lay bleeding and in pain where I felt His presence. I wanted to die so the pain would stop. When I say pain I mean severe pain. My body was used as a chopping block or a cutting board. I not only felt physical pain as my biological parents would do horrors to me, but I felt such deep heart pain. There were many nights I felt as if someone was carrying me, keeping me warm, and whispering into my ear words of hope. I then realized as my mother began to describe this person who she saved a seat for and claimed to be my father, it was the same person who held me, wiped my tears, and mended my open wounds. That night in a restaurant in Tulsa, Oklahoma I met a man that has forever changed my life.

This man has truly healed me. He is my father and my Doctor. With tears I accepted Jesus into my heart that night. I will never forget the evening when God came to dinner with us, and I officially met him. I will never forget the prayer and tears streaming down my newly adoptive mother's face as she introduced us to the man that had once healed her as well. I will never forget the embrace I got, I never wanted my mom to let go. I didn't just feel her arms around me but God's arms. When she prayed over me and cried over me I promise you this, I saw my father God in her eyes. I didn’t just get adopted by a new family, I got adopted by a father who knows how many hairs are upon my head.

To think that I was once the abused child whose story was plastered all over national television. I will never forget the day my caseworker told my mom not to adopt me because I was too old, too much work, and too sick. I will never forget turning on the news and hearing the reporter say that I had one of the most severe cases of sexual abuse she had ever heard of where the child actually lived. I remember listening to my teacher as she told my mom I was considered mentally retarded because I couldn’t read or write at age eleven. I remember listening to my foster parents whisper about how “homely” looking I was and how messed up my body and teeth are. I remember at school how my peers would tell me they weren’t allowed to play with me because they were afraid to catch some disease or that I would hurt them. I write this to say that God still performs signs, wonders, and miracles. I am now a daughter of a King. I was once lost but now I am found. I was ashes turned into beauty. I was once damaged and broken and now restored and whole. God is reaching His hands out to you today. He has seen your tears, he has cried with you. Let him heal and restore you today. I will never forget the day when my mom said the words, “ A table for nine,” please.

adoption.

Do you know the feeling when what you are trying to communicate is too big for words?  When you are worried that in your stumbling and faltering, something indescribable will become cheapened or lessened?  This season has been one of the Lord so beautifully and perfectly deepening my understanding of the Gospel and though it seems hard, I'm going to try to jot down some thoughts.

Wednesday evening a group of us were able to go to the airport to welcome five children from Ethiopia and a little boy from Haiti.  The Ethiopians had just travelled half way around the world to be part of an international children's choir; the Haitian boy had just been picked up by his forever family and on his way home.  

I remember walking in the airport and first seeing the cheerful circle of orange, as the children and staff of the choir were gathered together.  We walked up, greeting our friends who are on staff with the ministry.  The children were tired - exhausted - after 20 hours of traveling.  They were wearing their matching orange t-shirts and holding onto balloons.  

Reaching out, I snagged the ribbon on one of the little boy's balloons, causing the bright balloon to bob up and down.  His face looked up at mine and a smile lit up his face and eyes.  And right then, something happened in my heart.  

We had such fun - each of us talking in our own language - playing with the balloons.  Up and down, watching the static electricity.  And somehow, I'm still not sure how, they stole a part of my heart and I'm pretty convinced that things will never be entirely the same.  

 

Then we all gathered at the meeting place, for word had passed that the one that we had been waiting for was about to arrive.  How amazing it was to stand there, realizing that the little boy that we have been praying for by name for the past two years, was about to walk there in front of us - to be here.

The elevator doors opened and the newly united family walked out; a Dad, a Mum, a baby sister and a little boy.  And it was then that the Lord showed me a little of the beauty of the miracle of adoption in the Gospel.

How often do we say the words "We are adopted as sons and daughters of the King"?  Yet we say it casually and move on. . .do we really grasp what that means?

Adoption is not just an idealistic concept, or an idea that sounds socially pleasing.  It is a legal and binding decision - a covenant in a sense perhaps - for a lifetime.  It means you take a new name, a new place.  It means that you belong to someone.

This little boy, standing there holding onto his new Dad's hand, had no right or merit of his own that he should be standing there.  Yet he was - and with more rights in this country of the United States of America than this girl does!  All because he was adopted as a son.  

And to think of our rejoicing, the forty or so people from the school and church, when they walked through the doors.  In the same way, what rejoicing there must be in heaven when the Lord presents His sons and daughters.  Oh, how absolutely incomprehensible!

In the next little bit, we are so blessed to be either praying for the adoptions of close friends in our midst or celebrating the arrival of new lives into families.  And we have the joy of having the Ethiopian children right on campus with us. . .as I walked by their dorm this morning I could hear them practicing their songs.  May the Lord continue to reveal His heart and nature in and through all of these circumstances and people.

{scotland} part one

a story in pictures. . .

Over the summer, the Lord opened up the way for a friend and I to spend two weeks in Scotland this fall.  It was an absolutely beautiful time in ways that words can never fully communicate.  The Lord has truly hallmarked this little country in my life and it was such a blessing to go on this trip with a friend who is so surrendered to the Him.  And now, let us end the words and continue with this story in pictures. . .  

so this girl got a plane

and hopped the pond.

and she met her friend

and then they got on a bus

(they rode a lot of buses) 

and then a train

and then a ferry

and ended up on an island.

the isle of eigg in the western Hebrides 

there were many cups of tea

and tramps about and across the island

and walks down by the ocean.

the sheep didn't like us much.

yes, they all lined up and charged at us.  typical sheep behaviour? I think not. 

there was a time to share of Christ and testify to His exceeding greatness, glory and worth.

 ^"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

1 Peter 2:9

And then it was time to travel onward. . .

fall leaves and a quote

a quick snapshot of a local church. . .look at all the lovely leaves and the red door

"A man is what he is on his knees before God, and nothing more."

Robert Murray M'Cheyne

And we're back. . .

the west coast of the isle of eigg

. . .with many Scottish stories, adventures and memories from the
"islands, highlands and cities".
Hopefully an update soon!

Cheers!

bon voyage

and I'm off!

photo credit

The picture is rather deceiving though.  

Rather then taking such charming suitcases, I shall be lugging around a backpack.  

smiles

to walk with courage and peace

photo credit

"To have a master and to be mastered is not the same thing.
To have a master means that there is one who knows me better than I know myself,
one who is closer than a friend, one who fathoms the remotest abyss of my heart and satisfies it,
one who has brought me into the secure sense that he has met and solved
every perplexity and problem of my mind.
To have a master is this and nothing less - 

"One is your Master even Christ."

My Utmost For His Highest, September 22

Oswald Chambers

ex·cite·ment

a feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness.

swings and a catechism

It has been a very long time that this wee corner of the internet has seen anything other than pictures and quotes.  So, just to keep things interesting, I thought I would change things up a little this time.

The time at home again has been such a sweet season.  Setting up a room again (I'm starting to wonder if the Lord is preparing me for ministry among nomads. . .I may have to break the habit of lugging so many books around with me if that is so!).  Being with my family always means much laughter, as my three brothers with their dry sense of humour keeps us all smiling.

And the Lord has provided an opportunity for me to babysit two young girls in the neighbourhood here.  It has been a long time since I've spent my afternoons jumping on trampolines, colouring, painting with water (one of our favourite pastimes) and going to the park.  It has been quite invigorating!

And though days look quite different then they do when I am down at my 'campus-home'; no organizing trips to bring 120 people to the mountains or the park, no answering phone inquiries, or doing all the little random things that come up in a day down there.

A couple of days ago, my Mum came upstairs and asked me the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism ("What is the chief aim of man?")  All of us children have gone through the catechism when we were in grade eight or nine and she just finished doing the first lesson with one of my brothers.  But as I repeated the answer, the Lord used it as such a reminder.  Whether we as His children are here or there. . .doing this or that. . .we are to be given to Him entirely.  So whether today finds us pouring out in ministry or simply swinging at the park, our purpose and commission is the same.

"To glorify God and enjoy Him forever"

to follow

". . .you will regret nothing when you look back, except lack of faith, or fortitude, or love.  

You will never regret having thrown all to the winds in order to follow Your Master and Lord. 

Nothing will seem too much to have done or suffered, when on the end, 

we see Him and the marks of His wounds; 

nothing will ever seem enough. . ."

Amy Carmichael

something to listen to

he who hath given

edinburgh in the spring
photo credit

He who hath given himself entirely unto God, will never think he doth too much for Him.

- Henry Scougal - 

grand adventure

my favourite photo spread and quote from this issue

The new issue of the setapartgirl magazine is out - be sure to check it out online!  

the grand canyon.

spring rain.

.........................................

Outside my window, rain is softly falling on the sidewalk.  

Tis a Scottish evening if there ever was one - 

calling for panpipes, a cup of tea and a good book to read.  

And time to meditate, before the start of a new week

upon my God, who brings life 

and is life and light and joy and peace.  

In His presence there is always fullness of joy.  

it is a mercy

"It is a mercy that our lives are not left for us to plan, but that our Father chooses for us; else might we sometimes turn away from our best blessings, and put from us the choicest and loveliest gifts of His providence”  

susannah spurgeon

a beautiful quote found in this beautiful online magazine

as He clothes the flowers

consider the lilies of the field,

how they grow;

they neither toil nor spin.

yet I tell you, even Solomon

in all his glory

was not arrayed like one of these.

 But if God so clothes the grass of the field,

which today is alive and tomorrow thrown in the oven,

will He not much more clothe you?  

matthew 6:28-30

a wee window

The thing about modern travel is, as has been mentioned before, that it seems rather unnaturally fast.  You step onto an airplane and are transported thousands of miles in hours and thrust into another life just like that.  So forgive the silence on this wee corner of the internet which is meant to keep people up-to-date on things that are happening, as I walked again through a time of transition.

"to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. . ."  

Ecclesiastes 3:1

The Lord is so faithful to keep His people dependent, isn't He?  I love how looking back over the last number of years one can see His hand continually leading and guiding.

A wee window into the past month. . .
Learning the names of a whole new group of students, arriving right when they started taking off their name tags.  And hearing their testimonies, and seeing the Lord work in their lives.  Oh, what a blessing to see the power of the Lord evidenced in the yielded lives of His people.

Adjusting again to the rhythm of life down here. . .the new 'normal'.  For example, you know that you are going on an intense shopping trip when it takes three girls and four carts (I'm still not entirely sure how we managed to get it all out to the vehicle!) and when the store employees learn your names by the time you leave.

spring in the mountains

Realizing again that it is not about doing great things for the Lord, but to walk in daily and constant obedience.  That being available for His purposes is far greater than being tied to any to-do list.  That what He has called me to in this season may not seem like some great missionary endeavor but He continues to teach me to faithfully pour out to all around me.

Having a long time dream of mine be realized as a group of us are learning sign language together (in order to better communicate with one of the girls here on campus)  It now can take us interns up to three times as long to 'talk' with each other, but doing it together helps so much with retention (plus it provides much laughter to the onlooking students)

Now it is hard to believe that we are again preparing for a graduation. . .I wish it wasn't quite so cliche to say that time is flying by.  Oh, that we would be a people who redeem the time; whose desire for each day would be to see His kingdom come in our lives and in those around us.

"The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the woman who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. I will try my utmost to be that woman." 

- adapted from a quote often attributed to D.L. Moody - 

spring

Whether the weather has been cloudy and snowing, or (as it has more recently) been warm with sunny clear skies, thoughts of spring have been filling my head.  


And it is not just for the nice weather, the promise of summer around the corner.  There has been something tantalizing about the thought of a new and fresh start.  About the brown grass turning green and flowers blooming.


It has reminded me of such a precious truth.  That the Lord didn't just take our old, sinful selves and stick a couple of band-aids on the especially offense parts, or simply cover over the grime with a coat of paint.  No, those who are in Christ is a new creation.  Before, we were dead in our trespasses and sins.  Yet now in Him, there is life and light.  And what joy for those whose hope is in the Lord! 

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:  old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to 

Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;"  

2 Corinthians 5:17-18 

great to His love

"We are finding that our big problems 

are little to His power and that our 

little things are great to His love."

jacob stam

have you been asking?

“Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. 

God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is.” 

::oswald chambers::

a snowy evening

s.n.o.w.

my 13-year old brother loves it 

(he is into anything hockey and has been bemoaning our dry winter)

my Mum could do without it 

(she has to drive in it)

my 16-year old brother appreciates it 

(more snow shoveling = more income)

my Dad would rather not talk about it 

(a five minute drive took close to 45 minutes)

my 20-year old brother is glad that it isn't typical 

(he ended up walking to work this evening)

as for this one?  No where to go 'till tomorrow.  And snow falling makes for such cozy evenings to sip tea, listen to classical radio and crochet.  Oh, and to read.  This and that and maybe the other. 

......................................

and here is an excerpt from the Valley of Vision. . .such a beautiful, rich and powerful collection of Puritan prayers.  It is so amazing to realize again that the truth and life found in Christ does not change from generation to generation.  

"Thou hast loved me everlastingly, unchangeably,

  may I love Thee as I am loved;

Thou has given Thyself for me,

may I give myself to Thee.

Thou hast died for me,

may I live for Thee,

in every moment of my time,

in every movement of my mind,

in every pulse of my heart."

"Christ is All"

delight

All of the sudden my Fridays have gotten busy. . .and so the 'five minute Fridays' have started turning into 'seven minute Mondays'.  So because I kept you waiting, here is a picture for you. . .

another yellow house. . .again

and the word is {delight}

go.

Joy.  Happiness.  Delight.

We have such a longing to live life filled with those words.  And it is one of the deepest tragedies to watch people seeking those things, rather than the Giver of all good and perfect gifts.  If we search after happiness and prosperity, if we fill our lives with things that bring pleasure to us, there will be that gnawing, aching void that only grows bigger.

"My soul is restless until it finds rest in YOU."

Things, places, circumstances.  Those all change.  What is here today probably won't be here tomorrow.  Nothing that we cling to here can we keep.  It is only when we turn from those things, those things we think will bring us happiness and joy, that we find the One in whom our soul can truly delight in.  He is unchanging, eternal and the same.  He is infinitely larger than anything we could comprehend.  Yet He desires to know us, for us to love Him, and for us to be transformed by Him.

Trading all that I have for all that is better. . .

delight.

stop.

*note. . .the quote that I very loosely quoted comes from this quote by Saint Augustine. . . "Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee."  

walk by faith

Faith is sustained by looking at Christ, crucified and risen, not by turning from Christ to analyze your faith

Paradoxically, if we would experience the joy of faith, we must not focus much on it. 

We must focus on the greatness of our Savior.

john piper

trust

. . .and the word is {trust}

go.
Trust is saying "THY will be done. . .with my today and my tomorrow."   Trust is stepping forward when you cannot see.  It is waiting when every thing in you wants to move, somewhere, someway.

The older that I get, the richer those 'Sunday School' Bible verses seem.  "For God so loved. . .",  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful. . .", "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. . ."

When you are six, there is such innocence and you wonder what trust means.  Over ten years later, you wish it was as easy to live the word as it is to define it.

Trust is singing songs in the night, knowing that His ways and thoughts are so much higher than we could ever comprehend.  Trust is not understanding, but believing.  It is not clinging to the known, but letting go before you are ready.
stop.
. . . . .

on your knees

Loch Ard, Scotland

"Brother, if you would enter that Province, you must go forward on your knees." 

           - J. Hudson Taylor

the importance of proper sentence construction

While reading the BBC news a week ago, I happened upon an interesting article explaining royal banquets through the centuries.  I was, however, confused by this last bullet point.

• Takes two days to lay the 175ft-long dining table at Buckingham Palace
• Each place setting measures 45cm and a rod is used to achieve the exact alignment of chair and table
• 1,104 glasses are used, six for each guest
• George IV's 4,000-piece Grand Service is used
• Takes eight people three weeks to clean the service
• 170 linen napkins, with the Queen's monogram, are folded by one man in the shape of a Dutch bonnet

Pasted from <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16659349> 

Does this mean that the man who folds the napkins is himself in the shape of a Dutch Bonnet. . ?  I do believe I shall save this as a humorous example of the importance of proper sentence construction in case I am ever called upon to teach grammar in the future.  It is always handy to have an example to whip out to prove your point.  Like with piano students who look like they don't believe you when you point out the fact that rhythm is indeed important and not merely a suggested guideline.  That is the perfect opportunity to point out that proper rhythm is the only difference between the opening line of "Joy to the World" and a descending C major scale.  


Meanwhile, I am happy that I am not invited to such a banquet as described above, for I am sure that I would be absolutely lost with what to do with my six glasses at my place setting.  And could you imagine setting a table for two days? 

Thy way, not mine

"He shall choose our inheritance for us"  Psalm 47:4

Thy way, not mine, O Lord,

However dark it be;

Lead me by Thine own hand,

Choose out the path for me;

Smooth let it be or rough,

It will be still the best;

Winding or straight, it leads

Right onward to Thy rest.

I  dare not choose my lot;

I would not if I might:

Choose Thou for me, my God,

So shall I walk alright:

The kingdom that I seek

Is Thine; so let the way 

That leads it be Thine,

Else I must surely stray

Not mine, not mine the choice,

In things or great or small;

Be Thou my guide, my strength,

My wisdom and my all.  

-H. Bonar

...

found in an old hymnal of my Grandpa's.

real

. .and the word is  {real}


go.
Remembering back years ago, when my friends and I used to traipse around in cast-off capes and be lost for hours in adventures of our own making, still makes me smile.  We would ford rivers, climb tree forts, discover new lands, fight battles and sleep under the stars.  There would be drama, and love and fighting for a cause so much greater than our eight-year-old selves.  The years have gone by, yet still the memories bring back the feelings of adventuring through the world. 

We didn't realize back then, that in a real-life adventure the night is long when you are out in the cold and that the rocks really poke your back.  There seems to be a lot of watching and waiting, and not so many exciting exploits. Simple things can often seem so hard, and no one realizes the heroic.  And you cannot manipulate the ending and tie together all the pieces before the afternoon is over.  

Yet, would we want it any differently?  Would we want a life in which everything is rolled together in an afternoon, after which you go home?  Or is it the very 'realness' of life, the every day hurts and growth and laughter, the living each moment in obedience to the King of Heaven, that makes this life that we are living a grand sort of unexpected adventure?    


stop
.......  

the world at your fingertips

Is this not a clever idea?  

Apparently you simply take an old globe and paint it with chalkboard paint.

Wouldn't it be a perfect way to remember to pray for friends all over the globe and a whimsical way to decorate?  And just made to mark places that have gripped your heart or places that you want to visit?  

.............

simple.daily.delight

enjoy the little things.  one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.  

robert brault

Today I am suppose to write for five minutes.  Yet, as my mum put it earlier, I'm feeling twirly.  And rather spontaneous.  And wouldn't it be just so much fun to go and live for six months in a yellow appartment with a cute and quirky window and neighbours who probably grow basil and oregano on their tiny balcony?  Besides, doesn't the picture look just so sunshiney and european?  Right now we are in the grey stage of winter, and while it has it's own beauty (and the sunrise this morning was so twinkling and gorgeous) sometimes one just craves a vibrant splash of colour.

today in quotes

“One loses many laughs by not laughing at oneself.”

Sara Jeanette Duncan

“If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.”

Mark Twain

.....

to know Him and make Him known

Over the weekend, I reread a biography on Amy Carmichael entitled "A Chance to Die"  Although it was truly more like reading it for the first time for so much has changed in my life and heart since that time years ago when I first picked it up.

Something that really stood out was the fact that today we talk about wanting to do something grand or big for the Lord, like Amy Carmichael and Hudson Taylor and Gladys Aylward and George Muller and Corrie ten Boom.  We desire to make a difference in this dark and dying world.

But reading through Amy Carmichael's biography it struck me that not only did those missionaries not think they were doing anything big but that most of the time they simply weren't doing anything grand.

"From prayer that asks that I may be

Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,

From fearing when I should aspire,

From faltering when I should climb higher,

From silken self, O Captain, free

Thy soldier who would follow Thee"

amy carmichael

It may sound grand in a paragraph bio to read that "Amy Carmichael rescued and cared for girls who would otherwise have been forced into temple prostitution" but in reality, that was not how she lived.  She had days, just like we all do, 24 hours in which to serve the Lord.

"Give me the love that leads the way,

The faith that nothing can dismay

The hope no disappointments tire

The passion that will burn like fire,

Let me not sink to be a clod:

Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God"

amy carmichael

And most of that time she was doing menial work, 'nothing important' work.  Like changing babies diapers and caring for toddlers and praying for revival and waiting years before a doctor was able to come and live in their village. Like waiting, waiting, waiting on the Lord and His timing.  Like following Him when that meant choosing the road less travelled.

What about Corrie ten Boom?  For years she lived at home, day following day, as she worked in her father's shop.  She ministered to the young girls in her city and also with the handicapped.  It wasn't until she was around fifty years old that circumstances led to her family being involved in the Resistance, saving Jews from the Nazi regime.

"A person doesn't spring into existence at the age of fifty; 

there are years of preparation, years of experience, 

which God uses in ways we may never know 

until we meet Him face to face."  

corrie ten boom

I think often we can forget about the dailiness that is in everyone's lives. . .especially when we are reading their biographies.  That the Lord ordains times of waiting in each of our lives.  That Hudson Taylor, John and Betty Stam, George Muller were at one point living their lives, in the middle of their biographies so to speak.

They had to 'choose this day who they would serve'.  They had to die daily to self and to their own plans.  They had times in which all looked dark, when they felt the ache of loneliness.  They had to choose to trust, decide to wait, set their hearts to follow their God.

A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in little things is a great thing.hudson taylor

Yet something did set these people apart.  There is no doubt about that.  Out of weakness they were made strong.  They did not chose the easy road, the typical path.  Instead they sought to live a life absolutely given to the King of the Universe.  To know Him and to make Him known, through any way which He ordained, was their joy.  And may it be the passion of our lives as well, wherever and however the Lord desires.
......

a prayer

Teach us, good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou deserves; 

to give and not to count the cost; 

to fight and not to heed the wounds; 

to toil and not to seek for rest; 

to labour and not to ask for any reward 

save that of knowing that we do Thy will, O Lord our God.
amy carmichael

.....

vivid

. . .and the word is
{vivid}

go.

Full of colour, full of life.  How do we live this one life that we have been given?  Do we go through life living in a world that is shades of grey?  Or do we embrace life, embrace the various challenges, the alternating hues?  Do we spend every day wishing for that elusive 'something different', 'something more'?  Have we put life on hold?  Or do we decide to do something different?  Oh, may we set our hearts to follow our God fully, to live every moment that He has given us.  And our God does beautiful things, does marvelous things as we allow Him to orchestrate our lives.  He can turn the most ordinary day into the most extraordinary adventure as we fix our eyes upon Him.  Inconveniences and grey dullness no more.  Let us embrace the full gamut of vivid, vibrant living this pilgrim way.  May we look with His eyes to see the beauty found in each day, each moment.

stop
....

by the way, if you happen to write something today, I'd love to check it out so leave a comment!  Or if this happens to have you think a thought you wouldn't otherwise have thought, twould be fun to hear it.

I think that was one of the strangest sentences I've ever written.

smile.

rejoice evermore

"rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, rejoice."  

Philippians 4:4

awake

Last week, I saw this on a friend's blog and was inspired.  And it seemed a lot more 'doable' than the 300 word thing at this point in time.  (question: is doable a real word? or is it one of those made-up words?)  

"For only five short, bold, beautiful minutes. Unscripted and unedited. We just write without worrying if it’s just right or not." from this site

It was hard, really hard, not to stop or push the backspace button.  But it has been so good this month to do things that are hard or new or challenging.  So for five minutes I wrote whatever came to mind based on one word.


and this week's word is {awake.}
go.

Every morning I awake, His mercies are new. As the sunshine fills my room, joy can enter my heart for I know that my Redeemer liveth. And He has called us, comissioned us to be His ambassadors. We are called to go out into all the world, proclaiming the glories of Him who called us out of darkness and into His glorious light. For the God that we serve is light and there is no darkness in Him. No fear, no evil, no guilt, no pride, no shadow. He is light; pure and shining far brighter than the sun. It is because of Him that we can face the challenges that each day brings. It is because of His life that we are equipped to go walk victoriously along this pilgrim way. Our souls have been awakened to the truth, the truth that sets the captives free. The truth that changed our lives and that still changes lives. He is glorious and mighty to save and it is this God that we wake up to each morning. And as the sun shines through my window, my King beckons me to spend another day walking by His side and learning from Him. Awake, my soul, and praise the Lord.

stop.

skating

today I went skating.

tis something that I've always wanted to know how to do

photo credit

and while holding onto my gallant younger brother with one hand

and the boards with the other

isn't quite the graceful figure skating I've always imagined

twas wonderful none the less.

and by the end, going around the rink alone

unaided and abetted by the boards

(or brothers)

gave me a wee taste

of the real thing.