Music to my ears...

As one of my friends had on their facebook status... "Im over September.... This has been a really rough month.." Ditto. Yes. But in these times of trouble, turmoil, suffering, etc I have always found that God uses the stormy seasons of life to pull me closer to Him. I always find comfort reading different passages in scripture about suffering, rejoicing in our suffering, and perseverance.... God's perfect will and plan. They all bring comfort.
For me though, since I listen to music all the time, I also find that certain song lyrics get stuck in my head and help remind me of my focus... especially since I tend to listen to more Christian/praise music when I am faced with adversity. So. Here are a few songs that have hit home with me in the past few weeks, and especially in the last few days. (If these are duplicates of previous music to my ears posts... sorry.) (oh and this time I decided to put links you tube so you can listen if you have never heard them before....I could not find all of them, but I found some)

Stand Amazed (by 33 Miles)
You will be my strength when I am weak
When I wanna give in and not turn the other cheek
Let this be the prayer that I speak...That I speak...
When all the lights go down and the world is quiet
No one is aroundI wanna be the same man that'll serve you then
Like I serve you now
That my convictions never change
O let my need for you remain
As real as the moment I was saved
So I will always stand amazed

From the Inside Out (Hillsong United)
A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in your grace

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame my heart and my soul,
Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out
Lord, Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out


Shine (Salvador)
As simple as a passing smile
Or listening a little while
To someone that's convinced that they are in this all alone
Here's my chance to share the news
To introduce the good that's You
Here You go again, You never cease to blow my mind

Lord let me shine, shine like the moon
A reflection of You in all that I do
Lord let me be a light for Your truth
Light of the world, I wanna be used to shine for You

You're the love that we all need
You lift us up to our feet
You hold the key to eternity
The King of Kings alive in me.

You Rescue Me (Salvador)
Aching in a place that only I can see
Tears have a way of catching up to me
All it ever takes is a glimpse of something free
Like birds in flight
So I'm giving up on clarity
Cause I want to trust where I cannot see and

You rescue me, You hear my cry
You shelter me through the night
And You are my strength when I am in need
You are my God, You rescue me

Caught between the ocean and eternity
Broken by the weight of my attempts to be
Everything that everyone expects of me
This time, and every time

So I'm giving up on my righteousness
Cause grace, alone, will give me rest cause

You rescue me, You hear my cry
You shelter me through the night
And You are my strength when I am in need
You are my God, You rescue me

Amazing Grace (Newton)
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snaresI have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Amanda Jean!

Amanda, you will forever be missed! Your bright smile, you bubbly attitude, and generous heart! Bible Study reunions wont be the same without you!

My heart aches for Levin, Ansley and the rest of the family, but I had to smile when I looked back through old pictures and found these (and many more!) Not only a smile on my face, but a smile in my heart....

Sorry the pictures below are not in order really....

One of the many evenings we spent together (Oct 2005)... here celebrating Joanna's birthday (where she got sung to and we all got to enjoy her birthday dessert.... our Bible Study always did one thing well... we always had food and usually LOTS of it!)

Christmas Social 2005 (our senior year! After 4 years together, we became very close!) As usual... fun and food.

(we were laughing at sweet Amanda because she did not want to waste any of the fruit dip, so she had just licked the lid! :-) )

I read this poem over at the LPM blog and thought I would re-post part of it. It pretty much sums up where I am in life right now... the desire to be bold, to step outside my comfort zone.... you should head over here to read the whole thing.


"Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love. "
- Sir Francis Drake

"...enthralled with your beauty..."

We live in a society that has created quite the definition of beauty. Only problem is that the definition, as society has defined it, is far from real or true. Society's idea of beauty is the "beauty" who shows up on the cover of the magazine in the check out line at the grocery store. Only she is not real. She is the photoshopped, air-brushed, retouched version of herself. That is not true beauty or the reality of who and what is beautiful. Every woman wants to feel beautiful- I don't argue that at all. We work hard to "make" ourselves beautiful by putting on make up, wearing just the right clothes, having perfectly styled hair. We are letting society define beauty and allow ourselves to get wrapped up in the wrong identity of who we are. We all wish we had perfect lips, or perfect hips, or beautiful legs, or chiseled abs. The problem is there is absolutely nothing spiritual about hating your own body. That is the first part of the battle of true beauty. We have to know who and where our beauty comes from. We are beautiful for who we are in Christ. We have to love ourselves, we cant compare ourselves to others, and we cant listen to voices from the past that come back up and haunt us. As women, we are the only thing that God did not create from dirt. We were created in HIS image. We are beautiful. God says it very clearly in Psalm 45:11 : "The KING is enthralled in your beauty." ENTHRALLED!!! Captivated! Spellbound! HE, the creator of the universe, is enthralled and captivated by your beauty!
True beauty lies in being able to embrace your beauty just as you have been created and just as you are. The first step is not beating yourself up. That does not mean you can't want to do things to change your appearance. (I fight that battle regularly-- I want to lose weight, but at the same time, I cant beat myself up for who I am right now. I can work to losing weight *which I am doing successfully at the moment* but I cant be ashamed of who I am right here, right now.) Beating yourself up only makes you feel worse and pulls your further from Christ. Women should even go so far as when you see your friend beating herself up, "take her weapons away and just hold her." We can and should be content, even grateful, for who we are right here, right now. Beauty also comes from truly finding what is important in life. As the quote in the last post said "There is no beauty in makeup. Expensive clothes will not make you beautiful. The secret lies in being an alive, awake woman with something to offer the world. Namely, yourself. Beauty is less about your face and more about your smile. Less about the shape of your eyebrows, more about the light in your eyes. Less about the length of your legs, more about the bounce in your step. Real beauty is being a viable, vital human being. As you participate in your life with a warm smile and generous spirit, you are beautiful." (Johnson, 86) Finally, and most importantly, you have to embrace the ONE who loves you more than any other person or thing- The true lover of your soul. "God is loving us passionately and intensely, and that love has nothing to do with the way we look... He simply loves us as we are." (Johnson, 87) HE formed each woman (again the only thing not from DIRT) and said "THIS IS GOOD." HE is held captive by our beauty.
We have to live by faith, not by sight. We have to embrace ourselves as we are and who we are in Christ ("Fearfully and wonderfully made"- Psalm 139:13-15). You have to be grateful for all that you have been given, including who you are physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Beauty is defined not by the American standard-- true beauty is defined by who you are in Christ and the person you are and become in HIM.

True Beauty.....

I will write more about this in another post at some point this week. But for now, I wanted to share a little passage from the new book I am reading. It sums up pretty well what true beauty is. In the longer post, I will dive in and give more detail including biblical references and such, but for now, just think on this for a little while.

"There is no beauty in makeup. Expensive clothes will not make you beautiful. The secret lies in being an alive, awake woman with something to offer the world. Namely, yourself. Beauty is less about your face and more about your smile. Less about the shape of your eyebrows, more about the light in your eyes. Less about the length of your legs, more about the bounce in your step. Real beauty is being a viable, vital human being. As you participate in your life with a warm smile and a generous spirit, you are beautiful." (Fresh Brewed Life, N. Johnson, 86)

Prayer Request

Hey Everyone-

Just asking that yall keep my parents in your prayers as they are traveling today/tonight to Rome. They are going to celebrate their 36th wedding anniversary, my dad finally being well enough to travel, and just going to go and have a romantic week away!

If yall would keep them in your prayers as they travel, I would really appreciate it! :)

Thanks!!!

(and GO TIGERS!!!)

The places you'll go

I was looking at blog backgrounds and found this one I just updated to.... I loved the name of it! The name.... yes. The name the designer had given the background. Its called The Places you'll go. It reminded me of a wonderful Dr. Seuss book called Oh, The Places You'll Go. I don't think I ever actually read the book as a child. Instead, it was given to me when I graduated from high school by someone special to me. When I saw the name of the blog background I was reminded of the book and, in turn, my wonderful memories of the people whose path's I have crossed in high school as well as through my life. The memories are so vivid I feel like I could just step back and be back in that place. It reminds me of how far I have come, yet all the future holds as I move forward through life. I have been so richly blessed.....

Here is a little part of the wonderful world of Dr. Seuss' Oh the Places you'll go!

"Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,with the whole wide world watching you win on TV." - Dr. Seuss

I highly suggest reading the whole book. It is very cute and has wonderful illustrations. However, if you want to just read the words, which are so true, you can find them here.

**image from: http://schools.nycenet.edu/region3/ps266/communityread0809/images/placesyoullgo.jpg