God is in Control

As I mentioned before, I've been doing a lot of yoga on youtube. I like yoga a lot, and today our mantra was I am in control. We were supposed to say it over to ourselves and finish the phrase: I am in control... she continued by filling in I am in control of my life, my destiny, what I eat, what I do. 

It struck me as a little sad. I don't want to be control of my life and my "destiny". If I was in charge, it would be a complete disaster. When I repeated the phrase, I kept saying to myself, God is in control.

Thank goodness I am not. 

It got me to thinking, I'm so thankful that we have a great God who is in control. I'm so thankful that He is perfect and He always has the best plan in mind. For your life, for my life. 

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Proverbs 19:21

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. Proverbs 16:9

So, when you feel overwhelmed with life and think you need to have things in control, remember that God is in control. 

Things I Love Lately

What have you been loving lately??

I, for one, have been loving being off school for a whole month. It leaves me with so much awesome time to do things that are good for my soul. Here's what I've been enjoying!

+ THESE QUESADILLAS. We make them on corn tortillas instead of flour and I could literally eat the whole recipe. Daniel has to restrain me from eating his portion. Oh, and THIS homemade naan bread. Seriously, why does food have to taste so good??

+ Yoga, yoga, yoga! I've been doing Yoga with Adriene's 30 days of yoga camp. She's really awesome and (most) days I enjoy doing it.

+Project Life scrapbooking is where it's at! I've been burned out on regular scrapbooking and I decided to give this system a try. I love it! It's so easy and fast, which still looking cute and homemade.

+ My prayer journals... prayer truly makes life better! Since I have been focusing on my prayer relationship with God, I feel less anxious and more content.

+ I've been organizing up a storm. I made these super cute desk organizers by adding liquid gold to plain black ones that I got at Walmart. Liquid gold makes the world a better place!

+ Two words: Hobby Lobby. BEST store ever! They have whole aisles for drawer knobs, rows of cute home decor, jars and bottles galore-- I can't stop.

+ This book-- Gap Creek-- one of the best I've read in a long time! It's quite a bit different than my usual read but I found myself really enjoying it. Thanks Daniel!

SO MUCH GOOD STUFF. Happy weekend!

Hope

 Hope... 

A word that gets us all through each day. A word that helps us hang on when times are tough and lights us up when things are good. 

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Hope means that you don't have to give up when you feel weary with the weight of life.  

Hope is the certainty of God's promises to us... promises that whether or not this life is good, our eternal life will be abundant and rewarding. 

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I love these lyrics from a song called "The Reason for the World"-- it describes to me the ache that is in each of us, an ache for something more than this world. It's an ache to be filled with God's love. 

There are no words in times like these

When tears don't hide the tragedies

And all you want is a reason for the world

No comfort in the greeting card

Cause God is good

But life's still hard

and your heart just wants a reason for the world

Maybe the reason for the pain

Is so we would pray for strength

And maybe the reason for the strength

Is so that we would not lose hope

And maybe the reason for all hope

Is so that we could face the world

And the reason for the world

Is to make us long for home

For God so loved your broken heart

He sent his son to where you are

and he died

To give a reason for the world

So lift your sorrows to the one

Whose plan for you has just begun

And rests here in the hands that hold the world

Maybe the reason for the pain

Is so we would pray for strength

And maybe the reason for the strength

Is so that we would not lose hope

And maybe the reason for all hope

Is so that we could face the world

And the reason for the world

Is to make us long for home

Well I know your past the point of broken

Surrounded by your fear

I know you're faint and tired and lonely

from the road that you walked down here

But just keep your eyes on heaven

and know that you are not alone

remember the reason for the world

No ear has heard

No eye has seen

Not even in your wildest dreams

A beauty that awaits beyond this world

When you look into the eyes of grace

and hear the voice of mercy say

Child, welcome to the reason for the world.

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I love the idea that the hope of the gospel is the great equalizer of all men. It doesn't matter whether you are rich or poor. It doesn't matter your power, your fame, or your position. It can be for anyone, if we only choose it.

Hebrews 6:19: We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.  

Being a Kid

What do you remember of being a kid? 

Just because I love Kid President

I remember when we still lived in Virginia. I remember thinking honeysuckle was the neatest thing ever. My best friend Emily and I would go down the street to our older neighbor girl's house (who were ten, ha!). They used to play the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys and dance on the lawn-- they were just so cool. My mom would want me to add here that I was not allowed to listen to the Spice Girls or the Backstreet Boys. 

I remember my last Halloween before we moved to California. My mom made me a pink satin princess costume with sparkly lace. I went trick-or-treating with Emily and her parents; I needed to go to the bathroom but was too embarrassed to tell them so I just peed in my costume. #waylessembarrassing 

When I was a kid, I loved to be around friends. I spent a lot of time with our neighbors. I loved to play house and dolls and pilgrims and horses. I loved tree houses and tire swings. I climbed trees and read in them. I fell out of a tree once and hit my chin on the ground. I still have a funny scar on my chin. I loved to swim in our neighbor's pool and one year our neighbor set our backyard on fire. When the firefighters came, they brought prisoners with them to clean out the brush from our backyard. We didn't know they were prisoners and my mom wondered why they were so unfriendly when she spoke to them until the fire chief asked her to please stop talking to them.

When I was in fourth grade, I went on an overnight trip with my class. I thought it was the most fun thing I had ever done. One of the camp leaders there had just turned 18 and he had legally changed his name to Thunder. All the girls loved him. There was the biggest scandal when some of the girls in our class thought they had their belongings stolen. The class moms checked everyone's luggage to see who had stolen things but found everything that was missing in the owner's bag. Exciting stuff! On the way home, I rode in Robert's car and his mom let the kids watch a James Bond movie on their car DVD player. I knew I wasn't allowed to watch James Bond so I refused to look at the movie the entire car ride home.    

As a I grew older, I remember going to the fire station with my mom for a car seat fitting from the firefighters. I thought it was SO cool to see a woman firefighter. It was then that I decided that I would be a firefighter too. She seemed so strong and capable. 

When I was in fifth grade, my mom finally started homeschooling my brother and I. I thought it was just the best. I still remember singing the periodic table. I went to my first week of summer camp and had the best time with the girls in my group. 

These are just a few memories I have. Being a kid was the best, am I right?!

Israel

One of Daniel's Christmas presents from me was a year of monthly destination date nights. Our first "destination" was Israel, Daniel's favorite destination. We ate falafel pitas, potato latkes, and chocolate rugelach. Oh my word, so good! I ate so much, I could hardly move afterwards. 

The recipes were time consuming but fairly easy to make. We had such a fun time making the food together! Find the falafel here, latkes here, and rugelach here. 

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they be secure who love you. Psalm 122:6

What dates have you been on lately?

Psalm 18

 It's said that God no longer speaks to this generation, but, oh how He does! Maybe I can't hear it, but I feel as if He is speaking directly to me. You know those times when you just happen to read the perfect verse or chapter? And it speaks to you just so personally, it's as if it was written for you alone. I had one of those moments last week, when I was having a bit of a "down" day. It was just one of those days. We were doing the daily Bible readings and it was Psalm 18. It felt like God was speaking straight to me with those first few verses. God is our fortress! What a reassuring thought... it makes me feel so encouraged. What scriptures have you read recently that really spoke to you? 

I love you, Lord, my strength.

 The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
    my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

and then a few more verses that I love: 

 

 As for God, his way is perfect:
    The Lord’s word is flawless;
    he shields 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 keeps my way secure.
 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
    he causes me to stand on the heights.
 He trains my hands for battle;
    my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You make your saving help my shield,
    and your right hand sustains me;
    your help has made me great.
 You provide a broad path for my feet,
    so that my ankles do not give way.

2016

As with most things that I do, I like to make my New Year's resolutions specific and measurable. For some people, I admit that might seem a bit strange. A lot of resolutions I've heard have been much more general than mine are (sleep more, be healthy, clean more, etc). And those are perfectly wonderful goals! To each her own. I've also seen a lot of people choosing a "word" for the year, which seems like a really neat idea. However, for me personally, I know for me to feel like I am changing, I have to outline specifically what I want to do. That might include certain goal posts, time allotments, etc.

For example, a few years ago my goals were to read the Bible every day, be able to run 1 mile by the end of the  year, and practice the guitar for 20 minutes at least 4 days a week. Guess what? I can now run much, much further (and also, I hate playing the guitar so I don't do that anymore). Anyhow, for a while I have been thinking that my resolution is going to center around prayer. Besides saying "pray more", which wouldn't really work for me, I wasn't quite sure where to start. I actually found a lot of helpful websites guiding me to how they learned to pray more. We also recently watched the movie "War Room", which was a little on the dramatic side but also a great reminder of the POWER of prayer.

I'll admit, there are so many areas in my life that I need to improve, I found it hard to make just one resolution. But, I remind myself that pray has the power to change every aspect of my life. So, if you think of it that way,  I am making a resolution that is going to change my life in every area. 

These are the two books I'm going to use to guide my prayer life. I've made specific goals in terms of prayer for myself, including time allotments, when to pray, how to pray, etc, but I think I will keep those personal. I'm going to use the prayer journal to record who/what I want to pray for daily. The notebook is so that I can write out prayers that are on my heart. I saw that idea in the movie War Room and I thought it was a great idea when something is weighing me down! There you have it, my resolution for the year 2016 (now how did we get here already?!)

Happy 2016!