Miscellany Monday - Love Does

Well friends I hope you all had such a fabulous weekend!!!
Today is Monday which means its the day I can write like I think - in bullet points of randomness =)

*  I spent most of the weekend trying not to die of the plague that I managed to pick up somewhere.  Lucky for Jonathan I am not at ALL dramatic and I'm super tough and non-whiny when ill - said no one ever.  I may or may not have told him at least once that I thought I saw the light...
pray for my sweet man.

*  Y'all.  RUN - do not walk - Run like Forrest Gump style your nearest book store and get yourself a copy of this here book:

I don't even know what to say (I know... shocker!) to adequately sum of the awesome factor of this little gem!!  I have devoured it in the last couple days that I was deathly ill and may or may not have seen the light home with a bug and oh how it has fed my soul!  This man LOVES PEOPLE. I mean LOOOOVES people in such an extravegant yet authentiuc way that it make you want to do the same.
Bob (we're like on a first name basis now...OH!! Maybe I'll add him to my list of Pretend BFF's!!) has a simple but beautiful motto for life:

Love God. Love people. Do Stuff.

This is one of those books that I could underline or highlight the whole. thing. but since it is a borrowed book =) I'm taking notes and photos of pages that really get me...
(I seriously am concerned about the level of lazy that I have reached due to the fact that I find it easier to photograph then crop the pages with nuggets I want to keep instead of finding my journal and a pen - the tragedy!)
Here are a few...
(I hope they are legible... maybe if you click on them and make them bigger?  Sorry about that!)

*

Tell me -
Have you read Love Does? Heard Bob speak? I really just want to follow him around and soak up his stories =)

Happy week my friends!

The Grace Gift

Grace.

It's a word and concept that anyone who has grown in or around church has heard countless times.

It's so abstract but yet so concrete.

It is pivotal to everything we believe as Christians and a vital element to extend to a hurting world as we attempt to live as Jesus did.

This past week, I was helping a precious lady at work choose a gift.  We looked at several goodies and she settled on a beautiful jewelry piece with the word "Grace" engraved on it.  As I stood by for her to think and to answer questions, she threw out a question I didn't see coming.

"What exactly is grace?"

Um. Woah. Ok.

My answer?

Grace, to me, is defined in context of my relationship with Jesus... Grace is like an outstretched hand that is continually available to us.  It is a soft place to land in the moments when we need forgiveness and for the love and gentleness of a Savior to put our hurting hearts back together.

One struggle I have with this gift of grace is battling the idea that it can be earned or, likewise, lost... It's in the moments when I need to encounter the healing grace of Jesus the most, that I am usually the most convinced it's not available to me.

I rattle off a list of countless things I've done wrong in the past days and convince myself that - yep. The grace of the Father isn't mine for the taking today.  I've failed too big. I've fallen too far.

Nothing is farther from the truth friends...

The gift of grace is ours always and has an infinite shelf life.  It can't be earned and it is NEVER withheld from us as punishment.  Rest in the truth that the grace of Jesus is complete, and full, and ALWAYS yours to encounter.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness...:

2 Corinthians 12:9

Thoughtful Thursday - His Great Name

Being at a lose for words is not something that's common for me.  I'd be embarrassed to tell you how many of my elementary school report cards included some note about me talking too much and I can promise you that I have heard EVERY long-winded joke out there....  My mom likes to remind me often that "once I started talking I just never stopped". Um. Thanks mom.

That said, I have found myself in moments of my life where - believe it or not - even I am without words.  They are often those moments where the ache in my heart was so deep that I would have sworn that, had I had opened my mouth, all that I would have been able to utter would have been a sob or seven.  They are the moments when the hurt has simply... knocked me speechless.  

I have nothing to say.  The pain has swallowed me and I am tired and knocked on my back.

In those instances, there is one simple word that I know, if I can utter it, that the process of healing will begin... There is one, simple, two syllable name that - if I can force it out of my frightened and worn out soul - will be all it takes to give me the strength to breath for another moment.....

Jesus.

Jesus.

JESUS.

The name above all names.

The love of my soul and my hiding place.

Jesus.

When I first heard the song below by Natalie Grant I was reminded of those moments of utter speechless dispair and the simple truth that, sometimes, all you can do is cry His name. That's all you have in you...

Those of you with little ones know the desperate speed with which your feet move as soon as you hear one of your babies utter your name in a moment of hurt.

"Mama."

That's all it takes and you are where they are in an instant.

Our Father in heaven works the same...
Rest in His Great Name...

Thoughtful Thursday - Change of Plans...

So.
I had big plans today to share with y'all some of the awesome goodness that I felt like I walked away from the weekend away with.

Well.

Apparently my camera and computer are giving each other the silent treatment and are not supportive of said plan as they are giving me a FIT trying to upload my photos! Sooooo, that post is now on the back burner until at least tomorrow when I will have hopefully been able to reason with the electronics in my life.

(Don't hold your breath as I am fairly convinced that trying to reason with electronics takes the same level of skill as hostage negation....)

In lieu of telling you about my QT with Jesus this weekend, I'm going to rattle on for a sec about this book:

 Oh gracious... It has been a looooong time since a devotional style book has impacted me the way this one has. (Shout out to Elly for turning me on to this gem!)   As someone who believes whole heartily in the super relational aspect of God's heart, I am beyond touched and ministered too by the first person way this book is written.  

(Side note... the story behind it is PHENOMENAL! Get your google on...)

 I can't even begin to tell you how many time I've sat, slack jawed, in complete shock by how closely the day's message applies to me in that. very. second.

I mean... if I didn't know better I'd just about swear that Sarah was following me around =)

I really urge you to check it out if you can... 

Tuesday, was yet another of those days where I opened up the book and sat in shocked awe as the conviction of the words soaked into my heart...

The phrase "Secret things belong to the Lord, and future things are secret things" about knocked me to my knees.  While it is right to listen and seek the Lord on your next season in life, that line can become fuzzy when we suddenly can't settle into His peace without knowing it ALL.  

Those things aren't always ours to know but He is always ours to trust.

 Oh, how often I have missed the journey and doubted His promise to care for me... My words may say YES but my actions and the fear and anxiety in my heart can speak so differently...

Do you read Jesus Calling? Have you been impacted by a book lately that we should know about?

He is not overwhelmed...Thoughtful Thursday

I ADORE my job. 

Like - LOOOOVE with all capital, blinking letters.  

There are countless things that I adore about the place I spend my days.... Besides the beautiful clothes and other various lovelies, it is a faith based business and I am surrounded by Jesus day in and day out.  Late last year, we began a prayer wall in the store and I can't even adequately express what a blessing it has been.

There is a lot of hurt and burden and need out in the world on a daily basis, people - A. LOT. I think I knew that logically but to see a segment of it all written out and corraled into one area of the world can truly take my breath away. 

 It can be too much.  

I stand and look and...simply.... I am overwhelmed.  

In recent days, the wall has become so full....the MULTIPLE prayer needs dangling from each nail.  Illness, lost loved ones, salvation, babies, jobs, living situations... some are scrawled in the misshapen letters that come from a child's pen and other are written by desperate parents and friends who are furiously searching for a moment of relief, intervention, and breakthrough.  The list is staggering and as I looked and read and "listened" to each voice tell me their story....

I am overwhelmed.

I am overwhelmed at the hurt.  I am overwhelmed at the level of need....overwhelmed at desperate heart who need a miracle to pull through.  In a still moment of prayer, a gentle voice speaks to my heart...

"I am not overwhelmed."

Oh Lord.... How good you are.  He is never overwhelmed at our needs.  We can NEVER reach the end His ability to hear and handle our hurts.  He is NEVER tapped our and never - EVER - do our prayers fall on deaf ears.

"So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.  There, we will receive mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."

~ Hebrews 4:16 ~

What is the need that is hidden deeply in your heart today?  Approach your loving, gracious Savior today with boldness.  He is waiting for you... ready to meet you with boundless mercy and endless grace just when you need it most.

He is never overwhelmed...

Updated 2/28/13 - Linking up here =)

Weary Warriors...

Thank y'all for letting me babble on yesterday about the wonder that is any red carpet event =)  I am not one to mince words and I think I could've kept babbling on yesterday if not for that pesky need to do other piddly stuff... like buy groceries. Well... In case I completely wore you out yesterday, today's ramblings might help that some =)

I know that I am NOT the only one who ever has those days where you are just flat worn out.  You just feel like someone has pulled the plug on every storehouse of energy - spiritual, physical, and emotional - that you have.  While I joke about my longwinded need to breakdown every sequin and piece of spandex on the red carpet yesterday being exhausting, we would only be so lucky if my rambling was the most difficult thing we encountered.  There are days that feel like they are concocted of 24 hours of struggle and not much rest and, sometimes, those days seem to string themselves together into seasons of struggle that leave us just. plain. weary.

In moments and seasons of fatigue, it brings comfort to know that our King and Saviour is aware that this life would, on occasion, take it all out of us.  He knew there would be moments of complete and utter exhaustion and, in His lovingkindness, He spoke to those days, hours, and seasons over and over again in the Word.

If the sun rose today on one of those days or seasons of weariness, I pray the verses below bring comfort to a tired heart and begin to resuscitate an exhausted soul.  Let the truth of these promises be a balm to your spirit.  Meditate on them. Read them aloud (Seriously.... reading them aloud is a powerful tool!)  Write them down and post them on your mirror or by your bed.  However you need to, soak them in.  Your king knew there would be tired days, burned out moments, and weary hearts.  He knew and He didn't leave you to figure it out alone......

“Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest…” 

~ Matt. 11:28

" I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety..." ~ Psalm 4:8

"The Lord replied," My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

~ Ex. 33:14

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever..."

~ Ps. 73:26

"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him.  He alone is my rock and salvation; He is my fortress.  I will never be shaken."

~ Psalm 62:1-2

Miscellany Monday

     Since I have been trying to breath some life back into my poor, previously neglected blog, I thought that linking up with Carissa would be a great way to start =) I've been a follower of her awesomeness for a while now and am pumped to be diving in!!  Also, my brain tends to fire in random thoughts and sentence fragments sooooooo writing random is just. up. my. alley. Here we go party people....

1)  I've always wanted to be stopped by a street style blogger for being fashion awesome.  Like I mentioned the other day, Nashville is a hub of people who look like they just left the pages of Vogue so I think that's where this sudden urge is coming from. There are two that I follow regularly...   The Sartorialist and Under the Guise.  Under the Guise is acutally here in Nashville so she is probably my best bet for being discovered as a fashion genius =)

2)  I can't stop myself from buying craft supplies.  I seriously have an OBSESSION that may require intervention.  Sometimes I buy them with plans already in place but, more often than not, they are purchased on super sale with ideas that I "might have a plan" eventually.  I would love to have a craft room one day in the near-ish future where I can organize and display my crafty goodies and maybe tap further into any Marth Stewart genes I have =)  If the craft goodies are vintage, I may let out a squeal an octave or two even higher than normal.

3)  I am currently obsessed with the wisdom of Joyce Meyer.  It has spoken such truth to my heart and such clairty to my mind in recent months.  The quote above is something I have to remind myself constantly... That whole "taking thoughts captive thing" can be tricky.  Right now I'm trucking my way through this fountain of faith based truth:

Your turn - Head over and link up to the fun!!

Kristi

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