a broken heart

Only God can change people's hearts, only He can give them truth and clarity, only He can transform them. Dear Lord, I pray that truth reign in the people's lives around me. I pray that you would reveal Yourself to those who are blind and beaten up by the world and its sin and reveal to them their own sin and desperate need for your love. I pray that You would continue to humble me to Yourself and continue to look to You for every strength. I pray that You would mold my heart and create my motives and shape my actions and that I would glorify, honor and point to You with my life. I pray that Your glory would overshadow my deeds. Your will be done.

an ever-changing heart

Thank you for the glory of your morning, for the dawn of a new day; a day to enjoy the blessings you have placed in my life and the excitement that uncertainty brings, yet with the faith that you have given to me with the strength of Your Spirit You have placed inside of me. My Father in heaven may You guide my thoughts and my actions and the way I live my life. I pray for Your Spirit to not only dwell, but live in me for Your honor and Your glory--I pray that You would continue to grow this surrendering of myself to You. The freedom that I know You have blessed me with lately has been so encouraging and exciting and true. I love being more honest with myself and not letting the eyes of the world affect how I love You. By Your grace and strength You have opened this little heart up to experiencing Your love in a more abundant and true way which has created a freedom to share Your love with others more openly--unashamed and unabashed. Your abiding and abounding love for me, yes little me--whom You've created and formed before the dawn of time and placed Your Holy Spirit in, is allowing me to live more honestly in Your presence. I pray that You would continue to draw me in closer to You, Lord and draw me out for Your glory so that Your name be praised and glorified and people would come to know You. I pray that the creation of my life would fulfill Your purposes and that I would allow You to reign in my heart and that my life would be an expression and exhalation of Your love and work in my life. Dear Lord, I pray that I might live in undivided devotion to You and that Your honor & glory will be manifested in my life for the purposes of Your will. I pray that the purpose of my life would be for Your glory and that you would be the source of my strength and freedom and that Your love for me and my love for You would proclaim Your truth and bless others.

Philippians 2:13
It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Psalm 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

1 Cor. 10:13

...God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Luke 11:9-10
"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

1 Chronicles 16:11
Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face continually.

Psalm 37:4 & 7
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass ... Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.

Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

1 Peter 4:11
If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

for tomorrow

A song for today, a song for tomorrow.

Your love is Stong - Jon Foreman

A Ponderment

What I really lack is to be clear in my mind what I am to do, not what I am to know, except in so far as a certain knowledge must precede every action. The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wishes me to do: the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die. ... I certainly do not deny that I still recognize an imperative of knowledge and that through it one can work upon men, but it must be taken up into my life, and that is what I now recognize as the most important thing.

--S.K.

The Tree that owns itself

I came across this and thought it endearing and that I had to share.  What a rich story, whether it is true or not.  Click the wiki link to read more, but it is about the 'tree that owns itself'--crazy, right?!  But it is said that the owner deeded the tree ownership of itself and the land it sat on, in an eight foot circumference.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_tree_that_owns_itself

to dream a perfect day

Things I'm looking forward to:

sleep

painting

reading

thinking

praying

just being

A day where I wake up early after a great night's sleep, go to the starbucks near my house and sit and read, and journal, while watching the rain through the window, with a venti peppermint latte in hand.  Yeah, that sounds nice, that sounds perfect.

death

I am a pretty hopeful person. Hopeful about life, death, etc. The only thing that I am truly afraid of if someone I truly love died. I don't know how I would be able to handle it. My whole life has gone by without this one fact of life occurring. What will I do when life catches up with me and I will have to face this, deal with it, internalize it, live with it. Will I ever get past it? Will days get easier? I believe I will--I get over things, that's just what I do.

I don't think it's the death so much, as the concern for where this loved one will end up. Will they end up in heaven. That scares me if i answer this question. Naturally the question that follows is: How do people get into heaven? What do they have to believe? What does the bible say?

A slim part of me leans toward the proclaiming that Jesus is Lord, but a larger part of me leans toward God knowing each of our hearts. But then what do you do with someone who acknoledges God, "a god", even Jesus, may or may not consider oneself a Christian, who does good and lives out a Jesus-like outward/otherness type of life (not perfectly, but none of us do). What do you do with the "good person"?

What do I do with the "good person"? How do I talk to someone I've known my whole life about God. How do you introduce God/Jesus in a new and refreshing way, so that the authenticity of Him is revealed verses the religious constructs of the past? How do you try and reach out, all the while giving it over to God knowing that it is ultimately up to Him to change this person's heart. It's a catch 22! How does our free will fit into God's sovereignty?

Autumn

Favorite things about autumn/fall:

1.  the leaves on trees that actually change colors (here in Cali)

2.  the smell of asphalt when it rains

3.  thanksgiving

4.  scarves

5.  road trips for snowboarding

6.  movies on rainy days

7.  fires 

8.  reading in sbux with a pumpkin spice latte...hmmmm.