"The day is what you make it."

"That's what faith can do."

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"Find rest, o my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him." - psalm 62:5

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you..." John 15:4 (remain as in abide, to live in)

"Never never never give up." Winston Churchill

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"When I can't walk, will you carry me? When I can't stand, will you take me by the hand, and pick me up?"

poem "My God" by: Elisabeth Oster

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"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

"Hope's not giving up."

"Don't go where the path may lead... Instead, go where there is no path, and leave a trail."

ten things

ten things i love/miss about autumn weather...

~studying at starbucks pretty much every week

~turning leaves

~cooler temps, warm hearts

~writing

~my mom's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

~coffee

~apple orchards/getting pumpkins and gourds and decorating the house with them

~sleeping with 3 comforters and 5 blankets

~falling asleep listening to sigur ros, chieli minucci, or mozart

~reading by the fire place with a cup of tea (usually falling asleep).

"Character is proceeded through the things we enjoy doing, but also by what we do in action."

today is the day... my sister left this morning for college. (she's actually driving out east right now to pick up her violin in pittsburgh) aside the point, i can't see her until november unfortunately. pray for safe travels and a good start to her junior year. i leave on thursday for joni and friends camp. i am very excited to go serve another year! last year was just incredible to see how God moved so many people, and i am beyond stoked to go back! for those of you who are unfamiliar with the camp, it is a christian disability camp for families, and i will be an stm (short term missionary) hanging out with these awesome people. it will be stellar!

this past few days have been toughies... i got sick on food poisoning at my job on thursday - not a good day. my sister was kind and took over for me, but the puking didn't end for me there. i'm over that now, thank goodness! but now i am onto a cold...

on another note: i have been realizing so much about praising. every circumstance. every moment. every pain. every good. i heard a 90's song the other day (surprise surprise) and it was "let everything that has breath". now one of the verses goes a little something like this...

Praise You in the morning
Praise You in the evening
Praise You when I'm young and when I'm old
Praise You whem I'm laughing
Praise You when I'm grieving

Praise You every season of the soul

... and the point is that no matter what we're enduring we are to praise in someway. pain is hard. hurt is more than understandable. it's hard to praise when you're hurting. it seems impossible to give everything to God when you want sole control. but you hit a point where you can't take anymore... and sometimes you just need to let go.

i'll keep you with that. have a blessed week yall!

straight up

it's simple, we can't lie.
one lie leads to another. doesn't matter how small the lie. doesn't matter how non-harmful it is; we can't lie. smaller lies lead to bigger lies. big lies lead to destruction. little or big, they lead to destruction. hurt feelings and trust torn apart.

we can't find ourselves somehow not telling the truth, but yet still telling the truth. we're not just lieing to someone else, we're lieing to ourselves.

let the Lord challenge you to not lie. just don't lie. the truth may hurt, but the truth will set you FREE. no matter how horrible the truth may be; the truth sets you free from chains of death, hurt, and pain... that's the note i'll end on and take you here....

~boston = TOMORROW (i will be driving to Maine on wednesday in the middle of day after i hang around boston for a while. then on saturday i will be heading out to canada!)
~i love juice boxes... i'm convinced
~i'm in a war for peace...
~God will meet you where you are; you don't need to do anything, just come to Him
~pray continually