Transformation.

I rarely post about music that I love... which should change I guess, right? Because I LOVE music... most music anyway. But last summer I started listening to Joy Williams side project, The Civil Wars, as their live recorded album was free on Noise Trade & Myspace...amazing. I saw them play last night, therefore I thought posting about them would be the most fitting thing to do.........

Growing up I listened to and followed a lot of different Christian music artists, one of my faves being Joy Williams...I'm pretty sure I had her on my Top 8 back in the day. I even planned on one day working within the Christian music business (or music business in general), I figured I love music & Nashville, why not move there one day and work in the biz?! Well dreams and life changes, therefore that's not really my cup of tea these days.... all that to say, I've loved watching Joy Williams transform into my now, favorite indie artist. Joy Williams, the once bottle-blond-pop-artist transformed over the past few years into, a more natural-indie-hipster-folk-artist. She traded in her catchy, Christian, studio recordings for more organic, raw, mellow lyrics and beats....which I love.

Not only has she been doing some solo stuff heard on various sitcoms and commercials, but is touring with the likes of Ten Out Of Tenn crew & her band The Civil Wars. We went and saw The Civil Wars last night, with Madi Diaz -- they all were amazing. I wish I had more time and money to go see a show every weekend. There's just something about hearing music live compared to hearing it on your iTunes... in my opinion it not only sounds better but there's just a different feel to the music, it's all about the atmosphere too I guess... I love it. Anyway, I'll stop raving... just go and check out her *new* solo stuff & The Civil Wars.

side stitch

I've started the race towards where God is leading me & I've seemed to get a side stitch. I'm slowing down because it hurts. My body is telling me to slow down & walk, or simply not finish [take the e a s y way out]. In my moments of doubt & pain the Coach called out to KEEP RUNNING...I KNOW IT HURTS, YOU'RE still GOING TO MAKE IT!

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus [finish line], who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

humbled.

Wow... God provides over & over again. It really humbles me... the fact that I have TWO really good jobs right now. That my parents allowed me to come back to their house & live there rent FREE [some parents make their kids pay rent]. I no longer have to spend money on groceries, rent, random things you need but you don't really think about buying them when you're at Target because you're mom just always buys it: laundry detergent, toilet paper, soap... the list goes on. Not only that, I organized a can/bottle drive this weekend and it ended up falling on a day I had to work [today...]. So my amazing family is up at church collecting cans/bottles FOR ME , while I'm at work.... it's crazy! It sounds lame, but like I actually get emotional thinking about how MUCH God has been providing for me these days.... just little things.

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
romans 8:32

Unreal.

felt called into missions a year or so ago :: answered it by p r a y i n g :: then I w a i t e d :: prayed some more :: all of the paper work has been filled out & sent in & I have a spot at the Newcastle, Australia YWAM base :: now my passport is waiting for a stamp :: tomorrow I'm applying for a visa & shopping around for cheap health insurance & flights.... :: yes, it seems unreal :: this is happening & sometimes I can't believe it :: God is so good! :: Yeah, I'm going to Australia...soon, very soon.

It's surreal, but it's so real.

{For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.}
_habakkuk one:five

________________________________________________________

One more thing...
I told my mom this should be the our fams
Christmas card this year :)

Eat Pray Love

Okay. I found another movie to go in my top ten.
[1. Elizabethtown 2. It's A Wonderful Life 3. Pride & Prejudice 4. Garden State 5. Ferris Bueller's Day Off 6. Sleepless In Seattle 7. You've Got Mail 8. While You Were Sleeping 9. August Rush 10. EAT PRAY LOVE]

EDIT [8/17]: My wonderful friend Megan just e-mailed me these passages, seen under each picture!! love them....

E A T
“I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit” // Jeremiah 2:7
“When your words came I ate them and they were my joy and hearts delight” // Jeremiah 1:4

P R A Y
“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you” // Jeremiah 29:12
“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” // Jeremiah 33:3

L O V E
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness” // Jeremiah 31: 3
“Give thanks to the Lord almighty, for the Lord is good; His love endures forever” // Jeremiah 33:11

I'm not going to pretend to be some trendy intellectual movie buff, that pulls a lesson out of EVEY movie I watch... Especially because I'll admit that I LOVE cheesy, sappy, romantic comedies that have little to NO meaning....no shame. I won't get too intellectual or write a summary on the CRAZY symbolism you can find in this movie... I will simply say; EAT PRAY LOVE was amazing! It was a tad long & seemed to drag on a bit, but it was quit inspiring... even if you're not going to randomly leave your husband, dream-life, and job all in one day to travel the world... it still inspires to just live life in a way that you desire, within reason of course. To take life one step at a time, to take rest and relaxation seriously. To surround yourself with friends and family. To find GOD. To release yourself from the past and find rest in the Creator or the Universe, Jesus Christ! And last of all to find LOVE... even if it's not the guy, to simply LOVE everyone...go see it :)

"Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation"

*My favorite track from the soundtrack.

empty house.

Once again, I'm home alone for the week and... I [still] hate it!

Three summers now a portion of my family have gone on various missions trips during the same week!? Leaving youngest brother & I at home. This time they're all with WSM. D, M, B, L, & C all off with WSM leaving A & I [sorry for so many letters..]. They are all just a county over and I still can't handle it! This year they're in DETROIT -- which is SWEET. But... it's too quiet, too un-chaotic, too boring, too scary at night to not have my manly dad & brother around :/ Life just seems lonely without my family constantly around. I seriously cannot sleep at night when they're not around and an empty house just seems sad and lonely! That's why this verse makes me laugh... because it's SO true. I would never be able to live on my own.. I have to be with some sort of family at all times!

"God sets the lonely in families..." Psalms 68:6

In the midst of feeling family-less for a week I'm reminded of God's LOVE, PROTECTION, FRIENDSHIP, and NEVER FORSAKING us!

Wait for the Lord - Dr. Charles Stanley

Got this devo in an email today... hit my heart hard! Just what I needed to hear... Love when God does that!!

"Right timing is critical in a believer's walk with the Lord. However, trusting His timing in important decisions, uncertain direction, or pressing needs is extremely difficult when everything within us cries, "Do something!" Because we want action, waiting for God seems so passive.

To wait for the Lord means to pause for further instruction while remaining in the present circumstance. It is a purposeful, expectant focus on God—a choice to be actively still and quiet in our hearts, listening for His voice and watching for His intervention. The wait is not for events to work out as we want, but rather for God's will to be done.

The Lord's voice often comes to us through His Word. Because this is His instruction book for our lives, quiet meditation on Scripture is essential. Sometimes when I read my Bible, a passage will jump out at me. The guidance I'm seeking is right there, almost as if it has my name written on it.

At other times, God will use changed circumstances to redirect us, or He will motivate another person to give guidance. However, always remember that any voice offering us direction must align with the Lord's will as revealed in His Word; otherwise, it is not from Him.

The first step in waiting for the Lord is submission to His choice of how and when He will act. What are you hoping God will do? Are you seeking Him or the thing you want from Him? Because He alone knows what is best for you, let go and trust His choice." - In Touch Ministries

5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.

6 My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.

7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.

8 He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
//Psalm 130:5-8

Calling is our Calling.

J e r e m i a h 33:3 (Amplified Bible)

"Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand)."

Beth Moore says in her Psalms study, "in God's economy, the only way up is down"... falling on our face before God and calling to Him is what we are CALLED to do. God wants to hear us, so we can hear HIM.

Season of N O M A D - ness

Life is ch-ch-changing.

room at my parents B E F O R E moving out.6 months later ...
room at my parents A F T E R moving back.

Thanks mom + dad for always taking us back :)

I'm heading to the land down under.
If I get accepted for a visa that is.
$8,650 is the magic number.
Merely pocket change to God, right?

"I'm glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you're again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don't have a sense of needing anything personally. I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don't mean that your help didn't mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles."

p h i l i p p i a n s 4:10-14 [MSG]

OVERJOYED.

You name me
Who am I
That I should company with something so divine?
Mercy waits, Overjoyed
Prospect of finding, freeing
Freeing me

Love is the thing this time I'm sure
That I couldn't need you more now
The way that you saw things were so pure
Overjoyed

You name me
Entertain
Thoughts of peace can overcome anything
Mirror spins
Wicked tales
Here lies reflections of
Deceptions of


Love is the thing this time I'm sure
That I couldn't need you more now
The way that you saw things were so pure
Overjoyed

Missing the me from you you gave to me
I don't like the one I have created today
Crossing nameless from the one I've earned
To be the one, the one you gave to me

You name me
Name Me
Finding, freeing me