in him is the fullness of all things

Today was a very pivotal day in my journey through adulthood--today I finally felt my "mamma bear"protective instincts rise to the surface in a way that I never expected them to. Allow me to explain. This afternoon, I was crossing the parking lot towards my car when I noticed a car stopping to avoid hitting a group of birds in the middle of the road. My first thoughts were"seriously? just drive a little closer and the birds will move out of the way. Gosh, there are really some stupid Jainists out there." As I watched closely, I noticed that all of the birds had flown out of the way of the car except for one little sparrow. After waiting a few moments for the bird to move, the car slowly drove around the bird and continued on its way. I continued walking towards my car but stopped when I heard some squawking behind me. There were two crows chasing that little bird around the parking lot. I thought "cute! birds of a feather PLAY together!" I was dreadf...

know what one of my favorite things in life is? not a trick question, just look at my title. { via } Isn't (s)he just the cutest little infant? Anyone who knows me knows that I cannot wait to be a mother. I often sit around and daydream about watching my future babies run around the lawn of my future house while my future husband chases them...anyways, as you can see I can easily get a little bit carried away. Since I love babies SO much, I already have some names picked out. What, you don't do that? It is simply planning ahead, people. So here it is (keep in mind that this is just the smallest fraction of the list, just a mere sampling) Girls : Charis Noelle Selah Eden Zahara Fiona Brielle Emiliana Boys: Jude Milo Mikhail Joel Amos Noah See how fun that was? do you have a list of names for future children? do you take into account meaning, or do you just look at the way it sounds? what are some names that you like?

I am very good at starting books. starting them. Unfortunately finishing them is another story. I am currently reading 4 different books with the intention of finishing each and everyone of them. We'll see what happens. Anywho, one of the books that I am reading right now is Crazy Love by Francis Chan. From the bottom of my heart I beseech you to read it. You will be encouraged. You will be convicted. And you will be stirred on. Seriously. So today I read for a little bit and after <2 pages, I found myself feeling like I'd been punched in the stomach. In a good way (what?!) Basically, I was reading about Jesus and love, the two main topics covered in the book and Francis began discussing a passage from Matthew 25. It's the part when Jesus is telling his disciples what he is going to say to a number of people on the last day: 'For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you d...

So I am not artistic by nature. Math, science, those types of things are more up my alley. However, I have been trying to step out of my comfort zone and attempt some crafts but I have been so busy! But school is out, folks! {at least for now, thank you GOD for spring break} So here is a little somethin somethin that I've been working on. mason jar candles: For the past few weeks, in preparation for my spring break crafting extravaganza, I have been collecting all sorts of odds and ends from around the house as well as ideas from various DIY blogs such as this one . Here is what you'll need: { a jar } { some string of your choice. I used yarn and hemp string } { sand or something to serve as a base for your candle within the jar } { a little candle } Instructions: Take your jar and fill it about an inch high with sand and place your candle in there. Use your string to wrap the jar--this can be tricky depending on the shape of your jar. You can use tape to stabilize the string ...

Greetings! I have found a new and improved way to spend mindless hours looking at pretty pretty pictures that I wanted to share with all of you! {Do not take into account the fact that finals are next week--we gotta find a productive way to to spend are study breaks, right?!} Hello pinterest ! I discovered this lovely gem roughly 6 months ago and it has completely revolutionized the way that I waste{I mean spend} my time. Here's a little sampling of pictures to whet your appetite! maybe find a new project { via } get inspiration for a new look { via } a little hair how-to for you? {via} Obviously the possibilities are endless. Have fun!

yesterday was just one of those days. it was just a gift. dead week begins tomorrow so a bunch of us thought that this weekend would be the perfect weekend to get out of town, just for a day. God's hand was tremendously present over the whole day. We left at the crack of dawn (so, 9 o clock) and made our way up north. On our way we asked that God would cement budding friendships and strengthen old ones, that He would be present in every aspect of the day, and also that there would be no hiccups during the way(I would like to say that though there were no metaphorical hiccups, there were plenty of literal hiccups courtesy of one Crystal Stewart) When we got to portland, we stopped by Matt's house and had breakfast that his parents so graciously prepared for us! Our time in Portland was just so perfect--the weather was nice (aka the torrential downpour of the previous days had let up just for us), the conversation was everywhere from stimulating, to mind-numbingly funny, to who k...

So 3 years ago I sustained what I thought would be a life-changing injury: I tore my ACL. One painful surgery later and I was on crutches wondering if I would ever be able to move around the way I was had been able to. You have to understand that as someone whose identity was built on my athletic abilities and not on who I was in Christ, my inability to participate in any kind of sporting activities was a huge blow to my life. Even though I was told that I would make a full (long) recovery, my knee was still not responding well to physical activity. And by not responding well I mean that after any sort of physical exertion my knee would swell up beyond recognition and I would hobble around on a limp for the next few days. I was completely devastated. I had had people lay hands on me asking God for healing. I had laid hands on myself asking the Lord for a miracle. Nothing was seeming to improve and I was beginning to just accept the fact that I would be broken for the rest of my life....

So, technically yesterday was day 7 but I was too tired to get on here and blog and also I needed some time to process what happened over the course of the week so here I am today instead! God totally blew away all of my expectations of what this week would look like. There is something really sweet about not knowing how God is going to meet you and then seeing him meet you in a greater way than you even expected. I think that my favorite thing about this week was constantly being reminded of God, his goodness, his faithfulness, his graciousness, his kindness...each day God was faithful to reveal something new about his character. I loved how faithful he was to meet us when we gathered in his name to pray. I loved how being hungry all the time was a reminder of why and an opportunity to turn my affections towards him. This week, God was teaching our church to listen. He said "I always hear you, but you don't always hear me." How awesome would it be to be walking so closel...

Great is His love towards us, the faithfulness of the Lord endures. Nothing particularly special about today other than the fact that tomorrow is the last day of the fast. I went to prayer tonight and was just reminded of God's goodness. HE IS GOOD. Can I get an amen?! For those of you who don't know, Matt Chandler is my favorite pastor in the whole world. Literally the ENTIRE world. Today I was listening to a sermon out of a series that he is doing on Habakkuk(I know, right?) and God totally rocked me with something he said. I literally re-winded it 3 times. With regard to the bad things that happen to us he said these things are not punishment from God. How do we know? Because ALL of Gods wrath towards me was absorbed on the cross when Jesus hung on it. So I have nothing on my life but mercy and grace. And this road of mine? Wherever it leads and however it leads, has everything to do with God's glory and my joy. Selah.

I might have fallen asleep at prayer this morning. There, I said it. I am not sure if I was 100% unaware of what was happening but I do know that my eyes were definitely not open. Even still, it was a good start to my morning to worship with my brothers and sisters. That being said, today was definitely the most tired that I have been this week. Without a doubt. I got five hours of sleep last night and had 2 midterms today! It was one of those 'if I can just get through today I will be golden' days. But I got through it. PRAISE THE LORD, seriously. I love how God gives us just what we need. The idea of daily bread was one that I didn't fully understand until this week. I woke up this morning with little or no energy and God was faithful to provide me with just enough energy to get through the day and accomplish all that I needed to. There is so much that I have learned throughout this fast, which is already more than I can say about the last two years that I have done it. I...

I am exhausted so this is going to be short and sweet. Today started out great but definitely got harder as the day went on. I really miss food. Just the sight of my V8 is beginning to infuriate me and I can feel my strength leave me... but I rejoice in the fact that Gods power is made perfect in my weakness. God has been teaching me about submission to the Father. What does that look like? How can I walk in that? Can't wait to see what he has in store for me tomorrow.

What joy for those whose hope is in the name of the Lord. Today was seriously one of the best days--by far the best day of this week of fasting. It didn't exactly start out that way. I was kind of tired when I got up, my mind wasn't completely focused on the Lord when I was at prayer this morning. I wanted it to be, but I was letting distractions cloud my view of Gods face. I was not super thrilled about my 8 o clock class that I had this morning AND I was starting to feel the hunger pains. Here's the thing about the pains though. I wasn't even really hungry as much as I just missed eating. It was the weirdest thing! It really made me wonder if I eat because I was hungry or because I just like to eat...food for thought :) I was kind of pondering whether I would go to afternoon prayer at the church today since I was planning on going in the evening. I decided to go but I decided that I wasn't going to hike up the hill this time, I was just going to stay in the praye...

Today was an incredible day. On so many levels. I got to start out the morning (at the butt crack of dawn, that is) at the morning offering and it was so incredible. It was so encouraging to see so many people gathered in one place to seek God's face bright and early. It is so sweet to be in His presence. It's been weird, it hasn't been too bad yet. I remember that the last two years that we have done the fast, the first two days have been so incredibly difficult but for some reason I haven't really been experiencing any hunger pains. I am definitely not complaining, but I also don't want to get prideful and think that the way I am feeling is because of something that I've done right. I want to be able to praise Jesus when I feel awfully hungry as well as when I feel completely satisfied. This afternoon we had the opportunity to hike up to the top of Chip Ross park and just cry out for our city. The weather was incredible considering it is the middle of winter. ...

I kind of felt lead to collect my thoughts during this particular week. Each year, our church holds a week of fasting and prayer and each week it has been incredible the way the Lord has moved in our body both on an individual and corporate level.It has been really cool because this year, the Lord has given me a real confidence in his ability to sustain me during this week. He has done it before so why wouldn't he do it again? He is faithful. I have three midterms during this week but I am not worried because I know that this week God is going to show me that he alone is my sustainance--not food. So it is day number one and to be honest, I am not that hungry! I know that I will be looking at this on Friday and wanting to go back to this feeling but I am really trying to treasure every moment that I feel satisfied. I am so excited to see what God is going to do during this week! With that being said, I am excited to experiment with all sorts of liquids! Create in us clean hearts, O ...

It's really cool how God uses different people to speak into our lives. Recently, he has used one David Ovienmhada to inspire me to do something that has actually been on my heart to do for a while. Read through the Bible. Cover to cover. A year ago, my good friend Alexis decided that she wanted to read through the Bible in one year and I remember thinking "that's a really cool idea, but I feel like I know so much of the Bible that there is really no need to to read through the whole thing..." so I didn't. One thing that really struck a chord for me when David was talking to me was how he was able to learn a lot about the character of God through reading the Bible. He talked about how cool it was to then read about Jesus in the new testament after reading about God the father in the old and see how they really are one. Something about the way he described this really made me want to experience it first hand and not just take his word for it. So I am doing it! I a...