Bombardment and Adventure

I feel it coming at me from every angle. There's just no possible way to run from it.

It haunts me in my dreams. It's in my music. It's on message boards. It's always brought up in conversations. It's even the focus of CRU this week.

It is relationships.

It first started with a message board topic. Fine. Normal.

Then it came in a dream. Creepy. Odd.

It's always in my music.

It was part of a conversation I had with a younger-than-me friend. Depressing.

Then it came in another dream. Same person. Even more creepy.

Now, it will be the focus of CRU tomorrow. I think I really want to go.

Even though I feel completely overwhelmed by the whole thing, I am interested in other's perspectives/opinions.

Besides that going on, my mind has been running a mile a minute the last couple of days. I just wish I could turn it off. It's good, though. I finally feel like I am figuring out who I am. I have started making myself say definitive statements about myself. "I am...." "I like...." "I want...." It's kinda interesting.

When I was younger, I don't think I had a clue who I was or what I wanted. It has definitely come through many challenging and rewarding experiences.
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I received the greatest compliment to date Sunday. I was sharing a little of my story with a lady at the church I just started going to. She said that I was adventurous.

I have always wanted to be adventurous, but I always thought I was such a wimp. I thought adventurous meant sky diving, bungee jumping, riding roller coasters, doing this, doing that...whatever. I never realized that the things I have done have been adventurous.

At 15, I went on my first mission trip to Venezuela with Teen Mania. I knew no one that was going on my trip until my first day in Texas. I had never been on a plane before. I had never been out of the country, for that matter. And I was gone a month. Changed my life.

At 18, I "hopped" on a plane from Raleigh to Burbank, California. I was going to a ministry school in Pasadena. I knew no one. And when I arrived in Burbank, my ride was really late. I called my mom crying and wanted to come home, but I stuck it out. I was there for almost a year. Changed my life. Still is really.

At 22, I moved to Kansas City. I knew one person. My mom's friend who's 73. I lived on campus...which is an adventure in itself. I didn't know my roommate until move-in day. I didn't know any of my classmates, who had all been together for a year already. I have been to two different churches, where I knew no one. I don't know how long I'll be here, but I can definitely say that it is changing my life.

I can't help but believe that God will have another adventure for me. It might be while I'm here, or I might be going somewhere else. I'm just excited to be thought of as adventurous. :)

New Hair.
New Confidence.

Consume Me..

- dc Talk

Lovely traces
I can sense You in everything
The way that You move me
Takes me far away
I seek no escape
I'm dreaming through Your eyes
I am wandering through Your mind
I'm overtaken by the way that You deliver me
I'm transcended
There's no place I'd rather be
Than here in Heaven
Without You I'm incomplete
It's hopeless

Chorus:
You consume me, You consume me
Like a burning flame running through my veins
You consume me moving through me
Anytime, anyplace You invade my space
You consume me, You consume me

Wholly devoted
I immerse myself in You
Baptize me in Your love
Cause drowning in the thought of You
Floods my soul
I'm taken by the things You do
God, You know
It doesn't matter what I lose
I'm Yours

Chorus

Bridge
I am in Your hands
Under Your command
Like a puppet on a string
[Lord you know]
I am willing to
Put my faith in You
So before the world I sing

[Consume me]
You consume me, You consume me
Burning flame, through my veins
You consume me moving through me
Anytime, anyplace You invade my space
You consume me [oh, you know that I surrender]
I am consumed, I'm consumed with You
There's no other way I can fly
It's You and I, You and I
There's no other way I can fly
It's You and I, You and I
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I love answering the question "How are you doing/How are things going" with an emphatic "GREAT"!

And really..things are great. I have no complaints...well...no major ones anyways. I would love some more snow. :)

I feel like I am coming alive again. It's terrifying and exciting.

I kinda want to take on the world.

Wordless...

SNOW DAY!

Fire in our fire place.

Finding Love in a bag of Lays...

Ken Helser says, "In everything God has a voice. You can hear Him in anything or miss Him in everything."

What is He saying in the middle of a traffic jam? In the cool breeze that moves through your car? In the movement of the trees? The song on the radio? And so on...

Ken Gire calls them "Windows of the Soul". Those moments when we hear the whispers of God in everyday life.

I think I have always known this. It seems as if my heart has always been sensitive. I remember listening to a Five Iron Frenzy song about dandelions. I was on my way to school. Things were tough. I was doing a lot of questioning and not really finding answers. It was one of those times where I wasn't sure that God still wanted me. I felt like I had royally missed the mark and was of no use. One part of the song says, "You see love where anyone else would see weeds". I knew by offering everything I had, as ugly as it was at the time, the Lord saw it as a beautiful offering. I found a parking spot at school, and when I got out there was a dandelion growing on the ground. At that moment, something that I see all of the time became incredibly meaningful. I knew God was speaking to me.

So, the bag of Lays....

I pulled this out a couple of days ago:



Ephesians 1:4 (Amp)
Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated, and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, for Him in love.


"In everything, God has a voice. You can hear Him in anything or miss Him in everything."