Dreams

She wanted to travel to far away places
But couldn't get past the brick wall
She wanted to soar with gentle graces
But her wings were crashed by a fall
She longed to sing a love song
But her heart had forgotten the tune
Poor little thing
Now what was she to do?

He came travelling
With a shining vision
In search of his heart's only love
Driven by passion of her in white linen
She's all that he's ever dreamed of

Though he found her all broken and ragged
It mattered not, cause you see
Her rags could not hide
All that he knew she could be

Now she dances in royal splendor
And her heart has a new song to sing
And I'm here to tell you
Dreams still do come true
When you are the bride of the king
Oh, I'm here to tell you
Dreams still do come true
Cause that wishful dreamer was me
~ Rhonda Gunn

words of wisdom

"If you think there isn't a passage of Scripture referring to the situation you're in right now, then you aren't looking hard enough.  You've got to mine for it like gold."  ~ Mom

is this what heaven will be like?

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said:"Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."

Isaiah 6:1-7

Because I Like to Dream

My passion is for family.  My heart beats for family.  I often get stressed out with changes that happen within the family.  I get overly protective of family.  I like to be supportive of family.  I love to encourage family.

I love family.

Today, a tiny newborn wailed it's little lungs out as it's mother tried to pay for her groceries.  All I wanted to do right then and there was to scoop up the baby, hold it close, and try to calm it.  I've always dreamed of having a family of my own to take care of, but the feeling never seemed so strong or so real as it did this afternoon, listening to that little baby cry.

Yes, I've had experience with babies.  I've had the privilege of having 8 younger siblings.  Some of my favorite times in life were spent meeting my brothers and sisters for the first time:

"Hi!  I'm Alex, your big sister, and I just want you to know that I love you.  I've been waiting for 9 months to get to say hello, which is a very long time to wait for a very impatient older sister.  Now that you're here, I don't want to let you go.  Ever.  I'm SO glad God placed you in my family ... OUR family.  Welcome, little one."

Have you ever had the chance to hold a baby tight and jabber away at him, even though he doesn't understand what you're saying?  Have you ever had the chance to hold her tiny, little hand in your own, and praise God for those precious, perfect fingers?  Have you ever had the chance to rock him to sleep?  Have you ever had the chance to nestle her close and tell her all about the family she's been placed in?

...I have...
...it's an experience like no other...
...one that I wouldn't trade for the world...

I can't tell you how excited I get when I think of myself 10 years down the road.  Will I be married by then?  And if so, will I already have kids of my own to love on, and to raise into godly young men and women?  It excites me to think that God might bless me with a family of my own someday.  I can't imagine the thrill of watching my children grow and mature, and then experience the bitter/sweet emotion of letting them go and start families of their own.

I think about the future, and I smile.

I can't wait to see what God has in store for me.

I simply can't wait.  :)

This makes me smile

Happenings

Oh you wanted a substantive post?  I know, it's been a long while since I've done anything akin to that.  Here goes!

Life has been C.R.A.Z.Y. of late, and things are finally starting to calm down (yay!).  I've already written about fall camp, so I'll pick up where I left off.  After camp, I came home for a few days, got a couple of hours in at work -- okay, so maybe it was more like 36 -- and then promptly left for my grandparents'.

Like I tell my mom, there's really only one place on earth where I can fully relax, and that would definitely be on my grandparents' property.  Imagine 13 gorgeous acres of rolling hills, trees taller than my house, a huge pond (which was in the process of trying very hard to be non-existent), a long gravel road, crisp fall weather, and beautiful sunny skies.  Yep.  I was in paradise!  It was also the first time in all my 19 years that I had my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin all to myself.  I spent one short, but beautiful week there.

One of the best parts about that week was getting to go hiking (one of my all-time favorite things to do!) with my aunt, uncle, and cousin.  We were originally thinking it would only take us about an hour or two to hike the entire trail, but someone wanted to take a different way back to the car, and we ended up wading through two freezing cold creeks and hitting a dead end.  Yep.  Not only was it uphill the entire way back, we also had to walk through the creeks, mud, and horse manure again!  Instead of getting grumpy, we all just started laughing as we each bit off a chunk of our single granola bar and started the trek back.  All in all, we didn't get back to the car until 4 hours after we had begun.  :)

Here's the deal, over the past couple of years, a sort of exhaustion has really brought me low.  Most days I would wake up, be up and about for a few hours, then would be ready to hit the sack again.  I would move sluggishly throughout my day and be counting down the hours and minutes until I could clock out and go home.  Even on my days off, I wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed and sleep the day away.

After spending time with my family last week, all the tiredness and stress fell away!  I am now feeling refreshed enough to get through the crazy holiday season at work!  I thank the Lord for His goodness and kindness in allowing me a week of respite.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Isaiah 5:20

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!