Praise Him Still

 

When the morning falls on the farthest hill,

I will sing His name, I will praise Him still.

When dark trials come and my heart is filled

With the weight of doubt, I will praise Him still.

For the Lord our God, He is strong to save

From the arms of death, to the deepest grave.

And He gave us life in His perfect will,

And by His good grace I will praise Him still.

Fernando Ortega

Gracious Uncertainty

 

To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. This is generally expressed with a sigh of sadness, but it should be an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. As soon as we abandon ourselves to God and do the task that He has placed closest to us, He begins to fill our lives with surprises.

      Oswald Chambers Gracious Uncertainty

Happy Mother’s Day!

“If I am Thy child, only God, it is because Thou gavest me such a mother.”

St Augustine

Oh Mama, I am so very, very blessed to be your daughter! I love you to the moon and back! Thank you for everything, but especially for always pointing us to Christ!

~Much love forever and always!~

Happy Birthday Em!

Dear Emily,

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY!!!

In the span of 18 short years (or long ones, depending on who you are) you have gone from this sweet baby…

   to this sweet lady…

                                               You are the most amazing little sister a girl could ask for.

You are: first and foremost a passionate blood-bought daughter of our Gracious Father and wonderful merciful Savior, PRAISE GOD!                                                                                                                                         next you are crazy smart, super cool, totally dedicated, absolutely hilarious, completely beautiful inside-and-out, way talented, and just a little spazzy to boot:).

You inspire me everyday by your diligence, kindness, discernment, humor, love, wisdom, order, artsy-ness, and the fact that somehow, seemingly without trying, you are always in the know…

Me:”Em, what’s crossfit?”

Em: “First of all why do you always ask me things as if I would know the answer?”

Me: *shrug*

Em: “Well, it’s a combination of yada, yada, yada, so on and so forth” (no, I can’t remember what she said, my brain is a sieve)

Me: “And you wonder why I ask you such things”

this happens so often, but I’ll spare everyone any further dialogue.

I love the above picture of you and Sasa-basa. Look at those pretty girls!

Hey look! It’s the threesome trio circa, what, 2006? 2007?

“A couple a weirdos Guinevere” What would we do without each other? Craziness and all?!

I love you Em, and I pray that this upcoming year will be full of amazing adventures, plenty of good books, edifying and restful fellowship, even more good coffee, which means even greater creativity and longer conversations, which in turn, I pray, will mean greater productivity here on earth and the strengthening of eternal bonds. Not that I’m trying to be bossy or school you or anything-believe me! HELP! I’ve started to ramble!

       Long story short: I sure am beyond blessed to not only be able to call you my sister, here and someday  in heaven, but also my best friend!  I love you and I’m glad that your birthday has given me an excuse to post a bunch of pictures of you and to tell whoever reads this blog how much you mean to me!

I LOVE YOU      

  

The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face to shine upon you

and be gracious to you;

the LORD lift up his countenance upon you

and give you peace.

Numbers6:24-26

Nothing can separate us from his love

God’s love to us in Jesus is firm and changeless,

 Nothing can separate us from it,

 and in the enjoyment of it

Nothing can make us miserable

The Valley of Vision

Herein is love

When I cannot rise

to Him He draws me near

on wings of grace,

to raise me to

Himself.

The Valley of Vision

This isn’t a long-delayed Valentine’s post. These are just the two quotes on the subject of God’s love that I have been dwelling on lately. The first was sent to me in a letter by a very dear and encouraging friend, and then again by her in an email when I most needed the reminder. Mom and I have it memorized now and we like to say it to each other often.  The second quote was on my birthday card from my grandma and grandpa this year… “when I cannot rise to Him He draws me near…” what a wonderful truth!   Anyways, I thought that I would share what has been on my mind lately.

~with love~

So, how do you spell “definitely”?

Yes! Finally a catchy little way to remember how to spell some commonly misspelled words.

My 18 month-old cousin and I have been enjoying the music of British songwriter/child educator A.J. Jenkins, and when this came on today, I thought “aha, finally something useful to post”. I mean, come on, how many of you have either misspelled or have caught someone else misspelling the word “definitely”? A lot of you, I reckon. I used to be so afraid of spelling it wrong that I would avoid it at all costs. So, all that being said, enjoy the song and let me know if it was at all helpful. As my fantastic great-great uncle Jim would say “bad spellers untie” (get it? hahaha)
-much love-

Lead, Kindly Light

Lead kindly light amid th’ encircling gloom,  lead Thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead Thou me on!

Keep Thou my feet;  I do not ask to see the distant scene;

One step enough for me.//

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on;

I loved to choose and see my path;  but now lead Thou me on!

I loved the garish day, in spite of fears,

Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!//

So long Thy power hast blest me, sure it still will lead me on.

O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till the night is gone,

 And with the morn those angel faces smile,

Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!//

— John Henry Newman

This hymn is the cry of my heart for 2013. That the Kindly Light would lead me on. That He would illuminate my path one step at a time,  granting me the contentment to live and not have to see the whole picture at once- ‘the distant scene’. What are your prayers for 2013? Any thoughts? The  quote below has helped me immensely in this last week, as I ran amuck in my desire to see the path ahead, and the whole concept seemed so fitting for the new year:

God never gives guidance for two steps at a time. I must take one step, and then I get light for the next. This keeps the heart in abiding dependance upon God.- C.H. Mackintosh

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy Birthday Cassandra!

Happy Birthday to my very dear, very beautiful friend Cassandra!

I am so blessed to know her, she is one of those once in a lifetime friends. She is always there with a word of encouragement,  solid Biblical counsel and is more than ready to laugh at an inside joke, ridiculous story, or  share a movie quote.

  I’ve known Cassie, or Ernestine, (que inside joke) since she was born…we met in the doctor’s office when I was two; she was there for an infant check-up, and I was there with a purple crayon up my nose.  Ahem.

We’ve had a redoubtable friendship since.

She’s the best kind of friend because, not only is she my closest friend, but she is also my sisters closest friend. We’re know as the “three-some trio” Oh, what times we’ve had together. We’ve shared the good: family camps in Colorado, long autumn walks, early morning coffee, deep and refreshing talks bout God…  the bad: the Nemo ride at Disneyland:) … and the absurd: that plum pudding and the summer that included copious amounts of kettle corn.

She’s the kind of friend who will let you cry on her shoulder, and then isn’t afraid to cry on yours. As she would say, “no masks allowed here”.

She also does zany things like diagram sentences for fun, decide that it is not only possible, but doable to graduate from college in under two years (yeah, she’s diligent) and bury herself in our couch cushions… our couch does have a tendency to swallow people and things.

I am so grateful for her friendship.

Happy, Happy 18th Birthday Cass! May our gracious Heavenly Father continue to guide you in the ways of peace, goodness, and mercy as you embark on a new year, full of exciting adventures, challenges, blessings, and even greater measures of grace.

I LOVE YOU!

Preparing to Welcome Winter

  In my morning devotions I read this quote by C.H. Spurgeon and  it convicted and encouraged me so much that I decided to share it:

“How we prize the fire just now! How pleasant is its cheerful glow! Let us in the same manner prize our Lord, who is the constant source of warmth and comfort in every time of trouble. Let us draw near to Him, and in Him find joy and peace in believing. Let us wrap ourselves in the warm garments of His promises, and go forth to labours which befit the season, for it would be bad to be like the sluggard who will not plough because of the cold; for he shall beg in summer and have nothing.”

It reminds me that in whatever ways I am preparing for, and loving this cold and rainy season, should pale in comparison to how I am preparing for work that befits this earth-bound season in my eternal life.  May we all find our warmth in Christ this winter, warmth that goes all the way to our souls, not just the temporary warmth of comforting fires and glowing candles!  How are you preparing? Are you wrapped in the warm garments of Christ’s promises?