Give Thanks!

I woke up with a song on my heart today "Give thanks to the Lord our God and King for he is good his love endures forever", scripture set to music. Everyday is a day to give thanks but I think it's right and good to set time aside to corporately and intentionally acknowledge God's goodness reigning over our lives.

And while I'll eat too much stuffing and my favorite tradition is watching the parade, I pray that in the hard moments of the coming year I'll hearken back to the bounty of today and my soul will feast.

Let the trees of the forest sing,

let them sing for joy before the Lord,

for he comes to judge the earth.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

Cry out, “Save us, God our Savior;

gather us and deliver us from the nations,

that we may give thanks to your holy name,

and glory in your praise.”

1 Chronicles 16:33-35

I trust today that your cup will overflow as you look back over the year and marvel at God's faithfulness and look ahead in trust to the coming year! What are you thankful for?

A Spontaneous Hallelujah!

I feel the need today to shout out a Hallelujah to the God who makes zinnias grow in November, who doesn't laugh at a girl who wants to go to Serbia, who gives out gifts like every day is Christmas, who makes flesh and blood strangers sisters of the heart, who causes four year old laughter to sound like sunshine, who lets us rest our faith on his ability to be faithful. To that God, the living one, I have to give a shout out!

I'm thankful for a husband who has gotten used to my idiosyncrasies and doesn't make me feel bad for them but doesn't feel the need to follow suit either, he just lets me be me.

I'm thankful for color. That instead of black and white, or shades of blue, God splashed the world with a pallet that defies description. For orange butterflies sipping nectar daintily in the November sun.

I'm thankful for a little boy filled with curiosity, wearing a coon skin cap. For a little boy who's sensitive and sorry when he does what's wrong. Who loves his little sister and thinks she's cute, and mostly not annoying.

I'm thankful that when I need mercy and call out for it that it's never lacking. That knowledge gives me courage to go big and not be afraid to fail because mercy is what I'll get every time!

It's good to say thank you, to shout out praise, and name some gifts! How about you what's got your heart jumping and your face smiling lately?

More Than Enough

I feel like whispering instead of shouting which is a little odd given the news I have to share. I can only imagine it's because I am truly humbled by God's generosity and yours.

God has supplied $2,600 for the trip to Serbia, and there is more on the way! At least $400 more has been promised. Not only has God provided enough, he's given even more!

The extra from travel expenses will be used on the trip to buy supplies for the residents of Dom Veternik.

Perhaps I feel quiet and introspective because now the enormous task of following Jesus into uncharted territory looms ahead. Or because I truly feel solemn to be included in the plans God has for loving others. How do you prepare your heart to meet and bond with people who live on the other side of the world?

Maybe it's because I know my own frail humanity, my weaknesses and fears, maybe I know this is the most intense thing I've ever attempted and I know it will take complete surrender and trust to follow in Jesus' footsteps.

Whatever the reason, as much as I am excited I'm intensely humbled. Thank you friends for loving with me. For taking the time to hear Jesus in my sometimes garbled words, for dreaming and imagining with me, for showing me what generosity looks like!

I shouldn't be surprised. Jesus is always more than enough!

(To learn more about our trip to Serbia read go to my Journey to Serbia page.)

Beauty Calls

Sometimes life pounds hard, zips past, and makes demands. Even if it's just the simple routine of work and dishes and bills. And sometimes, really all the time if we're listening, beauty calls out. Her voice isn't demanding though. It's gentle as a mother's, salty as an ocean breeze; full of nuance and flavor, whispering of rest, joy and healing. Beauty is a gift. God's gift, an intimate part of his created order. I wonder if enjoying his gift of beauty is a form of worship, an expression of thanks.

This Sunday, after the work and privilege of worshiping God, our family took time for the work and privilege of enjoying beauty, together. It was hot and we (okay me) snapped once or twice, but it was lovely and satisfying to be together. It's a whole other experience living near water, one that we're discovering the joys of bit by bit. These pictures were all taken in Pensacola, Florida, enjoy.

Our lunch view at The Fish House, best grits EVER!

My sassy southern belle!

I loved the artistry of this charming old church.

A peak inside.

Live oaks! Living poetry in a park.

Live oaks are prone to long limbs that break.
I love their solution to offering the trees support!

My water baby enjoying the splash of a pretty fountain.

Southern architecture delights my senses.
I love the balance and decorum of this house with it's cheery mustard walls.

Beauty makes us better. Where have you seen beauty lately? Won't you share with us how you answer beauty's call?

I hope

I hope this week you find rest like a child, even in the midst of busy days and heavy responsibility. Lean back on the arms of Grace that speak the "I've got you" strength of a father. All the lists in the world can't define you, or the completion of their tasks. Look for a cozy corner and dream like an innocent under dancing dragonflies.

I hope your days drip sunshine and ring with golden laughter. Even if you're in the snowy north. Laughter and joy can be as much of a discipline as contemplation and silence, and certainly just as necessary. May you make space to search for the shimmering moments, and soak them up.

I hope each day your face is set to the dazzling sunshine. I hope you meet it's bold gaze of glory like a warrior and it's brilliance burns it's way into your heart. I hope your feet are set on fire and you run headlong into glory. Knowing it's fire consumes, may you chase the light anyway.

I hope that this week your days are lived out with the knowledge that God's word is a lamp to your feet so that you won't stumble in darkness. That his love is satisfaction richer than any food. May you remember that worship fuels action and silence fuels intimacy. I hope that every opportunity to commune with your Love is taken and moments of thanksgiving are embraced!

Some of my favorite spring time delights

Sun-kissed curly top

Spring bursts

Early morning stroll

Freckle faced boy

Hidden treasures

As life bursts forth around me I find myself moment by moment breathing praise to the Giver of all good gifts. 

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100:1-3

Faithful witness

Psalm 19:1-4
¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

Sometimes I just need to be reminded and he's always faithful to show me his glory!

A song in the dark

My body is once again undependable and feeling the effects of it's fallen, temporary home. Since April I've felt the pull on my body of disease. But in the last week or so it's ever present and beginning to be debilitating. This week I've felt the choking burn of tears hovering near the surface and the nagging pull of fear. As I was talking to Jesus about these concerns, asking for his provision, teaching, empowering, I heard him so sweetly say, worship me. And I did.

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
"Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"
"Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?"
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 11:33-12:2

As the songs "Be Near" and "I Belong" played I poured it out; my worship, my trust, my need, my desire for him, my love as an act of faith and adoration. I felt like the woman anointing Jesus feet with perfume, weeping and kissing those precious feet that came in search of me. And I knew that it was the Son who had drawn me to worship and the Spirit that had ignited the desire and ability to worship and the Father that had provided EVERYTHING I needed to worship him in the first place. I am completely aware that even worship is something I can't give him on own. And even as I worshiped he gave to me; peace, joy, rest.

He has constantly prepared me to worship. Over the course of the last week he has brought my mind back to timely truths, in his word, from a wise author, a song of praise. What a privilege it is to worship him. Worshiping God doesn't change God, he's always worthy, but it does change me. Trusting him in the dark and telling him so blesses his heart and confirms my faith, it strengthens our bond. Is it too much for him to ask for my body, my health? No! He can have it all.