Glorious White Coldness...

Today I woke up to a beautiful sight, snow!! I thought we were only suppose to get a "dusting",not so! So after consulting with my new friend Bryan, I got up, got ready and we headed into the city. All we wanted to do was see it in the snow. Words don't describe the feeling when I stepped on the National Mall and saw white everywhere! There have been times where I can't believe I'm actually here and today was one of those moments. It was breathtaking. Later that afternoon Bryan and I went our separate ways.
After going to Arlington, just to see what it looked like, and back up into the city to do a little shopping. I decided to walk up to the White House.

And then, as I was staring at one of the most recognizable houses in the world- covered in a blanket of perfect snow. Each snowflake unique and unlike the other I heard that whisper again. It said, "And my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory."

I could nothing but smile as I walked back toward the metro with my Caramel Apple Spice in hand. My God loves me so much that He crafted billions of individual unique snowflakes and blanketed Washington DC with them. He loves me so much, that He knew that I needed to be accepted in the Spring semester, so that I could see the city covered in snow. He crafted this perfect snowfall months, maybe even years in advance, so that I would have great memories about walking though this city in the snow. He supplies all my needs, even ones that stem from me just loving two things-snow and Washington.

"And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory." Philippians 4:19

Just do It!

Ever do something you think you could never do? Like wear red lipstick, or finish a 1000 piece puzzle...Or maybe you baked a killer good cake from scratch...buy that pair of shoes with the killer high heels...

Well today I accomplished something I thought I would never do-I drove on the Beltway in rush hour traffic! For those of you who don't know, the Beltway is the interstate that goes around DC and is always backed up at rush hour. Well today, I drove with all the Washingtonians, Virginians and Marylanders! And if that wasn't enough, after work I drove down town DC in rush hour! I tell you what, I am definitely becoming accustomed to living in the big city. I just haven't tacked the big city shopping yet, I'm leaving that for pay day!!

So go ahead...do something you didn't think you could do. Learn to say your phone number backwards, wear those high heels to work, or learn to make candles from beeswax. Anything is possible!

Romans 5:3

Delightful

Psalms 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of you heart."

This weekend was amazing... As I walked around in the city I have always longed to live in, I was amazed that God would choose to give me what I had longed for since I was 17. Sometimes I think we forget that God loves us more than we could ever fathom. I spent Saturday exploring the National Gallery of Art, and walking around DC-every few minutes I would stop and look around in awe that I actually lived here. Here. In Washington DC. Here. Where God has put me for some reason that I don't really yet comprehend.

As I left church on Saturday night, I found myself singing and once again in awe. Delight yourself. I just kept hearing that over and over. Saturday seemed like a great day to be delightful.

Before I left to come to DC a wonderful woman of God at church took me by the hand and said that God was delighted in me... What?! God loved me so much that because I was delighted in Him-He was delighted in me.

I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I will be delightful. Even though I sometimes miss home- I will continue to delight myself in Him, because He loves me more than I can understand~

Laundry Room

When I was little I used to sit in the back seat of my mom's Astro Van*woop* and sing made up songs to Jesus. I'd sing about the stars and how pretty they were, I would sing every night on the way home from church. (I remember this distinctly, if you don't believe me ask my momma)

So while I'm in the laundry room, sitting on a table, I come across this scripture.
Isaiah 55:12"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."

And I start to sing, you know the song that we sang in church since we've been kids...Yeah, that one! So in the laundry room on Friday night, I began to praise Jesus.
Then I sat to read again*by this time my clothes are in the dryer* and I started singing a random made up song.
I was amazed...
But since I have been 13 or 14 I stopped singing or even writing songs. For months now I've been praying that I would be able to start that again. But nothing...Imagine my surprise in the laundry room when words just began to flow out of my mouth.

FYI- Jeffrey is very much convinced that I need to sing-or do something with worship,I'm praying about that too. But I thought, wow God- really, in the laundry room?

But then I remember that the whole premise of that verse, is that if we don't praise Him the rocks will cry out. So maybe I'll be like Annie Hawks and write songs while I do housework. Don't know who she is? She wrote one of my most favorite Hymns...
"I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord;no tender voice like Thine can Peace afford.
I need Thee, oh I need Thee, every hour I need Thee Oh Bless me now my Savior; I come to Thee."

Untitled

So sometimes, I randomly burst into tears. Fact. True fact.
Sometimes I can just be talking to someone and I start to cry. More often I'm listening to the radio, hear a song I love and then Boom-Tears. Always accompanied by Holy Ghost Goosebumps.
And it's times when I feel that way that I am thankful for a soft heart.
The song that makes me cry every time, has now become my anthem...

"Sometimes the way is lonely it's steep and filled with pain, so if your sky is dark and pours the rain...Cry to Jesus, Cry to Jesus...and Live"
So that's what I'm doing...when I feel sad I put this song on and I dance and I cry. Then I dance some more~because the next part of the song is my favorite. "When the love spills over and music fills the night, and when you can't contain your joy inside~dance for Jesus and live..."
So don't be afraid to cry, or dance because as long as its for Jesus, everything will workout...

Fly to Jesus, Fly to Jesus, Fly to Jesus and Live!!!

Ode to the Boy

Ever get that sinking feeling when you miss something or someone? It feels like your heart is so heavy that its going to fall through into your stomach. And your chest gets tight, so that you can barely breath, blinking back tears you silently say to yourself-just a little longer.

Just a little longer until I feel like I'm where I'm suppose to be. Just a little longer until everything I wanted falls into place. Just a little longer.

The Bible tells us that Love suffers long, and is kind. Suffers long? That means it is patient right? Love. Is patient. Even when it doesn't feel like it.

Jeffrey genuinely loved it when I told him I was blogging last night. He makes me laugh from the deepest parts of me. And he suffers long. One of my favorite "Jeffreyisms" is that love is not an emotion.
What?! Not an emotion? But then I think about it. Love is truly something that you have to work at. So if love isn't an emotion, if you have to work at it, and if love is patient, then we have to work at being patient.

Everyone asks, "how does your boyfriend feel about you moving to DC?" I always answer~he doesn't care, he just wants me to do what makes me happy. But the truth is that God has given Jeffrey an innate ability to understand that love is long suffering.
So when I feel that deep down heavy feeling, I just call him and he makes me laugh, then it's gone. And when I can't handle it anymore, sometimes I just call and cry and he listens and calls me a "trooper". Then I remember that I'm not the only one who is having a hard time...and I ask God to help me learn to love and suffer long.

LOVE SUFFERS LONG AND IS KIND. 1Corinthians 13:8

And then there was a whisper...

Last night while I was doing what Jeffrey calls "speed reading" for his message on Sunday, I came across a wonderful little passage in 1st Kings.

Basically Elijah was running from that terrible King Ahab, so he runs to the mountains. While he's in this(what I imagine to be) a cramped little cave-alone...
God tells him to get ready because He is about to drop by.~My words, not His~
Then Elijah waits-first there is a huge wind, but the Lord was not in the wind.
Then there is an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earth quake.
Then comes the fire-but the Lord was not in the fire.
After the fire-there is a small whisper.
~In the Whisper~The Lord was there~

After crying for a little while, I finally realized that in the hustle and bustle of the city, lots of people look for the earthquakes, winds, and fire to realize that God is around.
But if we just stop and listen, really He's in the still small whispers. Sometimes He's in a reassuring email, or in a text message, or sometimes He's in an encouraging word.
Point is- we just have to listen!

This morning I thought I was ready to come home-I even thought about calling the internship and telling them I couldn't make it, but I knew my mom would kill me!
So I sucked it up and went in..

While I was sitting at a conference table, listening to the HR guy talk about tax forms~I heard it...the whisper.
Then again when I got to tell people that it was God who called me to be an interpreter~I heard it again, but louder.
And tonight while I'm sitting in my little apartment, writing and anticipating my day tomorrow, I can hear it again.

The still small whispers are what get us through, I an thankful that God doesn't come at us in big earthquakes, or fires~I'm thankful for His whispers that remind us we're right where He wants us to be.

First Day

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life." I've heard that so many times, in movies and just in conversation. When does our life start? When we're born? When we graduate? When we fall in love? When we get married? When we love our job?...

Today marked the first day I was in Washington DC without my mom. We came out here last week Tuesday, I on Tuesday night I was more than ready to give up and come home! Now one week, many tearful breakdowns, and one lease signing later...I'm here and I'm staying!
Is today the first day of the rest of my life?? Maybe, but I think that day came a long time ago...

Stay tuned for my exciting adventures as I learn to be on my own, pay my own bills, hear from God, and try to manage living in the city!