Not Just a Place

I called school home today. I think I've done that before but I never really noticed it as much as I did today. I think that might be because I am at my real home. It's fine to call TFC home when I'm in Georgia because that is my temporary home, but here, it seems out of place. I have a home. Why do I need a second one? Which one really is home? I guess home is where the heart is, but my heart is in so many different places right now. It is both here and in Georgia. And then there is the part of my heart that will always reside in my heavenly home. But my heart isn't just in locations. Pieces of my heart travel with the people I love, people who are in more places than just California and Georgia. Little bits of my heart are dotted across the country - outside the country even. I guess home isn't just one place. It is wherever I find my heart. More than a location, home is a state of being. It means comfort and security even if everything seems to be falling apart. I guess I have many homes.

When I Look at the Clouds

It is cloudy again today. Most people think this is unfortunate, but I actually like the clouds because the stormy weather gives me an excuse to wrap myself up in a blanket and sit on the couch while sipping coffee and reading a good book. But today I was thinking about another reason I like the clouds. The clouds cover the sky. While the sun, moon, and stars still shine, we cannot see them because they are behind the clouds. We just assume they are there, shining as usual, which is probably true. But I started thinking about what I would do if I were a star and the clouds were covering me.
If I were covered by clouds and no one could see me, I would be free to be my true self. I would shine even brighter than usual, sparkle even more. I would not have to worry about what anyone thinks of me because there would be no one to watch me and judge my actions. I like to imagine stars are their most beautiful on cloudy nights and the sun's light still reaches us on cloudy days because it is shining even brighter than usual. But just as clouds cannot always cover the stars (something I am extremely thankful for), I also cannot always hide from the world.
I do not know why I am always so concerned with what others think of me but I know it is always much more rewarding to let that go and be who I really am. I need to remember to shine like the stars on a cloudy night whether or not the clouds are there. The stars do not know how I love watching them sparkle in the sky and likewise I may not always know who is enjoying watching me shine. Just as God created the stars to give light in all weather, so I am designed to be completely me in all circumstances.

Beneath the Ice

So This is old and you may have already read/heard it but I really like it and realized I hadn't posted it yet, so here it is:
The coolness of the mountain air surrounded her. She breathed in its freshness. Its promise. The essence of new life. Tall peaks stood all around her and the bright sun reflected off the crystal snow. The perfect place to escape. To refresh. To renew. Warmth flooded her veins as she felt the sweet embrace of her Savior. Place your problems and cares upon me. Let me solve them. So she let go of her most pressing concerns, but a layer of ice still remained. Let me go deeper into your past. I want to heal your wounds. But she didn’t want to revisit those places. Too much pain and hurt. I can help you. She wished she could help herself. She didn’t want to trust anyone with her heart. Would it really improve anything? What if she ended up more broken than she was now? The ice around her heart protected her from the world. She didn’t want to break it. When you are ready, come to me. She stood on the mountaintop and gazed around her. Maybe she could try. So she poured out all her past wounds. She placed her burdens on His shoulders. But the past wasn’t so painful with Jesus by her side. As she relived her parents’ abuse and her friends’ cutting words, she heard His gentle whisper. You are precious and valued and you are beautiful. She felt the ice inside of her begin to melt. She ventured further and it cracked and splintered into thousands of pieces. Finally, her heart was free. As she drove away from the snow-covered peaks, she heard one more whisper: I love you, my darling.

Time Away

It's been awhile. I've been spending too much time just enjoying life and not enough time thinking about it. But I don't really think that's a bad thing. So be patient while I cherish life's blessings and miracles. If I'm not writing, it is probably a good thing, really. So I'm going to take some more time just "carpe diem-ing" and let y'all wait a little longer.

Caught in the Web

Last night, I looked at the facebook prayer and support group for the Westmont fire. There are many more members than students at the school and they seem to be a random group of people, but they all have one thing in common. They are all praying for the students and the school as it recovers from this fire. I thought that was so cool. We all have some small connection to the school. For me, it's my sister, for others its friends or maybe some graduated from Westmont years ago. But we can all come together in prayer. It was so amazing reading posts by people from places like Michigan, Texas, France and many others; and I'm here praying from Georgia. This is the kind of unity the body of Christ is supposed to have.

This made me think of how many people in a day pray for me or events that concern me. I know my parents and others from my church pray for me but there are also people I don't even know who pray for me. There are probably people praying for Toccoa Falls College or the state of Georgia (or California) and others praying for Riverpoint (and my home church, Bethany). That is just awesome! I love being held up by this web of prayer that surrounds me as well as being able to form the threads that hold others up, whether I know them or not. Now we need to work on bringing this unity and connection we have through prayer into the rest of our lives. We can come together as brothers and sisters in Christ and together we can stand.

As for the fire, I'm praying for beauty from ashes. God will be able to use this in ways which we cannot even imagine, so I pray that everyone stays open to His work and power so we can give Him the glory and praise He deserves.

Becoming

I never explained why I chose "Blossoming" as the heading for my blog. There is a reason and I believe it deserves some explanation. In drama in 7th grade I got the end-of-the-year award of "Blossoming Rose" because I was just starting out but something good was present in my acting. I was transforming from a little baby bud into a flower. My life has been doing a lot of blossoming lately. In the past year I've filled out 8 college applications, produced a 432 page yearbook, decided on a school, started college and have done countless other smaller activities that have dramatically impacted who I am now. I am no longer the cute little bud of a rose I once was. Yet, I am still a long way from being a fully formed flower. Compared to the length of its life, a rose is in the blossoming stage for quite a while and I am no different. Over the next years I will continue to do new things and discover more of God's plan for my life. This blog records the thought processes I go through as I become that rose. So thats the reason for the title. But lately, I have been thinking a little more about becoming who I will one day be.

It seems as if flowers just blossom. It is something that happens without any effort on their part. But I was thinking about how being the flower would feel. A rose bud is not planning on blossoming - it is just something that naturally happens. All of a sudden, the green leaves surrounding its delicate petals start pulling away. At first, there does not seem to be a reason for this exposure and pain. Another color now shows between the green leaves, but it is nothing spectacular. And then, very slowly, each individual petal is pulled down a little further. The petals must separate and fold out and as this happens, the most fragile and delicate part of the flower is exposed to the world - bugs, rain, wind and sun. But each day as a new petal is revealed, the rose becomes more and more beautiful until finally all of them pulled back and the effect is amazing. 

I think, so often, we see the beautiful rose and forget about the process it took to get there. The same thing happens in the lives of people. We see someone with qualities which we admire and we think about what an amazing person they are but forget about what they went through to become that person. Or, when we are experiencing suffering and hardship, we forget about who we are becoming. We forget this is a process we must undergo - that each soft and delicate petal must be pulled back and exposed, that we must break free from the leaves around us. And we forget that everything we go through will play a part in the person we are becoming - the rose of our lives.

More than a Line

I sometimes wonder why my emotions have to change so often. I wish I didn't have to constantly go up and down. Never knowing when I wake up in the morning how I'm going to be feeling just a few hours from then can be immensely frustrating. I often wonder how I could change this, how I could keep my emotions stable and constant. But then I got to thinking, is this really what I'd want?

I realized if my emotions were constant and never varied then I couldn't feel happiness or excitement. Yeah, I wouldn't feel disappointment, sadness and pain but I think it is often from these feelings that we learn the most. And the valleys of life help us appreciate the mountaintops so much more. I want to feel - to feel everything. And I want to be able to feel it all with every bit of intensity I can. I may fall harder, faster, and lower but I will be raised up in the same way. So I must embrace my emotions and let myself feel them. As I do this I have the constant stability of God by my side to rejoice with me at the top and pull me out of the pits. How could I ever have wanted anything else?

A Better Home

For over five months now, I've been praying for the homeless. When I started this 6x6 prayer (praying for one thing six days a week for six months), I had no idea why I chose this topic. I'd never felt particularly called to help the homeless before or hadn't had any experience that might cause me to choose this particular group of people. All I had was a line from a song ("You never had a home") and a strong conviction that this was what God wanted me to pray for. So I prayed and prayed some more and as I continued praying, I started focusing on what exactly homelessness meant. I went on the internet and recorded some points I thought were interesting. Some synonyms I found to the word homeless were helpless, unprotected, abandoned and deserted. I find it interesting that these words carry a whole lot more meaning than just not having a roof over your head. They all hold a sense of loneliness and an idea that there is no one they can turn to. And I realized that while I may not be able to provide all these people food or shelter, I can show them love. I can tell them through my words and more importantly through my actions, that they are not alone, that someone wants to help them and cares for them. I can share with them the wonderful hope they can have for an eternal home in Heaven. Living in that home is so much more important than having a temporal home here on earth. After all, many people with mansions here may find themselves without any protection after death. And those are the truly helpless people. They are helpless not because of a lack of shelter but because when they were shown love, they chose to remain helpless and unprotected by abandoning and deserting the only one who could help them.

Not Quite Centerstage

The lights go on, the curtain opens, and there I am... at the side of the stage pulling on the rope that opens the curtains. That is how I feel sometimes. Like I do all the work to make myself this great person that everyone will want to know and love and I get nothing. I'm always in the shadow. People know I'm there, of course (after all, how else would the curtains open?) but they don't really know who I am. I'm just the stage hand, the helper, the one who makes everyone else look good. But that is not the role I want to have. For once, I want to be noticed. I want to star in the movie of my life not just help with the production. 

But maybe to be recognized I need to stop thinking about who I am and start realizing who the people around me are. If I am just the stage hand, after all, I might as well do my job to the best of my ability. And maybe one day someone will appreciate that. Someone will finally notice me and to at least one person, I can be the star. But in order to get to that point, I must graciously perform the task I've been given. I must be content with the shadows for a bit longer.

Alone

I have absolutely nothing to write. I'd like to say it's because I'm completely content and have nothing to get off my chest. But that really isn't the case. Far from that. I'm sick of the food here, have way too much to do this week and I miss home. I really wish I could drive somewhere by myself and just get away from everything and everyone here. Not that I don't like the place or the people, because I really do. I just need some time away by myself. I've always valued alone time and I haven't had any in a while. Being in my dorm room by myself doesn't count. I think that is one of the things about home I miss the most: knowing where I could go and being able to get there when I wanted to get away from everything else. Well, as I said, I have nothing to write about so I guess this is it for now.

Gas Stations and Satellites

While driving back from Savannah this weekend we discovered we'd gone an hour too far on the wrong road. We had a choice: we could turn around and get back to where we'd gone wrong or we could go on a different route that might be quicker. We chose the second option. After driving for another four hours, most people probably would have said we made the wrong decision. But I'm not so sure. There are so many experiences and memories we could not have had if we'd just turned around. We chose to try something new. We may have failed, but the failure didn't really hurt us. 

Right now in my life, I feel like I'm on the way back from Savannah. I chose to step into the unknown. And right now it is looking a little bit like I'm in the middle of nowhere on some abandoned road and have no idea where I'm going. But I know I have to keep trying to find my way if I ever hope to get to where I want to be. So I'll just keep driving and stopping to ask for some direction along the way. 

The best part of this adventure was the GPS that we had all along. I know that on the adventure of my life, God has a satellite view of what is going on. He's not just some "honky-tonk redneck in a gas station." He is an all-knowing God who is trying to lead me home. Just like yesterday, there will be times on this crazy adventure of my life when I'll go outside of God's will just like on the way home we sometimes got off of the purple line, but I can just make a U-turn and get right back on it. And I know that one day God will lead me home and the path I took to get there will be so much more rewarding than if I'd just chosen to stick with what I knew.

Temporarily Homesick

I'm starting to miss home. It's not too noticeable most of the time. When I'm busy or doing something which requires much of my attention, I hardly notice it at all. But that doesn't mean the ache isn't there. There is just this constant tugging on my heart to be at home. To sleep in my own bed, tell my Dad I love him in person, drive somewhere familiar by myself and laugh with the friends I've grown up with. So many people around here are excited about getting to go home this weekend. I'm excited for what this weekend holds for me too, but I wonder if watching other people at home will make my own pain worse. I can't seem to find any way around being at least a little homesick.

But I think that is okay. People have always held a special attachment for the place they called home. In a way I think that desire for a home can bring us closer to God. He is a home for the homeless and a permanent location for the wanderer. I can always run home to Him. And better yet, I know He is preparing my eternal home. Because I can't really call any place on this earth my home. God has a different residence planned for me. The Bible says to keep our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen because what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal. Maybe all I need to do is keep looking forward to that eternal home and I won't miss my temporal home back in Thousand Oaks, California. There'll still be times when I want to go home, I'm sure, but at least this way I can put my longing into perspective.

Composure

Waiting there - calm, unconcerned,

Nervousness and excitement - buried,

Lying just beneath the surface,

Never shown on that face,

Held inside, ready to break,

All the feelings that can't be released.

Desperate to find a way out,

Longing for the freedom to live;

But instead caged inside the skin,

Hidden beneath the mask of composure.

Behind the Screen

I'm easy to read. When I'm mad, happy, whatever, people know. I've tried to hide it many times but I always fail. Or at least that's how it may seem. But I sometimes wonder: am I really showing my true emotions. I know how I feel but I also know how I should feel, how a "normal" person would feel in the same situation. I've come to realize these don't always match up. I notice this the most with movies. There are parts that are supposed to be so sad and all the other viewers are crying but I find myself smiling or even laughing. I don't think this is because I'm a heartless jerk. I understand the sorrow of the situation but for some reason I see a joyful part of it and take hold of that feeling instead. But that is in movies, you might say. True, it is just a movie. But I think sometimes movies can give us the most accurate pictures of our character. The viewer can look at a situation completely objectively. And besides, are movies so much different from real life? You might say in life people don't become superheroes or there are no centaurs or talking bees but isn't the story still the same. If you place a movie in the real world - change all the made up people and places to real ones - doesn't it still work? That is what makes movies so interesting. In some part of us we can relate. So why shouldn't movies bring out our true feelings? Or give us a more accurate picture of who we are than our own lives can?

So lets go back to the beginning. Are the emotions I'm showing outwardly really what I'm thinking on the inside? Sometimes, yes, I'm sure but I don't think always. Some expressions are impossible to control and some facial movements associated with feelings so subtle that we can't detect them, much less change them. But others we know very well. And just as we use our brains to filter our words (some of us do, anyway), we can also use our minds as a screen over our hearts.

A Brief History of the Southern Language

Hey ya'll! I'm in Georgia and absolutely love it. I think I'll break away from my traditional thoughtful blog entries this time so I can let everyone know what I've been up to these past few days at school. I successfully moved in (it only took three trips to Walmart). And I'm having a great time. The only downside is that we have to attend these really long and boring meetings to orient us to life at Toccoa. Fortunately the seats in chapel are comfortable and they dim the lights. 

The people here are so nice. I love meeting everyone and learning a little about who they are. I also like people's reactions when I say I'm from California. I do not surf but I have some vague ties to celebrities and live pretty close to Hollywood and the beach. So I guess that is pretty impressive out here. I've already made so many new friends. It is fantastic. 

The weather hasn't been too unbearable though it was pretty hot today. And it is certainly a lot stickier than what I'm used to. I feel a little like I'm walking into a slightly broken sauna. But we have air conditioning in our room so I'll live. 

I think that is about all I have to say about life in Georgia for now. Oh, I almost forgot, I am so gonna pick up an accent. I'm already saying y'all.

Hello, Goodbye

I hate goodbyes. There is no easy way to say goodbye to someone when you know you aren't going to see him again for quite some time. I've had to say way too many these past few days and it has been so hard. It made me wonder how people can make choices which force them to say goodbye frequently. Where could the good in that possibly lie? Then I remembered I made such a decision last April. At the time I didn't cosider how difficult it would be to say goodbye to all my friends and family in August with the assurance that I would see them again over Thanksgiving. But as I got closer to August 12, I began to realize what my choice of school really meant. If I really wanted to, I could have backed out. We would have lost my $200 housing deposit and I would have to figure out how to get into a school closer to home and gone through the college decision process all over again, but I could have done it. Yet I didn't. Why Not? Because at one point in time, goodbyes weren't a factor. Because way back in April I wasn't worried about what I was leaving behind but instead I looked forward to what was coming. And I knew it would be great. Having to say goodbye and leave things behind does not diminish the wonderful things in store for me this year. So maybe its not really about saying goodbye. Instead, I am saying hello. Hello to some amazing experiences and fun times. Hello to new friendships and great memories. Besides, I will see all the people I had to say goodbye to in just a few short months. I love hellos. 

Learning to Let Go

The last rays of sunlight shot up like fireworks against the darkening sky as she turned to leave this place she loved. She’d spent her whole life here, yet she knew she couldn’t stay forever. She was meant for more than that. She needed to make her own way in the world.
Fear gripped her heart as the cool, evening air brushed against her skin. She could still turn back. Return to the comfort of home. But she knew she could never live with that decision. Her mind was set. So she hopped into her car and drove away into her future. The first night stars appearing in the navy, velvet sky mirrored the newly ignited hopes and dreams in her heart.

Glorious

So I'm sitting in my hotel room staring out at Lake Louise right now. It's cloudy today and so foggy I can't even see the glacier. Raindrops are splashing onto the ground four stories below me and the water is full of waves and has no sun to make it sparkle. Even in these seemingly dismal conditions, it is one of the most breathtaking sights I've ever seen. And when the sun comes out... wow. There are no words to describe the splendor.

It is sights like these that make me think of my own beauty. I'm staring out at a glorious example of God's creation. Lovelier than I could ever imagine. Too beautiful to believe without seeing for myself. And the world is full of places like these. Just as stunning and majestic. Think Hawaiian sunsets, rolling green hills and blue skies, snow-covered peaks or orange and red trees of a Vermont autumn. What we see as some of the most beautiful things in all creation. God made all this and decided it wasn't enough. Something was missing. The most important part. And that, my dear friends is where we come in. More beautiful than all of this. And more meaningful to God than these glaciers, mountains and lakes. Next time you're unhappy about your appearance just think about that. Think of the most gorgeous thing in all of creation and know you are even more glorious. Now I must leave to marvel at the beauty of the glacier-topped mountains and aquamarine lakes of the Canadian Rockies. 

Take a Hike

I don't think I can put into words the beauty I saw today. Beauty that made 7 1/2 miles of switchbacks, uphill climbs and rocky trails worth the effort. It started out as a fairly ordinary hike up the mountain next to Lake Louise but what it turned into was incredible. 

We hiked up to the first lake. A good mile and a half uphill. Beautiful blue green water surrounded by mountains. At this point I needed every bit of resolve to continue on to the tea house. We made it and the view was breathtaking, but it was also very crowded. So we continued around the second aquamarine, glacier-fed lake to find a place to eat our lunch in peace. This is where the journey began. 

After lunch we had two options: go back the way we came or hike up the side of the mountain to the top and come down the other side and walk back next to Lake Louise. Now who wants to do the same thing twice? That's right - the smart people who like traveling downhill. I, unfortunately am not one of them. So up we go. And up. And up some more. And just a bit more until... ahhh. The most amazing view you can ever imagine. To my left pine-covered mountains sprawling on forever. To my right a birds-eye view of a milky green blue glassy lake, behind me the enormous white and dazzling glacier that feeds that lake. It was breathtaking.

Too bad we had to walk all the way back down. More switchbacks, rocks and mud. the trail finally brought us along the stream of water and silt flowing down from the glacier. We stopped to dip our hands in to the icy water and walked back around the lake, up to our hotel room and collapsed onto the beds. It was worth all the work, but I am going to be so sore tomorrow.

What I Want to Hear

Sometimes I feel so normal, so average, so unnecessary. People tell me they love me but couldn't they love someone else just as easily? I want to know that they love me because I'm me, not because they're supposed to love everyone. Maybe it's a bit selfish of me to want such exclusive love, but I want it anyway. It's one thing to say I love you but those words can have so many meanings. It can be I love you because Christ loves you or I have to love you or it can be I love you because I choose to, because you matter to me and are special to me and no one else in the world could replace you in my life. That's the kind of love I want people to have for me. I want to be irreplaceable and special.
This morning I was thinking of what I most wanted someone to say to me and it reflected this kind of love. I want someone to tell me that they share something special with me, a different kind of love. I want to hear that I'm unique and vital in someone's life. A simple "I love you" will not suffice. I want to hear the love in the way they say those words. I want to know by the tone of voice not only do they love me but their life wouldn't be the same without me and they need me.
I wondered why, of all things, this is what I wanted to hear more than anything else. I think it has a lot to do with the ways I've been able to use my talents in the past. I'm pretty good at a lot of things but not the best at anything. I play the flute but I'm not amazing at it. I write but I'm no novelist. I bake but I'm not a professional pastry chef. I sew but I can't put together a ball gown. I'm intelligent but I'm not a valedictorian. Because of this I've felt important (I do have a role to play) but not necessary (I wouldn't really be missed). This is why I want to know that I'm needed. That I'm the only one who could possibly fill that role.
I've read that I'm irreplaceable and important. People have said it. I know this in my mind. But I'm still waiting on the day when someone tells me this and it finally reaches my heart. Because until I believe this in my heart, I can't hope to live like it is true.

Memory Lane

Ocassionally I get the compelling desire to look back over my old prayer journals. This morning I did just that. I don't think "prayer journal" truly captures what these notebooks are. They are kind of like every intimate and wonderful moment I've shared with God put on paper. I have cutouts from magazines, photos, poems, songs, quotes, verses and a whole bunch of prayers recorded in these notebooks. I didn't read through everything because that would take me about a week of just reading. But what I did read amazed me.
It is so rewarding to look back over where you've been and see the amazing ways God has changed your life. These journals transported me to eighth grade when my sister was in the hospital and I didn't understand why. But now I can look back and see the positive impact that has had on our relationship and in my life. If it weren't for her collapsed lung over four years ago, I don't thnik I'd be going to Mexico in a week.
I journeyed to Freshman year - one of my most difficult times. All the people in band calling me anorexic and telling me to eat more had such a terrible affect on me. I was angry and sad and didn't know what to do. But if it hadn't been for what those people said I probably wouldn't have decided to find other friends and form such great relationships with people from church. I most likely would have stayed in band and not done yearbook which has been one of my favorite activities in high school. The most amazing thing is seeing how much my relationship with God grew through the hard time and realizing how in love with Him I was after he got me through that.
There are so many other things I could mention and I probably haven't even realized half of them yet. I know God will still use those past experiences to help me carry out His plan in the future. And I have to take a moment to just sit in amazement and love at God's feet. I've heard it said so many times before that God has a plan for me and He can use any situation for good but it is so much clearer when I can see how he has done that in my life. Given what God has done through my past, I can have faith that he is using whatever I'm going through right now to improve my future. How can I look back on where I was and not believe that? God is great.
So if you ever walk into my room and see me sitting on the floor crying with a bunch of used notebooks and old papers lying around me, there is no cause for concern. I'm just reviewing my walk with God and basking in His awesomeness.

The Love of my Life

Love seemed to radiate from his whole body. Nothing else. Just pure, true love. She couldn’t help but cry. After all she’d said, all she’d done, all the hurt she’d caused him, how could he possibly still love her? His love hurt her more than anything else he could have done. Why did he keep on loving her no matter what she did to him?
She looked up into his eyes and saw love deeper than she’d ever known. A smile formed on his face as he spread his arms wide. She fell to the ground, sobbing, so sorry. How could he still love her? He sprinted towards her, arms open wide, and scooped her up off of the ground into a warm embrace. She was home again. At home in the arms of her dear Savior.

May I compliment you?

I realized the other day that I have serious problems giving and receiving compliments. I think this may mean I don't give (or get) enough of them because one usually improves at something with practice. In my experience compliments just tend to put an end to the conversation. Consider the following scenario. Two people are talking. One tells the other how nice she is. The one receiving the compliment says thank you. And then what? Where do you go from there? Exactly. The flow of the conversation is gone and you have to come up with a completely new topic in order to finish the conversation.
Now I, being the amazing person that I am, developed a strategy to prevent this after compliment awkwardness. Sarcasm. It is probably the worst strategy I ever could have come up with. Whatever the compliment was or who gave it, sarcasm can easily reverse the meaning. And that is not at all what I want to do. It's just all I know how to do. So I tell people they're beautiful and follow it up with "compared to what they used to look like," or someone tells me I have a wonderful smile and I have to say "too bad no one ever sees it" or something like that. So if someone tries to give me a compliment it is the easiest thing for me to put myself down. Clearly something isn't right. Compliments are meant to make you fee better not worse, and they can stand alone. Who cares if they kill the conversation? I'm sure I can figure out something else to talk about and I'll keep the joy of giving or receiving a compliment without having to kill the mood. So with that said, may I compliment you?

An Amazing Week of Amazing Love

So I'm back from an incredible week at camp. I learned so much about God and life this week. Trying to put words to what I felt this week is nearly impossible but I had to try to explain it. Last night while we were worshipping I felt something special. And I tried to share the impact this feeling in the context of the whole week with a friend. This is the best I could do:
It's like Jesus has been singing me this love song over and over again and I've finally learned just a little part like the verse or the chorus or something and I'm so excited I learned it that I can't stop singing it back to Him. I just can't contain inside of me the love I feel. And I'm so excited about that that my heart just won't stop singing.
I don't know if that makes any sense to you but I'm hoping you can understand it just a little bit. After all, Jesus is singing you a love song too.

The First

So this is it, my blog. I hope to put some more interesting things up here, obviously, but thought it needed some sort of introduction. So enjoy all the future blog posts!