focus

(flowers in Wyoming garden)

 I have discovered lately, I've lost my focus.  Somewhere in the argumentative essays and research papers and tests and quizzes and family stress that surrounded the last month or so, I lost it.

I lost my prayer time.

I lost my Bible study time in any depth.  

I would've lost my passion for ministry, except that I started wondering why I didn't have anything to say about God any more.

And then spring break comes, and another outbreak of tornadoes in our area (mercifully, not so bad as last spring's, but that doesn't mean much to those whose houses were wrecked), and I shake my head clear and say, What HAPPENED?

What was I thinking?  What am I thinking?  What am I doing to our relationship, God?

Dear Lord, may I forget school and doing well on tests and making good grades, if that leads me away from a relationship with You!  Show me the way back to a heart in sync with Yours; that is all that matters in the long run, and that's all I want to matter for now and for ever.  Just give me Your heart for others, and link my heart with Yours.

Grateful For...

 

(big barn somewhere in Wyoming I think, photo courtesy of my brother)

• Education classes
• Professors who really encourage my relationship with God!
• "You're an elementary ed. major, right?  Where do you want to teach?  Overseas?" randomly by an old/new friend at breakfast this morning
• Almost Friday
• Horseback riding lessons will probably work out!
• GOD who is always there for me
• My parents 
• Spanish church this weekend :)

God is good.  All the time!

I Believe

High country in Colorado

I believe You are

And I believe You'll always be

I believe that when You call

You'll make a way for me

I remember, I look back

And what else can I see

You have always

Been there

So I believe.

Sometimes things just don't go as they should.  Or we can't even tell how they should be going.  What is God's plan, after all?  Does He have one?  Why would He ask me to go through what I'm going through?

It helps me, then, to remind myself of what He's done in the past.  To remember Who He is and what He's done for me, for my friends, even for people I've only heard of or read about. 

"Why are you cast down, O my soul?
         And why are you disquieted within me?
         Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
         For the help of His countenance.
        
 O my God, my soul is cast down within me;
         Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan"

(Psalm 42:5-6)

I like to go back to my favorite Bible verses during these times, reminding myself of what they mean and have meant to me in the past.  Sometimes some journal review is in order, too.  I have so many favorite texts; they're all underlined so I can find them when I need them. :)  Here is just one:

"You are my hiding place;

You shall preserve me from trouble;

You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.

'I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will guide you with My eye."

(Psalm 32:7-8)

How do you remember what God has done for you?

Blessings

(orchids at our local aquarium)

Sometimes we all have difficult days.  Or weeks.  Or months.  And then, sometimes, after affirming that we do believe what God has promised (more on that later), then it's helpful to reaffirm our blessings.  Because we all have them.  Here are some of mine! :)

--Beautiful fall mornings!

--Waking up early enough (aka 4:30) so that I'm off work in time to see those beautiful mornings

--Autumn leaves

--New friends

--Old friends :)

--Papers that turn out well

--A career path I am getting excited about

--God's leading

--Memories

--Music

--Writing

--My journal

etc...

How have you been blessed recently?

Loneliness

(high peaks in the Colorado Rockies)

 

"The soul hardly ever realizes it, but whether he is a believer or not, his loneliness is really a homesickness for God."  --Hubert van Zeller

Found this quote in the church bulletin this last weekend and couldn't resist it.  What if we looked at loneliness that way?  What if I looked at loneliness that way?  Maybe it wouldn't be such a terrible thing anymore...

Summertime...

...and okay, the living's not exactly easy, but everything is so beautiful! I took these pictures a while ago and apparently forgot to post them!

Our garden's producing and we are hoping to can some tomatoes this year--finally!


Early morning's such a beautiful time for photography




Hope all of you are enjoying your summer! I am thoroughly appreciating my two weeks off between jobs and college. Being at home is a wonderful thing! :)

Some Photos :)

...pictures I've been taking. Yes, I am rather obsessed with flowers. No apologies. :)



Iris below columns of a gorgeous old house porch :)

This is said porch... ;)

Waterfall in South Dakota

Buttercup-type flowers and a flooded creek in the Wyoming mountains

Fun times. :) I love photography!

(dogwood flower in our yard)

So you know something? The past few months I have really been impressed with one thing especially.

I need to fall in love with Jesus.

More. A lot more. A whole lot, lot, LOT more. I don't think I can ever be "enough" in love with Him. Especially right now.

It's hard to focus sometimes. Especially when I'm at work...or at home and everyone is talking about other things and sometimes those things aren't very positive...they need to be talked about but sometimes it gets me down. I need His help.

This is my prayer lately...it's an old poem of mine but it applies so well...

WINGS
Soaring above there’s a swallow
Little bird but far above
The raging of this storm
It flits on wings
Aloft

Wild simple beauty
Flying up there
It needs no song or words
To make me want to
Soar.

Lord lift me up on eagles’ wings
Hold me in the breath of dawn
Send me through stellar
Galaxies till
I’ve caught the slightest glimpse of
You.

Then help me show
What You are like
Shine through me, illumine please
Each corner of my new-found
Heart!

Lucy Hairstyle (randomness for girls...lol)

So I have not had work today! Well I should say, I have not had paying work today. I watered the garden and helped around the house instead. 'Twas lovely. :) And since last night a friend came over and we watched Prince Caspian (don't ask my opinion, you might not want to know!), and one of the (few) really good parts was Lucy and Susan's hair (haha but it's almost true), I set out today to copy one of the styles. Since it was really easy. :) It's the first real "Narnia" style, and I noticed it first when the Pevensies and Trumpkin are rowing up through the canyon. But Lucy at least wears the style for much of the movie.

I'm sending you to a link for the first part just because it's hard for me to take pictures of myself. Part your hair in the middle, take a small section from each side, and do two mini rope braids. Keep going until you've done more than enough to go around to the back of your head. Then put a ponytail holder on each end and loop them back behind your head. Like this...
...and put a ponytail holder (or something more cool looking if you have it) where you want to hold the braids.

Then take out the other two holders and undo the "untied" part of the ropes. Redo a section of the rope "tails" as another braid. I believe it's a three-strand braid in the movie, but I did a rope because it's easier. And did a terrible job anyway...
Ta-da! :) Easy, and rather cute, especially if you can find something to replace the ponytail holders.

Anyways. Enough randomness for one day. I'm going to try to do some photography this week; we'll see if it happens. :)

Photos from Arizona

Here are some pictures from my spring-break mission trip to Holbrook, Arizona! These were taken on our days off.

Grand Canyon sunset


Plaque at a Grand Canyon visitors' center



Grand Canyon views (above and below)

Petrified wood at the Petrified Forest

Life Here and Spring Pictures!! :)

Today I got outside and took some pictures of the lovely flowers that are showing up around our house at last! They have just started coming out this week and I am past thrilled to see them!


Life here has been very crazy; I have been running around like the proverbial chicken trying to keep up with school, work, life here at home, getting ready for college, and preparing to leave on a mission trip to Arizona this Thursday.


So it's quite nice to get outside and see the flowers, hear the birds, and feel the warm spring breezes. Makes me happy I live a mile and a half from my job and get to walk home three days a week! :) But almost even better is getting pictures of spring!


Courage to everyone in more northerly climates...just hold on and this, too, will be yours in a few weeks or months! :D For now, it's off with me to northern Arizona, where the highs will be somewhere in the 50s and we might get snow...hmmm, I suppose it will make me appreciate this more when I get back!

And these pictures are all "un-Photoshopped" too. I think I begin to get the hang of this! ;)

Photo--February Week 1

Little waterfall in the creek two ridges over from our house. I went out and took "water pictures" today and this was one of my favorites! :) By the way, this photo is entirely unedited. I'm working on creating more pictures that turn out without extensive Photoshop. ;)

Photo--January Week 4

My adorable, wonderful, five-month-old Canine Companions for Independence puppy-in-training Beto! :) :) We took him to the library today and this is him in the periodicals racks.

Photo--January 16

Ice on a twig in the Appalachians. My motto: If the woods are too hard to photograph (which I usually find them to be), find the part that really stands out to me!

On Writing

(Florida beach)

Changing the title of this blog has me thinking about (what else?) writing. I love to write. I have been "writing," either on paper, on a computer, or with my voice (telling stories) for as long as I can remember. I discovered poetry sometime early in my high school career and it has been a lifesaver for me since then. I love stories, editing other people's work, and letters. I love e-mails and websites and Facebook. I enjoy articles, but only if I can write them semi-creatively!

But I need to write more. Like my Spanish language learning and my harp practice, I won't write decently if I don't write often.

So I am devising a scheme for keeping myself as accountable as I can be (which, sometimes, is not very accountable in areas like this!) in my hope to write more and write more often. I hope to unveil it in a few days. Until then, I am thinking about entering this challenge...posting one photo every week this year. I found out about it from Annie at Daughter of His Grace. I have some catching up to do, obviously, but I've been posting photos fairly regularly, so it shouldn't be too bad. At least, not till I start working this summer. So okay, it might not be 52 photos for 52 weeks. But I could try! :) I shall start this weekend.

Especially for Girls...

A "new" (not really new, but newly re-designed) website that one of my friends directed me to! Daughterhood by Design is a primarily web-based magazine written by girls to encourage us to reach the high standard God wants us to reach. And they've recently re-designed their website to be particularly friendly to those of us who reach them from the web! I'm looking at it right now (multi-tasking, yes) :) and am excited about keeping up with their new articles as they come out. Check them out!

Pictures :)

It's starting to look like fall even here in the South, and I just can't resist taking pictures, especially of the last few flowers! Besides, I'm taking a photography class this year, so I have a good excuse. :) I love the seasons--they're such a wonderful example that God really does "make everything beautiful in its time"!