Without Time

  There is so much of God that I cannot understand. Of course, He exceeds human comprehension and I never will be able to understand Him any measurable degree. However, certain facets of His character fall into the realm of comprehension. At least to an extent. As a human made in the image of God, I see in myself and in others, faint glimmers of His character. In the most imperfect ways, mankind expresses love, jealousy, patience and wrath among other things. So when I learn of God's attributes, I can recognize some them, though I cannot understand the height and depth and width of them.
  Lately, I have been thinking about how God is eternal. That, I cannot understand. My life is measured by time. I have known nothing but the constraints of the clock. God is free from time. To Him a day is a thousand years, and thousand years is day. It means that my life may flash before Him in the blink of an eye. And at the same time, He can stretch my moments of suffering out and show me ages of love and comfort. God is not held by the bonds that tie me to life. He is so much greater than everything I can fit into my little head. God is without time.

it is enough.

It is enough.
But why?
Why am I satisfied in Christ?
Why do I need no other claim?
In this world of madness, why do so many reject the only thing that makes any sense?
The only thing to which I can cling with sure faith.
I know this world will not satisfy me.
That I was made to know and obey and glorify Christ.
Why has He chosen to open my eyes to the truth and close the eyes of others?
Why is Christ not enough for others when to me He has become everything?
The truth was made to be found.
But it does not have to be accepted.
Why reject the truth though?
It is a wall that a body will keep running into if they ignore it.
I only want the truth, even when it is hard.
I do not need anything but Christ.
His love and grace and the salvation that He has given.
It is enough.

What I did this Week: A Birthday and a Surprise

  This week has been fun, and busy, and surprising. First of all, after what seemed like ages of the most miserable weather conceivable, the sun came out.

 

  Tuesday evening, I babysat my brothers and tried to make chocolate coated popcorn. It was pretty good.

 

  I had not planned on anything happening Wednesday. Then my friend Karissa "happened to be in the area" so she came over in the afternoon. We sat down to lunch and my friend Rachel, who lives in Chicago, walked in the door. I was completely blown away. It was a really fun surprise.

 

  Thursday was my twentieth birthday, and one of my brother's gave me this lovely poster.

 

  Friday, I started the first baby outfit of the year.

 

  Then in the evening, some friends came over and we celebrated my birthday.

 

  After they left, I stayed up with my little brothers and we watched The Fellowship of the Ring, and I cried. And that was my week.

 

A Single Girl's Thoughts on Marriage

  This already promises to be a weird post, as I have no experience in a marriage relationship (or any romantic relationship for that matter). With that disclaimer I will begin. Yesterday, I was in a fabric store flipping through pattern books to figure out what kind of flower girl dress I should make for my sister to wear to my cousin's wedding. A wedding catalog caught my eye so I cracked it open to see what ideas it held. It did not take long for me to get sucked into the images of exotic locations, fantastic decorations, sumptuous dresses, and beautiful people. Weddings can be expensive to say the least.
  When I came to the end, I closed the magazine, sad. Not because I was lamenting my gloriously single state, but because of society's bent view of love and marriage. Granted, I flipped through a wedding catalog, not a marriage catalog. Still, all the beauty and romance of those weddings passed away in one twenty-four hour period. I was left with the feeling that those weddings were mere celebrations of romance, not marriage.
  Romance is a good thing, but it is not the point of marriage. Marriages based on ethereal, fleeting feelings usually crumble. A body has to commit to marriage for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, till death do you part. And the ultimate purpose of marriage is to glorify Christ. To portray Christ's relationship with His bride, the church. Marriage is a sanctifying process, just like every other relationship. Romance is gift God grants with marriage, but when you add real life to marriage, romance will not make all your troubles disappear. Marriage is a commitment. And those are my thoughts on the subject.

Twenty Things for Twenty Years

 

  Two decades. They really do not take up that much time. My entire life-span fits in twenty years, and I have not lived very long. So here are twenty things I have learned over the past twenty years and in no particular order.

1. God is good. That does seem incredibly cliché, but it is true. In the past years I have seen much of both bad and good, and I can say without a doubt, God is always good.

2. Nothing worth having ever comes easy.

3. Exercise makes you feel confident, strong, and alive.

4. Not everyone will be your best friend, and you should not be friends with everyone.

5. Human beings crave love.

6. Everyone is once in a lifetime.

7. Laziness does not get you anywhere.

8. Obedience is worth the trouble.

9. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

10. The world is a beautiful place.

11. Coffee is the Elixir of Life .

12. Sibling are simultaneously the most terrible and wonderful human beings.

13. It is a good thing to play in the ocean.

14. Climbing mountains is rewarding.

15. Whole worlds dwell between the covers of books.

16. The best fiction drips truth.

17. There is truth.

18. We can pick our own theme song.

19. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

20. While I may make a mess of myself, there is a Beautiful Savior who makes me new in spite of myself.

No Regrets

  It seems like the right time for a post like this, it being the beginning of the year and all. I want to live a life free of regret. Because of the goody-goody I am, I have not found myself in regrettable situations, and yet I realize, I have done many things of which I am ashamed. I do not love people to the extent I should. I do not life my live whole-heartedly for the God I claim to serve. I am a very self-absorbed person. A couple of nights ago, I was reading through the book of Romans and I came across these verses, "When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap is eternal life." (Romans 6:20-22).
 Living for God is hard. It means putting yourself last. It often means giving up what you want for what is right. But I can honestly say I have yet to regret giving up what I want to do the right thing. And the beauty of God's grace is that I do not have to sacrifice on my own. I have the help of the Holy Spirit everyday. I will make mistakes again and again. I am only a human being. As a slave to righteousness though, I can live a life that honors God, I can be holy. Because of my Heavenly Father's work in me, I can live a life without regret.

What I did this Week: Hello 2015!

   This past week has been a busy one. Before they left, I spent a lot of time with my cousins. Some of the pictures in this post are from the 27th of December, which was last week. But they were funny so I decided to put them in. Like this one of me singing, "Let It Go." Brothers are always there to make sure not one embarrassing moment of life is missed.

 

  Here's my partner in crime and I.

 

  Sunday evening, my cousins and I made oreo balls which you can read about here.

 

  Then Monday evening, I made chicken noodle soup.

 

  New Year's Eve, we had a great big salad. 

  And popped fireworks and played with sparklers.

  New Year's Day I looked like this.

 

  Yesterday, the weather was this miserable fog. It looked cool though.

 

  I also made a friend yesterday.

 

  And today the sun is shining! (Cue the Hallelujah chorus). 

 

  That was my week!