choose life

so i have been thinking about the words life & love lately.
i went to visit my dad this weekend. my little brother turned 7 yesterday! he's getting so big! anyways, i went to his church today. it was tiny & they sing out of the hymnal books. needless to say i did not know a single song we sang today. the pastor spoke on having a firm foundation, especially after becoming a believer. i started to think and pray about life. i was praying for the people in this church to SEEK LIFE (deut 30:19-20) and to SEEK GOD & LIVE (amos 5). then i proceeded to think about His love for us. of course, How He Loves came into my head. it was just good to think about how much God loves us and that HE IS JEALOUS for us. HE wants to be with us all the time and yet He is willingly let us choose Him or not.

i choose Him.
i choose Him no matter what situation i am going through, good or bad.
His Word is truth and life.

prayer room #7

i love you, i love you
Lamb of God
I give all my love to you.

today is a new day
i give You my heart again
i surrender, i surrender

today is a new day
i give You my heart again
i surrender, i surrender

tim reihmer's set

behind the counter.

it was another holiday week.
usually the day before the holiday is the worst. however, today was not that bad! i praise the Lord for that b/c i usually stressed, irritated, & lose my temper at least once. today was different. i prayed before i walked into the doors for joy to do my job in the midst of chaos. i only had two ladies get an attitude with me and honestly, it was not my fault. it's hard to please everyone since we are under-staffed. but i think most of the customers knew we were all doing our best to get them out in a timely manner. i am just so thankful for not leaving there and being in a bad mood. today, one of my favorite things i said was when a lady asked if we had any strawberry cakes left. i told her, "nope, we have nothing strawberry left." i'm not sure why but i just thought it was funny.

if you ever want to know what it's like to work in a bakery, just ask.

on another note, i am a little obsessed with Lomography. i have a Diana F+ and i love it! i need to post some updated photos but i need to scan them. unfortunately i don't have a usb cord to do that... i will soon have it. i've gotten a little better at it but i am still learning.

here is one picture i took that i like:

the waterfall at the Colonnade froze during january/february in one of our cold spells.

it has been a crazy month.
i feel like there have been so many emotions this month... thank you stress.

the Lord is so good & yet i do not deserve his grace and mercy. I have been in this crazy dry season. yet, the Lord has just loved on me & that is all i have needed for now. I've been learning so much in this season of listening, following, and sitting. and during all of this, He has used me to reach out to the kids in youth group. i love it. it's encouraging to hear parents tell me how much their kids look up to me. i couldn't ask for more and i cannot take all of that credit. thank you Lord.

tonight at church our new youth pastor, jason (yay!), talked about the cross & reminding what it means during Easter. i really needed to hear it. working in the food service industry makes me hate holidays. so pray that i will serve with an actual servant's heart & do it for my Maker. while Jason was talking about the cross, he asked what we all need to lay down. the Lord revealed "past hurt" to me. i have hung on to so many things & i haven't really thought about it until tonight. i don't know what all i have hung on to but i know i need to let all of it go. it cannot hinder me any longer.
the Lord is good & i'm so thankful for what Jesus has done for me.

favorite quotes i've heard this month:
"Jesus, You love the praying church." -Paul Hughes
"It's easier to believe than it is to follow." -P. Jason Sharpe

my girls

i love talking about purity with my girls.
this past weekend we had a girls' retreat up at Horn's Creek. even though it was only for one night, i loved every minute of it. the girls that went on the retreat opened up in different ways to each other & unity came. the theme was on purity but also on the path where God or Satan can take you depending the choices you make.

the Lord used me to tell a girl how beautiful she really is. me and two other leaders were praying for her and i was asked to find a verse for her. earlier that night we talked about two of my favorite verses: Song of Solomon 4:7 & Psalm 45:11. and as i was telling her how beautiful she is and how God is amazed by her, i could just feel the Lord crying out and saying "you're beautiful, you're beautiful!" i almost started crying. my heart was broken for her. the way i felt has stuck with me the last couple of days. the Lord wants us.

i saw Valentine's Day (the movie) tonight. it was really cute and funny. certain parts were a little awkward. a couple of parts were kind of inappropriate to me. after talking about purity and guarding your heart, it makes you more aware of everything you do. i like that b/c the Holy Spirit is moving.

i've been praying for the desire to read & study the Word.

one verse that i really love is from Psalm 100, "sing into his presence" (message). i thought about it tonight as i hung out the youth band during practice & so i read the NIV version and read the whole chapter (5 verses). verse 5 really stuck out to me:
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

i've been reading Exodus and i have realized that God's faithfulness is truly sufficient. He blessed the midwives who feared him & would not kill the male babies (ex 1:17-20). He truly has been faithful in all generations. prayers from past generations are being fulfilled in our day and we have no idea. it's amazing.

i just read Psalm 101 and i feel like David is speaking my life in a way. i pray that if anything is ungodly will not stick in my mind. especially when it comes to guys. there has been a bunch of boy talk lately, i guess it's b/c of valentine's day. but i'm so tired of girls being so desperate for a guy. a friend told me that she hates being 'alone' & she asked me how i deal with it. not only am i used to being single but that is where the Lord wants me right now. i know he send me the perfect husband for me & i'm waiting patiently. i don't give a guy attention b/c he just wants it. it has be because the Lord is the conversation or if the Lord is telling me. i'm learning to depend on the Lord right now and i'm loving every minute of it. i can't wait to see who my husband will be!

the Lord is good.

v-day

today was not the greatest day. valentine's day has never been a day that i have hated but after working in food retail during the holidays makes you not enjoy the actually holiday. people were crazy for valentine's day. we were super busy yesterday and people were not the nicest... but what can you do?
i am thankful that my most important relationship i have is with the Lord. He is the only thing that is worth living for. He truly is my valentine.
but that was not why today was the greatest day. i was just discouraged by friends and with some kids in my youth group. but it did end well. i watched Love Happens with two of my girls & ate some starbucks ice cream. we really liked it. it was funny & then only one part was really sad. i definitely recommend watching it.

highlight for the day:
we got a new youth pastor!! i'm so excited.

so when i went to starbucks the other day and this is the cup they gave. i liked it so much that i took a picture of it. enjoy: