Big Blue Sky

hey guys,

Sorry its been a while. What fonts are taken? I don't know if I can tell that big of a difference between all of them. Anyways, I don't have a lot to say, or a lot of time to say anything. However, its an amazing day. Beautiful, feels incredible. One of those days. I swear, on days like this when everything feels so wonderful, the colors are also more vivid and bright. Is that possible? I guess I'm a little bit on a high because the mid-semester review is done, and it went pretty well. After two weeks of stress, I now have two months until everything has to be done. On top of that, its an absolutely beautiful day, and all day its just made me want to listen to Big Blue Sky by Bebo Norman. This song just makes me so happy. Do you have those songs? So, I just got on to say, listen to Big Blue Sky by Bebo Norman and enjoy who our Father is.

I don't have a lot to give

This broken world can make it hard to live

I got nothing left to say

My empty words have simply gone away

But this big blue sky

Shows me all that I have got

And You're by my side

To Be everything I'm not

The angels sigh

I breathe deep the breath of God

I cannot find another sky

My thoughts are heavy and they cloud my eyes

But when I'm searching for the sun

You rise up quickly with your kingdom come

I'm coming alive

Nothing is good apart from You

I'm coming alive...with You

I may not have a lot to give

This broken world can make it hard to live

I may have nothing left to say

But I know that You will never go away.

Listen to it, its better that way.

elisabeth elliot, cont.

guys, i miss hearing from you! no pressure :) today's elisabeth elliot devotion shook me up. this is just a small portion of it...

"The worst pains we experience are not those of the suffering itself but of our stubborn resistance to it, our resolute insistence on our independence. To be "crucified with Christ" means what Oswald Chambers calls "breaking the husk" of that independence. "Has that break come?" he asks. "All the rest is pious fraud." And you and I know, in our heart of hearts, that that sword-thrust (so typical of Chambers!) is the straight truth.

If we reject this cross, we will not find it in this world again. Here is the opportunity offered. Be patient. Wait on the Lord for whatever He appoints, wait quietly, wait trustingly. He holds every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year in His hands. Thank Him in advance for what the future holds, for He is already there. "Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup" (Psalm 16:5, NIV). Shall we not gladly say, "I'll take it, Lord! YES! I'll trust you for everything. Bless the Lord, O my soul!"

good ole elisabeth elliot.

thanks danielle for your wonderfully welcoming texts in the morning! they always make me want to read His Word which is a very good thing! therefore, i read zephaniah this morning. i needed it so much... after a somewhat emotional and growing weekend... a checkup weekend where you have to die a little. ok, so die completely, but i'm often resistant to that. i'm sure you read this danielle, but i really would just like to type it out, if that's ok... then tell ya'll some awesomeness from EE.

"For at that time I will change the speech
of the peoples
to a pure speech,
that all of them may call upon the name
of the LORD
and serve Him with one accord...
On that day you shall not be put to
shame
because of the deeds by which you
have rebelled against me;
for then I will remove from your midst
your proudly exultant ones,
and you shall no longer be haughty
in my holy mountain.
But I will leave in your midst
a people humble and lowly.
They shall seek refuge in the name of
the LORD,
those who are left in Israel...
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion,
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
The LORD has taken away the judgments
against you;
he has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save...
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will quiet you by his love,
he will exult over you with loud singing...
Behold at that time I will deal
with all your oppressors
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into
praise
and renown in all the earth.
At that time I will bring you in,
at that time when I gather you together,
for I will make you renowned and
praised
among all the peoples of the earth
when I restor your forutnes
before your eyes,' says the Lord."
- Zephaniah 3:9-20 (well, skipped around in there)

praise God! so, i know that was a lot of words... but it's so rich.

and here is some awesome truth from EE...

"Heaven is not here, it's There. If we were given all we wanted here, our hearts would settle for this world rather than the next. God is forever luring us up and away from this one, wooing us to Himself and His still invisible Kingdom, where we will certainly find what we so keenly long for.

"Running aground," then, is not the end of the world. But it helps to make the world a bit less appealing. It may even be God's answer to "Lead us not into temptation"--the temptation complacently to settle for visible things."

just a little tip. she has a daily devotional that i check every morning and it's always so good... here.

love ya'll.

p.s. i changed my font, so i can distinguish mine from ya'lls. do you think that's a good idea? maybe we should each choose a font to use and it just makes it more individualistic and easier to read.

a good quote

"a calmer faith- that's the quiet place within us where we don't get whiplash every time life tosses us a curve. when we don't revolt when His plan and ours conflict. where we relax in the midst of an answerless season. when we accept and expect deserts in our spiritual journey as surely as we do joy."

Good Evening

Several quick comments before I really get started. First of all, look at how good we're doing! Every time I get on there's a new post. So fun. Second, yay for a comment from Laura Clayton! I wish you would post with us. Third, this quote was on offirstimportance.org this morning and I thought I'd share:

"By becoming a Christian, I belong to God and I belong to my brothers and sisters. It is not that I belong to God and then make a decision to join a local church. My being in Christ means being in Christ with those others who are in Christ. This is my identity. This is our identity....If the church is the body of Christ, then we should not live as disembodied Christians."

-Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church

So, I just want to say that I'm really thankful for this blog and the chance to hear what God is teaching all of you.

So, senior project is definitely a stressful semester. I'm feeling more pressure than ever before to create good work, and its been a while since I've really felt like I excelled in these classes. For whatever reason, I don't really work very well in this classroom setting. Its like I put so much pressure on myself to please the professors and to compare with my classmates, that I paint much worse than I would otherwise. I'm very much ready to be out of the classroom setting so that I can really enjoy painting again. I've talked about all of this before. In my mind, I kind of compare this semester to the semester that I was New Member Coordinator. I felt so much pressure that semester and stayed completely stressed out. I didn't handle it very well. I pray that this semester will lead me to rely on God. He's been very faithful to continue to remind me that He is greater than this project, and that He is meeting me here. Of course I have freak out moments. In fact, I freaked out pretty badly today when I still hadn't made it to the studio and my car died. However, I just feel like God continues to remind me through this entire process that He is bigger than this. That everything I go through, including senior project, is in His purpose. I turned today to the faithful Jeremiah 29:11. However, I read the verses around it as well.

"For thus says the Lord, 'when seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord,'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declare the Lord,'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the Lord,' and I will bring you back to the place form where I sent you into exile.'" Jeremiah 29:10-14.

God hasn't sent me into exile, and He hasn't been gone for 70 years and is now returning to me. However, I am reminded from these verses that ultimately God wants us to call out to Him, and I am certainly at a place where I have to constantly call out to Him to carry me through this whole process. Also, I am reminded that He has a plan for this as He does everything in my life. He has a purpose, that although I may not always be able to see it, I can trust it. Its so incredible for me to see the many times that God puts Israel in exile, and then fulfills His promise by redeeming them, puts them in exile, fulfills His promise, etc. etc. until Jesus Christ arrived. To know that the same God who put all of those plans together is also arranging and guiding my life, is very humbling and exciting!

Well, I need to get to bed. Hope everyone has a wonderful week! Good night.

short post

kate! i loved your post.......i was reminded tonight while driving that we can't "run away" from God. no matter how far we try to or how hard we try to hide, He knows us and loves us still...i was comforted by that and was in awe in how to even respond to that kind of love and Creator. love all of ya'll!

simple but good.

i decided i would check in... it's been a little while for me. i was like three posts behind! oops. actually, i have to make this quick. but i saw where sarah was interested in going through ruth together. i went to the ruth bible study this morning and i was so encouraged. i have been "battling" a crush... which is what it really feels like to me. a battle. because i want it but i can't have it kind of thing. and in the midst of that, i think if i truly love the Lord, then i would not be struggling with this. today we were talking about naomi's life. we looked at this verse... "I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brough calmity upon me?", Ruth 1:21. we talked about naomi's anger, should she be angry? should she question God? should we look upon her with contempt? sometimes i get angry, because i have been blessed to meet and be around solid Christian, cute guys. and i never get to enter into relationships... instead i'm left with this longing. and it gets frustrating. especially because i think that if i was more holy, if i loved Him more, than i would not long for these things as much. but this is what richard said... when we try to deny our feelings. when we try to be holy in spite of any anger inside of us... we are trying to offer to God a holiness of our own which does not exist. it's me trying to earn my salvation when He has said that i have fallen short. and in that shortage, in that temptation, in that anger, i take it to God. to a God that sympathizes with our weakness because He has been tempted in every way. ahhh! good stuff.

ok, i have to go... but i love ya'll. and have a beautiful weekend.

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:8-9