Faithful

Faithful- Brooke Fraser

There's distance in the air and I cannot make it leave
i wave my arms' round about me and blow with all my might
I cannot sense you close, though I know you're always here
But the comfort of you near is what i long for

When I can't feel you, I have learned to reach out just the same

When I can't hear you, I know you still hear everyword I pray
And I want you more than i want to live another day
And as I wait for you maybe I'm made more faithful

"No Thanks"

She is four. Church to her is cold pews, dangling feet, pretty windows, and some sort of singing, if that's what you  call it. She sits on the pew as she plays with the hymnal. Wide eyed and filled with wonder as she gazes around the sanctuary. She knows that it's Jesus' birthday today and that's exciting because all birthdays are exciting, right? Especially to a four year old. 


People are in a line eating and drinking when the line comes to the end. What is this? She wonders. What are they eating? What are they drinking? It's her turn...she follows her family down what seems to be an unending red carpet. It's time. What are these people saying? I'm next, so I guess I'll find out. "Child, this bread is the body of Christ, broken for you. Eat this in remembrance of me." "This wine is the blood of Christ shed for you and for me. Drink this in remembrance of me." As she looked up to the people speaking and back at her family, she said "No thanks" and walked right past the beautiful supper that the Lord had graciously invited her to. And ohhh did He want her to come to His dinner. He yearns for her to come. I imagine the Lord's anticipation as His child walked down that seemingly endless carpet, hoping for the honor to dine with her. "No Thanks". The Fathers heart breaks. He wanted to talk to her, teach her, make her laugh, dance with her, tell her that she is the most beautiful young woman and that He is totally enthralled by her beauty. 

How often do we do this? I know for me personally, an embarrassing amount of times. We look full into the Lord's face and say "no thanks" and go along our way, chained from head to toe in bondage to sin. By saying no thanks, we are saying to the one who breathed life into our bodies that "no thanks God, my ways and plans are far better that your plans and the taste of sin is far better than the holiness that you offer." Oh how it must hurt the Fathers heart to hear those words. No thanks. 

Beloved, the Lord desires your heart in the most intense way that we can comprehend, he yearns to satisfy every little nook and cranny of your soul. My prayer through this season is that our tendencies to say "no thanks" will be suffocated out of our hearts by the Holy Spirit and that we shall be filled with the Living Water that our God SO desires to give us.

Next time your invited to the Lord's supper, which is daily, my prayer is that you are able to just bask in the incredible and intense beauty of what has been done for us. We are bought with the most precious sacrifice that could have ever been made. Breath that truth deep into your heart. It.is.finished. You are no longer bound to the things of this world! What good news! 

Know that you are deeply desired and deeply loved by your Heavenly Father and that He is eagerly awaiting your heart and his arms are wide open. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I wanted to introduce you to my new/old 1976 Schwinn bike that my loving boyfriend renovated and gave me for Christmas! I'm trying to decide what to name her. So far I've got.... Betsy, Bridgett, or Rhoda. All hilarious and appropriate names. I'm open to ideas if anyone has any! The video below is my mom and I riding our bikes in the snow! I gotta tell ya, i'm in love...with my bike that is! :) Hope everyone had a wonderful, magical, joyful Christmas!

Bicycle! Bicycle!

Chili for Chilly Weather! Get it?!

You guessed it… I made my first pot of chili! I was crusing through the isles at Food City and decided to be bold. I thought to myself  ”I’m going to make chili!… how hard could it be?” Turns out it’s not! I bought the little packet of chili mix… which was only 99 cents! What a steal! Then I followed the directions on the back and what do you know…. CHILI! Wa-La! Don’t be fooled… I am still not a master chef. I made some rookie mistakes but  seeing as a I am a rookie… I’m not going to be to too hard on myself! Here are things to watch out for if you have NO clue what you are doing!

1. Only use  one pound of meat… I thought I really like “meaty” chili  so I went with two pounds…as you can see in the picture it looks like a big pot of meat with beans randomly throughout. Oops!

2.Use a pot. The packet told me to use a large frying pan… NOPE… it’s not big enough for everything. Use a pot. Much easier!

3. Don’t drain the beans. Pretty self explanatory.

Sweet Tooth Trial

I don’t know how I’ve made it this far. Not with life in general. I’m talking about without making cupcakes. I’ve never made cupcakes until today. I can’t say that they were the best cupcakes in the world but I can say that a lot of TLC went into them which made them Mmm Mmm good! The only tips that I would give when making very basic cupcakes is to make sure to get the little cupcake holders that go around the base of the cupcake. It would have made it a lot easier if half of them  wouldn’t have crumbled all over the floor. Also, when you are icing the little cavity creators, don’t get too eager. It’s easier when you use a little icing at a time or else you may rip off the top and we all know that an ugly cupcake is a disgusting cupcake. The last tip I would give is don’t lick the spoon every time there’s a free moment. I have a hunch this is something Paula Dean might struggle with. I don’t blame her.

Oil Stains Will Avail Me No More!

So, this past weekend I was visiting my boyfriend’s family and we were having a lovely home cooked lunch. Suddenly the spill/drip/smudge on my clothes that happens almost every meal proved faithful. Olive oil! A big spot of it on my new shirt! This would happen… Normally I would have either changed or suffered through wearing an oil stained shirt all day… oh the embarrassment! Not any more! Someone shared with me a lovely tip to keep me lovely.

1. Excuse yourself when it is appropriate.

2. Stomp your feet in private at your own clumsiness and then take a deep breath.

3. Find baby powder or baking powder.

4. Apply the powder to the spot. Let it sit for a minute. Dust it off. Rub some water on it. Let it dry.

5. Join your party again. Lovely as ever

Becoming Lovely

I’m at a stage in my life right  now where I am surrounded by an oasis of uncertainty. What am I to do with this life that I’ve been given? What is my role in the body of Christ? What does it mean to be a woman of God? As a “20-something” year old I am asked questions such as “What do you want to do with your degree”, “What are you plans after college”. Rather quickly I come up with lofty ideas that make me seem ambitious but what I really want to say is I don’t know, I don’t know! Now, I know that these are merely part of small talk conversation so it would be frowned upon if I did shout I don’t  know, so I stick with the over ambitious goals and “plans”.

Recently I’ve been dwelling upon one thought, one question…when and how does one become a woman? Is it when I am financially independent? Maybe it’s when I get married. Or certainly it’s when I can host and cook a Thanksgiving dinner all on my own. When am I no longer a girl? I feel like I’ve tapped into the mind of Brittney Spears when she wrote that awful song “Not Yet a Woman”. Although it’s comical, this question has been my main focus lately.

I have to be honest, there are times when I am so far from lady-like that it’s a bit scary. That’s why this idea of continuous, all encompassing womanhood overwhelms me. When I think of a woman, I envision her to be beautiful, “put-together”, wise, motherly and domestic… all together lovely. I think of her as a talented seamstress, the best stain remover and not to mention the best cook since Betty White…. I mean Betty Crocker. If you know me then you know this “ideal” woman that I’ve just described couldn’t be further from who I am. I am no seamstress and I am certainly no Betty Crocker. I cook cereal and sandwiches and my biggest sewing achievement is an iron on patch.

If I had to label this season of my life I would name it “becoming lovely”. I’m embarking on a terrifying journey. I’m delving into the depths of womanhood in hopes of becoming a wise and lovely woman of God. This is going to be challenging and absolutely hilarious. I’ll try to write about new things that I learn and do for any of you who share these overwhelmed and confused feelings about becoming a woman. Until my first attempt at becoming lovely… see ya!

O.C.S Only Child Syndrome

Many people have certain thoughts about only children… typical and justified thoughts like “wow, what a selfish kid”, “spoiled brat”, or “socially awkward”… things of that nature. I’m not saying you’re in the wrong but there are things you don’t know about only children that most would consider super-human. Call them super powers if you must… I won’t stop you. Brace yourselves for things that you’ve never known about ALL only children. Get ready to be amazed.

1. Only children can shoot a free throw shot backwards and make it… every time. After all, who else do they have to play ball with? Practice makes perfect…for 8 hours everyday….

2. Only children know EVERY secret passage/ password/ shortcut/ any cool trick in EVERY video game known to man. They don’t even know what the words “two player” means… more time for them… they’re not complainin.  (Jasmin-Jafar-Sultan-Jasmin Bonus level password to Aladdin…you’re welcome.)

3. Only children can climb almost anything you tell them to climb… I mean how else could they escape the evil imaginary villains chasing them?

4. Don’t ever challenge an only child to a breath holding contest… you’ll lose. Ask their parents. “MOOOMMM…come time me again I bet I can go 2 seconds longer!” Forget marco polo… this is a SWEET one person pool game! Who needs siblings!

5.Only children find intense entertainment and sometime alarming joy in simple things of life. Examples would be bouncy balls, lady bugs, rubix cubes, mirrors, and the little splash contests in which they only compete against themselves. They’re a winner every time says mom! Win-Win! (pun intended)

6. Only children have the incredible ability of MVCS…Multiple Voice Character Shift. Think of all of the toys they’ve got in the first place…they’ve all got different voices. (This is not to be confused with Multiple Personality Disorder, although easily mistaken by medical professionals)

These are only 6 Pros to being an only child. The list could go on and on…especially since I’m an only child and I’m completely content sitting around all day by myself thinking of reasons why it’s cool to be an only child. Self entertainment… another thing that people with siblings never really get the hang of… “No I don’t want to thumb wrestle because that means I might not win.”

Next time you encounter a child that has no siblings challenge them to a staring contest…I bet you’ll lose. There is no way you watch more TV than them.

Humility

Humble.  A word in which most people would like to be considered. To me, humility is the denouncement of any self righteousness. To elaborate, this means being meek hearted, finding incredible value in the lives of others and finding the importance of life outside of yourself- namely in the glorification of Jesus Christ.

For me, pride seems to be a running struggle. More and more I’m learning that pride is the foundation and life giver to all sin. Sin in essence, is the thought that the things of this world are more beneficial than the things of God. What is alarming is that sometimes these thoughts are inadvertent. I am often unaware of certain prideful areas in my life. This makes me wonder how many areas of my heart I am unaware of… how many sins that I commit that I’m oblivious to. Following these thoughts comes relief knowing that Jesus paid for the sins that we are aware of and that we are unaware of. He knows the darkest corners of our souls that have been explored by no one else and he still loves us… crazy thought.

The thought of pursuing humility seems like an oxymoron to me. Is striving to become humble a prideful action? In my mind when you pursue something, you have an end goal in mind and with humility that just can’t be the case. You will never reach a point where you are finally humble enough. It’s funny how the enemy can be so crafty with pride. When I become painfully aware of my pride and take the necessary steps to disarm it, it never fails, there is something that always happens when Satan points out to me “wow Lacey, that was really humble of you”, and in that moment I instantly build pride thinking… hmm… humility here I come! So ridiculous.

So, how then, do we go about leading a humble life? I don’t claim to know much about the matter, seeing as pride is a struggle of mine, but I believe that bringing yourself to the foot of the cross everyday might help. You see, meditating on the life of Jesus and the intense and beautiful sacrifice He made for us leave no room for pride. We can do nothing but bow and stand in awe the one who so graciously traded His perfect, holy, stainless righteousness for our utterly disgusting thing we call righteousness. Allowing His truth to penetrate and envelope our soul will cultivate Humility by His grace alone.

Micah 6:8

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly before your God.

                                                                

Trust not in your bow

In Psalm 44 David is crying out to the Lord first in thanksgiving and then pleading with the Lord to remember and strengthen them against their foes.
In 44:4-8 David tenderly says, “You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob. Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes. I do not trust my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame. In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever”.
What a beautiful thought, a king, mighty and strong, comes humbly before the Lord confessing his weakness. He is completely dependent on the Lord. David takes no victory as his own, he accredits it to the Lord. He knows that he has no talent apart from the Lord. To any other king, their bow and sword are suppose to be a main source of protection, a primary comfort knowing that if they are well trained, they can protect themselves and lead a nation to a heroic victory. I can almost picture David standing before the Lord dropping his bow and sword to either side, knowing without the Lord, they are useless. I absolutely love how he boldly proclaims, “I do not trust my bow, my sword does not bring me victory, BUT… YOU bring us victory”.
What an excellent reminder that nothing that I have, no “talent” I posses is my sustaining comfort or protection. No victory that is won is of my own strength.
Today, trust not in your bow, for it is bendable, shakable, breakable, and uncertain. Today let your focus and trust be put in the Lord, for He alone is good. He alone can save. He alone is victorious.

Excited Expression.

I decided to give my blog a little facelift. I gotta tell ya, i'm pretty excited about it! As I'm writing, it is officially Christmas... so Merry Christmas friend! I hope it is fully of wonder and excitement! I have no earthly idea why I'm up this late blogging. Wait.. yes I do... Santa comes soon... duh. I'm wide eyed and grinning! (Did you like how I pulled the title of my blog into that?) Alrighty, I'm off to copy and paste my previous blog posts to this new blogging system that I've chosen! Wish me luck!