Adventures had and lessons learned

Last week two of my sisters from the Dandelion House (what we call the house we live in) and I went for a magnificent day trip to Bodega Bay, it was a beautiful time to say the least!
Standing on the beach last week I was reminded of the many times I had been standing on a sandy shore when God had spoken to my heart. Eyes closed and face tilted back into the wind, little tears gathered as I was reminded of the different places I have been at throughout my life as a Christian and how His grace has carried me throughout each season. Here are a few pictures from our trip:






:) Nothing beats the simplicity of unhurried quality time spent with dear friends. We had such a wonderful time reflecting upon and sharing our love for eachother and remembering the faithfulness of God to each us throughout our friendships with one another. Lolo (the beauty playing my Ukulele) is about to travel to Mozambique to care for orphans and teach people about the love of Jesus! Kiersten and I are going to miss her dearly!

In my last blog post I had intimated that the Lord had been speaking to me about alot of things lately. (Which within the last 2-3 months He really has!) In this post I wanted to share some of those lessons learned.

"Your identity is not what you do"

Sounds simple enough right? Or maybe to your natural mind you may think, "Well of course it is!" That is how I felt when I first heard that preached in a sermon a few years ago. The thought was offensive to me. You see because I had tried to derive importance from my extra-curricular activities and accomplishments all of my life and was participating in most of them because I wanted to feel that I had significance and worth. Wanting to feel "important" has always been a struggle for me. I am daily being reminded now that all my value and importance lies alone in God's love for me. I had began to realize this truth about identity a couple years ago once I had started to become more aware that what will matter in Eternity, when we see Jesus face to face, isn't the same with what much of society tells us is of worth and value now. I.e. building and acquiring for yourself, making your own name known. God so lovingly and gently reminded me again in a big way to not place my value in any of my goals or accomplishments but solely in who I am in Him; a daughter of God and a bride of Christ. Taking the pressure off of me to "do something important" with my life and releasing me to simply follow Him however He may lead and let Him take care of the rest. Loving and obeying God is far more important (and truly productive when you think about it) than constructing and following any seemingly good plan I could map out for myself. Inevitably I trust that my life will have have lasting value and importance if I am truly being led by and abiding in Him :)

"Not making decisions based out of fear"

This is a huge one! I realized that as I made any decisions based off of fear, for example- being afraid of my future, what others might think of me, etc. that would lead me to make more decisions based off of fear and then lead me off the path that the Lord would be intending. Basically He showed me to always check my heart and make sure I am making decisions and choices with a heart of love, trust and gratitude to Him and not making decisions based off of selfishness, anxiety or any kind of fearful resignation. It is really simple and as a Christian it may seem like a no-brainer (as God calls us to not be afraid or worried about anything!) but having words to put to it I have been able to check my heart more often and keep it clean and pure before Him. I have been more at peace than ever.

Well that is all I will share for now, that the Lord is good and His mercy really does go on forever! I want to make much of Jesus and bring Him the most glory possible in every area of my life. I pray that by His grace He would enable me to do that :)

Acts 17:28 "For in Him we live and move and have our being...For we are also His offspring."

I pray that you are all having an amazing week! Blessings :)

"my ukes in tune"

That is the diddy my grandpa taught me to sing while I strum GCEA (Giant Cats Eat Apples according to Brion Burkett) when I tune my ukulele. That's right, my ukulele! I am learning how to play again after a 6 year hiatus. I can't play much yet, only a few chords, but it is a start. I've been trying to get my 15 minutes a day of practice in, even if it means strumming in the FreeStyle break room (which has given some of my co-workers a laugh, haha). Here is a picture of my instrument, I think I might name him "little beauty"? The decision isn't made on that just yet. :)

What else have I been up to?


Also after a long while's absence I randomly came across this half finished bible study I started just out of high school. Why I didn't finish it I don't know but I can say that I am so grateful to have picked it up again! And what seemed lackadaisical in happening to find it I am believing it was the Lord that I am reading it in this time in my life! Now I know what you might be thinking, the cover is super old school and it could be extremely cheesy right? The artwork and format is a little outdated but that's only because the study was published in the 80's! But the content itself, like the Word of God, is timeless. "Experiencing God" is so simple, straightforward in it's approach and is completely biblical. I love it! Here are some excerpts that have been meaningful to me:
"As you follow Jesus one day at a time, He will keep you right in the center of God's will"
"Jesus is my way. I don't need any other road map"
"The right question is: What is God's will? (not what is God's will for my life?) The focus needs to be on God, not my life!"
"Don't measure your life by the world's standards"
"The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through a man who is fully consecrated to Him."
"The focus of the Bible is God. The essence of sin is a shift from a God-centerdness to a self-centeredness."
"To live a God-centered life you must focus your life on God's purposes not your own plans."
"You never find God asking persons to dream up what they want to do for Him."
"Understanding what God is about to do where I am is more important than telling God what I want to do for Him."

They do a lot of character studies, namely Moses and Abraham- looking at their lives as examples as well as going through scripture illustrating that indeed this is what we are called to believe and live. I could go on but I will leave it at that- that this study is amazing!

Other recent efforts include: spending precious time with family and friends. In the last 2 weeks I've gotten to spend quality time with a couple little ladies I won't be seeing for a while, and have been visiting lots with roommates and neighbors and even got to do some dancing the other night! Here is some daily life documentation to enjoy:


















Something else I would like to add is my gratefulness to the Lord for blessing me like He has. I think about it constantly throughout my days, how extremely grateful I am for my life! For the people I share it with and the place that I am in. God has done so much in my heart! It's a lot to describe, all that He has been showing me lately, but in parting I will say: that Love has made me a new creation, changing and reforming me from my inside out. I am made free, new and whole. Like a child again in my Father's embrace, I am not afraid.

a passion that the Lord has given me...

is to create! Anything that I can make/do with my hands is oh so enjoyable to me. I feel like that is innate in all of us, as we are made in the image and likeness of God, the Ultimate Creator :)I think this is why I feel such a strong sense of His presence when I am being creative. Painting, sewing, crafting anything (even cupcakes!) you name it, I am a happy camper. So that is what I would like to share with you readers today, specifically my love to sew. The sensation of pushing fabric over the feed dogs underneath my needle, watching the stitches bring everything together as I push on my foot peddle like a hot rod racer revving up his roadster is exhilarating. Keeping the fabric moving along smoothly is always the key for me, if I try to go too fast things can get a little crazy! (I use my seam ripper a lot haha)Even if it's a more of a mundane task such as hemming a blouse or sewing on a button, the enjoyable sensation is just the same. But of course with any crafting/sewing project the more creative ones are my most favorite. Here are some pictures to enjoy:

this top actually was a dress of mine when I was a small child, haha! My premier philosophy when it comes to making clothing/anything is to recycle any old garments/materials that I can! My line at the time was called "Resurrected Clothing" for that reason :)
Another baby doll top this one I constructed with a section of an old bed sheet and the top remains of a tee-shirt.
One of my favorite men's items to make is a front pocket tee shirt! This one I didn't sew from scratch but just dyed and then attached a pocket to the front. I thought it a cute style :)
Same idea here as well. This is one of several vintage dresses that I have reconstructed over the years to make a little more modern and flattering. Of course Greta wears it so well!
And lastly here is a picture with my beauty queen, prized possession, old faithful (well she actually isn't that old..), my machine :) Most of these photos (sans the last one) are a couple years old so I will be doing my best to document some of my more recent projects soon! Until then, God bless you :)

crafty

Just a little "Instagram" post from my last craftday (8.25.11)I made a cake just because for my house meeting last night! It was so random, but fun to make haha.
Cheese!

Not much of a post but I was just wanting to add some photos to this blog. Ciao!