May our hearts be broken

"Train me God to walk straight;
then I'll follow Your true path.
Put me together, one heart and mind;
then, undivided, I'll worship you in joyful fear"
Psalm 86:11

Jesus, You are good. You are merciful, pure, loving, true, gracious, just, abundant, unquenchable, unstoppable, unchangeable, amazing, awe-inspiring, righteous, perfect, holy, incredible, faithful, the giver of hope, my rock, my refuge, my redeemer, my friend, my love, my stronghold, my creator, my all in all, my awesome God. Yes, You are. And yet, I lose sight of that. I let Satan convince me that I should be "in control", that I should get to live my life the way I please, the way that "brings me satisfaction". But all that happens is I find disappointment, because I am weak without You, hopeless without You, desperate for Your truth. You are all I need. Lord, help me to embrace who You are and who I am in You. I want to worship You in joyful fear, undivided Lord, completely consumed by You. Lord, you have said that if Your people, who are called by Your name, will humble themselves and pray, then Lord, You will come, and You will forgive, and You will heal our land. God, our hearts are breaking. Lord, restore Your people in Your truth. May Your name be exalted above all. May only You be praised. Break us, Lord. Make us who You want us to be.

Break our hearts, oh God
Break our hearts
Break our hearts, oh God
Break our hearts

For the sin in our lives
Break our hearts
For the sin in our land
Break our hearts

We cry out, we need Your help
Come back to our land
We confess, we've lived in sin
Please show Your power Once again

Locks of Love

I finally gave my hair away this weekend. I've been growing it for what seems like forever, and well, it was just time. Though the lady cut it much shorter than I had intended, I really like the way it turned out... you are welcome to form your own opinion... I know there is a lot of stuff going on in a lot of your lives right now, and I want you to know you are in my prayers. I am so grateful to have been blessed with so many wonderful friends who have been there to encourage me through so much.... stuff.... you are loved. If you need someone to talk to or pray out loud with you, or anything, feel free to give me a call.

I always thought my hair wouldn't do this... but I was delightfully surprised.... yay for ringlets :)

I could say many things... but, I won't. I will however share something that has been encouraging to me recently... this verse continually reminds me of God's goodness and His grace... Praise the Lord

"So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
~Isaiah 41:10~

Mickey and Minnie

Leah, you inspired me....




Which DISNEY character are you most like?
brought to you by Quizilla

I'm not so sure about all this... but I'd love for it to be true. I'm definitely optimistic, but with some people, that just irritates them more.... so I don't know that I can lift anyone's spirit "just with my smile", but I don't know... the joy of Lord does that to people... and I pray His joy overflows through me. Ironically, my roommate is most like Minnie Mouse... no wonder we get along so well... we were made for each other! Hehehehe.

A Cow for Lerah

I have recently developed an obsession with modeling clay. So, in telling the amazing Lerah Ashburn about my new hobby, she requested that I make her a cow. So, here is a cow for Lerah...

You've got to admit, he's pretty cute :)

Lerah is such an amazing person and I love hanging out with her. I love that she watches Smallville with me even though she doesn't like it, but just because she wants to spend time with us. I love how she isn't afraid to try new things... well, except maybe new foods. I love that she is growing in Christ and that I get to watch her grow more in love with Him. I love that we can always pick up right where we left off and that she is always excited to see me and always gives me hugs. I love Lerah... yes, I do. "A friend loves at all times" Proverbs 17:17 ~Better believe it!

Spiced Tea and Castles

So... it's the weekend, yay :) I love weekends... I didn't really even have plans for this weekend but it's been such a good weekend so far! And I even spent a good part of my Friday night working on a group project for next week! God has really been working in my heart this week and challenging me about relationships and stuff... I'm telling you what... God's word is amazing. I have definitely been challenged to not try so hard to water everything down so that my feeble mind can comprehend it and just embrace the mystery that God is God and He is bigger than my mind can handle! Anyway... I decided to jump on the bandwagon as Diane would say and dye my hair (I miss you people, thanks for the inspiration PCBSers...) It will probably all be washed out by the time I see any of you from home... we had fun taking pictures during the whole process and stuff... So here you go....

Before... these pictures are gross... and the sad thing is these are the better ones.....

Dang my hair is long.... I'm really starting to get anxious to cut it and give it away to locks of love.....

During... Trish is amazing and I convinced her that she should dye my hair for me... she's very proud of it now... it was kinda a long process because I have so much hair... very funny though, because it was like 2 in the morning.... yah....

Do you like my bleeding and dying picture??? Hahaha... dyeing... dying.... ok, I'm not gonna try to be funny because it just doesn't work out....

After... I like the change, what do you think?

Here are some pics of me spinning and dancing in the courtyard of Draper... pretty much my favorite Baylor building because I feel like I'm in a castle or something... I love it... it's so pretty... anyway... spin away....

Alright... me and my beautiful friends Trish and Mabel... I love these girls... we have so much fun together and I am so challenged to be all that Christ calls me to be through spending time with them... I love you Trish and Mabel...

Gotta love Trish's shirt.... "What Boyfriend?"

I looove this pic of me and Trish... I love Patricia Akinfenwa!!!

So... if you don't like my "Spiced Tea" dyed hair (yes, that was the name of the color), then it's all good because unless you are gonna visit me at Baylor in the next... hmm... 28 days... you won't have to be confronted with it... but if you like it... well, sorry, but you will just have to enjoy the pictures :)... In other news... I have started what I call a "Prayer Panel" on my wall.... let me know of prayer requests you have and you will get a sticky note on the prayer panel... it's cool because every time I see it I pray for people, and I can pray specifically for them and stuff (most of you are probably already on the Prayer Panel, I pray for you all a lot, so let me know of anything new or whatever that I can pray for)... I love you :)

Life is Precious

It's Sunday... my week was... different. I don't even remember a lot of it. Let's just go with the weekend. Friday I had a test in the morning and that was it, so I was done with school at like 9:30, sweet. I came back to the room and Mabel was still in bed, had decided to skip her class... sooo... the lights were off and everything... I got back in bed. We got up at like... 1 maybe? I don't even know. And then we went and worked with Habitat For Humanity for a couple hours... afterwards my amazing sister in law had left me a message to call them so they could tell me about their first doctor's appointment since she's pregnant... sooo... turns out... there are 2!!! How cool is that? I'm really excited... I still don't understand how they can be having twins when they don't run in our family or her's as far as I know... but, hey, I'm not complaining. Please keep them in your prayers as it is a very high risk pregnancy because of certain details about the environment the twins are in in the womb. I'm super excited though... I love being an aunt. It's so much fun. Now I get two more babies to spoil... yay! Hehehe... the rest of the weekend, since I haven't gotten past Friday afternoon... went to two movies Friday night... that was fun... then came back and was just chilling writing letters to some very special chikas in Tally and Chris called and wanted to go eat.... so we went to IHOP at like 2 in the morning... crazy college kids. Yes, we are. Saturday... got up late... went to lunch.... then went bowling for this Sorority tournament thing... I still don't really know what it was... I paid money, got a shirt, and got to bowl for like an hour and a half... it was fun. And I was bowling pretty good for a change... I got two spares in a row at one point... fun stuff... I love bowling, even when I'm not any good at it. So yah... I helped Chris and Mabel plan out their schedules for next semester... that was great fun. We are all planning to take guitar together. YAY :) Hopefully I can make it work... I'm not really happy with the way my schedule looks for next semester right now because of courses that are only offered at one time... dumb. But, we'll see... it will work out. Today was church... I went to Highland finally... and of course, I loved it. Go figure, why didn't I just go there the first week? I really like it and now think I may end up going there... crazy. I'm still praying about it though. Ooooo, Mabel and I went and enjoyed the swing on the porch of Alexander tonight... the weather is sooo beautiful right now, I love it!!! I didn't ever want to get off of that swing. OK, this post has pretty much just been me rambling... sorry bout that. I've been sick since Wednesday night and I'm finally feeling a lot better (Robitussin CF.... disgusting, but it works). Be proud Mommy, I'm taking medicine :) I'm really tired... so, I'm gonna take some more medicine, finish my laundry... and go to bed... good night....

I miss you already

This weekend was good. I knew I missed home... but I didn't really realize how much. In fact, I'm sitting here trying not to cry... home is where the heart is, huh? I love you guys more than you know. Being away from home has been one of the biggest growing experiences of my life so far... and I haven't even been gone that long. God continues to stretch me and pour His grace out on my life with every waking moment. I'm learning so much, but I have so much to learn. I can't even imagine what He has in store for us as His children... how amazing is it that we get to be a part of the story of the Almighty most Holy, Everlasting, Unfailing God of all that is and all that ever will be? You know, we always say the God of the Universe, but even that is an understatement. The universe cannot contain our God. I'm listening to my new Robbie Seay CD that I got in the mail today (Thank you, Paul :) )....

I will arise and go to Jesus
He will embrace me in His arms
And in the arms of my dear Savior
Oh, there are ten thousand charms....

Thank you guys for helping me have an awesome weekend... yay for parties, for Smallville, for birthdays, for orthodontist appointments (though my teeth still hurt.... grrr.... ). Yay for friends! You guys have no idea how much I value you. Being at youth was really encouraging.... God is gonna use all of you to do amazing things to further His kingdom. He is a God who answers prayers... and I sincerely believe that the youth group shows that there is hope in a dark world. You guys rock. Thank you for allowing Christ to take hold of your hearts and transform them... I have been realizing lately how shallow of a person I am... how I run away from a lot of things that I don't understand instead of wrestling with them... I want to know Christ in a deeper, richer, fuller way... I want to struggle through the things I don't understand and grow in my faith... I want Him to be bigger in me.... "He must become greater I must become less"- John 3:30...