Home

Another summer day
Is come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
Mmmmmmmm

Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
“I’m fine baby, how are you?”
Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that

Another aerorplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home

And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
But this was not your dream
But you always believe in me

Another winter day has come
And gone away
And even Paris and Rome
And I wanna go home
Let me go home

And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel alone
Oh, let go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home
I’ve had my run
Baby, I’m done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It will all right
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home

To tell the truth, I want to go "home" in many ways today. Spring break is in two weeks, and I am SO excited about that- the past month and a half have been so upside-down that it feels sort of inconceivable (yes, I do know what that word means :)) that I get to go home.
But today, home also feels like going back... turning the clock back about three months. Back to when I was dreamily writing my English papers, waiting for a certain cute boy to get out of class... a boy I knew would be happy to see me, happy planning to come back for me when seminary was finally over. Now I write my papers in the snack bar, where I perhaps ought not to be since I know he'll be there eventually, with some silly greeting for me, or perhaps just a smile if nobody else is watching. A boy I know can't even carry on a normal conversation with me if we're not the only ones at the table, but if we are, still wants to know how my weekend was and if I had fun at the president's ball. A boy who has never been so consumed by his homework and so unfocused on the rest of his life. I wish I could make things stop spinning around for him, and make myself less wistful. Isn't it enough to know that God has something else planned for us both, and look forward excitedly to what that is? I know it is something good. I know it's best for me and best for Paul. So why am I so discontent today? I want to mend the hurt instead of waiting for my Lord to heal it.
God is good; and He is enough. I have discovered that the more time I spend in prayer and reading my Bible, the more I love it, and the more time I want to spend. He is really most essential, and more than that, He alone is enough. Home is in His presence, resting in the peace and the joy that He gives me, rejoicing in His love. May I not forget it again so soon.

Acres of Hope

I absolutely love the book of Hosea, and I've read chapter two alot lately; so it made me excited when I heard this song today for the first time in a long time :-) It is so me.

ACRES OF HOPE

by Shane Barnard and Robbie Seay


He will allure her
He will pursue her
And call her out
To wilderness with flowers in His hand
She is responding
Beat up and hurting
Deserving death
But offerings of life are found instead

She will sing
She will sing
Oh, to You
She will sing as in the days of youth
As You lead her away
To valleys low
To acres of hope
Acres of hope

Here in the valley
Walk close beside me
Don’t look back
For love is growing vineyards up ahead
You have called me master
And though you’re in the dark here
Call me friend
And call me lover and marry me for good

She will sing
She will sing
Oh, to You
She will sing as in the days of youth
As You lead her away
To valleys low
To acres of hope
Acres of hope

How the story ends is
Love and tenderness in Him
Not safe, but worth it
So the valley’s up ahead
Or the ones we live
We’ll sing together
We’ll sing together

We will sing
We will sing
Oh, to You
We will sing as in the days of youth
As You lead us away
To valleys low
To acres of hope
Acres of hope


"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. ‘In that day,’ declares the LORD,’you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master. (Hosea 2:14-16)

Hanging On

God, I'm in this place again
Trying so hard not to fall
But everything keeps coming down with the rain
And I try so hard, I forget to call

Everybody's looking around and wants to be found
And I'm just hanging on
I give you all that I am

I come to you with all that I am
I bring to you all that I am
And all I have is nothing
And I keep on trying
All all I want is you

Everybody's looking around and wants to be found
And I'm just hanging on
I give you all that I am

And I just sit here in the midst of you
I come to you, I come with all that I am

~Everyday Sunday

Persistent Joy

The back room of the library, an eccentric room with red chairs and a yellow and gray area rug, big windows alongside a stone fireplace, and "special collections" of books that nobody ever looks at, is my favorite room of the library. It is where I have been spending every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning from 10-11 since the semester started, and it already brings back (recent) memories. The first week was the week that Paul and I ended our relationship; and, surprisingly, the overwhelming memory that room brings back is joy. Not a happy, carefree joy, but a clinging, trusting, hopeful joy. What can I even call it to convey the depth and need of that joy? A necessary joy, a lifesaving joy, a God-given joy. I was thinking about that, and about how I've struggled with my attitude about having to let go of Paul since then, alot this morning. The only thing that gives me real joy about that is what I know about God- here's what I wrote this morning, in that back room: "I am still struggling with having to let go of Paul, but I am convinced of the perfect goodness of Your plan. That is what comforts me- not that it is "the best thing to do"; honor falls hallow on my ears when tears want to run down my face. That this is all good, in a true sense; that it is all according to your perfect plan, is what I can cling to and submit to. I can willingly surrender to a plan that I know you have made in your sovereignty for my good and your glory."
I wish I would actually remember that more. ;) I have been thinking too much lately about how weird it is to see him around school every day now and be one of the few girls in the snack bar *not* around him... jk. He usually only gets surrounded by a few girls at a time... what can I say? People love him. Girls and guys both. But it's gotten easier; and God is so good. If I can just hold on to that necessary joy, I will remember all the good that came of our relationship and all the good that is coming out of ending it. But I am still learning. Time to spend more time in the library, more time in prayer... more time with my Savior.
"You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, but you shall be called My Delight Is In Her... " ~ Isaiah 62

I love this song. It doesn't all apply to me right now- but it's still a wonderful song. I heard it the other day for the first time in a long time, and it reminds me that no matter how I feel, I can always run to God for comfort. It actually is the perfect song for one of my girls here right now- I am praying she will remember it :-)


Caroline
Seventh Day Slumber

Where do I began?
There's so much I want to say to make it easier
Tomorrow's on its way
Do you beileve I want to take your painful memories?

I know you want to run away
I know that you can't see tomorrow

Caroline
Let me wipe away your tears, and give you life
Make you feel beautiful again
Caroline
Don't throw it all away
I'm here tonight, to take away your pain

Yesterday is gone and
Everything that made you cry has fallen to the ground
I'm here to bring you home
I will always take you back
You haven't let me down

I know you want to run away
I know that you can't see tomorrow

Caroline
Let me wipe away your tears, and give you life
Make you feel beautiful again
Caroline
Don't throw it all away
I'm here tonight, to take away your pain

And when you're feeling all alone and you can't go on
Remember I am here
And when you think you've gone too far
I'll meet you where you are
My arms are open wide

Caroline
Let me wipe away your tears, and give you life
Make you feel beautiful again
Caroline
Don't throw it all away
I'm here tonight, to take away your pain

Caroline
Let me wipe away your tears, and give you life
Make you feel beautiful again
Caroline
Don't throw it all away
I'm here tonight, to take away your pain

Caroline

Angie's here!

On Friday, Amy and I drove to Detroit Metro to pick up Angie! She got in at 6pm, and we got back to school around 8:30, despite the fact that we'd never driven it before :P We did get almost lost once; our directions said to turn onto a street that didn't actually happen to be where the directions took us, but we called Dane (Natalie's boyfriend, who lives in MI) and he told us we could easily get back. He was right! We dropped Amy off so she could go to coffeehouse, then went to walmart for food for the week. Once we had dropped that off, we went to coffeehouse ourselves. I love coffeehouse :-) Some of my favorite people on campus play and sing, like the three who call themselves Nickel Creek (Dunn Right). They, of course, play Nickel Creek and other folksy-bluegrass music, and very well.

The rest of the week, we've mostly been in the new student union. It's a good place to study-- I've finally discovered that the snack bar really is good for that, because of the booths- and to talk. Angie and I have read our Bibles and talked and watched YouTube vidoes up there. Yesterday she bought a sketch book and spent an artistic hour and a half with that while we watched the snow outside, but soon I had to go out in it for choir :P

The rest of the week, we'll probably do the same thing- maybe go see the arboretum, too, if it's not too cold this afternoon. It should be beautiful this time of year, all that snow.... :-)
We've been having a lot of fun, and it's so nice to get a piece of home in the middle of February! :-)

Furnace

My friend Carly is an amazing person. :-) She goes to a huge church in Colorado Springs, and while she took a year off after high school before coming here, she helped run a discipleship group called the Furnace. She started a branch off of that here last semester, and this semester I've joined- all of my best friends are in it :-) There are, I think, ten of us now, overseen by the college pastor from my Michigan church who lives and works right near campus.
We just started the Furnace this week, and I'm so excited about it! On Tuesdays Mary Beth, Natalie, Amy, a girl on my hall named Brita and I will have Bible study. On Wednesday nights we have Bible study, with a larger group, at Pastor Steve's house; and his wife Tanya cooks dinner for all of us! On Thursday nights we go to our Hillsdale Christian Fellowship bi-monthly "youth group" meeting. On Friday mornings we meet for prayer before class. And on Sunday afternoons after church we have accountability groups.
So, we do something almost every day of the week. It's been wonderful already, and will continue to be, as a constant reminder of what is most important in our lives- in my life. If I know that every week some of my best friends will be asking me if I've been purposeful about setting aside time with God, then I will be better about actually doing it. And I love having prayer before class, even though I have to be up the hill at 8:15 :-) I'm so excited about how God is working this semester, in my life and in my friends'. Amy needs prayer for learning how to have a relationship with God- she's been brought up in the church and knows about God, even truly believes God is most important in her life, but she hasn't read the Bible except for class assignments before, so I'm really excited about how she'll come to truly know God through His word if she will be willing to read it. I can't wait to see her grow as she realizes Who it is that makes her life worth living. :)
It's time to go read about cellular respiration and other fun things in my biology textbook, but I wanted to share about the Furnace and what God is doing here. I love you all dearly and am praying for you- more so now that I have a constant reminder to be in prayer :-) May God bless and keep you all this week.