A Story in Pictures

There once was a president of a college who put on a ball. All of the girls were very excited, and even got boys to come with them. Saturday evening arrived, and it was time to get ready for the ball.

First, we had to do hair...

Then, we put on dresses and did makeup...

My favorite girls were ready :-)

We went to the ball, and did some dancing....

Okay, so that wasn't how we danced the whole time :-) Then we took pictures!

You Are A Storm

Really, you have to go listen to this boy! Someday someone will sing this to me... how beautiful is this song? This is the way that anyone who has ever read Captivating would sing to his love, I think. :)

darkness fighting thunder lightning
crashing down from above
sometimes frightening always exciting
it’s the storm that i love

i am leading but still needing
you if i’ll ever grow
sun is hiding so inspiring
you keep me on my toes

you are a storm filled with deep mystery
and while others may run it’s inviting to me
darlin i’ll brave the winds if you promise the same
cause you are a storm…but i love the rain

some take cover i’ll discover
every drop’s not the same
always finding so enlightening
that’s why i love the rain

girl you’re the reason my knees are now weak
i’m discovering you from the edge of my seat
yeah my life would be easy with all sunny days
i know it sounds crazy but bring on the rain

Hold Me

I just discovered Jonny Diaz today, and heard this song on his website (http://www.jonnydiaz.com/). It's a beautiful song. :)

When i'm walking with you

what is still unknown
has caused my fear to grow
fear of thoughts unseen

but with your embrace
i know i can face
all that's facing me

clouds assume command
sky unrolls it's wrath
firmly still i stand
there's no turning back

chorus:
i need you to hold me
when the storms begin to rage
cause you know me
and you know that i'm afraid
though i'd rather go 'round
but i'm following now so i'll trust
that we'll make it through
just help me remember i'm never alone
when i'm walking with you

chorus:
i need you to hold me
when the storms begin to rage
cause you know me
and you know that i'm afraid
though i'd rather go 'round
but i'm following now so i'll trust
that we'll make it through
just help me remember i'm never alone
when i'm walking with you

walking with you

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