Psalm 145

 ¹  I will exalt you, my God the King;
       I will praise your name for ever and ever.  ² Every day I will praise you
       and extol your name for ever and ever.
 ³ Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
       his greatness no one can fathom.
 ⁴ One generation will commend your works to another;
       they will tell of your mighty acts.
 ⁵ They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty,
       and I will meditate on your wonderful works. 
 ⁶ They will tell of the power of your awesome works,
       and I will proclaim your great deeds.
 ⁷ They will celebrate your abundant goodness
       and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
 ⁸ The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
       slow to anger and rich in love.
 ⁹ The LORD is good to all;
       he has compassion on all he has made.
 ¹⁰ All you have made will praise you, O LORD;
       your saints will extol you.
 ¹¹ They will tell of the glory of your kingdom
       and speak of your might,
 ¹² so that all men may know of your mighty acts
       and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
 ¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
       and your dominion endures through all generations.
       The LORD is faithful to all his promises
       and loving toward all he has made. 
 ¹⁴ The LORD upholds all those who fall
       and lifts up all who are bowed down.
 ¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you,
       and you give them their food at the proper time.
 ¹⁶ You open your hand
       and satisfy the desires of every living thing.
 ¹⁷ The LORD is righteous in all his ways
       and loving toward all he has made.
 ¹⁸ The LORD is near to all who call on him,
       to all who call on him in truth.
 ¹⁹ He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
       he hears their cry and saves them.
 ²⁰ The LORD watches over all who love him,
       but all the wicked he will destroy.
 ²¹ My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD.
       Let every creature praise his holy name
       for ever and ever.

I Am So Glad

...that tomorrow is a new day.

Where the Spirit of the Lord Is

I'm driving home in the morning and I couldn't be anymore excited about it. I really miss my family and my church family. We're introducing a new song to Aletheia called, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is" and there's no better time for me to be singing these words than now.

It's His love - His unfailing love - that brings freedom. Freedom from everything.

I guess I've really been struggling with this lately, but I know that no one has ever done more to show me that I wasn't loved, than what God has done to show me that I am loved.

I'm beginning to realize that knowing the Healer is more important than the healing...
and that wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there truly is liberty.

"And I pray that you being rooted and established in love,  

may have power, together with all the saints, 

to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - 

that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, 

according to his power that is at work within us, 

to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, 

for ever and ever! Amen."

Ephesians 3:14-21

Lord, I pray that You would satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. (Psalm 90:14)

-C

Ohhhhh, man.

My body has no idea whether to be tired or to be awake and I am severely behind in school and craving some Brotchen with Nutella for breakfast. I'm listening to Sean McConnell for the first time in a long time and memories are flooding back like crazy. Where does the time go?

Everything changes so quickly.
Crazy.

-C

"Only Moment"

Spring break has come and gone and all I have left of Germany are memories and a burning anticipation of returning again soon. Life is truly lived in moments, and those moments in Germany are gone.

So I'm here in my bed, jet-lagged like mad, trying to think of how I am going to write about my stay in Germany this past week. It was all too awesome and all too challenging to try to conduce it into a single blog, but I will tell you that Christ is the same no matter where you go, love is truly an action, and being in Germany will cost you your figure....
and your heart.

Guess who's going to be taking German classes next year?

-C

Big Blue

...got stuck on some muddy German farm road and we had to walk the rest of the way home in the middle of the night.

Very Sound of Music-ish.

Chasing the Son

March 12, 2010

"We’ve yet to cross over the Atlantic, but we should be crossing over soon. The screen in front of me is telling me that we’re flying over Canada right now, right near Halifax. My eyes are heavy as I only got about four hours of sleep last night in my attempt to stay up all night, but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to sleep for the remainder of the flight. It’ll be a new day when we arrive in Frankfurt.


I was planning on falling asleep earlier, but the lady next to me grew up in Heidelberg and we’ve obviously been talking ever since. We’ve actually gotten pretty close, her and I. I’ve officially taken on the role of opening her bags of pretzels and peanuts in exchange for wise counsel about life and love such as, “if you want to travel, the worst thing you can do is get married. Don’t get tied down!” and “Make sure you use your head when you choose that guy. Make sure he has a good job and makes more money than you.” Well, then….if that doesn’t burst your bubble. Except for the whole money thing - that I can understand. I figure I can just marry someone who has more money than I do (which won’t be too awfully hard) and someone who wants to travel as much as I do and it would all work out just fine.

The sun has set over the clouds and its night now, but it'll back in just a few hours. Crazy how when you chase the sun like that, the night only lasts for so long. I know I’ll never be able to escape darkness in my life, but I know that if I’m chasing the Son, those moments of darkness and affliction will only last so long before the light arises again and causes darkness to tremble. God is faithful to come through for us. I wouldn’t be on this plane heading to Germany if not for His provision, and my heart would not be in the state of healing that it is if not for His hand.

“As surely as the sun will rise, you’ll come to us – certain as the dawn appears.”

I simply have not learned this yet – this confidence I speak of - and although I fear it may take a few more heartbreaks and hard knocks for it to set in, I do have a little more courage than the last time I faced the possibility of getting hurt, the possibility of failing and getting lost in the dark. Lord knows I want to trust Him, and I desperately cling to the hope that He will completely transform my fear into faith, my worry into peace, and turn those slight breezes of sorrow that visit from time to time into a steadfast joy that burns like the sun.

Someday He'll teach me how to love again - and how to love smarter. How to love better. I guess until then, I'm soaring above the clouds, above the storm in a brief night.

Germany...
it's so good to see you again.

-C

Deutschland

It's Tuesday, March 16th.

Our stay here in Germany has reached half-way and now that I have internet and an adapter for my charger, I can take my time and blog a little bit.

I've been keeping a journal and have stayed pretty consistent about writing, but journaling remains so difficult for me. My thoughts move faster than my hand can write them down and I always end up losing my train of thought and always end up with pages of choppy sentences that make no sense whatsoever. Not quite sure that this post will be any better - the boys are playing piano and I can't help but stop and stare at them in amazement. How the heck can someone's fingers do that?

Yes, there is much talent on this team -
more than that though, God is on this team.

I don't have much time and I wish I could tell you more, but we have to load up on Big Blue and head to our concert tonight!

Tchuss,
-C

Possibilities

Another beautiful day in sweet little Lynchburg.

I had another audition today for a ministry team and as much as I was looking forward to it being over with, I wish I could go back and do it over again. I'm going to be honest - I've definitely had brighter moments. I, for some bizarre reason, forgot how to sing in my head voice when they asked me to and then my strumming in Hosanna was so off that I was laughing on the inside. Gotta chop it up to them good 'ole nerves! If you know me at all, you know this: I do not do well under pressure.

But you see, then there are these moments when He speaks to me, and I know that I am where I am for a reason. Whatever tomorrow brings, and whatever comes of this audition, I know that Christ is in me, his mercies are upon me, and He has had a plan for this life of mine since before time. I was told today that God has anointed me, and that itself is the victory and the only thing I desire - that Christ is heard and seen and that my talent will always takes a back seat to Him. So although 'technically' I did not sing or play my best, Christ was there - as He promised He would be - and my greatest desire in stepping into that room today was fulfilled. I couldn't be any more stoked about it.

I'm not sure when I'll hear anything back, but it would be my luck that they would call me while I'm in GERMANY!

I haven't even started packing yet and I feel like this huge pile of clothes on my bed just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Procrastination at it's finest.

We leave from David's Place tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. to drive to the airport in Roanoke, where we then will fly to Atlanta, Georgia and then on towards Frankfurt. I'll be honest; I never thought I'd make it back to Germany so soon. Heck, I never thought I would ever make it out of the country, and here I am going to Europe for the second time. These kinds of things just seem too good to be true, especially for a small-town girl who growing up, thought going Wal-Mart was the most exciting thing that could ever happen in life. It just makes me want to kick myself for putting God in a box so often. There is life out there. Abundant life. Full of amazing opportunites to share His light and love, and when you have God on your side, it's all possible.

So this is where I'll be for the next ten days. They're not guaranteeing that we'll have internet access (we'll be staying at camps and at our host families houses for the duration of the trip), but I desperately want to write down everything. I'm so excited to go back to this beautiful place, and even more excited now that I get to see it through Christ's eyes. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who helped me go on this trip. You have no idea how much of a blessing it will be for myself and for those we'll be ministering to!

 I can't wait.

-C

Don't Be Afraid

"We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You."

2 Chronicles 20:12

I'm way too tired to write, but this chapter of Scripture has given me such great courage and strength today. I don't have a clue about what to do about most things and with most situations and circumstances, but the only thing that matters is where I have my eyes fixed.

Tomorrow is my final audition for a ministry team and I covet your prayers. Pray that I would take my eyes off of the 'army' that stands before me (okay, okay - so for me - they might as well be an army) and to simply stand strong and sing praises to my King. That is what I'm after. Christ in me. The hope of glory.

'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith...and you will be successful."

After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:

"Give thanks to the LORD,

for his love endures forever."

 

(v. 20-21)

 

 

For His glory alone,

-C

My Friend

...is a rockstar.

Lynchburg

...has the most beautiful sunsets.

Days Like These

Everything is in full swing here at Liberty.

My planner looks like something belonging to the unibomber and my hand is constantly displaying a faded, layered muddle of Scripture verses to sustain the motivation.

I’m in room 2186 at DeMoss for my English 102 class and I’m supposed to be researching databases for articles on Hamlet.
Uh, riiiiiight.

I really wish I could just hand in the URL for my blog and be done with this whole English thing. I do love to write - just not about Greek and Shakespearean tragedy. Oedipus was enough to make me want to go insane and gorge my eyes out (isn’t there some irony in that?) and now another analysis on a crazy person is calling my name. Couldn’t I just write about the character's influence on the reader instead? That, I would do well on.

Yesterday was one of the longest days so far. I had convocation at ten, two classes back to back, an hour lunch break, two more classes back to back with choir practice immediately to follow, and then a half hour later I had rehearsal for my worship recital which lasted until 9:30. Oy vey. (I actually just wikepedia’d that, and turns out the ‘oy’ is actually Biblical Hebrew and ‘vey’ is German. It also turns out that I just made "wikapedia" a verb. Regardless, this will be good to know when someone asks you to spout off a random fact one of these days. It’ll happen - especially if you hang out at the clab after midnight.)

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So,
C H O O S E  L I F E
in order that you may live, you and your descendants,
by loving the LORD your God, by obeying his voice
and by holding fast to Him
for this is your life and the length of your days."

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

College encompasses many late nights, restless nights, no nights, early mornings, a lot of paper writing, and a ton of coffee. A ton. In other words, if you're in college, you're 9 chances out of 10 sleep deprived and running off of chik-fil-a and caffeine.

I can't say I'm quite adjusted to it all yet – I struggle with managing my time, staying organized, and staying on task (heh…), but this is my life and this is what today encompasses: a solo in choir, a 1,000 word character analysis on Hamlet, music theory homework, and a hall meeting from ten to eleven. With all of its complexities and irritation, it’s beautiful. There’s a muddle of Scripture verses, one layered on top of the other written on my hand, and it is this which gives me the strength, the joy, and the steadfastness to get through days like these.

Loving, obeying, and holding fast.

This is life: today and right now, and I’m choosing it, living it, continually... with HIM.

(...oh, have I told you that I'm going to Germany in nine days?!)

oy. vey.

-C