Right now I'm sitting in a beautiful cabin in the middle of the woods in Alaska. The house is dark and everyone is asleep, except for myself. That's probably because I've been doing my very best to avoid going to bed or waking up TOO much off what I would do in Texas. So here I am. Awake and writing because it is still too dark to do anything that doesn't involve computer light. Shall I begin to tell of the adventures galore? Well since I can't hear any protests through my computer screen I'll go ahead and start.
We left Monday evening around 4 to get to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to be at 10:30pm and we were going early in the hopes to go standby for the the 7:30 out of Dallas instead. Did you know they now charge $50 to go standby? Yup. Ridiculous. I mean it kinda makes sense because it keeps the list from being so long and such a hassle, but it kept us from being able to fly out 3 hours earlier so I will continue to be disgruntled with the new rule. Anyway, so we flew out at 10:30pm to Vegas, where we stayed the night at the local Embassy Suites. We had a 7am flight the next morning so it was a rather short night to be sure. Tuesday morning came a little faster than I would have liked. At 7am we took off from Vegas, flew to Seattle, and then from Seattle we went to Juneau.
Okay well I could go through the rest play-by-play style, but I think you'd rather hear just the highlights. Wednesday we went fishing with Hope and our friend from school, Chase Stanton. There is this place called the Hatchery, where all the fish come to spawn and die. So there is a big body of water outside of that, that we fished in. Now you don't really want to keep any of these fish, seeing as they are all coming to die and so they are kinda nasty, so we just caught them and threw them back. I caught 4 Chum salmon on this excursion. It was really fun. I got bled all over by one which was sick, but still fun despite all the nasty. My mom held the record with 5 fish. She was a pro for sure. Now, I say we threw all the fish back...but one didn't make it. This is nasty, so bear with me, but I caught one through his eye. Since he was squirmming more than any of the other fish (I don't know why, maybe because a hook through the eyeball is probably excruciating. But that is just a guess) Chase couldn't get the hook out of his face without killing him. So he had to stomp on him and then get the hook out. That is a sick-nasty story I know, and I'm sorry. Its Alaska. They're rough and tough up here.
Thursday we went hiking up a trail called Perseverance, which was really gorgeous. We ended a this huge beautiful waterfall. Like it is breathtaking how beautiful God makes creation. It's just a glimpse of how beautiful he is, a picture of his majesty. I also think it is funny that us girls more admired the beauty of the waterfall while my dad was admiring the sheer power of it. I think we as humans typically only notice one side of something, like us girls just looking at how beautiful it was and Daddy just seeing the power of it. But when you have more than one person you see more than one perspective. Fellowship is so good because it opens your eyes to things that you would never see or recognize yourself. God is always more than one-sided. He's not just beautiful (which we typically associate with delicate and soft) but he's also so powerful (which we typically associate with rough and tough. Not really delicate or soft at all.). We wouldn't normally put the two together, but he uses little things here on earth, like big, beautiful, powerful waterfalls to give us a glimspe of how the two can be perfectly compatiable.
Friday, so yesterday, we moved into the new house and then hit up downtown for some shopping. After that Hope had her 6 other girls from project over at our new beautiful cabin. We cooked pizzas and sweet potatoes and I at crab straight from the leg. Then we played a game and hit the sack. It's nice just to put faces with all the names Hope has been telling me about. They're all really cool girls so it was fun to get to hang out with them all.
Well that is the scoop. There is so much I'm missing not putting in here, just for the sake of time for the both of us. But if I get to see you anytime soon you can ask and I'll share more stories. And I'm sure pictures will make their way to the internet at some point. Its been a really good trip, just getting to be with most of the fam.
Until next time dear friend.
Psalm 138:6-8
-Kelly
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
A Word from the Wooed.
Hey dear friends!
Well I have finished Biology. I passed. I just checked my grade. I passed. I have nothing else good to say about it, just that I never have to take it again. Hallelujah.
With all that jazz out of my hair it has been time for fun stuff!!! Whoooooo!! I made a roadtrip to Arkansas this weekend and it was WONDERFUL!! Exactly 3 weeks from tomorrow I will be moving my things back to the Hog Land. Can't tell you how excited I am about it and this weekend just increased that excitement exponetially. I got to hang out with friends and drive around town and just see a lot of really lovely people and places. It was the best.
Since getting back (so ...yesterday) I got to hang out with friends, work a little, and paint. I love painting. I am about to read a bit, and I'm stoked about that too. It has been so great not having class! I get to see Hope a week from today and I am so looking forward to it. I miss her lots. It'll be good to get to catch up face-to-face and not just over the phone. Its amazing all the really fun things you can do when you don't have to do school!
I finished Proverbs last week and so I made the transition into Ecclesiastes. I really can't believe I've never read through it before. Its so good. And really challenging. So far the two things that have stood out the most to me were in chapter 2 and chapter 5. First, in 2:24-25 Solomon, (er, well that is who is almost always thought to be the writter) shows us that the one thing in life that isn't vanity is enjoying the things given to us within God's design for our life. Like he goes through money, wisdom, eating, drinking, riches, toil, ect., and all of it is just complete vanity. Striving after the wind. Not because those things are bad by any means on their own, but they are worthless without a Creator giving them purpose. Apart from him they will never bring us happiness. Verse 25 says, "for who can find enjoyment apart from him?" Our purpose is to delight in the things of God. The work he's given us, the money, the wisdom, all of that, we take pleasure in, but we don't strive for. I guess just being content and thankful for the circumstances we are in and finding joy in our freedom in Christ and where in life God has placed us. Contentment is hard for everyone. It starts small. You just want one thing and then if/when you get it, it never fulfills like we had hoped it will. So then we want more. Or because whatever we wanted did bring us some temporary joy we think that if we just had a little bit more then we'd have it all. Then it builds and before we know it we are living in a constant state of discontentment, trying so hard to find life and joy in lifeless things. So that was the first thing that really struck me, absolutely nothing in this life has any meaning apart from God.
Second was chapter 5, which I read today. Verse 2 really hit home for me, so I'm going to type it all out. It says, "Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few." Do you ever just try to talk for God? Or tell him what's up before listening for him to speak? I sure do. For pretty much every aspect of my life I like to try to figure it all out. Its like I think I'm going to beat God to actually revealing things, so that when he does get around to it I can say, "Ha! I knew it all along!" Instead of looking back at all the incredible ways God has worked in my life and trusting him with ways he has yet to work, I try and understand things that, honestly, just really aren't for me to see. Half of the growing process is trusting that God is going to do it, and most of the time I try to skip that half and get right to the being grown and knowledgeable part. It'd be like a flower disconnected from its stem. I mean stems really aren't all that attractive, but you've got to have them to have the beautiful part. Without the stem attatched to a life source you just have a bunch of brown, ugly, dead petals in your hands. It really is embarrassing to think of how I hasty I am to tell God my opinion on how I think life should go. I am on earth. God is in heaven. You know, he's the one that made EVERYTHING, and planned it all out to bring himself honor. The God that died for me and has proved his love towards me over and over again. The one that breaks me continually, the one that shows himself in the most beautiful ways. Seems like it should be easy enough to trust that kind of love and faithfulness, right? Why are we so foolish to think more highly of ourselves than we ought? So preoccupied with our own little worlds that we have tried to make ourselves the rulers over. I've definitely been getting taught submission and learning to hold my tongue. Sometimes I just say what is on my mind with complete disregard to common sense. And being open has its place, but man I could take a lesson or two in holding back emotions, opinions, and thoughts. This passage was just another reminder of that. I can't think of a single passage where it says, "Be really hasty to tell God how to run the universe." It's just easy to forget that since a lot of times we can't see past our own noses.
So that was just 2 thoughts that came out of Ecclesiastes. This week I am going to try to get back into the cleaning mode. Tomorrow: Living room. And for dinner: Thai Coconut Curry Soup. We shall see how that goes.
Well until next time dear friends!
Isaiah 55:8-9
-Kelly
Well I have finished Biology. I passed. I just checked my grade. I passed. I have nothing else good to say about it, just that I never have to take it again. Hallelujah.
With all that jazz out of my hair it has been time for fun stuff!!! Whoooooo!! I made a roadtrip to Arkansas this weekend and it was WONDERFUL!! Exactly 3 weeks from tomorrow I will be moving my things back to the Hog Land. Can't tell you how excited I am about it and this weekend just increased that excitement exponetially. I got to hang out with friends and drive around town and just see a lot of really lovely people and places. It was the best.
Since getting back (so ...yesterday) I got to hang out with friends, work a little, and paint. I love painting. I am about to read a bit, and I'm stoked about that too. It has been so great not having class! I get to see Hope a week from today and I am so looking forward to it. I miss her lots. It'll be good to get to catch up face-to-face and not just over the phone. Its amazing all the really fun things you can do when you don't have to do school!
I finished Proverbs last week and so I made the transition into Ecclesiastes. I really can't believe I've never read through it before. Its so good. And really challenging. So far the two things that have stood out the most to me were in chapter 2 and chapter 5. First, in 2:24-25 Solomon, (er, well that is who is almost always thought to be the writter) shows us that the one thing in life that isn't vanity is enjoying the things given to us within God's design for our life. Like he goes through money, wisdom, eating, drinking, riches, toil, ect., and all of it is just complete vanity. Striving after the wind. Not because those things are bad by any means on their own, but they are worthless without a Creator giving them purpose. Apart from him they will never bring us happiness. Verse 25 says, "for who can find enjoyment apart from him?" Our purpose is to delight in the things of God. The work he's given us, the money, the wisdom, all of that, we take pleasure in, but we don't strive for. I guess just being content and thankful for the circumstances we are in and finding joy in our freedom in Christ and where in life God has placed us. Contentment is hard for everyone. It starts small. You just want one thing and then if/when you get it, it never fulfills like we had hoped it will. So then we want more. Or because whatever we wanted did bring us some temporary joy we think that if we just had a little bit more then we'd have it all. Then it builds and before we know it we are living in a constant state of discontentment, trying so hard to find life and joy in lifeless things. So that was the first thing that really struck me, absolutely nothing in this life has any meaning apart from God.
Second was chapter 5, which I read today. Verse 2 really hit home for me, so I'm going to type it all out. It says, "Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few." Do you ever just try to talk for God? Or tell him what's up before listening for him to speak? I sure do. For pretty much every aspect of my life I like to try to figure it all out. Its like I think I'm going to beat God to actually revealing things, so that when he does get around to it I can say, "Ha! I knew it all along!" Instead of looking back at all the incredible ways God has worked in my life and trusting him with ways he has yet to work, I try and understand things that, honestly, just really aren't for me to see. Half of the growing process is trusting that God is going to do it, and most of the time I try to skip that half and get right to the being grown and knowledgeable part. It'd be like a flower disconnected from its stem. I mean stems really aren't all that attractive, but you've got to have them to have the beautiful part. Without the stem attatched to a life source you just have a bunch of brown, ugly, dead petals in your hands. It really is embarrassing to think of how I hasty I am to tell God my opinion on how I think life should go. I am on earth. God is in heaven. You know, he's the one that made EVERYTHING, and planned it all out to bring himself honor. The God that died for me and has proved his love towards me over and over again. The one that breaks me continually, the one that shows himself in the most beautiful ways. Seems like it should be easy enough to trust that kind of love and faithfulness, right? Why are we so foolish to think more highly of ourselves than we ought? So preoccupied with our own little worlds that we have tried to make ourselves the rulers over. I've definitely been getting taught submission and learning to hold my tongue. Sometimes I just say what is on my mind with complete disregard to common sense. And being open has its place, but man I could take a lesson or two in holding back emotions, opinions, and thoughts. This passage was just another reminder of that. I can't think of a single passage where it says, "Be really hasty to tell God how to run the universe." It's just easy to forget that since a lot of times we can't see past our own noses.
So that was just 2 thoughts that came out of Ecclesiastes. This week I am going to try to get back into the cleaning mode. Tomorrow: Living room. And for dinner: Thai Coconut Curry Soup. We shall see how that goes.
Well until next time dear friends!
Isaiah 55:8-9
-Kelly
Friday, July 2, 2010
Nehemiah 8:10b
Bear with me today, folks. Its probably going to be a long-en'.
One month, one day. That is how long I have before I will be moving my things into D407. It feels like time has been rolling on a hill. At the beginning of the summer it was like I was pushing it uphill. Now I'm rolling downhill and it is picking up speed. I've got one more week of school, one week of just work, one week in Alaska, and then one week after that to get everything together to move in. At the beginning of the summer Amy, Bre and I (Amy and Bre are going to co-lead a freshman girl's bible study with me next year) made a list of 13 prayer requests for the 13 weeks of the summer. I made index cards and taped them all to my mirror and I took them down one by one and stuck them in my journal for that week. Its so weird to think my mirror once had a chain stretching from top to bottom with prayer cards, and now, after tomorrow, will just have 3 left on it.
I went back and read my first post yesterday and it is really hard to not feel a little like a failure. I'm looking at 2/3rds of my summer gone and wondering why on earth I haven't accomplished anything. There is still time left, but not near as much as there used to be. Which brings me to a word that has been threatening my heart and emotions at many points throughout the summer. Overwhelmed. That sense that you just might not be able to handle something anymore. Which brings me to another word that has been the theme of this summer so far. Faithful. God has been so incredibly faithful throughout. He hasn't let me be overtaken by any of these overwhelming feelings. With my feeling of lonliness at the beginning of the summer he provided new friendships, let me spend time with old friends, and most of all he has been so so faithful to be right there with me whenever the feeling threatens again. When I am beginning to feel overwhelmed with the weight of my sin (reading old journals is agonizing because I see the repetitive sin in my life that I continue to struggle with) and when I feel completely insufficient as a Christian he reminds me that HIS grace is sufficient for me and HIS power is made perfect in my weakness. When my schedule has felt like too much and when I can't seem to find the perfect balance between work, classes, and goals he helps me reprioritize and somehow, no matter how much or how little anxiety I have, he provides time for everything. There have been points where I just feel so helpless. I've felt like that a lot this week, but I probably feel that way because I am. I don't have control, and if I did it would be a scary thing for the rest of the world. God, in his grace, is reminding me of how very mortal I am and how very sovereign I am not.
I came across a verse a week or two ago and I want to share it with y'all. Its Nehemiah 8:10 part b. It says, "And do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Fact. At all of these points, the ones even just this summer, he has been my strength and my joy. He is consistently reminding me that I cannot do it on my own, and that fact is my joy. Because he is my strength and my provider I have no need to be grieved, he's going to take care of everything in his time and in his way. I may feel a bit like a failure right now, helpless, and threatened to be overwhelmed all over again but he is my strength. Also when thinking about this summer so far I go back the Proverbs 19:21, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." I mean I had all these plans, all good plans, all good things, and all things that still have time to be tackled, but God has established my steps. I cannot think of another time in my life where I have been so continuously broken. It's nothing of my own merit, it is just God being merciful to me, a sinner. And when I say sinner I mean it in the deepest, blackest sense. I am completely deprave. And God is completely gracious to me and doesn't see any of it because he is looking at me through the lense of Christ. Can't get over that. Anyway, he is establishing my steps. As much as I am looking at my list of goals as being in the process of failing, God has been working on me in a much bigger way than my list of 10 things ever could have. Don't ask me why he has been so faithful. It's something I will never completely understand.
I feel like this sounds like such a melodramatic post. It really isn't. Yes, my sin is like grains of sand on a beach. Yes, I have been broken and heartbroken over things in my life. Yes, I do continue to be a fool and struggle with realizing how sovereign God is and how not I am. But really all those things are what makes God's grace so incredible and beautiful. I'm so thankful that he loves me enough that, despite my shortcomings (there are many, trust me) , he chose me for his name's sake. It is more of a post of praise of God's grace and faithfulness than a gripe over my sinfulness. Again, his faithfulness is just something I will never be able to fully wrap my mind around.
Psalm 25:4-5
-Kelly
P.s- Oh and I made a 94 on my final speech in Communications. I don't know what the final grade was overall but it was an A. Wooowhooo :)
One month, one day. That is how long I have before I will be moving my things into D407. It feels like time has been rolling on a hill. At the beginning of the summer it was like I was pushing it uphill. Now I'm rolling downhill and it is picking up speed. I've got one more week of school, one week of just work, one week in Alaska, and then one week after that to get everything together to move in. At the beginning of the summer Amy, Bre and I (Amy and Bre are going to co-lead a freshman girl's bible study with me next year) made a list of 13 prayer requests for the 13 weeks of the summer. I made index cards and taped them all to my mirror and I took them down one by one and stuck them in my journal for that week. Its so weird to think my mirror once had a chain stretching from top to bottom with prayer cards, and now, after tomorrow, will just have 3 left on it.
I went back and read my first post yesterday and it is really hard to not feel a little like a failure. I'm looking at 2/3rds of my summer gone and wondering why on earth I haven't accomplished anything. There is still time left, but not near as much as there used to be. Which brings me to a word that has been threatening my heart and emotions at many points throughout the summer. Overwhelmed. That sense that you just might not be able to handle something anymore. Which brings me to another word that has been the theme of this summer so far. Faithful. God has been so incredibly faithful throughout. He hasn't let me be overtaken by any of these overwhelming feelings. With my feeling of lonliness at the beginning of the summer he provided new friendships, let me spend time with old friends, and most of all he has been so so faithful to be right there with me whenever the feeling threatens again. When I am beginning to feel overwhelmed with the weight of my sin (reading old journals is agonizing because I see the repetitive sin in my life that I continue to struggle with) and when I feel completely insufficient as a Christian he reminds me that HIS grace is sufficient for me and HIS power is made perfect in my weakness. When my schedule has felt like too much and when I can't seem to find the perfect balance between work, classes, and goals he helps me reprioritize and somehow, no matter how much or how little anxiety I have, he provides time for everything. There have been points where I just feel so helpless. I've felt like that a lot this week, but I probably feel that way because I am. I don't have control, and if I did it would be a scary thing for the rest of the world. God, in his grace, is reminding me of how very mortal I am and how very sovereign I am not.
I came across a verse a week or two ago and I want to share it with y'all. Its Nehemiah 8:10 part b. It says, "And do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Fact. At all of these points, the ones even just this summer, he has been my strength and my joy. He is consistently reminding me that I cannot do it on my own, and that fact is my joy. Because he is my strength and my provider I have no need to be grieved, he's going to take care of everything in his time and in his way. I may feel a bit like a failure right now, helpless, and threatened to be overwhelmed all over again but he is my strength. Also when thinking about this summer so far I go back the Proverbs 19:21, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." I mean I had all these plans, all good plans, all good things, and all things that still have time to be tackled, but God has established my steps. I cannot think of another time in my life where I have been so continuously broken. It's nothing of my own merit, it is just God being merciful to me, a sinner. And when I say sinner I mean it in the deepest, blackest sense. I am completely deprave. And God is completely gracious to me and doesn't see any of it because he is looking at me through the lense of Christ. Can't get over that. Anyway, he is establishing my steps. As much as I am looking at my list of goals as being in the process of failing, God has been working on me in a much bigger way than my list of 10 things ever could have. Don't ask me why he has been so faithful. It's something I will never completely understand.
I feel like this sounds like such a melodramatic post. It really isn't. Yes, my sin is like grains of sand on a beach. Yes, I have been broken and heartbroken over things in my life. Yes, I do continue to be a fool and struggle with realizing how sovereign God is and how not I am. But really all those things are what makes God's grace so incredible and beautiful. I'm so thankful that he loves me enough that, despite my shortcomings (there are many, trust me) , he chose me for his name's sake. It is more of a post of praise of God's grace and faithfulness than a gripe over my sinfulness. Again, his faithfulness is just something I will never be able to fully wrap my mind around.
Psalm 25:4-5
-Kelly
P.s- Oh and I made a 94 on my final speech in Communications. I don't know what the final grade was overall but it was an A. Wooowhooo :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)