A Million Ways

 

  

Check out the song, "A Million Ways"

Well said, Adam.

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Creative Juices: Before & After

I think I'm one of those people who strengths are very clear but that makes my weaknesses oh so much weaker. With that being said I don't think most of my friends would use words like crafty or creative to describe me. Organized, determined (stubborn), planned. Yes, they would use those words. Crafty. Not.so.much.

But being out of character a bit, now and again I do have a desire to use my hands to create things. Several years ago Laryssa & I painted and mosaicked a table. It turned out way prettier than I thought I could pull off. That was Laryssa's influence.

So all this to say I had that creative bug bite again lately. Sandi gave me a table and chairs last summer. It hit me about a month or more ago that I could give them a fresh new life. I ended up discovering Amy Butler's fabric designs and I really love most of her stuff.  Anyway, here are some pictures of my little project. It is super humorous pulling stuff like this off without a back yard or garage.

Nope, this all had to happen right in my NY apartment living room. Thanks roomies for putting up with my mess while it was in process. I hope you think it is worth it :).

Timely Rejection

Adriana shared this post with me. The timing was interesting on my end.

Hope it brings you some encouragement as we think on our High Priest who suffered rejection for our sake.

Bethany also just introduced this song to me:

What if Your healing comes through tears?

LAURA STORY - "BLESSINGS"

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home,

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

Despair

utter loss of hope; to lose heart

For whatever reason this word has sadly come up in my life a lot lately.  I have several very dear friends going through heart wrenching experiences. I am too. Experiences you don't and won't put into words because it hurts too much and doesn't do it justice.

Yet as I turned my corner on Monday night, on my very sophisticated upper west side block, I saw the face of real despair. This young lady, not more than 20, was wearing despair in her eyes and on her countenance. Now being in New York three years as of today, I have seen people crying on the train, walking down the street, in the park, in a restaurant. It is almost a weekly occurrence. I've even heard my neighbor sobbing and I am sure they've heard me. While I used to cry in my car down south, there is no private place to cry in the city. It is all out there for every other New Yorker to see.

This brief encounter with this young lady on my block keeps coming to my mind. Her face caught me first. What was in her hand I saw a few seconds later. My naive, southern self would not have known what it was except for my fascination with the show Intervention. She was holding burned aluminium foil and coming up from stairs to a closed business with another woman clearly not connected to reality. I have no idea what the drug of choice was for them but my heart broke. Tangible despair.

Again last night this word DESPAIR came up in fellowship group. We were digging into Hebrews chapter 1 together. We were looking at Christ...the radiance of God's Glory, the exact representation of His being, the one who laid the foundations of the earth, who's years will never end. Sweet Katherine pointed out that a clear application after our observation & interpretation (thanks, Adriana, for teaching us) was not to despair. Christ is the same. All will perish but He will remain.

Tim Keller writes in Counterfeit Gods that the difference between sorrow and despair is idolatry. If the Christ of Hebrews 1 is on my heart, in my eyes, determining my countenance, I may have sorrow. Deep sorrow but I will not despair.

I may still cry on the subway platform from time to time but know the radiance of God's glory is near to me, holding me and keeping me from despair. I pray this young woman I saw on Monday night who I do not know will soon find Christ and despair no more. Pray with me.