January 2012
1 post
Waiting
I think God has been working on my persistence, patience and trust in the last few months.
After experiencing an incredible surge in spiritual growth in 2009, 2010 & the first half of 2011, the second half of 2011 seemed to be a game of phone tag with God. I kept hearing “just wait” without really know what exactly I was waiting on or for or how long the waiting would happen. ...
December 2011
3 posts
Mary pondered
This post started out as something completely different. Sometimes, when God has revealed to or reminded me of some kind of truth, I get overeager to share it. In the spirit of Christmas, it actually makes me think about how Mary pondered the shepherds’ message about the birth of Christ in her heart. She could have shouted the situation, their speculation, her calling, His glory, from the...
November 2011
4 posts
two things related to this blog
1) I changed the name. It’s more accurate as to what this blog has turned out to be. It’s also kind of my mantra.
2) I just discovered, after using this blog template for over a year, that the little arrows below my picture lead to my “ask anything” and “favorites” areas. I had always kind of wondered why this template didn’t have those options. I...
Loving me some Isaiah
Just finished reading Isaiah. These are some of the verses that stuck out to me along the way. I want to make little pinterest things for several of them. I’ve noticed doing that sinks them into my memory a little better because I can pull the visual up in my mind better than I can the verse in the middle of a group of text. (I didn’t start bookmarking until Chapter 25, which is why...
He is good when there's nothing good in me.
Some of the other stories I love (that I’m not going to write) are the ones Josh & I have told enough times that it’s become kind of second nature when we tell them together. We know our parts, our timing, the point. If know us, you’ve probably heard them. If you’ve spent much time around us, you may even be in one or two:
you don’t steal josh’s bacon.
...
blast from the past
Husband’s asleep, and I am not, but I’ve been joyfully remembering some of our history tonight. I’ve blogged about some of it a couple of times (like how we met and i love you x 3), but I like to continue doing it. That way, if years go by and I forget some of this stuff, I’ll be able to go back and reference (which i still do occasionally with my blogs from high...
October 2011
5 posts
no caps for you.
i despise apathy and assumptions.
i like to believe the best in people. i am still learning how to balance that with wisdom.
i am also not a fan of faith that burns out into this dull, convenient, “when things are wrong” or “when i remember” religion. this frustrates me, and i think it breaks God’s heart. this sort of “religion” is ugly. (ugh,...
Sometimes I forget to add a title until after I...
My heart is heavy lately. I love “aha” moments, where God reveals a totally new point to me, but sometimes I have, “oh… yeah… that’s right” moments where God reminds me of something I know, but that I’m living like I’ve forgotten.
Sometimes it’s little things. For example, on Sunday morning I was driving to the East campus in the rain,...
connecting the dots
The thing about loving on high schoolers for Jesus is… sometimes there is such an urge to tell them how different things will be when they’re out of the high school bubble. I never listened when people told me that, but now that I’ve lived it, I’ve seen over and over again how true it is.
I want them to absolutely fall in love with Jesus. No obligation, no guilt, no...
September 2011
1 post
Things I'm learning:
1) It’s stupid to be jealous of other people’s gifts. God’s gifted me in specific areas for His reasons. I need to focus on that. Remaining content in that area has been a struggle, but certainly not one that can’t be overcome.
2) God wouldn’t have me pour my heart into something just to get it broken. There is a time for everything, and even relationships...
August 2011
1 post
dear keys: i miss you.
So let’s be real for a minute:
Part of what has always gotten me a little freaked out about going deeper with my faith is the confidence that the more you’re doing for Christ, the more spiritually attacked you can expect to be.
So yesterday, I connected with a couple of new people at church, worshipped & listened to the message for the second time over the weekend, spent about an...
July 2011
1 post
social media type places i still have profiles...
xanga (1) (2003)
mindsay (2) (2003)
blogger (1) (2004)
wordpress (2) (2007, 2009)
tumblr (1) (2010)
foursquare (1) (2009)
brightkite (1) (2009)
quora (1) (2010)
linkedin (1) (2008)
follr (1) (2010)
deskkarma (1) (2010)
ning (2009)
myspace (2) (2004, 2006)
twitter (2) (2008, 2009)
facebook (1) (2005)
google buzz (1) (2010)
google + (1) (2011)
youtube (2009)
vimeo (2010)
Really?...
June 2011
1 post
God the not-so-random, changes & hitting the rock
It’s late, so this is probably not a great time to be blogging… but it’s been a while, and I feel kind of all over the place lately, so I need to get some of it out for some peace & sanity (and hopefully better sleep).
The last 2 months have been mind boggling. I’ve blogged many times about how much my life has turned upside down over the past few years because of...
May 2011
2 posts
Why God + High Schoolers = Life Change
The picture of “childlike faith” is incredible. To envision a little girl running with her arms wide open and leaping into her Daddy’s arms with no concern for falling or rejection or shame is absolutely beautiful. But there’s another kind of faith that has shaken me, challenged me, and humbled me to the core this year - teenage faith.
Teenagers get a bad rap....
Quick thought from vacation
As we drove from Prague to Cesky Krumlov today in Czech Republic, we passed some truly incredible views. As I pulled out my camera to capture them, I found myself getting increasingly frustrated at the senseless billboards and ugly buildings that kept getting in the way of uncorrupted God-made beauty. Two things hit me kind of at the same time:
1) I can’t even imagine how gorgeous earth...
April 2011
1 post
reality check
Something’s really been on my heart lately about who God actually uses. It partly stems from a post on Donald Miller’s blog (that I would love to link to, but I can’t remember which one it was…) and partly from stuff going on in my life.
Let’s start with 1 Corinthians 1:27-31…
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not...
March 2011
4 posts
confidence
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.- Hebrews 4:16
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. - 2 Corinthians 3:17
See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what ...
North Dakota?
I was driving home from work the other day and started thinking about a lot of things all at once. I mean, mostly I was thinking about driving (maybe?), but I was also thinking about atheism. I’m reading a book called If God Were Real & I’ve also stumbled across a couple of blogs and read a few forum posts on faith, so that’s where all the thinking was stemming from.
Basically, I found...
what if
Every once in a while, no matter how exhausted I may be, I just can’t shut my mind off. It’s usually not a great blogging time for me, because the thoughts are all coming so rapidly, and I can’t type quickly enough to catch up. But when I can force myself to slow down long enough to write it out, it always helps me sleep better. Just a helpful tip for anyone else who has...
catching up
I have officially started using my Google calendar. There is just way too much going on in life for me to keep straight anymore.
Which is exactly why I haven’t blogged in a while. I’ve tried to be a consistent personal blogger in the past, but ultimately decided only to blog when I felt I had something to say that was worth blogging about rather than trying to force it. There have...
January 2011
3 posts
i can't stop. aka what?!?
I can’t stop talking about Jesus.
Seriously. I stopped blogging for a while because my blog has gotten so faith-focused, and I thought, ‘Am I alienating people? Am I coming across as judgmental or condescending? Am I boring? Are people reading and thinking, ‘oh man, not again.’”
I was on 20sb not long ago and saw a thread regarding what automatically turns...
this is me now.
things aren’t always hunky dory.
I’ve changed drastically in the past year. Mostly for the better. I’m still desperately, tragically, and near hopelessly flawed, but my struggles are different. My outlook is different. My priorities are different.
And there’s a whole lot of Jesus. And that makes some people uncomfortable. I get that. But what I’ve found even...
Paul's Trustworthy Sayings
So this is kind of a weird post, but that’s okay. I’ve been all over the place in the Bible lately (currently residing in James, which often makes me go “Whoa” and check myself), but 2 books I continuously go back to are Paul’s letters to Timothy. I have no good reason for this as these are considered “pastoral” books, or books about how to run the...
2 tags
2010 in review
January
Excerpt from a January 2010 blog: On being 20-something Sometimes, I don’t want to be “realistic.” Sometimes “reality” limits you. What’s so incredibly inspiring and gorgeous about my dear friends is how much they realize that the only “reality” they need is the knowledge that through God, absolutely anything is possible. I hope we never hit 35 and laugh at how once-upon-a-time we...
December 2010
3 posts
1 year later
One year ago today, at this very time, I was crying.
Josh was asleep, and I had let him think I was too. I had spent the entire day crammed in the Civic with Buddy, necessities, and the knowledge that Tennessee would no longer be my home.
My bedroom was empty, and although I had once thought the King mattress would be the greatest thing that had ever happened to my sleep needs, I found myself...
1 tag
merry christmas!
So if you sent us a Christmas card, but haven’t gotten one.. it’s probably because I procrastinated until I realized I’d likely see you before the Christmas card got there. So therefore - here is our Christmas card. And Merry Christmas to all of you. :)
and here are the pics that happened as we tried to get buddy with the snowmen:
living here, part 1
Well, as I said yesterday, life is quite different December 2010 than it was December 2009. Last year, I was finishing up my last semester, panicked over our move to Orlando, but at the same time desperate to live in the same state as my husband again. I was frustrated that I had spent so much time and energy building contacts around Nashville only to move away from them all in an incredibly...
November 2010
5 posts
hm
I started this blog a year ago because my life was about to change.
And oh, how it has.
Maybe someday soon I’ll actually have time to tell you how.
4 tags
Christmas Cards! For Free!
So Shutterfly is doing a Christmas card promotion for bloggers (Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010) that write about the promotion. And for those of you know I work in social media, I kind of love the idea!
This was our Christmas card last year:
It says, “Buddy hoped his clever disguise would help him steal Santa’s cookies,”...
enough already
I hear these a lot, so I’m responding. It’s the wee hours of the morning, so I’m not going to quote verse after verse right now. I’ll probably add them in later though because I think they’re important.
some people need something to give them hope or to help them deal with life and inevitable death. i don’t.
To me, this alludes that life is without purpose...
blog fail.
I quit 1/3 of the way through 30 days of truth. Not permanently. Things just got really busy really fast.
Between traveling, work, illness, the newly-started Nanowrimo challenge that is sucking up all of my writing creativity/willingness/energy, church activities, & spending time with my wonderful husband and dog - the blog is taking a backseat. Not to say I won’t be posting at all...
October 2010
7 posts
1 tag
Days 09 & 10
Missed a couple of days again, but that’s okay. Just means I’m off living my non-virtual life. :) On that note, I saw The Social Network tonight and quite liked it.
Alright - on to the topics for yesterday and today.
Day 09 → Someone you didn’t want to let go, but just drifted.
This is a pretty long list too… I tend to think the majority of friendships, even some that...
1 tag
Days 07 & 08 - the impact of people
Missed a day again. No good reason… Just had a relaxing day with my husband & didn’t feel like blogging hah. Anyways, covering two topics again.
Day 07 → Someone who has made your life worth living for.
So many people. Seriously. I’d name names, but 1) I’m afraid I’d leave someone off, and 2) this would be a ridiculously long blog post if I did that.
...
1 tag
Day 06. & a little bit more on Day 05.
I thought of something else I’d like to do to tag onto yesterday. Social media often gets a lot of flack for being an invasion of privacy or a waste of time or a dangerous new way to bully, etc, etc. And while people can certainly turn it into a lot of those things, it can also be used for SO much good. I’d love to take the same kind of user-submitted platform that focuses on...
1 tag
Day 05
I’m getting a little more consistent at this, I guess.
Something you hope to do in your life.
Goals are good, yes? I actually quite struggle with them. They feel like these giant limiting balls of pressure to me. I feel like by setting goals, I’m saying I’m dedicating myself towards this thing. But what if I get halfway there and realize God actually has that thing for me. ...
1 tag
Day 04 of 30
I feel better! Yay! Not 100%, but at least 80, which in comparison to the - 4 I felt yesterday, I’ll take it. So on to the 30 days of truth topic for today.
Something you have to forgive someone for.
So I only really skimmed these questions before deciding to do this, but as I’m going through them, I’m realizing I’m not sure how to answer a lot of them. If you had...
1 tag
Days 02 & 03
Well, this has already not gone as planned, so you’re getting a double whammy today. I’ve been sick for about 24 hours & going between absolutely exhausted and feeling kind of stir crazy. I want to write, but I may change my mind midway through this and decide that what I really want to do is sleep. But I’ll give it a (short) go.
Something you love about yourself.
There...
1 tag
Day 01 of 30 days of truth blog meme
I haven’t been so great about posting lately. Every time I find myself with something I’d love to write about, something comes up that keeps me away from the keyboard. By the time I come back around to it, the moment has passed.
I don’t usually do blog memes, but in an effort to find some consistency again, I’m going to try to stick with the 30 Days of Truth one that is...
September 2010
2 posts
then, now, and color palletes.
There are two times in my life when I have willingly moved the course of a friendship. Oddly, the situations are ridiculously conflicting.
In the first, someone I trusted as a Christ-follower betrayed that trust among a group of people that grew up in the same church and same town that I did. It was another hurt in a long line of hurts by what I had collectively labeled “the church”...
i want to know her & be her
It’s very unpleasant to have someone go up against your integrity or to twist your words and meanings beyond recognition. It’s even more unpleasant to have that happen incredibly publicly. It makes you angry, hurt, betrayed, and finally pensive. I realized a couple of things about myself that I hadn’t before, and I think one of those things is a message worth sharing.
...
August 2010
7 posts
i'm ready for fall.
I have an overwhelming urge to shop, but I’m curbing it somewhat via polyvore.
Things officially on my wishlist: - A comfy/casual blazer - A leather jacket that I love - More Boots (Can you ever really have enough?) - Fun scarves
I’m ready for autumn! Too bad it doesn’t seem to exist in Florida. :( Can’t wait to head to TN in October! Favorite, favorite, favorite...
“I enjoyed Sean Kingston and Iyaz more than Justin Bieber.”
– My Mom
being human, a long thought process, and becoming...
I don’t walk around on a day-to-day basis feeling mortal.
I mean, I know I’m mortal, but I don’t feel that way.
But then, something strangely mortal happens, and while it doesn’t always affect me directly, it shakes me back to reality. It reminds me how human I am.
God is my everything.
It’s such a simple statement said by so many. I’ve heard it in all...