Desperate Pursuit

"To eat, sleep, drink and breathe Jesus means that I am learning to give priority to the pursuit. It does not mean that I am superspiritual or anywhere close to arriving. It just means that I am dragging myself into His presence and staying there. It means that I am choosing not to run away from God even in the shame of my sin I am crying into His shoulder instead of numbing the pain of my life. I have stopped looking everywhere else to be filled and realize that He is the only One who is able."

-Angela Thomas

Christmas happenings

Christmas and stuff:

Made white chocolate peppermint bark

Things get a little out of hand when I'm in charge of putting bows on the presents:

Made stuffed Zucchini..SO good.

MY SISTER GOT ENGAGED!!!

Tis the season..

Last Sunday at the Gathering we talked a little bit about acknowledging places that God may want you to be involved in, and becoming active in them. I am slowly acknowledging more and more that God wants me more involved in my family. After 3 straight days (seriously) of Christmas shopping with my mom, I was really excited to get in the kitchen and cook and just be alone....

Low and behold my extremely messy father walks in. What starts out as "oh gosh now I have to clean up his mess too" turned into him giving me a cooking lesson (apparently I suck at chopping things) and humming hymnals alongside me.

WHAATT?!!!

If you know me and my dad at all this does.not.happen....ever.

Thank you SO much Abba for bringing that situation to the kitchen!

Isaiah 58:11 & 40:11

Let me infuse my peace into your innermost being. As you sit quietly in the Light of My presence, you can sense Peace growing within you. This is not something that you accomplish through self-discipline and willpower; it is opening yourself to receive My blessing.

In this age of independence, people find it hard to acknowledge their neediness. However, I have taken you along a path that has highlighted your need for Me: placing you in situations where your strengths were irrelevant and your weaknesses were glaringly evident. Through the aridity of those desert marches, I have drawn you closer and closer to Myself. You have discovered flowers of Peace blossoming in the most desolate places. You have learned to thank Me for hard times and difficult journeys, trusting that through them I accomplish My best work. You have realized that needing Me is the key to knowing Me intimately, which is the gift above all gifts.

The Priesthood

I really love taking a second to sit and see where God has brought me in the flow of His love the past year. I have never been through so much heartbreak and experienced so much love all in one year. I feel like my walk with God has been extremely transformed from thinking I knew everything about cultural religion to realizing that I know absolutely nothing and thats actually the best place to be.

A year ago I was a basket case, completely emotional and had no idea what I was going to do with my life and why God seemed to be ignoring me (which he wasn't). I was completely unwilling to be broken down anymore, especially on the one thing I thought I knew all about.

Through the next 8 months all I did was get broken down, down down down. Its funny how painful it is to let go of what you think you've got under control when it was never yours to begin with.

Sometimes I really wish I could convey to you what God has done for me, not what I have taught myself or "life lessons" or self-help books, but what my Father has taught his Daughter because he loves her, and longs to be gracious to her (Is 30:18). My God LONGS to do good to me, and continually keeps my best interest in mind (Jer 29:11).

I have gone from feeling so lonely and lost to now understanding this: because God loves me He brought me out of the depths of despair, He equips me with every good thing I need to be a part of the royal priesthood, that has the honor in working alongside Christ in his priestly work.

I encourage you, brother and sisters in Christ, that YOU are a part of this priesthood! You have been given the honor of working alongside Christ! And that every time you completely screw everything up (because you will) God has given you endless amounts of mercy and is SO patient with you! So take His hand and start running!!!!

happy halloween?

Whoever left me alone in the house with sappy love songs and a paintbrush was terribly wrong for it...

1 Peter

I decided to go through 1 Peter this week and discovered that it's pretty much full of gold. God has spoken a lot into my heart the past 24 hours about community and the priesthood, just to reaffirm it all with Peter. With so many things on my plate and new responsibilities coming up daily I often feel ill-equipped and unprepared to lead. But feeling that way is such a lie. God has entrusted me (and you), his beloved daughter with everything that I need to do his work. He has withheld nothing from me, He longs to do good to me, He showers me with everlasting life and is reserving a place for me in an inheritance that can never spoil or fade.

I desire to have a teachable heart, Peter says "like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up in your salvation."

I desire community, "Love one another deeply from the heart", "you also, like living stones (Jesus) , are being built into a spiritual house to be a HOLY PRIESTHOOD" (further described as us joining in with Jesus on his priestly work) "love the brotherhood of believers.."

So far the first 2 chapters have spoken so much to me about entrusting yourself to the Lord, setting your hope on the coming glory when Jesus reveals himself again, acknowledging that I am shielded through faith with God's power and "Though you have not seen him, you love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an INEXPRESSIBLE AND GLORIOUS JOY, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

Later on Peter says "For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and the Overseer of your souls."

Rosewood

Started logo ideas for my new web project tonight. It's for a tradition furniture boutique in Savannah, Ga.

Mountains

I love the mountains in general, but mountains in this beautiful fall weather is even greater!

(not the best idea i've ever had)

Kisses from Katie.mp4

The Biltmore

If you read my about me, you probably saw where I referred to my AWESOME house. Well, these are a select few reason why I think it is so grand...

Frequent Banana Gram battles:

This has become a frequent part of Tuesday evenings in our basement:

The largest study parties known to man:

The occasional wrestling match:

The boys destroying the kitchen...:

I AM

I am your living God, far more abundantly alive than the most vivacious person you know. The human body is wonderfully crafted, but gravity and the inevitable effects of aging weigh it down. Even the most superb athlete cannot maintain his fitness over many decades. Lasting and abundant life can be found in Me alone. Do not be anxious about the weakness of your body. Instead, view it as the prelude to My infusing energy into your being.

As you identify more and more fully with Me, My life becomes increasingly intertwined with yours. Though the process of aging continues, inwardly you grow stronger with the passing years. Those who lives close to Me develop an inner aliveness that makes them seem youthful in spite of their years. Let My Life shine through you, as you walk in the Light with me.

Psalm 139:14; Colossians 1:29; I John 1:7

- October 20, Jesus Calling

In my drawing class we are doing pretty intense anatomy studies of the human body. We have moved on from the skeletal system to the muscular system. I have found such a great appreciation for our bodies and how God has intertwined each muscle with another so that we can live and move in Him.

To Narnia!

Decided to read this old gem a few nights ago. Only 700 pages to go...

The longer I live in this world the more and more thankful I get that Jesus makes all things new. No matter what happens, how bad things hurt, or how screwed up everything gets, Jesus will come and claim those he loves and those who love him. It's so beautiful! Have hope, things won't always be this way. "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!"

The more I let Jesus teach me the more I fall in love him with. When I just give him the space, open up my heart to him and let him fill it with his love and his knowledge. It never ceases to amaze me how much he wants to teach me. "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me...." It's just a matter of how much I am willing to let go of self.

Thank you Jesus for teaching me, and making all things new.

A problem.

when you begin to use other people's computers for work, you leave yourself open to all kinds of attacks.

luckily, I (paige) think drew is SO COOL that it wouldn't matter WHAT he did to my blog. Even if he told the world how I am the sweatiest Timothean, or how I sleep in the office all the time, or how I think my fixy bike is better than everyone else's, or how much I obsess over great harvest bread, or how secretly I want to be a mailman when I grow up. No matter, because I think he is darned good looking and a fast runner and so, so wonderful in every way.

Here's to you Drew Miller, mighty hunter, yes? a fine figure of a man, yes? That is all you need to know, for now. yes.

God Provides

I have always been intrigued by the idea of God's provision in certain circumstances. For example, Jesus feeding the 5,000.

I have been reading a lot in the books of Kings and am completely loving every second of Elijah and Elisha'a stories. Elisha has a few occasions in his story where God is shown providing over and above what the person needs to survive. For example, in 2 Kings 4: 1-7 Elisha comes in contact with a woman whose husband had died and the creditor was coming to take her two children as his slaves. She told Elisha that she had nothing in her house except a jar of oil. So Elisha said to fill up every jar she could find with her one bottle of oil. The oil ceased to run out until the very last jar was filled. Because God commanded for the oil to flow, she got to pay off all her debts and save her children.

Later on in 2 Kings 4: 42-44 a man came and met Elisha bringing bread grain and barley. Elisha told him to feed all 100 people with what he brought for just Elisha. I can imagine how confused he felt. Elisha told him that the Lord said to feed everyone until they all had their fill and that there would still be some left over. And there was.

I have always loved reading these stories...

Today I was painting a mural on the wall that I am working on as my summer internship project. I brought the only bottle of purple paint that I had from home to write a header above the mural, and I knew for a fact that it would NOT be enough to paint the entire header. I actually sat on the couch and decided not to even start because there was just a teeny bit left in the bottle and I didnt want to start something and not finish it. So I went downtstairs to the prayer room (where I am painting) and decided to just paint one letter to make sure I liked the color. Then I just kept painting...


Come the very end of the the words, I had just about the same amount of paint in that tiny bottle as when I started. I probably spent 15 minutes sitting in a chair next to the wall saying "that should not have happened. That just really shouldn't of happened, there is no way that there was enough paint in that bottle." But there was. With plenty left over for a second coat might I add.

After all this, I realized that God provided for Elisha and Jesus, therefor he will provide for me. He loves me just as much, all the time, forever.

I can still say, that no matter the circumstances, the distractions and the ignorance, I will see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living.

This is happening.

Today after a mini conversation with a fellow Timmy, I decided to run after the definition of intimacy. Partially the real definition on dictionary.com, but really more for the purpose of finding my own personal definition.

I thought a lot about how often intimacy with God should occur, or if there is really a "set number of times" at all. Josh (fellow Timmy) told me about how he looks at his relationship with Jesus as a marriage relationship. The way I see it is, marriage relationships are consistently intimate (hopefully), in the way you live, act and speak. There are also very intentionally intimate times such as going on a date, or ... enjoying the benefits of marriage...

I also connected it to a Monday teaching that Stuart gave us on the living water. The living water should be constantly flowing through you, it is not something that you should have to continuously go back to and pull from little bits at a time because it is IN YOU and flowing FROM YOU.

I came to the conclusion that intimacy with God in my definition looks a lot like that. It's something that is constantly lived out, and there are also several moments where you are intentionally setting aside a time alone, in your secret place, to be with the Father.

What does intimacy really look like for me to live out?

Well, I'm still running after that. Things I know as of now:

- Privacy

- Comfort

- Joy

- Response from either me or God or both.

- Knowledge

Knowledge...that's an entirely different deal on it's own. Satan loves to tell me that I do not know God's desires, or his will. But I pull myself out by remembering the scriptures. They are living, breathing, loving desires of the Father. Therefor, what is more intimate then knowing each other's heart? I know God already knows mine, much better than I do. So I have decided to really dig deeper into knowing Scripture, through different methods. A lot of people can just read and really absorb information...I can't.

I've been typing out the book of John this morning and it's already turning into something really beautiful. I feel like I'm reading a brand new story I've never heard, just because I'm absorbing more in my method of studying it.

One thing that I am really focusing hard on this summer is absorbing my giftings. Soaking them in and inviting God to be a part of that. Understanding how my gifts combined with who I was made to be individually can be used to advance the kingdom. Defining intimacy for myself as an individual is just one step closer to the finish line.

Week One

Well, I survived the first week of intensive teaching for Timotheos... barely.

I have decided to take on the leadership position of a project in our prayer room. Basically consisting of demolishing 3 walls, a ceiling, cleaning it, and redoing the wall. Except all of this was done by my AMAZING new friends and fellow interns. I can honestly say that all my team bonding trips for soccer were absolutely nothing compared to getting buck on some walls and having someone get slammed in the head with a 2 by 4.

So after this wall gets recreated it's basically going to be a giant mural painting of Greenville. A place for the body to come look at see where the Kingdom of God is advancing along with the Kingdom of Hell. A place for communities to put up their information and share stories.

I can see already that my biggest struggle with this is really stepping out of it. Realizing that I'm not just painting this wall for some people I care about. This is God's wall used for his purpose. I have to keep asking God what HE wants this wall to look like. I know it sounds so silly but the future effect on this wall can be so powerful.

I've also never really used my artistic talents in a way that would advance the Kingdom (on purpose anyways). So this is going to be such an awesome learning and leadership experience for me. I'll post pictures as it goes a long. :)

shummer

Only 2 days until Timotheos starts. I'm sure I'll be blogging about random theological mind boggling things as well as posting designs, and updates on our relationship with Haiti and life every 5 seconds.

Incase anyone was wondering.

Photo 1 Class

Photograph in The Likeness of Arnold Newman:

Motion:

Portrait of Your Choice:

Emphasis on One Color:

Alternative Method: (Double Exposure w/ 35mm Holga):

Portrait:

Self Portrait:

Available Light:

Depth of Field:

Filters:

Timotheans

My summer will consist of focusing on my gifts, how to utilize them within the body of Christ, and how to better serve the body with them. Here's some encouragements and insights from what I read in Timothy today:

"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who have given me strength, that he considered my faithful, appointing me to his service." Paul is truly thankful to the living God for choosing him, of all people to do this service.

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners- of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his UNLIMITED PATIENCE as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life." One of my biggest struggles is patience. Patience with God and being faithful that his will is to make me prosper, patience with friends and family whether they are believers or nonbelievers, patience with being content at where I am in life, not constantly desiring to be somewhere else or have time move faster.

"Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you." Paul urges Timothy to be actively exercising his gift of preaching. Gifts that are not used are just like muscles in the body, without exercise and use, they will wither away with time. It is essential in our Christian lives to be consistently exercising our gifts to better serve the body and encourage others.

"But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." This passage was really encouraging for me to TAKE HOLD of what I have been blessed with in gifts and life, to use what I have been given and continue on in the race.

"Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care." God has entrusted his believers with what he has given us, including his holy, living word.

"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." I had to sit back and try to envision all of these things in one person. It is so easy to be intimidated or to feel unworthy of what God is calling us to do. This is such beautiful encouragement from God. He desires for us to take hold of our gifts, adopt them as our own beautiful blessing, run with them the great race, and do it with confidence because we know and believe what Christ has done for us on the cross, so we have no reason to fear!

"If we died with him,

we will also live with him;

if we endure,

we will also reign with him.

If we disown him,

he will disown us;

is we are faithless,

he will remain faithful,

for he cannot disown himself."

"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage- with great patience and careful instruct."

I've learned so much from reading through Timothy. I've become more encouraged and instructed in how to disciple, and how to utilize my gifts. I believe the hard part is figuring out what your God given gifts are, and narrowing down to the most useful and prominent.

Letter

Dear Sweet Child,

It hurts me to see you grieve so. I wish you would trust me wholeheartedly, long enough to see the work I am doing in you. Your mind is being taken captive by these thoughts. They often leave little room for me. I want you to know that I understand your pain, and that there are times when I weep with you. I promise you that my glory and my love will conquer all. I have you held so tight in my arms but you fail to hear my heart beating. I want you to understand that my love is always enough, and that it never runs out. You are so precious to me, I will never take my eyes off of you. I have loved watching you grow into a young woman. But I am not finished with you. I know you are in pain but I love you so much that I am willing to watch you go through this, I am willing to endure the pain with you, so that you may experience the true beauty of My son. This is all going to make you stronger, and more courageous in my name.

Now, take my hand and let me guide you. I will not leave you behind. We are in this together.

-God

James

"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a change to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing."

"Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession."

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."

Rolland Baker

"We have His love. We have Him! This is no time to be conservative. This is no time to let our hearts be captured by this world. We cannot improve on His will and His life. Let's concentrate on what captures God's attention and spend ourselves as He spends Himself. He knows what is worthwhile to do, so let's learn form Him and not waste our lives. We will never run dry. We always have His resources, because He died for us. Let's run the race to win and never stop bearing fruit."

One of the most beautifully simple statements I have ever heard.

Sabbath- Austin Stone

"A day to resist achieving and simply enjoy being. A day to recover your humanity."

"An act of trust, that God can hold everything together while you rest."

"God blessed the Sabbath, in order for it to be a BLESSING TO US."

"A day to center your heart back on the Lord."

"A day to let God breath life into your body and soul."

7

The past seven days have been full of conviction and truth. I'm going to try to be a brief as possible because there are so many things that happened I can't keep them all straight.

For the past few weeks I have felt very convicted about the poor. The wasting of food in America, the starving people outside my restaurant and the millions of dead children in third world countries. Reading through Deuteronomy I kept getting hit by several verses:

24:19-22: When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.

There is an earlier passage in Deuteronomy that states the same thing.

Also in John (6:12) after Jesus has fed the five thousand and everyone has had their fill, he tells his disciples: "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."

Not to mention the handful of verses that pertain to the poor and helping the least of these.

I have always had a soft heart to those who have little. Lately this conviction has been strong and I have been praying that God will help me take action and bless me with opportunities. God desires that there be no poor or hungry among us. I feel more and more every day like this is a command directed towards ALL Christians. Not just those who were called to some crazy third world country to feed those people. But to the average joe driving back from the mall, the couple walking down the street, and the college kid rushing to class. We are responsible for each other, I don't feel like we are taking this call as literally as we should.

This brings me to a bigger conviction:

Africa.

I thought I had my summer plans set, but now I can't get this country out of my head or my heart. If you read this, and you know me, you know I've been before and I talk about it all the time and how I can't wait to go back. But to be honest, laziness and fear have taken over pursuing that dream. I have found that God has made several things very obvious to me about this country, but my feeble mind only wants to say "what a coincidence" or "what are the odds".

I come across this blog. I can't help but wonder why there aren't more people like Katie. Or why am I not one of those people? Granted God is not calling every single Christian to go out to Africa and adopt what seems to be an absurd amount kids. But certainly if more people were listening and obeying (myself included) there would be far fewer deaths of children in this world due to starving and lack of love. Also, I pray that as young high school/college students, we won't be intimidated or discouraged by our age. Katie is such a beautiful example of that.

Secondly:

Psalm 16:5-6 has been rocking my world.

"Lord you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance."

The more I learn about Jewish culture, Christ's lineage, and my own lineage in Christ, the more this passage hits home. But verse 5 still grabs my attention and I feel like its something I need to pursue harder.

Psalm 16

1 Keep me safe, my God,
for in you I take refuge.

² I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
³ I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
⁴ Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
or take up their names on my lips.

⁵ LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
⁶ The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
⁷ I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
⁸ I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
¹⁰ because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

"A record of the genealogy of Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" Mt. 1: 1

"If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" Gal 3

End- Type Project 1

Deuteronomy 10:20

"Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise, he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes."

Things that amaze me:

- How much I have been learning from the Old Testament.

- How Jesus flows through you actively when you seek him, even when you're not doing anything nice on purpose. The Holy Spirit can't be contained within you, it just has to overflow and pour out to others.

- Prayer. I love when you know people are praying for you, even if they haven't told you, you just know.

rise

The beginning of my typography project. First mock up of the typeface supposed to relate to the numbers in an alarm clock.

There are so many things I want to do and read but I feel like there is literally not enough time in the day to do what I want. Between double majoring, working, and training for my half, I feel like it leaves such little time for God. For serious, sit down, intentional, still, time. I bought a new roll of film, so instead of posting daily on my flickr I'm taking daily photos on my (Jivan's) film camera and I'll be posting them as a finished project.

Front to back-

As of right now I'm in Deuteronomy chapter 2. As far of my list of what God's characteristics are I've added Repetition. God is constantly (through Moses) recapping, and reminding the Israelites of where they have been physically and spiritually. He does this so much with us! Some of the greatest healing when you find yourself in a hard place is to remember previous hard times and how God brought you out of that, and what you learned from that. The book of James opens by telling us that it should be considered PURE JOY to go through difficult times, because it is only through difficulty that we will truly grow and mature.

I met a woman named Celeste last night at Waffle House. She is a beautiful soul. She encouraged me in a lot of ways, talking about her happiness, and being thankful for her alcoholism (she is now 3 years sober) because she knew God chose her for it so that He could show His grace in her healing. Which he has done. She works late night shifts every Sunday so she always misses church, but told us how blessed she was to have God bring the church to her by having multiple groups of young people from churches all over the city come to eat and talk at Waffle House after their church meetings. What a beautiful way to look at the church! As truly a body, a group of people, moving, meeting, conversing, and sharing with people.

Isaiah 61:1

"The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me,

because He has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives

and release from darkness for the prisoners."

My initial thought was "oh, he is talking about Jesus, not us".

Then I began to realize, "what's the difference?"

As christians we're called to "walk as Jesus did", so even though all these characteristics are what Jesus was all about, it should be what we're all about, and what we're ACTIVELY doing every day.

The Good Old....

Yes. The Old Testament.

I'm taking on the journey of reading the Bible cover to cover with an excellent friend.

This is where I will be tracking all that I learn for other people who may be interested?

First:

-There are many things that I desire to know more about by reading the Old Testament. One of these things is getting a deeper understanding of God's character. (Not like "role" like "pretend" but really, his CHARACTERISTICS)

So far I have noted these things:

1. God is specific. Very specific. While instructing the Israelites how to make the Tent of Meeting he stretched all the way to what colors, symbols, placements, stitching and amounts of everything. At first I thought this was incredibly annoying to read. But then I began to realize that God is specific (especially during this crucial time) because he wants to be set apart. Set apart from all other gods. So that the religion of the Israelites would be different and specific, unlike all other pagan religions.

2. God is forgiving. It's kind of obvious through the exodus of the Israelites that God must be SO full of mercy to continue to lead these crazy people. Even when they decide to worship other gods, or completely break the rules (which, if I were them and knew that I could get blown up with fire at any moment for burning the wrong incense, I WOULDN'T DO IT.) But God always keeps His promises, even if it's not in "our" ideal timing.

3. God is just. It is incredibly easy for me to get my mind tangled while reading the OT. One second God is being so nice and loving and then he kills your family. But I always have to revert back and think that even in the simple things, your parents discipline you so that you may be corrected and grow. Things (sins) cannot (or could not) go unpunished in order to... keep some order, for one. And how would we ever grow, or learn, or mature if we didn't have an consequences for our actions?

A good friend gave me this verse one night at church as a comfort, and I believe it to tie into all things above (and all things Biblical):

"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;

He rises to show you compassion.

For the Lord is a God of justice,

Blessed are all who wait for Him."

-Isaiah 30:18

Elizabeth Ellen

Check out my photography blog or my facebook page to see Elizabeth's new pictures!