Puffy Clouds

I was driving home from work yesterday and I was completely struck how amazing the clouds were. They were huge and puffy and filled with such... poof. Silly but true. After yesterday's earthquake it got me thinking about life... Doing things I shouldn't do, saying things I shouldn't say, quit my job and move to California or Washington state... Anything. But then it got me thinking of when I was a kid and I had this romantic idea that Heaven was on top of the big, bulbous clouds. I remember being disappointed when I was flying and at the top of the clouds I didn't see paved streets of gold or God waving at me from a throne.

Down the rabbit trail, I thought about how while Heaven might not be on top of the clouds, that doesn't mean Heaven isn't in the clouds... Not saying literally, but figuratively of course. I feel a sense of calm and peace when there's a gorgeous blue sky with billowy white clouds. It makes me think of how creative God is and how much effort He puts into everything. And He puts effort into stuff for us to join- how do we take it for granted so often?

Lord please help me to appreciate You and Your creation more.

Overwhelmed & humbled

I recently sent out an e-mail to some of my dearest friends asking for prayer about something, and the response, quite frankly, has me completely overwhelmed and humbled. Between the love I'm being shown by friends and the realization yet again of how much God has actually blessed me with the people surrounding me... Yikes. I almost cried the other day just thinking about it.

A few things my dear friends have said to me:

- I will pray that God opens your heart and draws you closer to Him so He can reveal this wonderful treasure to you.

- You’re so amazing for sending this email!

- You are so special to Him!

- Be encouraged bc just as God said he starts us out on milk and slowly brings in solid foods as we mature in age...He's bringing in the meat and potatoes to ya babe.

- so I just wish you were right here so I could give you a giant hug

- For one, you are in Christ Jesus!! You are His, and He is in you through the Spirit! He has taken care of your sin, and there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus!!

- Yup. Praying. LOVE you.

I am surrounded by people who love me and care about. Genuinely care. I sent out the e-mail asking for prayer in a season of change I see approaching, and above is a fraction of the responses I got back. A few e-mails almost brought me to tears because I don't tend to feel that I deserve that kind of admiration.

Beyond that, I know such caring people. I really do. The above responses were from friends I've known for anywhere between ~8 months to ~7 years. I was praying on my way to work the other day and I thought about when I was moving back to Virginia from Pennsylvania... When I made my big move my biggest fear was that I would have no friends here. Almost every one of those responses are from "newer" friends- as in people I've met in the ~2 years that I've been home. How crazy is my God that He would know who to bring into my life and when?

Another friend told me to read Romans 8 and I read it at work... The below verse struck me hard... "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Since I've felt the oncoming of this Spirit, I've felt increasingly weak spiritually. But not weak in a way that I'm about to collapse; weak in a way that I'm malleable. I was praying for someone a few weeks ago on my way to work, and out of prayer for this friend came prayer in tongues and tears that I didn't even know existed. It wasn't even a pained cry, it was a joyful cry. And on my way to work. Thankfully it wasn't a bunch of sobbing, just a few random tears....

Romans 8:26 has absolutely wrecked me.

"Father I don't know what this season holds for me. I know what I want out of it, but that is irrelevant. Help me to seek Your face and read Your word more."

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

Confessions of a 20-something swing dancer

(*Please take note, there's no romantic anything between me and the guy in the picture; swing dancing just has you dance with any and everyone. That's my buddy who makes goofy faces. We were fake ballroom dancing. :D )

I went swing dancing last night, as is my custom to do on [most] Friday nights. And I realized that there is some of the most phenomenal people watching there, some of which can even rival a shopping mall or casino.

I don't consider myself an awesome dancer. I don't think I suck, and I think I have a grasp on what to do, so I try hard to be a good follow. I was standing on the sidelines of one dance just watching people, and I realized that on the dance floor we all have the same goal: to shake our butts and work it out. Granted there are people who do it for different reasons, but it boils down to wanting to be so expressive with yourself. Dancing really is freeing. I know every time I spin or do the Charleston, I feel more free to be myself than I do outside of dancing. Now, there are people who are there to show off, girls who wear this or that to get more attention, guys who try moves beyond their skill level...

Last night in the ladies room a woman told me that I look great on the dance floor, and I look very coordinated. I blushed a little and thanked her because most of the time I feel a bit awkward and like I completely miss cues. Then later on I was slow dancing with this guy, and I made a comment that I never knew what to do with slow awkward songs (which the band last night is infamous for...), and he said there's plenty you can do! So we started doing different things and I made grandiose gestures and had ridiculous expressions on my face. He was cracking up the whole time, which was my goal, so score for me. :o) Then he said that I'm a beautiful dancer and very light on my feet. Again, I blushed and thanked him. It took me back to my first time swing dancing in January of 2010. I was dancing with a friend of mine that I knew from church, and he made the mistake of saying these fateful words: "I'm going to try 'The Whip' on you." Me, being a naive 23 year old had no idea what "The Whip" was and swing dancing scared me so I went along with it. Coming out of the move somehow I punched him right in the chest. After making sure he was ok it was hilarious. :)

All that to say, it's fun to think about where you've come from in things. And it's nice to have a tangible way of measuring your success. Future goals include doing a jam at one of the dances, and eventually doing aerials. But I need to lose weight for that one. That's all good though, that's on my list of things to do as well. ;)