bali? yes, please.

"so me and my lover, we took off our shoes, we piled our small bags of belongings on the tops of our heads and we prepared to leap over the edge of the boat together, into the sea."

ruth: companion or friend.

i read ruth a few weeks ago and today is the second time since then that ive heard in my spirit pretty clearly that im in a "season of ruth"..

not exactly sure what that means. except that ruth basically forsook everything for love and faithfulness. not expecting anything in return, she gave herself fully to naomi, leaving everything familiar behind to go to naomi's homeland. back then, once you were married you were considered apart of your husbands family (even if he died). naomi gave ruth the okay to go back to her parents and the security of "a good life," since she herself was a poor widow. ruth refused and followed naomi with nothing in her future guaranteed. i think she was ok with that too, that if she was just going to be a widow and take care of her mother in law, then that was perfectly fine. umm, humility anyone?! i think her abandonment and pure heart def caught the lord's eye, and he blessed her with his favor. she was provided for in every way.. food, clothing, shelter, favor in the community, a husband, a son, etc.

jesus said, "assuredly, i say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time...and in the age to come, eternal life. but many who are first will be last, and last will be first."

the lord is safe. continually giving him our dreams, hopes and desires is a wise decision. his ways look foolish to the world. and probably aren't the most logical.

there may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning. what a sweet promise.

laying down our lives is not exactly an easy task. it'd be one thing if god asked us to do it once every other month or something, but everyday can be painful. so kind of him to tell us what the other side will be like though... joy inexpressible and fully of glory. hallelujah.

really id be dumb not to give him everything with that kind of promise.. and all the other ones of course.. especially since its literally impossible for him to lie or be unfaithful to us. our side of this deal is just ridiculous! he gives up everything for us.. weak, not always faithful, disobedient, ungrateful people.. and all we really can give him is a "yes" in our heart.. not even a guaranteed follow through.. and he gives us literally everything. and is fully confident in the holy spirits ability in us to manifest the kingdom of god in the earth! unbelievable. yet believable.

so yeah. i guess if there are two sides (which of course there are probably multiple levels/dimensions to this that i am not aware of at all) im either on the "painful night, gonna lay down everything" side or the "favor of god, blessing" side. either way, i feel the comfort of his smile over me so its good.

come what may, it is well with my soul.

http://vimeo.com/11691174

for some reason it wont let me post the video. but this song makes me happy:)

so interesting

indeed, of zion it will be said,
"this one and that one were born in her,
and the most high himself will establish her."
the lord will write in the register of the peoples:
"this one was born in zion."

as they make music they will sing,
"all my fountains are in you."

psalm 87:5-7

i heart the country.

im in nashville at fletcher's farm for the weekend. my dad and i both arrived yesterday to help fletcher do some things around the farm and of course to spend some time together. the original plan was for dad to work on the bookkeeping for fletcher's chicken farm, and i figured i'd probably clean the kitchen. upon arrival, we realized little fletchy needed much more than that. after a $300 trip to walmart buying "the basics" of cleaning supplies/things you have in your house to keep it sanitary..the double-wide is much better today. let's just say man was not created to be alone. :)

the chickens are lookin good. im proud of my brother.

and i really want to plant a garden. umm.

i went to the little professor today to kill some time and was looking in the biography section for "Pray, Eat, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert... it's my current read-at-the-book-store book.. but i guess they sold them all because i couldnt find it. but maya angelou's name stuck out to me so i picked it up and the name of the book is ...

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

really? umm.. i think He's trying to tell me something. :)

my first dog died :(

rosie was our first family dog, but technically mine. we got her in 2nd grade. fletcher and i would always "put our money together" and scheme some grand purchase. on that particular day i had $58 and he had $2.. dogs from the pound are $60.. perfect! (little did my parents know that she had cataracts and glaucoma in her eyes and would end up driving her to an animal opthamologist in miami once a week to get shots behind her eye.. so much for the cheap dog from the pound!) but hey, our little rooster lasted 15 years. she had a stroke sunday so my parents had to put her down today. crazy thinking back and how she really was a member of our family. so many good memories.

some of her nicknames:

rooster

roster-ica

pooper

rose bud

reminder: dream big.

when the lord brought back the captives to zion,

we were like those who dreamed.

psalm126:1

he is trustworthy.

he is the God of the impossible.

God of miracles and wonders.

in him everything is held together.

he sets the prisoner free.

takes ashes and makes them beautiful.

makes things that aren't as though they are.

makes the broken whole.

and makes dead things live.

in our own strength all of those things are literally impossible. but with God all things are possible. exceedingly abundantly possible.

feel the lord telling me to dream big. it doesn't matter if i cant see them. faith is believing in things unseen. he is the creator.

"i dare you to believe me for impossible things."

well alrighty.

listening to united pursuit band on the way home tonight i noticed a line that goes perfectly with the verse god gave me yesterday. love it.

"when the caged bird sings and your eyes lay hold of your dreams..

you will see that it's his love that carried us through."

YAHWEH is a healer!!!

Florence + The Machine

she's british.

http://florenceandthemachine.net/index

Florence + The Machine