it's that time of life...

   

 I had the privilege of taking some save the date photo's for my good friends Bethany and Broody who just got engaged in June. So excited for them to get married! Congrats my friends!

A Prayer...

"Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it. 

I am weak in the faith; strengthen me. I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent that my love may go out to my neighbour. I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether. O lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you. In you I ave sealed the treasures of all I have. I am poor; you are rich and came to be merciful to the poor. I am a sinner; you are upright. With me there is an abundance of sin. in you is the fulness of righteounsess. Therefore, I will remain with you, of whom I can receive, but to whom I may not give. Amen." - Martin Luther

4th of July Memories

The other day on my friend Holly's blog http://hollyslemons.blogspot.com/ she shared memories of the 4th of July, celebrating with her family. This inspired me to share some of my 4th memories as well.
I haven't been in the States for the last three 4h of July's so this year it was fun to watch the fire works fly and BBQ at my friend Steph's house.

So...back to memories.
Oregon is the best place to have the 4th of July. Picture this lake with a giant platform in the middle to shoot of the best firework show you've ever seen. Then imagine a beautiful lake house (on the right side of the shore) filled with lots of people, delicious BBQ, fruit pies, watermelon, potato salad and all other sorts of delectable foods. Then as the sky gets black the fireworks start shooting. The best part about it is that the thunder of the fire works echo off the surrounding mountains. Theres no other setting like it for the 4th.

I haven't been to Oregon for the 4th in a long time, but I want to share one of my first memories with fire works and it happened to be there at my friend Anna's grandparent house on the lake. I must have been about 4 or 5 years old. For some reason I found myself being terrified of the booming fire that was threateningly close to falling right on top of me. As a 4-5 year old that is a scary thing. Well... my dad's best friend Rick was there with his daughter Angela. As I was sitting inside the house (because it was a little less scary in there) crying because I was partly just being ridiculous and at the same time genuinely scared, Angela came in and sat me down on her lap and started rocking me and telling me that it was ok.

Then she came up with the most profound thing (that an 11 year old I think may have ever said) to say to me in my tears of distress... she told me "Lauren" ... "fireworks are like roses".... me: "sniff sniff sniff...really?" "yes...they are like roses. Roses are so beautiful!... but if you touch them they'll prick you because of the thorns... fireworks are the same way...they are so beautiful but if you get to near them or touch them they will hurt you, so just admire them from a distance..."

so that little analogy has stuck with me ever since...and have been a big fan of fireworks as well =) However as I have thought about this simple though I have found it to be true with many other things in life...that God has created things beautiful, but if mishandled or abused have great potential for causing pain for ourselves or others. So thats my little memory, and I have had many other great 4th memories including last year waking up to American flags all over the cottage (including the toilet) put up by my dear dear friend Petra.  This 4th of July was quite different than I was expecting...but that story is for another time...

Today our family celebrates the Papa. I am particularly thankful for a father who introduced me to good music, food, drink, to travel, the outdoors, reading and learning. I am thankful for a father who let me have the first sip of a foamy beer at dinner, who taught me how to play pool, who challenged me to excellence in all I do and who took me to my first electric rock concert at age 5. However it is his presence that I'm thankful for the most, as well as his willingness to preach the Gospel to his family daily. Thanks Pop. Love you! 

finally finished...

My dad asked me if I could paint a bold color, bold brush stroke painting of Ruby Peak for the new house in Oregon...I started in October making a homemade canvas, primed and toned it...then it sat for a few months, just waiting and waiting to be painted on...however the painter was rather nervous! I had never painted a landscape before, and it took many frustrating and stressful hours to work out the kinks. However I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out! It was a big challenge and I learned a lot!

Different

Well it’s been almost two weeks now since I’ve been home. One week was simple, routine, adjusting back into a different life, and the second week I started work. Getting back into “ranch” shape is no easy task, which includes lugging 5,000 lbs of brisket into a freezer, making 750 lbs of baked beans, lifting box after 50lb box of potatoes, and the list goes on. It’s no longer mental work I’m doing but physical. I needed these two weeks to in a way chill out, readjust, and stop my brain from going a million miles an hour like it did all year at Whitworth.

So now…now I’m ready to start writing. To start thinking again, processing, reading and looking for ways to make this a rich summer. It will be different from past summers, as they have been spent in my second home Northern Ireland and the Czech Republic. But “different doesn’t mean bad, it just means different” …that is a phrase I heard many times from Paul B. while I was there, and I’ve tried to remember that as I find myself in “different” situations. This summer will be filled with different. Different challenges, different lessons, different people, different culture and different opportunities to serve. I will miss N.I and Czech this summer,  with my entire heart I will…and I already do. But just because I’m not able to go this summer doesn’t mean I won’t go in the future Lord willing.

I am thankful for the time I get to spend with my family as those times have been short over the last three years, I’m thankful that the Lord has provided a job for me, and I’m looking forward to what the summer will bring. I pray that I will be able to embrace different this summer, be flexible, willing and joyful. I don't know what exactly lies ahead this summer but i'm excited to find out!

tune my heart to sing thy grace...

Come Thou fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace

Streams of mercy never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet

Sung by flaming tongues above

Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it

Mount of Thy redeeming love

Here I raise mine Ebenezer

Hither by Thy help I come

And I hope by Thy good pleasure

Safely to arrive at home

Jesus sought me when a stranger

Wondering from the fold of God

He, to rescue me from danger

Interposed His precious blood

O to grace how great a debtor

daily I'm constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness like a fetter, 

bind my wandering heart to Thee

Prone to wander Lord I feel it, 

prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart Lord, take and seal it,

seal it for Thy courts above

This song has always been one of my very favorite hymns. Rarely are my eyes dry when a room full of saints and sinners alike join in sinning these words. The picture of someone in their frailty, someone wandering from their maker, seeing their need for redemption...The Christ pursuit of strangers, his shackles of goodness that bind wandering hearts to himself, his precious blood that rescues us from danger, his seal placed upon us. This song resonates in me, because it sings of the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I pray God would tune my heart to sing of these graces daily, to sing melodious sonnets of his mercies new each morning...