Saturday, March 20, 2010

Glory to the Creator King

A blanket of clouds within my sight
From way up here, it's easy to see Your might
Creation sings its praise to You, for
It's so amazing what You can do.

Striking beauty of the flowers,
Colors that display Your awesome power
Mountains high and valleys low
Big blue skies and the seas below
All creation sings the song;
Without a thought, I sing along:

Glory to our Creator King,
Maker of all, Lord of everything
There's absolutely nothing you You can't do
No problem too big that puzzles You.

In the grand display of a marvelous world
Or in the small things You're still bold
Teach me, Lord, to see Your power
In the everyday little things,
And You only may I obediently follow.

For You're just as strong when You're holding me
As when you formed the massive seas.
The questions and turmoil in my heart this day
Are no match for You, and so I'll say:

Glory to my Creator King:
Ruler of all, Lord of everything
There's absolutely nothing that You can't do
Teach me, Father, to completely trust You!

Glory to my Creator, Father and King
You're worthy of any and all praise, so I can sing:
Glory to my Creator King
Ruler of all, Lord of everything!


"The Heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands."--Psalm 19:1, NASB

"'For nothing will be impossible with God.'"--Luke 1:37, NASB

"And looking at them Jesus said to them, 'With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'"--Matthew 19:26, NASB

"'Worthy are You, our Lord and our God; to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.'"--Revelation 4:11 NASB

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Favorite Charities

Today I am again joining Kelly's blog carnival (is that what it's called?).

Show Us Your Life with Kelly's Korner


This week's it's about our favorite charities. Here are mine:

1) My church - First Baptist Dallas. We are about to enter a building campaign and I'm very excited to see what God has in store for us.

2) Compassion - as of earlier this week, I am a sponsor of a Kenyan girl named Gertrude! I'm very excited and can't wait to embark on the journey of knowing and loving her. (I'll gladly share more when I have more to share about my child of the heart!)

3) Apartment Life - my friends are serving as a CARES TEAM right now and I've become aware of just how necessary and difficult a ministry this is. It is the furthest thing from just reduced rent!

4) My Alma Mater, Cedarville University. When I went there, it was Cedarville College. It's a small Christian school in Central Ohio. Though it's changed/grown a lot since I was there (an undisclosed number of years ago), I still believe very strongly in their mission and vision to educate the coming generations for impact on our world.


5) Dallas Life Foundation - Dallas Life is a homeless shelter (well, more than that, but) - a ministry that was begun by my church. I have volunteered there in the past helping to serve Thanksgiving dinner and have been humbled by how blessed I am to have a job, a place to live, and communication with my family. So many even in my same city don't have these same basic things.


6) Samaritan's Purse - I LOVE doing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for Christmas each year...it's a new tradition that Mom and I have started. I love picking out the goodies and imagining the joy on the child's face when he/she opens the box. :)



7) Susan G. Komen for the Cure - Each year since 2003 that I've been in Dallas (except for 1 year that I was sick), I have walked in the Race for the Cure. It's a very important charity to me because I know so many that have had themselves or have had loved ones with this dreaded disease. My paternal grandmother, my Gram, survived breast cancer in her 70's.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Surving change

Well, I did it. I had more than 6 inches of my hair cut off, re-styled and re-colored yesterday and I lived to tell about it. Don't laugh--I'm not being overdramatic. It was a hard thing for this I-hate-change firstborn type-A girl. Besides, the only thing I remotely liked about myself heretofor was my hair, so if that was messed up, I had decided I'd call in ugly for work today.

Thankfully, I was assigned a senior stylist at Penney's and while the color is redder than we planned, I am fairly pleased with it. Now I just need to continue to learn how to style it myself! :)

Here is the before shot:
Here are some "after" shots...do you KNOW how hard it is to get a pic of the back of your hair by yourself? Where is that Mr. Wonderful when I need him?!?!




Yes, I know I need lipstick and a refresh on the makeup in the pics, but it was late and I was tired, so there! :)

Next change will be the glasses [purple of course] that should be in in a couple weeks. Then perhaps I'll branch out into other changes...who knows where a new 'do can lead?? :)

Friday, March 5, 2010

The only thing/One Who never changes...

It's a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God

19 -21I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed. I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom. But there's one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:

22 -24God's loyal love couldn't have run out,
his merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness! I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He's all I've got left.

25 -27God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
to the woman who diligently seeks. It's a good thing to quietly hope,
quietly hope for help from God. It's a good thing when you're young
to stick it out through the hard times.

28 -30When life is heavy and hard to take,
go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions:
Wait for hope to appear. Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face.
The "worst" is never the worst.

31 -33Why? Because the Master won't ever
walk out and fail to return. If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
His stockpiles of loyal love are immense. He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
in throwing roadblocks in the way..."


(from Lamentations 3, The Message Translation)

Praise you, Father, that in a world that sometimes seems like it's spinning out of control, in a downward spiral of uncertainty, fear, and change--You are ever, always the same! What a comfort that truth is!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Happy 70th Birthday, Dad!


On March 1, 1940, a baby born C was born. That baby boy grew up to be my Dad.

This past weekend I went down to Mom/Dad's so we could celebrate my Dad's 70th birthday. All my Dad's side of the family (my aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids) live in the same area as Mom/Dad, so we had a little get together. Unfortunately, my brothers and their families were unable to join us, but they called Dad and shared their birthday wishes for him that way. I presented the gift that we all chipped in and got for him: a voice-activated GPS.

We are not lavish decorators and my Dad didn't want a big party; he thought the balloons were going overboard (we only had 13 total!)--so this is nothing Martha Stewart would be proud of...nevertheless, it was festive enough for us. :)



Here is the birthday "boy" himself with his German Chocolate (hand-made by Mom) cake (his fave and what she makes for him every year) :





Here is a pic of my Dad and his two sisters, in reverse chronological order (he's the oldest):


I will blog in a post later this week how significant it is for me to be able to say that I thank God for my Dad and his 70 years of life. In general, Dad is fairly healthy. He is a good provider, generous, dependable, extremely hard-working, loyal and a devout believer. His life has not been easy and he has had to overcome a lot to accomplish what he has. I'm so proud of him and am very glad I was able to be a part of the celebration of his life. I pray God grants him many more years.