"His Banner Over Me Is Love"

I had a revelation today. Well, it started yesterday and as I was thinking about it today I realized how true it is. God loves me. Really, really loves me. Loves me enough to let me go through hard things in order to become a better me. That may not sound that great to you, but it really is. Think about it - if you love a child and you have to discipline him it's hard because it hurts you to see him suffer. But the alternative is allowing him to go undisciplined and never mature. God loves me enough to suffer through watching me hurting because He knows it's what is best for me. He knows I'll come out stronger in the end.

This revelation came while singing the kid's song "His Banner Over Me is Love" with my mom in the car on the way home from the airport. If you've never heard it you should look it up. This video was the only one I could find that was the right version of the song (you know how churches change songs to fit what they're doing/teaching). It's a simple song, but the words are beautiful.

A little note from Florida ...

Hello all! I'm visiting my Grammy in Florida today and guess what? It was 30 degrees this morning! That's right - Florida and 30 degrees in the same sentence. Yikes! Oh well, at least I missed all the snow at home. Plus it's already up to the 40s now so I can't really complain. :)

I just wanted to take a moment to express how awesome my God is! I thought that this week was going to be very hard for me. It's our first Christmas season without my daddy plus the 26th was the 11 month anniversary of his death. I was so afraid that there was going to be lots of crying and sadness and that Christmas would turn into a draining experience this year instead of the uplifting experience it usually is. But guess what? God is amazing and my mom and I had a great Christmas! There were no tears this holiday season. Even visiting my Pepe's grave on Christmas day didn't turn on the waterworks. (It was sad to remember that he's gone, but it was nice to see where he was buried since I hadn't come to the funeral because one of us had to stay home and take care of my dad.) All in all we had a wonderful time and I am so thankful that God helped us stay positive. :)

365 Project?

I saw this book today called "365. A Daily Creativity Journal". It's a book that talks about doing a year-long project. There are 365 ideas that spark creativity. You pick either a subject or an art medium and every day you make something based on that day's ideas. I've been wanting to pick up scrapbooking again and really get my creative juices flowing and I'm thinking that this may be a fun way to do it. My problem is that I'm concerned it will take up too much time. Although I am single so this would be the perfect time to do it - without the responsibility of a husband and kids. What do you think?

The Nutcracker!!

Cait and I went into Boston to see The Nutcracker as our Christmas gift to each other. We got all dressed up and did dinner at Fire & Ice before racing to the Opera House for the show (we got distracted at dinner). We had so much fun!! Seeing The Nutcracker was great, but the best part of the night was spending time with my bestest!

Us at The Opera House (taken with Caitlin's fancy new iphone)

The Purse That Once Was Lost ...

but now is FOUND!

I lost this purse almost 2 years ago in a random parking lot that I was meeting a friend in so we could drive somewhere together. A couple of weeks ago I get a call from a friend that I haven't seen in a few months, she says that she's found something of mine. Turns out she now works at the dentist's office that the parking lot is attached to! She said she was going through the lost and found getting rid of stuff and felt like she recognized this purse. She opened it up and TA-DA! there was my ID! She brought it to church last Sunday. I am so excited to have it back!! Not just because it's a cute purse, but because it had a lot of important stuff in it that I was concerned about not having. Praise God that nobody stole it (or anything out of it) and that my friend thought to look through the purse instead of just throwing it out!

Welcome to the World of One Another ...

Pastor Paul (our church's temporary interim pastor) has been doing a series on Jesus' "One Another" commandments. I thought I'd share with all of you the 21 commandments our church is working on ...

1. Love one another. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34,35

2. Accept one another. "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God." Romans 15:7

3. Agree with one another. "I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought." 1 Corinthians 1:10

4. Serve one another. "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love." Galatians 5:13

5. Encourage one another. "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." 1 Thessalonians 5:11

6. Submit to one another. "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." Ephesians 5:21

7. Forgive one another. "Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Colossians 3:13

8. Do not slander one another. "Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it." James 4:11

9. Do not grumble about one another. "Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!" James 5:9

10. Honor one another. "Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." Romans 12:10

11. Be devoted to one another. "Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." Romans 12:10

12. Live in harmony with one another. "Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited." Romans 12:16

13. Stop passing judgement on one another. "Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister." Romans 14:13

14. Be kind to one another. "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Ephesians 4:32

15. Be compassionate to one another. "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Ephesians 4:32

16. Be patient with one another. "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Ephesians 4:2

17. Teach and counsel one another. "Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts." Colossians 3:16

18. Be humble toward one another. "In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.'" 1 Peter 5:5

19. Offer hospitality to one another. "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling." 1 Peter 4:9

20. Motivate one another to good works. "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds," Hebrews 10:24

21. Fellowship with one another. "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." 1 John 1:7

It's been a challenge to even think about all of these, nevermind truly doing them. But I'm excited to see what God does while all of us try to follow these commandments in order to honor Him.
(all Scripture is NIV)

My Personalized Travel Mug ...

I was just on facebook looking through my old profile pics (I'm procrastinating going to sleep - had some bad dreams last night) and I came across this one. The travel mug that I am holding is one that has an insert that you decorate and then put back in. I was actually very proud of that mug. I used it as a conversation starter when I was in college. Unfortunately I lost it. For some reason looking at this picture and realizing I no longer have that mug made me really sad. I think it's the knowledge that that mug was part of a life that I am no longer living. In this picture I'm meeting a big group of my friends in the church parking lot so we can carpool to the T station and head into Boston. We rarely do that anymore. And when we do it's just different. Different isn't always bad and I happen to really like the life I'm living right now, but in this moment looking at the memory of that moment, I am sad.