the love story {of Psalm 105}

Today I was reading Psalm 105. Which is, by the way, a beautiful story, and a great reminder, and I think you should go read it right now. Don't worry, I'll still be here when you get back. :) 

I love the beautiful reminder in vs. 3-4 that when we seek the LORD, we will always find a reason to rejoice.

But as I kept reading, I kept seeing all the reminders to remember all His wonderful acts, and His wonderful faithfulness, and to tell all the nations about what the LORD has done. And it goes on to tell the story of God's chosen people, from His covenant with Abraham;

"He remembers his covenant forever,
    the promise he made, for a thousand generations,
⁹ the covenant he made with Abraham,
    the oath he swore to Isaac.
¹⁰ He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,
    to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
¹¹ “To you I will give the land of Canaan
    as the portion you will inherit.” "   

 to when He led them to the promised land;

  ⁴³ He brought out his people with rejoicing,
    his chosen ones with shouts of joy;
⁴⁴ he gave them the lands of the nations,
    and they fell heir to what others had toiled for—
⁴⁵ that they might keep his precepts
    and observe his laws. Praise the Lord.

Throughout the Psalm, it tells the beautiful story of God working, a large portion of the first part of the Bible condensed. 

But it got me to thinking. Looking back at it all, there is none who can deny that it is a powerful story which shows the faithfulness of the LORD. But what about in that time? We know there was a lot of heartache, a lot of discouragement that was felt every step along the way there. 

 They wandered around from nation to nation, they were strangers in all lands. How discouraging must that have been?! But we can clearly see that He protected them the whole time. He prepared for them the land in Egypt, where they were to live for many years. 

When Joseph was sold by His brothers, and all that happened to Him in Egypt, including being sent to jail for something he didn't do, it would be easy to say that it was all wrong. But one of my favourite verses is from Genesis 50, when Joseph is talking to his brothers, and he says: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." Think of all the hurt. But God used it to save many, many people from the famine, and to bring His chosen people to high positions in Egypt. 

But then they became slaves in Egypt; we'd say the story's gone wrong. The Israelites must have felt abandoned by God, they must have wondered if they were ever going to be free, going to get to the promised land. But looking back now, we know He was working all things together for them.

And He sent Moses and Aaron to lead the people. Through them He did many signs and wonders. He sent the ten plagues. And through that, the people left Egypt laden with silver and gold. 

And then they wandered around in the desert. We know the Israelites had a lot of problems during that time. Think golden calf, think lots of complaining. But honestly, if I were in that situation, I really couldn't say if I would've been much better. 

He provided well for them in the desert;

⁴⁰ They asked, and he brought them quail;
    he fed them well with the bread of heaven.
⁴¹ He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
    it flowed like a river in the desert. 

And still, they were discouraged, and they complained!! But we know that God was faithful to them.

If we can look at that story of God and the Israelites, and see that despite of, or even through, the discouragement of the people, God worked a miraculous story of love, then we should not doubt that He is doing the same to us even when we are in the middle of days of discouragement. 

He worked all of the story of Joseph for good - maybe, somewhere in your life, someone intended something to harm you. But God is working through that, redeeming it, using it to bring good. He led them through the desert, He fed them manna and gave them water from a rock (hello?!! food from the sky?! water from a rock?! does that not blow your mind??!), God is giving you great and amazing gifts all the time. Will you choose to complain anyways (like the Israelites did, they got tired of manna pretty quick), or will you choose to let the miracle blow your mind and be thankful to the LORD for leading you and providing for you. 

So today, whatever discouragement you are walking through, remember: in the middle of the story told in Psalm 105, it looked like a lotta heartache. But when you look at the whole story, it's beautiful. The same is true for yours. 

Blessings,
love Emma  

  

Tunes Tuesday :: Born is the King (It's Christmas!!)

I came and sat down to write this post quickly today, then realized it was Tuesday so it fit perfectly for a Tunes Tuesday post ;) 

Lots of Christmas baking and cookie-decorating going on in this house today! :) Have I mentioned before how much I looove the Christmas season???! Lots of Christmas music playing too, and I thought I would share this super fun Christmas song that will likely inspire much dancing, singing (it's praise, y'all!), and help us remember the reason we're celebrating :) (don't be afraid to turn it reeeeaaaal loud ;))

Take the time to enjoy your day - try not to be caught up in all of the to-dos, and miss the point of the season, and the joy it can bring. 

gingerbread house neighbourhood ;)

I promise you that even though these look like lumps of brownness they taste heavenly (double chocolate w/ candycane gooeyness)

Hillsong - Born is the King (It's Christmas) 

also? you should play it again and again until you're almost sick of it.

Born unto us this day a Saviour
Gifted from heaven to a manger
The hope of the world
A light for all mankind
All of the earth rejoice
It's Christmas time

So lift up your voice and sing out His praise
It's Christmas
Born is the King, rejoice in the day
It's Christmas
Make a joyful sound
It's Christmas
Let His praise resound
It's Christmas

Goodwill to all the earth
And peace divine
All of the earth rejoice
It's Christmas time
It's Christmas time

So lift up your voice and sing out His praise
It's Christmas
Born is the King, rejoice in the day
It's Christmas
Make a joyful sound
It's Christmas
Let His praise resound
It's Christmas

So lift up your voice and sing out His praise
It's Christmas
Born is the King, rejoice in the day
It's Christmas
Make a joyful sound
It's Christmas
Let His praise resound
It's Christmas

So lift up your voice and sing out His praise
It's Christmas
Born is the King, rejoice in the day
It's Christmas
Make a joyful sound
It's Christmas
Let His praise resound
It's Christmas

Praying that today and the rest of the days leading up to Christmas are a time of peace and joy for you and yours - it's a time of celebration!

blessings,

love Emma

Lots of Things

 I took quite a break from blogging {obviously....} but there have been so many times the last week or so that I've been like, oh I should post about that. But then I would be like, oh wait I should really post about that first. But I have also been finding myself very much lacking in energy and time, and so none of those posts have been written. Today I decided to write one post with little bits of them all so that I can't use any unwritten posts to keep me from posting anymore. {make sense? lol}

photo taken by my brother :)

First off, just this week my grandfather who had heart surgery  was moved out of ICU. Praise God! So many weeks of ups and downs, and finally he seems to improving. Thank you to all who prayed, and please continue to keep him (& my grandmother) in your prayers. 

 But partially as a result of all that, this past month has been so exhausting. My parents have been back and forth to the hospital (in a different city) regularly, and my mom has stayed with my grandmother a lot. Resulting in a large load being put onto my shoulders. And I am so thankful - thankful that we are currently in a stage of life where my mother was able to go be with her, thankful that the kids are all old enough to let her go, thankful that I have had this experience of running a household, thankful I don't have a full school load right now. I'm thankful for the great training I've had which allowed me to be capable of doing this. 

And I realized something. Running a household is not easy. I mean, I didn't really think it was, but I just didn't think it would be quite so hard. So thank-you Mum. Thanks for all that you do for us. Because I see more of it now :) And also, I see why you were always ragging on us to take initiative to see something needs to be done and do it. lol

Next order of business, this year I am doing Dressember. The group of people that I'm doing it with this year is raising awareness (and money) against abortion. 

I wear dresses all the time, and I thought I wouldn't get tired of it until the end, but whadduya know, I already am. Hopefully I'll get a second wind or something lol. And why on earth did they choose such a cold month for it??! Why not sometime in the spring or summer when you don't have to wear leggings (especially fleece lined ones) every day? I mean, sure Dressember is a catchy name that doesn't really work with any other month, but still. haha

I read these posts this week:
This post, by Bri. "But I long for a fall on your knees in awe and gratitude because God has sent a Savior, His own son to save me." Amen amen amen!!
And this one, by Marian. this was juuust what I needed to read this week. because it's true... when we're all messy and needy that's when we can best receive him, and that's why He came.

And lastly,
November Goals.
-run/exercise 5 days/week. The sun keeps rising later and later leaving me with less and less time to run, so I may need to start doing my indoor workouts soon. My goal is to do it most mornings. 
//hahahahahahaha. newp. I think I still ran once a week though.
-count blessings. I've been counting gifts for a couple of years now. I find that some times I count regularly, habitually and other times more sporadically. Right now it's sporadic but I hope to change that because I can really notice the difference.
// yes this did happen. :)
-goal #3. of course I had thought of another goal that I planned to make but forgot to write it down, so I will update this when I think of it. :P
//and of course, this month I didn't even remember or make up another goal. 

December Goals
-quiet for advent. try and remember that this is not just another 'to-do' for this season, but rather a time to bow humbly before the King who was born to save the world. 
 And ya know what? That's actually all I've got right now. :P 

So there we are. I'm so tired right now that most of the probably doesn't make sense but if you got something out of the mumbo jumbo then I'm so glad! ;) 

Blessings,
Emma  

31 Days :: {28} :: wrap-up/conclusion

Hey there friends! thanks for stopping by! This is the final post of my 31 Days series on Celebrating Life. If you'd like to see all the other posts so far, you'll find the introduction here or the posts all here :)

So I made it. I wrote every day in October {except Sundays}, on the topic of Celebrating Life. And I learned. so. much. 

Please please please go and read the Chapter entitled 'Cold Tangerines' from Shauna Niequist's book Cold Tangerines, you can do that here {scroll down a little bit and it will show up in blue printing}. Because I tried to find a couple of paragraphs from this chapter to highlight and share here but I have to admit that the whole chapter is underlined in my copy. Actually, I highly recommend reading the entire book ;)

I've tried to figure out what exactly I want to accomplish with this official wrap-up conclusion. And it's been hard. 

But I think I finally landed on something. I just want to encourage you {& me}. Encourage you to celebrate. Because it is so worth it. Even when it's hard.

Believe me, I know. When you get to the end of the day and you find yourself all snappy, and achy and tired, it's hard to celebrate. 

When you're bored crazy, it's hard to celebrate. When you're sad, mad, disappointed, hurt, frustrated, it's hard to celebrate.

A lot of times, it's even hard to celebrate when life is going good and it's a great day. 

Ouch. And that's the one I struggle with oh so often. Because I just let myself onto cruise control and it no longer matters if anything is worth celebrating, and nothing in my day has a real point, and I'm just breathing and moving but not really living. 

And so when Shauna write this in her book, it resonates with me. It calls to deep within me and says, celebrate. Make that effort. Because tomorrow will soon be today and when you look back on what will be yesterday, will you wish you had lived more alive?

"I want a life that sizzles and pops and makes me laugh out loud. And I don't want to get to the end, or to tomorrow, even, and realize that my life is a collection of meetings and pop cans and errands and receipts and dirty dishes. I want to eat cold tangerines and sing loud in the car with the windows open and wear pink shoes and stay up all night laughing and paint my walls the exact color of the sky right now. I want to sleep hard on clean white sheets and throw parties and eat ripe tomatoes and read books so good they make me jump up and down and I want my everyday to make God belly laugh, glad that he gave life to someone who loves the gift, who will use it up and wring it out and drag it around like a favorite sweater." ~Shauna Niequist (Cold Tangerines)

 And it's not about waiting to celebrate the big moments in life. It's not about waiting to become whoever or whatever it is you think you are becoming. It's about celebrating this very life that you have today.

"But this is what I'm finding, in glimpses and flashes: this is it. This is it, in the best possible way. That thing I'm waiting for, that adventure, that movie-score-worthy experience unfolding gracefully. This is it. Normal, daily life ticking by on our streets and sidwalks, in our houses and apartments, in our beds and at our dinner tables, in our dreams and prayers and fights and secrets - this pedestrian life is the most precious thing any of us will ever experience.
I believe that this way of living, this focus on the present, the daily, the tangible, this intense concentration not on the news headlines but on the flowers growing in your own garden, the children growing in your own home, this way of living has the potential to open up the heavens, to yield a glittering handful of diamonds where a second ago there was coal. This way of living and noticing and building and crafting can crack through the movie sets and soundtracks that keep us waiting for our own life stories to begin, and set us free to observe the lives we have been creating all along without even realizing it.
 
I don't want to wait anymore. I choose to believe that there is nothing more sacred or profound than this day. I choose to believe that there may be a thousand big moments embedded in this day, waiting to be discovered like tiny shards of gold. The big moments are the daily, tiny moments of courage and forgiveness and hope that we grab on to and extend to one another. That's the drama of life, swirling all around us, and generally I don't even see it, because I'm too busy waiting to become whatever it is I think I am about to become. The big moments are in every hour, every conversation, every meal, every meeting." ~Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines

 And so today, I am encouraging you, calling you, appealing to you, pleading with you to please, open your eyes and intentionally look at all the beauty around you to celebrate.

"The world is alive, blinking and clicking, winking at us slyly, inviting us to get up and dance to the music that's been playing since the beginning of time, if you bend all the way down and put your ear to the ground to listen for it." ~Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines

Shall we?

complete post list:
{1} :: October Goals and Pre-Intro
{2} :: introduction 
{3} :: beautiful 
{4} :: tangible beauty 
{5} :: today... 
{6} :: Tunes Tuesday :: 10,000 Reasons 
{7} :: we need it 
{8} :: hidden beauty 
{9} :: don't wait
{10} :: sleeping in 
{11} :: laughter 
{12} :: Tunes Tuesday :: Carrie Underwood
{13} :: 31 Days love
{14} :: in which I sort of tell you a story
{15} :: intention 
{16} :: intention, part 2
{17} :: Today...
{18} :: Tunes Tuesday :: Something Beautiful 
{19} :: intention, part 3 
{20} :: the root of celebration
{21} :: believing it 
{22} :: link love 
{23} :: family {beautiful people}
{24} :: Tunes Tuesday 
{25} :: celebrating when it's hard
{26} :: Today... 
{27} :: quotes 

linking up with Elizabeth :) 

31 Days :: {26} :: Today...

Hey there friends! thanks for stopping by! You've found us at Day 26 of my 31 Days series on Celebrating Life. If you'd like to see all the other posts so far, you'll find the introduction here {includes post-list at the bottom} or the posts all here :)


So today is the second-last "official" post of this 31 Days series. This topic is so important to me so look to see more coming on it in the future :) 

Another note, I don't think I'm going to have time to post tomorrow, so my wrap up will likely be this weekend. *gasp* ;)

Today, I celebrated my Papa's successful surgery!! Thanks to all of you who prayed :)

I also celebrated a walk in the beautiful fall weather we're having right now,

and squash {with brown sugar & cinnamon ;)} for dinner,

{that's what fall tastes like :)}

everyone pitching in, to do whatever needed to be done with minimal complaining,

 pumpkin spice tea :),

and oh so much more... I meant to take pictures but it's been a busy day and I didn't get a chance to...

don't forget to celebrate the little ordinary things in your every-day life! :)

blessings,

love Emma

31 Days :: {20} :: the root of celebration

Hey there friends! thanks for stopping by! You've found us at Day 20 of my 31 Days series on Celebrating Life. If you'd like to see all the other posts so far, you'll find the introduction here {includes post-list at the bottom} or the posts all here :) 

I will admit, that while this topic is certainly something that I feel passionately about, and try oh so very hard to practice, the first half of the month, I really struggled. I felt kinda fake about this. And it super-bothered me especially because I'm trying to write about it and felt kind of hypocritical.

I considered that maybe trying to write about it every day was the problem, but nooo, it wasn't. It was my reasons and my priorities. 

Even doing something right for the wrong reason turns it into something wrong. When I started this I was all gung-ho to learn lots and glorify God, but as I went along it kinda turned into something else. 

This is supposed to be a follow-after of what God is teaching me. A way to process and keep learning. But when you start to make this more important {of course, I would never say that but my actions showed otherwise} than Bible reading and prayer and learning from God? Well then it becomes words of my own mouth, not real and empty. That's what happened. 

And then on the 16th, I realized, my goal here - why I'm even celebrating life at all - is to seek and glorify God. I touched on this a little bit yesterday, talking about how to celebrate and enjoy life is a way of thanking and honouring God, and it's so true. 

He gave us this glorious gift, and the best way to say thank-you to Him is to use it so fully. If you gave your friend a dee-licious cake, and they said thank-you, maybe even wrote you a nice little card, that would be nice, wouldn't it? But would you still think they were thankful for it if they just set it on a shelf in their kitchen and didn't eat it? Would you really believe they were thankful for it? I wouldn't! 

But if they ate it up, maybe all in one sitting, maybe asked for the recipe, gave me back an empty pan, then yes, I would know they were thankful for it, and that they enjoyed it. The same is true of our Father in heaven. He gives us this gift of life, and all the little gifts within that. When we walk right by them, when we don't eat them up, bask in the luscious warmth of the sunshine, does that show Him we are thankful for them or not?  

But when we taste the flavour of the food, when we inhale the scent of the woods, and notice it, when we pause in the middle of the street because something is so beautiful, when we dance because music makes us need to move - then we are saying 'THANK-YOU GOD', with our lives!

The other reason we celebrate life, the gift from God, is to seek to know Him more. I love love love how Caroline put it. {<please go read her whole post!! :)}

"Look for the gifts and truly see them, and you’ll better see the Giver."

Amen!! This, this is what I need! I look for the gifts, so that I can see the Giver better. Last fall what God placed upon me to learn deeply was contentment, this fall I'm learning to seek Him first. {Matthew 6:33}

And the last thing, something very important to remember, is that we cannot do this all on our own. We need to take the initiative to do this celebrating and thanking, but if we try to do it on our own strength, we will fail. We will become weary and we will give up. But through the power of Jesus, we can indeed do this through Him! So make sure you're doing this with Him. :)
  

"Each one of our lives is shot through, threaded in and out with God's provision, his grace, his protection, but on the average day, we notice it about as much as we really notice gravity or the hole in the ozone. So what I'm trying to do is learn to see the way Sister Carmen sees. Because once you start seeing the faithfulness and the hope, you see it everywhere, like pennies. And little by little, here and there, you realize that all of life is littered with bright copper coins, that all of life is woven with bits and stories of God's goodness." ~Shaua Niequist, Cold Tangerines (pennies)

Don't celebrate for the wrong reason - do it to thank God for this beautiful gift of today!


On another note, my grandfather's surgery was postponed from today to next Thursday... and my great-grandmother is very weak, still in the hospital, but holding on... prayers are appreciated!


blessings friends!
love Emma

linking up with Chantel and Elizabeth :)

31 Days :: {19} :: intention, part 3

Hey there friends! thanks for stopping by! You've found us at Day 19 of my 31 Days series on Celebrating Life. If you'd like to see all the other posts so far, you'll find the introduction here {includes post-list at the bottom} or the posts all here :) 

Soo.. the story is here, part 1 is here, and part 2 here. I thiiink this will be the last part. ;)

So you may have read the other posts, and been like, Emma, this is cool, but I thought that your series was about celebrating life, not living with intention. Please please explain exactly how this connects. And so that's what I'm hoping to do today. 

We are not, by nature, thankful people. Because of our sin nature, we will not, unintentionally, give thanks, which is, incidentally at the root of celebrating life. {did you catch that? sorry for the run-on sentence.}

We celebrate life as a way to say thank-you for each glorious moment - because even the 'un-glorious' moments, truly are glorious. We celebrate as a way to say thank-you when we live life fully, making the most of this sensational gift of life. 

Here's what Shauna has to say:

"I live according to my faith when I love a meal that has been prepared carefully, when I notice texture and color and taste, when I let the flavor and scent of something fresh from the ground surprise me and bring me back to life. I demonstrate my theology when I dance all night with people I love, because this life is worth the best celebration we can offer up to it. I thank God every time I eat crusty bread and garlicky olives, and when I smell clean laundry and hear that little squeak of fingers on a guitar. For me, what God said when he made the world is a prayer: It is good. This world, it is good. The beauty of a perfect green apple is good. The first steps of a child are good. Watching my grandparents dance in their kitchen is good. It is good. 

I have to remind myself that it is good. I have to create hope in my life, because there's something inside me that has radar for the bad parts of life. I walk into the kitchen and all I can see are crumbs on the counter, and I look in the mirror and don't even see my face, I just see all the potential wrinkles forming. I have a dark, worst-case scenario sensor, and it takes over."

{And here's where it's really hard. Because that thought continues and it's really amazing but I can't put her whole book here {otherwise I would, because I love it so much, and I think everyone should read it!!} so I have to pick somewhere to stop, but please go and read the next couple of paragraphs right here. She has so much beautiful to say about this!} {Or you could read the whole chapter... I think I underlined every word of it in my copy.}}

"When I live purposefully and well, when I dance instead of sitting it out, when I let myself laugh hard, when I wear my favorite shoes on a regular Tuesday, that regular Tuesday is better." ~Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines

 

So, in conclusion: to celebrate requires a conscious choice. To make that choice, you need intention. Celebrating is a way to say thank-you to God. He loves it when we celebrate life! 

But how many times do you walk past that clean laundry without noticing the scent? How many times do you eat good food without really tasting it? It takes intention to see all those things. Practice it! :) 

love emma

linking up with Chantel and Elizabeth :)

31 Days :: {16} :: intention, part 2

Hey there friends! thanks for stopping by! You've found us at Day 16 of my 31 Days series on Celebrating Life. If you'd like to see all the other posts so far, you'll find the introduction here {includes post-list at the bottom} or the posts all here :) 

On Thursday I told y'all a story. Yesterday, I started talking about one of the things that I've been learning because of it. Today, I'm gonna keep on with that thing - intention.  

 The hardest part that I have found is starting. It takes slowing down and pausing. But if you have been coasting along, through habits, perhaps aimlessly, maybe at a high speed, how do you even remember to slow down and pause? For me, that often means setting alarms just to pause, and give thanks. Or maybe do something special, something like taking the time to play a game, or taking kids to the park, or having a little 1 or 2 song dance party, or anything that means you're not on auto-pilot anymore.

And I hope what you'll find - I know what I've found - is that the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Is it an oxymoron to say that living with intention can be a habit? Because I think, maybe it can. 

One of the benefits of intentional living are things like feeling more satisfied with your life: instead of getting to the end of the day and wondering what you even did and if there was a point, you can know that you took the time to do things on purpose, which means there was a point.

And once again, I'm going to say the same thing... come back on Monday and we're going to continue with intention. Maybe we'll even make a week of it? ;)

So today, do at least one thing with intention?

blessings,
emma  

linking up with Chantel and Elizabeth :)

31 Days :: {5} :: today...

Hey there friends! thanks for stopping by! You've found us at Day 5 of my 31 Days series on Celebrating Life. If you'd like to see all the other posts so far, you'll find them here :) (or here).


Today, I am celebrating

The chilly weather

Scarves,

The sky which is continuously changing from blue to cloudy,

The bright leaves everywhere, both on trees and scattered on the ground,

Old quilts to cuddle up in,

leg warmers and wool socks,

who cares if they don't match lol

{This is part of my 31 Days series, see the introduction here, and all of the posts here}

What little things are you celebrating today? Open up your eyes and you will see them :)

blessings,

love Emma

linking up with Chantel and Elizabeth :)

31 Days :: {4} :: tangible beauty

Hey there friends! thanks for stopping by! You've found us at Day 4 of my 31 Days series on Celebrating Life. If you'd like to see all the other posts so far, you'll find them here :) (or here).

most days, it can be oh-so-easy to walk around and miss the beauty right in front of you. today I'm talking about this earth, things that are all around us. Later we'll be talking about other types of beauty, but not today.

It takes a lot of practice and intention to open our eyes and be aware of the beauty. so often I just 'coast' through my day without paying any attention to beauty, without trying to find it at all. but when you make the effort, there is amazing beauty out there, some that will take your breath away.

a while ago, I went for a walk in the morning, and I wasn't really paying attention to anything. You know, just coasting along. But for whatever reason, as I walked past this puddle, something caught my eye and I stopped. I looked at it for a while {and actually, it was more of a pink sunrise sky at first}, and eventually decided that I should take a picture, which I did {obviously}. My point to all this is that all the times beauty is right in front of us even if we don't realize it.

As for me, I don't want to miss it!
 

my apologies, because, like I said, it was more beautiful before, and if you don't think it's beautiful still, the idea still applies, right! :)

And now, a beautiful quote from Shauna:
{At the end of a beee-yootiful chapter called The Red Tree, {which by the way if you want to read it, it's short and I highly recommend it, go here and click down from the contents, to 'the red tree' and voila! ;)}}, here's what she says:

"What looks like a plain old city street is just that until you lift up your eyes and see the red tree, and then you realize that this is no plain city street. This is a masterpiece just here for the week, our very own wonder of the world, and I just about missed it."

wow.

I think this quote was also applicable, because around here at least, the trees are beautiful shades of brilliant and gorgeous, and sometimes I miss them. 

have you got any tips for intentionally seeing the tangible beauty around you? :) would you share them?

blessings, friends!
love Emma 

linking up with Chantel and Elizabeth :)

31 Days :: {2} :: Introduction

for real. {and I promise that most posts will not be this long lol!}

Life. I'm still (LORD-willing) still very near the beginning of mine, but even by now, I know that life is a journey. I truly believe what Corrie ten Boom said about every experience preparing us for a future we cannot see. And I can see it.

I can see the way life has lead me through a couple of years to get to this point. And I'm trusting that God will use this point where I cam right now to bring me somewhere new in the future. 

I don't even remember how, or why, but for some reason, several years ago, I picked up Ann Voskamp's book, 1000 gifts. And it awakened something inside. Something that said, the ordinary is more than ordinary. It is the very grace of God. And it began to change the way I looked at the world.

It was a fight. Everyday. It still is a fight. I don't imagine it will ever stop being one, but I do know the more I practice the stronger I am to fight this battle. 

"Life is a collection of a million, billion moments, tiny little moments and choices, like a handful of luminous glowing pearls. And strung together, built upon one another, lined up through the days and the years, they make a life, a person." ~Shauna Niequist (Cold Tangerines)

have you ever stopped to celebrate sunset? a glorious show that God placed in the sky just. for. you. to. celebrate?

At the beginning of September I was thinking about 31 Days and whether or not I wanted to do a series in it this year, and if I did, what on earth it was going to be about. And about that same time, I picked up Shauna Niequist's book Cold Tangerines and I was hooked. captivated. excited. I couldn't put it down. This book spoke to me, right where I was at. Right in the middle(ish) of my year of Here & Now, which I was failing and succeeding at by turn. But mostly failing :P

And I got to the end, and this quote: 

"I want a life that sizzles and pops and makes me laugh out loud. And I don't want to get to the end, or to tomorrow, even, and realize that my life is a collection of meetings and pop cans and errands and receipts and dirty dishes. I want to eat cold tangerines and sing loud in the car with the windows open and wear pink shoes and stay up all night laughing and paint my walls the exact color of the sky right now. I want to sleep hard on clean white sheets and throw parties and eat ripe tomatoes and read books so good they make me jump up and down and I want my everyday to make God belly laugh, glad that he gave life to someone who loves the gift, who will use it up and wring it out and drag it around like a favorite sweater." ~Shauna Niequist (Cold Tangerines)

and I knew. This, this was my 31 Days. I want to celebrate life - my everyday life. I learn by teaching and I process by writing. And maybe, too, someone else will be encouraged to celebrate their every-day! 

Because I don't want to get to the end and realize that my life was only mindane things, lifeless days that followed lifeless days, that turned into months, and years, and decades. "I want a life that sizzles and pops," I want to find this beauty in life. I want to celebrate!! :) 

So this is me. And Shauna. My writing will be raw and haphazard and unpolished, and hers, - well we all know her writing is refreshing and beautiful. 

One of the things that I had trouble with, even just getting started writing this post, is that I will puck up her book for inspiration, and then her sparkling words make the ones in my head, that I struggle to put to paper sound scattered and ungraceful. 

But by the grace of God, her book inspired me, and I can do no less than pick up my pen and write, and offer them to my LORD as a love offering, praying that somehow, in some way, He might use them to bless someone.

Glory to His name!

And so this month will be, as Shauna says, "a shameless appeal for celebration." I know I need it. Join me?

linking up with Chantel and Elizabeth :)

Today...

...Today, I am enjoying 

the colours beginning to change, 

the bright sunshine coming through my windows,

that my school stuff for this year is not finalized so I don't have much of that to do at this point,

cleaning the kitchen, 

taking the little girls to the park,

don't forget to enjoy the moments, doing whatever you are doing today. each moment, the present, right now, is a sacred holy gift from God. 

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." ~ Colossians 3:17

love emma xoxo

Summer is...

How is already the last weekend of summer?!?!
I've been trying to soak it in as much as possible, and made a list of things that summer has involved for me this year :) 

Summer is...

Sitting on the porch bench reading,

warmth of the sun on my skin,

Peach juice dripping down my chin, 

Hot kitchen full of canning,

Buckets of peach skins & pits,

Corn on the cob,

Watermelon,

Ice cream,

Tan lines,

Sweaty curls in the not-so baby's hair,

Slower pace,

Jumping on the trampoline with the girlies,

Story time on the couch,

Early morning sunrise & Bible reading,

Peach pie with a gingerbread crust (for breakfast!!),

Swimming in the pool,

Watching the kids jumping competitions (and occasionally being in one too ;) ),

 Sunlight through the trampoline net, 

people falling over on the trampoline,

late nights and early mornings,

the animals we see on our walks,

long hours of sunshine,

bbq pizza,
your butt sore from a long bike ride,
strawberry picking: aching back and fingers & lips turned red,
playing in the sand (and being turned into a giant octopus ;) ),

I'm sure there's many many more... next season I think I will start a list right off at the beginning :)

What is on your 'Summer Is' list? 

The only thing that makes me somewhat ready for summer to be ending, is that fall is coming, and I just love how beautiful fall is :)

Blessings upon your day!

love Emma

linking up with Elizabeth  & Chantel :)

{challenge 1} {in which I compare my spiritual life to a plant}

Every year it goes the same way. Winter.... my spiritual life is often similar to plant life at that time of year: underground, cold/half frozen, sleepy, yet still alive. But as spring comes, I can feel it stirring in me. My soul says, don't leave me here, and I yearn for growth, and as the days get longer, warmer, my heart thaws, and I can feel life rising in me.

Typically springtime is amazing. Enter July. When I get to July I usually feel like I'm just trying to make it through the days that drag, and then the weeks fly by faster than light, and that really really bothers me because that's not how summer is supposed to be! {and all of a sudden I'm wondering, should this post really be about expectations and how discontent comes when they don't get met... maybe that's what my problem really is.}

Summer is such a beautiful time. And so often I miss it.

I'm in the habit of getting to the end of my day, and writing down a few things I'm thankful for about that day. I'm thankful for that habit. But I'm feeling like it's not enough to get to the end and scratch down a couple things like 'fun in the pool', or 'great run'. It's 'better than nothing' - but I want to be looking for the beauty in each moment, not thinking back on them later. I want to live in wonder and awe.

And so my challenge for myself this week of July {will you join me? :) } is to search for the beauty, and then document it. In either a photograph, or a written sketch. My goal for this week is at least two photos or written sketches per day. {and hopefully many more beautiful moments that are just captured by a word or two}

I want to love life. I want to live it fully, totally amazed by the awesomeness of what God has given us.
blessings on your day!
emma

linking up with Chantel over at A Harvest of Blessing

this post by Ellen, and this one by Marian, were among the many things swirling around inside my head that resulted in this post.

year in review

as another birthday comes around, another year passing, I like to take a look at the year I'm leaving behind me, the year closing, and see how I've grown, how God has been working in my life.

last year's.

this past year has been, well, a roller coaster ride.  last summer was good (to be perfectly honest it always seems to me like the summers are just an amazing blur filled with so many fun days and other days that are.... well let's just say less fun), and the end of the summer was just spectacular (we went out west to see some friends). the fall was pretty rough, and I know that God was using it to teach me lots of things. the winter was a lot better, and I find when you look back at something it's a lot easier to see how you've grown through it and the difference between where you are and where you were.

once again, I thank the LORD that I read 1000 gifts because I have truly discovered in my life that when I am off track, the best way to get on track is simply to spend more time with God, and count your blessings. this spring has mostly been lovely. {I say mostly, and what I mean by that is that it has indeed been lovely, but there are days here and there, which are not so much, ya know?} I know that I can look back over the past year and see that God has had a plan to work in my life, and there were things that hurt, and while I was in them I wished I didn't have to, but now when I look back I see how much closer to God I have grown and I can say honestly that I am okay with it all. but only because God's got a plan and He works in my life, and He worked through that.

some things God has been teaching me this year include but are not limited to:
1. biggest thing. God will work in every little detail of your life. everything that God brings you into He will bring you through and out of, and if you use that as an "excuse" to run to Him, He will bring you out of it closer to Him.
2. contentment (if you read this blog at all you probably already know that haha!). there are some things in your life you can change. go out and change those if you don't like them! ...but there are lots of things you can't change -and so why would I want to waste all that time wishing for something I didn't have? time is precious people! make the most of what you've got!
3. living on your own power is just. so. exhausting. when I don't start my day with the LORD, and "stop in" a few times a day, I do stupid things and by the end of the day I'm a mess. yes.

some books I read this year that helped me grow that I would totally recommend to others:
1. A Million Little Ways by Emily Freeman. you have a life to live. you can make art where you are now. you don't need to be a painter or a musician or anything like that to make art. to make art with your life is to glorify God.
2. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. this book is great!!! it's pretty deep and a little confusing at times, but it's written in a way that is so easy to read... I have learned a lot of great things from this book.
3. The In-Between: Embracing the Tension Between Now and the Next Big Thing by Jeff Goins. I will admit that while I did read the first part of the book I only skimmed the second part... but I liked this book. did you know we spend a crazy whack of time waiting in our lives? (at the grocery store, the doctor's, etc, or for bigger things like university acceptances, or a baby etc) and I know that I tend to think of waiting as a waste of time, but God has given us this time for a purpose and we've got to use it too!

a few songs that God has used in my life this year:

my favourite hymn-y-worship-y song lately: Crown Him (Chris Tomlin & Kari Jobe)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NCcMqD_0z4

I need Him. Oh, yes! Every hour, every millisecond, whether I realize it or not!  Lord, I Need You - Matt Maher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuvfMDhTyMA

Holy Spirit -Francesca Battistelli (honestly, I am so loving her entire new album!)
"Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for / To be overcome by Your presence, Lord"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvBBC7-PSHo

I also made a youtube playlist with 'just a few' of the many many songs that I loved this year. (those that I remembered yesterday anyways lol)

this year I spent a lot of time in the Psalms, Isaiah, Philippians and a few other epistles. some verses (&passages) that have meant a lot to me:
(if I didn't put the passage there is a link)

Isaiah 58

Isaiah 55:9-11

Isaiah 46:4

Isaiah 44:22-23
I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
    your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,
    for I have redeemed you.”²³ Sing for joy, you heavens, for the Lord has done this;
    shout aloud, you earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
    you forests and all your trees,
for the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
    he displays his glory in Israel.

Psalm 25: 12-13

Psalm 27:4

Psalm 27:13-14
I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
¹⁴ Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 34:8

Psalm 37:4, 23

Psalm 51:10-12

John 6:35
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

2 Corinthians 12:9a,10b
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Philippians honest to goodness, I so love this book! picking a few favourite passages was very hard, please go and read it yourself. slowly. over and over and over again.

Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:9-11

Philippians 2:5-11

Philippians 2:15b-16

Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:11-13

Philippians 4:19

Colossians 3:17, 23

God has got a glorious plan for our lives, so that we might be part of the beautiful tapestry He is weaving for His glory. I pray that I would never forget that. We worship and great and Almighty God, who has loved us wayy beyond what we can comprehend. I pray that we would live like we know it!
I hope that you got something out of this mumbo-jumbo ;)

love Em