Randomness

Yes, I know it has been a while since I wrote anything, life has been crazy busy the past little while. School is proving to require more work than I thought, but that's ok, classes are interesting but I'm a bit tired of homework. Funny to think that there is only about a month and a half left till the semester is over... time flies.
I am currently listening to the soundtrack "Pride and Prejudice" (2005) as I unwind from a long day. I am trying to think of what all has happened in the past month or so since I last posted anything... it's not that things haven't happened, but that I can't think of what exactly you would find interesting. Bear with me... ummmmm..... I turned 22 about a week ago and had an amazing birthday!!!!! Although I'm pretty sure that if you are reading this blog you already know that.
Lately though, God has been teaching me about trust. I never really saw myself as a person with trust issues until this year, but now I see that I am not as trusting as I thought I was. Anyway, the Lord has been showing me that often when I am struggling to trust someone and it has nothing to do with something done or said, the problem is not with that other person but with me. The ultimate issue isn't with whether or not I trust this other person, but with whether or not I trust God.
If I claim to love and follow God, it is required that I trust Him. Faith requires trust, plain and simple. My faith, my hope, my security is in Christ alone. He is my Rock in good time and in difficult times.
My prayer for the past week or so has been, "Lord, I don't love you like I should. Please, help me to love you more. Lord, I don't trust you like I should- help me to trust you more."
This post has gotten more heavy than I had planned, but then again I didn't have much of a plan. Oh! Yes, this is random but I've downloaded Steven Curtis Chapman's new CD "Beauty will Rise" and it is beautiful! The album is very transparent and such an encouragement to me! I love the courage it takes to be that authentic- listen to it if you can. Well, that's all for now- time to get some much needed sleep. Bye!

A good day :)

Have you had a good day? Have you had an okay day? A bad day? A day you wish you could forget? A day so wonderful that you wish it didn't have to end? A day when you were incandescently happy, even for only one moment?

Have you ever noticed that we ask people "how are you" (or some variation of it) and never really wait to get an answer? So seriously, HOW ARE YOU? How is LIFE? No, I'm not asking just to ask or just to be polite. I'm asking because I truly want to know.

Today was a good day... a really good day, I hope yours was too and would love to hear about it if you have the time or desire to share with me.

Saying GoodBye to Teddy Kennedy

I can say that I have never thought very much about Sen. Ted Kennedy. My politics and his clashed in almost every way possible. Being the passionate Irish person that I am, it is easy for me to get all worked up over, well, almost anything. Watching clips on the news from the Senate floor with Kennedy speaking often irritated me to the extent that I was yelling at the TV. (Actually yelling at the TV isn’t a very uncommon thing, oh that Irish blood which courses through my veins!)
Now that Sen. Kennedy is gone, I feel as though I have lost something, someone. I obviously did not know the Senator personally, but I think I would have liked to have known him. He seemed to be the kind of person who could have taught me a lot. The one question that still remains in my mind is “Senator, did you know Jesus?” I can only speculate...

A Real Welcome

I said that I would give you a proper welcome so here it is: Welcome to my blog, Beauty from Ashes. This is a place where I will basically post an assortment of thoughts, experiences, musings, and whatnot for you, the dear Reader to love, hate, laugh at, and otherwise enjoy.
The name for this blog comes out of Isaiah 61:3 which says, "...To all who mourn in Israel,he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory. (New Living Translation).

You may be thinking, "Okay, that's nice but what does that have to do with the name of this blog?" Allow me to answer that question: I chose to name my blog Beauty from Ashes because that passage in Isaiah has meant sooo much to me these past few months. Why? The past six months of my life have been a wild ride at the least. I won't go into detail because there is no need, nor do I think that you would really be interested in everything that has happened, but sufficient to say, it has been a challenging time with lots of tears. I see all that has happened and all that I have walked through as being ashes in my life, the worthless stuff that I can't do anything with, the pain that seems to have no rhyme or reason. But that is only what these circumstances are in my hands and in my limited perspective. God's plan is not that these "ashes" remain worthless and seemingly pointless in my life. Over the past few months, He has been using the painful experiences to draw me closer to Himself, teaching me about who He is and who I am. He has taken all the pain and sorrow and is turning it into joy and beauty. He is not done, by any strech of the imagination- I know that I still have a long way to go. I feel as though I have come, in some small way into Beauty from the Ashes.

If you have questions, comments, thoughts, or whatever, please feel free to post them- I'd love to hear from you!

an official greeting coming later

ok, so an official "welcome to my bolg" will come later. Till then, go listen to "Perfect people" by Natalie Grant- it's fantastic!