The Diary of a Young Woman

A teenage German-Jew in hiding in World War II Europe.

A twenty-something follower of Christ in 21st Century America.

Who knew they could be so similar?

I just recently finished re-reading The Diary of A Young Girl, the story of Anne Frank. It is such a fantastic story and it's so amazing how, separated by 60+ years and thousands of miles, separated by culture, religion, country, language and situation, we could be so similar. There are passages in her diary that I could place verbatim in mine.

She manages to convey the honesty of a woman's emotions, not censored or tempered but raw and real. She was trapped in a situation beyond her control, yet she rose above it. She planned her life, her dreams, her passions. She refused to let captivity, war, discrimination or age stop her from being who she was or doing what she wanted. She died in the pursuit of freedom, yet she accomplished so many of her goals. She is a world renowned author, she has educated generations of students across the globe, she has shared her life as she wished. It may not be exactly how she planned, but, is anything?


I can only hope to accomplish so much.

Simple Pleasures...

Today I picked Isaac up from school and he was so excited to sit in the front seat of Kevin's car... he discovered the mirror on the visor and has a blast looking in it, "watching a movie" in it, and just generally pretending about the mirror. It's so fun to watch kids grow and for them to be excited about the things in life that we as adults take for granted.

Election Let-down

Well, Election 2008 is officially over (for the most part). I am saddened that we as a nation chose to elect a leader whose morals are so diametrically opposite what America traditionally stands for. I will, however, support Barak Obama as the President of the United States. I believe that is my responsibility as a citizen of this country and as a follower of Jesus Christ. In Romans 13:1 Paul says that we must submit ourselves to the governing authority, as God has placed it there. In my human eyes I cannot see the plan that my God has in this situation, but I am confident that he will reveal it in time. We, as believers in Christ, must also pray for Mr. Obama as it says in 1 Timothy 2:1-4. I believe that our leaders need our prayer now more than ever, to bring unity and morality and prosperity back to our nation.

As a student of history, this election has been interesting to watch... with Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin shattering the glass ceiling and Mr. Obama slamming through the racial barrier. History books will have to be re-written and no longer can anyone, white, black, Hispanic, woman or man say that they cannot achieve anything they set out to do. (Random Trivia: we have had a Native American serve as vice president of our country... Charles Curtis was Herbert Hoover's second-in-command from 1929-1933.) Needless to say, the historicity of this election is incredible!

Prayer...

As we have been praying as a church body daily, I've really come to enjoy that time and it has greatly increased my prayer life just in general. The first few nights were very difficult. I had such hard time concentrating... just focusing was hard and I really didn't get anything out of it. I think last night was a breakthrough of sorts. I'm not even sure what I broke through, but I was really able to pour my heart out to God and just talk to Him... it was amazing and so freeing. I feel like He's breaking my heart for the lost and dying again and I just have such a hunger for His presence and I'm regaining my confidence in myself through Him. His Word says we can come boldly to His throne with confidence to find grace and mercy to help us (Heb. 4:16). He's giving me that confidence to minister and to step out in faith, knowing that He's with me every step of the way.

When I was in college, I never really found a church home and I suffered for it. I was no longer in fellowship with other on-fire Christians (and I was at a Christian University), I didn't have an active prayer life and I wasn't studying the Word unless it was for a class assignment. It has taken almost a year of being back in a wonderful Christian community for me to get my head totally back in the right spot. I grieve for the three years of growth that I lost but God is gracious and He is drawing me deeper into Him and I'm so excited!

Carmex and Shout...

Well, I learned a valuable lesson this week:

Don't put off doing things that you could do today, you might forget that you put a tube of Carmex lip balm in the pocket of your jeans and then wash them with a bunch of other clothes and have them come out with lovely stains spotted all over them from the petroleum, lanolin and cocoa butter! The Carmex website even has instructions for removing the stains, but so far... that whole load of laundry still has spots. I've sprayed them with Shout for the third time and am getting ready to stick them in the laundry for the 7th time... hopefully that is the magic number!

On the upside, while visiting the Carmex website, I registered to win a free pot of lip balm. Hope I win!

Here's the site if ya wanna check it out:
http://www.carma-labs.com/#/FAQs/

Here we go...

Ok, so Chris and Holly have gotten me hooked on blogging. Here goes my first attempt at blogging on blogspot. Like I need one more thing to do on-line to waste my time!

I had a fantastic day today... I took the day off of work to hang with the youth group and we hiked up Mt. Pisgah. That is a HIKE! I love hiking around the Timothy Lake with my family, but this hike is something else! I didn't go all the way to the top but found a spot with a great view and climed up into an oak tree and just had fun worshiping God in his great creation... It was pretty great!

I got to sleep in until almost 9:30 today, which is a minor feat, considering that I haven't been able to sleep in past 8 in like three months!

Oops... gotta go. Making my famous pasta salad for dinner!