You’re the God of this City. 
You’re the King of these people. 
You’re the Lord of this nation. 
You are.

“Once I got to the river I saw people bathing in the sacrate water of the river, people bath in there because it’s holy water and when you bathe there you get rid of all your sins.

Some people were crying because in India when a family member dies you burn his body in the Ganges river and then throw the ashes to the river, which I thought was very sad.”

and there is goes again. slipping through my fingers, right before my eyes and i can’t even stop it. deep breath, bracing myself, here we go again.

Beauty. I don’t care who you claim to be, every girl wants it deep down. As I grow older I have come to realize that there is just one type of beauty. There is the beauty portrayed by the media since the day we are born which is detrimental to the soul, physical beauty. But I am starting to see a different beauty. I dont know what you would call it, inner beauty is cliche’, soul beauty maybe? Through all the people I have met and encounted I think the first is true when they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I truly am begining to believe that soul beauty is undeniable no matter who you are or what your backgroud. 

Many months ago I began reading a book called ‘Captivasting’ (yes only began :/) and made this piece of art, which was inspired by something I read in the book. 

Now I take no credit for any of the words as, well, I basically took pieces here and there form the book. It may or may not make sense to others but it makes perfect sense to me. I placed this paper on the side of my armoire’ and I see it every single morning when I wake up. It is a good reminder to me, what true beauty is. The beauty I aspire to emulate. So I thought I would share.

-

BEAUTY

is ESSENTIAL: God gave us a beautiful form and a beautiful spirit. She expresses beauty in both. Better she expresses beauty simply in who she is. Like God beauty is her essence.

is POWERFUL: “all shall be well” and tha is what it is like to be with a woman at rest, a woman comfortable in her own feminine beauty. She is enjoyable to be with. She is lovely, in her presence your heart stops holding it breath. You relax and believe once again that all will be well.

INVITES:It draws you in, holds your attention. You can’t wait to get back to it, spend time with it. All the reponses that God wants of us. All the responses a woman wants to be.

NOURISHES: It is a kind of food in which our soul craves.

COMFORTS: There is something profoundly healing about it. Beauty comforts. It southes the soul.

INSPIRES: ‘Glory Be! I’d have been a better man all my life if I’d known there were things like this’. You make me want to be a better man’. Her life was sp beautiful, and it called us to something higher. It was contagious.

is TRANSCENDENT: It is out most itimate expierence of the eternal. We yearn to linger, to expierence it all of our days. Sometimes beauty is so deep ot pieres us with longing. For what? For life as it was meant to be. Beauty reminds us of Eden, the Eden we never knew but somehow our hearts know we were created for. Beauty speak of Heaven to come, when ALL shall be beautiful.

DRAWS US TO GOD…

Now this could just be me, but this speaks volumes to me. It gives me a different perspective of true beauty and that maybe beauty isn’t something visual but an essence or a feeling? I don’t know. I have recently noticed something in common with all the many things I consider beautiful. They all elicit a feeling within my soul. I don’t know what exact feeling this is but it gives me a sense of joy, peace, comfort, courisoity and thankfulness. Could just be me though. 

One of my absolute favirote quotes:

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

People say beauty is skin deep, but maybe not all beauty. But this soul beauty that people emulate without even knowing it, I believe it is God giving us a inkling of His greatness and beauty.  I don’t really know though, just some thoughts that ponder through my head as I read this every now and again in the morning. But this 

So like I said, I have met many beautiful people. Many. 

from the pictures it looks like nothing special or out of the ordinary just another crazy busy city. i have never been. so how can this country, these people and this culture captivate my heart in such a way like never before. i don’t understand it, but i must go. must.

“The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank.’-Dante Gabreil Rossetti

-

This past year has been quite an adventure for me. It has been filled with some of my highest highs as well as lowest lows. Not that I would or wouldn’t change anything. Who knows. The past is the past and it is what it is. Although it can be hard I have learned to never look back. Whether good or bad, I find there is always a sense of sadness when looking back. Either sadness from a difficult time or sadness in remembering the good, know that the past is the past. So either way, good and bad, I try to look forward. I am a dreamer and think about the endless possibilities the future can hold, no one knows. Its the uncertainty and suspense that makes it exciting.

-

Of course God has taught me quite a bit in the past 365 days. Some things I wish I didnt have to learn, while others I embraced. I take in stride as thats the motion of life. Now looking back on the big picture of 2011, one popular and simple verse immediately comes to mind, Job 1:21, And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

-

Through my hhighest of highs and my lowest of lows, God blessed me beyond belief, but also reminded me in many quick instances, that it is all a blessing from Him. Although there were difficult times through out the year, as expected for any year, God took me to both extremes. In that, He showed me, once again that He is sovereign and that no matter how blessed or low I feel, He is my unshakable foundation. And now that I know and have solidified that foundation, the wavering blessings and trails of life no longer phase me in a way that they did previously. Because I now know for myself that God is the only absolute in my life, and in life in general. And now that I have the absolute, nothing else matters. She blessings are great and trials are hard, but they always have been and always will be, that’s life, that’s not going to change.

-

So I am not much for new years resolutions, for obvious reasons. Last year a friend made my resolutions for me since I didn’t have any. But the resolutions were nothing I wanted for myself, it was what they wanted for me, therefore of course I failed. I didn’t really care about the particular resolutions they made to be honest, therefore I didn’t try.

-

This year I decided to do something a bit different. Not a resolution, just something new. Thankful and gratitude are my words for the year. Through the ups and downs in life I found the only way I can press on it to be thankful and grateful for the firm foundation. I recently read a quote of a cheesy wall plaquard, but this one actually stuck. “What if each day you work up with the things you thanked God for yesterday’ Pretty powerful, yeah? This stuck in my head for a few weeks and the concept never left.

-

My dad gave me a little journal type thing a few years ago for Christmas. He always buys the neatest little journals and stuff like that. And this one loved for no reason in particular. I have been saving it for something special. I have finally found something worthy of putting in this journal. So for 2012, once a day, I am going to write a one page letter to God just thanking Him for the many blessings of the day. Its pretty simple and basic, but I think it will have a profound impact on my life.

-

So I challenge you, just to stop and think for a moment or two, of all the blessings of this past year. Once you really start to think about it, you will become overwhelmed I promise. Our God is so good to us, so good, you just have to stop for a moment in the busyness of our lives and just look around. You will find blessing, upon blessing. Promise. -

Irony, I am telling you, my life is full of it! 

I write a ton of letters and am always asking people to send me their address again. Figured it was time to invest in a good old fashioned address book. So today, January 1, 2012, I put on Pandora, decided to open my letter writing drawer, and pull out my box of various letters through out the past year. Of course as I am getting the addresses I am re-reading various cards and letters here and there. Bad idea. Most of these letters I have no read since receiving them. Of course as I happen to be reading a letter I received about a year ago after my tip to the UK, this song comes on Pandora. Of course being a girl, I got a bit emotional. Not over the song, but over the letter and all the broken promises filled between the lines. And although it re-opened an old wound, a briefly brought me back to place I never wanted to go back to, I am reminded that although yes, we forgive and life goes on, we never forget. But its okay, because God is sovereign, and He has proven that to me time and time again, even in the toughest of situations. Although life has moved on and changed ever drastically, much love and prayer my dear friend. Still.