All that His Love Is

Quite simply, I heard this song today and wanted to share it. I'm sure some of you have heard it before, but if you haven't (or even if you have) I implore you to take a minute and listen to it. It's called "Your Love Is Strong" by Jon Foreman.

"Heavenly Father, you always amaze me.

Let your kingdom come in my world and in my life.

Give me the food I need to live through today

and forgive me as I forgive the people that wrong me.

Lead me far from temptation.

Deliver me from the evil one.

I look out the window, the birds are composing.

Not a note is out of tune or out of place.

I walk to the meadow and stare at the flowers

better dressed than any girl on her wedding day.

So why do I worry? Why do I freak out?

God knows what I need. You know what I need.

Your love is

Your love is 

Your love is strong

Your love is

Your love is 

Your love is strong

Your love is

Your love is 

Your love is strong

The kingdom of the heavens is now advancing.

Invade my heart, invade this broken town.

The kingdom of the heavens is buried treasure.

Would you sell yourself to buy the one you've found?

Two things you told me: that you are strong,

and you love me. Yes, you love me.

Your love is

Your love is 

Your love is strong

Your love is

Your love is 

Your love is strong

Your love is

Your love is 

Your love is strong

Our God in heaven

Hallowed be thy name

Above all names

Your kingdom come

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven

Give us today our daily bread

Forgive us weary sinners

Keep us far away from our vices

And deliver us from these prisons."

Tonight, I also heard this: "I don't have to be afraid, because I know that you love me, and your love never fails." His love never fails to astound me in all of its abilities, its strength, its endurance, and its magnitude. 

In all of its perfection.

175 Years Young

For those of you who aren't infatuated with all things Texas, I'd like to let you know that today is our beloved state's 175th birthday! That's right, 175 years ago on March 2, 1836, Texas became a republic.

Texas pride, baby. Nothing sweeter.

Taken by the Hand

Today, I came to realize just how much I love being led.

The opportunity to have someone else be in charge, to guide your steps, it's blissful.
When you are led, you are allowed to not know. You are allowed to be blissfully unaware of what is happening, where you're going and what needs to be done. You don't have to do anything, you just have to follow.
When you are led, you are not held responsible for what happens. You don't have the burden of worry and you have no reason for concerns.
When you are led, you are not the one who has to plan out your future, it is planned for you. You don't have to be preoccupied over whether or not you're doing the right thing for you or for those around you. Because when you are led, the one you are following knows what you need.

Considering all of these thouroughly enticing qualities of the state of being led, why is it that it is so hard for us to allow God to lead us? I know, speaking for myself, there have been many times when I wished I could just let go of whatever matter I was clenching with white knuckles and give it up to God, and allow Him to lead me, but I just can't. At times I have a compulsive desire for control, a desire to be the one who leads. But (for lack of better phrasing) that's just so stupid! I know a shockingly small amount of what is good for me, what I need, what path I'm supposed to be on, and what my future will be like, and yet I still feel that I have the qualifications to be the one at the steering wheel.

I want to merely recline, and go through life as God directs. I want to let Him take me where I need to go. I want Him to bear the burden of my future, because He can handle it so much more gracefully than I ever could. During those few times when I give up my compulsive desire for control, when I let Him take me by the hand and lead me, I feel all the peace and freedom of being led. And I want it more often.

America's Pride and Joy

Now, I know this is a bit behind the times, but in my personal opinion, the Super Bowl is never out of date. Sooo...

Could there be anything more American? An entire day devoted to football. I love it! Love it love it love it. Now, I don't know about ya'll but neither the Packers or the Steelers are my team. I support the Cowboys through and through. True, their year was less than decent, but they're still my team. To endure a season wreaked by an injured quarter back, and a fired coach, they still managed to hold their own at times. Props for that. Point being, that even though the illustrious Cowboys did not make it to the Super Bowl this year, I still felt obligated to watch it. Didn't you? I mean, honestly, the Super Bowl is a momentous occasion, a football game of epic proportions, and that is simply something that is too big to miss!Aaaaand, you have those wonderfully unique and flat out funny commercials. It seems that this is the one time a year that advertisers really do put their best foot forward.

And speaking of epic proportions, can I draw your attention to the mega-stadium that the team of yours truly felt the need to construct? True, everything is bigger in Texas, but this threatens to claim that everything is excessive in  Texas. Sadly, I have never had the honor of seeing this glorious feat of architecture, but boy, I would give my left arm to do so. Of course, I'm sure you've heard of the larger than life, 60 yard long mega-screen. On top of that, there's the mongo retractable roof, the giant glass panes that rotate to open up the ends of the stadium, the (less than tasteful) dancer areas amongst the seats, and the 80,000 seating capacity in addition to the 110,000 standing room capacity. This is one for the history books.

Anyway, being in North Carolina, where basketball reigns and football is a pathetic joke, there are few things that assuage my homesickness more than a good game of football. Thankfully, my roommate (from Miami) is an avid NFL follower as well, which makes the fact that one of us always have a game on tv thoroughly enjoyable.  And I will say, fortunately for the sake of our safety, I was out of town during the Miami v Dallas game.

Being away from dear old Texas, it makes me smile and giggle like a little girl inside any time somebody mentions southern football, because it is always accompanied by the statement "cause football really is like religion down there." It's so true, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'll be sitting on the sidelines and yelling at the referee until my dying day.

What Happened to Loving Books for Being Books?

So, I'm sure you've all heard plenty about the Nook and the Kindle and all this e-reader hooplah. And, as I'm sure all of you do, I've got an opinion about it. I'm one of those girls who takes four or five books on my long trips, and yes, I will admit, it's inconvenient. For that reason, I think these e-readers are absolutely wonderful!

But, I cannot deny the obvious deficiency of the classic element of books. One of the reasons I love books so much is because they are.....well, BOOKS! I love their smell, I love the feel of the pages, the feel of the binding. I love the way a well loved book becomes so flexible and malleable. It's wonderful! and obviously, that element is missing with this new wave of technology.

However, the biggest qualm I have with this new fad is that I want to build a library. When I'm 80 and old and can't even walk down the stairs, I want to have a library that can take me anywhere. And if I purchase books on an e-reader, I won't have a permanent physical book to add to my library. Now, being my innovative self, I've come up with a solution. I'm just waiting for Barnes and Noble or Amazon to realize my genius and snatch up the idea. ; ) But honestly, I would love it if these e-readers had a feature where you could, say, scan the barcode on a book that I already own, and it would automatically upload to the e-reader. This makes the best of both worlds!

But, of course, this doesn't exist right now. So, for now, I'm satisfied lugging around all my books and reading and smelling them to my hearts content. This is one book-lover that has not been converted to the fad.

First Day of Winter...Maybe?

There are many many things I  love about Texas. Just to name a few, there's the cowboy boots, the southern hospitality, and, of course, the Texans themselves. However, the weather here is insane. And I mean that quite literally. Texas is known for it's unpredictable and fickle weather. On top of that, there's the lack of seasons, specifically winter. Tomorrow is the first day of winter, and the forecasted weather is a high of 78 degrees. 78 degrees! In what world is winter defined by 78 degrees? I often take pride in enduring many Texas summers, but i will admit, snowy winters would sure be nice.

Chesnuts and Fire

December, oh how I love it. As it is officially December, I have let Christmas music, Christmas decorations, and Christmas shopping swarm into my life. I live for the holiday season. It's one month of pure magic. Being away at college and living in a dorm room I can't exactly cuddle up next to the fire and read a book by the light of the Christmas tree. So, to make up for that, during the majority of my study time, I listen to fauxfire.com.

And as a wonderful introduction to the most wonderful month of the year, we experienced our first snow of the season yesterday! It started coming down at about noon, with surprisingly large flakes and impressive quantities. By 1:30 pm everything except for the roads and some of the pathways were covered in a pure blanket of white. I LOVED it. Being from Texas, I have seen snow on occasion. Last year we even had a white Christmas! (And let me say that no, this was not a pathetic white Christmas with a bit of slush on the ground and 50% of the grass still showing. This was a white Christmas where you couldn't see anything but snow. G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S.) So, i've seen snow, but it typically is slush. So this was a special treat to have powdery snow, and to even have the first snow so early and have it stick! Sadly, my afternoon and evening were spent in the top floor of the library watching the snow through the window. But all the same, it was rather nice.

Finally, I want to give you a taste of my Christmas season. Every year, my inaugural Christmas song is "Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!" by Sufjan Stevens due to a special Christmas morning memory that it holds. It's one of those songs that just makes me undeniably happy. It's quirky but really fun. Have a listen!
"Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!"