His wounds have paid my ransom

Tonight I am feeling completely undone and overwhelmed... by these few words written hundreds of years ago:

How deep the Father's love for us. How vast beyond all measure. That He would give His only son to make a wretch His treasure. How great the pain of searing loss. The Father turns His face away as wounds which mar the chosen one bring many sons to glory.

Behold the Man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders. Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life, I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything- no gifts, no power, no wisdom. But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Why should I gain from His reward? I can not give an answer. But this I know with all my heart: His wounds have paid my ransom. 

Truth

Starbucks is amazing, yes, this is true. However, one of my favorite things about Starbucks is probably how they give away free itunes downloads. I mean, usually the songs are amazing. And, you wouldn't have discovered them if not for Starbucks. Anyway, I recently discovered this pretty cool song (via Starbucks, of course) that has really kept me thinking. God usually speaks to me through the arts, so it wasn't that surprising that this song kept nagging at me. (Btw, I never really knew the correct spelling of that word...is there a k in front?) The end of the chorus is as follows: (These are the main lyrics that stood out to me)

"Your darkness is shining,
   My darkness is shining,
   Have faith in myself,
   Truth."

Well, here was my interpretation of it: God doesn't just shine through me when I'm talking about the Bible, or when I'm doing something "good". He shines through everything; He penetrates the darkness in my heart. Therefore I should be confident in who He created me to be because whats inside of me is Truth.
Truth is penetrating my darkness.

Ambitions...

I've decided, yes, yes I have. I'm moving to Canada. Alright, alright, I know. Canada, really? Thats what I was convinced of too. However, after my recent visit, my mindset has been completely transformed. It's freaking gorgeous up there. Seriously, it is. And it's like stepping back in time, which, for a blubbering romantic like myself, is pretty awesome. Maybe I'll find a school up there to go to. I wonder what the probabilities of something like that are...Well, I suppose ambitions are good to have..they keep you moving forward in life.

An Unearthed Introvert

One of my favorite things in life are summer storms. There was one today, and when it was over I went outside in my bare feet and traipsed around, holding a bouquet of heliotropes. I guess I was dreaming up something heavenly, and forgot about the obnoxious "after drizzle" of the storm. But that is something I do regularly... I will go off someplace by myself and be perfectly content with my own thoughts. I suppose it could be called my "Willowmere". I've been thinking about this "other side" of me lately. I used to consider myself a full blown extrovert, and introversion was something to be avoided. But now I'm thinking I fall somewhere in the middle. It may be because of the shifting seasons of my life (usually I'm pondering on my future), in which I case, I suppose such thinking is necessary. But other times, I'm simply dreaming up wild fantasies...hmm..aren't I a little old for that? Well, I guess that's just me.


"Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?" --Anne Shirley