Everyday becomes incredible when you let God do the impossible in you at least twice! – Ann Voskamp
Haha – I LOVE that!!! Try it with me today? Look for the miracles!!!!!
life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “Proof”
I keep getting back up…
There are days when I just want to quit. I don’t want to keep fighting these battles. I just want to go my own way. I want to give up and be comfortable. I don’t want to be aware, or have to choose. I don’t want to be strong. I want to jump into the music business and go to the top. I want to sell myself to get there. I want to sing to thousands of people and get praise and acclaim from all over the world. I know I could work hard enough. I want to be spoiled and live in a nice house. I want to buy shoes and be shallow. I want to be beautiful and dress fabulous in designer clothes and prove to everyone, especially certain people on a short list I have, what I…yes, I said it, what I can do. If I can’t do that, then I want to forget it all and be able to be satisfied with some simple job and blend into anonymity, which then makes me want to just lay in bed for days, in my pajamas, and only get up to eat ice cream out of the container. I want…I want….I want….is the recurring theme.
Every day I am aware of how difficult, even impossible, it is to live this spiritual life. Every day I face a new choice of who I want to be, how I live. It goes against everything I seem to want. Every moment is a new choice to make. So many choices and so many times I fail. Over and over I fail. Yet God remains faithful. I have lived my faith – I have found the faithfulness of God to be so much more mind-blowing than I could ever comprehend. I have lived the miracles. No one can take that away from me! And so I continue with the struggle to love, the struggle to open my heart, the struggle to be patient and obedient and wait on God’s timing for my music. One more day the battle wages on and I chose to take one more faltering step with God. Yes, the warrior is a child every morning, every night and all through the day. Thankfully I know the truth that everything is grace! Gods mercy remains and is new every morning – just for me. Oh, and for everyone else who chooses to receive it.
Henri Nouwen says this about Spiritual Choices:
Choices. Choices make the difference. Two people are in the same accident and severely wounded. They did not choose to be in the accident. It happened to them. But one of them chose to live the experience in bitterness, the other in gratitude. These choices radically influenced their lives and the lives of their families and friends. We have very little control over what happens in our lives, but we have a lot of control over how we integrate and remember what happens. It is precisely these spiritual choices that determine whether we live our lives with dignity.
We are set to Soar into the impossible. – Ann Voskamp
God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible.
What a pity when we plan only the things we can do by ourselves.” – A.W. Tozer
Set jaw, set times, set sights, set back to the wind…and unfold arms, like wings extending.
A New Year blows in.
I feel that Spirit wind catch, lift.
We are set to Soar into the impossible.
– Ann Voskamp
http://www.aholyexperience.com/
Happy New Year!!!
Life is Beautiful! – Motto of Marc’s Bagels, Blue Ash, Ohio
“I don’t really want more time;
I just want enough time.
Time to breathe deep & time to see real & time to laugh long, time to give You glory & rest deep & sing joy…
I just want time to do my one life well.
Life at its fullest is this sensitive, detonating sphere —
and it can be carried only in the hands of the unhurried and reverential—
a bubble held in awe.”
~ One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
God breathes stars – WOW!!!!
He breathed the word, and all the stars were born Ps.33:6 NLT
When I stand before the ocean, drive through the mountains, or see pictures taken in space of the great galaxies, the vast beauty above and beyond what we could imagine possible. It always puts my problems, and my place in this world, into perspective.
God is so much bigger than we can ever comprehend. I am humbled and amazed as I stretch my mind open and allow myself to broken open by God’s greatness. As I embrace the mysteries I will never understand in this lifetime. It fills me with wonder to recognize that in all of this vast beautiful universe, I am so small, yet I am here, at this very time and place on purpose – there are no accidental people. I am loved unconditionally – right now. This majestic energy who breathes stars and creates worlds cares so much that I will never be alone.
I think today of the ‘Wise Men’ following that mysterious star so long ago – they followed until they found Jesus. They didn’t have near as much information as we do today, yet they
were so in tune and open to what was happening.
There is a quote we see during this time of year, Wise Men Still Seek Him. We have been promised in Matthew 7:7, Seek and you shall find!
Following the star is just as relevant and just as exciting as it was over 2000 years ago.
I have found it true! I love that!
My Christmas Gift
This time of year is so busy – the strange this is that it seems to me the energy I most feel when I am out and 
about is frenzied, desperate and afraid of not meeting expectations. There seem to be so many expectations for this holiday.
As an adult, for the past 25 years or so, Christmas has been a strange and complicated time for me. I won’t go into a lot of details, but, trust me – it has not been easy. I used to wish I could just have ‘normal’ Christmases like those I saw around me – with a Christmas tree, lots of holiday buying and ‘stuff’. I thought I wanted that same frantic spirit I felt in others. Every year I would look forward to the day when I would have the Christmas that I wanted, and keep the hope alive that it would come.
Well, this year I am having the most wonderful Christmas Season I have ever had as an adult – and guess what? It has nothing to do with having lots of money or buying super amounts of gifts, or by having a full schedule of too many things to do. This year every little thing is a gift. It is cool to me that Chris and I ‘accidentally’ bought the biggest Christmas tree ever! It didn’t look that big at Costco! ha It is probably 10 feet tall and so beautiful! I love drinking my coffee in the early morning with only God and the lighted tree for company. It is a very special Christmas.
This Christmas I am experiencing Mary, the Birth of Christ and ‘The Fullness of Time’ in so many ways in my life. It is very personal. I am humbled and so grateful. I am giving thanks for all that has brought me to this place. I am wrapping each moment as a gift and I am full of gratitude for reaching home. Little things for me have, and will continue to be, miracles! Giving thanks makes for the most beautiful life in every circumstance.
In 1990, desperate for happiness, I reached out to God and declared it. I wanted happiness, love, peace, joy and I was willing to do what ever it took to get it. I was changed forever by the words of Jesus in Matthew chapters 5-7, and I began this crazy adventure which has been marked by loss, pain, tears, and years of wandering. Yet each step has been sacred and holy as I have given it to God – this is a continual process. I choose the way of the cross every day, and, by God’s grace, I will continue to choose it every moment.
We have freewill – a spiritual relationship is just like any other physical relationship. We choose how much we put into it, and how successful it becomes. I have chosen to give my all. I have chosen to give thanks no matter where I find myself. I have worked hard to accept all life has brought to me and to learn from it. I have chosen to keep my heart open and to allow healing. I have recognized a greater purpose in everything I have experienced and have acknowledged the many miracles that have been at every turn. I have known that many people may have meant me evil, but God only wanted to bring me all good things. Psalm 37 has been my guide and I have LIVED my faith. God has been so faithful and I am blessed beyond what I ever even knew was possible.
I have believed that I would come to this place and … here I am!!! It is a real ‘wow’ time for me and I am so glad to be able to share it with everyone who will listen this year.
What is even more wonderful for me to know isthis:
this is not some secret just for me – it is for everyone! All you have to do is say ‘yes’!
You don’t have to be a star, baby, to be in my show…
I found this art/quote about ordinary people yesterday and didn’t think too much about it. As you can probably tell, I am a seeker of inspiration and am actively looking to find thes
e types of things all the time. I liked it, and thought I could use it at some point, and so I went ahead with the process of saving it. As I tried to save it, my computer got ‘stuck’. So I, as I am prone to do, kept hitting the same button to ‘un-stick’ it – I finally got disgusted and ‘re-set’ moving on to other things. This morning, as I was looking through some pictures, I saw that I had saved it 18 times!!! hahaha Sometimes it takes seeing 18 images of the same quote to get my attention and to embrace the full impact of said quote! hee
Sometimes we look at others and say, ‘I could never do anything so amazing. They do extraordinary things because they are just extraordinary people – better than me.’ I believe each created person has the same value on
this earth – each of us have the same potential to change the world. We are all called to be who we have been created to be. To use our time wisely. It is a very personal journey and living our lives faithfully, diligently, consistently and rightly is our purpose. (I want to clarify, there is no human, correct answer to ‘Rightly before God’ it simply means ‘actions done with unconditional love’).
Truth is, that everything in this world that is accomplished is done by ‘ordinary-extraordinary’ people who believed in their dreams, worked hard and wouldn’t give up. We are all ordinary…AND…we are all extraordinary. This is not about becoming famous, or becoming fabulously wealthy – this is about becoming our best, truest, highest selves and then manifesting that into the world in whatever way we feel we should – no matter what other people say. One act of true kindness changes the world for the better. We may never know how even one kind word, or a well-timed recognition may change someone’s life.
This truth brings hope to me. This truth keeps me humble. This truth keeps me seeking consistency becoming my truest self. This truth keeps my heart open, and keeps me seeking to forgive myself, and others, for our imperfections. This truth gives me the courage to continue to pursue my dreams and step into my destiny. I hope it doesn’t take you reading this quote 18 times to feel the impact in your soul and in your every day life! 🙂
life: acoustic & amplified 