EXCITING Travel

So, I typically use this website to post my revelations about Jesus and what he's doing in my life, but I'm going to gear towards a more architectural world for a while.

I've been blessed with the opportunity to travel to Germany this year. I was awarded a travel grant set up in memory of an influential architect in Memphis named Francis Mah. His legacy of good architectural works is prevalent throughout our city, and his legacy and passion for learning through travel is being passed on through the travel grant set up by the Mah family, the Weinstein Foundation, and brg3s.

My excitement is bursting from the seams. At first when they called my name, I had to do a double take to make sure my name was actually said and that it wasn't my brain hearing what I hoped to hear. I know there were many other worthy applicants, so I am humbled that the group chose my application. I haven't been able to stop smiling since I found out on Thursday (April 26). I am overjoyed and still a little in disbelief at this amazing opportunity before me.

I will be traveling to Germany (the birthplace of expressionistic architecture) to study the works of the Expressionist architects. I will be comparing their efforts following the Economic Crisis of the first and second world war to the challenges facing architects today in the US as we recover from our economic crisis (the great recession). I will start in Berlin, have day trips to Potsdam and Dassau. I will travel to Hamburg for a day and night, then to Bremen for a day and night. I will finish in Essen, Oberhausen & Gelsenkirchen (which are only 15 minutes apart from each other). I plan to do some video diaries, and post some of my favorite photos from each day while I'm there here on my blog.

Architecture is my profession and my passion. I've been blessed with a career that I enjoy. And I hope to share some of it's joys through this shift in blogging. Architecture is a part of my heart and very much a part of who I am. I look forward to sharing my travels with you.

Time with Jesus

So the other night I was feeling lonely. My room mate has moved out, so I live in a big house by myself. The holidays just ended, so I'm not getting to enjoy the company of my family. i could go on and on about the different reasons I've been feeling lonely lately. Thankfully I was journaling/praying during my quiet time and what do you know Jesus hit a home run!

I've always valued time spent with others. I'm a people person as most of you know. I like being around people all the time, I like learning about other people, I like to invest my time in others. I know I consider it such a blessing whenever I get to spend time with my friends! The time my friends spend with me I consider extremely valuable. Well, in the midst of my complaining that I wanted someone to spend time with. God said "Why don't you spend time with me?" Wow, let me tell you I lost my breath I felt so bad... All the time Jesus is knocking on the door offering, here I am, spend time with me, enjoy me...

Do you know how ever so often you look at the Bible next to your bed and say, oh i'll get to it later as you rush out the door to go meet a friend for dinner... Well God has really convicted me on this one. I shouldn't let him be second priority...

Do you ever feel like I don't want to get into it because I know with my thinking that it will end up taking hours and I only have half an hour right now... I get so mad at myself - why do I worry about that... Cause when I do open God's living word - wow, he always speaks straight to my heart! Who cares if I spend hours communing with Jesus - Nothing in this world is more important than the trinity! I mean Jesus did give the ultimate sacrifice - he gave his life for me so that I can SPEND TIME WITH GOD!!!!

Am I hitting any chords here?

Well, this loneliness isn't there anymore. When I get home to my empty house I just go sit down with my favorite book and let the Holy Spirit meet with me...

SUNNY!!!

So I look outside the window, and I'm so lucky God gave me eyes to see!! I love witnessing the sun play on the buildings and the dancing shadows!~

God is so good! I've been asking Him to come and fill my heart so that I might be able to love my neighbors unconditionally. And God just puts this joy in me that makes me just love everything around me! He is faithful when he says in one of my favorite verses:

Isaiah 40:31
"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow faint!"

Don't you just love God's optimism! He is ALL we need!!!

I know I've been sad plenty of times, but I look back on it and wonder why I didn't just remember all the MILLIONS of blessings God gives me EACH and EVERY day! I've been disappointed recently, and I'm just mad at myself for letting some little unsubstantial things bother me! God calls us to be hopeful! I have just been praying that God will keep my love for humanity and my passion for others to be renewed and remain a faithful servant and witness for the Lord. I have the most amazing friends a girl could ask for. Not to mention God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit NEVER disappoint us! It's so easy to look at todays society and become disenchanted, but we just have to remember how WONDERFUL heaven will be once we get there! God gives us pain so that we can grow to love all the blessings he gives us that much more! I mean if Jesus' glory was realized in all his sufferings, why won't our pain become something great?

Sometimes we can get so tunnel visioned on the negatives that it completely affects who we are! But we should be stronger than that! One thing God has shown me is that we can't let our standards be compromised! Stand Firm in Him! Do not be moved! Keep your joy! Keep your childlike WONDER at the world!

Here is a little verse I got to enjoy last night during my quiet time with Jesus, the romancer of my soul!

Psalm 84 (New International Version)

1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty!

2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.

4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.

7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.

8 Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty; listen to me, O God of Jacob.

9 Look upon our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one.

10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

12 O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

Much love to you all!!!

Joyful

Wow... I can't believe it's been over a year since I blogged... I don't know where the time has gone...

I'm just overwhelmed with Joy these days. God is good. Satan has had me trapped, chained down in some hole of worry and fear and anxiety; but I have broken out! God set me free, and I am just overflowing with happiness! The scariest part was that I didn't even realize i needed releasing!

Amazing to think that we can get so caught up that we need something major to help us realize that our hearts aren't in the places that they should be. I didn't realize how far I had faded! I guess my lack of blogging attests to it as well.

I'm gonna try to update more often again.

Busyness

Why are we so busy all the time?
Is it the "cool" thing to do?
Is it because we're afraid of telling the truth?
Is it because we're scared of being still?

At Church our sermon was on the sabbath, and it got me thinking. Are we afraid to be still and rest in Jesus. Are we scared of what we might discover or what he might tell us, so we continue to go go go so that we don't have to hear what He is telling us?

I know some of it is trust - do we trust Jesus enough to find comfort in Him and His ways.

But I also think a part of it is that we are scared and that's satan's way of keeping us from doing God's work. Satan uses lies and fear to decieve and distract.

I've been lucky enough to know how important keeping the sabbath is. I've even been criticized for keeping my Sundays my Jesus days, but it's totally worth it! God knew what he was doing when he said to take a day to rest and recoop. Why is so hard for us to listen??? I know I need work in this area!

"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." Genesis 2:2-3

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him Psalm" 62:5

Fragile life...

wow...
I am truly blessed in this life...
So... something crazy happened to me on Friday morning... Just like every other morning, I was on my way to the Architecture building to work on my thesis proposal... riding down the road on my bike, seeing a green light, so I'm going to continue into the intersection to cross the road, and well, I got hit by a car... I mean, really, who gets hit by a car... still totally surreal... I don't remember much of anything from the wreck (God's way of allowing us not to relive our tramatic experiences every day) But I'm so lucky- no broken bones, just a lot of pain...
I wasn't wearing a helmet (God had an angel watching over me because apparently I landed on my head and was knocked out and lying in the roadway) I only have a concussion... It could be worse... I redislocated my shoulder, and tweeked my knee stretching some of the ligaments... and on the xrays of my ankle, there is a hairline fracture, but you can't do anything for it, so it's just very bruised and swolen... there is a giant bruise on my shin right under my shin... and my calf and achilles tendon are pretty sore... plus ofcourse the whiplash... well, enough said about the injuries... it could be worse, and God has watched over me, even though I'm not worthy... God's grace is amazing!
I don't remember being on the ground, but a friend that I believe God had drive by and recognize me, when he pulled over and came over and followed me to the hospital, he said that I was asking what was going on and what happened... supposedly I said I didn't see the car, which I didn't but I don't remember answering any of the questions while I was sitting on the ground either... I don't remember the ambulance ride and the first bit in the ER is fuzzy... I didn't really come to my senses until about two hours after it happened. Supposedly I went over the hood... I don't know... all I know was there was a green light and I was just heading to school just like every other day...
I have a cousin that works in Fort Benning, and my mom lives 5 hours away in Jackson, MS and my aunt all came to see me... How SPECIAL family is! It's amazing! God created the family unit for a reason, and I'm so thankful that He placed me in such a loving family- I am so blessed...
I have had numerous friends that have called, or come by to check on me! I can not express how thankful and lucky I am! Sometimes it's hard to swallow that I am so blessed, because I feel like I don't deserve all the wonderful things that I have in my life! My roommate and her mom also came to the ER room to check on me... My sweet boyfriend also took his whole day on Friday to come and help take care of me, and he drove to see me from montgomery saturday, sunday, and today!
It's amazing the support that God has blessed me with, and I just wish I could express to them all how much they mean to me as well as how thankful I am for everything God has done for me, and there is so much more, this is just a recent event in my life where God once again has blown me away with his mercies! I might be sore and hurt physically, but I'm bursting with Joy and thanksgiving on the inside!!! and I'm all the time getting better- God is allowing me to heal... Praise Him!

excerpts from The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

"You mean we might draw a circle on the ground--and write in queer letters in it--and stand inside it--and recite charms and spells?" [Jill Pole]
"Well," said Eustace after he had thought hard for a bit. "I believe that was the sort of thing I was thinking of, though I never did it. But now that it comes to the point, I've an idea that all those circles and things are rather rot. I don't think he'd like them. It would look as if we thought we could make him do things. But really, we can only ask him." p. 8-9

How curious... we often think we can get to heaven on our own works, on our own schemes, but really, it's God's way that will succeed in the end and we can only ask if he will let us into heaven through His Mercy and Grace in His son, Jesus!

"I was wondering--I mean--could there be some mistake? Because nobody called me and Scrubb, you know. It was we who asked to come here. Scrubb said we were to call to--to Someobody--it was a name I wouldn't know--and perhaps the Somebody would let us in. And we did, and then we found the door open."
"You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you," said the Lion.
"Then you are Somebody, Sir?" said Jill.
"I am. And now hear your task. Far from here in the land of Narnia there lives an aged king who is sad because he has no prince of his blood to be king after him. He has no heir because his only son was stolen from him many years ago, and no one in Narnia knows where that prince went or whether he is still alive. But he is. I lay on you this command, that you seek this lost prince until either you have found him and brought him to his father's house, or else died in the attempt, or else gone back to your own world."
"How, please?" said Jill.
"I will tell you, Child," said the Lion. "These are the signs by which I will guide you in your quest. First; as soon as the Boy Eustace sets foot in Narnia, he will meet an old and dear friend. He must greet that friend at once; if he does, you will both have good help. Second; you must journey out of Narnia to the north till you come to the ruined city of the ancient giants. Third; you shall find a writing on a stone in that ruined city, and you must do what the writing tells you. Fourth; you will know the lost prince (if you find him) by this, that he will be the first preson you have met in your travels who will ask you to do something in my name, in the name of Aslan."
As the Lion seemed to have finished, Jill thought she should say something. So she said, "Thank you very much. I see." p. 24-26

How deep... God is Great!! and C.S. Lewis does such a great job relating to the Christian life!!

"Who's There?" Shouted the three travelers.
"I am the Warden of the Marches of Underland, and with me stand a hundred Earthmen in arms," came the reply. "Tell me quickly who you are and what is your errand in the Deep Realm?"
"We fell down by accident," said Puddleglum, truthfully enough.
"Many fall down, and few return to the sunlight lands," said the voice. "Make ready now to come with me to the Queen of the Deep Realm." p140

I pray that we who fall, that is sin... will sincerely repent of our wrong doings, even if it was an accident, but that God would show us how we have missed the mark so that we can get right with Him and have hopes of one day joining Him in the "sunlit lands" of heaven!

"Don't you mind him," said Puddleglum. "There are no accidents. Our guide is Aslan; and he was there when the giant King caused the letters to be cut, and he knew already all things that would come of them; including this." p154

Aren't we thankful for God guiding our lives, and knowing what choices we will make, that He has gone before ALL of us to prepare the way...

"My royal mother is avenged," siad Rilian presently. "This is undoubtedly the same worm that I pursued in vain by the fountain in the forest of Narnia, so many years ago. All these years I have been the slave of my mother's slayer. Yet I am glad, gentlemen, that the foul Witch took to her serpent form at the last. It would not have suited well either with my heart or with my honor to have slain a woman." p 185

Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit have given us the strength to avenge Eve, and I'm so thankful that He has defeated Satan on the human race's behalf! And gives us the strength to resist evil...

"You cannot want wrong things any more, now that you have died, my son," said Aslan. "And you shall see their world--for five minutes of their time. It will take no longer for you to set things right there." Then Aslan explained to Caspian what Jill and Eustace were going back to and all about Experiment House: he seemed to know it quite as well as they did.
"Daughter," siad Aslan to Jill, "pluck a switch off that bush." She did; and as soon as it was in her hand it turned into a fine new riding crop.
"Now, Sons of Adam, draw your swords," said Aslan. "But use only the flat, for it is cowards and children, not warriors, against whom I send you."
"Are you coming with us, Aslan?" said Jill.
"They shall see only my back," said Aslan. p 240-241

Wow... God is good! and always with us... He has renewed our minds after we die to the flesh so that we can be more like Him and have more of His thoughts for us... Praise be to God!!