Journaling

I decided to take some time tonight to do some writing in my journal. What started out as a "dream" journal has morphed into an every other week journal detailing the craziness of my life and also the prayers that I tend to pray daily. The lighting on our screened in porch invited me to bring out my camera. I love photography and I love capturing the moments that tell a story. This picture I hope tells the story of what has already started and what is to come with my journal and photography!
Psalm 18:30 is what I decided to journal about tonight. God's ways are perfect and His word is proven true!

Psalm 139

I wish I had time tonight to go through all of my thoughts on Psalm 139. It is a chapter that I continue to return to especially in times of depression or sadness. When things change in my life and I don't like it, I return to these words that show me how much I am worth in the Lord! Nothing can change His love for me!! What a beautiful and wonderful thing to cling to when times are tough. I can let self pity, sadness, depression and many other things cloud what I know to be true. If you are not feeling worthy or feeling so unloved meditate on the words below and relish the truth that God formed you from the beginning and knows everything about you! You are created in His image!

Psalm 139
Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,"
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!

Follow up to post on Modesty

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I decided to go to biblegateway.com this morning and this was the verse of the day. I think it speaks volumes to the issue of modesty!

Modesty

Modesty has been a hot topic of mine for a while. It's no surprise that I don't dress too provocatively and can be called a prude at times. I have learned that it's okay. :) I need to be confident in myself and who God made me and not try to be something that doesn't reflect who I am as a child of God.
I stumbled upon a blog today that I felt was good, interesting and worth going back to see what Anne says. This is her post on modesty: http://www.flowerdust.net/2009/08/11/do-women-dress-too-sexy/

Check it out!

Also, another great blog: http://www.jesusneedsnewpr.blogspot.com/

Great Video

I am all for weddings that are creative and reflect the couple's style and this video great! I don't think I would do it at my wedding but it worked for this couple and their wedding party!

International Justice Day ~ July 17th

I'm a few days late in posting this video. Take some time to watch it and then pass it on. If you would like to know more about the Mocha Club go to www.mochaclub.org.

A powerful video from the Mocha Club...




http://mochaclub.org/joinme/rebeccannb

Deeply flawed and yet unbelievably loved

I continually come to the realization of how deeply flawed I am. I'm a perfectionist at heart and if something doesn't work out the way I would like it to I tend to walk away or over work at getting the situation perfect. Neither way is a good way to handle any situation. I am learning though, with an abundance of grace that is given to me each day I wake up! I am also realizing that some things just don't matter in the grand scheme of life. If something doesn't go the way I want it to go it's going to be okay. Life is not going to come to a crashing halt.
During my quiet time yesterday I meditated on a verse that shows me that no matter how flawed I am, I am loved beyond my comprehension!
Psalm 139:17
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

Faith = Action

I read recently on a twitter feed that hope is great but faith requires action. I can hope that things in my life change and things go well but if I don't step out in faith and put action to the things I hope for in my life then all I am doing is just sitting. I don't like doing that. Anyone that knows me well, knows that I do not like to just sit and do nothing.
Recently though I have been doing a lot of "sitting" on what I hope for with my life. I decided that I can't just dream about what I want to do and then hope it comes true. I need to put some action behind that hope. I think in some parts of my life I had let depression set in. It's something I deal with on occasion and I have to continually look to scripture and realize that my life is not about me. It's about getting out of myself and looking towards others around me. It's time for me to stop being selfish and realize that the world is filled with people who need some one to come along side them and encourage them to continue in their daily walks with the Lord.
I love encouragement. I love giving encouragement and receiving it. I believe it's one of the greatest things we can do to help others out.
Just some thoughts of mine as I continue to realize I need to be writing more and working more on what I truly love... photography. I also need to stay connected to others as well.
Hopefully my blog will be updated more on things I am doing and where God is leading me through each day.
Today I added the Compassion International gidget on my blog. I sponsor a child and I think others should as well. Soon I will be sharing about other opportunities that I feel I am to start being apart of!

Have a wonderful and blessed day!!!

Hope

Below are the lyrics to a song I immediately fell in love with. The first time I heard the song I knew that the Lord was speaking to my heart using the lyrics to create a renewed hope in my heart. This year for me so far has had a lot of ups and downs. But I continue to hope in the Lord and trust His hand is always guiding my life even when I don't see clearly what is ahead.
When I have felt like giving up, hope is always there to remind me I can move ahead and push through the trails that lay before me.


Hope Now by Addison Road
If everything comes down to love
Then just what am I afraid of
When I call out Your name
Something inside awakes in my soul
How quickly I forget I'm Yours

(PRE-CHORUS)
I'm not my own
I've been carried by You
All my life

(CHORUS)
Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
This love sets me free

When my life is like a storm
Rising waters all I want is the shore
You say I'll be ok and
Make it through the rain
You are my shelter from the storm

(CHORUS)
And everything rides on hope now
And everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
This love sets me free

You've become my hearts desire
I will sing Your praises higher
Cause Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free

(PRE-CHORUS)
I'm not my own
I've been carried by You
All my life

(CHORUS)
Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
This love sets me free

This love sets me free
Your love sets me free
This love sets me free
Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free

Some pictures of the gnome

Here's the gnome waiting for the flight and then making sure he read the safety instructions before take-off...

The flight and our first night in Vegas

We safely made it to Vegas last night. Although the flight for me (Becky) was a bit bumpier than I would like! I am not a fan of turbulence. (I take deep breathes and pray during the turbulence!) We also had interesting people on our flight. There was a group of women that I decided to name "The Real Housewives of Gaston County".
Last night my sister Julia took us to the strip and that was definitely an interesting experience. I did win four dollars on a machine named "Big Birtha"! After our adventure on the strip we finally made it back to the hotel. We were all exhausted by the time we got back due to the time difference and it being 3:30 am for me, my mom and Pam.

At 3:30 am Vegas time the phone rang in our hotel room. Julia answered the phone and wasn't exactly thrilled with the person who had called. The person on the other end wanted one of the four of us to come down to the lobby to "claim" our prize we had just won. We didn't win anything.... the phone call was from Dan, Pam's boyfriend!!!!! Apparently he called four times! I only heard the phone ring twice.

Now we are headed to Red Rock Canyon so that I can take pictures!!!

I will update with pictures later on tonight....

The trip begins...

Here is our little traveling gnome. Tonight I fly to Vegas with my mom, and my friend Pam. We have decided to make this trip as fun as possible and are going to take pictures of our little gnome friend everywhere. We will be driving back to Charlotte with my sister. Julia officially decided to move home! :)
I will be updating the blog with pictures and stories for you all to read.

Here the gnome is in my office waiting patiently for me to get off in a few hours.

I can not stop laughing at this...

This is from the Amazing Race this past Sunday... Watch and be amazed at one of the frat boys trying to do a military march. It should be simple but, not with this guy!

My brother and many others like him...

I wrote this a few years ago and I am FINALLY putting it out there for others to read. I am kind of nervous about that but oh well. I know I was born to write at some point so why not start now letting others read what I write...no mater how personal it is.


Growing up in a family like mine there were many challenges. But those challenges were met and most were overcome. I am the middle child and I have an older brother whom I love dearly. But, sometimes it's not that easy to love him. You see he was born with a handicap. He has a mild case of Cerebral Palsy and it has affected more than one area of his life.
Growing up I felt that I had to be the protector and shield him from the hurtful things people said and did to him. I was a "second mom" so to speak.
I grew up really fast. My mom has told me numerous times that when we were very little that I had started walking and talking before him. Matthew is only 15 ½ months older than I am. I would interpret what he had to say to my parents like it was natural for me to understand him. That's pretty much true, it has been natural for me to understand him when others haven't. God gave me a unique ability to love my brother when it seemed the world didn't want to love him or had given up on him. I was also presented with another unique challenge of learning sign language at the age of four so that a deaf girl my age had a friend. It's so natural for me to sign, that even when I am in a group of hearing people I will start to sign while I am talking.
I give you that back ground so that you will understand what I want to convey about my brother and so many other people that live with handicaps. My brother has been given a gift. Not many people would see it as a gift but I do. His gift, is that he has an amazing ability to love and care deeply for others around him. He is kind hearted and gentle. He sees things that others would not even think to look at. He loves people. His gentle spirit has been a great way for him to make friends and be as friendly as possible to others he meets. He works at a grocery store here in town and everyone that I talk to that has met him says he is the most polite and nicest guy they have ever met. I believe them when they say it, because it's true. As my brother grew up he had a lot of struggles with fitting in. Trying to understand why you aren't "fitting in" at a very young
age is hard to do. I didn't understand it so how was my brother supposed to understand that people didn't necessarily want to be around him because he was different. I learned at a very early age that if you were different you would be picked on no matter what and that you had to just deal with it or let it get to you. Growing up with a handicap is not easy for the person or the family of that person but you learn to deal with each day as it comes and you see the good that can come out of it. There are times when I look at young kids who have disabilities and I look past that to see who they really are and how much they want to love and be loved just like the rest of us. I know that is true with my brother. God has placed a capacity bigger than I could ever fathom for loving unconditionally within some one who is handicap. People who have a handicap understand the need to be dependent on someone or something. They trust so much more easily than I ever could and they love you no matter what you look like or act like.
A few years ago I started seeing my brother through "new eyes" so to speak. I guess the Lord was putting a fresh burden on my heart for my brother and it's been my prayer for a long time that he would surrender his whole heart to the Lord and be the man God has created him to be. I get to hang out with my brother a lot more lately and it has changed our relationship.
He sees that I want to hang out with him and I want to do stuff with him even if it means putting my own desires aside. We both have very different taste in things and what I consider to be normal he considers to be weird. So, I have learned to compromise a lot. I am learning to love my brother where he is at and not the brother I think he should be. It's a daily
struggle because I want him to be normal and he never will be. I sometimes view this as loving what seems to be the unlovable or the difficult one to love. I was reading in Luke 5 this morning about Jesus calling Matthew the Tax collector and how the Pharisees didn't take to well to the idea that Jesus was associating with some one who was deemed unlovable. I see that in my own life about loving people who seem to be some one you would not want to love. It kind of reminds me about my brother and what he has had to deal with. Some people couldn't understand his disability so it was easier to just not deal with him rather than love him for who he was. This is where my perspective started to change.I see things much differently and I believe that is only by the grace of God. I don't say that lightly either. I think at times our perspective on life can be skewed by the situations we are going through. I know mine is skewed. When I am going through something I tend to look at myself and ask "why" rather than look out and see what God is doing in the situation. One situation that my perspective has changed is with my brother. I have been praying for years that God would change him and God would move but
what I didn't expect is that God would be changing me too. That He was changing my heart towards my brother and all the things he goes through. Until recently I used to question what in the world the Lord was doing with my brother. It seemed that every time I talked to him it was like talking to a brick wall. Then one Sunday during breakfast my brother announced some changes in his life. Nothing drastic but some minor changes that I had talked to him about a lot in the past couple of years and he is now doing them! I was kind of mad because I wasn't able to convince him that the changes would be
good but because he started reading a book that told him he could change he decided he wanted to! But then just as it always happens I had some prayer time and the Lord showed me that this time wasn't just about my brother changing but about me changing. I love my brother but God wanted to change my heart and show me how to love my brother where he is at right now in his life. A few years ago that would have been very difficult for me to do. So, I see how God can change me and my perspective when I didn't think anything was going on.