Music to My Ears

Three of my favorite things have come together.  Taylor Swift + the Civil Wars + the Hunger Games = a hauntingly perfect new song for the movie coming out in March.  I just can't stop hitting repeat.  Sigh.

Can I Get an Amen?

I want to be a woman quiet in spirit. I want to be a woman seen for her good heart not her appearance. I want to be known as a servant. I want to listen and be heard. I want to be a woman that is kind. I want to be a woman after God’s own heart.

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Spiritual Musings

This post will probably be a bit scatterbrained, but I have so much on my heart that I'm bursting to share. The Lord, my beautiful Redeemer, has taught me new and glorious truths about Himself  this past semester.  One of the biggest things He's taught me, through various sources, is that my deepest desires (romance, beauty, wisdom) are part of a "nostalgic longing" (Tim Keller's words, not mine), a longing for our pre-Fall perfect relationship with the Lord.  In his sermon, "The Wounded Spirit," Keller says we long for something we remember but have never really had.  For example, in looking for love we are looking for arms that will hold us that we remember but we've never really had.  Those arms are not the arms of our soulmate, not in the sense of a significant other but THE significant other, the only One that will truly complete us.  I've been comforted in the knowledge that my desires for romance and beauty (among many other things) point to my desire for the Lord.  And I can experience His presence everyday through prayer and Scripture.  Psalm 16:11.  I don't have to wait a single second to be with Him.  He never leaves us.  How cool is that?!  My prayer has become, "Lord, the next time I look to some person, thing or idea to complete me, draw my eyes to You instead."

This has fanned the flame of my fire for Christ.  He has completely retuned my heart to pray for more of Him. To allow me to see Him and experience His love in fresh ways.  He has taught me, through the book Grace for the Good Girl by Emily P. Freeman, to trust less in my feelings and emotions. Instead, when I face moments of overwhelming anxiety, joy, pain, fear, inadequacy and helplessness to cling to His truth.  That He accepts me because of His greatness, not because of anything I do.  His acceptance overcomes my doubts about my inadequacy and that even in the midst of heartache and even happiness I will depend on Him and rest in His sufficiency, not my own.  As Freeman writes, "Jesus is the radical, absolutely complete, living answer to all our if-onlys and if-I-could-justs.  His unwaverying, unchanging, unconditional love and acceptance of us is what we are really looking for."  As I wrote earlier, everything we long for points back to Jesus and there is beauty and freedom in understanding that because this realization will hopefully lead to a life in pursuit of Christ instead of unattainable worldly pleasures.

Desire - Phil Wickham

Cutest Holiday Video

Oh, I just love Brooks Brothers.  Especially when they make cute holiday videos such as this.  

Paper Writing Playlist

As every other college student, I am a master of procrastination.  Today I spent half an hour making a playlist to listen to as I write a paper.  Instead of actually writing the paper I decided my time would be better spent making a playlist with music that would inspire me to write better (ok, let’s be honest, I just need it to inspire me to keep writing). So that I could procrastinate even longer, I’ve decided to share a sample of it with y’all.  Disclaimer: it’s pretty eclectic.  Happy studying/paper writing!

http://open.spotify.com/user/121661868/playlist/4qE5mq02BpUZ6PL8M6MW3L