Matthew 6:26

"Consider the birds of the air; they do not sow or store away in barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"

{Matthew 6:26}

Breach Inlet, South Carolina

Little Updates

Well...

• I got my maternity jeans in the mail. One word: disappointment. Really, Old Navy?? That's the size I ordered?? The "baby band" which was disproportionally tight compared to the rest of the sagging "skinny" jeans was so low that they might as well have just been ill-constructed elastic waist jeans that I don't think anyone would be caught dead in. Not to mention that the charcoal cowl neck sweater I also ordered was somehow confused by the same geniuses for a hideously pleated bazar black sweat shirt that looks nothing short of amish. And to add to my madness?? I drive 25 minutes to Mt. Pleasant to return the horrendous items only to be told that they don't accept maternity items in the store.

Thanks. For. Nothin.

• In more uplifting news, since I was at the Towne Centre, I stopped in Pea in a Pod, which I should have done all along, and got some much more satisfactory jeans. Thank ya Jesus for well-fitting preggo jeans.

• Brendan and I went to the wedding of our good friends Jeffery and Ashleigh this weekend and I had Brendan take a baby bump picture before we left, but after further review, I hate it, and therefore will not be sharing. Maybe now that I got some better jeans, I'll post one soon.

• 16 weeks was Sunday...and the roller coaster continues. Many more ups than downs, but still, Monday was rough.

• First house project complete: blinds for the downstairs! Yay! So now when I'm working, I don't share awkward glances with people walking by outside. Next step, blinds for the second and third floor and the bathrooms/half baths!

This is what we're doing in the second floor half bath. I'm still scouting out the mirror, just the version that doesn't cost $300. I know I can find it cheaper. And so the hunt is on.

Mmk, friends. I'm off make brownies for our Code Orange viewing party tonight. What's that, you ask? Elevation Church in Charlotte is hosting a 12-night event where speakers, pastors, and musicians from all over the country (and the world) are taking the stage and our very own Pastor P will be speaking tonight. So if you can, check it out! It's streaming live tonight at 6PM here.

Ciao!

Pretty Cool

When I was in college and living in Charlotte, I went to a church called Elevation. It was such an incredible part of my life then and has continued to make such a huge difference in that city. They recently made a documentary about how the church started and their story and it's super inspiring and also really cool to be able to remember some of the things they talk about from when I was there. Check it out!

http://www.elevationexperience.com/

Isaiah 43

Promises Promises

I promised my 2010 recap blog a few posts ago. And have I posted it? Nope. I'm sorry. And this post isn't it either. I promise to post it before February.

Aaaanyway...

So much as been going on around here lately. I know I've said this before, but in every sense, work is insane. I'm in the the thick of it and Brendan's on the brink. Hooray.

Something else we've been really into lately that is way more exciting than accounting and book publishing is the official launch of the coolest church on the planet- NewSpring Charleston! I can't begin to tell you what an amazing experience it's been to be a part of it. Brendan and I both feel so incredibly fortunate to be a part of something that is already so amazing and will only continue to get better.

We'd been doing "preview" services for about two months before we officially launched, meaning we had full production, a full band, and broadcast live feed from the main campus in Anderson, South Carolina. On our first Sunday, we had over 600 people and four people became Christians. It was completely crazy and more than I think any of us expected. Seeing God move like that is something that never gets old.

Six hours later, the stage is set up at the North Charleston Convention Center. The joys of being a buildingless church.

Sound check. They were awesome.

Getting ready for some hardcore parking lot duty. Sweet hat.

Excited!

Our campus Pastor Andy. Super pumped AND it was his birthday. I'd say it was a good birthday.

Steve finally with his band.

I know these pictures might not look like much; there's just really no way to do that day justice. It was one of the coolest things I've ever gotten to be a part of and can only imagine what's coming.

Check out the Make War series here (it's legit), and get inside Pastor P's head here.

Well friendlies, that's all I got. G'night!

The History of Redemption

Good morning! Once again it is Monday. Which means that the exclamation point in that first sentence is only a ploy to make you think that I'm awake. I'm not. It was a kind of exhausting weekend.

Anyway, if you have a few minutes you should really go here and watch "The History of Redemption."



It's pretty incredible. If you're looking for a last-minute gift, the book and the prints are pretty awesome too.

Have a lovely week! :)

Thankful

Yes, Thanksgiving has come and gone, but I think that now is just as good a time as any to count our blessings. I feel like it's so easy to get caught up in the chaos of life and everything we want/need to get done, especially around the holidays, that we forget what we have right now. This has been especially true for me right now as a I am trying to keep things afloat at work plus create a solid business plan for interior design which I hope to launch next year, plus make a million decisions about the future, not to mention trying to get travel plans for Christmas in place.

In some ways I want to press fast forward and in other ways I just want to call a time out. But instead of humoring those thoughts, I think it's much better to just be thankful for the things we have now and not worry so much about to-do lists and things that ultimately aren't even a big deal.

Matthew 6:34

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Psalm 107:1
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Whatever You Are...

Quote: Abraham Lincoln
Card: 3 Lambs Graphics via Etsy

Just a little encouragement for your hump day. I think I need to particularly take this to heart. It's easy for me to want to not put as much effort into what I'm doing now because there are other things I'd rather be doing.

Yes, I can't wait to get started with my design business, but I know and am continuing to learn through mentors and studying that this will not happen over night. Ok, obviously, I never had those kind of expectations, but I think what I'm beginning to understand is that I can learn a lot from what I'm doing now that will translate very well into what I want to do with my future. At first, that seemed unlikely, but when I really think about it, it's true: dealing with vendors, meeting deadlines, tracking progress, creating new business systems and workflows, dealing with the public and training colleagues. No, there's not an ounce of fabulous style in it, but it is rich with business-savvy wisdom I really need to be soaking up right now. As for the style, I really think you either have it or you don't.

I am amazed at the resources that are out there for people who actually take the time to look. And I'm sorry that the last three posts have been dedicated to my design career, but I am just SO pumped about it and it's pretty much on my mind 24/7. So obviously I want to share.

But just out of fairness to the other things on my to-do list, here are something other things running around in my brain:

• I miss my mom!
• Move over Caribou. I picked up this coffee in Italian Roast at Whole Foods and it is the best. I'm in love.
  

• I'm obsessed with this bag from Urban Outfitters:

• I think this might be my favorite Bible verse of all time. It's encourage in hard times and even in times when you're floating along and everything's peachy:

"In this world you may have trouble. But take heart! I have conquered the world."
John 16:33b

And I love it's use here.

• My hubby is awesome!
  

Welp, that's all for now, friendlies. Happy Hump Day!

Required Reading: Sun Stand Still

Good morning! I thought my next post would be a recap of our Big Apple escapades, but I didn't get around to importing any pictures last night. Three hours at Home Goods and catching up on Mad Men pretty much dominated my time last night.

Anywho, I think this is more important than my birthday was anyway, so I just want to take a sec to plug something that I am so excited about and I think will have a huge impact in a lot of peoples lives.




When I lived in Charlotte, I went to Elevation Church. I still listen to their podcasts regularly and am so PUMPED for their pastor Steven Furtik's book, Sun Stand Still. I'm pretty sure you should read it. And you should probably also check out his blog and maybe even his wife's blog because she's pretty cool.

Here's a little excerpt his publisher released:

A THEOLOGY OF AUDACITY

This book is not a Snuggie.
The words on these pages will not go down like Ambien.
I’m not writing to calm or coddle you.
With God’s help, I intend to incite a riot in your mind.Trip your breakers and turn out the lights in your favorite hiding places: insecurity and fear. Then flip the switch back on so that God’s truth can illuminate the divine destiny thatmay have been lying dormant inside you for years. In short, I’m out to activate your audacious faith. To inspire you to ask God for the impossible. And in the process, to reconnect you with your God-sized purpose and potential.
You could think of this book as a one-volume theology of audacity. You probably don’t have one of those yet, but it’s essential. In fact, if you ever encounter a theology that doesn’t directly connect the greatness of God with your potential to do great things on his behalf, it’s not biblical theology. File it under Heresy.
I’ll take that further: if you’re not daring to believe God for the impossible, you’re sleeping through some of the best parts of your Christian life.
And further still: if the size of your vision for your life isn’t intimidating to you, there’s a good chance it’s insulting to God.
Audacious faith is the raw material that authentic Christianityis made of. It’s the stuff that triggers ordinarily level-headed people like you and me to start living with unusual boldness. When you live this way, your eyes will be opened to see your day-to-day life in vivid color. Your spiritual growth will accelerate at a supernatural pace.
If you’re like most Christians, audacity is not a word you use to describe your faith. Audacity, my dictionary says, makes regular people behave with “boldness or daring, especially with confident disregard for personal comfort [or] conventional thought.” And, if you think about it, confident disregard for the status quo is the essence of the gospel. It describes the radical path Christ’s life took on earth. It goes to the heart of what it means to live by faith.
Of course, every believer in Jesus has a measure of faith—it’s the prerequisite to salvation. But after that, if we’re honest, we think of faith primarily in terms of a spiritual thought or a comfortable feeling.We hope it’s enough to get us to heaven when we die. But in the meantime, it’s barely enough to keep us praying, giving, and going to the eleven o’clock service.
Let me ask you: does the brand of faith you live by produce the kinds of results in your life that you read about in the biblical stories of men and women of faith?
Chances are, not even close.
For most of us, this disparity is hard to live with. The chasm we see between our mundane spiritual experiences and the overcoming faith we read about in the accounts of biblical heroes is downright discouraging. It can create a heavy weight of condemnation and a sense of failure in our hearts. We can begin to feel like maybe our faith isn’t the real thing. Some believers I’ve known have gotten so tired of faking faith that they have just given up altogether.


POSTTRAUMATIC FAITH DISORDER

I’ll admit that faith is a sore subject for millions. It’s been abused, mishandled, distorted, and ultimately disfigured. Sometimes it seems like there’s a custom-tailored faith for everyone:
If the Galatians 2:20 kind of faith—“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”—is too clunky for you, trade it in. Exchange it for an easier, no-money-down model.
If trusting in the miracle-working power of Jesus is too out there for your modern mind, play it safe. Don’t ever ask God to provide for you supernaturally. Don’t dare to ask for physical healing or anything else that would put God on the spot. Because what if he doesn’t come through?
A lot of Christians I know stagger through life in a daze. Suffering from posttraumatic faith disorder, they hunker down in the basement, open a can of Beanie Weenees, and wait for the end of the world.
Am I reading your mail? If so, you’re probably stuck in spiritual survival mode. You’ve settled for spiritual mediocrity. You’re not trying to be a hypocrite. It’s just that so far the faith thing hasn’t, well, worked for you.
But we can’t let abuses and misunderstandings hold us back. God has no plan B. The Bible throws down the gauntlet in Hebrews 11:6:

Without faith it is impossible to please God.

It doesn’t get any plainer than that. Faith isn’t just a Get Out of Hell Free card. It’s the most vital building block of your relationship with God. And it’s the only real foundation worth establishing your life on.
We can’t abandon the life-changing promise of full-frontal faith because some have dealt with the topic recklessly and unbiblically. It would be a shame for us to let bad experiences or past disappointments keep us bound, poor, and blind to what God wants to do in our lives.
We’ve got to find a better way.

THERE IS A BETTER WAY

You’re about to discover what happens when you dare to believe God for the impossible, ask God for the impossible—then act in audacious faith for his glory.
You’re about to discover that faith is not a drug to sedate you through a life you hate; it’s a force to transport you to another realm of reality.
There is a better way—a higher calling to fulfillment and significance that God deeply desires for your job, your marriage, your parenting, your finances, and your impact on this world.
That kind of life may be a long way off from where you live and breathe right now. And it may take a little convincing before you believe this kind of life is even an option for you.
Maybe it will help if I introduce you to a man who experienced firsthand what happens when you live with audacity, believing God for the impossible. You’re already a lot more like him than you think.

YESSSS!!!! READ IT! If you're broke, I'll even buy you a copy.