music tuesday for the first time in forever! today i give you the brand new single from my man crush/woman crush/music crush/ supa crush -- the civil wars. simple music with powerful voices and lyrics that move ya deep down in your soul. they're lovely people who make lovely music. this is their new single the one that got away. enjoy.

The One That Got Away - The Civil Wars

we were created to be in relationship with others. we are made to live in the context of community. 

i learned how crucial living in community was when i was in tuscaloosa. when i think of community i think of my life group from calvary, the girls i did child care with in the nursery and my amazing friend group. i loved my church and the people there. it was so good for me while i was in school. i didn't think i could find anything like that when i moved back home in august. 

praying for a church, small group and friends was the repeated prayer for months and months. i started going to a church in the fall that i liked because i knew people. i knew it wasn't for me almost two months into it. i met new people but didn't feel a strong sense of community. i felt like i was just another face in the group. the search was on for a new church in virginia beach.

late in the fall my friend garrett sent me a text and asked me if i went to trinity church in virginia beach. i told him i had never heard of it and asked how he knew about a church in my hometown. (he's from florida...) he told me he read a book by the pastor of trinity. i googled it and decided to go one sunday morning. i prayed for an open heart and clear mind when i went. 

pastor randy talked about following god's will for our lives and what that should look like. in the sermon he showed a clip from the office and mentioned college football. ah-ha! of course i was loving that. i dropped a connect card in the offering plate and asked for someone to contact me about a home group. about a week later i received an email from tommie with different options for home groups. i told him which one would work for me and he gave my contact info the the leader of that group. i got an email from blake then next thing you know i'm going to matthews house for bible study.

y'all - i knew after walking in the door that is where i belonged. they were people my age or slightly older. we're all pretty much in the same stage of life. the things we talked about were awesome. i just saw how well they loved one another and knew i had to be part of that. 

i've been going to my church and small group all spring. i'm learning so much and having a blast doing life with my friends. we go line dancing every week, take trips to nyc, have movie nights and rock band jam sessions. and yesterday, i had the opportunity to open up my home to my friends. we had a cookout at my house. we had a sweet game of soccer going on along with corn hole, football throwing and frisbee. everyone had such a good time. i loved that. i loved being able to have my friends over to my house for a night of hanging out. my parents absolutely loved everyone and enjoyed opening up our home to them. my brother even got in on the soccer game and catch phrase. they wanted to meet my brother because apparently i talk about him all of the time. i loved it. i love how invested we all are in each others lives. it was such a fun night.

when everyone left last night my mom could not stop talking about how awesome my friends are. she kinda figured that already but she was so excited to meet them. as we talked i realized just how special that group is to me. it's like we're a little family and i love it. that community i missed so much in tuscaloosa (and don't get me wrong - i miss everyone so so much) is something i have here now in virginia beach. for the first time since i moved back home i feel like i have a solid group of friends. god heard my prayer and answered at the perfect time. i'm oh so thankful for the guys and girls i do life with in virginia beach.

bless the lord for he is good!

music tuesday on a saturday. why? because i can.

check it - the mowgli's with the great divide.

you know how certain bands sound better in the summer? well, the mowgli's have been on my summer playlist. they're a fun band with a good sound. i got to see them in the fall. really they're a bunch of friends just jamming out and having a good time. their music definitely portrays that good time vibe when you're listening to it.

MUSIC!

ahhhhh it has been far too long since i've updated things. so here is a list of what i've been listening to lately.

the mowgli's - love's not dead ep
the 1975 - sex ep
vampire weekend - modern vampires of the city

i'm not exactly sure where i heard this song for the first time or when i heard this song...but i kind of really like it a lot. hope you do too. this is love is a fire by courrier.

friends -- i just wanted to share a little something from what i read this morning. i had to stop and soak up the truth in these words.

only today is yours; tomorrow is the father's.

i'm always thinking about what's next instead of enjoying the day i'm currently living. and that's a little bit of a problem. he provides our manna daily. nothing more. nothing less. he provides what we need to make it through that day. i need to do a better job at accepting that truth. i feel like i know this but for some reason reading those words made a light bulb go off in my head.

it's about daily obedience. it's about daily accepting what he provides and allowing that to be enough. it's about daily abiding in him.

his presence and grace enjoyed today will remove all doubt whether you can entrust the morrow to him too.

my prayer is to be more present because today is a gift, to be more aware, to have a grateful heart for what he provides me with for the day, and to use what he gives me to be better to the people i come in contact with.

may each of us gladly accept what the lord daily gives us and allow that to be enough.


the days portion in its day.

"When doubts filled my mind, Your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer."

yes. this is where i'm at. i've been doing a whole lot of doubting lately. i'm doubting myself. i'm doubting people. i'm doubting my situation. i've been doubting gods faithfulness to me. so much doubt has been filling my heart and mind. i remembered something i wrote a few months back about how awesome and faithful god had been to me at that specific time in my life. here it is.

perfect timing

obeying god is hard but one of the most rewarding things ever. this is what i mean -

for a few weeks i knew some things needed to change in my little life to make things easier at home. i needed to be focused on being here in virginia beach. jim elliot’s words wherever you are, be all there were constantly in the back of my head but meant nothing to me. i was putting so much focus and energy on things that had nothing to do with things at home. for some reason i could not figure out why my prayers for a job, a church, and friends were not being answered. it was because i had stopped praying for them because i didn’t care. i didn’t want to be here. i wanted to be back in college life because everything was good there and clearly things could not be as good here. i spent time focusing on something that i was comfortable with, something i knew so well. but even that was changing. i knew my life was changing and i needed to get 100% onboard with that. i needed to make changes and obey some things god had been telling me to do. i hate change because i like control. he said see ya bye control. i needed to trust and obey. after god threw so many signs to me in conversations with dear friends, articles and scripture i had been reading, prayer, and through change i knew i needed to make changes so i could be fully focused on being here. obeying god for the first time with something that needed to change was one of the hardest things i have had to do. but he proved himself to be faithful in that change. the peace and contentment i was praying for finally took control over my life. slowly my prayers were being answered - i made some great connections with my younglife girls and am looking to start a huddle group with some freshmen girls. i randomly woke up two sundays ago and decided to go to this church in virginia beach that i love. i got the job i applied for over a month ago on thursday! i will be nannying and doing some speech therapy stuff with a precious two year old. i taught my first campaigners. it wasn’t how i wanted it to go but god knew what needed to be said. if it didn’t help my students at least it got me thinking on one thing - do i love people well. and here i am now on a gloomy monday morning drinking an iced coffee rejoicing in god’s faithfulness to me in the change. and here i am - praying for restoration for certain things in my life. at church on sunday we took communion and talked about restoration. it was a beautiful service. one thing the pastor said was god’s plan all along - to bring restoration where innocence was lost. jesus did not come to make us better. he came to make us new. my prayer for restoration started a while ago. he answered that in multiple ways in my life - one is restoring hope in his faithfulness. how i got there? trusting and obeying him. my friend just tweeted obedience doesn’t merely reflect faith; obedience leads to faith.  that one phrase is how i could describe this process i am going through. i have faith that he will bring restoration when and where it needs to be. until then i will trust and obey. 

“but blessed is the man who trusts in the lord, whose confidence is in him. he will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. it does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. it has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. who can understand it? “i the lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”  jeremiah 17:7-10

what an encouragement it is to me to be able to look back at such a chaotic time in my life and see gods faithfulness to me through my obedience to him. hello renewed hope. hello comfort.

bless the lord, o my soul, for the lord has been good to me!