Chels in Progress

Once, I thought, sometimes there is grace in the things that make our hearts break. I sit, dumbstruck, realizing how narrow and small that thought was. There is not one moment of my life that God is graceless.  His grace is abundant. The more I see His grace, the more I want it.  The more I want to be filled of it.  I crave it, my heart cries out for it.  To see it around me, in everything.  To be able to pour it out onto others and show them how beautiful it is, how marvelous and sweet He gives and loves.  Not because I am full of it, but because He gives it to me, that I may turn around and pass it on. There is ALWAYS grace in the things that make our hearts break. There is always grace in everything. Every moment, every experience, every. single. thing. Thank You, Lord.

"Delight yourself in YHWH, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4 This is wonderfully true. Before I decided to follow the Lord, I was filled with selfish, stupid pride and ambition.  I was determined to be someone awesome and to give life to all of my dumb "plans", none of which I had thought out to any proper extent.  The desires of my heart, should God have been less gracious and granted me them, would have led me down a very broken road of heartache. Once I made a decision to follow the Lord, He began to transform my heart.  Some desires never changed, and I realized that those were healthy and glorifying to Him.  Others, He extracted and threw out.  The more junk He pruned from my heart, the more room there was for Him to plant new, beautiful, better desires.  And He has sure planted some unexpected and amazing desires in there.  Some of which I would never have chosen for myself.  Not in a million years. Today,...

As ready as I am for a new year and a fresh start, I want to sit and be thankful for the last 365 days that God so graciously gave me. in 2013... I went to: Alexandria, VA Washington, D.C. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania New York, New York San Diego, CA Los Angeles, CA I fell in love with: Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Avocados Line dancing Captain America The Avengers Aaron Rodgers The story of Hannah I conquered: My aversion to banana strings My fear of 270° freeway ramps I praised God for: Mom making it through the hospital My new roommates + the Full House Travel time with my grandma Old friends My youth group kids Lessons in grace, humility, and love Paying off my car Friends' engagements, weddings, and babies Tea + Beth Moore dates with my sis The little things in life Dear friends & friend mugs The Gospel being presented in the center of our city for ...

{one} electric blankets. {two} two days in a row off of work. {three} picking up my DSLR again. {four} roommate bonding. {five} personal growth. {six} the smell of new boots, still lingering. {seven} the encouragement endeavor. {eight} being in community with other single twentysomethings who love the Lord. {nine} cheese + grapes combo. I can't even explain its perfection. {ten} breaking free study by beth moore, and the weekly discussion dates with my sis. ♥

Does this sound like a big feat?  Well, it is. Yesterday, my heart broke and I felt overwhelmed in grief for my mom.  She has been fighting MS for over 25 years, and watching it slowly take more from her is painful to watch.  Not only is she physically dwindling, but more so, her spirit is suffering.  I finally hit a wall, and I started bawling. So I sat with God and told Him how I felt.  I remembered that it was okay to dish it out.  He's big enough and strong enough to shoulder our grief, and more importantly, He cares about us.  So I laid it out there.  And then I slept on it. This morning, I wasn't sure what to think or feel.  I was all cried out, my eyes still puffy, and I just had to push through to get to work.  And then something happened.  I began to realize that I believed that God could intervene.  That God was truly there.  That He had me , as the Holy Spirit has been whispering into my ear all week. ...

"For we are God's masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,  so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."  Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) Masterpiece . The Greek word there is poema . A work of art. Work was crazy today.  Frustrated and wiped out, I walked out of the store on my lunch break and saw this: And I stood and stared for a minute, lost in thought. God painted this sky . He chose to make it do that. And it's amazing . But yet, this is not what He calls His masterpiece. He chooses to call us , little us, selfish , spiteful , broken us, His poema . His work of art. His masterpiece, His workmanship. I almost started crying in disbelief. Because the sky never hurt God. I, in my flesh, have. And yet, He loves me more. And my heart was filled with joy.

  :)