Sorry for the hiatus in writing! I was out-of-town for much of the last week, spending a glorious weekend traveling to Newport, RI and then driving with my sister to the mountains of PA to surprise my mom for her b-day. Good times. LOTS of travel time for little "people time," but every moment was worth it. My mom's dad (i.e., my grandfather) was in PA already, and when my "from PA" grandparents found out about the surprise, they decided to spontaniously make the two-hour trek. Very, very special. Sitting on the porch with all three living grandparents, my mom, sister and a handful of relatives, was quite breathtaking...and will likely never again offer an encore.

Smith family tales aside though, I'm getting excited for you and me, both, as we head into these next few weeks. New season and new semester, each of which impregnates loads of new beginnings. (I've just left a short-film titled: "Most." It's a work out of Poland that represents God in more of His fantastic brilliance than I've experienced in long time...though it's done in subtitles and makes no mention of His name. Imagine that. The pursuit of excellence (in art, or whatever), marks phenomenal and clear representations of the Gospel. Without help. Without WWJD bracelets hanging from the tag. I love that about Him.) Anyway, I'm at that point when the actual 'start' of classes will be a refreshing change from all the talk...you know what I mean?

Anxious to hear of your move-in tales. Keep your head-up and write when you can. I always love hearing from you.

abbie

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30

Have you looked Jesus in the eye today? Have you sought something beyond the natural, or above the normal? Has the Spirit of God found any space in your schedule, or the discipline of faith any means of necessity? Has grace found you on you knees?

There was an hour of this day that owned you. When was it?
There was a conversation that stole your true identity? Why?

Consider, confess, and turn from it, freeing your heart to claim forgivenness as far as the east is from the west!

I'm realizing more and more that I can battle "being" for the rest of my life, or I can submit to "not being," and trust that if God is really who He says, He will. "I am" only takes me so far in being strong, capable, smart, disciplined, wise, even Godly enough, before I come face to face with the reality that I am not...nor will I ever be.

Only God can BE all that I am not.

May you come to the Lord today, and allow His words to give you rest.
"But God, what if..." Daughter, I AM.
"But God, she said..." Beloved, I AM.
"Father, He did..." Child, I AM.
"Lord, they didn't..." Chosen, I AM.
"God, I need..." Blessed one, I AM.
"When it..." I AM.
"Why can't...?" I AM.
"They don't..." I AM.
"But I'm not..." Shhhh, child, be still. I AM.

Be His today, unashamedly His.

Amen.

(This site isn't set-up for it, but if it were, you'd read that title and then click to its clincher, link follow-up reading:

"while driving in the car").

Since we can't provide such a suspenseful read, click, link process however, we'll just lay it out in one hunker: "DON'T EAT PEAS WHILE DRIVING IN THE CAR."

I'm serious. One should never eat dried peas, maybe period, but definitely while driving. I spilled a large quantity of green, popcorn'esque kernels ALL over my front seat. If it were Christmas, I'd get a bag of cranberries and act like I was excessively seasonal, but it's not...and I'm not. It's just a regular Tuesday afternoon and I have a massive tint of green highlighting the interiors of my vehicle.

On a less clumsy note, I'm reading two books that I would highly recommend:
Celebrations of Discipline, by Richard Foster and Velvet Elvis, by Rob Bell.

That's all for now. I need to go clean out my car.

abbie