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Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. He's Lord over every moment of history, every fleeting second of the present, and every anticipated tomorrow (for eternity!), and that's the God who holds my life in His beautiful hands. How could I ever think this life was about me? And why would I ever want to be the one in control? Oh, God, how You must laugh when I try. Please forgive the times I take the brush from Your masterful hand in order to create a mess of muddied color on a canvas for which you planned an exquisite masterpiece.
This is my evening prayer. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my will and make it Thine. It shall be no longer mine.
Why are you striving these days? Why are you trying to earn grace? Why are you crying? Let me lift up your face Just don't turn away Why are you looking for love? Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough? To where will you go child? Tell me where will you run? To where will you run? And I'll be by your side Wherever you fall In the dead of night Whenever you call And please don't fight These hands that are holding youMy hands are holding you Look at these hands and my side They swallowed the grave on that night When I drank the world's sin So I could carry you in And give you life I want to give you lifeAnd I'll be by your side Wherever you fall In the dead of night Whenever you call And please don't fight These hands that are holding youMy hands are holding you Cause I, I love you I want you to know That I, I love you I'll never let you goAnd I'll be by your side Wherever you fall In the dead of night Whenever you call And please don't fight These hands that are holding youMy hands are holding you
One of the reasons I love working with middle school girls is the way God can still manage to surprise me and speak through their precious 13-year-old voices. Yesterday I was sitting next to Mackenzie May when she pointed at my 3-inch scar from my melanoma (removed 2 years ago) and asked, "Do you like your scar?" I shook my head because who likes ugly 3-inch scars in prominent places? She replied with what I thought was a strange answer at the moment, "Well, I do. You wouldn't be Stefanie without it." I was taken aback at first by her response, but after a few seconds, the wisdom hit me like a ton of bricks.
Our scars do make us who we are. I wouldn't be who I am today without the hope, healing, and trust I learned through recovering from cancer. All the pains, trials, and heartbreaks I have ever experienced have collectively brought me closer to Jesus and helped me realize a little more of who I am in Him, and I wouldn't trade them for the world. Mackenzie's little comment was a sweet reminder of that fact and brought to my memory one of my favorite passages, "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (Romans 5:3-5, emphasis mine). I'm so grateful that hope in Him will never disappoint and that He knows ahead of time every hurt that will come my way and how He'll use it to draw me closer to Him and make me more like Him. And I'm so glad God uses teenage girls to speak to my heart. :)
You hold my every moment You calm my raging seas You walk with me through fire And heal all my disease I trust in You I trust in You I believe You're my healer I believe You are all I need I believe You're my portion I believe You're more than enough for me Jesus, You're all I need You hold my every moment You calm my raging seas You walk with me through fireAnd heal all my disease I trust in You I trust in You I believe You're my healer I believe You are all I need I believe You're my portion I believe You're more than enough for me Jesus, You're all I need Nothing is impossible for You Nothing is impossible for You Nothing is impossible for You Nothing is impossible for You
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
---Saint Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226
Manhattan as seen from the ISS 8 years ago. Chilling. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/iss003e5387_feature.html
Take some time to pray for those families today.
OK...at the risk of sounding nerdy, I have a confession. I love library school. Love it. Mostly because it just gets my wheels turning about so many cool things. Allow me to elaborate. Tonight I had my second Issues class, where basically the 15 or so of us who are graduating in December sit around and talk about important and controversial issues in the library world. Tonight's topics: how to use video games, facebook, Twitter, blogs, and wikis in libraries! We had quite the lively discussion about Web 2.0, which is the overarching term for sites that allow interaction between the user and site; all of them have some sort of self-generated information as well. I won't bore you with a lengthy definition, but in essence it's a big umbrella term for facebook, Twitter, blogs, wikis, YouTube...all those things. It's incredible to hear how libraries are using these new technologies to make information available in fresh, creative ways. One of my favorite things - book trailers. These are like movie trailers but for books! There are TONS of them on YouTube these days, and they're great for promoting books visually. Check out this book trailer for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters...it's hilarious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jZVE5uF24Q.
I've recently become a twitterer (tweeter?), and I must admit I was skeptical at first, but now I adore it. I can get celebrity, sports, world, national, political, and library news all in one place! The best part currently is that I get job postings when library jobs open up across the country! And I have them texted to me, so I know immediately! Pretty sweet! I'm currently following *gasp* 165 accounts, and the funny thing is that you can tell a lot about who I am from who I follow. You can see the budding librarian, the Christ follower, the LSU alumna, the college sports freak, the Harry Potter geek, the celebrity gossip fan, the intellectual, the film lover, and more, and it made me realize that (pun intended) to a certain extent, you are who you follow.
Of course, they drill this into your head in middle school with all the talks of peer pressure and such, but that's not really what I'm talking about. I'm talking about those things we fill our lives with...the things we pay attention to...the things we can't live without. What is most important to me? What am I letting rule my life? What is taking up all my time?
One of the negative consequences of the digital world we live in is the plethora of distractions created by these Web 2.0 technologies. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE them, but I've wasted my share of hours (or afternoons or evenings) on facebook enough to know that it's easy to get caught up in little things that will monopolize your life if you let them. It becomes so second-nature that we hardly notice the time slipping away. I'm guilty of letting the busyness of life take me away from what's really important in life...what's lasting...what's eternal, and that's loving God and loving people. We're indeed living in an online world, but don't forget to take time for real people and time for God. As human beings, we're wired for friendships and to help each other through life, looking to each other for guidance and doing life together, following step by step.
A relationship with Christ is the ultimate example of that friendship. We follow him through an abundant, joyful life (relying on him through life's hardships) and onto an eternal life with Him. Life is really all about who or what you're following...that is to say who or what you're focusing on. And with that, I leave you to ponder as I go practice what I'm preaching and pry myself away from facebook quizzes to spend some QT with my Jesus. :)
Parting words from The Word:
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
---John 8:12 (emphasis mine)
