wrecked houses.

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself." 

We don't even KNOW the plans the Lord has for us. In our little limited mind we assume that we can fathom up something that would be "perfect" for us. Yet the Lord of all creation, the Sovereign Lord of the universe that delights in all our details sighs, "not even close son/daughter... I have so much more." How would it look for us to throw off "our plan", and just rest? Truly truly rest in surrender of that He has it, and always has. I mean this time last year, entering my senior year, had I applied that - I probably would have saved my self a ton of "chaos", doubt, and rerouting, because honestly... He was telling me where to go the whole time. I just wasn't listening. I wasn't choosing to see.


His working isn't always how we wish it would be. We want "to know" - but God just show me this far and with the rest I will be fine, but the thing is, if He did, what would be the point in faith? Because we would always be wanting and "needing" more. always. We think oh goodness, He has probably forgotten about this detail in our cottage, when He is thinking, "yeah it might seem that way because I am not constructing a cottage, I am constructing a palace - and those don't look the same." We have to choose to believe that when we don't understand His hand, we can trust His heart. We stand unshakeable on His promises. 


How would our mindset change if we trusted the Lord as He is, Greater? greater than our thoughts. greater than our trials. greater than our plans. greater than our mindset. Oh goodness, He so desperately wants that for us. Yet we chose to confine ourselves to our limited ability every single day, and we wonder what's going on...when things are painful. He is molding us into HIS IMAGE. It's not always easy, it hurts sometimes. We have to be cracked to let Him through. Oh but how beautiful the process is, its a way to LIFE, and LIFE TO THE FULL. Learning to embrace brokenness and being cracked is something that is definitely a process. But wow, how faithful the Lord is during these times. His hand never leaves. 


I am so learning what it means to trust and expect God with the palace, when I am just living in and seeing the cottage.

A House United

Last week I spent time in Tuscaloosa, AL for my job at Auburn University Office of Public Service for a project with Habitat for Humanity, called A House United. It was a collaborative effort between us and the University of Alabama to come together, rivalry aside, and help with the efforts to rebuild in the devastation after the tornado.

This trip has kind of been my assignment for the summer to plan and organize. I am glad pretty much everything went smoothly and it was such a blessed trip for all of us. We learned so much from the UA students about what happened to them the day of the storm. It was surreal, it hit way too close to home. It could have just as easily been us. Also, hearing from the family whom we were building for - their personal story, wow - left me speechless. We spent days building, roofing, and painting. It was such an incredible experience. I am so grateful!

Here is a link to the blog I am also writing for the office with many of the stories we heard & details throughout the week: Work Blog

life out of my suitcase

So over the past week, I have just hip-hoped my way all over the Southeast. I have been in Austin, TX - to - Atlanta, GA - to - Nashville, TN. I'm learning to embrace the fact that I am living out of a suitcase this month, and I don't hate it. I love traveling, seeing different places - and not to mention, airports might be on the best places on Earth. So much interaction, wonderings of who is going where, what their life is like, etc. It's quite fascinating (especially when you run over Matthew McConaughey with your rolling suitcase, yes this is for real, & rather embarrassing).

AUSTIN, TX I love being here - "Keep Austin Weird" is not a rumor, it's most definitely a way of life. It's interesting to go into a city where just about anything flies. It is not abnormal to be walking down the street enjoying your day, and whoa there's a man walking down the same street in a bikini.

I love music, a ton a ton, and to be submerged into a city that embraces it is amazing. Everywhere you turn there is live music streaming from some place. I also LOVED getting to spend some time with my aunt and uncle - they are incredible. My uncle is FULL GREEK through and through and everything you see on the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding is most likely true. There is absolutely never a dull moment. ever. I am currently in the process of trying to learn greek, which is laugh-able. They also live on a ranch with 15 horses, 10 dogs, 3 cats, and cows. It is so peaceful there.

sweet Bono

my fam is the best, so much fun

love this area

Airstream nation

this is my crazy uncle Van, Greek & lovin' it

Beautiful Austin

Then, I got to pretty much turn around and head to good ole Nashville, TN to visit sweet Leah!!!! Goodness, it was so great to see her. We had such a blast bee-boppin all over Nashville to the Farmer's Market, Frothy Monkey, American Picker's Store, Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream, and not to mention we all got hair feathers!

we love Casablanca Coffee, especially Honey Child - get it if you go, you won't be sorry

b'fast at frothy monkey

nashville farmer's market

these were delicious

American pickers store

Jeni's splendid ice cream

Hair featherrrrrsssss

can't go to Nashville without going to Pangea

About to be on the road yet again... whewww... let's go.