A Place to Dream

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

lemon ginger tea & dreams

I sip tea, write emails, recycle old documents, update files.

I dream.

This has become my new favorite thing to sip:

It instantly brings to mind the fresh ginger tea they made us in the Dominican, add a bit of honey and I'm there again... in the DR. It amazes me to think that 5 years have passed since that trip. 5 years and I still remember the colors, the people, the exhaustion. The experience changed my perspective and my heart. It stretched me spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

I left with dreams of discovering how God could use me...

Corporate jobs can squash dreams I've learned. Maybe not squash... but push out of the mind, diminish, delay. The desk, computer, emails, papers, pressing deadlines...

I don't want to let my day job remove from my mind all that God has taught me and done in my life. Most importantly, all that God wants me to do with my life... whatever it may be.

What have you lost sight of?

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21

Monday, June 18, 2012

summer begins

Friday may very well have been my first day of summer...

Why is that you ask? Because on Friday at noon, I was home, I hadn't showered yet and I was drinking coffee.... I had worked many many days straight and the LPGA was over, so I took the day off!

It was sunny and wonderful outside. I had no pressing deadlines, no work to do, just things I should do.... you know, those things that get neglected when you work long days for 2 weeks straight. Cleaning, vaccuming, picking up what I dropped on the floor each day when I got home exhausted... and just plain relaxing.

From Monday June 4th, through Sunday June 10th (LPGA week) I worked about 75 hours. But then no, I didn't take the following days off... it was Expo tear down after all. So after working the 4th through the 14th... I took a day off.

My life is no longer consumed by Expo planning and executing details, managing staff, product coming and going, sponsors, credentials, golf carts, and so many other things. I'm not quite sure what to do with myself... but at the same time I love it. I joke about having the brain capacity to go back to normal life but it's true... I'm very happy that I once again have the ability to have a life outside of work :)

But it was good, it was a great. It was again a time when God showed me His strength, His power, and His ability to take over, because I'm human, I get tired, and I get overwhelmed with what seems impossible.

I'm not sure what the rest of this summer will hold, but I'm looking forward to seeing what God has in store...

Friday, March 23, 2012

I breathe in

I breathe in deeply knowing that this quiet calm won't last very long.

I may want this moment to last... but I know I'll love the change when it comes.

My job has seasons of busyness.

Last year was the 1st time I took on this special assignment and in early June I found myself overwhelmed with work... for the 1st time in my life. But it was good, my comfort zone was stretched, my abilities grew, the challenge, the unknown... it was good for me.

Why?

Because I had to rely on HIM,

not my own limited abilities or my limited strength.

But I have one great resource in God.

In Him I have everything.

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

face to face

As I sit in my room reading in Exodus tonight I can't help but to be thankful for what Jesus Christ did on the cross...

When God called Moses and his people out of the affliction in Egypt... God commanded Moses to build a Tabernacle so He could "dwell among them" (Exodus 25-28 gave the instructions on how it should be built). But in the Tabernacle a veil was woven and hung "The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy" (26:33).

People could not go into the presence of God.

There were rules, sacrifices, daily offerings, and a veil that separated them from the presence of God. But not for Moses... "The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (33:11).

That verse really got me thinking about my life today. When Jesus died on the cross that veil was torn. "Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom..." (Matthew 27:51). It's mentioned again in the book of 2 Corinthians "... the veil is taken away in Christ" (3:16). When Christ died and the veil was torn people were now able to enter the presence of God and talk with Him as Moses did!

And that's what I have today. No rules, no regulations, no daily offerings. God doesn't want sacrifice, but obedience. And as a Father who knows best for His children, I should want to obey.

But before I get side tracked....

God's presence, face to face.... I can talk to God "as a man speaks to his friend". And this is all because Jesus Christ died on a cross for my sin...

and yours too.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

a year to celebrate

2011 was a great year. It was wonderfully busy and excitingly wonderful. It was full of surprises, love, and so many new things.

Here's the recap:

In January I discovered Apple Cake and went skiing for the 1st time in about 10 years.
In February I was a camp counselor at Snow Camp with ODBC and cooked Pad Thai for the 1st time.
In March God taught me a lot about faith and trusting in Him for the future.
In April God brought me to Grace Road church and I made this Clementine Cake!
In May I bought a bike and started to bike to work!
In June I spent a few weeks at Locust Hill preparing for and managing the Expo tent during the LPGA! woah
In July I celebrated 6 years with Christ and on the very same day I met this man:

In August I went to Raleigh to visit my brother, paid off my car, and played tennis under the stars!
In September I started dating that man officially and became busier than I've ever been before <3
In October we went to NYC for a day and took a road trip to my favorite little town for a dear friends wedding.
In November we stuffed our weekends with events and enjoyed Thanksgiving with family.
in December we went to NYC on a rainy day, decorated for Christmas, celebrated my 27th birthday, and enjoyed the holidays immensely.
It was the year I took a huge undertaking at work (read: managed the sponsor accounts and the Expo for the LPGA), rediscovered my love of photography, made some incredible new friends, and learned a lot about myself in Christ!
And as I said... it was the year I met this man: