Queen Victoria.

Last night our electricity in our home went out, and stayed off the whole night. Literally the electricians were working on bringing it back to our neighborhood all night. Therefore, we got some candles. I went to my room, with my little candle giving me light, and began to write in my journal like I often do. I found myself having glimpses of the Victorian Age. Where they always had their little candles to bring light when they would write or read in the dark, since as we all know there was no electricity at the time.

For some reason I have always been drawn to that time period. If I could live in any different time, it would be then. There's something so honorable and beautiful to me about that time (not to mention, I think I would have loved the fashion! :]). Of course the longing is just rekindled every time I watch a movie from the era. I recently watched, Young Victoria, and boy did I just long to be living then. I think more then anything it was Victoria's character that really inspried me. She was so young when she took the throne, and barely knew anything, yet ruled with complete confidence. To me, it was a perfect example of someone who knew exactly who they were and exactly where they came from; their legacy, their inheritance. She sarted out knowing nothing about how to run a country, yet today she is remembered as one of the greatest Queens ever. When I look at her, I see perseverance, and an underlying knowing of who she was. I think without that, she would have failed all together. Of course she had her doubts about herself, but she would never give up or dwell on those things, she would just keep doing what she knew best to do.

Queen Victoria makes me want to be someone who rises above even what other people say I can do. One who knows her inheritance, her legacy; therefore allows nothing to stop her from succeeding.

If you haven't seen this movie, you totally should, as well as read a little about what Queen Victoria accomplished...it's quite amazing! For now, though, I leave you with the trailer!


Peace. Love. Joy.

"I want to see beauty from the ashes around me."

"Yes, I have my dragons to fight. Yes, I have my fears. But I still have breath in my lungs, I still have blood in my veins. I cannot sit idly by. I refuse to just let the village burn. I'd rather side with the illiterate farm girl who hears things than the cynics who hear nothing. I want to see beauty come from the ashes around me. Even if I fail, I will burn at the stake knowing that my fumes supported a good cause. Far better to fail at building a magnificent world than to succeed in monochromatic survival." Jon Foreman

Risk.

The question I find myself asking is,
"how much am I willing to risk to make my dreams come true?"

I will be honest, sometimes it's hard to take risk even when I believe 100% in my dreams. This little thing called fear creeps in and says, "don't risk it, stay safe."

It's so much easier to live life comfortable. Your dreams will never come true, but you'll be comfortable.

My constant battle is do you want to live a mediocre life and thus sacrifice destiny, or are you willing to step out into the unknown. To face what you do not know.

It involves risk. Am I willing?

My hearts say, "well, of course. These are my dreams!"
But, it's a constant leaning on Jesus, trusting Him as I jump out into that unknown, fearful place.

One day, I hope I look back and say, "Thank God I jumped! Look how much Jesus has done with my jump!"
I believe I will say that.

Dream guys. Jump into the unknown. Make those dreams become a reality.

Peace. Love. Joy.

Relevance.

Relevance. What does it mean to you?
To me, being relevant has become something it is not.
We have turned relevance into trendiness.

There are so many in the church who try to be "relevant" to the culture, the world around them. But, in the pursuit of this relevance they bascially kill any and all revlevance.

See...Jesus is the essence really of the relevance we wish to relate to the world.
We try so hard, racking our brains with how we are going to manuver with every kind of person. We really end up losing truth in the midst of trying to be relevant. We end up being trendy. Our black and white turns to gray before we can even blink.

I have spent considerable amounts of time thinking about the best ways to reach people, how to act most like Jesus with so and so. But, it's stupid. The truth has always been and it remains. The truth is if you want to be relevant, love Jesus with every fiber in your being, gaze on Him constantly, have an obsessive love affair with Him; that will bring light, truth, and relevance to the culture around you.

Friends, don't try so hard to be relevant that you come to a place where you turn around and say, "where is God?"

Pursue His heart.
That to me, is relevance.
That to me is how Hollywood will get radically saved.
That to me is how the prostitute on the street will have a 360 life change and become one of the world's most ambitious, accomplished person.
That to me is how the world will truly see Jesus.

Peace. Love. Joy.

Looking beyond ourselves.

Recently, I've been training to run a half marathon (not because I enjoy running the slightest bit, but simply because it's on my bucket list & I wish to accomplish it :)
I played soccer, even traveled on a legit club for awhile, I played basketball, and I swam majorly competitively for a bit of time.....but I have always hated running. So this training, this running miles upon miles, it's not something I get "excited" about. But, I know my goal is to run that half marathon, so I run.

I've come to realize something though.
While I am running, and every time the miles get more, it's longer, more strenuous; I might get tired. Maybe I get a cramp in my leg. Maybe I just get bored, and ask "why the heck am I doing this?" Maybe, I think, "hmm....it's been a long day, I could be cuddled up in my bed with a good book." Every time I wonder and begin thinking about just stopping, going to just relax; I think if I focus on my cramp, or the fact I would rather be reading, or of the millions of other things I could be getting done, I DO just want to quit.
BUT,
when I take my mind off that cramp, and I focus on the goal, which is to ultimately complete those 13.1 miles then I am determined, I am prepared. Why? Because, I find meaning in what I am doing. I look beyond my pain, and focus on the goal.

I had a season in my life that was extremely hard, and I began isolating myself for awhile, and out of that isolation came a lot of social anxiety. I remember sitting with my sister, and I just began telling her how I hate feeling so anxious in social settings, and I wish I could just stop. She told me, "Brianna, I think it's the devil coming against your calling. You want to help people, you want to love people, but if you're so caught up in thinking about your self (aka the anxiety) then you can't see those around you, and you can't even begin to help them." It hit me so hard, because it's so true. I was so focused on me, me, me; how I was feeling etc, that I couldn't even begin to make an impact around me.

The point is this guys,
we must learn to see beyond ourselves, our hurts, our circumstances.
Because, when we do, this whole new world is opened up to us.
People who desperately need us and if we are too caught up in ourselves, our issues they will never come to know truth. They will never know that there is a God who is obsessed with them. Who loves them violently.

I encourage you to look beyond you,
and begin to look at those all around you.
Love on them, change their lives, let them experience Your amazing joy, the essence of your life; Jesus.

Peace.Love.Joy.

DOCHAS. (Hope in Gaelic)

"Hope means to keep living amid desperation
and to keep humming
in the darkness. ... See More
Hoping is knowing that there is love,
it is trust in tomorrow
it is falling asleep
and waking again
when the sun rises.
In the midst of a gale at sea,
it is to discover land.
In the eyes of another
It is to see that he understands you.

....

As long as there is still hope
There will also be prayer.

....

And God will be holding you
in his hands.

This seriously kills me every time I read it.
It screams truth.
I love it.

Truly in the midst of suffering there is a God worth worshiping (using some of the brilliant Jason Upton's words).

I think....that is the hope.
That no matter what HE is always there.

Someone recently was talking to me about a hard situation I went through a bit ago, they asked "did it cause you to doubt your faith; what you believe?"
My answer simply was NO.
HE never stopped loving on me.
HE never stopped listening.
HE never ONCE stopped caring.

To me, that is the HOPE; that HE is always going to be there.
No matter what happened to you or what is going to happen in your lifetime,
because we all know life ain't no pain-free journey.
It's hard. It's life.
But, there is hope.
HE is hope.

Whoa.
Amazing.

Peace.Love.Joy.

H.O.P.E.

H.O.P.E.

You know, I've come to find out- there is always hope.
Maybe only a speck at times, but it's always there.
I think we have a choice to hold onto that speck or,
pretend as if it doesn't exist.

To me, this can only be concluded by saying that my beautiful Abba is the very essence of this thing we call Hope.

Therefore, since He is the very reason this world spins, the very reason we even have the opportunity to breathe....that hope will always be available for us.

It's a choice.
Will you hold on, even to the mere speck of it,
or walk away pretending as if it were never there for the taking.

Your choice my friends.

Peace. Love. Joy.

"The choice between despair or hope. To be in despair is to deny that tragedy is tragedy. To be in despair is to disbelieve in the tragic and redefine it as acceptable, immutable, unchangeable. To hope is to call injustices and corruptions exactly what they are: tragic. Against all odds, against all that we know about this world, we could choose to hope for a better one -- to hope for love, for peace, for a form of contentment and solace that we have never fully realized. We choose to speak these worlds into being." (Jon Foreman)