Peace on earth... and in my heart

Peace.
I recently read in My Utmost for His Highest that peace is God's mark of approval from when we obey Him.
I recently made a few decisions (insert "duh. you're 22 w a mediocre income, depending on your parents, deciding ab grad school vs real world, still living in a college town with a heart as big and as tossed yet as anchored as a Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloon).
I accepted a new job still in Auburn, turned another opportunity down and am patiently waiting to see a few more decisions unfold themselves.
While transitioning into my new position working with development in AU's College of Architecture, Design, and Construction, but still working full-time in my old job with Special Events, I realized there was deep unrest in my heart. I felt hasty despite knowing good and well the Lord will never leave nor forsake me.
I thought I was lacking peace because I didn't pray for months about some of these decisions like I had in the past. ex 1) I have prayed since freshman year for a fulfilling job, and I prayed even more fervently before graduation about which job to take because I was blessed to have two promosing options. ex 2) I pray for my husband, but I admit, I may/may not have asked the Lord to hold off on that one until I had ex 1 at least semi-controlled. Commit-a-phob strikes again. Moving on...
Today, this phase in life, everything is different now. I didn't have months this time.
I had urgency.
Funny because Jesus didn't have months either while praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, but I'm pretty sure the blood sweat came from a deep sense of urgency for His Father's will too. Not that I'm sweating blood bullets here, but I find courage and so should you knowing it's not always the amount of prayer but the need of the prayer. Yes, there have been months and years of counceling/prayer in the Word, so when the time came, I would know His will. I'm not saying Jesus nor I hadn't prayed about a day that would come when we'd need the Lord urgently-just saying, sometimes, He calls for our immediate action, and we should be prepared to pray accordingly.
Never doubt the Lord's response (though it might not be what you want) to the sincerest prayer that come from the most humblest of circumstances asking for the wisdom to do His work.
But be ready because He'll ask you to "go" or "no" or "stop" or "now" at any unannounced moment... And He expects you to do just what you prayed for-His will, not yours, to be done.
So here we are at Christmas, and I can't help but sing,
"Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me."

Hit it Gladys...



live in love,
grace

A little sugar goes a long way

Find the theme:

"Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch. You know that I love you. Can't help myself..." or

"Sugar, Sugar. You are my candy girl, and you got me wanting you..."

And my personal favorite Stevie Wonder's "Sugar" "Sugar, sugar, I want to be your main boy... All I got is good, good lovin."

Geez. Just typing those words makes me want to find an unsuspecting victim (or Fred Astair) and dance floor.... Anywho.

Baking for Good is an online bake sale with peppermint brownies, chocolate crackels, gingersnaps and many more (including vegan options), but that's not all... 15 percent of your purchase supports a cause YOU pick!

You can support nonprofit causes such as American Cancer Society, Action Against Hunger and Art for Change, or you can support community causes such as art.party.theater.company and the Red Swing Project. These are only a few of the manyyyy causes Baking for Good supports. Shoot, you can even e-mail them about adding a cause!

So, not only are you sending a beautifully wrapped, delicious treat to bake, you are supporting national and international causes.

That'll convict me next time I'm tempted to pick up that convenient pre-packaged, shake-and-bake cookie package...

It's a smart choice too. Manhattan-inhabitant and founder, Emily Dubner, grew up raising money for school projects with bake sales, and continued baking for fun while studying at Harvard. (Try to make a woman-in-the-kitchen-joke after that line) After working as a management consultant at a fancy NYC firm, she was inspired by a gift package delivered to her mom and started Baking for Good creating unique, gourmet treats, which support causes all over the world.

Call Barbara Walters. She beats Gaga, Kim K and Betty White for most fascinating woman in my humble, but pretty dang accurate opinion.

I love you more than blank... a live in love campaign

I love (love, love) campaigns. I'm not talking political today. I'm talking about personal and innovative campaigns. I love campaigns that cost nothing or cost a fortune, but either way, improve quality of life.

I love large-scale campaigns such as Pepsi's Refresh Project, which is giving away millions of doll-hairs to individuals supporting community projects just because... It's Pepsi. It can. Awesome.

But as generous as Pepsi is, I think I found another campaign where we can all win. It's called i love you more than blank dot com.

The campaign started in a paperwhite studio in NYC's lower east side from the belief that someone can't evaluate the value of something unless it can be measured to something else...

They even divided your love into categories: the benjamins, coffee vs. fizz, wired, eatables, wax poetic, if you only knew, homies, i heart and motley crew...

Go to i love you more than blank to find your category and submit a reason why you love

If you know me, you might know which one I submitted...

In their words, it's "a small project w a big heart"

live in love, me

Where the Battle is Won or Lost

’If you will return, O Israel,’ says the Lord . . . —Jeremiah 4:1

Our battles are first won or lost in the secret places of our will in God’s presence, never in full view of the world.
The Spirit of God seizes me and I am compelled to get alone with God and fight the battle before Him. Until I do this, I will lose every time. The battle may take one minute or one year, but that will depend on me, not God. However long it takes, I must wrestle with it alone before God, and I must resolve to go through the hell of renunciation or rejection before Him. Nothing has any power over someone who has fought the battle before God and won there.I should never say, “I will wait until I get into difficult circumstances and then I’ll put God to the test.” Trying to do that will not work. I must first get the issue settled between God and myself in the secret places of my soul, where no one else can interfere. Then I can go ahead, knowing with certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity, disaster, and defeat before the world are as sure as the laws of God. The reason the battle is lost is that I fight it first in the external world. Get alone with God, do battle before Him, and settle the matter once and for all.In dealing with other people, our stance should always be to drive them toward making a decision of their will. That is how surrendering to God begins. Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point— a great crossroads in our life. From that point we either go toward a more and more slow, lazy, and useless Christian life, or we become more and more on fire, giving our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory.

"Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in all the earth. " Psalm 46:10

This was today's Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest

live in love, me