All I Need

"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!...Nothing is impossible for You...You hold my world in Your hands!" - "Healer" by Hillsong

This First Week in Advent

Sunday, at Chestnut Street United Methodist Church (I LOVE YOU GUYS!), we took time during our normal service routine to bless all the family advent wreaths. Every child processed in, their tiny hands holding up various shapes and sizes of Advent wreaths, lavishly decorated in elementary school style and complete with the standard candles: three purple, one pink, and one white. They are such simple symbols - a tradition that is ingrained in our church and our lives. This year, that little wreath has already impacted my little family in a much bigger way than I had imagined!

"Holier Than Thou"

Search your heart before the Lord that you do not judge yourself better or more 'holy' than others and deem them unfit for the kingdom of God based on who is more knowledgeable about religious topics. The Father, Who created your inmost being, can search your heart and judge humility and arrogance and it is for Him alone to judge the minds, hearts, and righteousness of man. Do not allow yourself to become proud or haughty in your learning, doing so in vain pursuit of being better than your brethren, but learn for the sake of growing closer to your Father.

Being Me (Published Spring 2011 in a literary magazine at the university I am attending)

          It hasn’t been easy being me. I started out this semester just fine. I was eager to begin a new set of classes with a new set of challenges. I had finally solved my son’s behavior problems at school by making the decision to home school him. I had reunited with my estranged husband and it seemed, for once, that he was actually trying to make things work out between us. I had turned my life around and gotten back in touch with my faith. I had even stopped smoking. My bills were finally caught up and I didn’t have much to worry about. Then, the first day of classes came and we experienced the worst snowstorm our area has seen in years. It was like an omen, portending the train wreck that awaited me.

My World of Legacy (An essay I wrote for a class called "Literature of the Harlem Renaissance")

            What is a legacy? Chances are that each person you ask will have a different idea of what legacy means. Even the dictionary definition of the word ‘legacy’ varies, depending on the context in which it is used. According to Merriam-Webster, legacy is defined as “a gift by will especially of money or other personal property,” or “something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past,” and also as “something that is or may be inherited.” If the dictionary itself has difficulty getting a handle on the meaning of such a small word, then how can we hope to wrap our minds around the concept the word signifies?