Show the World the Warmth of your Smile

Happy Holidays everyone! Its been awhile since my last post but my life has been a busy blurr with trips, working, and the end of school. Today is Christmas and it centered around time spent with family eating and opening presents. However, I feel as though it should act more as a day of rest and peace.

I visited my brother in New York City this past weekend and fell in love with the city all over again. I want to go to art school in NYC once i graduate and every time I visit I find more and more things to love. Never the less, I did begin to notice the rush of life in everyone who lives there.

I realized that life cant be spent hour to hour, minute to minute, it must be cherished with each passing moment. It is also okay to have a moment of rest every now and then. Being a junior in college has made my moments of rest slim to none. It is crucial to stop as realize the blessing in everyday things, such as, family, friends, education, and health. God has blessed us with life, we must live that life to the fullest.

"This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life."

In Your Ocean I'm Ankle Deep

This is my winter song to you.

The storm is coming soon,

It rolls in from the sea.

My voice; a beacon in the night.

My words will be your light,

to carry you to me.

Is love alive?

Is love alive?

Is love alive?

They say that thing cannot grow

Beneath the winter snow,

Or so I have been told

They say we're buried far

Just like a distant star

I simply cannot hold

Is love alive?

Is love alive?

Is love alive?

This is my winter song.

December never felt so wrong,

Cause you're not where you belong;

Inside my arms.

I still believe in summer days.

The seasons always change

And Life will find a way.

I'll be your harvester of light

And send out tonight

So we can start again.

Is love alive?

Is love alive?

Is love alive?

This is my winter song.

December never felt so wrong,

Cause you're not where you belong;

Inside my arms.

This is my winter song to you.

The storm is coming soon

It rolls in from the sea.

My love a beacon in the night.

My words will be your light

To carry you to me.

Is Love alive?

Is Love alive?

Is Love alive?

I Could Feel My Heartbeat Taking Me Down

As it is finally starting to feel like winter in Knoxville, its time to pull our your chunky sweaters, tights and boots. And I have officially started listening to Christmas music, planning my wish lists, and am ready to decorate the tree.

Just as I am getting in the Holiday season, ELLE published one of the most beautiful covers I've seen in awhile. Jessica Alba is gorgeous and I am obsessed with the colors and themes of the photo shoot. Here are the various photos picked to be in the layout.

"Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed."

-Storm Jameson

She Knows that My Hands are Empty

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand"

I've Made a Mess of Me

Life is a jumbled confusion of experiences, that somehow form our traits and personalities. God gave us freedom in order to shape our hearts. This freedom brings chaos, passion and love. These photographs capture freedom both in life and in fashion.

"Every human has four endowments-self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change."
-Stephen R. Covey

The Breath Before the Kiss

I was inspired this week by another excerpt from Captivating. Lately I have been feeling guilty for my day to day actions, and I was feeling lost and abandoned from Christ's grace. My faith was lacking because I was confused as to why God would let me stray from my day to day relationship with him.



God does not always rescue us out of a painful season. You know that he does not always give us what we so desperately want when we want it. He is after something much more valuable than our happiness. Much more substantive than our health. He is restoring and growing us an eternal weight of glory. And sometimes...it hurts. But the experience of sorrow in no way diminishes the joy of living. Rather, it enhances it.
-Pg 144


"To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing."

I Promised You the World Again

Friendship is the bond that keeps two people together throughout his or her life. It is sometimes hard to form strong relationships in college because of maturity and the temptations of the college atmosphere. My freshman year, I filled my life with emptiness through my social life. My sophomore year I was still filling my life with meaningless partying, however, I was beginning to find and fill my life with true friends who loved and cared for me. This year, not only have I changed my social life, but I have found more amazing women to surround and influence me and my life in a positive way. Find those friends who make a difference in your life, be patient with them and grow with them, those are the true friendships in your life that will last.

"Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who have tried for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives"

Will You Let Me Drown

I'm loving today, especially since it is Halloween (one of my favorite holidays, second to Christmas!). I have been struggling lately with keeping up with my faith. I feel as though I am slipping through the cracks. I have a devotion that relates to Halloween, my roommate was talking about something that was said in her church today.

You see, our salvation is similar to carving a pumpkin. When you pick out your pumpkin it's dirty and muddy, after you clean it you begin gutting out all the goop inside. You then carve out a happy face and end with lighting the inside of the pumpkin with the light of a candle. Jesus is our pumpkin carver, he cleans us up, guts out all of the mess inside of us and lights us from the inside out.

"May the love hidden deep inside your heart find the love waiting in your dreams. May the laughter that you find in your tomorrow wipe away the pain you find in your yesterdays."

The Moon Sits Still and the Stars are Watching Too

My favorite season is fall and the weather this weekend was THE perfect fall weather. Leaves are starting to change colors and you began to see the beauty in everyday life. Last night in church I was intrigued by the speaker referencing how we should blush and how our hearts should skip a beat when we hear God's name. And last night as I was reading Captivating, I came across a couple paragraphs that really inspired me. John and Stasi are describing how God is our romancer, he wants an intimate relationship with us.

"God has written the Romance not only in our hearts but all over the world around us. What we need is for him to open up our eyes, to open up our ears that we might recognize his voice calling for us, see his hand wooing us in the beauty that quickens our heart. " pg 115

"You've probably heard that there is in every human heart a place that God alone can fill. But what the old poet was saying was that there is also in God's Heart a place that you alone can fill. -It follows that there is also a chamber in God himself, into which no one can enter but the one, the individual-You. You are meant ti fill a place in the heart of God no one and nothing else can fill. He longs for you. You are the one that over whelms his heart with just "one glance of your eyes" (Song 4:9b). You are the one he sings over with delight...You are the one who takes his breath away by your beautiful heart that, against all odds, hopes in him. Let that be true for a moment. Let it be true of you" pgs 120-121

Be a passionate believer and follow and listen to God no matter what. Love unconditionally.

Lost and Insecure You Found Me

Mid Term week at school has definitely been the hardest ever. I have four tests last week and multiple online tests. This is the moments in my life when I need to remember to turn to Christ. It is easy for me to get caught up in tests and rely on yourself to make the grades. However, everything is in God's hands, even tests grades. Patience is a virtue, God will work in mysterious ways in order to bless your life.

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to the end, requires courage."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

In Your Name I Find Meaning

Back to reality. The mission trip to Pineville was everything I had hoped for and much more. It was a blessing to be surrounded by such amazing people. My small group was so great and by the end of the weekend we have completed a 72 foot wheelchair ramp for these two elderly women. We never actually met the two women but in our small group we discussed how it would be somewhat more important to them and us that we never met. The women can see the ramp and instead of seeing something that a group of college students made, they can see something that Christ help build and the amazing blessings that he can create.

I take for granted the wonderful things I have in my life. I am surrounded by wonderful friends, a strong family, and a blessed lifestyle. I have grown a lot this semester, both emotionally and spiritually. I have faith that my blessings and growth will rub off on many people. My growth has made me grow apart from some of my friends, I just hope they recognize the fulfillment i have received and let Christ into their lives.

"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have."

-Frederick Keonig

Let Your Love Cover Me Like a Pair of Angels Wings

Fall break is officially here and I need it. I have become numb to school and my routine has become something I do without thought. School is draining after awhile. I need to be in an atmosphere with good service and good people. I am going on a mission trip with the Cross ministries to Pineville, KY. I am so excited to help other through community and faith. I'll post again after my trip!!

" To dream anything that you want to dream. That's the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed."

-Bernard Edmonds

People need to be shown salvation through the love of others. Believe in Christ and live each day with the hope of a fulfilled and obedient life.

I'm Losing You and It's Effortless

I have a busy week, studying, birthday, and friends. Not much inspiration this week, I don't know why. I liked another part of Captivating, Stasi and John are describing how the devil has it our for women. We have everything he cannot, beauty and compassion. This paragraph really helped me out. I hate the times in your life when you feel like nothing is going your way, and everything seems to be going wrong. The frustration and the emptiness feel as though they are taking over your heart. This is what they think...

The Evil One had a hand in all that has happened to you. If he didn't arrange for the assault directly-and certainly human sin has a large enough role to play-then he made sure he drove the message of the wounds home into your heart. He is the one who has dogged your heels with shame and self-doubt and accusation. He is the one who offers the false comforters to you in order to deepen your bondage. He is the one who has done these things in order to prevent your restoration. For that is what he fears. He fears who you are; what your are; what you might become. He fears your beauty and your life-giving heart.

I become lost in everyday hustle and bustle and lose sight of everyday faith. I become frustrated with life and view that mistakes are made solely because me or someone did something wrong. Have faith and hope in the lord, for there is a reason for everything.

The Laughter Penetrates My Silence

I dont have much to write about today, so I thought I would just post some street fashion photos. I miss how inspiring fahion was in Italy.

"The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened."