Oct. 4. I think its officially fall. It’s 52*, there’s pumpkin bread in the oven (that my fabulous roommate is making) filling the house with the most delicious smell. The front door is open and I’m wrapped up in a blanket watching my favorite Saturday morning show, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen. Trisha Yearwood, country music and simple southern cooking. What’s not to love!?

A motorcycle just flew by on my street and my mind was instantly transported back to four-wheeler riding with my cousins. We didn’t have a lot growing up, but we had each other and both my aunt and uncle and my grandparents had four-wheelers. Most of my childhood memories are of being in Ellijay with my cousins. Spring, summer, fall and winter, in the creek, through the barn, down back roads through the mountains. My sister and I would hop on the back of a four-wheeler and hold on to one of our cousins for dear life. It was so fun! Bugs smacking us in the face and all.

Me and Lorie – 1984 & 2014

Last weekend, I went to the Garth Brooks concert with those cousins. I posted a picture on instagram and underneath it wrote “God sets the lonely in families…and the family in families too.” I can’t get that thought out of my head. It must be true, right? My mom is my mom. My dad, my dad. Sister, cousins, granny, aunts, and uncles – they’re my family. I’m a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a niece, a granddaughter. God set me in my family and I have a role to play, and you know what? I haven’t been playing that role. At some point, I made the decision to place less value on that role. There’s this phrase I’ve been using a lot lately, mainly in a work context – “what you spend time on is where you place value.” Turns out its true for the rest of life as well.

There‘s a lot to say about living out of who you are, not what you do. Being vs doing. Doing flowing out of being, not the other way around. We’re sons and daughters of God first. Before we’re changing the world, or raising families, or being great leaders, or whatever it is that He’s called us to, we’re children who have a Father first. We have an inheritance, but we also have a heritage.

Can’t wait to go to my granny’s house next weekend.

Surprising Juliette on her first field trip this week

He is the Anchor.

About a year and a half ago, through a mutual friend, I met this girl at church who was visiting from out of state – a very far away state. It was her first time in Atlanta. She stood in front on me and told me how she thought she was supposed to move to Atlanta and work at this place. We talked a little more and I thought she was crazy -because I happen to know the process of how people got jobs at the place she wanted to work. And let’s just say it doesn’t start with not knowing anyone and moving from another state.

So, I gave her the only advice I could. I told her what I knew to be true in my life. Rooted right in Psalm 119:105 – Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I particularly like the King James translation because it’s the same used in an old Amy Grant / Michael W Smith song. 90’s Christian kid here.

These words have rung truer and truer for me over the last several years. The word of God is revealing. It is living and active. Moving and breathing. The surest thing I know. But it’s a lamp and a lamp shines a circle of light right around its center. It doesn’t say “thy word is a flood light shining miles down the path”. No, just a lamp, with enough light for your 2 feet to take the next step God has asked you to take.

So, that’s pretty much what I told her. Take the next steps God’s given you eyes to see and just keep on taking the next step. If He’s telling you to move, move. Then listen for the next thing and see where that takes you.

Well, 2 months later, she was living in Atlanta. And she kept doing the next thing God asked her to do. And you know what? A year later, she’s just started working part time at the place she said a year ago she felt like she was supposed to be.

I learned a really important lesson from this girl and its this: When you are listening to the voice of God in your life, sometimes other people who are also walking with God can think you’re nuts. And that’s ok, so don’t be afraid of that. There are a ton of examples of this in scripture, especially in the Old Testament – Daniel in the lion’s den, Noah building the ark before there was rain, David on a mission to kill Goliath, and on and on and on.

Following God’s direction for you life might not always look like the most logical thing. But if there’s anything I’ve learned in life, it’s that GRACE is anything but logical.

He is the Wind.

Once upon a time, I had a blog. I just went back and read some of them. They’re mostly horrible. And too long. These will suck less.

I’m learning a lot these days. About living peacefully. About the unseen being more real than the seen. About the deep love of the Father. About heaven to earth living and thinking instead of the other way around. We have a choice in that, you know. And Jesus only lived one of those ways. So, I’m going to write about it a bit and hope whoever reads these words finds them encouraging.

True to my former blog form, I have a music recommendation. These songs have been pure comfort to me this week, and I hope they are to you too. I’ve listened to number 9 no less than 100 times.  These words from No Fear In Love are my soul cry:

I want to stay close to You. It’s really that simple

I want to stay close to You just as simple as this song

I want to stay close to you. Its really that simple

I want to stay close to You my whole life long

He is the Anchor.