a baptism of life-change

last night, my church had a group baptism and barbecue at golden gardens park in ballard. there were hot grills, firepits and smores, and lots of people. over 50 people made the walk into the cold water and started their new life in christ. it was really cool.

I have to admit that margaret, danielle and I totally know how to pack an upscale picnic/barbecue basket. I'm not bragging or anything but we had salmon for dinner. SALMON! and a fresh greek salad with crusty bread. want to know what my contribution was? the bread. I need to remember to bring both of them along anytime I want to "camp" (really? when would I ever want to camp?) because they were both so prepared. margaret brought a spatula and foil for the salmon and danielle brought real dishes and silverware for our dining pleasure. I brought bread. and some caramel corn to share. and diet pepsi of course. but the bread was the real standout.

whatever. do not expect me to save you in any sort of survivor situation. (otherwise known as camping in my world)

us girls have challenged ourselves with being more involved at church and this was our first attempt at socializing. it was successful so I have hope that we'll continue!

infinite grace

here is the view I had tonight...


I am helping my friend amy out and working at the women of faith conference this weekend. she works for the local christian radio station who is one of the conference sponsors. I help out in the booth during intermissions and in return, I get to sit in on most of the sessions. our seats are on the floor, mere rows from the stage.

and I already cried four times tonight. I have a feeling we're in for it tomorrow.

note to self: remember to bring tissue.

meeting "the man"

today in my daily devotional book...

when the woman at the well met jesus, unlike all the other men she'd met, he addressed her real need. "[he said,] 'go...get your husband'...'I don't have a husband,' the woman replied. jesus said...'you have had five husbands, and you aren't...married to the man you're living with'" (john 4:16-19 nlt). because we're weak, we keep getting into situations that leave us wounded. and those wounds can't be healed by going from relationship to relationship. after meeting jesus this woman ran to tell everybody, "come...meet a man who told me everything!" her answer wasn't another man; she'd already tried that! her answer was meeting the man, and asking him to fill the void in her life.

the bible refers to this as putting "on the new self, which is being renewed in...the image of its creator" (colossians 3:10 niv). if you're sick of the way you're living and want to change, remember, the woman at the well couldn't "put off the old man" till she met the new one. when you're attached to certain habits and relationships, it's hard to break free in your own strength. you'll only be able to disengage when you acknowledge jesus as lord of your life. only by embracing the new, will you find strength to say goodbye to the old. so what does all this mean for you? it means coming to christ as you are, asking him to save you, and entering into a relationship with him. james says, "surrender to god...resist the devil, and he will run from you" (james 4:7 cev). when you do that, god will give you the strength to forsake those old patterns and begin a new life!

just what I needed to hear as I am beginning to make some changes in my own life. and right after I prayed that I would hear him speak. loud and clear, lord. thank you.

jars of plenty

I had the most glorious dinner with my friend amy tonight. we had back to back appointments at our salon to get haircuts (her a color) so we gabbed with our stylist and each other for over two hours. we then walked a spell down the street to a new(ish) restaurant. via tribunali is my new favorite. the food is fresh and delectable. interestingly enough, I can't get enough of their tiramisu. funny coming from a girl who isn't fond of coffee but it just melts in your mouth. we spent another two hours talking about work, our bible study topic, the marriage conference she and her husband just attended, and the new prayer project I've started.

It's been such a a wonderful thing, I thought I'd share my jar project with you all.


inspired by a story from a beth moore conference, these jars house my blessings, prayers for my future husband, and things I need to lay down before god. sitting on the windowsill near where I have my quiet time, I can quickly jot things down, pray over them, and place them in the jar as I think of them. things have even come to mind at work and I write them down on a post-it note to add when I get home.

just imagine how great it will be to read through the jars later and see how prayers were answered and be reminded in the dreary times how blessed we really are. I have decided that all entries into the husband jar will be read only by him and I love that.

I would encourage everyone to do a variation of this. it's incredibly rewarding to have tangible evidence of how the lord is blessing you in the day to day craziness that is life. yours won't look exactly like mine but the clarity will be the same.


note: mine are jars simply because I had these old milk bottles and thought to re purpose them. you could do the same thing using a decorated paper bag, an old tin or gift box, even a drinking glass from the kitchen would work.