Cinnamon drip coffee iced

There is something peaceful in a world of caos about a coffee house afternoon. Its time well spent taking a step out of the reality of the world’s issues which wait outside.

You can enter in with a rush of fresh breath of the wonderful aroma that gives you a little joy inside to smell.

There is a peace while sitting in a room with a cushy couch, cozy music in the background and soothe cup of Joe by your side while you surf the internet, people watch, read, or just stare at that pretend fire place in the corner.

There are a few things in life you just can't cut out when there is a budget you are keeping to. One of those is that cup of Joe at a coffee house.

For the job seeker without a office to go to it feels like you are going someplace. You have an appointment with that office of Joe to do your daily hunt for that job you seek.

Maybe the wife can drop off that crazy 4 year old to preschool for four hours of peace. The lonely traveler and business man can find some comfort in the presence of people all around even if there to scared to strike up a conversation.

You can do it pretty inexpensively too. I have a little secret I will share. I like coffee cold sometimes yet it seems that when you order it iced or blended its twice as much as a little drip coffee.

So I order it by saying I would like the drip coffee of the day over ice and then add some cream, cinnamon and Spenda myself from the side bar. Its a little messy mixing in the cinnamon sometimes but half the price and still quite yummie.

I guess there really isn't an point to my observation other than there are few places in this life we can get a little time away to have some peace. Peace comes at small price in the coffee house but maybe it's even less expensive at a place of worship.

Looking for that peace in the places with wireless internet and some coffee can work for a little bit but for that lasting peace you really have to look up. You have to look up to see there is a God who can give you that peace you find in whatever sanctuary you have been going to for a place of rescue.

You can go to the bar, the coffee house, the restaurant, or hide at home but that peace is temporary and you have to wonder out sometime to the real world. God provides a lasting peace for when you walk out of the coffee house you can still feel a bit like you are in still in it.

It's really hard to trust God when the world seems so grey sometimes but there is something beautiful in the sunny days God has provided that can bring you hope of a future He provides.

Even if the sky is grey today I believe in the rainbow because I have seen it before. I know it will come again. I trust in God that the sun will shine again and believe in the God who made it all for me.

I've got peace like a river, I've got peace like a river
I've got peace like a river in my soul. In my soul.

Fruit: Peace
Song in my head: Peace like a river
Verse: Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God...

Who I want to be like

Amazing Animals God made

Flights to Mars on Expedia

Growing from the crack

One day while walking along a downtown street in a bad part of East Los Angeles California several years ago sad from my worries I saw a sight that made me smile and wonder in awe of it. I saw a beautiful perfect purple flower growing in the smallest of cracks in the asphalt in the middle of this ugly street.

It was a perfect picture to me of how amazing God is. It wasn't by chance that this beautiful flowers seed blew on the breeze for so long far away from any others to land in that crack. How amazing that there was just enough soil and just enough water so it could grow in this wasteland.

Somehow in the midst of its surrounding God made it grow. Somehow cars missed driving over it and somehow it survived beyond it's circumstances.

Sometimes I feel like I am that flower. Sometimes I feel like I am surrounded by bad news on the news and negitive people looking sourly at the outlook for life as we know it to the point of losing hope. It's like if you have a piece of good news you don't feel like you can share it when the outlook is so dim for the world and the people in it.

Who wants to hear of your little joys when their sorrows are so big for the world? You can have a inner party for the little blessing you have going on in your life but at some point you want to share it. You want others to see there is a hope in you and something that makes you see that sun and grow in the midst of that crack in the ground. See the sun today and grow even if your stuck with just a little soil trying to sprout in that crack in the ground.

Fruit:Peace

Verse: I can do all things through Christ who strenghtens me

Song in my head: As the Deer

Do you have a Ruff?

When I was a little girl the light of my life was my grandmother. She was a precious woman who loved me unconditionally and gave her heart to me. She was an open door with a huge hug waiting for me inside. I could melt into those arms that would unfold for me to fall into when I scarped my knee or just needed some encouragement.

When my grandmother got cancer when I was 11 and passed away it tore me away from the joy I knew in her hugs. She left behind for me though a bit of her comfort. It was in one of the gifts my grandmother gave to me before she died. It was a piece of her to keep and hold in those times when I just needed a hug and someone to cry with. It was this huge stuffed dog that I so creatively name Ruff.

I couldn’t ever part with Ruff during all the challenges in my life. It’s silly really to think of a grown woman with a stuffed dog she sometimes lets herself cry with. I don’t care though because I know the love behind the stuffed animal is really what is comforting me in those times I need that bit of relief.

Life is messy and full of stresses and everyday little troubles that can leave you feeling like you need a good cry every once and awhile. The key is to let yourself recognize you need to stop and let it happen. Take out that Ruff and cry for a bit and move on.

Another thing my grandma taught me was that there was a God I could pray to and find the peace I needed to move past those good cry times. Ruff is the doll that I hug but he only symbolizes the comfort and peace I seek. Gods love takes me to that place of perfect peace after I lose my worries and let God take them. He can take yours too if you would just let Him.

Fruit: Peace
Song in my head: Jesus loves me
Verse: Psalm 71: 20 Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. 21 You will increase my honor and comfort me once again. 22 I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.

Staying strong

Encouragement comes only when you listen for it.. here is a song that gave it to me..

You're in the moment now
A bitter root A wandering eye
and then The ties that bind start wearing thin, thin
You're in the moment now
When all you've been blessed with Is not enough
Here's where the ground gets loose
Here's where the devils call your bluff

Stay strong You are not lost
Come on and fix your eyes ahead
There's a new dawn to light our day, our day
You've gotta stay strong

You and I run For the prize that lies ahead
We've come too far to lose our way, our way
We've seen the tragic flaws
The tortured souls The saints with feet of clay
Here's where sin becomes cliche'
We've come through wilderness and watched
The cloud by day The burning sky into dawn

Have you forgotten who you are?
Did you forget whose trip you're on?
Stay strong You are not lost
Come on and fix your eyes ahead
There's a new dawn to light our day, our day
We've gotta stay strong
You and I run For the prize that lies ahead
We've come too far to lose our way, our way

Get up, there's further to go
Get up, there's more to be done
Get up, this witness is sure
Get up, this race can be won
This race can be won
We've gotta stay strong
You are not lost

Come on and fix your eyes ahead
Our Father's dawn will light our day, our day
Come on and stay strong
His grip is sure
And His patience still endures
There'll be no letting go today, no way
Come on, and stay strong
You and I run For the prize that lies ahead

We've come too far to lose our way, our way

Fruit: Peace
Song in my head: Stay strong -Newsboys
Verse:Philippians 3:14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Feeding the dog

Which dog are you feeding today? I was thinking about this today and decided to try it out as a thought in the back of my mind while going through my day.

Last night at my small group meeting my friend Mary brought up an old saying that I had forgotten. It has to do with a white dog and a black dog. The black dog represents the bad things you do to yourself and wrong or sins you do. The white dog is the good things you do in your life and represents your relationship with God.

So my question to myself on the way home from group last night made me think of which dog I was feeding. In the end the dog with the most food wins the fight for my peace and growth.

So today I took an intentional approach to see a picture of who I was feeding to see how the day went. It is amazing how evident your trials and little things you need to go through in a day can become when you acknowledge them. It seems like that old saying just keeps being true that when you bring things that you struggle with to the light they die there so you can move quickly to the blessing of growing from those little trials in everyday life.

So here is to feeding the White dog who has your best interest at heart. He is a sweet puppy with boundless energy and health ready to blaze the trail. Feeding him most today really just made my day. I fed him today by spending time with God reading His word eating healthy and going to the gym for my physical self. If only I could do it everyday.

Fruit: Joy

Song in my head: If I were a... (kids song I cant remember the name of)

Verse: Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

On top of the clouds

Looking up at the grey clouds above me on my drive home from work today I couldn’t help but wonder. It felt like the day had brought these dark clouds in that went on forever. The sky so dark had made the day dreary and long. It felt like I was stuck under this big sky of dark clouds that went on forever without a break.

Driving down the road on my way from Tacoma to Olympia Washington I started to see a little part in between the darkness. It started as a little beam of light peeking through so I could see a sweet little taste of the sun on the other side of those dark clouds hiding the light. It slowly opened just a bit wider and yet a bit more to reveal a glimpse of the glory of a beautiful blue sky with light all around.

I could tell that the sun was always shining on the other side of those clouds. But when my eyes could only see those dark clouds on a glance I had stopped looking up believing I wouldn’t see the light all day. Seeing that opening up in the sky made me think of how I would love to fly up there and dance around on top of the clouds for a bit. It would be great to be free to fly up there and feel the sun on my face. Maybe then I could feel the Son.

Have you ever felt like you were on the wrong side of the clouds on a dreary day? Have you ever felt like you were stuck there? I felt like this today. Then as I saw the sun peeking through and theblue sky it made me remember that the sun is always shining on the other side.

God’s love is like the Sun. It’s always there shining bright on the other side that I can’t always see from where I am at. I just have to look past those dark clouds all around and realize it is always there for me. I just have to keep doing that next right thing to see it.

If I do that and open my eyes and yet close them at the same time I can see His love is here and now always there for me shining His light so I can dance free in it. So even when I can’t see it I can believe it is there. CS lewis wrote “I believe in Christianity just as I believe the sun has risen, not only because I can see it but because by it I see everything else”.

Fruit: Peace
Song in my head: Everlasting God – Lincoln Brewster

Verse: Proverbs 18:15 The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out.

Perfect Love casts out all fear

“He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.”- Proverbs 17:9

The grace of God is like an ocean so vast and deep that it can not be imagined. I can try to think it through but there is absolutely no sense to it. I was thinking about grace today. Most likely this is because, the Lord knows I truely need it

There are so many ways we can fail God and not live up to the expectations we have for ourselves to be the best version of ourselves in a Christian life yet we are clean and forgiven

I think it is sometimes harder for us to have grace for ourselves and to let God give us His grace. It's like we have a need to punish ourselves because we can not fathom a loving forgiving God. It is amazing that He is everywhere seeing all of our failures yet is giving us grace and not loving us less for even one second.

He grace is showing us how to love and not to fear it. His perfect love casts out all fear and doubt. Even when we are not strong enough or think we are not good enough we can trust. He knows we can't do it alone and is by our side. We just have try to do the next right thing everyday.

Fruit:Love

Song in my head: Only grace - Matthew West

Verse: 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.