Here I raise my Ebenezer

The other day I had my last bible study of the year with a few girls who I've had the privilege of sharing my life with this past semester. They are SO hungry for the Lord, and time with them has honestly been so refreshing and life-giving and if I'm being honest sometimes even draining(Since I'm human afterall). They are willing to meet, willing to give up their own time, willing to hear truth speak into their lives! They ask the blunt, hard questions, they take opportunities to get more of Christ and they challenge me daily!!! I am so ill equipped- but looking back on this semester all I can see is God's goodness overflowing through my life and in their lives. My soul is so grateful for our time together and for new, everlasting friendships based on Christ! : )

So, during our last official gathering together we went to Amelie's. (The cutest, funkiest, french bakery located in Noda -Charlotte's version of Greenwich Village ... for all my New Yorkers out there!)  We drank coffee, painted pretty flower vases, and made Ebenezer Stones.  What's an Ebenezer Stone? Great, I'm SO glad you asked ; )


One of my favorite hymns (and I'm sure thousands of other people's favorite as well) is "Come Thou Fount".  Here's a link to listen to Mumford and Sons singing it. I highly encourage you to! --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNzO6LCyiIY&feature=related
Anyways, the lyrics in this hymn NEVER cease to turn my heart upward to gaze at the face of Christ. Oh, how this song unconciously raises my hands to praise Him! 


The second verse of the song begins with these words: “Here I raise my Ebenezer.” The word Ebenezer comes from the Hebrew words ’Eben hà-ezer (eh’-ben haw-e’-zer), which simply mean "Stone of Help". In 1 Samuel 7, the prophet Samuel and the Israelites found themselves under attack by the Philistines. Fearing for their lives, the Israelites begged Samuel to pray for them in their impending battle against the Philistines. Samuel offered a sacrifice to God and prayed for His protection. God listened to Samuel, causing the Philistines to lose the battle and retreat back to their own territory. After the Israelite victory, the Bible records in 1 Samuel 7:12 “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us’ ”


The following words in this sweet hymn simply state "Here by Thy great help I’ve come.” I love this!  This is so true of my life. ONLY by God's grace have I gotten to this point! My Ebenezer stone represents God's bountiful blessings this semester, His unceasing mercy, His help, and His perfect FAITHFULLNESS to me and ALL of His children!


We wrote little summarizing words or phrases if you will on our Ebenzer rocks to REMEMBER this season of life, and ALL God has done. Each rock represents individually what the Lord has taught us over the past 5 months.  HE IS SO GOOD!

Mine says "He Promises-2012". My inspiration for this semester came out of Psalm 33:4 "For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does."  This semester I desired to be a woman who stood firm on every promise of God's Word. Someone who didn't allow her emotions to change the way she viewed her walk with Christ or Christ Himself. He has proven to be trustworthy and faithful. His covenant is sure, his words are mighty and strong to save. On this I am secure! He  has allowed me to consistently KNOW this truth even despite the ups and downs, the all-nighters, the terribly busy days, the times when I dissapointed people, the harsh test grades, the bad "WOD" experience, the uplifting AND discouraging conversations, and well frankly despite exactly HOW much money I actually had in my bank account that week. ha. The Lord has been my help through it all, and he will continue to be my help until forevermore!  




...and for that I sing along with the Psalmist.... " I love you, O Lord, my strength." -Psalm 18:1

A Friday Ritual

Howdy!  I was thinking....and I'd love to post a picture every Friday just for fun to let y'all in on what I'm thinking for the day. Some might be serious and intense, others funny and ridiculous, and some will just be of things, people, places that I enjoy.... so for this first Friday here's my picture. 

Sigh... this explains my week exactly ha : )           HAPPY FRIDAY!

A Soul Full of Mirth

It's Wednesday night, approximately 9:20 p.m. For all you locals out there...I'm currently sitting in Jackson's

( a cute, little, no-name coffee shop that I just LOVE!)

I've been following blogs ever since I got my own laptop in 2008...I've been itching to start up my own blog for quite some time, but I've always tossed the idea to the back of my head mainly because of other more important priorities...likeee for instance my walk with Jesus?..or school?...or eating?(duh).... so I've decided to neglect all of those responsibilities... and blog! Just kidding : )... anyways.. finally... AFTER ALL THIS TIME...I'm posting my very first blog post!! Yippeeee

I've become an official blogger for several reasons. One, for my family and friends all over to be able to know what the heck I'm actually doing with my life! ( Since I'm simply the WORST at keeping in touch..especially on the phone. I'm just not a phone person..you know whatta I mean?) Also, so that when I'm in my old age one day down the road, I can look back and remember the insignificant( and significant!) days that in that specific season of life brought me oh so much delight! Lastly, I'd love for this blog to be overflowing with thoughts of God's GOODNESS and GRACE from head to toe! I'd love for it to encourage, challenge, inspire, and refresh fellow believers as so many other blogs have done just that for me!

With that being said, I'd love to go ahead and explain the title of my very own blog. MirthfulSoul. 

My heart is happy. Actually, it's more than happy. Happiness doesn't do my heart justice. My heart is filled with a deep, engulfing, irresistible liveliness. I was pondering names for my blog over the past week or so and some of the contenders were..."soulgiggles" ( since I thoroughly enjoy laughing)...or "Thislifeinsideofme" ( since I feel like I could burst at the seems with a love for life in general!)  Now...rest assured I really did like both of those options, however...at the end of the day nothing really was as catchy and really descriptive of my life as I know it as.... ( insert flashing lights)....

                                                     MirthfulSoul.

Mirth: ( as defined by dictionary.com)

1. gaiety or jollity, especially when accompanied by laughter: the excitement and mirth of the holiday season.

2. amusement or laughter: He was unable to conceal his mirth.

Synonyms: amusement, cheer, cheerfulness, convulsions, entertainment, festivity, frivolity, frolic, fun, gaiety, gladness, glee, happiness, hilarity. hysterics, jocularity, jocundity, jollity, joviality, joyousness, kicks, laughs, laughter, levity, lightheartedness, merriment, merrymaking, pleasure, rejoicing, revelry.

My soul, the very essence of everything I am ...is filled with SO MUCH mirth. It's slightly exhausting sometimes..ha ( Literally, some days my molars legitimately hurt from smiling so much.) And it's this way for one reason and one reason only - JESUS CHRIST. Christ is the difference in my soul- He's the difference in my life on this earth and He's the difference in my life eternally. Jesus by living a perfectly obedient life and going to the cross -PAID- my debt to a Holy God and Creator. By enduring the cross and making little of it's shame- Christ -CLOTHED- me with his righteousness.  By rising again he's forever -GIVEN- me victory over sin and everlasting LIFE. He hasn't only given me good health, friends and family and everyday common grace...but he's given me a blessed assurance that can NEVER be taken away. A free ticket to the most glorious, ecstatic realm of being.

 One of my favorite movies growing up was a Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen movie called " It Takes Two" One of the best lines in the movie  comes about when one of the little girls attempts to describe the feeling of  being in love. " It's that can't eat, can't sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence World Series kinda thing."  This is what my soul feels sometimes when I ponder the Gospel.  I am so undeserving of  the Love of Christ, and the type of love which he so willingly and abundantly lavishes on me...that when I ponder it, oh my soul just wants to sit there and giggle in sheer bliss. For me, to feel, to see and to know Christ' pursuit of me..is like that bases loaded, full count, grand-slam to win the world series kinda of adrenaline.....every single day. Oh it's simply the best...

Another one of my favorite movies of allllllll time is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...after the eldest daughter finally gets proposed to by a man very much out of her league, the director does a great job of capturing her heart later that night. The scene takes place in the eldest and second eldest daughter's bedroom. As the angle of the film keens in on the two girls giggling uncontrollably under the covers, the eldest daughter turns to her younger sister and whipser " Can you die of happiness?"  The pure felicity that this actor expresses on her face is enough to make any girl desire that same exact experience.  Now, realistically I believe it's safe to say I've been in love once or twice. It's honestly one of the most wonderful feelings in the world. But sadly, like everything else in life, this feeling fades. It's temporal- because frankly we're temporal. However, the love of Christ is firm and secure. It's imperishable and for a thousand years and forevermore...it goes on and on. And life with Christ... it gets better and better as time passes.

Christ has captured my soul. The same feeling Jane Austen's character expressed in her novel is the same one I get to relish in- day in and day out. Because of Christ, my soul is FILLED with everlasting, overflowing, constant, consistent* joy. Christ in my soul causes me to leap inside, to spin around like a little girl, and giggle like a toddler playing hide-and-seek because my heart is so, so satisfied, and pleased, and FREE and excited and in love!

Everyday is a great, great day with Christ as your Lord. Jesus gives me hope in the hardest situations, and he's the focus of my gaze on the absolute happiest of days. He completes the most inward, intricate parts of me, he is my perfect Husband, my eternally committed and most loyal friend and companion, and the Lover of my soul. And for this reason I am filled with a deep, anchored, passionate joy, endless, overwhelming MIRTH and true LIFE.

" Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,  for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls." -1Peter1:8-9 ( NIV)

.... as you visit this blog daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly...may your heart be inclined to fall deeper and deeper in love with Jesus Christ, so that your life would be filled time and time again with an inexpressible and glorious joy.. leaving your soul so completely mirthful!!