IKEA project

So at the beginning of March, my mom was able to visit. I spent far too much money at IKEA, but it was worth it. No trip to IKEA is complete without an adventure in the as-is room, and I found a couple of doors that match my bookshelves/coffee table/entertainment center. They're not from the same "line", but they're the same wood type!

I'm probably not the first one to think of it, but my first thought was, "These would make awesome picture frames!!" There were a couple of them there, so I bought 3. 1 larger (the glass is about 13" x 13") and 2 smaller (the glass is about 4" x 13"). They all have the brown-black wood around the glass, about 4" wide or so. (I haven't done any real measurements, so these are all guesses.)

I was going to get a picture of my man & I printed for the large one and leave the smaller two empty, but I found some scrap material that I think I like almost as much. I had to buy picture frame hooks (about $2 at Walmart for a pack of 6) and the doors ($15 for the 3 of them). I already had the hooks to nail into the wall and the scrap fabric, so for $17 I think I did pretty well! I used IKEA picture hangers (the whole set is $4) that I had previously purchased. I put two picture frame hooks on the large door, it is kind of heavy and since I hung it over my bed I don't want it falling on me!

There may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning.

8:51am: I realized something last night/this morning. Yes, I want to be engaged. Yes, I want to marry the man in my life. But you know what? I'm not in a hurry to do so. I love him, and I know that if/when the time is right for us, it will happen. I felt this unspoken pressure from myself, and from my friends, that I needed to be engaged. But I don't. I am happy with where I am in life right now. I do not need to be engaged to be happy. I would, however, really like it if my man could find a job and get his butt moved here so I could give him a big hug. I have also realized a couple things while reading Eat, Pray, Love. I haven't decided if I'm going to blog about them. I think before I do I need to have a talk with my man. (I know I wouldn't appreciate it if I found out something kind of major via the interweb rather than directly from him.) So, no promises dear readers.

7:03pm: Sorry I haven't updated yet today-I have been busy. Went to IKEA after church to pick up the parts to put together my couch... anyway. I got everything and now I'm updating from my new couch! I love it. Enough about this nonsense, onto why you are here.

Today was a celebration-we were able to witness two people get baptized this morning. As I listened to their stories about how they came to accept Jesus Christ as their savior, I thought about my own story. In time-I will share it with you but today is not the day. Anyway, I pray that I will always feel I did this morning when I am able to witness another get baptized. In any case, today we talked about Matthew 5:43-48. This morning, Rodney, the singles director from Buckhead Church, joined us for today's message: "Love your enemies." I immediately thought of the predicament I was in last night/this morning: the fact that IKEA didn't include the necessary hardware to assemble my couch. I was mad at them. So, I suppose this morning: they were my enemies. All right, I'm listening, God. What is it you want me to hear this morning?

What do you pray about? That seems like a silly question, don't you think? Listen to me, don't you pray for the things you want? Yea, okay. That's true. We pray for things our hearts are wrapped up in. Imagine what could happen to our hearts if we begin to pray for our enemies. Our enemies might be government officials, the woman in front of you in the grocery store who has seen one too many episodes of "Extreme Couponing" or that guy in the office, the one-upper, or even someone closer to you, someone that has hurt you. But if praying about something YOU want opens your heart, what will happen if you begin to pray for those who persecute you? Will it continue to open your heart to God?

So if Jesus said, "Love your enemies," who are our neighbors? Who are our enemies? We divide people up into groups. We don't do it consciously, or at least, I don't. I know I put people into groups, whether or not I will talk to them today, or if I want to shut this person out of my life forever.  You know you've made God into your image when He conveniently hates the same people you do. (Rodney said that. It got a lot of laughs-and he said, "You laugh because you know it's true." Yep.) Our enemies are those who you don't want to say hi to, those who you will avoid if they walk down the street towards you. When Rodney was saying those words, my thoughts immediately moved to someone who broke my heart. I haven't spoken to him since May 2010, where we got into a fight. He told me that it would have never worked. I realize now that he's right. If he believed it wouldn't work, it wouldn't have.

Rodney suggested that we pray out loud for our enemies, whether it be the next time you think of them or the next time you see them. "Dear God, please bless this woman..." (Personally, if I were the person someone was praying for, I would be a little weirded out. Mostly because it's not something that you see in a normal day.) So, on my way home from IKEA, I began to pray for him-my enemy, the boy who I thought was "the one". I prayed for his happiness. I prayed for the grace I will need when I see him again, because I'm confident that he will be at alumni band this year, to talk to him. To apologize, and then to thank him. I think he was the one who ignited something in my heart that got me thinking about my faith. He and I went to church together a few times, and after each service he would always ask, "What did you think?" I never had a really good answer for him because I didn't have a relationship with God. I also don't think that the churches we were going to were a good fit for me. I always felt out of place there, that others were looking at me and thinking, "She's new. She doesn't really belong here." At Campus House, Connection Pointe, and now at North Point, I have always belonged. I almost feel like they were there, waiting for me to find them.

So I pray that he is genuinely happy. I pray that he is able to find what he is looking for in his life. Thank you, God, for bringing him into my life when I needed him. And thank you for blessing me with this man who makes me happy beyond all reason. Even as I sit here on my new couch (that he helped me pick out!) and think about him, I can't help but smile. I finally printed out a picture of us for my desk and as I sit here and look at it, I'm getting all teary. I miss him-it's been over a month since I have seen his face and it will be another month until I get to see him again. But, I can begin a countdown of sorts I guess. Only 4 more Sundays until he's planning on being here and then he can come to North Point with me, thank goodness. I love him and can't wait to share this with him.

Until next time, dear readers.

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:22

To say "yes" to something is to say "no" to another.

Today was my second time at NP and it was still intimidating. Both times I have gone I can't help but wish that the boy was there next to me. Sometimes it's hard, but I know soon enough he will be here with me and I won't be forced to struggle with this long distance thing. This may seem unrelated to you, but I stopped believing in coincidences around April/May. Today Andy started a new series, Shocking Statements of Jesus. He talked about how Jesus said things that made everyone uncomfortable, like "Love your enemies, pray for your enemies."

The passage he looked at today was John 6:54-68. A brief introduction: Jesus had just fed thousands of people, a feat that was nearly impossible at that time. He had a crowd of people following him, because hey, he had food. Who ever thought of the idea of giving out free food at call-outs for groups/clubs at college must have been a Christian and read this. I mean, if you want people to follow you, feed them. If you keep feeding them, they'll keep following you. But then you say something like "love your enemies" and people will start to think, "Woah. Wait a minute-what's this guy talking about?" and then they start to question if it's beneficial for them to keep following you around and believing what you say. This is what happened to to Jesus right about then. Following him was about to get complicated for the crowd.

Right about when the crowd was deserting Jesus, his 12 disciples started questioning as well. He knew what was on their hearts and so he asked, "You do not want to leave too, do you?" (John 6:67) Peter was the only to respond in verse 68: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, and you are struggling with transition, trial, or temptation, you might want to think if you just stop believing, it will be easier. But if you say no to Jesus, who are you saying yes to? You can't say no without saying yes to something else and the reverse is also true. If you say yes to one thing, you will be saying no to another.

This is where the "coincidences don't exist" idea plays a part for me. I am going through a transition right now: I have just moved to Atlanta, I have a career and my boyfriend is still living in Indiana. I am no longer a college student. I have been struggling with being new in the area and not really knowing anyone. At first I started to turn away from Him, because it was hard. It was hard to accept this change and I was unsure if it was the right choice for me. I could have gone to Jacksonville, FL or Houston, TX. What if those had been better choices? What if I should have gone there instead? What if, what if, what if. Only God knows that answer. Andy left us with this to think about, "Don't focus exclusively on your questions. Consider the options."

So I can't help but rethink my decision to be here in Atlanta, and I have come to this conclusion: I need to be here. I am supposed to be here. If I wasn't supposed to be here, I wouldn't be. I trust God to guide me to where He wants me to be and know that He only gives good gifts. I cannot live my life wondering "what could have been" otherwise I will not be able to move forward with my life and if that means I have to put my trust in God-well. That's not exactly a problem. The same goes for my relationship with the boy. I trust that God has a plan for the two of us and I pray that He will remain in the center of our relationship. The boy is truly amazing, and I see Christ in him. I thank God every day for bringing him into my life and I know that if we had met three years ago, I don't think I would have given him a second thought.

On a completely different note, I have bookshelves from IKEA! I set them up yesterday and I am starting to fill them with books and things. Unfortunately I am going to have to go back tomorrow or Tuesday if I want to buy the couch I have found that I really like... So, I guess I'm going back, haha. And then maybe I'll actually be "living" in my apartment finally. Well, I feel like I live here but it's a little challenging when I have to sit on the floor in my living room because the cats have taken over the two chairs that are in my living room (my teal butterfly chair and a camping chair). I think I'll end up putting the butterfly chair in the 2nd bedroom with my bookshelves and create kind of a reading nook. And maybe I'll start decorating my bedroom as well... There is nothing on the walls right now. Now I just need to figure out what I want on the walls. Any suggestions?

Until next time, dear readers.

I can't believe it.

It's been 5 months today. I am amazed, to be honest. It has been an absolutely fantastic 5 months. He is currently in Joplin, MO helping clean up damage from the tornado. I am so proud of him. (Sorry if this embarrasses you, boyfriend, but you truly are wonderful.) I really wanted to go with him to help, but I have to pack up my apartment this week so I can get ready for the move to Atlanta in the next two weeks. I sent Aslan with him (Aslan is my travel lion, lol. He's a Webkinz.) for the car ride. I know that God is using him to do amazing things in the world and will continue to do so. The boy has such strong faith and I am so lucky to have him in my life. I am so grateful he is a stronger person than I am and is helping lead me towards Him.

I have been struggling recently with the fact that it seems like all of my friends are engaged or married at this point, but I guess summer seems to be the time of all that. Which is rough on me, since my clock is telling me I should be getting married too. But I know that in time it will happen, and if God wants the boy and I to be together, it will be amazing and perfect. And until then, I can only know that I love my boyfriend and take it one day at a time.

I have exciting news, but I can't tell you because my friend hasn't even announced yet. So, until then I will have to stay hush-hush about it. But I am excited!!! :D I have already started to design a sewing project for my friend, but I'm not gonna post pictures on here until it's all done and sent away because I don't want to ruin the surprise. :)

I should probably get working hardcore on my packing... I admit that I haven't done much today. I have, however, picked out my TV stand. EXPEDIT TV storage unit from IKEA! In black, I think. I can only hope that it fits!! There's an IKEA in ATL, so I will be able to order it from there and get it delivered to my new apt. I would like to pick out a couch from IKEA as well, but I don't know yet. Hopefully the boy will be willing to help me pick out a couch that he can be comfortable on when he visits... since he's so tall, haha.

Until next time, readers.