to Him I leave it all

Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Holy His will abideth.
I will be still whate’er He does,
And follow where He guideth.
He is my God,
Though dark my road.
He holds me that I shall not fall
Wherefore to Him I leave it all

Whate’er my God ordains is right,
He never will deceive me
He leads me by the proper path,
I know He will not leave me
I take, content,
What He hath sent
His hand can turn my griefs away
And patiently I wait His day

Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Though now this cup in drinking
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it all unshrinking
My God is true,
Each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart
And pain and sorrow shall depart

Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Here shall my stand be taken
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet I am not forsaken
My Father’s care
Is round me there
He holds me that I shall not fall
And so to Him I leave it all

My Portion

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:25-26

Mom's Birthday

I had a little brunch for my mom's birthday :) Then, we went to a painting class. It was so much fun! Happy Birthday Mom!

Cobbler

I am currently obsessed with Pioneer Woman's recipes. On the top of my wish list currently is her cookbook.

I made her cobbler this past week and it was delicious. Next on the menu: vanilla scones.

Not Knowing

Hebrews 11:8 "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going."

Abraham obeyed. He was called. He didn't know where he was going. Notice that there was action on his part: by faith and to go. By going, he was to receive an inheritance.

Romans 4:20-21 "No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. "

Abraham trusted. Notice it doesn't say no circumstances made him waver but no distrust. He grew strong. He gave glory to God. He was fully convinced that God would be faithful to what He promised.

Following the Lord will cost me. It involves risk. I am learning a lot about this lately by His mercy.

Not Given Over to Trifles

I recently read this book. I have always enjoyed the story of Ruth. So, I enjoyed this resource as I was rereading Ruth. These words from John Piper on the book of Ruth place my recent past and immediate future in proper perspective:

“God’s purposes for his people is to connect us to something far greater than ourselves. God wants us to know that when we follow him, our lives always mean more than we think they do. Naomi had no idea in the land of Moab that God was making her the ancestor of the Messiah. For the Christian there is always a connection between ordinary events of life and the stupendous work of God in history.

Everything we do in obedience to God, no matter how small, is significant. It is part of a cosmic mosaic that God is painting to display the greatness of his powers and kingdom to the world and to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (Ephesians 3:10). A deep satisfaction of the Christian life is that we are not given over to trifles. Serving a widowed mother in law, gleaning in a field, falling in love, having a baby—for the Christian these things are connected to eternity. They are part of something so much bigger than they seem" (p. 121).

the grace of God

What is sustaining grace?
"Not grace to bar what is not bliss,
Nor flight from all distress, but this:
The grace that orders our trouble and pain,
And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain." ~John Piper

Mary Poppins

Last night, my discipleship group and I went to see Mary Poppins at the Fox Theatre as our final time together for the semester. I loooooooved it. Although there were a few cheesy parts, overall it was so fun! Thanks to Atlanta on the Cheap we found out you can buy 'student rush' tickets for $20 each an hour before the show. So, that is exactly what we did. Our seats were SO close. Thankfully you can buy 2 tickets per each student ID and I have lots of college student friends so they bought mine :) I highly recommend catching this show if you can!

Stability of Your Times

Isaiah 33:5-6

The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.

Two thoughts I've been mulling over lately -

1. How sweet it is that He is the stability of our times. Things just don't go as I plan.

2. Our sins are worse than our sufferings. Christ already took care of the first and is lovingly sovereign over the second.

Kira

My dear friend Kira is battling cancer right now. The Lord has entrusted her with this and she is suffering so well. I love her dearly. Check out her thoughts here.

her dear Bridegroom's face

How often it is that I look to what is right in front of me or just a few months down the road. I struggle to keep the whole Kingdom perspective in proper view. I want it to become a habit for me to see the immediate but also the distant. I want to interpret my immediate by the distant [the hope of glory]. I don't want to be like the bride who walks down the aisle enraptured by her own dress that she forgets to fix her eyes on her dear bridegroom. Now, I don't know what it's like to walk down the aisle but I feel like you wouldn't even think to look at your dress due to the overwhelming emotions of walking toward the man you have waited for. But how often do I look at what the Lord gives and not my Love Himself? The last stanza of this poem talks of that. I saw this poem on another blog and loooooove it. Enjoy :)

The sands of time are sinking,
The dawn of heaven breaks;
The summer morn I've sighed for -
The fair, sweet morn awakes:
Dark, dark had been the midnight
But dayspring is at hand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel's land.

The king there in His beauty,
Without a veil is seen:
It were a well-spent journey,
Though seven deaths lay between:
The Lamb with His fair army,
Doth on Mount Zion stand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel's land

O Christ, He is the fountain,
The deep, sweet well of love!
The streams on earth I've tasted
More deep I'll drink above:
There to an ocean fullness
His mercy doth expand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel's land.

O I am my Beloved's
And my Beloved is mine!
He brings a poor vile sinner
Into His house of wine
I stand upon His merit -
I know no other stand,
Not e'en where glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel's land.

The bride eyes not her garment,
But her dear Bridegroom's face;
I will not gaze at glory
But on my King of grace.
Not at the crown He giveth
But on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory
Of Emmanuel's land.

Strawberry Avocado Salsa

I found this recipe in an old Cooking Light magazine. My roommates and I ate it as a salsa but you can also put it on chicken, fish, or pork tenderloin. It was delicious (my roommate Amber had to eat her words that it sounded disgusting after she tried it!!)

::before::

::after:: (sorry for the quality - took it with iphone)

1 cup finely chopped strawberries
1/4 cup finely chopped peeled avocado
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon lime rind (which I did not use)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons finely chopped seeded jalapeno pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl; toss gently. Serve immediately!

[Note: You definitely do not have to buy as many ingredients as I have pictured. I doubled the recipe and still had some left over. 1 avocado, 1 jalapeno and way less cilantro would be plenty]

#4 - Run a 5K

I have started running in the past couple of months. One of my goals was to run a 5k this year. I ran in the Atlanta Womens 5k in Candler Park this past Saturday (it was coooold). My goal was to finish under 35 minutes. I did it in 33m 26s so I was very happy with that for my first race. :) I am going to do it in under 30 minutes next time! My roommate did it as well and she is a rockstar. She finished in 18 minutes and won her age division.

My Favorites

These are my favorite children ever! Not to mention that their mom, Amber, is one of my favorite friends :) I love going over to their house and hanging out. Check them out here.

Happy Tuesday!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend - I certainly did. :) I went to Macon to visit some dear friends and take a 'sabbatical' from ministry. It was very refreshing. Here are some recent pictures of what I've been up to! There are a couple from Meredith's birthday. She is a student at Georgia Tech that is so sweet (people often think we are sisters!). I have loved getting to know her over the past 3 years. The last picture is from last night. I made some coconut macaroons and put them in little baggies for my roommates to take to work with their lunches. :) They are delicious and super easy. I'll put up the recipe later on today.

::lawton, jess and i at meredith's bday::

:: my mini me and i at her 21st bday::

::my coconut macaroons::

Happy St. Pattys Day!

My Grandma always made green bread for us on St. Patrick's Day. I really want to keep the tradition. :) This was my first attempt at homemade bread and it turned out delicious if I do say so myself... Although I did forget to add the green dye in when I was supposed to, so I had to do it later which made it kind of speckled. Oh well.

::my GREEN honey whole wheat oat bread::

Cookies Anyone?

I went to a cookie baking technique class yesterday. It was SO fun. I love baking. Check out my friend Sarah's blog for pictures... I figured I would just let the professional photographer bother with that... (While you are there, check out her awesome photography.)

#3

#3 - bake a shaped/character cake

To be a baker like those on Ace of Cakes is a dream of mine. So, I thought I would give it a shot. You can't tell in this picture but this is a magician's bunny (just imagine a hat at the bottom that the bunny is jumping out of and a deck of cards for effect). My roommate, Amber, did magic shows at birthday parties when she was in middle and high school. I LOVE that about her! Anyways, she has been at her parent's home for almost 3 weeks recovering from ACL surgery so this was for her welcome home surprise. :) I am an extreme perfectionist so I won't even tell you what I think of it BUT it was super fun and Amber loved it :) So, I'm counting it a successful first try! I already have plans for my next one... Unfortunately I don't really like cake that much so I'll have to figure out something to do with them!

::buster the bunny, amber's treat::

Dinner and Prayer

I have the privilege of leading a team of 18 students to Johannesburg, South Africa this summer with 2 other staff. I am so excited about the opportunity to go :) Every Sunday night, the girls from Georgia Tech and I have been getting together to share a meal and pray for Africa, the students we will be meeting, our team, our support, etc. Here are some pictures from our latest time. (I apologize for the quality - they are from my phone!)

::breakfast for dinner - yum!!::

::mk, natalie, paige and I (missing you lauren!)::

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures from the ski trip.

::with alpha xi's - mia, me, callie and lauren::

::more alpha xi's - me, meredith, maggie and lauren::

#2

#2 - Go Skiing

The ministry I work for, Campus Outreach, takes an annual ski trip. Somehow I've never made it down the slopes. So, this year, the girls I spend time around on campus were all going so I went in order to spend time with them. I have always wanted to go skiing anyways so I thought I would give it a try. And the results are....(insert drum roll here)..... Mountain-1, Ginnie-0. Let's just say it's not a great idea to go to the top when you have never skied before... Apparently it's important to read the signs of what lift you are getting on.

The whole purpose of this '10 in 2010' for me has been to 'shake things up a little bit'. I really want to force myself to do things I don't normally do. The lesson I learned this time was that I love to be in control. Skiing felt totally out of control to me which manifested itself in me falling frequently and knocking some poor snowboarder over (I have the softball-sized bruise to prove it..) I hated feeling like I didn't have control. When I tried to do it on my own, I couldn't. I kept falling. But when one of the students let me hold on to his jacket while getting off the ski lift, I actually made it off without falling and really enjoyed it. As soon as I let go of him, I fell. I saw how sweet it is that I'm not in control of my life because it would look about the same as I did coming down that mountain: pure chaos and destruction. The Lord was merciful to me to order my days. Through Christ, He chose to save me from my destructive ways and transferred me to the way that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14) just because He's good. How sweet :) As long as I'm following him, there is real joy. As soon as I let go and turn my own way, it only brings pain! AND even sweeter, He is actually the One who holds onto me! So, maybe skiing was a success after all... On to #3...

::skiing with some Georgia Tech girls::

10 in 2010

Why Blog?

My great friend, Kira, had a wonderful idea. In her words, she decided to do 10 things she has never done before this year in order to keep life interesting. I had been feeling a little like I was 'in a rut'. So, I'm going to follow suit. I think I may have more than 10 when all is said and done! I have a lot of ideas. :) That is where this blog comes in.

#1 - Start a blog

I have wanted to start a blog for quite awhile now. Reading blogs is one of the things I do in my free time (nerd alert!!). I love to read blogs of all different kinds: news, cooking, coupons, theology, blogs of friends, etc. I have wrestled with the fear that I would just become more self-absorbed than I already am BUT I think I am going to try it out and just evaluate it as I go :) Here is to #1!

Hello Blogging World!

This is my first attempt at blogging!

So, why 'pleasant places'? Let me explain the name.

If I could pick what verses have shaped my life the most in the last few years, it would without a doubt be Psalm 16 (just ask my dearest friends - I talk about it often!). You should read the whole chapter if you can. I will just share a few verses here.

"The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken...You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

I love the rich imagery here - portion, lot, lines, inheritance. When I think about it being within the Old Testament, I see the deep trust of the writer because their entire livelihood was based upon their inheritance which was their lot (land) and their boundary lines. It was a BIG deal. There is this deep sense of satisfaction with the Lord and His provision. To me, there is this call to contentment with the circumstances of one's life trusting that they have been providentially established and ordered. My natural inclination is utterly opposed to this. I focus on what I do not possess; I plan for the future and forget the present; and I compare to others' circumstances or stage of life. But He who holds my lot is the King of the Universe. He is trustworthy and these presents days are pleasant places found in 'the lines' that He has chosen for me. And really, these pleasant places (v. 6) are just a taste of the pleasures forevermore (v.11). This will continue into fullness in what is to come which is more of God's presence.

::my current pleasant place::