One of my new favorite songs...

Yay! Thanks to Esther for telling me how to post vids!! =) This song is one of my favorites from the movie Fireproof.

God's hugs.

Quick question: Does anyone know how to post youtube videos in a blog post? I can't seem to figure it out. =P

Random thought: It's really hard to write what I intended to write about while listening to the more "bouncy" track on the Esther soundtrack. =P

Back to the post... which I really am going to finish. Kinda.

Excuse me, I'm really loopy from happiness and lack of sleep. =)

So, before I begin, I think I need to make a correction to a previous post. In my post "Surrender," I'm afraid painted a wrong picture. After talking with some friends a few weeks ago, I realized how easy it is to slip into the mindset that God's will and way can't be in line with our will, naturally. He does call us to surrender to Him, but that doesn't mean that God's way will always be opposite of what we want to do. He calls us to delight ourselves in Him, and He will give us the desires of our heart. A friend quoted St. Augustine on the subject- "Love God and do as you please." If we really love Him, our desires will often be in line with His will. So I wanted to apologize for possibly coming across in the wrong way. I was referring to surrendering sin and ungodly habits, as well as (not necessarily bad) desires that God wanted me to look away from so that I could see His will.

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Ok, so this will not be a very deep or intellectual post, but I wanted to share a brief encouragement from yesterday, a day full of little ups and downs...

I've been trying to break my terrible sleep pattern lately by getting up earlier. So Monday morning I was up, feeling alive and excited. Whenever I think about waking up early, I immediately begin calculating how soon I will be able to finish my homework, piano practice, and various other responsibilities. I have this crazy notion in my head that if I wake up early, I will somehow be super motivated to move fast. It happens sometimes!... but not very much. It did not happen yesterday. Somehow I had a lot of trouble getting myself to do things quickly, and between difficult, tedious school work and 2 1/2 hour long piano practice, my day went by pretty quickly. Before I knew it, it was 5:30, and time to get ready for Irish dance class. By this time I was feeling pretty discouraged at my lack of progress for the day.

At Irish dance, it was just one of those days. You know, the kind where you feel you are trying your hardest, yet no results are visible? Yeah, that kind. Come to think of it, piano practice had been just like that as well! I was so frustrated. I was working long and hard, my muscles ached, my toes were cramped from the hard shoes, yet I couldn't keep my feet "turned out," as is so necessary in Irish dance. For some reason, I was feeling very discouraged in spirit. But when the teacher called us back over to see how we were doing, she watched me do the step, smiled widely, and said, "Vineeta, your feet have never been this turned out before! It looks amazing!" Immediately my spirits soared. All that work had not been in vain. And one of the other ladies acknowledged the quality of my work! It's amazing what God can use to lift a discouraged spirit. Just a simple, short phrase of encouragement about Irish dance completely lifted my heart. Silly as it seems, I found my eyes welling up with a few tears at the unexpected blessing.

That little comment totally made my day. God created us so... creatively! He makes us to respond to situations differently. He created us with different love languages. And of course, because He made us that way, He knows exactly how to show us that kind of love. For me, that comment was exactly what I needed that day. I like to think of these things as "God's hugs"- the little things that He gives us to renew our strength and give us delight in Him. To me, God's hugs are: an encouraging email from a friend, a comment like this one, a beautiful sunset, looking up at a clear blue sky, a Scripture passage that speaks to my heart, a long talk with a friend, a morning/evening alone with Him, hearing the rustle of palm trees in the breeze, observing children (seeing what it means to have the faith of a child)... the list goes on.

What about you? What unique things does God give you to delight in Him by? What are some of God's hugs to you? =)

Brief encouragement...

Hey everyone! It's really late, so I can't give a full update, but I just wanted to share a very familiar passage. As famous as it is, God really used this passage tonight to encourage my heart and give me strength and joy in Him as I spent some time alone with Him. He brought this message straight to my heart straight to my heart just when I needed it, to restore my hope!

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"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

-Romans 8:35, 37-39