laugh with me!

I've walked among the shadows You wiped my tears away I've felt the pain of heartbreak I've seen the brighter days I've prayed prayers to heaven from my lowest place I have held Your blessings God You give and take away No matter what I have, Your grace is enough No matter where I am, I'm standing in Your love On the mountains I will bow my life to the One who set me there In the valley I will lift my eyes to the One who sees me there When I'm standing on the mountain I didn't get there on my own When I'm walking through the valley I know I am not alone You're God of the hills and valleys, hills and valleys God of the hills and valleys And I am not alone

King of My Heart - Sarah McMillan and John Mark McMillan.

God: I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? (Isaiah 43)

Me: I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word (Psalm 130). 

🎵 🎶 "Like the stars, Your Word will align my voyage, and remind me where I've been and where I am going."

Earlier this year I made a decision to quit my job that was consuming my mind and body. 6 weeks later, I never thought I would still be jobless by now. And the fact that I have little money and little time left dominates my thinking right now. JJ Peterson, the author of this article, called it the Poverty Mentality: putting myself into survival mode before it is even necessary.

This poverty mentality penetrates to other areas of my life. When I am fearful of not having enough time and money, I start to become fearful of not having enough of other things as well. I start to feel like maybe I don’t have enough love. A poverty mentality scavenges and hoards, looking for every possible thing to grab hold of.

I live out of my poverty instead of my abundance.

In reality, I am fine and will be fine. I can’t be unwise with things, but I have plenty for today. I have an abundance of love, not only from those around me, but an unending supply of love from a God who loves me. If I can grasp that fact, that I am loved beyond measure and that I will never run out of that love, I can stop living out of a poverty mentality and live in my reality of abundance.

You are exactly where you are supposed to be, always, and so is everyone else. The portion of the path you wake up to today was written for you.

You are not your own or anyone else’s path-planner. You are just a traveler. You just keep moving. Trust the Path. Follow in the footsteps of a billion other mighty travelers who have walked and run and crawled the path before you.

I enjoy solitude and am a huge fan of personal reflection. I am absolutely okay with being in the same room without having a talk (in fact, this just shows how comfortable we are with each other!). I enjoy reading. I enjoy reading by myself near a fireplace with coffee in my hand. Yum! I actually prefer cooking/baking by myself (it is truly therapeutic). I am all about going to the wilderness. I sometimes go on hikes alone. (Shh.. I promise it won't be like 127 hours.) I sometimes prefer trees and dogs over people. No offense. Going to social events still makes me nervous. It still takes some efforts to make small talks. I will be more comfortable if there are dogs and kids around. I still would prefer not having to be on stage. I am scared of one-on-ones. (I don't know if this is a problem for other extroverts but yes I get nervous to talk to just a person as opposed to a group of people). I like journaling! A lot. I do not mind long driving by myself. But.. yes I am very much aware that I am an extrovert and... Social interaction comes more natural to me. I often need to talk things out and need people to help me process my thoughts. I love being included in social events and trying out new stuff. I love being known by people and knowing different kinds of people. I like planning cute parties and invite people over to my place. I am an extrovert but I promise you, my introverted friends, that I will try my hardest to respect your space and alone time and won't force you into uncomfortable/awkward/embarrassing/meaningless/draining social events with me. But if you do end up going to any of those events by force (of your other mindless extroverted friends), I would gladly accompany you and help you navigate through your time and possibly find you an excuse to leave as soon as you can! (Wow aren't you glad you have me as your extroverted friend?! Now let's read our books together on separate corners and maybe we can talk about our books after we're done? No? Oh okay fine.)