Pslam 30:5, Sorrow and Joy. (This turned out a lot longer than I expected. Good luck to anyone trying to read through this)

Dearest friends,
This is going to be a short blog. I need to post something, but I've been really busy lately. Seeing dear friends from Philadelphia, planning and working on a tremendous project soon to be revealed, eating peanut butter, sleeping, and getting some hefty stuff from my Papa God.
I promise (no pun intended) to finish my blog on promises. It will happen. I just need to carve out enough time to type it out.

Here's something I've been chewing on. It's got me pretty riled up, in the best way possible. Jesus is truly my best friend.

Psalm 30:5

"For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning."

It's so true. Jesus was a man of sorrow. Don't believe me?

Isaiah 53:3 (New International Version)

3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Sometimes the Lord allows us to enter into these sorrows in our own lives. And really, we shouldn't complain about it. I'm a serious culprit of that myself. We should welcome this suffering. Why? Because it's a chance to fellowship with the sufferings of Christ. To understand, even if just a fraction, the burdens he carried for us. What a great, great love. I'm tearing up even thinking about it.

When Jesus was in the Garden, he asked two of his close friends to pray with him. This was him asking for their fellowship. Fellowship's literal definition is: "A state of being together; companionship; partnership; association; hence, confederation; joint interest."

Basically, he just wanted his friends to be with him in his time of sorrow. Just wanted them to watch with him, but sadly, they fell asleep.

Matthew 26:36-46 (New King James Version)

The Prayer in the Garden

36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” 43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”

There is so much in this. SO MUCH. But let me try and grab just a little bit for now.
Jesus said that "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." This is so true. I am weak, I am tired, my eyes want to close. But I desire so strongly to be with God. To sit with him, and have my heart hurt as his. We cannot stand by our willpower or strength alone, but through the grace and strength of the Lord. By fellow shipping with Christ, I find myself so much closer to him.

So even though I've been dealing with some hard stuff, I can just take it to The Lord and trust him that he knows. He simply knows. He understands it all. This pain is a blessing in disguise. Satan may mean it for evil, but God is just too darn smart for him. He's using it for good.

I mean, really, Jesus didn't want to die on the cross. He literally asked if there was any other way. But he did it. For you, and me, and everyone. I can at least sit with him in the Garden for all he did for me. I can at least keep him company, as he does for me everyday. He enjoys my presence, and that's so good to know, that God is my friend and really loves me.

Back to Psalm 30:5, even though Jesus was a man of sorrow, he fills us with joy. Joy is a fruit of the spirit, and an underrated one at that. It's so important and such a blessing to have joy in my life. Check this out: I am joyful that I can be filled with sorrow. That I can just be with my precious lover in his time of pain. It's so beautiful.

My life may have sorrow right now, but true to his word, "Weeping (Sorrow) may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."

I absolutely REFUSE to listen to the lies of the enemy! He can tell me all he wants that this sorrow will follow me all of my days, that it's here for no reason, that God has forsaken me, it's NOT TRUE! I will scream it back in his face, GOD LOVES ME AND THE JOY OF THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH!

I choose to believe that I go through these trials for a reason. I choose to believe that the morning is coming, and coming soon. I choose to believe that God is loving and that he is good.

Be free in the Lord. Soar in his joy. Laugh at the little things. And just know:

"Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning."

Love.

Promises as seen through Abraham and David. (Pt. 1)

Well, I really need to update.

So despite this awful day, I'll scrap together something.
If you've been in Charlotte, you've probably noticed the non-stop rain lately. I personally love the rain, it's not really bugging me, but most of my comrades spirits are falling under the incessant gray. Actually, yesterday during a short break, I was walking to ZHOP and was praying for a rainbow. And lo and behold, there it was, all but a small side hidden! What a wonder. As it is for many, rainbows speak to me of promises.

My whole life has been a promise, since I was in the womb. A promise filled with many more promises. My parents were told they could never have children. After my older brother Matthew came, they had a word from the Lord about a second son, and his name was to be David, but nothing about a son after him, or any daughters at all. God promised my mom after a great struggle with the enemy that she had defeated him and she was pregnant with me. She later found out that it was true. And boy, was she thrilled after I was born in that little hotel in Tyler Texas to find out that I was a girl. For the first few minutes of my life she had called me David, which the Lord has turned into another promise for me, although it wasn't revealed to me until very recently.

The Lord has so many promises over my life, and for this I've always related closely to Abraham, a man God gave many, many promises to throughout his life, fulfilling them all but not necessarily in the order he gave them. Abraham is a close second to my favorite person in the bible, David. He also had nothing to hold onto for many years but the Lord's promises.

Unfortunately I must cut this short, but be expecting another update quite soon.

Love.

Andrew Bird is a man very desireable

I love Andrew Bird. One day, I would love to marry that man. But that isn't even the point of my post. Just letting you know he is utterly incredible and you should probably listen to his music if you have any taste at all.

Yesterday, I rediscovered my love of playing the piano. I mean, I never disliked it, but it kind of died down a bit. It's flaring back up. One of the reasons its so incredible is because you can put so emotion into the piano, so many vast oppurtunitys. A song with really pretty piano will always stand out. Admit it.

Music is a way of connecting. Everyone has a desire to hum, sing, whistle, something just throughout the day. Music is everywhere. There has been music in heaven since the Lord created it so long ago. God speaks through music, moves through music. We speak through music, worship him through music, rise through music, feel music deep into our very beings. We simply cannot escape it. Every once in awhile you get a song that really moves you. I find myself crying over all sorts of songs. John Mark McMillan's Closer never fails. I'm emotional, I feel very deeply, but I'm not a weepy person at all. Ok, so maybe the past month or so I have been more of one, but that's not the point.

Without music our life would be so much more cheerless. It brings us together, it, as I said before, connects us. One person starts singing a song, another person exclaims over their love of that song and joins in, and there you go, a connection.

I could go on forever about music. After all, it's what I want to do with my life. But for now, this will do.

I must go eat waffles and watch LOTR with a dear friend of mine who is paitently waiting.
Please give me some feedback. I'd love to hear it.

Love.

And so it begins....

Hello there, friends.

It's been on my heart to start a blog (I really dislike that word) lately. I started one once, long ago, but after one post stopped due to a very unpleasant experience. But now the desire is upon me again, and I somehow think this is important for the days, months, even years ahead. Really, so many people promise not to let their blogs die, and even a week or two later they forget about it, put it off, and it just fades. I will do my best not to let that happen here. Get on me about it if you have to, I want this to be a lasting thing.

Honestly, I'm not sure how to start this off. Perhaps by welcoming you.

Welcome! I'm glad you're here. Hopefully we shall get to be good friends in the times to come. I hope you'll get to know me better, and I you. Because of course, this is totally interactive. I would love your feed back. Please let me know how you are feeling about any of my posts, anonymous or not.

Now that that's out of the way, a bit about myself, perhaps?

Maybe I could better display myself through the words of a friend. She once told me exactly how she saw me.

"Here is my estimation of you...

Stronger than you think, braver than you know
heart of a warrior in the body of a lover
You have heard a call that others may soon hear
you see the gold inside and fear it not
a beautiful soul paired with a strong mind.
an encourager of men that simply needs to be encouraged."

As for how I see myself?

A young, stubborn, growing individual, with many dreams and even more hope for them to be fulfilled. A small girl with wide eyes and curly hair, who loves Sunflowers, Stars, Music, Good Conversation, Words, Coffee, and time with her best friend Jesus. One who makes mistakes, but is constantly learning and never giving doubt a second thought. One who is determined to succeed. One who is growing every single day. A writer who sees so much she simply can't let it just sit in her head without a place to rest.

My name is what I am. I have recently come to embrace that. It means "Helper and Defender of all Mankind". I will do my darn best to live up to that.

For now you can call me Ember Eyes. Ember if you prefer. There is a reason I chose that name that I'll reveal later on.

And now, as I said before, it begins...

Much love.