a piece of my heart right now.

The last week has been kind of a whirlwind for me. Last week was my last in College Station until the Fall. Just as summer weather seemed upon us, and my days were long and filled with packing and organization, our air conditioner went out. My patience was tested while I tried to complete these tasks as I felt sweaty and nasty in my home. I don't believe that we are always called to a life of comfort, and I know that in the big scheme of things this isn't that big of a deal, that people live in hotter weather than Texas in little huts all over the world, but let's get to the nitty gritty here... I was a grouch because of the humidity inside that made my hair frizzy, dropping a glass jar and cutting myself, and all of my belongings strewn everywhere. Not wonderful. It was just a week of quite a few life conflicts. I'm extremely thankful for the time I have spent (in and outside the classroom) with little ones, because I know that the Lord has used that to make me a much more patient person than I could be without Him. Arriving home, I was thrown into a harsh emotional environment, and then started a job that has so far made me feel overwhelmed, exhausted and inadequate. Those aren't happy things. Again, there are hardships going on all over the world at every single second that are so much greater than my own. The blessings in my life truly abound. But this is a piece of my life right now, I'm sharing it and praying that the Lord would be glorified through that. And that you would be encouraged, friends! :)

I'm also a girl. So just imagine me being slightly emotionally spent. I needed my Jesus. Which, I'm seeing, is the whole point of all of these things. To make me press on towards my loving Savior. Any who, this morning is the first in a while that I've had lengthy time to just sit and seek the Lord through various mediums. I read in the book of 2 Peter. I journaled approximately four pages of prayers to my faithful God, pouring out my confusion about so many circumstances, current and future. I listened to the next podcast in Breakaway Ministries' series on Song of Solomon. (Ironically, or maybe not, part four is on conflict. Listen to it here!) Then I settled down in a comfy spot, wrapped in my favorite old comforter, and began checking my emails, my facebook messages, and scrolling through the list of blogs that I read regularly.

I found an email from a blog friend replying about a potential meeting and learning partnership (I cannot wait to photograph you and learn from you, sweet Caroline!), I found a lengthy, detailed, and encouraging reply from a blogger that I have admired for a long time & had summoned up the courage to contact.

You know how sometimes there are videos that circulate around the internet and people watch them on youtube or vimeo and post them all over facebook and sometimes you watch them and sometimes you don't? I still have yet to watch the Kony video or the slam poetry one about how Jesus hates religion. Usually I just skip over those because honestly, I don't want to watch random videos. Today I watched this video on a whim:




In case you weren't already clued in on my emotional state, I literally bawled my eyes out through this entire video. It was precious. I loved seeing someone's story.

After reading a few more encouraging posts, I reached a place of contentment.
 I want my life to be about testimony. I want to spend my days using my story to encourage others. I want to hear as many daggum stories as I can get my hand of. I want to hear how the Lord has worked in the lives of the people around me. I want that to be what drives me. I want to wake up each day, ready to make the Lord known through the testimony that he has given to each of us, striving to honor him with every word that comes out of my mouth or is typed by my freckly little fingers.

I often have to stop and think about why I blog or why I look at them. I truly believe that God uses our stories, in whatever form or fashion they are told. I also just plain like being inspired by how people decorate their homes. It's fun. It's happy. I like having a pretty place to welcome people into.

I know this post isn't chock full of pictures or anything that is pinterest worthy, but it's my heart right now, and I hope that it encourages you! I would suggest watching the video I watched, and checking out some of the posts that I read this morning. Thanks for sticking with me, friends, and stay tuned for a gorgeous home tour very, veeeerrrrrrryyyy soon! 

Things I read this morning and suggest to you:
The story of the Metz family's adoption, found here and here.
The story of the Elder family's adoption news, found here. 
The story of Kristen and the events that brought her and her fiance together, part five found here with links to all the other parts in that post.