Fear vs. Faith

Decision-making models are practically countless. Just take one business class and you'll find that out! But we, as Christians, as Good Girls, have really only two options: world-based decision-making, or Heaven-based decision-making. Or, as a more pleasingly alliterative alternative, "Fear vs. Faith." Have you ever seen someone make a decision based on worldly assumptions, convictions, and desires? I truly believe it comes down to a decision made in fear: I have to do this or I won't be good/cool/rich/thin enough. Or the worldly decision is based on selfishness, which is really just fear cloaked in self-righteousness.

What does the alternative look like? Well, it looks...scary and humbling, if we're being honest. It looks....unpredictable. Oh dear. This is really making me want to put on that cloak of self-righteousness and cower under selfishness again. A faith-based decision is based on two things that seem at odds: a knowing and a not-knowing. We may not know why a decision makes sense, we may not know the full details of how it is going to work out or what glory God will be given, but we know with utter certainty that God has our backs. God does not want us to be fearful or selfish. Jesus equates little faith with fear.

²⁶ He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. 
Matthew 8

 A faith-based decision allows God to show us how strong He is, and often allows us to learn a lesson and be refined. "Giving in" to a faith-based decision may mean letting go of long-held ambitions (that whole cool/rich/thin thing?). It may mean de-focusing on the scary 10% of something and focusing on the rewarding 90%. It may mean relying on the kindness of strangers, or taking a pay cut, or riding the city bus next to that not-so-clean looking person. Sounds scary right?

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Romans 8:14-16

Fear enslaves us. But when we receive the Holy Spirit, we are freed from fear! Embrace that truth. And we can cry, "Daddy, Daddy!" to a Father who blesses our faith.

Dear Abba, 
Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you have not given us a spirit of fear or timidity! Thank you that you allow us the grace of your strength when we step out in faith. When we call to you, when we cry out to you, you answer. Help us to make decisions based on your convictions and promises, Lord, not those of this world. 
Your Daughter, 
Natalie

Not a Day Less Will Do

Below is my specialty pose. I call it the "Crazed Flamingo":

{you can tell when the boyfriend took the pics, because I make silly faces. because he says things like, "oh yeah! work it! the camera is loving you!"}

 {ballet pink fingernails}

And this song. This lullaby of a love song:

 

Style Secrets

Tee: F21

Sweater: Garage sale

Necklace: Self-made

Belt: Thrifted

Ballet Pink Pencil Cut Jeans: Gap/thrifted {so in love}

Slingbacks: Dressbarn/thrifted

Monday Mid Day

 Monday Mid-Day Pick-me-ups!! Not that I need a pick-me-up. I'm pretty darn happy! :-D

A free song: 

Cloverton's "Take Me into the Beautiful" I posted a few Mondays ago is the free song download on K-Love this week! Click here to download to your iTunes!

 

An awesome hair-styling product:

                 Mom, this one's for you. The Aveda Confixer is really expensive, but I scoured the shelves at a few stores to find this one, which I believe is very close, and at least $5 cheaper (though still a bit of a splurge!). It's a fantastic liquid gel that you put on prior to styling.

Thrift Store Scores of the Weekend: {you'll be seeing these in outfit posts soon!}

Have a beautiful and happy Monday! I have a Weekend-to-Work for you this week, so get excited! 

Midsummer's Eve

  Apricot-Lavender Crisp and Lingonberry Juice  

{to celebrate my Swedish heritage on a particularly Swedish day, Midsummer's Eve, when the treats were served}

 

 

{the weather has been so horrid all week, taking pictures in my kitchen is like trying to take pictures in a dungeon. Sorry for the poor lighting}

{remember how I told you here that I loved the cookbook Organic and Chic? This is another recipe from that book}

This combination is amazing. My co-worker almost died in delight when eating this. Deeeee-licious. We decided to make jam this summer with apricots and lavender. Wonder if anyone else has ever done that before. If not, we'll make millions, it will be so delicious. Please don't scoop me and start selling it tomorrow :-P

Anyway, we also had this...

Because, despite the brown hair, I'm quite Swedish and yeah, sure, you betcha, I'm quite proud to be!

End of the Night

It's the end of the night and the end of yet another pretty journal filled with my life.

I always feel like the start of a new journal marks some sort of significance in my life. What will it be this time? What year and a half worth of life will I capture within its pages, within my heart? My journals are my prayer journals. They hold cries of my heart, longings, prayers answered, prayers unanswered; they hold all of my foibles and all of my fears. They hold the triumphs when there is no one else to share them with, the little inconsequential battles won. They hold all of this so I can remember. So I can see later. Indeed, there was an answered prayer. Thank goodness God didn't answer that prayer! See how He was preparing me for that?

He is always preparing us, molding us. He is always refining us, defining us again with His love {this song}. Shaking the dust off us and saying, "Now try again, my child."

At the end of the night, I run to my Heavenly Father. I run to Him and I say, "Daddy! Daddy! Did you hear about today?! Did you see that? Did you know?" and He says, "My daughter, my dear, I was there with you. I ordered your steps today, and it gave me great delight to sing over you."

And tonight, I run to Him and I am all smiles. You know how a happy little girl runs to her daddy and says, "Daddy, I LOVE you!"? That's what I do tonight. I lavish my love and praise on Him. I raise my hands and I sing Him a new song. My heart loves to bring Him praises.

I have a feeling good things will be in this new journal. Very good things, indeed.

Apricot Sunshine

 {Udi's multi-grain GF bread, my favorite jam that's so expensive I can only buy it once a year when it's on sale at the Co-Op, and my favorite tea to drink every morning}

There is no real sunshine in the skies. There hasn't been for days....weeks....But I found some sunshine! Pure, apricot sweet tartness in a jar! On my toast!

Toast? Actually good gluten-free bread!!! Good enough to eat straight out of the bag! Or use for sandwiches! It's true love! I canNOT get enough of this combination. I've been eating it night and day. Literally. For breakfast and a late night snack. Sometimes I even add a swath of natural peanut butter. Gooey deliciousness.

A Picnic Dress

I saw this dress at Target and I knew it had to be mine. It is the perfect picnic dress! And the boy and I have a perfect little picnic spot that's just ours. The dress fits the fingertip rule, but of course, is also pretty floaty, and needed a pair of shorts underneath.

Style Secrets

Sunnies: Local Boutique

Necklace: Lucky

Cardi: Target

Dress: Target

Shorts: Soffe

Sandals: Target (wore my croc mary-janes for exploring)

Monday Mid Day

Monday Mid-Day (my fun font in the title doesn't have a dash, sorry it looks weird) pick-me-ups!!

A beautiful song even more beautiful played live:

Princess Kate's most gorgeous dress from June 9 (she looks so beautiful, but a bit too thin. Eat something at the next gala, Kate!):

{more pics of her outfit here, found on a google search}

A scene from a pretty picnic that I had with the boy yesterday:

{Lucy's gluten-free cookies in the late-afternoon sunlight)


Also check out Jen's adorably-adorable outfit today. I love it so much!!

Friday Everything

This, my friends, is Friday Everything. Everything and nothing all at once.

 

 I've been pretty busy the past few weekends between travel and work, so I haven't been able to pick up farmer's market flowers. I pulled out these three pretty pink straw flowers from my last bouquet. Love that they stay perfect! And they are soooooo my colors.

Late-night snack gone awry that made me laugh out loud last night.

I've been eating my weight in grapes lately. 

That box I tweeted about yesterday? Awesome goodies from Bath & Bodyworks. My favorite soaps ever! And I love their shampoo, too. Notice how they are all pink and green? Lol. 

New (to me) scent to try...I know the boy will like the smell of this one :-P

Sigh. I thought I was done with textbooks when I got my Master's. Guess not. Getting ready for teaching my second class of summer term. Good thing I have a tall glass of grape & cranberry juice mixed with mandarin seltzer. Yes!

Have a good weekend! I'll try to post an outfit or two this weekend. I've got quite the backlog (that keeps getting sniped by Kendi! Grr!).

Banana Bread Crumbs

Banana bread ain't nothing too special, but it sure is good to have around....

Until it's gone...then it's just sad.
Goodbye, banana bread with mini chocolate chips. Until next time...

Chihuly.

 {all images from http://www.chihuly.com/home.aspx}

Random post: You are probably already familiar with Dale Chihuly's work, even if you don't know it. His work has just been everywhere for the past 30 years. While glasswork (even his) is not my favorite medium, I stumbled across this amazing video for his new exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Very cool. I'm tempted to go see this just for the sheer scale of it all.

The overhead, aquarium-like (well, rather, looking glass) ceiling intrigues me, as does his Navajo Blankets series, where he painted traditional Navajo patterns on glass. Find out more here and here.

Oops

Somehow this photo got deleted from my previous outfit post. I totally love this dark silver shade. Also: it's called Gray's Anatomy. Hehe. {by Wet n Wild} One of the saddest parts of the summer is that all of my {all = two} favorite TV shows are on hiatus. But they are replaced by um...real life? Swimming in the river, farmer's market, creamies after work, and, my fave: garage sales! {i'm a dork}

Wrinkles and Smiles

{I ironed this dress. Honestly, morning of, I ironed it. Then I drove for 2 hours. And sat at a graduation for 3 hours. Oh well}

 {pretty folded shoulder detail}

{this is the actual face I make at the boyfriend when he takes my picture. he's a lucky man, right?!}

Loving the color and the folded shoulder detail of this new Gap dress. Bought it to wear to my cousin's bridesmaids brunch, but that didn't end up happening. So it was perfect to wear for some friends' graduations! The leggings were necessary as it was 53 degrees and rainy. And I caught a cold. Hmpf.

Style Secrets

Umbrella: J. Crew (sadly, broken now)

Necklace: Gift

Dress: Gap

Blazer: Tommy Hilfiger

Leggings: Target

Boots: Hunter

Free Music Download!

Now I love free, and I love music, and I love Jesus. So, Good Girls, what's better than a free 10-song Christian music download from the Creation Christian music festival?

Well, having this cold go away before the weekend would be better. And that rhubarb-white-chocolate ice cream sundae I have plans to make soon might also trump. But other than that, this is such an awesome thing!! The songs rock!!! Brandon Heath, Tenth Avenue North, Francesca Bastitelli (why is her name so darn hard to spell? I tried three times!), The Museum, KJ-52, and Chris August, and more!

Download it to your iTunes NOW!!!! Click HERE!

Pain and Scars

I was at a church conference a week or two back, and man, was it awesome! So inspiring, uplifting, humbling, convicting, tear-inducing, worshipful---yeah, awesome!I'm speaking at church soon about what I learned, and I thought I'd share with you, too. This is just one of the things that tugged at me that week...

A gynecologist learned how many babies were dying each year from poor prenatal care in {some country, sorry, forgot}, and decided to move there with his family and start a medical care center. They hoped to be able to practice even 1950's-era medicine in this remote area, which would greatly improve the infant and mother survival rate. They were blessed with 1980's-era medicine and equipment. This doctor went from 21st-century gynecology to a 1980s-style practice in a remote area of a third-world country.

The particular story he chose to share was incredibly powerful. The wife of one of his clinic workers, who lived in a village outside of town, came in to see the doctor. She was quite ill. A quick examination proved the doctor's worst fears: stage 4 cervical cancer. Indeed, he even called the new doctor from Sweden, who was there working with him, to show her exactly what Stage 4 cervical cancer looked like in textbook form. There was nothing to be done, he knew, aside from comfort measures. He sent her back to the village with medicines and told her to come back in a month, if she made it until then. He prayed for her, that God would reveal Himself to her before she died, that he might see her in Heaven.

She came back in a month, and the doctor did his check-up. But there must have been some mistake! This must not be the same patient! There was no more cancer... only a small lesion that is typical of how cervical cancer starts. This doctor was so amazed that he called the Swedish doctor over for a look...she agreed, we must have the wrong patient. The cancer had regressed to how it started. There was only scarring and this lesion left to indicate that this was, indeed, the right patient. The doctor still didn't believe it, and gave her more pain medication and told her to come back in another month.

Another month later, she came back again, and there was not even the small lesion. The patient was one hundred percent back to normal health and vitality. Nothing remained of the stage 4 cancer but scarring.

This is astonishing to me for a number of reasons:
1.) The doctor didn't even think of a miracle. It didn't even cross his mind. He prayed for her heart to be right with God. How many times do we not even think of a miracle being an option?
2.) I find it very interesting to think of God making sure to show that one little lesion before he completely cured the woman. It just shows that God was letting them know, "This is the same patient. This isn't because I'm not big enough to cure her cancer at once. This is just to help you believe."
3.) Most importantly, and most humbling, God allowed the scars to remain. He kept those scars as a testimony to His work. 

God allows the scars to remain, sometimes, as a testimony to His work. Sure, absolutely, had He chosen to, He could have healed her without any scars. But the testimony is so much more valid in our proof-demanding society. Stage 4 cancer and 1980s-era medicine in a third-world country? There's no way this woman could be healed. But she has the scars, and now the faith, to prove it. She has the mark of God's hand on her.

We all have our scars. Be they emotional scars or physical ones, as long as the Great Physician has attended us, we can rest assured that our scars add to our testimony. Our scars show the depths God pursues us, into those terrifyingly dark corners and times in our lives. But we do not boast about the scars, or the pain that left them; we boast about the testimony they bring to our lives: that our God saves, redeems, cleans, heals, makes whole, and yes, performs miracles.

Monday Mid day Pick Me Up

A beautiful song...

A haiku on love...

“I am inspired
and every moment with you
makes me so much more.”

(Daily Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson)

The next recipe on my list...

Colombe's Wheat-Free Lavender Apricot Crisp from the book Organic and Chic, one of my current favorite baking books

The sun is shining, I had some good God-time this morning and went for a walk to clear my headache (darn sinus pressure), and I'm going to make some iced chai and finish up some work. Have a great rest of the afternoon!

Heard You Were Up All Night

LOVE this song, Stronger, from Mandisa. Girl is on K-Love all the time, and she rocks it. What a beautiful girl, inside and out! Thank you, God, for letting her share her gifts with us :-)

"Hey, heard you were up all night, thinkin' 'bout your world ain't right, and you wonder if things will never get better....hold on, just a little bit longer, He knows that this is going to make you stronger, stronger! The pain won't last forever, things will only get better..‎Try, and do the best you can. Hold on and let Him hold your hand. Go on and fall into the arms of Jesus!"

Also, everything I bought at the Co-op last night coordinated:

 That beautiful jacquard dishtowel? $5, fair-trade and all that jazz. Score.

And those Guacamole chips? Addicting-ly awesome. I may or may not have eaten most of that bag already. 

And lastly...only really super important letters and cards get the last of my beloved Eames stamps. I love using pretty stamps. Love it. Fave right now? I am hounding my local post office for this Forever Garden of Love stamp. And doesn't that font remind you of my blog font? Since these are forever stamps, I will load up! Love it so much!!

Anyway, goodnight. Hope you can sleep well :-)

Dating Advice

My super-cool friend Katie, who is leaving next month to be a missionary in Albania for two years (check it here), posted this awesome advice on her blog:

The best dating advice I ever got came from a study we did in Sunday School while I was in college. It was from a really awkward 90s study on VHS tape. But that’s another story.

The advice: Run as hard as you can after Jesus and look to your right or left and see who’s there. Then run even harder and faster before looking to your right and left again. Whoever is beside you is who you need to be with.

²⁶ Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 

~1 Corinthians 9

Where are you headed? And who is by your side? {also asking these questions to myself}

Weekend to Work

New feature for the blog! I will show you how I wear a basic piece(s) for weekend casual and work appropriate (or school/date). This week's pieces are a gray tank top with ruffled edges and an orange gathered skirt.

For the weekend, I keep it casual with basic silver flats, air-dried hair, and minimal makeup. Simple and basic.

{new fave shoes}

For work, kick the hair and makeup up a notch. Add a bit more jewelry (these earrings). Add a blazer. Trade the sandals for some heels. Voila! My boss and I actually matched wearing orange skirts to work this week! And my neighbor loved the "weekend" look and yelled our her door to me! Check and check.

{P.S. Sorry for the lack of outfit posts lately, I had lost an important piece of my tripod. These photos were taken with my point and shoot. But I found it!! So we are back in business!}

Style Secrets

Tank: Target

Skirt: Club Monaco, thrifted

Sunnies: H&M

Necklace: Local store

Flats: Target

Heels: Target

Earrings: Boutique while traveling

Hairclip: H&M

Sunday Sweetie Pie

How to Make A Good Sunday Afternoon:

  1.) Mix up some pie dough. 

2.) Throw it in a pie pan, and crimp it as prettily as you can.

3.) Put some really yummy stuff in the pie crust (strawberries and rhubarb highly suggested)

4.) Cut lots of pretty little hearts on the top crust.

5.) Bring your sweetheart this pie and wait for the "sweetie pie" sweet nothings to come!

P.S. If he really likes you, he'll take the piece with the little heart to work the next day :-P