A light has dawned

"The people walking in darkness
   have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
   a light has dawned.
³ You have enlarged the nation
   and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
   as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
   when dividing the plunder.
⁴ For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
   you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
   the bar across their shoulders,
   the rod of their oppressor.
⁵ Every warrior’s boot used in battle
   and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
   will be fuel for the fire.
⁶ For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the greatness of his government and peace
   there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
   and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
   with justice and righteousness
   from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty will
faccomplish this." Isaiah 9

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas..

Lately, when I wake up I jump to look out the window to see if there is snow.

This morning..I was in luck!! SNOW!

This means...Grab the camera and put on the boots! I am going outside!

Capture the beauty of Christmas time..the stillness

And the beauty.

But it makes me dream for...

A white Christmas!

Collages!

A few weeks ago I made this Christmas present for a dear friend! I love to make gifts especially ones with a personal meaning. It's a favorite thing of mine. For this project I made it about two characters in the J.R.R Tolkien books!  She is "Sam" and I am "Frodo"! We love the books and have always joked around that we were those characters. Which actually.. we are a lot like those characters!

Frodo & Sam Collage

Anchor of Hope collage

Life is a Gift

My birthday is in less than two weeks. I am turning nineteen. wow! Where has the time gone? My mom says she feels like it was yesterday she was my age. I now believe her.. because that is how I feel.Oh boy! This makes me sound old!
Lately I've been standing back and looking at life. When you take the time to stop and look at all the things that have come and gone, all the seasons of life, it makes you realize that life goes by fast. That means each day is incredibly precious. The reality is you never know what day will be your last.

 

Things break.

I was going to post some photos of another kind of Christmas cookie we make, but sadly... things break. Yes I had to learn this the hard way. Right in middle of making the cookies I picked up my Nikon D40 to take some photos. I didn't know, but I guess the strap was stuck on the kitchen nob and as soon as I picked my camera up it flung back and fell hard (very hard) onto the kitchen floor. I think it bounced a few times..Ah! Oh it was terrible. My only response was a very loud and long "Noooo!!". I investigated if it still worked and found out it was indeed broken.... Now if you don't know,  my camera has been one of my favorite things I own. I love taking photos. My Nikon has gone with me on many treks to the lake, to the woods and has been with me so I can capture every moment. And now it is gone. Moral of the story: Material things do not last. Treasure up the things that WILL.

Love Endures All

Love.
It is a subject we can never learn enough about.
Oh boy... Today I came to the realization, again, that love is no easy task. Love is not always a fun job either. Love doesn't just stick around for the good days, but perseveres through the hardest of days. Love is no silly shape we draw on a piece of paper. Love is hard.. It takes work. And lately I find myself worn out from it. Love is sacrificing yourself. It is giving of yourself even when its hard.

"For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
   his faithfulness continues through all generations."
Psalm 100:5

Cookies!..only the beginning

Spritz!
I am trying to convince my mom to make less cookies this year. Why you might ask? Because I don't want to be tempted to eat them all :). We normally have certain cookies we make every year. Today we made Spritz cookies! They are put into this cookie gun and the dough gets squeezed through to make a design! They are a bunch of fun! Tomorrow I am making another kind of cookie!

 

Christian.

Thoughts going through my head..

Christian. The word means: Follower of Christ, Christ-like, Little Christ,
I've been thinking about the term "Christian" lately. I have a hesitance to use the term because it has become so altered.  Today the world (or at least America) thinks being a Christian means being good or going to church. Christianity is also associated with many things Christ never associated with. What saddens me so much is that because the world now views Christianity like this, they now view Christ like this.  I wish I could apologize to the whole world and to those around me. I am so sorry that as Christians a lot of the time we have lived a very opposite life than how Christ would. Jesus humbly came to this earth and lived radically different than the world. He associated himself with the lowest of the lows and befriended those who the world hated.  He was about self sacrifice, grace, love, truth, forgiveness, redemption, justice..etc. As Christians we will not always succeed in living like Christ, we sin, we all sin, but I pray that we may examine ourselves and let Christ mold us more into who he is! Why? because if we call ourselves "Christ-like" I hope we are striving to show people who he(actually) is!
   

                    Verses about who Jesus is.

Isaiah 53
Who has believed our message
   and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
   and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
   nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
   a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
   he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

 ⁴ Surely he took up our pain
   and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
   stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
   and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
   each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
   the iniquity of us all.
 ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
   yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
   and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
   so he did not open his mouth.
⁸ By oppression^[a] and judgment he was taken away.
   Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
   for the transgression of my people he was punished.^[b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
   and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
   nor was any deceit in his mouth.
 ¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
   and though the LORD makes^[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
   and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
   he will see the light of life^[d] and be satisfied^[e];
by his knowledge^[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
   and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,^[g]
   and he will divide the spoils with the strong,^[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
   and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
   and made intercession for the transgressors.

Anchor of Hope

This is something I wrote the other night, but still thinking through these things..

I've realized pain can suck you in like sinking sand. It can pull you under to where you can't even breath. Tonight my thoughts are so many. My heart is full. I have realized how much I have fallen into a hopelessness. "Why is my soul so downcast" David writes in Psalm 42 "Why so disturbed within me?" "Put your hope in God, the living God" This has brought me to the question: Where do I put my hope? 

Hebrews 6:19 

"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf."

                

Christmas decorating!

I've been reading Little Women for the last month and for some reason it made me want to have real greenery and Holly berries for Christmas! I was determined. My mom and I were in East Village for an afternoon and we visited Seed, a garden/plant shop! Here I found what I was looking for! They look beautiful in my room. I am hoping that I can keep at least some of them alive till Christmas! They also smell SO good!

New blog!

I am starting this new blog, Laurie Michelle, so I can share with all of you pieces of my day to day life! It will be a place I can pass on new finds, new thoughts, and new ideas!