returning to my first loves

This past year has been a roller coaster ride - anyone who has been with me through the experiences could tell you that. For a while there, I had lost who I was. But now I'm back. Feeling more like myself again and returning to the things that I once loved. The biggest of those is God.

My good friend and I are reading through the entire Bible this summer, cover to cover, and right now I am reading all about the Israelites and their rebellion against God. Oh, how I can relate to the nation of Israel! I feel like a perpetual prodigal daughter; forsaking my Father and going off on my own and then returning to repent, only to rebel once again. But the LORD says: "Remember the height from which you have fallen!" And so each time I repent and try to work my way back to where I was before I rebelled, and then to keep working to surpass that place.

It is my hope that I never fall so far away as I did this year while away at school, and so I have done certain things to ensure this: having a solid foundation in knowing who I am in Christ, finding a engaging and challenging Church family, and surrounding myself with healthy and uplifting friends who encourage me to press onwards towards The Goal. But there are other things that God has gifted me with; passions He has given me that engage me with His world, with His people, and enable me to center myself. These things are writing and music. So I am returning to these loves of mine. I still wrote quite often when I wasn't following Christ, but it just wasn't the same. It was more a venting mechanism than something that came as an extension of myself. So now I am getting falling back in love with ink and paper and computer keyboards. I'm starting a summer project and hopefully will complete it by October 2010!!! - Stay tuned for details! As you can probably tell, I will also be blogging more. I know I have said this before, but this time it's for real, I can just feel it! HAHA. The posts will range from anything to everything. Sometimes they'll be spiritual, sometimes they'll be random rants, sometimes they'll be the latest poem I've written or my latest critique on world issues. Don't worry, I'll mix it up to keep you interested, hopefully :)

As for music, that has always been around as well, but now I am going to share a bit of that love with you! So every time I write a new post I will also be posting any new/awesome music that I have been listening to in a box on the right side of my blog, and hopefully you will enjoy some of my findings!

That's about it for now. Oh yeah --- FIFA World Cup Begins in THREE weeks!!! woohoo - go Netherlands!