un-shake-able

Psalm 62:1-2
My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Hi, My name is Mad.
I love sunshine and adventure- and am super uncomfortable with talking on the phone.

My best friends name is Nate.
He also happens to be my husband.
Our deepest desire is to love God.
Our second deepest desire is to get a mini Dachshund (wiener dog!) and name him Ginger Snap.

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If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—-and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—-and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—-nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—-which is more—-you’ll be a Man, my son!

“If” - Rudyard Kipling

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven.

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)

George Muller was asked the secret of his fruitful service for the Lord. “There was a day when I died,” he said, “utterly died.”

As he spoke, he bent lower and lower until he almost touched the floor.

“I died to George Muller,” he continued, “his opinions, preferences, tastes and will - died to the world, its approval or censure - died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends - and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God”.

Today’s Promise : A Daily Devotional : Campus Crusade For Christ

Seriously worth watching! THE POWER OF FOOD!

fun. and Hayley Williams cover “Somebody That I Used To Know” LIVE!

There is moral law, to be sure, but moral law is not our path to heaven; our duty involves knowing and being known by Christ. Positive morality, then, the stuff of natural law, is but an offering, a sweet-tasting fruit in the mouth of God. It is obedience and an imitation of our pure and holy maker; and immorality- the act of ignoring the conscience and the precepts of goodness- is a dagger in God’s heart.

Searching For God Knows What

Donald Miller

So… I just had to share this picture.

I have been OBSESSED lately with the idea of a weiner dog.

Nate and I decided long before we ever got married that we were going to get a dachshund, and that it was going to be a mini red-haired named Gingersnap! (We love gingersnap cookies… plus it’s just a cute name!)

But, of course, dogs cost money, and we are newlyweds, therefore, we have none.

Then, this weekend, Nate and I went on a double-date in Amish Country with Nate’s brother Brent and his girlfriend Cathleen. We saw a lot of cool stuff and ate A LOT of great food, but then we passed this pet store that had a sign out front that said “PUPPIES SOLD HERE”.

My heart skipped a beat.

You have to understand: Nate and I used to drive around to every pet store we could find looking for puppies to play with, but there were never any puppies to be found!

And then, the wildest of my dreams came true: not only were there some of the cutest and littlest puppies EVER, there was a DACHSHUND!

He was playful and fun, cute and small, and best of all: he loved me and fell asleep in my arms!

I never wanted to leave!

I want a puppy so bad and it’s all I have been talking about the last couple of days!

So much so, that I have had to rethink this whole puppy thing…

My new prayer is not for a puppy, or even for what Cathleen keeps telling me: for a house where we can get a puppy and more money so we can get a puppy.

No, my new prayer is for God to take away my desire for a puppy if it’s not in His will, and if it is, for the patience to wait until His time and the circumstances that He has in mind.

I know He’ll provide.

Things have been crazy around The Hizzle lately.

(If you didn’t know, we’ve decided to call the house “The Hizzle”. The upstairs area where Nate & I reside is called “The Fort”, and is AH-MAZIN.)

I honestly don’t know where the time has gone. I don’t know if it’s because February is so short, but March is here, and I was not prepared!

Part of this is because of the week where I was deathly ill.

Which is good and bad.

Bad because it SUCKED and I felt like I was going to die and wanted my mommy.

Good because the one who got me sick is the darling 1-year-old boy who I Nanny. So even though I was sick, I was still able to go to work! Good for me, AND the boy’s mother! (She just started a new job, and probably would NOT have been happy to have missed training.)

God is also being mysterious and big; slowly emptying out Nate’s schedule and taking away his various jobs. My Nanny job and ukulele lessons are currently our only source of income. Not really “the plan” we had for ourselves, hah!

Is this scary? YES.

Is this good? ABSOLUTELY.

Especially when I think about what “good” really means.

All good things come from God.

Nate and I are seeking God in all of these things- we know he has a plan. He’s in charge. He loves us. He wants good things for us. He sees the big picture. He knows the future. He has infinite resources.

And we’re not worried.

We have far more (material possessions) than many Christ-followers all over the world. We could live on less if the Lord called us to it! We praise Him for the loss of income (mo’ money, mo’ problems!), and for the unique challenges we’ve been facing.

We are waiting on the Lord, and trying to remember that we will never arrive. We’re going to be riding this road for the rest of our lives, but we don’t know when they will end. So we’ll give it our all.

The current way I feel God calling me to serve is by crocheting and selling things, and giving the money I make away.

I am pretty sure the money is supposed to go to Gospel for Asia.

I’ve been reading this book by K.P. Yohannan called “Revolution In World Missions”, and it’s changing the way I think about a lot of things, especially church and missions. I’ve never wanted to support a mission more, but I haven’t felt called yet to sponsor a national missionary through Gospel for Asia.

So perhaps that is not God’s purpose for me right now. Maybe we’re not supposed to sponsor a missionary, maybe I am just supposed to give in general.

Nate and I have been learning a lot lately- we are pretty darn weird. We don’t do things the “normal” way. We moved up our wedding, we make decisions based on faith, and we wait on the Lord when all worldly wisdom says we should we doing something! Let’s face it: we’re freaks.

But as long as I have followed the Lord, and listened to HIS guide, I have never gone without. When I feel alone, He is there, waiting to see how I will respond to the test. He will not leave me as an orphan. He will return to me. For when I am faithless, He is still faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.

If you are interested in getting a FREE copy of “Revolution In World Missions” (that’s right- they don’t sell it, they just give it away for free!), CLICK HERE.

If you want to know more about Gospel for Asia, go to http://www.gfa.org/.

And no, nobody asked me or payed me to put these things here. This mission organization is legit, and I can’t stop talking about it. I can’t encourage you enough to read the book. I pray God uses it to inspire you and draw you closer to Him.

Yes, yes. I know. We are so stinkin pale. But I am in such a B-E-A-C-H mode, and I had to post pictures from my first/last real beach visit to Myrtle Beach last summer. It was so wonderful! We went with my hubby’s family, and the sand was warm and the water was salty and the sun was wonderful.

Sigh. I miss the beach.