The Journey Towards Love

It is a LOVELY day in Bloomington, MN!
Vibrant blue october sky, the remnant of golden leaves lifting their arms up to the sun, and a graceful breeze that dips itself gently through the trees all add to my delight in the Creator of all today!

Life continues to be FULL but incredibly good. I am ever thankful for this season of rest and growth. We just finished a one week course on Old Testament Poetry and Literature taught by an incredible woman of God who is full of wisdom, honesty, and has a lifetime experience of pursuing God. The goal of the course was to "awaken the student's heart to strong desire for God through an understanding of His emotions and desires, especially as revealed in the Old Testament poetry and literature." God has certainly used this class, among other things, as tools to do just that in my heart! Every day I'm realizing that God is crumbling faulty mindsets off of the foundation in my life.

The most profound recently has been in the area of perfectionism and how I believe God to view my failures and my humanity. Though I have not completely grasped this yet, I'm growing to believe that God really doesn't want perfection, He just wants ME, and that perhaps He truly is like a Father, a Master Artist who's painting a masterpiece and is delighted that His little girl wants to join in. He gives me a paintbrush, guiding my hand, and even if the canvas is brown in the end for lack of my knowledge of color, He is enamored that I try. And when I spill the paint all over myself, He is not full of wrath, but like a patient and compassionate Father He wipes the color off my nose and smiles, knowing that I'm a little girl but simultaneously seeing that one day, I too shall paint a masterpiece, giving the world a glimpse of the image of Christ.

What a wonder has been done in my heart now that I'm soaking in the truth that with one look of my eye I have ravished His heart; that God not only loves me but likes me.

I am setting my heart on a pilgrimage: to love the LORD my God with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my strength. The end. :)

The Dance of Autumn

Fall is here in all it's glory.

I've decided that October is my new favorite month of the year.

Vibrant colors crown the trees, contrasted by a piercing yet soft blue backdrop. The sun shines like a pure jewel in the sky while the leaves magically dance around, propelled by the wind, encircling me as I wade down the path. There is an adventurous journey and I'm on it, engaging it, finding it both enthralling and hazardous to a certain part of me. My encounter with healing has been through tears, and redmption has come from desolation. In the clearing I see that God is far more gracious, far more compassionate, far more loving, far more inviting than my heart thought. And as He beacons me, my once timid step becomes quickened, my bashful gaze lifts to meet His eyes and my heart shifts, filled with awe that this God has kindness, not condemnation in store for me. I'm learning to receive, to trust, to remain.

My soul dares to breathe, trusting that the air is fresh, not putrid.

And in the stillness, the silence, I hear His Voice.

"You are Mine, McKenzie."

Okay. :)