randomness & realizations

Hey all.
I know, I know. It's been a LONG time since I've blogged.
But gimme a break. It's been busy. Seriously.

This is kinda one of those moments where I don't know what the heck I want to write about. I just got a really big ambition the other day to blog about something. Anything. I see other people's awesome blogs and I want to make my blog just as awesome. For my Specialty Writing class, we are doing blogs on the Fargo Forum's Area Voices blog directory. My blog is entitled Beyond the Scale: Feeling Good about the True You. It's all about self-image and feeling beautiful in your own skin. It's been super fun and I've enjoyed getting to do it, but because it's for a class, my writing is a little more restricted.

So the other day I got this huge and sudden urge to start up with this blog again, where I have a little more freedom to do as I please. But I'll be honest. As I'm sitting here typing...I feel as though I'm coming up short of anything awesome to write about! *Sigh* Actually...I just had a whole update on my life typed out and deleted it because I wasn't really feeling the whole "here's all about me."

So I guess it comes down to this: I've been incredibly blessed these last couple months. I could get into all of the awesome things that have happened and all the stories and details about what I've been blessed with...but that's not the point I want to make.

The point is that all of these incredibly blessings mean nothing if I didn't have God in my life. Sure, these blessings still may have happened...but without God they wouldn't be fulfilling. I wouldn't be humbled by these experiences if I didn't have God. It's because of Him that I've had these opportunities. It's because of HIM and His grace, mercy and love that I'm humbled and not boastful. All of these awesome things mean NOTHING without Him. It's like the song "Cry of My Heart" by Starfield: What do I have if I don't have you, Jesus? What in this life could mean anymore? You are my rock, You are my glory. You are the lifter of my head.

And while I've been incredibly blessed, I've also had a lot on my plate lately. With graduation looming, finding a job, family matters and other major happenings of life...I got to a point where all of these things kept piling on top of each other and I felt like I was balancing a very tall stack of plates...by the nose.

It's kinda like this: there is a huge puzzle sitting in front of me but I can't put the puzzle together as quickly as I'd like because I'm only given one puzzle piece at a time and I don't have a picture to show me where everything goes. So here I am, trying to do it my own way...trying to jam the piece in a place where it doesn't fit. I realize that it doesn't fit but I'm too stubborn and keep trying to put it where it doesn't belong. Until God lovingly grabs my hand and says "No, silly Emily. This piece needs to be turned this way...and it belongs over here."

Then I'm given the next piece and I'm given a choice: try and jam it where it doesn't belong and get frustrated and angry because it isn't working OR I can hold onto the puzzle piece and be patient until God shows me where it belongs.

I'm learning that option 2 is MUCH more gratifying. I'm learning that God is the only one who knows what the final puzzle of my life looks like and it's kinda pointless trying to put it together myself.

So I just want to encourage you. If you're going through a time where you feel like you've got a lot on your plate and things just don't seem to be falling into place...be diligent. Have patience. Wait on the Lord, the ultimate puzzle put-together-er. HE sees the big picture. HE knows exactly what comes next in the puzzle. HE knows which piece goes where and what piece has to be put into place before the next piece can. I promise that by relying on Him and his expert puzzle skills, you will see just how blessed we can be by our gracious and wonderful King!

Thanks for enduring through the randomness of this post...I hope to be a little more diligent in my blogger skills...so stay tuned for more hopefully soon : )