celebrate today.

I've been up since 4:15am.

It's a day to celebrate, 

and I guess my brain 

got a little too excited. 

It's my hubby's birthday, 

and he's got quite a day planned. 

And I can't wait to celebrate with him.

What will you celebrate today?

A birthday?

A great grade?

Reaching the bottom of the laundry pile?

Whatever it is, 

savor it. 

Really live into the moment

and

Just. Be. 

Each day brings something to celebrate.

What will your something be today?

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

~Philippians 4:4

Many blessings for your Friday,

Deni

dear me.

Dear Eighth-Grade Me,

You've just been told you're getting a superlative in the yearbook. 

For Shortest. 

Your picture in the yearbook?

You'll take shortest. 

Any. Day.

You were told just minutes ago they're taking your picture. 

Today. 

Like now. 

Hello, sweatpants. 

Oh well. :)

Anyhow, you? Ummm…me?

Could I let you in on a couple of things?

Could I give you a little perspective 

on your present and your future?

Here we go…

That classmate who taught you 

how to use eyeliner in the middle of science class?

It was totally a "teach a man to fish" moment.

A life skill was learned.

You should have asked her to teach you how to line your upper lids, too.

It's a feat that will still escape you at age forty-one.

So next year?

Your parents will tell you the family's moving. 

From Northern Virginia to Maryland.

To Howard County.

And there are horses across the street from your new house. 

Yes, it's the country. Kind of. 

You will try everything you can to not have to move 

(like any of that was gonna work anyhow). 

But the move that will ache at the time?

It will be one of the best things that ever happened to you.

The bully you've had this year?

The one who made you doubt and question and cry?

She also made you realize that you're strong.

That you're resourceful.

And that sometimes all you need to do is ask for help.

She also taught you to be aware of how you treat others

and how to relate to kids who are being bullied.

See the silver lining?

So your mom?

All the hours she volunteers in the Children's Ministry at church?

How you and your little sister and your mom 

are always three of the last four people to leave the building?

~Pastor Wyatt was the fourth~

Those Sundays will impact you far more than you realize. 

All those times you've waited and watched your mom label 

puzzles with black Sharpie markers?

One day, you'll label puzzles, too.

You're learning that kids are important to God.

You're also learning 

that you love Nilla Wafers and Play-Doh. 

This is important, too.

One morning recently, your Sunday School teacher 

taught you and your friends 

about thanking God when you pray.

You had never thought about that before. 

Prayer isn't all about listing off your wishes.

It's about thanking the Wish-Granter 

for all that He's done. 

That one Sunday morning will 

change your perspective on prayer for good. 

So those boys you've had a crush on this year?

Yeah, the ones who didn't like you back.

Augh.

Just a few days after moving to Maryland

~the move you didn't want to make~

you'll be introduced to a boy with beautiful blue eyes. 

And all those silly boys won't be able to hold a candle to him.

And six years later, 

you'll marry him.

See how important your family's move was?

Dear Me,

Each step,

each moment,

each adventure 

is a gift given by God.

Today?

Let's walk another leg of the journey…

one we may not understand at the time…

trusting that God has 

everything

all

figured 

out.

I don’t think the way you think.
    The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
        God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
    so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
    and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
    and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
    producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
    not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
    they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.

~Isaiah 55:8-11

Many blessings,

Deni

stopping the busy.

For a few minutes today,

stop.

This thing we call busy?

The one we wear around our necks

like a medal, like a badge of courage?

 What if the real courage is found 

in stopping

the busy?

What if bravery is defined by 

savoring the breathing room

in the space that's created 

between the now and the next?

If just for a moment today,

stop the busy-ness.

And breathe a slower breath with God.

Look up.

Look around.

Feel His presence.

And then get back to life…

maybe just a little bit saner

and a whole lot more courageous and brave.

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, 

he said to them, 

"Come with me by yourselves 

to a quiet place and get some rest."

~Mark 6:31

And then take on an entirely new way of life—

a God-fashioned life, 

a life renewed from the inside 

and working itself into your conduct 

as God accurately reproduces his character in you.

~Ephesians 4:24

Many blessings,

Deni

{photos taken of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and gates in the Magic Kingdom's New Fantasyland.}

play.

I watched a man play the sitar for a few minutes a couple of weeks ago. 

Like any good Beatles fan would,

I heard the rhythmic sound and stopped.

It had been a rainy couple of days,

and there was a break in the drizzle,

so he played.

I could have watched him play for minutes on end,

but we had to keep moving.

At some point today,

there might be a break in the clouds. 

A moment of unexpected sunshine…

of light.

In that moment, 

play.

Take the opportunity that God has given you

and do what you do best:

be you.

No matter how the crowd reacts.

If they get you or not

is not your concern.

You are here.

You are called by the God who gifted you.

So play today

not for the applause of people,

but for the One who is always cheering you on.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: 

Take your everyday, ordinary life—

your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. 

Embracing what God does for you 

is the best thing you can do for him. 

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture 

that you fit into it without even thinking. 

Instead, fix your attention on God. 

You’ll be changed from the inside out. 

Readily recognize what he wants from you, 

and quickly respond to it. 

Unlike the culture around you, 

always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, 

God brings the best out of you, 

develops well-formed maturity in you.

~Romans 12:1-2

Many blessings,

Deni 

{photo taken in Anandapur in Disney's Animal Kingdom}

hope-filled future.

So things were bad for God's people.

They had blown it.

Again.

And now they had been carted off by a conquering nation

to a place they didn't want to go.

Things looked bad. 

Really bad.

But then God, 

in the midst of speaking to His people 

through Jeremiah,

after listing all the things that they had done,

~all the times they chose less than Him~

speaks hope into their desolation.

Into their wilderness,

God speaks of 

home.

Even though they'd done what they'd done

time and again,

God brings redemption into the picture. 

Did they deserve a hope-filled future?

Maybe not.

But He was bringing one anyway.

That's how love works. 

That's how God works.

Maybe the journey you're in the middle of 

wasn't the result of you blowing it.

Maybe it was something done to you,

something that you didn't ask for. 

And now you're 

here.

Stuck in feelings that you'd like to change 

with all your heart.

God has hope on the horizon for you.

Perhaps the mess you're in 

is of your own doing.

We human beings are so good at making messes, aren't we?

You feel that a happy ending is the last thing you deserve.

Well, thankfully, God feels differently.

God's people had to wait. 

Their hope-filled future was years down the road

but just knowing it was coming

~that it was promised~

had to make all the difference in the world.

So…you?

Today?

Please know that God is working

even when you're tempted to think He's not.

And know that,

in the midst of your moment,

He speaks of a future filled with hope.

Seek Him with all you've got today,

and keep your eyes on the horizon.

On Him.

Many blessings,

Deni

{the photo is of one of the gates in New Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom}

dwelling today.

Today, 

may you trust God more freely

and make beauty wherever He has placed you.

May you come to the place where 

you know deep in your soul that God is all you need. 

May you laugh

~really laugh~

and may you give all of your hopes and dreams 

to the One who can do all things.

May you stick close to His side,

and walk where He wants you to

without second guessing His plans.

May you trust your brokenness to Him,

and just give it to Him again.

And may you know that He knows you,

and He wants to shine through you.

And may you find 

peace,

rest,

hope,

everything

in Him

today.

Many blessings for your Friday,

Deni 

{this photo was taken in Disney's Animal Kingdom}

head held high.

These verses. 

Oh, I love them.

God brought me across their path last year

when my world was swirling.

When I didn't understand and my heart

Just. Hurt.

These verses are like balm.

Salve.

For my soul. 

Then and now.

In the trials both big and small. 

When I've received news that I cannot carry alone.

And when the dryer decides not to function. With my wet clothes waiting. 

These verses remind me of who God is

and who I am.

No one but God has all of the answers. 

No one. 

And one day, Lord willing, I'll understand the whys…

but for now, I need to wrap up again 

in these verses

and take strength from the God who sees me.

Because today 

I want to walk 

with my head head held high. 

Many blessings,

Deni

{photo taken in Animal Kingdom in June 2012.}

right about now.

Right now,

I need to be strengthened. 

Not by muscles that will 

eventually fail me,

but by God.

I need His resolve,

His perspective.

I want to live a spacious, free life.

Sometimes life seems anything but.

It feels confined,

limited.

A long and streaming list of 

go here, do this.

And right now?

Right now it's time to run to God 

and stop

and sit and breathe. 

With God?

With God, we are safe and protected

and delivered from all of the stuff

that tells us it'll never happen.

That we can't,

that we won't.

Today?

I want to run to God 

and tell Him 

again

of all that burdens my heart.

And I want to be strengthened by Him.

No, I have to be strengthened by Him. 

Without Him, I can't make it.

I just can't.

But with Him?

With Him, 

the possibilities are endless.

And that sounds pretty great

right about now. 

Many blessings,

Deni 

{photo taken in January in the Magic Kingdom}

keep an eye out.

Sometimes I get so busy

that I miss the details. 

The ever-present surrounding of God. 

He is here. 

With me. 

Singing over me.

Reminding me of His great plan and purpose

for me.

But if I'm too busy, 

I miss all of that.

I just see me. 

So today, 

I will keep an eye out for the small things

that speak in large ways 

of God's even larger love.

For me. 

For the world.

What small things will speak loudly

in your life today?

Many blessings,

Deni

{photo taken at the Japan Pavilion in the Epcot World Showcase at dusk.}

never separated.

Looking with human eyes 

at what you're going through,

your present trials,

the tough moment that just won't let go,

you might be tempted to think that

God doesn't love you.

That you're going through all of this 

because He doesn't care. 

On the contrary, 

He couldn't love you more. 

His love is timeless and boundless.

And perfect.

His love defies logic.

It isn't bound by human expectations. 

And, in the middle of the mess,

He is with you.

And He will see you through.

Blessings for your Monday,

Deni

{picture taken in The Briar Patch gift shop in the Magic Kingdom.}

this love.

Let's love people today.

Not the kind of love that is merely kind

or polite when it's "deserved",

but the kind of love that Christ loves us with.

Love that changes the game.

That shakes the ground.

That offers water in the desert

that people might thirst no more.

Love like He loved us. 

First.

Unreserved.

No holding back.

May God change our little chunk of His world

today.

May His love defy all odds

and make no sense whatsoever.

This gracious, pursuing, beautiful love. 

We have been given much love.

Let's give it away

today.

We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. 

First we were loved, now we love. 

He loved us first.

~1 John 4:19

Many blessings for your Valentine's Day,

Deni