DARE TO HOPE

i decided not to go to adore sports tonight. I decided instead to go for a run. Funny how little choices we make can affect us greatly. You may call it fate but I call it God’s providence. In order for me to go further, I must rewind. As soon as I wake up, I turn off my alarm and proceed to check the texts/emails/etc I received over night. My daily devotional from Rick Warren was titled, ‘What to do when your World Falls Apart’. In order for me to go further, I must rewind yet again.

Yesterday I bawled. It was not a pretty sight aside from my eyes being mega bright from all the redness. Some serious things are happening. My grandma (Mom’s mom) is in the most advanced state of Alzheimer’s. It’s hard and it’s affecting my entire family. I guess the realization of the entire situation sunk into my heart and broke me. I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. I would appreciate your guys’ prayers for my grandma and family.

I’m learning that as you let someone close to your heart, you have to have some hard conversations. Yesterday also included one of those.

Yeah, let’s just say yesterday was an extremely hard day. Emotionally and spiritually exhausting.

But my amazing God knew all these things.

So when I read, WHEN YOUR WORLD FALLS APART, I paid attention. Rick Warren is going to be taking people on a 6 day journey about suffering. Is it weird that I’m excited for this?

Today he asked us to read Lamentations 3. My world was completely rocked. Oh and it doesn’t stop there…so back to that run. Lately, I’ve gone back to running while listening to a podcast and it’s changing my life! I’ve been listening to Steven Furtick’s counseling series and tonight’s was on Depression. (Amazing, seriously love his sermons!) And you’ll never guess what chapter he solely preached from.

Yep…Lamentations 3. The exact same chapter I read earlier today.

Jeremiah is going through crap. Most of us will go through crap in our lives. Pastor Steven said this statement which I fully agree with (and shared with someone very dear to me) “I believe that often the people who have the greatest call of God on their lives are the people who have to go through the most in order to be what God wants them to be and to do what God wants them to do.”

Life is not always dandy. No Jesus even said we will have troubles, but to TAKE HEART for He has overcome the world. 

The thought of my suffering and homelessness
      is bitter beyond words.
 ²⁰ I will never forget this awful time,
      as I grieve over my loss.
 ²¹Yet I still dare to hope
      when I remember this:

 ²² The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
      His mercies never cease.
 ²³ Great is his faithfulness;
      his mercies begin afresh each morning.
 ²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
      therefore, I will hope in him!”-Lamentations 3:19-24

Through all my trials and circumstances I will dare to hope. I will remember that His faithfulness is great. I will know that His mercies are new every morning. I WILL HOPE IN HIM.

His goodness stretches wide enough to handle your grief.

Love you incredibly,

s.s.♥.

DIY: SMORES STUFFED CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

There are some things on earth that are just meant to be consumed. Chocolate is one of them. And chocolate chips. And marshmallows. And graham crackers. I once heard a very sad quote from Kate Moss, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” Well Kate, I think these cookies taste 1000000x better. I should mail her one.

I had a girls night with my city youth small group girls. We squished into my teensy living room to catch up on life, watch a movie, laugh and talk about boys (duh). I knew this would be the perfect night to make SMORES STUFFED CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES.

I did not invent this little masterpiece but found it here.

WARNING: these suckers are HUGE. Most of us could only consume half and that left us feeling extremely full.

I think I’ll try adding peanut butter to the cookie dough next time because peanut butter makes everything better.

These cookies, will win cuddles, make friends, cure heartbreaks and may send some people into cardiac arrest. BAKE WITH CAUTION.

They will basically make your life better.

you’re welcome,

s.s.♥.

DEAR DIARY #010

So i’m a busy girl. And my boyfriend is a busy boy. Tomorrow will be 4 months. And in those 4 months, almost 6 weeks will have been long distance. Make that 7 weeks in a week. So when we have days off together, it’s a magical thing.

It was his birthday on July 28th, because he was playing at a campish thing in Saskatchewan and I was speaking at a girls camp up island, we had to celebrate on skype. We finally got to celebrate together on Monday. I planned a day of adventures, sunshine & sparkles…because sparkles make everything more fun, right?

I gave him a patch in his card which needed to be sewn into something. (On the patch is a line from one of my fav poems, I carry your heart, e.e.cummings) I didn’t tell him that something was going to be jeans which I would buy him. He was stoked. Ladies, if your man likes clothes, jeans are a good gift. Sorry it’s such a crappy photo, James took it on his flip phone…ya flip phones still exist.

We then had a delightful picnic at a little spot in Oak Bay. PHOTO DISCLAIMER: He’s not sitting there in his boxers. He’s wearing khaki coloured shorts. And we’re drinking juice…I thought the martini glasses would make the picnic more special…just in case…you were wondering….

Isn’t he a hottie? (Borrowed picnic basket from Kendal & Evan Allnutt…thanks!!)

After the picnic we had a BBQ at James’ house with his amazing family…seriously lovely times.

In other news…my clutch died :( I finally got my car back today. Very, very, hard thing handing over a huge amount of money…I could have purchased Louboutins, TWO Marc bags…oh man.

The plus side of it all was getting some exercise running to work, walking places & taking the bus with my sweetheart.

a little gem we discovered on the Gorge…

Tomorrow is Ivor’s birthday! (He has the same birthday as James..crazy!) We’re going to a local beach to have a picnic…and there will be a pinata!! Then my good friend is having a pool party, oh and I’ll finally get to see James again briefly before he heads off for another week leading worship in Van…life is insane…but more beautiful. Tonight I miraculously am spending the night alone at home. I got some cleaning to do and hopefully will get some work done on my novel (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Love you to the moon and back,

s.s.♥.

BACK INTO IT

hello kids,

i’m back again! man, it feels good to be home…yay. and you know what’s crazy? i was actually excited to come into work on tuesday. i know. i’ve been going non-stop for almost two months, and it’s not like i don’t have any work to do (there are mountain piles on my desk), it’s just i am so happy to fall back into a somewhat routine. and to sleep in my own bed…ahhhhhhhhhhh bliss.

ok so i had an incredible time away! when i last left you, I was madly prepping sermons for teen girls camp and lamenting over the fact that my body was not prepped for nanoose teen camp….

nanoose was soooo fun as always! my body was not prepped, it suffered greatly. i even managed to sprain my ankle running from my cabin to the camp photo (i’m probably one of the klutziest people you’ll meet). we didn’t have the best of weather, which isn’t too bad because who really likes playing sports in 25degree weather? not i. God moved in teens lives. it’s a beautiful thing to witness. i loved the speaker (Vaden Earle). he wasn’t your conventional teen camp speaker, and i loved that about him…and he could probably beat you up. for serious. he’s jacked.

i left nanoose early on the last day to jet home, do some laundry (well my grandma did it for me while i napped awwe), grab all my sermons, pack and repack and then head back up island to imadene! this is the 3rd year in a row that i was the camp speaker (i’m sure some girls are probably getting sick of me by now) well as always, it was amazing. i still can’t believe how i get to be a part of what God is doing in the lives of teen girls. serious honour & privilege. i had so much fun with the girls. and i’m so excited for what God is doing/going to do in their lives. my dream for the next generation is that God gives them realities we only ever dreamed of, that they cover ground we were too afraid to step on, that they would truly see the end of the aids crisis, sex trafficking, bullying, slavery and so much more. when these girls grab hold of who God created them to be and the plans that he has for them…wow…watch out world.

so i had to leave imadene a day early because, dun dun dun dun, dun, dun dun dun….my brother’s wedding!!! yes, my little brother got married this past Sunday! he married Emy (they had been together since they were 18 awwe). Emy is really the sweetest. she has a heart of gold and truly makes my brother a better man. i couldn’t have imagined a better sister in law! the wedding was gorgeous! i already saw a few of pics and i cannot wait to see the rest!

Photo cred: Jon-Mark Wiltshire

Didn’t Emy look STUNNING? I know, my brother is one lucky man!

Love you two!

Well friends, that’s all for now but now that I am home be prepared for CONSTANT updates! (yah, you heard me right AND you can hold me to it)

stay gold,

s.s.♥.

DEAR DIARY #009

Oh diary! Life has placed me on a giant swing and i’m going around and around and around. It’s fast yet beautiful.

So I arrived back from Crimea! Wow, what an insane/fun/amazing/lovely time we had. Our team got along so well! Normally on missions trips people get tired, weary and become reclusive or irritated easily and fight. That didn’t happen (unless you count Alex throwing a chair at Jared). I hadn’t laughed like that non-stop for a looooong time (and not just at the chair throwing). The trip consisted of many laughs, many games of monopoly deal (I realized James & I have been playing wrong for months ha) and many, many amazing God filled moments. The Christian brothers and sisters of Crimea are wonderful. How Jesus shines so brightly through those people. I have soooo many moments but one of my favourite ones was at this little village (can’t remember the name sorry!) We went to this lady’s house that overlooked the whole village. Inside we gathered for snacks, tea and chocolate (Ukrainian chocolate is AMAZING!) After eating we sat in a circle each individually telling our stories, how God transformed our lives. They were fascinated how such young people would travel across the world for Jesus. Their stories were amazing, there were many people who used to be drug addicts, different religions, atheists. We then went outside and prayed overlooking the city. Their dream is to one day start a church in that village, so for now they have a bible study. We are believing God for that village! Ah, I have sooo many more stories, and I promise I will write them very soon (as in after August).

Want to know my schedule for the next few weeks?

Shut up. I know you do.

This week- writing sermons for Teen Girls Camp! But praise the Lord, things are going smoothly! God is good. He’s giving me words for these girls and I’m beyond excited.

This is “my office”. I like to pray/prep/write in the church nursery. It’s uber quiet/comfy/anointed up there. Right now I’m being challenged in my preaching by Andys (my boss Andy & by Andy Stanley’s “Communicating for a Change”). It’s hard to change something you’re so used doing but it’s also good to be stretched and challenged! Only three more sermons to go! (Out of 10!!!!!!!!) After I finish every sermon I like to have a 30 second dance party. Because of a giant seniors apartment complex overlooking the nursery I have to do this in the hallway between the playroom and the mother’s room.

Please note: when you are stressed and accomplish something big on your never ending list, have a 30 second dance party. It will give you enough celebration over the accomplished task and will fill with you energy to get on to the next one!

JUST DANCE. (I prefer to dance to Chromeo- fancy footwork…in case you were wondering)

I’m also sick… (booooohooooo) it sucks and i could really use your prayers (especially before two weeks of camp!!!)

oh and fyi…..I HAVE THE BEST BOYFRIEND IN THE WORLD…just saying.

you may want to stop reading if you puke from sappiness…

but please keep reading…

Get this…he took my macbook while i was away to defrag and clean some stuff up (it was running painfully slow). Well he not only put more ram on it, he also got the white paneling surrounding the keyboard replaced (it was all cracked) AND put new software with a ton of new programs! awwwwwwwe! he also bought harry potter tickets for tomorrow’s opening night! (even though he’s only seen the first movie)…ya i told ya he’s the best.

Oh and he got a hottie haircut and surprised me at the airport with it (ok i found out while i was away, but for the sake of the story, let’s just pretend i was surprised)

isn’t he stunning?

Anyways lovies i best be going. My good friend Bryn is visiting from the East Coast and we’re all hanging tonight, can’t wait!

over & out,

s.s.♥.