Faith Noodles

By Anthony Doerr, "All the light we cannot see" And one cold Tuesday in December, when Marie-Laure has been blind for over a year, her father walks her up rue Cuvier to the edge of the Jardin des Plantes. "Here, ma chérie, is the path we take every morning. Through the cedars up ahead is the Grand Gallery." "I know, Papa." He picks her up and spins her around three times. "Now," he says, "you're going to take us home." Her mouth drops open. "I want you to think of the model, Marie." "But I can't possibly!" "I'm one step behind you. I won't let anything happen. You have your cane. You know where you are." "I do not!" "You do." Exasperation. She cannot even say if the gardens are ahead or behind. "Calm yourself, Marie. One centimeter at a time." "I'm far, Papa. Six blocks, at least." "Six blocks is exactly right. U...

God wants us to be happy in Him, in nothing but Him. For whatever a man trusts in, from that He expects happiness. He who is the ground of our faith Should be the substance of our joy. So Daddy, Whatever comes my way, whatever internship I get, whether I pass my practical exam next year, however the neuropsychology course today turns out to be even though I am going on my own, how much progress I make with my thesis given however hard I try (by Your strength!), wherever You want me to be.. I want to keep being happy in You. What a privilege it is to rejoice in You.. that You require it of me for all the grace and mercy You have shown me. Habakkuk 3:17-19 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my s...

I am a happy girl. I am a very happy girl. I am a very very happy girl. I am an extraordinarily happy girl. :) Over the past month, I've just had so much fun teaching social skills to a group of kids with social and attention difficulties. Today was my second to last session with them. Man, am I gonna miss it. I have been soooooo busy for the past 1, 2, 3, 4 years that I stopped a lot of my extra voluntary activities with kids at church or at the hospital. I have forgotten how much I enjoy working with kids! This was a compulsory part of my course. I just feel like it's a huge privilege to be able to do this. I think I enjoy working with kids more than the elderly and adults. I don't mind the latter two, but I think I love love love working with children more. My creative juices flow a lot more, my tenacity sharpens when faced with a difficult child, and joy just bubbles up. My leisure reading since I began placement consists of parenting articles, effective ...

How deep the Father's love for us, How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure

I am trying.. trying to figure out how to serve God with my time. Or maybe a more accurate way of phrasing this is I'm struggling and trying to give God (full) control over my time. Out of all my resources, time is the most precious resource to me and the hardest for me to give up to God. And this is very helpful as I ask God to show me how: "One reason we are so harried and hurried is that we make yesterday and tomorrow our business, when all that legitimately concerns us is today. If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda which God did not put there. Let us submit the list to Him and ask Him to indicate which items we must delete. There is always time to do the will of God. If we are too busy to do that, we are too busy." Elisabeth Elliot "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

By Keith and Kristyn Getty, "Perfect wisdom of our God" Each strand of sorrow has a place Within this tapestry of grace So through the trials I choose to say "Your perfect will in Your perfect way"

I just had lunch with the girls who are a year above me, and man, I'm so freaked out about next year. :( Key advice was to finish my thesis this year, NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES. I've got 166 days (or 23 weeks and 5 days) to put together two journal articles and one full thesis. I was looking through some stuff people put on the net to motivate PhD students and the first few memes that popped out were of Ryan Gosling. -_- No way am I posting any memes of him on my blog. But you know what's (A LOT) more encouraging than Ryan Gosling? THIS: "Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS. Do not be anxious about anything, but in EVERYTHING by PRAYER and SUPPLICATION with THANKSGIVING let your requests be made known to God. And the PEACE of GOD, which SURPASSES all understanding, will GUARD your hearts and your minds IN Christ Jesus." Philipians 4:6-7 This is true even when you have so much to worry and be anxious about! Since I was 14 years old, this truth has really ...