Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart

Things don't always go the way we plan them, but God's got a plan for us that is better than what we can imagine. This time of year reminds me to be thankful for all that I have. Even with how unsettled my life feels at the moment I know that God has me in His hand. A few verses from Psalm remind us about true thanksgiving:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

~ Psalm 100: 4-5

Just a few things I am grateful for...

My Savior
                      family
                                                        good friends
                                                                                               laughter
               the grace God gives me
                                                                        sunshine
 unwavering protection
                                                            this season of giving


I don't remember to give thanks as often as I should. What are you thankful for? Write them down even if they are just for you to read. Even better, share them with people. There is so much we have to be thankful for yet we forget to say something as simple as "thank you," "I appreciate you," or "I love you."

A Child's Prayer - we should take note :)

Really do take the time to give thanks and be grateful. We all have something to be thankful for!

Let Go and Let God

Since beginning college, my faith has become stronger. My Sunday School class and I have talked about how when people go off to college it is almost as if the church expects them to wander away from faith and come back "when they're ready." This makes me frustrated. What if when we plan on being ready comes after the time that God is ready? College kids aren't perfect, but no one is. Yes mistakes are made, but age shouldn't be an excuse when it comes to faith.

When I got to college I absolutely loved it... I still do. Freshman year I was blessed with a roommate that was very much like me and she shared my Christian faith. The housing office didn't pick her... God did. We hit it off right away and are still friends. Having a friend at school to discuss prayer concerns and other faith matters kept me grounded and helped me explore my faith a little more. I started going to Campus Crusade my sophomore year and was annoyed with myself that I hadn't started going my freshman year! I absolutely love getting together with this group on Thursday nights to worship with people my own age. Along with other things going on in my life I realized I didn't like where I was in my faith. I wanted to have a stronger connection to God.

This is a wild example, but the only way I can think to describe the way my faith used to be...

Imagine you are afraid of heights, but for some reason you are about to go bungee jumping off the highest bridge in the world. The man straps you into your safety gear and ties the rope onto you. Your thoughts take over: The rope could come loose! I may hit something and break bones in my body! What if I drown in the river? You begin to panic and just can't do it. You physically can't make yourself get up onto that ledge and jump. This is kind of like the type of Christian I was a few years ago. I felt like I was strong in my faith, but when it really came time to fully trust God I couldn't let go of everything (see Matthew 14: 22-33).

Now imagine this...

You are back at that bridge for round gazillion and two. The weather may be a little different and you are a little older, but you are at the gate of another problem. Something feels different today, though. You wave aside the safety ropes the man is holding and with with a running leap you jump off the bridge into faith (please keep in mind this a FAITH example... don't try this on an actual bridge!). This is the kind of faith I strive for everyday -- leaping to God trusting that He can handle my all. God is there waiting at every turn before I get there and I can't let fear plague my every move.

"You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar in all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely .... Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there you hand will guide me, your hand will hold me fast."

 Psalm 139: 1-4 & 7-10

Do I "let go and let God" every time I struggle? No. Am I a perfect person? No, there is no such thing. Perfection and hesitation are my enemies. I am so much better about letting go to God than I was just a year ago, though. The thing is, God knows I am not perfect and He loves me anyway. He loves you too... get ready to jump into a faith with God! You have to give Him your all.

Hot Air Balloons Galore!

I absolutely love hot air balloons! I think they are the coolest thing to see in the sky! A balloon you can ride in? They're almost as cool as air planes. I read that in 1783 the first manned hot air balloon flew up. Can you imagine seeing one flying in the air back then?

So, I like to go to events very prepared. I make sure I know if I need to bring anything special, location, what the weather will be like and whatever the schedule for the event is like. After planning this trip since this summer with a friend I felt like we were super prepared. We were staying at her parent's house so that we didn't have to make a crazy 5 hour round trip. Ew.

We left a little later than planned, but it wasn't a big deal because the next set of hot air balloons weren't supposed to take off until around 4:30... we were going to make it there around around 3:00. My friend is from this area and had never heard of the festival, so we figured it wasn't going to be that much of a problem with traffic. Wrong! lol. We sat in traffic for like 30 minutes and were told by some chatty cops that we had to go to a parking lot farther down the road and take a shuttle to the place where the balloons were taking off.

We got in line behind probably 30 people with a gazillion strollers waiting for this shuttle the cop mentioned. After waiting for about 20 minutes I asked a couple in front of us how long they had been waiting. They had been waiting for over half an hour. A shuttle finally drove up and it was one of those small buses that holds like 15 people... not happening.  By then we only had 45 minutes til the balloons were supposed to take off. We were not about to miss this after the planning and long trip. I asked the man how far it was if we walked... there were a lot of people walking. He estimated about 1.5 miles.

We struck off on the walk at a fast pace hoping to get there quickly. We're young and a mile and a half isn't far, right? Don't forget this is close to the mountains and we were walking up hill. After the first hill we crested we were hoping to see SOMETHING that said "you're close!" Think again, all we saw was a never ending line of cars. So, we power walked some more. We saw some people leaving the event and asked how much farther. They said, "Oh, about 20 more minutes." Okay old man, a mile and a half? Kiss my grits.

By now we had been walking about half an hour, up hill, hauling a heavy quilt. We saw this family on the side of the road selling collard and turnip greens and WATER! They were very encouraging and told us it was about another 15 minutes. COME ON!? These people must not have learned about estimation in elementary school.

We finally made it 45 minutes later, ready to pass fall out. Once we got in the gate we were greeted by 10,000 people... I do not lie. It was the friendliest and most well behaved crowd I have ever been around in my life.

We got to watch all of the balloons get blown up right in front of us. I was so cool to see all of the colors rising up.





Hot air balloon dominos?
Photography by KES

 In total we got to see 47 balloons take off. It's cool enough to see one in the air, but all of them were incredible to see... like big dots of color in on a blue canvas.

Photography by KES

My favorite one!
Photography by KES

Photography by KES

We even got to see the Ghost Buster car, a monster balloon (literally) and eat stuffed grape leaves (Greek)! :)



Who you gonna call?
Photography by KES

Oh, and guess what? That mile and a half was actually 4.5 miles... the shuttle driver clocked it. You better believe that we did not walk back! We ran to get in line after we saw the balloons in the night light. All in all, the festival was so much fun! Definitely worth the 4.5 mile walk and would definitely recommend it!

Absolutely beautiful!
Photography by KES

Halloween!
Photography by KES

Hopefully one day soon I will be able to ride in one!