Music Tuesday:Bradley Hathaway’s Joy
The word joy seems to be ringing in my heart lately so I thought, what better way to spend Music Tuesday than talking about joy? Not happiness. I’m talking about JOY. The type of joy that’s found deep within your soul. Your source of peace and contentment, even if things are hard or going wrong. The joy that helps you to smile in the rain and be kind to those that don’t deserve it. The joy that says “I want to make this person happy” with no expectation of receiving something back. The type of joy that many people spend their lives trying to find.
Bradley Hathaway, a writer,/poet/ singer/songwriter from Arkansas has a poem entitled “On Being Joyful and Content” that explains joy in such a great way that I’m doing my post today referencing it. You can watch/read it below. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
I’m ecstatic!
and my thoughts
are
uncontrollably
sporadic!
Yet centered around one center
Joy.
In plush ripe tones
joy is rushing through my bones!
If joy were a color
it would be purple
pastel
pretty
Like old women and young children
both wear on Easter
Smiling while having deviled eggs
and drinking kool-aid
Chasing blown bubbles
in the backyard
The young ones’ distracting hats
fly off…
And the old ones laugh
a contagious laughter
that is to be shared
by everyone there
The sun
shines down upon them
as all of their physical imperfections
gleam
beautifully
and inside
inside
I feel like this
and I look outside my window
and imagine the
future purple pastel pretty
moments of joy
that I will one day have with my wife.
My Children.
My friends.
My family.
I really look forward to those moments.
But I am thankful for the one
that I am having right now.
this morning.
Alone.
On my couch.
Overwhelmed by Joy.
Before I end this post, I’d like to pray for my readers. I know it’s not a common thing on my blog, but I feel led to…so I will. I hope that you will read it slowly and pray it in your heart as well.
“Dear Lord of all things – I pray for my readers. Each and everyone one of them. Whether they know you or not. I know that you know them. And I know that you believe in them. And I know that you want them to experience the type of joy that only comes from you and you alone. I pray that each one of their hearts starts to fill with this love and joy. That it builds and builds and lives within their soul. It reaches to points that they can’t touch and can’t understand. They just know that it’s there. From the first smile during a bad situation to a compassion for their enemies that they just don’t understand. I pray that we all have an increase of the joy that’s found in knowing, loving and worshiping you. Amen”
A Busy Day Blog
Every once and a while I read a blog and say to myself ”okay, I needed to read that, maybe someone else does too.”
So, being the blog community friendly person I am, today’s blog is a recommendation to read another blog. Now don’t dismiss this and not read it. It’s not very long. And it’s not too girly. So take a few minutes out of your day and give it a try:
http://animperfectbeauty.blogspot.com/2009/09/beginning-busy-day.html
A Day of Beauty
This morning was one of those odd days. I woke up when my alarm went off and had no problem getting up. I worked out a little and then got ready for work. I was early. I went to Starbucks and my drink was absolutely perfect. I put on my sunglasses (even though there was no sun) and then I noticed how “odd” a day it was.
Without my sunglasses, the sky looked cloudy and gray. With my sunglasses, I noticed that it wasn’t cloudy – it was foggy. And there was a very blue sky behind the fog. In this blue sky was a very bright sun that had iridescent looking clouds in front of it – making it illuminate more than usual. And the clouds were moving oh so fast as if I was watching a movie where time is fast forward.
It was absolutely beautiful.
But then the real beauty came. My ipod switched to the song “Captivated”
When I look into the mountains
I see Your fame
When I look into the night’s sky
It sparkles Your name
The wind and the clouds and the blue in the sky
The sun and the moon and the stars so high
That’s what draws me to You
I am, I’m captivated by You
In all that You do
I am, I’m captivated
When I wake unto the morning
It gives me Your sight
When I look across the ocean
It echoes Your might
The sand on the shore and the waves in the sea
The air in my lungs and the way You made me
That’s what draws me to You
I am, I’m captivated by You
In all that You do
I am, I’m captivated
The wind and the clouds and the blue in the sky
The sun and the moon and the stars so high
The sand on the shore and the waves in the sea
The air in my lungs and the way You made me
The blood in my veins and my heart You invade
The plants how they grow and the tree and their shade
The way that I feel and love in my soul
I thank you my God for letting me, letting me know
I am, I’m captivated by You
In all that You do
I am, I’m captivated
Trapped
Everfound has a song that simply says “Let me out, I want to breathe again” and since the moment I heard it, it struck a cord within me. Not one of those pretty notes that you might hear in a ballad…it’s more like the pounding on a piano in that dramatic no way out type of way.
I think many of us feel this way. We feel trapped. We feel suffocated. Whether it be something big like a sin, dead-end job, failing relationship, or fear.. or something small like a bad day or fight that never seems to end. I believe we all relate to this line at one point or another…I think I’ll even go as far as saying as you might feel it often.
So I want to share some hope with my fellow trapped friends. Take this line and make it a declaration. Take a stand. Say NO MORE!!!!!!!!!!! to whatever is holding you under water. The name of Jesus is the most powerful name to declare so I say call out to him for your rescue…for your salvation. There is power in the name of Jesus. Ask him to let you out.
Minor Miracles
I think we can all agree that one day we hope to see/experience a miracle. The bible speaks of many miracles and I think you’ll agree with me that you haven’t seen anything close to that. But today I had to stop and think, have I ever seen any minor miracles?
Well, what is a minor miracle? To me, it’s something that I can’t produce on my own. It’s something special and specific to my life that’s controlled by God. So in that case, I often receive minor miracles and today was no exception.
If you don’t know this about me, you now will. I HATE the dentist. I’m not talking regular “I don’t want to go” type hate, I’m talking I will do anything to not go. It all started when I was younger and had a dentist that believed in filling every hole in my mouth with the shiny metal filling. It then continued with braces and has now brought me to adult hood where every time I go to the dentist something has to get drilled, another thing has to get filled and no news (forget about good news) does not exist. About a year ago I was told that my teeth are decaying and falling apart piece by piece and there is nothing I can do about it. And to think, I LIKE my dentist. He’s the only person besides my dad that calls me his “little trooper” and pats me on the head with every visit as I have tears in my eyes. So although the news is never good, somehow I’m comfortable with him telling me bad news.
There is only 1 hygenist that doesn’t make me cry because my teeth are so sensitive. Last year they got a new dentist and I was assigned to his chair. I was back 2 weeks later in pain because he “missed” a cavity…I think you get the picture.
So I’ve had this pain in my mouth that I knew had to get checked out. So I called to make an appointment and found out that my dentist will be out for 2 weeks and they’re assigning me to their newest dentist. After too long of a pause and a “eh eh” coming out of my mouth, she assigned me the 9:10am spot with a promise that my dentist will be in the building in case anything goes wrong. So I prayed and prayed for a good visit and nothing to go wrong. Chris prayed and prayed for peace and wisdom for this appointment. And then I prayed a bit more this morning that if I shouldn’t go, I would know.
Well, I went…and here is my minor miracle of the day.
I didn’t get my teeth cleaned so no tearful hygenist appointments. The dental assistant taking my x-rays was as nice as could be. And then in walked MY dentist. The dentist that couldn’t take me last minute. He wanted to say hi and see what was up. He looked in my mouth and told the assistant what to do. He then introduced me to the young female dentist I was about to see and we all discussed my trouble tooth. Within minutes they discovered the problem and she went to work on my mouth. I warned her about my sensitivity and she hit me up with the numbing gel and enough novocaine to last me the day. While it was going into effect she sat with me and we chatted about apartments and festivals and work and all different stuff. By the time my mouth was ready for drilling I was so comfortable and so peaceful that if things went well I wanted to have this girl over for tea haha.
The next half hour was a blur. I didn’t feel a thing. My dentist was in the room every few minutes to see how I was doing and my pain was gone. I left the dentist with a smile on my face (well, the side of my face that wasn’t numb!). Let me repeat that for dramatic, miracle believing affect: I LEFT THE DENTIST WITH A SMILE ON MY FACE.
Thank you God for your minor miracles that let me know you know me by name and you hear my prayers. And I thank you God that I will no longer depend on my hero of a dentist and will willingly give new people a try. You are an amazing God and I am so grateful for your grace.
“I don’t believe in coincidences, only Godinstances” – a very wise girl
Proverb31girl & Deeflash Travel!
Seasons of life are funny. One minute I’m complaining that I don’t go anywhere or do anything and the next I’m crying out for a few days of nothing to do but veg out on my couch. So instead of complaining I’m going to try and live in the season I’m in with a smile on my face and excitement for what’s going on. Not quite sure what’s going on? Well here’s the event calendar:
- End of June-July we were at Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, IL. If you haven’t already, check out my post on our trip!
- End of July we were up in Plattsburgh, NY visiting my brother and his fiance for his birthday
- August 8th was a big day here in Dutchess County, NY. Chris turned 27 AND his EP started being sold in Beacon’s new shop Dream In Plastic. Check out more about the special Dream In Plastic music, the EP release and the store!
- August 14 – 19 I’ll be working in NYC for the NY International Gift Fair. As with all work trips, I’m praying that God moves mightly in the contacts I make and conversations I have with people from all over the world.
- August 21 – 23 we’re heading up to Maine with my family for a (hopefully haha) relaxing time of lighthouses, seafood, water & sun.
- September 11 – 12 deeflash returns to The Gates in Harleysville, PA for a night of youth, music and fun.
- September 18 – 20 we’re taking the journey to Ottawa, Canada to minister with and to H.E.A.T. Worship House!
- October 4 – 10 we’re finally taking our honeymoon trip! Although the original plan was London, we decided that the Outer Banks in NC was a much better choice for us right now.
So as you can tell, busy times are ahead but man they’re good and God is so good for giving us these opportunities to work in our giftings. Please keep us in your prayers and hey – if you have an event that you need a dj or photographer for – I think I know some people 
Jesus is Coming Back?
Since I became a Christian I’ve heard over and over again that Jesus is going to come back and all that the Bible says is going to happen to the world. And to be honest, the whole thing kind of scared me. I mean sure, Jesus is coming back is exciting and spending eternity with God…awesome. But I admit and I’m sure some of you will also, there is a part of me that is filled with fear and anxiety. There is always a little part of me that says “I don’t think I’m ready.” or “If it were today — I don’t know that I’d make it.” Of course I believe in grace and mercy but I also know that there are many days that I have sin in my life and I’m just not hitting the mark of where I’m supposed to be. I have days that I know God doesn’t really approve of what came out of my mouth. I have days that I’d rather sit in Starbucks and read a gossip magazine than read my Bible. So I think I can honestly say that there are many days that “wahoo” doesn’t come out of my mouth when someone tells me that Jesus is going to come back and NO ONE knows when. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be that way anymore. I don’t want to worry that I won’t be ready. I don’t want the words in my head to be “please not yet…”
Okay so maybe it’s not a fear or sin factor for you…but seriously, are you EXCITED about Jesus coming back? Or is there part of you that isn’t ready? Is there a part of you that says “but I haven’t ____ yet.” Fill in the blank. I haven’t finished my ministry yet. I haven’t witnessed to my parents yet. I haven’t gotten married yet. I haven’t had kids yet. I haven’t forgiven that friend yet. I haven’t written my book yet. I haven’t sang in a band yet. I haven’t preached at a big conference yet. I haven’t I haven’t….let me share a bit of revelation I just received on this. YOU WILL RUN OUT OF TIME. There isn’t going to be a day that you’re sitting on your lounge chair on a 72 degree day sipping an iced tea knowing that you completed everything you wanted to do and now you’re just waiting for the Jesus ship to come pick you up. This world is filled with procrastination, fear, pride and self-made goals. We have to stop being controlled by the things in the world. Many of us are blind to the fact that we’re not really eternally minded. Not all of the time.
It’s time we wake up and make sure that we don’t spend another day without a heart for God. We don’t have time spend a minute not being ready. And we have to stop focusing on what we want to do and rather be focused on what we know we’re supposed to do. God isn’t looking for a list of the good things you did…he’s looking for someone that has a right heart and obeyed what He said to do. And if you’re doing that – I’m beginning to realize that the return of Jesus really IS something to be excited about.
“I Feel Really Good this Day,Yes” – by Bradley Hathaway
Intro: Bradley Hathaway is a poet out of Arkansas. I can talk forever about him and the way his writing changes my life everytime I read/hear it. But I won’t. I just want you to read this poem.
Title: “I Feel Really Good This Day,Yes”
Book: All The Hits So Far but don’t expect too much
Poem:
You’re pouring your love ALL OVER ME!
It’s dripping off the
TOPS
And sides
And bottoms
And middles
Of trees full of splendid little busy bees
about doing their purpose
HOW
CAN THIS BE?
That you’ve let my HEART to see?
And experience?
And take in?
AND NOW
to sing.
SING! Sing! SING!
About your love to everybody. ANYBODY.
Or the somebody that’s considered a nobody
But THEY are special to thee.
AND FOR THAT I thank thee
That these things have been shown to me.
Keep this mercy
falling
DOWN
DOWN
And this grace
falling
DOWN
DOWN
On the top of my scalp
Dripping off of my nose
Down around my belly button
All the way to my
pinky toe cuticle
that you made
And for that
IT IS COOL.
SOMETIMES I PLAY THE FOOL
but still your LOVE is all around!
Sprouting from the ground
HERE
and There
Everywhere!
ESPECIALLY ON THIS FLOOR that I now stand.
How amazingly awesome is your plan
That cannot be thwarted by any man
No matter how big
OR STRONG
Or UGLY
or EVIL he BE.
Because through you is victory.
And it’s victory that I now SPEAK of
and have to LET OUT of my skin
Because for too long it has been contained therein.
Lord, I praise you because you’re DIFFERENT.
And efficient.
and you’ve tweaked my spirit
just enough so that
I can
TASTE
and
SEE
that YOU truly are good
like a fresh
PICKED
PINEAPPLE
for the first time
in my mouth.
OR THE WARMTH OF YOUR SUN
on the BACK
of my
NOT
WARM
NECK
on a
NOT
WARM
DAY.
I’LL PRAISE YOUR NAME TODAY.
and Tomorrow.
FOREVER.
Guilty.
I really like posting and talking about the things I do right. I’m my biggest fan some days. But every once and a while I guess it’s necessary to post about the “other” me days. The days where I’m not so great and glamorous. The days I don’t praise God in my sickness and disappointment. The days where I’m just plain guilty and as Lysa pointed out in her blog today: ugly.
Last Saturday Chris and I took an adventure around the Hudson Valley. We went to FDR Mansion and Woodstock and attempted the Ulster County Fair and walked Main Street in New Paltz. There were good and bad times. The bad was getting 9 bug bites in 30 minutes of walking around FDR. The good was the sunshine and animals and waterfalls. The bad of Woodstock was that there was no Ben & Jerrys as we thought there was. The good was driving around back roads and talking about the appeal of being a hippy. The bad times about the Ulster County Fair was that we sat in traffic for half an hour to find out the grounds were flooded and we’d have to part at SUNY New Paltz and shuttle over. The good times were choosing to not go and take a long but fun journey through Gardiner, NY and discovering the Red Rooster Cafe. The good time of New Paltz was sitting at a table eating homemade ice cream (finally!). The bad of New Paltz is why I’m writing this blog.
With all of the good and bad that happened that day – the only real thing that sticks out in my mind is the bad that I let myself become that day. The real ugly, rude side of me that I wish was gone.
Most of you that read this know me. I’m nice but I’m not exactly outgoing and overly friendly, especially if I don’t know you. So now imagine this. Chris and I are walking up Main St. in New Paltz. The road is jam packed with traffic because of the fairgrounds. As we’re walking I hear “JESSICA!” being shouted. So on the second shout (all people with common names know this feeling) I turn around, expecting someone to be shouting at another Jessica and I’d turn back around feeling slightly foolish. To my shock, there was a car filled with people across the street hanging out their windows shouting at me. “ME??”, I think. “Who are these people??” So as any nice Christian girl would do, I stared at them, looked at Chris, turned back around and kept walking. They kept shouting after me “Jessica! It’s been a long time!!” And I turn around again, look at them, still have no clue who they are, and walk away.
WOOO could I be a ruder biotch or what??
By the time I realized what I had done the car was gone. I felt absolutely horrible and ashamed of myself. No person should ever be that rude, let alone someone claiming to be CHRIST-LIKE.
So I did what any guilty person might do. I convinced Chris to get in the car and go to the fair so that we could find them and I can find out who they are and apologize for being so horrible to them. So we got in the car and sat in the same traffic they did, only to not see them again. *sigh*
This memory will haunt me forever. And at that moment I made a promise to myself and to God that I will try my best to NEVER do that again. No person ever deserves to have a reaction like that. Especially when they’re just trying to be friendly!
So this blog isn’t to have you post a comment telling me we all make mistakes. It’s to challenge you to find something in you that isn’t so pretty and ask God to help you make it pretty. This world needs more people that are pretty on the inside. I plan on being one of them.
Ok God, you can stop laughing now
Ever have one of those days (or hours in my case) when you’re sure that God is laughing at you?
Chris’ birthday is Saturday and since I have no clue how to not make a big deal of birthdays – I’m a little swamped with last minute things to do today. So I opted-out of going to the gym and opted-in to going to Walmart. On my lunch break. In downtown White Plains. yea. What was I thinking?? I have no patience for Walmart at 2am on a Wednesday, why would I go during lunch time in a city??
So I drive downtown and find the “Walmart parking garage.” I drive up what seems like a perfect chase scene no way out ramp and come to a faded sign that reads “up to 15 minutes – $3, up to 2 hours – $4…”. “At Walmart?!?!” I think to myself. “People shop at Walmart to SAVE money! I think it’s crazy that Whole Foods charges $3 to park but that’s more justified than this! I hate cities! This is so dumb! etc. etc.” in my head. But there is no where to turn around. So I park and get in the elevator. I look at all of the buttons and realize that I have no idea what level I just parked on. There is also no sign telling me which level Walmart is on. So I pick Level 4 (??) Yea, God is definitely laughing at me.
Finally I hit the “P” and get out to the main street. I’m now flustered and about to enter Walmart. Bad sign.
Within 10 minutes of wandering around the bustling store and getting stepped on by 4 different ladies, I gave up. I put my basket down in an aisle and walked out. (YUP! I DIDN’T EVEN PUT IT AWAY. TAKE THAT WALMART!)
**sorry God..**
I then remembered that there is a CVS about a block and a half away. So I jaywalked across the road and wandered around CVS for a while. I found a few things I needed so it wasn’t a total loss. I get to the register and pull out my $3 extra bucks and realize that I have NO cash to pay for the parking garage where my car is, at the store that I didn’t shop at. Please note that it would have cost me 10 cents to pay for a meter in front of CVS.
And then God gave me a break. Or opened my eyes. Or stopped laughing and started helping. I don’t know what you want to call it but the heavens opened up and I found my answers.
MY DEBIT CARD CAN DO CASH BACK! GLORY!! haha.
So I get my cash back at the register and head back to the parking garage. Along the way I hear music. Turns out, there is a spanish band playing right near the water fountain and people are dancing everywhere! Old and young. Business workers and shopping moms. It’s a FIIIIEESSSTA! So that cheered me up. I love seeing people having fun.
I find my way to the elevator and realize that my parking receipt probably says what level I parked on. Sure enough it reads “Level 5, right side.” What detail! So I get to my car, get on line to exit, and read the very clear sign this meter has. “Up to 15 minutes…FREE. Up to 2 hours…$3….Walmart parking free with receipt. Up to 3 hours.” Oh my. I felt like a prize idiot. I’m convinced God was laughing. Hard. I was even laughing at myself at this point.
So I pull out to the road and soon realized I actually chose the perfect exit as it brought me out to the exact place I needed to be…and drove back to work.
Moral of the story? Don’t go to Walmart on lunch break. Just kidding. Although true, I’m pretty convinced God is trying to teach me to take a breath and take my time. Read signs. Smile at people. Don’t rush through life and sweat the small stuff.
Sleep Walking
Last night I didn’t get much sleep.
My body was tired.
My eyes were tired.
My mind was wide awake.
I was probably half awake. Meaning, I was half asleep. Kind of sounds like the perfect time to take up sleep walking.
Scary enough, I feel this is how a lot of people spend their days, not just their nights. We spend the day having our mind focused on the work we’re assigned from our bosses and the stress that comes our ways but we’re not actually alert enough to change anything…or even realize that we CAN change everything. So we spend every day doing the same thing. Half awake. Half asleep. Awake to the “world”; Asleep to what matters.
We’re tired.
We’re weary.
We’re in desperate need of a good nights sleep or a very alarming wake-up call.
But often neither happen. We wear ourselves down running around trying to do everything and make sure people approve of our lifestyle and choices. We neglect our body telling us we need to rest and then fuel it with caffeine to compensate. But we’re tired and everyone can tell. Our eyes are heavy and our bodies start dragging. Our hearts turn cold.
Take a minute to prioritize your day. Your week. Your life.
What matters? What’s important? What are you saying yes to when you should be saying no? What is your body telling you?
Wake up or go to sleep. Sleep walking only seems like a good idea until you wake up and realize that you are lost and don’t know how you got there.
No Such Thing as Coincidences
For those who don’t know – I’ve been battling a stomach bug/virus for the latter half of the week. So instead of trying to put a great blog together on how I don’t believe in coincidences, I thought I’d refer you to someone who has just wrote about it and with an amazing personal story to go along with it. Her name is Jenny and she’s the lead singer of the Christian pop rock band Addison Road
Take a read: Jenny’s Blog: Craigslist – Start from the bottom up and Jenny’s Blog: Q&A.
The Death of an Unwrapped Present
This has been a weird summer so far. People are sick and people are dying. Some were sick. Some weren’t. Every week I hear of at least one person passing away. The thing that I’m realizing about death is that there isn’t much we can control about it. We can’t control when it happens and we can’t control how it happens. Well okay, if you smoke 3 packs of cigarettes a day and die of lung cancer, I guess there was something you could do about it…but what about that old lady we’ve all heard of or known that smoked just as much and died of old age? And what about that little kid that got hit by a car before he entered elementary school? The point is, everyone is going to die and there isn’t much we can do about it.
There is one thing we can control though. We can control where we go when we die. Jesus died so that we wouldn’t have to spend our eternity in hell. All we have to do is believe and accept this truth and follow the example he left for us. We have to build a relationship with the one and only God. We have to let him take control of the lives that we’re messing up when left to our own plans. We have to realize that we’re all sinners and we all mess up but we don’t have to live condemned because of it. Jesus died on a cross to free us of the condemnation. It’s the best gift anyone could ever give us. But we have to accept the present. So many people left this one gift wrapped up nicely sitting under a tree. Too many people only unwrap the gift when they have nothing left to lose. Man, I wish people would realize that this gift is for all, no matter what is going on in your life. Whether you have it all together or not. God doesn’t want us to live in fear of dying, because we don’t know what will happen. The bible tells us what will happen, if only we believe.
Mini Blog – Prayers
I promised a blog for today but here’s the thing. I already took my lunch break. And I already wasted enough time this morning playing with my flickr account. So I have no time to write. And unfortunately what I want to write on, will take me days to put together. So I will put it together…but it won’t be published for a few days. So this is to hold you over until then 
Lately I’ve been noticing how God answers prayers. Sometimes immediately as in the case of my co-worker’s daughter’s baby. And sometimes months later, as is the case with some of my personal prayers.
Immediate prayers are great but to me, they come and go quicker than my favorite chocolate bar (Green & Black’s Dark Mint Chocolate in case you were wondering). It’s the longer cases that really hit home and stick. And from what I’ve learned, they’re also the ones that I find myself literally crying about for days before realizing that I asked for it. My prayer was just answered.
As I said, I can’t go deep into this, but here’s the main point of today’s blog. GOD WON’T ALWAYS ANSWER YOUR PRAYERS THE WAY THAT YOU THINK HE SHOULD. but. HE WILL ANSWER THEM. and sometimes they will hurt. and sometimes you’ll rejoice. but always. God is in control.
Dreaming vs. Reality
This comic hit me pretty hard today. Why is it that we stop dreaming? Why is it that we stop believing we can be whatever we want to be and do whatever we want to do? I mean don’t get me wrong, I have dreams and hopes for the future…but with those dreams comes doubts based on what my eyes see and my mind thinks.
“With God all things are possible” – Matthew 19:26
But do we really believe it? Or are we believing to believe it? Are we hoping we believe it? Are we waiting for our dreams to come true and then we’ll advertise that we believe it?
Is it a matter of faith or is it a matter of reality being too real?
I would love for people to leave a comment talking about this subject and how they think/feel.
My name is Jessica and I'm a proverb31girl. These are my thoughts on living a proverb31 girl life. I invite you to join me on this journey!Subscribe
Artwork for Sale by Caitlin Lecker!
