A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Choose your own word day: Prepare

 

The Christmas season always gets so busy and hustled, I forget to prepare.

I don't forget to prepare my house or the food. I remember all the presents and even a few extras.

The Christmas cards are on their way and the halls are all decked.

But, I forget to prepare my heart.

To prepare him room in my life.

I never stop to live in the moment of HIS birth.

Instead I will grumble and whine about how it just doesn't feel like Christmas this year.

That it all came to early, I wasn't able to enjoy it.

This year I am realizing that is a decision I make.

I make it busy.

I make it rushed.

I focus on the wrong parts of Christmas.

It's not the media's fault or the stores or the parties, it is mine.

It is my choice to make those things more important than the REASON.

So, today I stop and refocus.

Today I will be the voice crying in the wilderness:
"PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD"

~Cassi

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I Don't Do Winter

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Season

A drawing of mine from #sketchadayhomeagaincreative on instagram

I live in Minnesota.
Yes, it snows, a lot!
Yes, it gets really cold (20 below).
No, I don't enjoy it.
Why don't you move?
Because my family won't move.

Yep, that about covers every conversation I have in the winter.
I hate everything about winter except the first snowfall. The first snowfall truly is beautiful.
The rest of winter, YUCK!
Cold hands and feet all the time
Slushy dirty snow on my boots
Icy roads and sidewalks
FROSTBITE
WIND-CHILL

I wish I could get into it more. Steve and Mouse love winter. She has been counting down the days till snow since September. They love to snowmobile and make forts in the snow. I take pictures from windows of our warm house.
The only thing I love about winter is it gives me more time to do art projects and read. You also get to drink hot coco all day long.
So from now until April you will find me cuddled up on the couch with a book or sketch pad and a cup of something warm.
See you when it thaws

~ Cassi

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How Lovely is Your Dwelling Place

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Dwell

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD ...” ~ Psalm 84:1
In studying this chapter of Psalm there is debate over whether David is referring to heaven or to the church. The more I think about it the more it doesn't matter, both can be right and both are right.

“What joy for those who can live in your house, always singing your praises” ~ Psalm 84:4
God's joy handed down in worship that surpasses all other feelings.
As I have said before I am not much of a singer, in fact it is rare that I sing outside of while driving or in the shower. But the song  made from this passage gets me every time.  It fills me with the peace knowing that this moment in worship is better than anything else I could be doing.

"Better is one day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else!” ~ Psalm 84:10
And that is why they are both right.
One day in worship of God is better than a thousand elsewhere. So whether it is in a church here on either or in heaven the importance of this verse is that we are seeking his court.
~Cassi

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Under His Wings

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Weary

I loved day light savings time. Turn the clock back get one more hour of sleep, Heck Yeah! I am all about sleeping in. But, this year everything changed. My daughter didn't sleep that extra hour. I stayed up an extra hour because really it's not midnight it is only 11pm. It all combined into a much too short night.

I am weary.

wear·y: adjective: 

feeling or showing tiredness, especially as a result of excessive exertion or lack of sleep.

I feel like I just can't catch up these past few weeks. Sometimes I hate getting old, you can't recoup as fast as you could in your twenties.

This past year I have been working on taking rest in my quiet times.

To relax into those moments

The moments I have were it is just me, my Bible and some art supplies.

Recouping as an old adult is a change and one I need to work on.

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. ~ Psalm 91:4

So this week I will take cover under his feathers, to find the refuge I need to recoup.

~ Cassi

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Does Bopping Around Count as Dancing?

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Dance

I am not a musically inclined person. I like music, but I am one of those people that can't hear beats, you seem me try to clap. I more like to think in song lyrics, but please don't ask me the title or who sang it. (Steve and Mouse are much better at that game.)
My family is the one at church that rarely sings. Not because we don't like the music but for me I am just not a morning person to really get into the singing. Now at the Bible camp I run we sing much later in the morning. Let me dance in the isles then, it helps I work with teens, they are all about the dancing.
Lately though I have been more thoughtful in the words of the hymns and worship music we sing. I will spend the next week in thought and prayer around what we have sang that Sunday. You can also catch me dancing (OK really it is bopping around in my seat, but it's close).
I love finding connections to the songs within my Bible and really applying the song and verse to my life.  Finding that meaning and application has made sing out and dance even more.
God is making a new thing here.
I can't wait. 

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The Long Embrace

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Joy

I was listening to co-workers talk this week about an article they had read that said you should hug your spouse for 30 seconds every day. They talked about how weird that felt when they tried it.

I just smiled, for I had been there once too.

Then the fires happened.

After that 30 seconds doesn't seem like enough time to hold on.

When you know the pain that goes with the loss, that embrace becomes a bit more important.

You crave the touch to last just a bit longer.

You begin to take joy from those long embraces.

It's been almost fours years, which seems so long ago and yet yesterday all at the same time.

So hold on to each other just a bit longer this weekend.

Take joy from the touch of the one you love.

Be present in that embrace.

~ Cassi

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Fading of Green

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Green 

 The green is fading from our state. We are slowly moving from summer to fall into winter here. The green leaves of summer have long since turned to orange and red.

In Minnesota fall is beautiful! The changing of the colors dominates the conversation and the view for a few short weeks. My favorite is right at the beginning when here is still green mixed into the picture.

But now we have hit the part of fall that makes me sad. When all the green is faded and the reds have turned to brown. Tonight it will frost and the last of the color will go with it. Tonight we turn the corner here from fall into winter.

I sometimes wonder if fall is so beautiful because it last for such a short time. If it was more common place would we forget it's wonder.

Would it fade from our memories like the green from the leaves?

~ Cassi

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Learning to Trust

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Trust

A year ago I trusted God with a calling on my heart to bring Illustrated Faith Workshop here to Minnesota. It was a leap of faith for sure. Let me explain why...
I am one of those that throws home parties where no one shows. I even had it once where the sales lady didn't show! Seriously, who does that happen to?? So for God to say to me I want you to bring this workshop here, nerves like crazy. 
With shaking hands I sent off the email to Shanna Noel (founder of the brand Illustrated Faith) and asked if she would be interested in coming here. She immediately responded YES!
 I might have freaked out at this point. 
Beyond my normal worry that no one would show I had the worry if no one showed how would I pay her.  
As orders trickled in at first my faith faltered. I had to continually put this in God's hands. Not that he didn't already have it firmly in his grasps, I just had to let him keep it. 
I wanted to grab it back. 
Control it 
This whole process was a work in my faith. 
To trust the one who has the real control. 
Now the workshop is tomorrow!
People are signed up and excited to come. 
I can't wait to share more about it next week. 
~Cassi

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Weekend of Us

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Family

 

 

 

This past weekend Steve and I took a much needed us only trip. Its always hard for us to do because Mouse is so much fun to travel with. We love seeing new places with her.

But as a friend said the other day "I love you but one day you are going to leave the house and I still need to like your Daddy". I loved that.

It's so true!

It's important to date your spouse.

We talk about how important family is and it is!

But part of our family is the relationship I have with him. We learned the hard way what happens if you don't tend to just us.

So we take these weekends away and make the most of them.  

We hiked and talked. None of the conversations were life changers in themselves but as a whole they are. They change our focus from outward to inward, from me to us.

It is that new focus that we come home and are family grows stronger.

~ Cassi 

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Waves of Doubt

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Doubt

Doubt

I hate that word. 

It pulls on all areas of my life. 

Doubt

The word that makes me cringe.

The truths it brings up. 

I doubt so many areas of my life. Most days those doubts are manageable they lay below the surface. 

Other days they surface. The doubt pushes up and blocks the joy that is there. 

"17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ," ~ Ephesians 3:17-18

Then Ephesians reminds us to grasp how WIDE, LONG, HIGH and DEEP Christ's love is for us. As I look upon the ocean waves I see it. I feel it. This verse comes alive. There is nothing I need to doubt. For His LOVE is beyond all I can imagine. Beyond all the doubts I that swirl in side my head.

"O for the deep deep love of JESUS, vast, unmeasurable, boundless and free"

May those unmeasurable waves cover me. 

~ Cassi

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Celebrating HIS Plans

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Celebrate

I have to remind myself  that there is always a reason to celebrate. 

God has BIG plans for me that I am not yet aware of.

Why am I celebrating that?

Let me start by explaining myself.

One of my strengths is I can see the big picture and details. I think beyond the immediate to see how things will effect future decisions. I get lots of compliments from bosses because of this skill. But, I can also be a worker bee and get the daily tasks done.

Because of these strengths planning is a skill I excel at.

So, when I say I have plans laid out for myself its not said lightly. It is big plans and little plans, all sorts of in-between plans.

BUT

None of those plans compare with what God has planned.

What is that plan?

I have no idea.

So what am I celebrating?

I am celebrating that his plan is so much BIGGER than any of my well thought out plans. And the best part is his plans are BETTER too.

I don't need to worry, I just need to be open to where he calls.

So celebrate!

Even if you are like me and aren't sure what those plans are yet.

Celebrate in the fact that God has a plan for you. That you are his and he hasn't forgotten you.

He has BIG plans in store, just wait and see.

~Cassi

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Not the Same

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Same

We are not the same and that's Okay! I have never been one of those Mom's that dress their daughter in outfits that match their daughter. (No offense if you are, it just wasn't me)

From the start I wanted her to have her own life. I didn't want to live vicariously through hers.

But society is so much about sameness when it comes to our kids. "you have your mother's eyes" "you have the same temperament as your father" (I wish she did), "your mother use to do the same thing" All of those are great in small doses.

But my favorite thing to hear is that is soo Mouse.

That whatever it is uniquely her. That part of her that makes her different.

That part that makes me smile.

It is those parts that push me to be a better mom and person.

Her heart for animals, that her father and I just don't fully grasp.

Her way of seeing good in people.

The way she sees art as a story and not just a great painting.

It is a reminder that in everyone we meet it is the differences that draw us together. That have us seek out conversation with others.

It is in the differences that we grow together.

~ Cassi

 

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Lots of Yes

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic:Yes

Saying "Yes" comes easy to me. I will gather hobbies, events, and responsibilities like others gather knick knacks. Yes, is not where I struggle.

It is the no that I struggle with.

New ideas grab my interest and I can't help jumping all in.

But, I need to balance out yes with no's.

I start off good but I don't keep it going, I say yes again.

And again

It's not all bad, just sometimes I feel the overwhelming responsibility of it all.

No answers here just a free write because sometimes it takes putting it into writing to make change.

~Cassi

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Finding Self

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic:Find

 These past few years, since the fires, have been a change. A change in the core of who I am. In find myself I renewed a passion for Christ that had long gone dormant.  Finding ones self in the midst of hardship is cliche. I get that but there is reason things become cliches. It is in the midst of hardship that one begins to remove the things that mean less. 

To hone in on the areas that bring glory to His name.

paraphrased

It has not been easy and it is not always consistent. But has been worth it. I have found my passion for art. Even more importantly I have found my passion for family, small moments and God's GRACE. 

Finding those have made all the difference. 

~Cassi

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Willing to Learn

This is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Learn

I haven't taken an art class since high school. But I am so hoping to find one. I am enjoying the hand lettering and small water colors but I desire to paint. Paint canvases of places we've been. To meld my love of travel and art. 

The above picture I did (using an Instagram picture as a guide) but I find it difficult to understand the process. I want to learn the strokes, water amounts, the fundamentals. I am not looking to go back to college but just a studio class. Someplace to learn not for grade but for the enjoyment of learning. 

• "Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow." ~Anthony J. D’Angelo

Scared to Try

Today is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Try

New can be scary
The fear of failure can stall one to stop , to not even try.
But sometimes something comes so naturally that you just know you're meant to try.
That the love of doing it comes and fights out the fear of trying.

The excitement of something new starts once the fear is gone.
The hope that it works.
In this case also the hope to share God's message is mixed into that excitement.
I can wait to announce the new but it will be a bit still.

Until then here is to the new.
~ Cassi
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When it Rains

Today is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Ten

The rains have rolled in this morning. Lighting striking and thunder shaking the walls of our home.

Sheets of rain rush past the windows of our bedroom. It last just ten minutes.

I look out and the ground is wet and items have moved around the yard.

The windows are streaked with drops, still trailing down the panes.

I am struck with the parallel to when it rains in our lives.

It may only be a short time, 10 minutes, 10 hours, or long as 10 years.

But like the rain from this morning you can still see its effects hours later.

The streaks roll down our cheeks, puddle under our feet.

There are wholes in us like the leaves of my hostas.

We don't see the mile high view.

God sees the bigger picture in our lives.

He sees how green the grass is now.

He understands the parched lands below are well watered now.

He sees the new life forming.

~ Cassi

 

 

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Free to Tell

Today is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Free

"Go, Tell It On The Mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
That Jesus Christ is born."

This Christmas hymn stands as a great reminder that we have a story to tell.

We live in a country where we are free to tell this story and yet we sometimes hold back.

We forget the freedom is there.

Or we worry on how it will be received.

But our message is to important to be silent.

Now I am not talking about the in your face, judgmental, stereotypical evangelistic style that people cringe from.

But sharing God's love in true meaningful ways.

Ways that help and not hinder

Show his love and grace to all you meet.

So go and freely tell.

~ Cassi

 

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Anchor Tattoo

Today is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Hope

 "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure"

~ Hebrews 6:19

I  have had one tattoo since Mouse was a year old.  I love it! My tiger lily for my Mouse, when I see it, it still makes me smile.

It's been ten years now and I am looking for a new one. I am hoping for an anchor with one of my favorite verses. The verse is such a good reminder of when things get tough and hard that God is there. He will anchor us and gives us hope. I know its trendy but I want it on my wrist. I love the lily but I want to see this one, so it is a daily reminder to be in the Word. 

minus the blood part

Now if I could get Steve to agree to get one I would also want to incorporate this verse.

"Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate"

~ Mark 10:9

This verse stands out so much to me. Since the fires, Steve and I have really worked at making this a reality through God's help. It's another verse I want to see daily as a reminder that God has a hand in my marriage always.

 The pictures here are ones I found through various searches. I have sent them all off to one of my camp counselors/ friend and asked him to design me one. He is an amazing artist and I can't wait to see what he comes up with.

~ Cassi 

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Don't Choose Favorites

Today is Five Minute Fridays so lets link up and write

So I write for Five minute, no edits, no re dos and at the end I will see if there are pictures from my week Instagram feed that match the words of this week.

Topic: Favorite

"God doesn’t choose favorites among His children."

~ Gal. 2:6

We are called to love like Jesus / God but then when we read passages like these, it hit me on how hard that can be. But as always his message is right on. 

Last week was my annual Red Rock Camp week. For the week I am in charge of Junior and Senior High programming which includes kids, counselors and speakers. 

But it is the kids that this message really becomes important. 

Kids can pick up on that so quickly. 

And as soon as they do or think that they are not your favorite they will shut down. They will miss the message / love of Christ that we are trying to be to them. 

I know I did it a lot when I first started being a counselor. I wish I could go back and change those days. I wonder how many kids I missed because I was too focused on my favorites. 

This year I was impressed with all the staff and kids, I don't think anyone played favorites. 

And it showed!!

The kids cheered each other on in everything!

To give a small example: 

One of the days it rained (a lot) so we were stuck inside. To pass the time we played a game called Bear (Errr), Ninja (Eeee), Cowboy (Bang) its kind of an all body version of rock, paper, scissors. As one person would loose and the next person would need to take their place the kids made sure that each one had a turn. And for those that were nervous about standing in the center of a large crowd they encouraged and cheered. No matter who one the teens were excited. This simple game lasted over an hour! 

It was an amazing example of God's love to me. 

Did we share the gospel? No

Did we bring someone to Christ? No

Did the light and love of God shine through? YES

It was a reminder that it is in the everyday that God does some of his best work in us.

~ Cassi

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