for real.

I have a friend who owns at store in downtown Lethbridge called Edit: stylish and sustainable shopping.

"The goal of Edit is to help clients make ethically smart shopping choices, while not sacrificing style. We as consumers need to refine the way that we shop, to really think about what is behind what we are buying and to feel good that our decisions to play a part to better the world around us."

The thing that I love about this shoppe (besides the fact that they provide fair trade and eco-friendly product) is the person behind it. The shoppe owner not only provide great products that are great for the world, but she stands behind her commitment. There have been numerous times that I have seen her riding her bike downtown since she doesn't own a vehicle - just one more way to better the world.

I work in a field where hypocrisy if often seen. Although I believe it's absolutely true that no human is perfect and people will always sin and make mistakes, it's heart breaking to think that so many have trouble sticking to their commitments.

James 5:12b sticks out in my mind where it states:
"Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," be no, or you will condemned."
How easy it is to say, yet so hard to actually follow through. Perhaps rather then spouting out commitments with empty emotions it's time to stop and think about what the follow through will look like, and what it will cost!

So to my shoppe owner friend:
I applaud and stand in awe of you! Thank you for sticking to your commitment. Thank you for "practicing what you preach." I have much to learn from you.

To my other friends out there, I challenge you (just as I challenge myself) - "Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," be no..."

NOTHING!

I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
(Romans 8:38-39)

Wow.

The past few days I've been trying to wrap my head around these verses, and simply put - I can't.

There is no sin, thought, person, thing, feeling - nothing - that can get in between us and God's love.

There have been times in my life where I've felt distant, and disconnected from a God who's love I can't escape - who's fault could that be?
I think without realizing it I've blamed God for the feelings of distance between us, as if it's His fault that I'm not perfect. And yet, when I take time to read and meditate on two verse from Romans I realize that it's not God's fault at all - it's mine. His love is so huge that I can't be separated from it, so huge that I can't even fully comprehend it...and yet I try to blame Him.

It's my blindness to His love that keeps me from realizing that I can never escape from it.
It's me, it's not Him. And so I make the choice to remember that my sin, my thoughts, the people in my life, the things in my life, the things that I feel - they have absolutely no bounds on God's love for me.

I'm always surrounded.
Always loved.

And so are you

God's Chisel

predictably unpredictable

I like to describe my life as 'predictably unpredictable.' It seems as though many things in my life are permanent, and I'm often faced with change [thankfully, I like change!].

With a husband who works at a car dealership it shouldn't be any surprise that over the past two years we've owned eight different vehicles (JUST got a new one in fact...a Jeep Liberty!!!).
I get bored with the same look and often when I got to the hairdresser I ask for something different (like last week).
Although I haven't been in my own home for long I feel the need to redecorate and rearrange often (good thing my husband isn't SUPER anal - nothing has a permanent home).
I truly do enjoy where I live, but frequently get cabin fever and have the urge to leave for a day or two just for a bit of change (we were in Calgary this past weekend).
I'm not one for meal planning and I like having options depending on what I'm craving (not to mention that taste buds are replaced every two weeks!).
I have a job in which my responsibilities seem to consistently change and expand (although some things remain the same, there are always seems to be a new project or event to work on).

"Everything is for sale for the right price," has become a motto for my husband and I, and although we both enjoy the things in our life we're not so attached to anything that we wouldn't be willing to get rid of it.

Although many things in my life seem to be constantly changing there is one thing that remains constant. My God (See Hebrews 13:8).

I love change, and I love having a life that is predictably unpredictable, but even more then that I LOVE knowing that my God is the same...yesterday, today, and forever.