Hongrui Zhang

 

you are so special to me Hongrui..and to all of my lifegroup. we love you.

disgusted

i have overheard some stories lately that would really make you want to vomit. stories that are conversed over coffee with no shame. for anyone in the room to hear. stories that i honestly dont even feel like repeating.  how i wish we hated sin more.

husbands…love your wives.

and apart from You..

i am nothing

man. God has been teaching me so much lately. like really. if i started to talk about it…this post would be looong. real long. but i just encourage you to stop what you’re doing and praise Him. praise Him for who He is, for what He’s done, for the unconditional love He provides us. be in awe of Him. spend time with Him and learn more about Him. let your days be to glorify Him. He gave His life for us so that we could live our life for Him. we did nothing to deserve His love. not one thing. yet He while we were still sinners, He died for us. what? are you kidding me? man..let that NEVER get old. He loves us. He is jealous for us. He gives us a joy that no one else can provide us with. He loves us with a love that is beyond what we can fathom. that love. the love that HE gives us..yeah..it doesnt compare to anything we know here on earth.  let us seek our Savior. seek Him with all of your heart. i pray that i can live my life soley to glorify Him. i pray that for you. yes. we mess up. yes we are wicked. but we are sons and daughters of a King who washes us white as snow. may we fall to our knees and worship our God. His name IS power. Jesus thank you. thank you. i love you. but not nearly as much as I should. help me to love you more. Jesus we love you because you first loved us. apart from You…we are nothing.

justinlanephotos

friend from sUMterr

www.JustinLanePhotos.com

my hiding place

“Then I acknowledge my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord” and you forgave the guilt of my sin..

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance..

Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in Him”

Psalm 32: 5,7,10

lift up your eyes

“shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! for the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. but Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” “can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? though she may forget, I will not forget you! see, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands, your walls are ever before me. your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you. lift up your eyes and look around; all your sons gather and come to you. as surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride.”

Isaiah 49: 13-18

let Him wrap you in His arms. feel His prescence. feel His love. let Him be your comforter. He will not leave you.

You

fighting it..

help me to lean not on my own understanding

i trust You. i praise You. i love You. help me to love You more. .and more..

muuudrun

so today i ran in the mudrun with bailey, crawford, and scoop and i want to start out by saying what an amazing team i had.  they not only killed it out there, but they encouraged me continuously through out the run.  i honestly had a much harder time with it than i thought i would. a whole new level of running. next time…training by running through trails soakin wet is more the route i should take.  i felt so confident the first mile or two and then this team of huge men passed me and i got separated from my team. I stopped for a second to catch my breath and that was the the worst move ever.  just dont stop. you stop once, you will want to stop again. this is what happened for me anyway. then i realized how hard it was for me to breath at that point. so yeah. don’t stop. just don’t. anywho i got to a point where i told bailey i didn’t think i was going to be able to keep going..may have said this more than once..maybe..and bailey’s response was “we’ll talk about it right up here. come on. almost there.” of course we never ended up talking about it and i never figured out where “up there” was but i owe a big thanks to him for that! and thanks matt for ALL of the encouragment and to scoop for yelling from way up in the front encouraging things. and seeing lauren riley smiling away once we came out of the woods was just great. also. near the end courtney, jay, kristi, and clash came to cheer our team on and this also such a big help for me! courtney’s words were just what i needed to hear and kristi even grabbed my hand and ran with me near the end. phew. so yeah. i finished. because of God blessing me with an awesome team and great friends to encourage me through. so gracias to you guys.

missing you

don’t even know how to start this. I guess i’ll start by saying i miss you and you are so so so special to me. I thank my Father in heaven when i think about you.  thank you for loving me and being such good friend. lets recap on a few memories:

taking a random trip to charleston. you sleeping the entire way. riding around on a golf (for hours). getting chased by people with you on a golf cart. having super serious talks with you on a golf cart. riding the golf cart on a dock which is definitely not allowed. you coming to D.C. you being around me in D.C. when no one else would  b/c i was super sick. riding in that good ole jeep. dancing with you..or trying to dance like you. getting ready together for van night with you. skating with you. eating peanut butter wraps with you. you living in my red pajama pants. watching movies with you. eating peanut butter m&m’s with you. fighting sin with you. laughing with you. yeah…i miss you britt tolleson. a lot.

t-minus three months

He hears

“Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.”

Psalm 5:1-3