[re]definition

Well.

I think it's time for...something different.

Fresh and new and innovative.

The Beautiful Side might just be taking a hiatus.

And you ask, "And how is that different from its status right now?"

Hah. Because, honestly, I don't remember the last time I published a post. But that needs to change.

And I plan on changing it.

Starting today, this little caterpillar of a blog is going to crawl into a cocoon and undergo a metamorphosis. I think it's going to be spectacular. Bigger and better and more in keeping with what I want to do, and, more importantly, what God wants to do through me.

Lately I've been peeking at my dreams and realizing that, hey, we can't sit around and simply dream. We need to prepare. Take hold of the present - which is all we have in our hands - and make the most of every opportunity (Ephesians 5:16). For me, that means having a place to call my own where I blog about my passions - ministry, social media, the world of advertising, and fashion, to name a few - and prepare for the future the Lord is laying out before me one step at a time.

So here's to chasing daylight (as author Erwin McManus put it). Here's to newness.

Here's to a redefinition of The Beautiful Side.

See you soon!

the one on suffering

Courtesy of everystockphoto.com. Creative Commons License.

Sometimes, I think it's safe to say that I simply don't understand life. Today, dear, wonderful,
precious friends of mine are hurting, and I can't do a blessed thing to stop it. Nothing. Nada. And my heart, the very core of me, is crying out, "God, why? Why? I. Just. Don't. Understand."

And then He whispers to the unsettling.

Must you understand?

Yes. Yes, I must! Why shouldn't I?

My love - could you - could they - bear such a weight of glory, as you are now?

Glory, Lord? What glory? Is this glory? This, this...this stupid crazy insane ridiculous mess that makes me want to kick a hole through the wall and cry away the ache?

For this light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for you (and the ones you love) a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

2 Corinthians 4:17. Right, but...now. What about now?

Hannah. Look up "suffering" in My Word, and you'll see. Suffering precedes glory. In a fallen world, you cannot have one without the other.

Suffering precedes glory. Hmm. You know, it sounds cliché, but I guess it's true. A lot of things have to broken before they are truly beautiful and glorious.

Gold gets melted. Marble gets cut. Stone gets chiseled. The tree gets cut down and run through the mill. The river clatters and splashes and tumbles across the miles before joining the sparkling sea.

Yes, these things can be inherently beautiful because in creation God made all things good (very good), but to a designer patterning the works of his hands after the Master Designer - they are perfect, but not yet.

Yes, Lord? Isn't that so?

Consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in you and these dear ones.

Ah. Romans 8:18. And there's suffering with glory again. One forging the other. The curse foretelling its own demise.

I who sit on the throne say, “Behold, I make all things new.”

Revelation 21:5.

The One Who sits on the throne declares a renewal, a retribution, a transformation. The King reigns. God - that's You.

Behold, I make all things new.

You make all things new.

Glory is building.

revisited

This blog is starting to look like my old journal.

"January 1, 2012 - Really excited about this new year and all that it holds."

"March 24, 2012 - So, haven't written for over two months. I'm terrible at journaling."

"August 18, 2012 - I really am a terrible person to keep a journal."

"December 25, 2012- WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER."

...except...

....I think my journal was updated more frequently.
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I don't know quite why I never sit down and clank out a post or two on a more regular basis. I have plenty of time and goodness knows plenty of inspiration.

I've also read enough miscellaneous blogs in the past few days to be ashamed of blogging and writers and the internet and people in general. Yikes, ya'll. Give a person a blog and suddenly they know everything about everything. I found very few to have a tone that was worth reading, that felt like they truly cared. Instead, I envisioned a person at a decrepit computer in a dark basement, sipping on a lukewarm cup of coffee, musing on the greater realities of life without ever tasting true life.

In all honesty, I will admit to being afraid of being that person.

Maybe that's why I don't write more often.

I believe what I believe - passionately. I have big dreams and deep wells of thought and a love for other people, but I'm not so vain as to think you need to read all about it. My very first blog post established that my blog would never be a personal journal, and I'll keep it that way, thank you kindly.

But how can I write and be compelling? How can my words bring truth and light and healing while standing on a firm and unshakeable truth?

Because...what are my words worth if they don't speak truth?

This pursuit is at the core of why I write and the reason why I even started a blog at all. To speak truth and to compel - propel, even - towards the light of God's truth. Nevertheless, I fear the tone of the arrogant, the rank stench of self-promotion...because I know that's my foolish sinner's heart at its core.

In spite of myself (because isn't that just how the sovereignty of God works?), my prayer is that God gives me the grace to "speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ" (Ephesians 4:15).

Will you join me?